In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Christ, our King.
Thy Kingdom come!
Preparatory prayer (to put me in the presence of God)
Lord, thank you for allowing me to be here in your presence today. I want to be attentive to what you want to say to me. Grant me the humility I need to become more like you each day.
Gospel of the day (to guide your meditation)
From the Holy Gospel according to St. Mark 9, 30-37
At that time Jesus and his disciples were passing through Galilee, but he did not want anyone to know it, because he was teaching his disciples. He said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men; they will put him to death, and three days after he is dead he will rise again”. But they did not understand those words and were afraid to ask for explanations. So they came to Capernaum, and when they were in the house, he asked them, “What were you discussing on the road? But they kept silent, because on the road they had been arguing about which of them was the most important. Then Jesus sat down, called the Twelve, and said to them, ”If anyone would be first, let him be last of all and servant of all.“ Then he took a child, put him in their midst, embraced him and said to them, ”Whoever receives one of these children in my name receives me. And whoever receives me, receives not me but the one who sent me“.
Word of the Lord
Meditate on what God tells you in the Gospel
The disciples of Jesus could not understand that their Master had to go through the tunnel of suffering; that in order to be the first, one had to be the servant of all; that in the new categories of the Kingdom of Christ, the child would occupy a primordial place. It was not easy for them to leave the conception in which they had been educated since childhood. But to be disciples of Christ they had to change. They had to accept that suffering is the way of redemption for Jesus Christ, and continues to be so for Christians today.
The culture in which we live and the mentality of our contemporaries is made to change. It is easier than before to change jobs, computers, cars, houses, countries... We also change ways of thinking and living, behavioral values, and even religion itself.
Change is the order of the day, and those who do not change, soon become part of the «retros». But of course, not all change is good for man. Nor does all change indicate progress. There are changes that are a disgrace, such as having to leave one's country and family to look for work. The change to which the liturgy invites us is the change from God. That is, the change that God wants and expects from man so that he may be more human, so that he may live better and more fully his human dignity. The change that God wants is the change from injustice to justice, from abuse to the service of others, from infidelity to fidelity, from hatred to love, from revenge to forgiveness, from the culture of death to the culture of life, from sin to grace and holiness.
«Jesus invites his disciples to become like children because “to those who are like them belongs the Kingdom of God”. Dear brothers and sisters, children bring life, joy, hope, and also displeasure, but life is like that. Certainly they also carry worries and sometimes problems; but it is better to have a society with these worries and problems than a society that is sad and gray because it has no children.
(Homily of H.H. Francis, March 18, 2015).
Dialogue with Christ
This is the most important part of your prayer, prepare yourself to talk with much love with the One who loves you.
Purpose
Propose a personal one. The one that involves the most love in response to the Beloved... or, if you believe that this is what God is asking of you, live what is suggested below.
Pay special attention to the signs of God's love on this day.
Farewell
Christ, our King!
Thy Kingdom come!
Most prudent Virgin, Mary, Mother of the Church.
Pray for us.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
