Rodrigo Marin, LC
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, I am in your presence. Thank you for allowing me to stand before you. Increase my faith so that I may believe that You are my only hope. Increase my hope so that I may always hope in your love. Increase my love so that I may love you with the certainty of faith.
Gospel of the day (to guide your meditation)
From the Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew 10:17-22
At that time, Jesus said to his apostles: «Beware of the people, for they will bring you before the courts, and scourge you in the synagogues, and bring you before governors and kings, for my sake; so you will bear witness of me before them and before the heathen. But, when they hand them over, do not worry about what you are going to say or how you are going to say it, for, at that time, you will be inspired with what you are to say. For it is not you who will speak, but the Spirit of your Father who will speak for you. The brother will deliver up his brother to death, and the father his son; the children will rise up against their parents and kill them; they will all hate you for my sake, but he who endures to the end will be saved».
Word of the Lord
Meditate on what God tells you in the Gospel
Martyr?... Just hearing the word makes your skin crawl. No one likes to be persecuted, humiliated, arrested, much less killed. Jesus does not give us a contract with small, blurred or hidden letters. He did not tell us: «you are going to have a great time», or «you will not have any problems in life», or «everyone will love you and kiss your hand»; he told us that we would have a hundredfold on this earth... with persecutions.
How can we face this fact? Wouldn't it be easier, to avoid many problems, to stop being Christians or, without being so radical, to be calendar Christians, only when we schedule it?
This was what motivated so many martyrs who gave their lives for Christ. They knew that the time of persecution, slander, imprisonment, etc. would end. They knew there was no comparison to the eternity they were earning.
Today we celebrate St. Stephen who is the first of an endless line of people who have given and will give their lives for Christ. Let us put our name saint... martyr in his work for wanting to be honest; saint... martyr in his school for wanting to lead a life with a pure heart; saint... martyr for love of Christ.
Let us ask Mary to give us Christian courage. May we never lose the certainty that the reward God has prepared for us is greater than any persecution from men.
«A Church without martyrs is a Church without Jesus. It is precisely the martyrs who sustain and carry the Church forward. And if the media do not say so, because they are not news, today many Christians in the world are blessed because they are persecuted, insulted, imprisoned only for carrying a cross or for confessing Jesus Christ. So, when we complain if we lack something, we should rather think of these brothers and sisters who today, in greater numbers than in the first centuries, suffer martyrdom».
(Homily of H.H. Francis, January 30, 2017).
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.
I will make a visit to the Eucharist, or a spiritual communion where I ask God for the grace to be consistent with what I believe.
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.
