Hiram Samir Galán Jaime, 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)
I want to let myself be loved... I have known you since before you were born, I know your history, I know your problems. I know about your wounds and your past and yet I love you. Just abandon yourself in my arms, trust in my love that can do it all... Jesus.. Lord, I come today to meet you in prayer. I want to spend some time with you and be attentive to your voice. I, like Matthew, need to leave behind my sins and selfishness, change my lifestyle, get up and follow you. Help me to achieve this with the help of your grace.
Gospel of the day (to guide your meditation)
From the Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew 9, 9-13
At that time, Jesus saw a man named Matthew, sitting at his tax collector's table, and said to him, “Follow me.” He got up and followed him. Afterward, when he was at table in Matthew's house, many tax collectors and sinners also sat down to eat with Jesus and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked the disciples, “Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” Jesus heard them and said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a physician, but the sick. Go, therefore, and learn what this means: I want mercy and not sacrifices. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners”.
Word of the Lord.
Meditate on what God tells you in the Gospel
When prayer is abandoned, one of the main reasons is usually that we believe that we do not know how to pray. Or that we no longer feel anything in prayer and therefore we are not praying well. And as a consequence we say: ”We do not know how to pray.“.
What is the underlying reason for this conception? We forget that prayer is more divine than human, therefore, we cannot measure it with human parameters.
In prayer it is not so much about what I do, or worrying about what “He” is doing in my soul. It is about being with Him. Just and simply being with Him.
But I am a super sinner, so I cannot pray well until I am more holy. Well, forget about holiness because the path to holiness begins with prayer. It is not the saint who needs prayer so much, but the sinner. It is the sick person who needs medicine most urgently.
Jesus, here I am, I don't know how to pray. I want to know what this Gospel says to me, but there comes a time when I no longer have any ideas. Help me to understand that prayer does not consist so much in thinking and having beautiful ideas, but only in keeping you company; to be alone with you and to love you with my presence.
«For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners”. When I read this I feel called by Jesus, and we can all say the same thing: Jesus has come for me. Each one of us. This is our comfort and our confidence: he always forgives, he heals the soul always, always. ”But I am weak, I am going to have a relapse...“, Jesus will lift you up, he will always heal you. This is our consolation, Jesus came for me, to give me strength, to make me happy, to give me a clear conscience. Do not be afraid. In the bad moments, when one feels the weight of so many things we have done, of so many slips in life, so many things, and one feels the weight... Jesus loves me because I am like this”.
(Homily of H.H. Francis, July 7, 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 look for a good place to make my prayer and I will get an image of the Blessed Virgin or of the Sacred Heart so that when the distraction comes, I can contemplate the image and bring my soul back to God.
Farewell
We thank you, Lord, for all your benefits, you who live and reign forever and ever.
Amen.
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.
