Luis Adrián Olvera De la Cruz, 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)
My Jesus, teach me to listen to Your word as a faithful disciple so that I may learn to love as You love and to trust that You alone are my rock where I can take refuge from the snares of evil.
Gospel of the day (to guide your meditation)
From the Holy Gospel according to Mark 1:21-28
At that time Jesus came to Capernaum, and on the next Sabbath he went to the synagogue and began to teach. The hearers were astonished at his words, for he taught as one having authority, and not as the scribes. And there was in the synagogue a man possessed by an unclean spirit, who cried out, “What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God”. Jesus commanded him, “Be quiet and come out of him!” The unclean spirit, shaking the man violently and shrieking, came out of him. They were all astonished and wondered, “What is this? What new doctrine is this? This man has authority to command even unclean spirits, and they obey him.” And very soon his fame spread throughout Galilee.
Word of the Lord.
Meditate on what God tells you in the Gospel
Today the Word of God presents us with a facet of Jesus that we seldom stop to reflect on, Jesus the teacher who transforms those who listen to him speak.
Jesus does not present himself as a transmitter of knowledge learned by heart and repeated ad nauseam, like the Pharisees; he simply leaves those who listen to him amazed because he speaks with the authority of one who lives the message he preaches. Jesus the teacher teaches us with his own life, reveals to us the love of his heart and forms us to be his apostles.
The most ardent desire of Jesus' heart is that we try, with all our being, to love Him as He loves us. That is the greatest life-teaching He can give us. Only to the extent that our love for Him grows will we be able to truly love our neighbor, and only by this growth in love will we have the strength to fight the snares of evil.
The teaching of Jesus is not something that remains on paper, because He gives us the tools to fight against the forces of evil: prayer, the Eucharist and confession. When the falls are many and we believe that we cannot have a true relationship with the Lord, He acts through His forgiveness, His body and His blood to heal our wounds and expel the evil from our heart. Last but not least, prayer gives us the strength to root out evil, because prayer is direct and personal contact with the Beloved.
Jesus Master wants to take your heart in his lacerated hands, to transform it so that you too may take his teaching of love to those who need it most.
«What does “with authority” mean? It means that in the human words of Jesus the full force of the Word of God was felt, the very authority of God, the inspirer of the Holy Scriptures, was felt. And one of the characteristics of the Word of God is that it does what it says. For the Word of God corresponds to his will. On the other hand, we often utter empty words, words without root, or superfluous words, words that do not correspond to the truth».
(Homily of H.H. Francis, February 1, 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.
I will pray for those people who live far from God and I will try to live in a state of grace by going to confession if I need to or if I have not done so for a long time.
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.
