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)
Jesus Christ, many times I do not understand many things that happen to me, nor do I know how to explain the problems that arise in my daily life. You are God, and you sleep in the boat of my soul if I am faithful to you; that is why I need your help, to trust in you, even if you sleep and it seems that “you do not know about my life”. Give me that little bit of faith that the apostles lacked, for even in sleep, You are the Master of the universe. O Jesus, calm the storm of my temptations and my difficulties, and then I will be able to see your will in a different way.
Gospel of the day (to guide your meditation)
From the Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew 8:23-27
Then Jesus got into the boat and his disciples followed him. Suddenly a storm arose on the sea, so great that the waves covered the boat. In the meantime, Jesus was asleep. When his disciples came to him, they woke him up and said to him, «Save us, Lord, we are sinking. He answered them, »Why are you afraid, you of little faith?« And rising up, he rebuked the wind and the sea, and there came a great calm. Then the men said to one another in wonder, »Who is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?«.
Word of God
Meditate on what God tells you in the Gospel
One of the most common points in life: the uncertainty of what happens or will happen to us. In this, those who do not have faith differ from believers: they worry too much about what they will eat or earn tomorrow, while the Christian prepares for the future by living rightly in the present.
God puts solutions in our path, but we only see them in the long term. This is where our faith comes in: today, perhaps, we are trapped by economic hardship or the death of a loved one... nevertheless, God allows it, because he will draw from it a much greater good.
And while we fail to see the “why”, Christ accompanies us and His presence alone and our prayer will give us the strength to become happy with Him.
Jesus, from today I want to live seeing beyond what I see. I know that I will always have difficulties and that I will face storms and bumps in the road. But You are by my side. May I not wake You up with my useless complaints. Useless, because You know what is happening to me and You intend to fix it, and that since You died for me.
Of course, give me the necessary faith and the will to hold on to the boat even if it lurches from here to there. Jesus, I do not want to worry excessively about the future, for it does not yet exist. Rather, I want to find in you serenity and balance between what I can do on my own and what already corresponds to your love.
«When Jesus brings calm to the troubled sea, the disciples in the boat were filled with fear. Always, in the face of sin, in the face of homesickness, in the face of fear, we must return to the Lord. To look to the Lord, to contemplate the Lord. This gives us awe for a new encounter with the Lord. ‘Lord, I have this temptation: I want to stay in this sinful situation; Lord, I am curious to know what these things are like; Lord, I am afraid.’ And they saw the Lord: ‘Save us, Lord, we are lost!’ And there came the surprise of the new encounter with Jesus. We are not naïve or lukewarm Christians, we are brave, courageous. We are weak, but we must be courageous in our weakness. And our courage often has to be expressed in a flight and not look back, so as not to fall into bad nostalgia».
(Homily of H.H. Francis, July 2, 2013).
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.
Today, in the midst of my usual busyness, I will dedicate 10 minutes to talk to Christ, asking Him for the gift of trusting Him more.
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.
