H. Edgar Maldonado, L.C.
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, help me to present myself to the Father without fear. Enlighten my life to understand that I can be righteous, living according to your commandments and dispositions.
Gospel of the day (to guide your meditation)
From the Holy Gospel according to Luke 1:5-17
In the time of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, of the Abijah family, married to a descendant of Aaron named Elizabeth. Both of them were righteous in the sight of God, for they lived blamelessly, keeping the commandments and ordinances of the Lord. But they had no children, because Elizabeth was barren and both were of advanced age.
On a day when it fell to his group to perform the priestly offices before God, it fell to Zacharias, according to the custom of the priests, to enter the sanctuary of the Lord to offer incense; while all the people stood outside in prayer at the hour of incense.
Then the angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing on the right side of the altar of incense. When Zacharias saw him, he was startled, and great fear seized him. But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard. Elizabeth, your wife, will bear you a son, and you shall name him John. You will be filled with joy and gladness, and many others will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord; he will drink neither wine nor liquor, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother's womb. He shall convert many Israelites to the Lord; he shall go before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of parents towards their children, to give to the rebellious the sanity of the righteous, and thus to prepare for the Lord a people ready to receive Him.
Word of the Lord.
Meditate on what God tells you in the Gospel
Today we will briefly discuss what it means to 1) be righteous and 2) conversion of heart.
Elizabeth and Zechariah «were righteous in the eyes of God». Very synthetically, we will say that there is a relationship between righteousness, faithfulness and faith. Were they righteous only because they avoided sin? No. Elizabeth and Zechariah were righteous because they lived irreproachably, they fulfilled the commandments and dispositions of the Lord. They did not live in any way, but according to the commandments of the Lord. They were righteous because they expected the fulfillment of the Lord's promises; the promise is fulfilled in their lives thanks to their faithfulness to the commandments. They had faith. Their righteousness is effective because of their faithfulness to God; they were faithful to the life the Lord intended them to live. They were not righteous by avoiding sin, but by living in God's favor, by living under his gaze, for «they were righteous in God's sight».
John is conceived «to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children». The fathers are Abraham and his descendants, who were promised a land and the presence of God. The children are Israel, who have suffered exile, dispersion, abandonment. John is sent to reconcile the faith of the children with the promises made to the fathers; he is sent to remember that the promises have forged Israel's identity as a people awaiting the times of God, for their ways are not like ours, their thoughts are not like ours.
«By granting us old age, God the Father gives us time to deepen our knowledge of Him, our intimacy with Him, to enter more and more into His heart and give ourselves to Him. This is the time to prepare ourselves to give our spirit into His hands, definitively, with the trust of children. But it is also a time of renewed fruitfulness. “In old age they will bear fruit again,” says the psalmist. Indeed, God's plan of salvation is also carried out in the poverty of weak, barren and impotent bodies. From Sarah's barren womb and Abraham's centenarian body the Chosen People were born. From Elizabeth and old Zechariah John the Baptist was born. The old man, even when weak, can become an instrument of salvation history.»
(Address H.H. Francis, January 31, 2020)
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.
You keep your promises because you hear our prayers. I understand that before claiming to be righteous, I must believe that you are faithful. I want to be faithful to you, I want to be faithful to your commandments, to your Son Jesus. I want to be faithful to the commandment of love: «Love one another as I have loved 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 examine what I mean by fidelity, how I live it and whether I should change anything,
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.
