H. Luis Ángel Trujillo Alcalá, 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)
Beloved Jesus, our Lord, who came into the world, who remains with us and who will come again clothed in your glory, make our hearts, detached from any earthly bondage, burn with the hope of your coming. Amen.
Gospel of the day (to guide your meditation)
From the Holy Gospel according to Luke 12, 35-38
At that time Jesus said to his disciples, “Gird up your loins and light your lamps. Be like those who wait for their master to return from the wedding feast, so that they may open to him as soon as he comes and knocks. Blessed are the servants whom the master finds awake when he comes; he will surely gird himself, make them sit at table and serve them. And if he arrives late at night or early in the morning and finds them thus, blessed are they“.
Word of the Lord.
Meditate on what God tells you in the Gospel
The Lord invites his disciples to have a heart burning with desire to receive their Lord. Rather than being motivated by fear, we must be motivated by love. For only love sets us free, only love transforms, only love saves. As a husband waits vigilantly for the return of his beloved, so should our soul wait for the return of our Lord.
God our Lord asks us to have the same attitude of his heart, for he himself waits vigilantly for our arrival, the arrival of his beloved friends and disciples.
Only those who have properly understood the dynamics of love will be able to wait for their Lord even “late at night or early in the morning”.
«Many times in his preaching Jesus warns us to be watchful, to be vigilant, to be in expectation. On one occasion, he asked to be watchful because you do not know the hour when the son of man will come. In fact, vigilance must be prepared for the coming of the Lord. On other occasions Jesus made this same recommendation, stressing ‘prepare”: this is the case of the ten handmaids, the wise and the unwise ones, who were not prepared. The first ones had everything ready, even the oil for the lamps; the second ones were there on the spur of the moment, without thinking of being prepared. “Watch”, therefore, is the suggestion of Jesus who at other times advises prayer, vigilance so as not to fall into temptation. For example, he says it to his disciples in the Garden of Olives: they were falling asleep because of fear and he advises them: “pray and be vigilant so as not to fall into temptation".“. (H.H. Francis, Angelus, October 13, 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.
Today I will dedicate a few minutes of my day to think calmly about what aspects of my life my soul “watches over” out of fear or out of love, and I will ask the Lord for the grace to show me how He “watches over” me.
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.
