Manuel Frutos, 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)
Lord, enkindle my heart with the fire of your love so that, loving you in everything and above all, I may obtain those goods which I cannot by myself even imagine and which you have promised to those who love you. Almighty and eternal God, You who can do all things, increase my faith, increase my hope and increase my charity; and, in order to obtain Your promises, grant me to love Your precepts. Through our Lord Jesus Christ who lives and reigns forever and ever. Amen.
Gospel of the day (to guide your meditation)
From the holy Gospel according to Luke 13:18-21
At that time Jesus said, “What is the kingdom of God like, and to what shall I compare it? It is like the mustard seed which a man sowed in his garden; it grew up and became a large bush and the birds nested in its branches.” And he said again, “To what shall I liken the kingdom of God? To the leaven which a woman mixes with three measures of flour and makes the whole lump leaven ferment.”.
Word of the Lord.
Meditate on what God tells you in the Gospel
How important it is for us to be that mustard seed that is buried, that disappears, so that it may become a leafy tree. The Kingdom of God is like a mustard seed. This simple parable compares two moments in the history of the seed: when it is buried (the modest beginnings) and when it becomes a tree (the final miracle). Thus, Jesus through this story explains to us the extraordinary growth of a seed that is buried in one's own garden, which is followed by an astonishing growth into a tree. Like this seed, the Kingdom of God also has its history: the Kingdom of God is the seed buried in the garden, a place that in the New Testament indicates the place of the agony and burial of Jesus himself; but then follows the moment of growth in which it becomes a tree open to all. The Kingdom of God will not become concrete, it will not be realized in any other place or environment than in the concrete of the life of each one of us. It is seed in this garden, it is leaven in this flour. The Kingdom of God is at stake here, which is why Pope Francis constantly reminds us that the Gospel of Jesus cannot be proclaimed without the concrete witness of life. Whoever hears and sees us must be able to read in our actions what he hears from our lips and give glory to God.
With what can we compare the Kingdom of God? Today's Gospel asks us. It is a little like the leaven that a woman mixed with a large quantity of flour until it leavened the whole dough. The Kingdom of God is like yeast. Yeast is hidden in three measures of flour. It is enough to put a small amount of yeast in three measures of flour to obtain a large quantity of bread. Jesus announces that this yeast, hidden or disappeared in the three measures of flour, after a while, makes the dough grow.
St. Francis of Assisi said to his brothers: «Preach the Gospel and if necessary also with words, preach with life, with witness, the incoherence of the faithful and of pastors between what they say and what they do, between their words and the way they live, undermines the credibility of the Church». Our witness in society, my concrete witness of coherent Christian life can be insignificant in my own eyes, my fidelity to Christ and to his Gospel can seem little and even useless for the society we face every day, but the witness of faith is valuable, every detail is important, also the small and humble witness, also that hidden one of those who live their faith with simplicity in their daily relationships with family, work, friendship. There are everyday saints, hidden saints, as Pope Francis says, a kind of middle class of holiness.
May we be able to build the Kingdom of God every day with a coherent life, with a life in accordance with the demands of the Gospel, with a life in which we polish every day everything that is rough, so that our faith may truly be a way of life, so that our faith may be, as the author of the book of Hebrews says: «The assurance of things not seen and the certainty of things hoped for».
«Jesus, when he sends his disciples to precede him into the villages, recommends to them: “First say: ‘Let peace come down on this house’... ‘Heal your sick’”. All this means that the Kingdom of God is being built day by day and is already offering on this earth its fruits of conversion, purification, love and consolation among men. It is a beautiful thing! To build day after day this Kingdom of God that is being made, not to destroy, but to build. Not to destroy, but to build. With what spirit should the disciple of Jesus carry out this mission?.
(Homily of H.H. Francis, July 3, 2016).
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 ask the Lord to be able to understand others better, to know how to place myself in their situation, and when I am presented with a situation today, not to judge them.
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.
