Cristian Gutierrez, 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, today I come again before you because I want to accompany you. I want to listen to your voice that tells me what you want from me. Increase my faith so that I may believe in you more firmly. Increase my hope so that I may not place my trust in ephemeral things that will come to an end. Give me a love that is faithful, generous and that manifests itself in concrete works. You know better than I what I need, give it to me Lord without delay. Give me the grace to never leave you alone and to bring your love to those in need of it.
Gospel of the day (to guide your meditation)
From the Holy Gospel according to Luke 9, 51-56
When the time drew near for him to depart from this world, Jesus made up his mind to undertake the journey to Jerusalem. He sent messengers ahead of him, and they went to a village in Samaria to get him lodging; but the Samaritans would not receive him, because they knew that he was going to Jerusalem. At this refusal, his disciples James and John said to him, “Lord, do you want us to send down fire from heaven to destroy them?” But Jesus turned to them and rebuked them. Then they went to another village.
Word of the Lord.
Meditate on what God tells you in the Gospel
I think you may be saying two things to me in this passage today. The first has to do with discovering and fulfilling your will. The second is about your way of thinking that is sometimes so different from ours.
You tell me in the passage that you made the determination to go up to Jerusalem because your hour had come. The moment to give your life for my salvation was near and so you took the road to the holy city with foresight. You did not want to arrive late to the plan of salvation. It was not humanly easy to know that you were headed for suffering and death. But then, what is it that leads you to act in this way?
The evangelist says that you made the determination. With this you want to teach me to make God's will my own. Once you knew your Father's will, you threw yourself into fulfilling it completely. You did not stop at other projects, trips or apostolates. Your Father's will was that you leave for Jerusalem and so you did. Give me the faith and fortitude necessary to always fulfill your will above my own. But not as one who fulfills for the sake of fulfilling, but as one who fulfills out of love, because he knows that it is the best thing for himself.
So they came to a town of Samaria. They are opposed to give you an inn in their village. Apparently human would be opponents of the plan, of the divine will and therefore the two apostles, the sons of thunder, James and John, ask if they make fire come down to devour them as a punishment for it. Thank goodness they asked! But how different they think from the way you think! You immediately rebuke them: could not the divine will also have ordered that they should not be received in that town?
You teach me to seek your plan, even in the most insignificant things that may seem to me to be contrary to your designs. Give me the grace, Lord, to always discover your will and not to let myself be so easily led by my short-sightedness, which sometimes does not see beyond what pleases and suits it.
«To cement unity, the content of which is determined by the Word of God and by the one Bread of Heaven, with which each of the Churches entrusted to us remains Catholic, because it is open and in communion with all the particular Churches and with that of Rome, which «presides in charity». It is imperative, therefore, to care for this unity, to guard it, to foster it, to witness to it as a sign and instrument which, beyond every barrier, unites nations, races, classes, generations».
(Address of H.H. Francis, September 23, 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 fulfill my duties today with gentleness and out of love for you, seeking to be in all things an instrument of concord and unity.
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.
