Javier Castellanos, 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)
Thank you, Lord, for your love. Allow me to reciprocate your total gift with a surrender of myself. Teach me to love you more and better each day. Make me love you with a real, concrete love, made of actions. Give me your grace to show you such love this day. Amen.
Gospel of the day (to guide your meditation)
From the Holy Gospel according to Mark 3:1-6
At that time, Jesus entered the synagogue, where there was a man whose hand was withered. The Pharisees were watching Jesus to see if he would heal on the Sabbath, so they could accuse him. Jesus said to the man: “Stand up and come here.” Then he asked them: “What is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save a life or to destroy it?” They remained silent. Then, looking at them with anger and sadness, because they did not want to understand, he said to the man: “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was made well. Then the Pharisees went out and began to make plans with the Herodians to kill Jesus.
Word of the Lord.
Meditate on what God tells you in the Gospel
There is a very high risk when taking religion seriously. It can become a list of duties and prohibitions, with nothing beyond the rule: do not make idols, go to mass on Sundays, do not kill, do not lie, guard against impurity, do not bother anyone... True actions or boundaries that help, but which can be fulfilled with eyes closed. That is to say, «I fulfill» the third commandment, no matter what it commands, whether it means going to mass on Sunday or if it asked to carry an umbrella on sunny days… It is necessary to see deeper, to go to the why of this and that. Deep down, each commandment offers us a concrete good, a specific way of loving. Religion or piety runs the risk of remaining immature. Then it dries up long before producing fruit.
Mature piety calls us to an ever fuller love. Certainly, the first place belongs to the love of God, «you shall love God above all things.» But all love is an open reality: love is like a perfume, spreading in all directions. That is why a consequence of the love of God arises: «you shall love your neighbor as yourself.» Authentic love for a person leads us to love what they love. Therefore, authentic piety and mature love inspire us to seek the good of others. As Saint John said: «By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him?» (1 John 3:16-17) Let us be authentic Christians! Let us live a love open to God and to others!
«Jesus did something “worse,” something that further incensed the hypocrites and the proud who were watching him, looking for an excuse to catch him. He healed a man's withered hand. The hand, that powerful symbol of working, of labor. Jesus restored the man's ability to work, and with that, he restored his dignity. How many withered hands, how many people deprived of the dignity of work, because hypocrites, to defend unjust systems, oppose their healing. Sometimes I think that when you, the organized poor, invent your own work, creating a cooperative, reclaiming a bankrupt factory, recycling the discards of consumer society, facing the harsh weather to sell in a square, claiming a plot of land to cultivate and feed the hungry, when you do this, you are imitating Jesus because you seek to heal, even if just a little, even if precariously, that atrophy of the prevailing socioeconomic system that is unemployment.
(Discourse of H.H. Francis, November 5, 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 put charity into practice with my words, speaking well of others.
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.
