Juan Pablo García Hincapié, 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, I thank you for a new day in which you give me the opportunity to draw closer to your Love. Give me the grace to be faithful today to the inspirations of the Holy Spirit and to be able to unite myself more and more to your will. Give me the grace to be able to suffer the adversities of this day with your help.
Gospel of the day (to guide your meditation)
From the holy Gospel according to Luke 21:12-19
At that time, Jesus said to his disciples: “They will lay hands on you, persecute you, throw you into the synagogues and into prison, and bring you before kings and governors for my sake. Thus you will have occasion to bear witness. Make a resolution not to prepare your defense, for I will give you words and wisdom which no adversary of yours can withstand or contradict. And even your fathers, and kinsmen, and brethren, and friends will betray you, and will kill some of you, and all will hate you for my sake. But not a hair of your head shall perish; by your perseverance you shall save your souls.”.
Word of the Lord.
Meditate on what God tells you in the Gospel
The martyrdom suffered by the first Christians reminds us that in order to give their lives they needed precisely “the grace of martyrdom”. It was the Holy Spirit who assisted them in that moment of witnessing to their own faith. Many times we see that these great martyrs were prepared little by little to give their lives for Christ. The example of the martyrs is the example so that in our life we can also prepare ourselves little by little and day by day to be able to witness to others the Gospel of Christ. The small or big problems in our life help us to prepare ourselves to live giving ourselves for love.
The surrender that Christ asks of us is a true trust in the knowledge that he himself is preparing everything so that we may be his courageous witnesses. Today, perhaps Christ will repeat to us again and again with great love: “In this way you will have the opportunity to bear witness. Let us accept with great patience our adversities in order to offer each of our sufferings to the Lord and overcome them with his grace. The surrender of each of our sacrifices to the Lord is the extension of his Kingdom in the world and this is the martyrdom that he asks of us today, this dying little by little to all that separates us from him in order to live fully in his Kingdom.
«Many times, when faced with a burden of life or a situation that hurts us, we try to talk to someone who will listen to us, to a friend, to an expert... It is a great good to do this, but let us not forget Jesus! Let us not forget to open ourselves to Him and tell Him about our life, entrust people and situations to Him. Perhaps there are “areas” of our life that we have never opened to Him and that have remained dark, because they have never seen the light of the Lord. Each one of us has our own story. And if someone has this dark area, seek Jesus, go to a missionary of mercy, go to a priest, go... But go to Jesus, and tell this to Jesus. Today He says to each one of us: “Courage, do not give in to the burdens of life, do not close yourself to fears and sins, but come to me! He waits for us, He waits for us always, not to magically solve our problems, but to make us strong in our problems....». (H.H. Francis, Angelus, July 9, 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.
Lord, do not allow me to forget during this day that each of my sufferings and difficulties can be united to your great love. Do not allow me to rely only on my own strength, but let me know that everything comes by your grace. Give me the grace to witness to you by the example of my life.
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.
To offer my problems today to the Lord and seek to solve them by holding His hand.
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.
