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)
Come, Holy Spirit. Fill my heart with your light. Enkindle in my soul the fire of your love, that it may renew me from within. Make this fire radiate the Gospel in my surroundings, to give glory to the Father and to extend the Kingdom of Christ. Amen.
Gospel of the day (to guide your meditation)
From the Holy Gospel according to Luke 9:57-62
At that time, as Jesus and his disciples were on their way, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go. Jesus answered him, ”Foxes have holes, and birds have nests, but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head.“ To another, Jesus said, ”Follow me.“ But he answered him, ”Lord, let me first go and bury my father.“ Jesus replied, ”Let the dead bury their dead. You go and proclaim the kingdom of God“. Another said to him, ”I will follow you, Lord; but let me first say goodbye to my family.“ Jesus answered him, ”He who holds the plow and looks back is not fit for the kingdom of God“.
Word of the Lord.
Meditate on what God tells you in the Gospel
The fame of Jesus spread throughout the region of Galilee, through Judea, Samaria and even beyond the borders of Palestine. With an unprecedented authority, and with an abundance of miracles, he announced the coming of a new Kingdom... Just as the chosen people had begun with twelve tribes around the ark of the covenant, now it was reborn with twelve Apostles behind the Son of God. But it was not only twelve who joined; every day more and more people came to follow the path of the Messiah.
Deep down, Jesus himself had called them. He makes our hearts burn with the warmth of his presence and the spark of his word. He has also touched our hearts. He invites us to follow in his footsteps and build the Kingdom of heaven. Two thousand years after the beginning of his work, he presents us with a mission as demanding as in the early days. Even today, Christ indicates to us the conditions for following him, the same conditions as for these three anonymous disciples.
His Kingdom is not of this world. Only one law governs it: Love. And the measure of Love is to love without measure. To love is to involve oneself fully, to set no limits or conditions, to turn one's back on everything else. For the one who loves Christ, neither the nest nor the burrow matters any more: his only home is the Heart of Jesus. What he had sown before is now in the past, and now he has only a furrow ahead of him: there where the Lord has sown the seed.
Authentic love for Christ reaches the madness of considering oneself dead for what until then seemed to be life, and to live only for what seems to end only in death. To love is to take God as the only goal; everything else is absorbed by the fire. Then, only then, everything takes on a new meaning, because everything has taken its place according to the criterion of the Cornerstone: Christ.
«’He who loves his father or his mother more than me is not worthy of me...’, says Jesus. The affection of a father, the tenderness of a mother, the sweet friendship between brothers and sisters, all this, even if very good and legitimate, cannot be put before Christ. Not because He loves us without heart and gratitude, on the contrary, but because the condition of the disciple demands a priority relationship with the master. Whoever allows himself to be attracted by this bond of love and life with the Lord Jesus, becomes his representative, his “ambassador”, especially in his way of being, of living. So much so that Jesus himself, sending his disciples on mission, tells them: ‘Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives the One who sent me’. People must be able to perceive that for this disciple Jesus is truly “the Lord”, he is truly the center of his life, the whole of life».
(H.H. Francis, homily of July 2, 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 build an atmosphere of charity by speaking well of others and avoiding criticism.
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.
