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 this moment of prayer. What a joy and happiness to be able to experience your presence, your closeness. I humbly ask you, come Lord Jesus! Enlighten my prayer so that my faith and strength may grow, so that I may always know how to choose you.
Gospel of the day (to guide your meditation)
From the Holy Gospel according to Luke 6, 20-26
At that time Jesus raised his eyes to his disciples and said: «Blessed are you poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be filled. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. Blessed are you when men shall hate you, when they shall cast you out, and revile you, and proscribe your name as evil, for the Son of man's sake. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for your reward will be great in heaven. For so their fathers treated the prophets.» «But woe unto you that are rich, for ye have received your consolation: woe unto you that are now full, for ye shall hunger: woe unto you that laugh now, for ye shall have tribulation and mourning: woe when all men shall speak well of you, for so their fathers dealt with the false prophets.
Word of the Lord
Meditate on what God tells you in the Gospel
If we look at our world we see people who are poor, who are hungry, who suffer, who are excluded and outcasts... and no one thinks of calling them happy, nor do they themselves feel as such. On the contrary, we see rich people, who enjoy all possible comforts and enjoy the present moment as if they possessed the greatest treasure, and we look at them with a certain envy and qualify them as lucky people.
How to understand the Gospel, where is the contrast, how to explain these antinomies?
The Gospel is a revolutionary force that overturns the mentality of this present world; people who allow themselves to be touched by its influence open themselves to new dimensions and are able to discover the richness of sharing, to enjoy the joy of self-giving, to experience peace in the midst of confusion....
We all need to make ourselves poor in order to become poor in our ambitions for superfluous things; to get out of our selfishness in order to get closer to others; to laugh with those who laugh and cry with those who cry.
«There is an idolatrous worship of money. Because indifference has become globalized, indifference has become globalized: what do I care what happens to others as long as I defend what is mine? Because the world has forgotten God, who is Father; it has become an orphan because it has left God aside. Some of you said: This system is no longer tolerable. We have to change it, we have to bring human dignity back to the center and build on that pillar the alternative social structures we need. We have to do it with courage, but also with intelligence. With tenacity, but without fanaticism. With passion, but without violence. And among all of us, facing conflicts without getting trapped in them, always seeking to resolve tensions in order to reach a higher level of unity, peace and justice. We Christians have something very beautiful, a guide for action, a program, we could say, revolutionary. I strongly recommend you to read it, to read the beatitudes that are in chapter 5 of Saint Matthew and 6 of Saint Luke, and to read the passage of Matthew 25. I told the young people in Rio de Janeiro, with these two things you have the program of action».
(Address of H.H. Francis to the participants of the World Meeting of Popular Movements, October 2014).
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.
May my closeness and support to a person who suffers make him or her experience the love of Christ.
Farewell
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.
