Gospel of the Day
From the Gospel according to Luke
Luke 9:18–22
Once when Jesus was praying in solitude,
and the disciples were with him,
he asked them, “Who do the crowds say that I am?”
They said in reply, “John the Baptist; others, Elijah;
still others, ‘One of the ancient prophets has arisen.’”
Then he said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
Peter said in reply, “The Christ of God.”
He rebuked them and directed them not to tell this to anyone.
He said, “The Son of Man must suffer greatly
and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes,
and be killed and on the third day be raised.”
God is Love
If we were to ask people in the street, “Who is Jesus to you?”, today we would receive all sorts of different answers. But Jesus addresses each one of us directly. He wants to know who He is to me, because He loves me personally.
Each one of us can say, “God loves me completely”, without this diminishing in any way the love that others receive. God created me out of love, He calls me by name and He loves me in a unique and personal way. His Heart is so infinite that each one of us can know ourselves to be His beloved child.
And this is how special my spouse is to God too. He loves my spouse because he or she is His beloved child, unique and unrepeatable.
And this is how He asks me to love my spouse: completely, without this diminishing the love I have for my parents, my children, my friends…
Husbands and wives, do you want to show God how much you love Him? Then love one another with the love you receive from Him.
Applied to Married Life
(Santi and Anna during their marital prayer)
Santi: Anna.
Anna: Santi! You frightened me! You’d had your eyes closed for so long that I thought you’d fallen asleep in the Lord’s arms.
Santi: Haha, very funny! Darling, forgive me. The truth is that today the Lord has shown me the way He loves me: just as I am. Me, with my full name, with my family, with my sins, with my weaknesses… It’s incredible. It really moved me.
Anna: How wonderful! The Lord is so good, such a good Father. It moves me too. And I’m so happy for you, and thank you for sharing it with me, because through you He is saying it to me as well. I really needed to hear that because my prayer has felt drier and more barren for some time now. I haven’t been “feeling” anything, but I’m persevering out of love for Him.
Santi: You’re beautiful! The Lord has been purifying you for some time because I’m moving at a slower pace, and you’re accompanying me along this path with patience and so much love. I wanted to ask you something, because you’ve been receiving formation for longer than I have. Now that this love God has for me is engraved upon my heart, what would the next step be?
Anna: Well, that’s very simple. The Lord truly loves us just as we are, wherever we may be at this moment, but there is a beautiful phrase: “He dreams of us becoming saints.” So we must continue with our formation and our journey of purification, and of course with the Sacraments and prayer, so that each day the two of us may grow closer to one another and become more deeply united with Him.
Mother
Thank you for everything. We remember these words of Saint Augustine:
“You have made us for Yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in You.”
Help us each day to become more and more conformed to Your Son.
Blessed and praised be He for ever!