GOSPEL

Jesus, like Elijah and Elisha, was not sent alone the Jews.
Reading from the holy Gospel according to Saint Luke 4:24-30

When Jesus came to Nazareth, he said to the people in the synagogue:
“Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in his hometown. I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian.”
All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him off the cliff. But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.

The Gospel of the Lord.

Joy in trials.

Lord, we come together as a family to ask you to increase our faith. These are days to demonstrate our faith through deeds: Love, understanding, joy… When fear tries to overcome us, may our faith make you more present through our service, by thinking of others, through our prayers. May you come to visit us as you visited the widow like Elijah, may you come to heal us as you healed the leper, from the leprosy of our souls which also need your healing. Because in these days that give us the opportunity to pray more as a family, to love more as a family, may you find us loving and praying.

Applied to married life:

(The whole family gathers to see how each one can contribute so that during these days the Love of God reigns more than ever)
Javier (the 6-year-old): Lord, I won’t throw tantrums and I’ll be obedient.
Silvia (15 years old): Lord, I’ll bake a chocolate cake so we can all have it together tomorrow.
Antonio (18 years old): Lord, I want to apologize for the times I resist praying with the family united. I commit to encouraging my siblings to do so from now on.
Mercedes (wife and mother): Lord, I will encourage my family to continue attending Mass, taking the necessary precautions, but let us not lack the nourishment of life. I will find a church to make it possible.
Mario (husband and father): Lord, I offer to pick up the guitar and animate family prayer to make the celebration more beautiful for you.
(They continued on their journey of the Gospel and the Lord protected them because they had faith in Him)

Mother,

Teach us to fix our gaze on the Heart of Your Son. To learn from you. When things got complicated, You looked to heaven and knew how to see God’s providence in everything. Thank you, Mother!