Monthly Archives: September 2024

Good Guides. Reflection for married couples. Luke 6, 12-19

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GOSPEL

Jesus chooses his twelve apostles
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke
Luke 6:12-19

Jesus went out into the hills to pray; and he spent the whole night in prayer to God. When day came he summoned his disciples and picked out twelve of them; he called them ‘apostles’: Simon whom he called Peter, and his brother Andrew; James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Simon called the Zealot, Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot who became a traitor.
  He then came down with them and stopped at a piece of level ground where there was a large gathering of his disciples with a great crowd of people from all parts of Judaea and from Jerusalem and from the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon who had come to hear him and to be cured of their diseases. People tormented by unclean spirits were also cured, and everyone in the crowd was trying to touch him because power came out of him that cured them all.

The Gospel of the Lord.
Good Guides


Jesus chose 12 from among His disciples. The successors of these 12 are our shepherds, the bishops. We must understand that they are chosen by God to shepherd the flock in each local Church.
It is not for us to judge their decisions or to assess whether they are better or worse. We should welcome them as God’s chosen ones and submit ourselves to them. They, in turn, have the responsibility to shepherd the flock and will answer to God at the end of their days, for they represent the Good Shepherd, no more and no less.
We find reassurance in priests who do not criticise their bishops and in Christians who do not criticise their bishop, for they are the ones who believe in the divine nature of God’s choice and the power He grants each one.

Applied to Married Life:


Martha: I love our spiritual director because he views every situation through the lens of grace and divine transcendence.
Leo: Yes. He always stands by his bishop and the Pope. If he believes and trusts in the ministry that God has bestowed upon them, it’s because he also believes and relies on the power God has given him as a priest, and likewise trusts in the grace God has given us as a married couple.
Martha: Exactly. I see how he guides me, always relying on the sacramental grace we have received, not on his own ideas. That gives me great confidence, because he truly trusts in the action of the Holy Spirit. It brings me peace, knowing we are being led by a true shepherd of Christ.
Leo: We give thanks to God for our spiritual director.
Martha: Thank you, Lord!

Mother,


Thank you for the shepherds You have placed in our path. They are a blessing. Thank you, Mother.

Irresistible Mercy. Reflection for married couples. Luke 6, 6-11

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GOSPEL
Is it against the law on the sabbath to save life?
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke
Lk 6:6-11
On the sabbath Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach, and a man was there whose right hand was withered. The scribes and the Pharisees were watching him to see if he would cure a man on the sabbath, hoping to find something to use against him. But he knew their thoughts; and he said to the man with the withered hand, ‘Stand up! Come out into the middle.’ And he came out and stood there. Then Jesus said to them, ‘I put it to you: is it against the law on the sabbath to do good, or to do evil; to save life, or to destroy it?’ Then he looked round at them all and said to the man, ‘Stretch out your hand.’ He did so, and his hand was better. But they were furious, and began to discuss the best way of dealing with Jesus.
The Gospel of the Lord.

Irresistible Mercy

Lord, Your mercy is stronger than our ill intentions, stronger than accusation, sin, and sickness. So, what stops You from fully invading my heart? It is me. Sometimes I distrust, or I’m simply looking the other way.
Wherever You go, You heal, restore, and nourish. The Pharisees knew You wouldn’t be able to resist healing that sick man. And I know You can’t resist healing me.
Fill me with Your mercy, so that in those moments when my spouse is consumed by darkness or sin, I can still see the precious pearl that remains within them.

Applied to Married Life:

James: (Praying) Lord, once again, my wife is being unbearable. She’s harsh, demanding, with that look on her face… But I know You have an irresistible desire for mercy. Fill me with You, Lord, fill me with Your love so I can see her worth in this moment and, with Your love, calm her fire and her anguish. Here, as I kneel before You in the Blessed Sacrament, I ask You to fill me with Your love. I want to give her what You want to give her. I know she’s going through a time of trouble, and You want to help her. Make me Your instrument—help me bring peace to her anxiety, joy to her sadness, and hope to her frustration. Fill me, Lord, fill me with Your Spirit, fill me with Your mercy. Praise be to You, Lord.
(And he returned home, and the Lord allowed him to be an instrument of His mercy, and James experienced just how much God loved his wife.)

Mother
,
What great hope we find in knowing Christ, His feelings, His motivations. He cannot help but love me, cannot help but forgive me, cannot help but heal me. How much I long to act this way with my spouse! Praise be to the Lord who has a great heart for love.

My “leitmotif”. Reflection for marriages Saint Mark 7:31-37

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GOSPEL

He makes the deaf hear and the mute speak. 
Reading from the holy Gospel according to Saint Mark 7:31-37
Again Jesus left the district of Tyre
and went by way of Sidon to the Sea of Galilee,
into the district of the Decapolis.
And people brought to him a deaf man who had a speech impediment
and begged him to lay his hand on him.
He took him off by himself away from the crowd.
He put his finger into the man’s ears
and, spitting, touched his tongue;
then he looked up to heaven and groaned, and said to him,
“Ephphatha!”— that is, “Be opened!” —
And immediately the man’s ears were opened,
his speech impediment was removed,
and he spoke plainly.
He ordered them not to tell anyone.
But the more he ordered them not to,
the more they proclaimed it.
They were exceedingly astonished and they said,
“He has done all things well.
He makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”
Word of the Lord.

My “leitmotif”
The things of God are closed to the eyes of man. But Christ, who is the Word of God, opens our eyes and ears to see and understand. He leaves us His Spirit to give us the intelligence, wisdom, knowledge… necessary to see by faith the supernatural world that runs parallel to the natural world we see with our senses. We have received the grace to see Marriage as God intended it, and when you see that other way of living, that other dimension that surpasses us on all sides, you no longer want anything else.

Grounded in Married Life:
Leti: I consider myself a citizen of heaven, and you, Luis?
Luis: Completely. My Father is God, my Mother is the Virgin, my mystical Husband is Christ… My laws are the laws of God, I try to make my justice divine, my leitmotif is you for the greater glory of God, and my driving force is the love of charity. I always say you are my “leitmotif” hahaha. All of this has transformed my marriage with you, my way of facing difficulties, my work… absolutely everything.
Leti: I only have eyes for the Lord. I am only interested in His plans and His things. I am in His Heart and I feel pain for what pains Him, and I love more and more from His Heart, as He loves. And you are so much in His Heart… It’s wonderful to see life this way.
Luis: A wonder that we are sharing together, Leti. You help me so much to live as God wants.
Leti: And you help me.

Mother,
In Your Immaculate Heart, we want to be, because no one knows better than You how to be in the Heart of Christ. Blessed be He forever.

King of Love. Reflection for marriages Saint Luke 6:1-5

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GOSPEL
Why do you do what is not permitted on the Sabbath?  
Reading from the holy Gospel according to Saint Luke 6:1-5
While Jesus was going through a field of grain on a sabbath,
his disciples were picking the heads of grain,
rubbing them in their hands, and eating them.
Some Pharisees said,
“Why are you doing what is unlawful on the sabbath?”
Jesus said to them in reply,
“Have you not read what David did
when he and those who were with him were hungry?
How he went into the house of God, took the bread of offering,
which only the priests could lawfully eat,
ate of it, and shared it with his companions?”
Then he said to them, “The Son of Man is lord of the sabbath.”
Word of the Lord.

King of Love.
God has granted us power to dominate the Earth, and it is clear that we dominate it. But there are other domains that belong solely to God: the laws of what is right or wrong, the laws of love, the laws of religion, the laws of the divine, human life… We do not have dominion over all that; while God can create and destroy without giving explanations to anyone and, obviously, without committing any wrong.  
Everything is ours, we are of Christ, and Christ is of God, as Saint Paul says.

Applied to Married Life:
Marina: Dad, that way of living courtship is from your time. Things have changed and modernized. Do you understand?  
Pedro (Marina’s father): Look, daughter, the things of love do not change with trends. If you love as God says in the Gospel, then you will live true love, which is a fruit of the Holy Spirit. It is called charity. If you do something different with your boyfriend or in the future with your husband, you will experience the works of the flesh: jealousy, arguments, discord… That has not changed and will never change because they are the laws of love, and those are immutable because they are God’s laws. You observe this in your life and in the lives of your friends.  
Marina: It is true that Cristina is having a lot of problems with her boyfriend since she slept with him. The joy between them has been lost, and excessive jealousy has sprung up from her towards him.  
Pedro: You are a smart girl who has never allowed yourself to be dominated by what others do or don’t do. Observe your surroundings and, in the meantime, live the Gospel with your boyfriend. If you treat each other as children of God and temples of the Holy Spirit, the love of God will grow between you, and you will discover the fullness of Love together.

Mother,
We submit to the Lord and His laws before those of men. Only He is God. Only He. Be praised.

The Spiritual Insight. Reflection for marriages Saint Luke 5:33-39

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GOSPEL

They will take away the bridegroom from them, and then they will fast.
Reading from the holy Gospel according to St. Luke 5:33-39
The scribes and Pharisees said to Jesus,
“The disciples of John the Baptist fast often and offer prayers,
and the disciples of the Pharisees do the same;
but yours eat and drink.”
Jesus answered them, “Can you make the wedding guests fast
while the bridegroom is with them?
But the days will come, and when the bridegroom is taken away from them,
then they will fast in those days.”
And he also told them a parable.
“No one tears a piece from a new cloak to patch an old one.
Otherwise, he will tear the new
and the piece from it will not match the old cloak.
Likewise, no one pours new wine into old wineskins.
Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins,
and it will be spilled, and the skins will be ruined.
Rather, new wine must be poured into fresh wineskins.
And no one who has been drinking old wine desires new,
for he says, ‘The old is good.’”
The Word of the Lord.

The Spiritual Insight
Perhaps the worst thing is to judge the bridegroom. First, because it replaces God, and thus I place myself above what is human, with all that it entails for my pride. Second, because the Lord, when speaking of judging others, calls it “the beam” in contrast to “the speck” in another, qualifying any other sin, regardless of what it is, as “the speck” in relation to the judgment that considers it “the beam.” 
Third, because I was created to give myself for the salvation of my husband, and the accusatory judgment goes directly against the very foundation of my vocation, which is the one that leads me to God.
Fourth, because with the measure I use to judge, I will be judged, and as God uses that measure to judge me, I can already assure myself of condemnation.
Lastly, judgment predisposes me to “contempt.” It is easy that after judging, I experience rejection towards the “accused,” and that is the real danger; that is the spiritual downfall for my soul.
So, we must be very careful with mutual judgments and give them the seriousness they deserve to flee from them as from a plague!

Grounded in Matrimonial Life:
Luis: I just gave you a bad response; I’m sorry.
Merche: I forgive you.
Luis: What strikes me is that this time, and for a while now, you haven’t scolded me for the sins I commit.
Merche: No, because I have understood that for my marriage, I exist to defend you before God, not to accuse you. Besides, I am sure that if I were in your place, I would have done worse, so I am not one to blame you for anything.
Luis: What a blessing from God I have with you. Thank you for your testimony of the love of God that clearly shines in you.

Mother,
Help me in the mission to save my husband. He is wonderful and deserves it. Praise be to God for the gift of my husband.