To Love You Like Mary Magdalene

My dear Lord, I love the three Marys of the Gospel: Your Mother, Mary of Bethany, and Mary Magdalene. How deeply they loved You! Lord, please teach me to love You as they did. I know that if I persevere in prayer and in the sacraments, striving to live every moment in Your presence, You will teach me.

How tender Mary Magdalene was! How she searched for You, how she wept in Your absence! Yet she wept so much that she did not recognise You when You were standing beside her. Lord, how often I cry because, in the midst of my problems, I cannot see anything and it looks like You are not there. Yet You are always by my side. You suffer even more than I do, because Your Heart is infinitely more sensitive than mine. Jesus, help me to trust You completely. You know everything. You can do everything. If You allow things to happen, it is because You will bring about a greater good if I embrace them with You.

Lord, may I take every opportunity to love You more, especially where it hurts. And above all, may I love You in my spouse. May I be like You towards him/her. May I be attentive, quick to go to him/her, to look into his/her heart, to ask how he/she is, to comfort him/her, and to love him/her. Lord, by loving my spouse, I love You.

Applied to Married Life

Dylan: Theresa, during this time of prayer I want to ask your forgiveness for being in such a bad mood. And I especially want to thank you for not getting angry with me, but for welcoming me as you did. It’s wonderful to see how much you’ve changed and how you help me through my difficult moments.

Theresa: Dylan , I love you very much. It’s God’s love that makes this possible, not me. Before, I simply couldn’t do it. My pride got in the way, and I felt it was unfair for you to react like that. Now I live it with Jesus. I know I am so loved and so forgiven that all I want is to love as He loves. And those difficult moments are the perfect opportunities to do so. So thank you very much!

Dylan:(Laughing) Well then, maybe I’ll grumble more often so you have even more opportunities! Just kidding! Please help me grow further along this path. I want to love the Lord much more, so that I can love you much more too, because you deserve everything. How do I do that?

Theresa: Starting today, let’s persevere more faithfully in prayer. That’s where we discover God’s love, and where Jesus shows us what prevents us from loving as He does, our self-love. And let’s make the most of the summer by going to Mass together every day. Aware that, filled with Christ in the Eucharist, we will be able to give ourselves as He does. And let’s encourage one another to see every difficult situation as an opportunity to learn how to love. What do you think?

Dylan: Let’s do it! Thank You, Lord!

Mother,

Please teach me to love Your Son as You love Him. Help me to receive His infinite love so that I may love as He loves.

Blessed and praised be God!

How easy it is for us to say that we want to do “God’s will,” and yet how difficult it is to actually do it! Our concupiscence, our own way of thinking, our tendency towards self-pity, comfort, vanity, laziness… so often our fallen nature prevents us from discerning and living the Lord’s true will each day, so that His plan for our marriage may be fulfilled.

For this reason, what truly matters is knowing the path that leads to holiness and remaining on it. The path is persevering, helping one another, and above all, as husband and wife, seeing each other as brother and sister in Christ, with the dignity of children of God, rather than as a burden or even as enemies. We must recognise that each of us has weaknesses, but also gifts, and those gifts are meant to be placed at the service of the other, so that together we may reach Heaven. We must not demand from our spouse what we ourselves have not yet achieved.

Applied to Married Life

(Paula arrives home exhausted after a hard day at work, in a bad mood because of the unbearable heat. She thinks to herself: “Enough is enough! Another day when Josh has left without making the bed. He even gets up later than I do, and I’m the one who takes the children to school! When he gets home, we´re going to have a word.”)

(Josh arrives home, also tired after collecting the children from school. Happy to see Paula, he kisses her, unaware of the look of irritation on her face.)

Josh: Hi, darling! How was your day? Children, put everything away and go and have your showers, you smell like caged lions! Goodness, this heat is unbearable! My love, I’ll make dinner tonight. Go and sit by the fan and have a nice cold glass of water.

Paula: Josh, you’ve completely disarmed me.

Josh: What do you mean, my love? I don’t understand. Are you alright?

Paula: Well… I was really angry when I got home and saw that the bed hadn’t been made. I’d been thinking about how I was going to tell you off, but your attitude has completely taken the wind out of my sails. Now I realise that forgetting the bed was just one of your absent-minded moments.

Josh: Oh, sweetheart! Did I really forget again? I’m hopeless. Please forgive me! Every morning I ask the Lord to help me do His will and overcome my laziness and my lack of organisation… but there are still some things I just can’t seem to get right.

Paula: Don’t apologise. I think this time it’s me the Lord is correcting. You’re such a good man, and I’m the one who needs to see you for the kind-hearted person you are. I should be grateful for the opportunity the Lord gives me whenever I find the bed unmade, to work on my own passions, to put my gifts at your service, and in doing so, give glory to God.

Mother,

May we become aware of all the opportunities the Lord gives us to do His will. Blessed be the Lord!

From the Gospel according to Matthew 12:38–42

Some of the scribes and Pharisees said to Jesus, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.” He said to them in reply, “An evil and unfaithful generation seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it except the sign of Jonah the prophet. Just as Jonah was in the belly of the whale three days and three nights, so will the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights.
At the judgment, the men of Nineveh will arise with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and there is something greater than Jonah here. At the judgment the queen of the south will arise with this generation and condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and there is something greater than Solomon here.”

Do not demand proofs

In this Gospel, Jesus denounces an attitude that can also appear in marriage: the constant need for “proof” in order to believe in the other person’s love. The Pharisees ask for an extraordinary sign, yet they are unable to recognise the presence of God already standing before them. The same can happen to us when we expect spectacular gestures in order to feel loved and fail to appreciate the small, everyday signs: a conversation, a sacrifice, a quiet act of service, a loving glance, or sincere forgiveness.

The Lord invites us to ask not so much, “What else does my husband or wife have to do to prove that they love me?” but rather, “Do I have a heart willing to recognise the love I already receive and allow myself to be transformed by it?” When our hearts become accustomed to demanding proof, we end up becoming blind to the gifts God is already giving us. But when we learn to look with gratitude, we discover that Christ continues to work miracles in our home through patience, faithfulness, reconciliation, and mutual service.

The Lord reminds us that the greatest sign is His total self-giving on the Cross and His Resurrection. True love is not demonstrated with fireworks but through a steadfast gift of self, even when it is difficult. As husbands and wives, we too are called to make our lives a “sign of Jonah”: dying to selfishness so that love may rise again each day.

Applied to marriage life

Pam: Alfie, I’ve been waiting for days for a sign that you love me.

Alfie: And what about me trying to go along with all the plans you suggest?

Pam: Well, I just see that as normal. I was expecting something more spectacular… a serenade, a trip to Paris… I don’t know, something with fireworks.

Alfie: Ah, so a bit like the Pharisees in the Gospel: “Lord, give us a sign.”

Pam: Well… yes, I suppose so.

Alfie: The problem is that when you’re waiting for something extraordinary, you stop seeing the ordinary. Jesus told them that the greatest sign was already right in front of them, but they failed to recognise it.

Pam: That’s true. Sometimes I don’t notice your little acts of love because I’m waiting for bigger, more dramatic ones.

Alfie: I have to admit that sometimes I do the same to you. I expect you to be someone you’re not.

Pam: So the miracle isn’t fireworks…

Alfie: …it’s discovering that love is shown every day in the simplest of details.

Pam: Well… if one day a trip to Paris happens as well…

Alfie:  We’ll have to keep praying for that miracle a little longer!

Mother,

Teach us to recognise the presence of Jesus in the simple moments of everyday life. May we not spend our lives waiting for great signs, but instead learn to recognise the miracle of a love that gives itself with patience, forgiveness, and faithfulness.

Praise be to Our Lord Jesus Christ.

GOSPEL OF THE DAY

From the Gospel according to Matthew 13:24-43

Jesus proposed another parable to the crowds, saying:

“The kingdom of heaven may be likened

to a man who sowed good seed in his field.

While everyone was asleep his enemy came

and sowed weeds all through the wheat, and then went off.

When the crop grew and bore fruit, the weeds appeared as well.

The slaves of the householder came to him and said,

‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field?

Where have the weeds come from?’

He answered, ‘An enemy has done this.’

His slaves said to him,

‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’

He replied, ‘No, if you pull up the weeds

you might uproot the wheat along with them.

Let them grow together until harvest;

then at harvest time I will say to the harvesters,

“First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles for burning;

but gather the wheat into my barn.”‘”

He proposed another parable to them.

“The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed

that a person took and sowed in a field.

It is the smallest of all the seeds,

yet when full-grown it is the largest of plants.

It becomes a large bush,

and the ‘birds of the sky come and dwell in its branches.'”

He spoke to them another parable.

“The kingdom of heaven is like yeast

that a woman took and mixed with three measures of wheat flour

until the whole batch was leavened.”

All these things Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables.

He spoke to them only in parables,

to fulfill what had been said through the prophet:

I will open my mouth in parables,

I will announce what has lain hidden from the foundation

of the world.

Then, dismissing the crowds, he went into the house.

His disciples approached him and said,

“Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.”

He said in reply, “He who sows good seed is the Son of Man,

the field is the world, the good seed the children of the kingdom.

The weeds are the children of the evil one,

and the enemy who sows them is the devil.

The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.

Just as weeds are collected and burned up with fire,

so will it be at the end of the age.

The Son of Man will send his angels,

and they will collect out of his kingdom

all who cause others to sin and all evildoers.

They will throw them into the fiery furnace,

where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.

Then the righteous will shine like the sun

in the kingdom of their Father.

Whoever has ears ought to hear.”

The word of the Lord

 

Fruitful Tares

What do I want to pull out of my marriage?

My spouse’s tares are witnesses to the harvest of my own heart. Their tares point to mine. They awaken the conscience of my soul. They are the narrow gate into my divine life. Their tares are the plough that turns over my spirit and prepares my soul for the great sowing. They are a not‑understanding that opens me, through faith, to Providence (sun, rain, drought, flood…). They are, in His hope, the letting‑go that allows Christ to strip me and lay me bare of all that I am not. They are the instrument of grace that enriches and transforms my life into abundant wheat through His Charity.

If you pull them out — you’ll miss it.

Applied to married life

Mary had spent days preparing the family meal with great enthusiasm. When he saw her, John, her husband, commented without thinking:

—You’ve made far too much. There’ll be loads left over. Same as always.

Mary thought, “He never appreciates what I do.” She was on the verge of replying with sharpness and coldness, but she remembered the parable of the tares.

“Lord, here is the tare I see in John: the way he speaks, which hurts me. But what is it revealing in my own heart?”

She held a few seconds of silence. She realised that, beyond John’s words, what truly hurt was her own need to be recognised and for everything to turn out exactly as she hoped.

John, noticing Mary’s silence, also reflected:

“Her reaction shows me my lack of gentleness. Lord, change my heart.”

He went over to her and said:

—Forgive me, Mary. Thank you for all the love you put into caring for the family.

—No, forgive me, John — Mary replied — The Lord wants to purify my pride through this.

Before the family arrived, they prayed together to give thanks for the path they were sharing:

—Jesus, help us not to pull out each other’s tares, but to allow You, through them, to transform our hearts.

The difficulty didn’t disappear, but they understood that the other’s weakness could become, by grace, the very path through which the true wheat grows: the love of Christ in their marriage.

Mother, You who are full of Grace, guide me to your Son, the path to eternal life. May He, who redeemed us with His Blood, be blessed and praised for ever.