Gospel

he taught them as one having authority.
Reading from the holy Gospel according to Saint Mark 1:21b-28.

Then they came to Capernaum,
and on the sabbath Jesus entered the synagogue and taught.
The people were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes.
In their synagogue was a man with an unclean spirit; he cried out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?
Have you come to destroy us?
I know who you are—the Holy One of God!”
Jesus rebuked him and said, “Quiet! Come out of him!”
The unclean spirit convulsed him and with a loud cry came out of him.
All were amazed and asked one another, “What is this?
A new teaching with authority.
He commands even the unclean spirits and they obey him.”
His fame spread everywhere throughout the whole region of Galilee

The word of the Lord.

Give me patience.

We are not called to fight against external enemies, but against those within, because the evil that sometimes torments me is in my heart. The Lord has the authority to silence it and to drive it out from within me.

But what are God’s times? God’s time is not measured in hours, but in the heartbeats of the loving Heart of Jesus. His time is the time of His love. Perhaps I have to wait longer than I would like, but it is out of love. He knows when.

Applied to married life:

Fátima: Rafa, sometimes I get a little impatient with you, you know? Because you are so…, let’s call it “calm”, that I have to always wait for you…

Rafa: I’m sorry, Fátima, I was listening to the news and I didn’t hear you. What were you saying? I still haven’t managed to do two things at once. You know?

Fátima: It’s okay, never mind. It wasn’t important.

(Later, while preparing dinner)

Fátima: Rafa, what are you doing standing in front of the microwave?

Rafa: Nothing, I put yesterday’s stew to heat up.

Fátima: And are you going to stand there staring at the microwave for the remaining 20 minutes?

Rafa: Well, because it spins…, it distracts me…

Fátima: You know what I thought? I’ll put a kneeling stool in front of the microwave and a Sacred Heart on top. That way at least, you can take the opportunity to pray for a while.

Rafa: Haha. Okay. And I will put a little Virgin Mary shrine over each switch so you don’t leave the lights on.

Fátima: Haha, in the end, you’re going to make me laugh. Lord, give me patience, because if you give me strength…!

Rafa: Haha

(That day, in prayer, Fátima discovered that the Lord had placed Rafa precisely to help her become more patient)

Mother,

We experience the authority of the Lord in our lives. Praised be forever

GOSPEL

“Who then is this whom even wind and sea obey?”
Reading from the Holy Gospel according to Mark 4:35-41

On that day, as evening drew on, Jesus said to his disciples: “Let us cross to the other side.”
Leaving the crowd, they took Jesus with them in the boat just as he was.
And other boats were with him.
A violent squall came up and waves were breaking over the boat, so that it was already filling up.
Jesus was in the stern, asleep on a cushion.
They woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” He woke up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Quiet! Be still!”
The wind ceased and there was great calm. Then he asked them, “Why are you terrified? Do you not yet have faith?” They were filled with great awe and said to one another, “Who then is this whom even wind and sea obey?”

Word of the Lord.

What I can do and what He can do.

When we are sent on a mission from the Lord, most of us do not feel worthy or capable. But then, I take the risk of seizing the action that God has done through me.
That’s why the Lord, from time to time, pretends to be asleep, even to the point where everything seems to be falling apart, to put us in the truth that all good comes from Him, and we cannot seize His work. So I become aware of what I can do and what He can do. This is humility.

Applied to Married Life:

Rocio: (Chatting while having dinner) Oh Paco. I’m feeling anxious… I start thinking and I keep remembering everything we have to do. I struggle to sleep at night.
Paco: Don’t worry Rocío. God cannot ask us for something He does not give us the grace to fulfill.
Rocío: Yes, like St. Augustine said: Lord, give me what you ask of me and ask me for what you want. But Paco, what are you doing sticking your nose in the glass of water? You’re making a mess of everything!
Paco: I was trying to show you that it’s impossible to drown in a glass of water. Haha. So, there’s no need to even attempt it.
Rocío: Well then show me how you’re going to mop up all the water you spilled, come on, champ. Haha. But well… Thanks because your silliness will help me not to forget it. Our problems are very small compared to God’s power.
Paco: That’s my Rocío! The greatest.

Mother,

The King of the universe and you, the Queen, walk with us. That’s all we need. Thank you, Lord, thank you, Mother.

Gospel

A man were to scatter seed on the land and would sleep and rise night and day and the seed would sprout and grow,
he knows not how.
Reading from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Mark 4, 26-34

Jesus said to the crowds:
“This is how it is with the Kingdom of God; it is as if a man were to scatter seed on the land and would sleep and rise night and day and the seed would sprout and grow, he knows not how.
Of its own accord the land yields fruit,
first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.
And when the grain is ripe, he wields the sickle at once, for the harvest has come.”

He said, “To what shall we compare the Kingdom of God, or what parable can we use for it?
It is like a mustard seed that, when it is sown in the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on the earth.
But once it is sown, it springs up and becomes the largest of plants and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the sky can dwell in its shade.”
With many such parables he spoke the word to them as they were able to understand it.
Without parables he did not speak to them, but to his own disciples he explained everything in private.

The Word of the Lord.

Against a wall.

The kingdom of God is being established in me to the extent that I allow the grace of God to act in my soul. The “sleeping” in the Gospel is not so much about doing nothing as it is about allowing oneself to be acted upon. When I do not allow myself to be acted upon, I find myself up against a wall that I keep hitting until, with humility, I accept my hardness of heart and then overcome it with the strength of grace. Today we invoke the Full of Grace.

Applied to Married Life:

María José: Juan, sometimes I feel like I’m getting stuck on my spiritual path. I think it’s because I don’t submit to you. I rebel against that idea. Whereas you, you submit very often.
Juan: Well, I have other walls that I also struggle to overcome, María José, but it’s true that without mutual submission we cannot build a beautiful confluence between us.
María José: It’s just beyond my strength.
Juan: Of course, because it is the grace of God who does it. Ask for it and you will see how it helps you.
María José: Hey, what about that pimple that has come up on your back?
Juan: That is because the kingdom of God is already within me. Three weeks ago, I pulled a muscle and I was stiff. That was the stem. The following week, I grew a tuft of hair back there. That was the ear. And finally, the grain has come out!
María José: Haha, you’re such a joker, Nene.
Juan: So that you laugh better, Nena.

Mother,

In reality, everything revolves around being obedient to the action of grace, but that too is grace. Give us that grace, blessed Mother.

GOSPEL

Go into the whole world
and proclaim the Gospel to every creature. Reading from the Holy Gospel according to Mark 16:15-18

Jesus appeared to the Eleven and said to them:
“Go into the whole world
and proclaim the Gospel to every creature.
Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved;
whoever does not believe will be condemned.
These signs will accompany those who believe:
in my name they will drive out demons,
they will speak new languages.
They will pick up serpents with their hands,
and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not harm them.
They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

The Lord’s word.

They will not harm you.

Silvia: What a blessing we have with Conjugate Love Project, Nacho. God has given us the opportunity to have a place to talk about Him. And married couples come to listen! It’s incredible.
Nacho: Of course. And how much this helps our marriage to go together in pairs to proclaim the Gospel. Because you believe in the Gospel, don’t you, Silvia?
Silvia: Of course! Down to the last comma. And that big box you brought, what is it?
Nacho: Open it and you’ll see.
Silvia: Aaaaaagh! A snake! What a horror! How scary. It’s okay that with your new business you fill the house with strange creatures, but a snake!
Nacho: Hahaha
Silvia: It’s not funny. And what if it bites us?
Nacho: Don’t worry. It doesn’t do anything. Besides, didn’t you believe in the Gospel? Well, today the Lord says, “they will pick up snakes with their hands and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not harm them.” Hahaha

Mother,

How much the Lord protects us from evil. How much we perceive His grace. Praise be to God.

GOSPEL

A sower went out to sow.
Reading from the holy Gospel according to Mark 4, 1-20

On another occasion, Jesus began to teach by the sea.
A very large crowd gathered around him
so that he got into a boat on the sea and sat down.
And the whole crowd was beside the sea on land.
And he taught them at length in parables,
and in the course of his instruction he said to them,
“Hear this! A sower went out to sow.
And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path,
and the birds came and ate it up.
Other seed fell on rocky ground where it had little soil.
It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep.
And when the sun rose, it was scorched and it withered for lack of roots.
Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it
and it produced no grain.
And some seed fell on rich soil and produced fruit.
It came up and grew and yielded thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.”
He added, “Whoever has ears to hear ought to hear.”

And when he was alone,
those present along with the Twelve
questioned him about the parables.
He answered them,
“The mystery of the Kingdom of God has been granted to you.
But to those outside everything comes in parables, so that
they may look and see but not perceive,
and hear and listen but not understand,
in order that they may not be converted and be forgiven.”

Jesus said to them, “Do you not understand this parable?
Then how will you understand any of the parables?
The sower sows the word.
These are the ones on the path where the word is sown.
As soon as they hear, Satan comes at once
and takes away the word sown in them.
And these are the ones sown on rocky ground who,
when they hear the word, receive it at once with joy.
But they have no roots; they last only for a time.
Then when tribulation or persecution comes because of the word,
they quickly fall away.
Those sown among thorns are another sort.
They are the people who hear the word,
but worldly anxiety, the lure of riches,
and the craving for other things intrude and choke the word,
and it bears no fruit.
But those sown on rich soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it
and bear fruit thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.”

The word of the Lord.

The umbrella, upside down.

It seems that God always sends us the graces we need. The question is, am I open enough to receive them? And this is the key. If I do not make progress, it is because I am closed off to receiving them or being perseverant in them. Effetá: Open up! I need to open myself to God’s will, to His grace. To receive His Word and be willing to let Him work in me, day after day, and another day, and another day, and another…

Applied to Married Life:

Arzanegui: What a rainy day. I’m soaked. I’m going to change and then come with you to pray together. Okay? I’m really looking forward to it!

Carlos: Okay, Arzanegui. I’ll be waiting for you eagerly.

(After a few minutes, Arzanegui comes out of the dressing room and finds Carlos lying on the bed with an open umbrella upside down)

Arzanegui: Carlos, what are you doing in bed with that umbrella open? Is there a leak?

Carlos: Nooo, don’t worry. I just want to love you more and for that I need to be filled with more of God’s grace. So I’ve put the umbrella upside down to receive all the rain of graces that will come with our prayer tonight.

Arzanegui: I don’t know if you will gather grace, but you will definitely find me, as I am melting for you. Haha

Carlos: Mmmm! Can I dunk bread in it? Haha

Mother,

May we always be willing to grow in love. Praise be to God, who gives us His grace to make it possible.