GOSPEL

From the Gospel according to John
Jn 1:19-28

This is the testimony of John.
When the Jews from Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to him
to ask him, “Who are you?”
he admitted and did not deny it, but admitted,
“I am not the Christ.”
So they asked him,
“What are you then? Are you Elijah?”
And he said, “I am not.”
“Are you the Prophet?”
He answered, “No.”
So they said to him,
“Who are you, so we can give an answer to those who sent us?
What do you have to say for yourself?”
He said:
“I am the voice of one crying out in the desert,
‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’
as Isaiah the prophet said.”
Some Pharisees were also sent.
They asked him,
“Why then do you baptize
if you are not the Christ or Elijah or the Prophet?”
John answered them,
“I baptize with water;
but there is one among you whom you do not recognize,
the one who is coming after me,
whose sandal strap I am not worthy to untie.”
This happened in Bethany across the Jordan,
where John was baptising.

The word of the Lord

Dispense with sorrow.

According to Pope Francis, sorrow persists within us because, in moments of sadness, one becomes the central figure, whereas allowing oneself to be reconciled requires stepping aside to welcome the Spirit. This parallels John’s actions, stepping aside to make way for the Messiah.
Indeed, Lord, perhaps I find comfort in dwelling on complaints and self-pity because there I take the leading role. Both attitudes mirror my vanity. However, authentic joy arises from embracing the sentiment expressed by Our Mother in the Magnificat: My spirit delights in God, my Savior. The key is to step aside, akin to John, allowing You, Lord, to take center stage in my life.

Applied to marital life:

Albert: Spouse, how can I combat my pride and vanity?
Evelyn: Overcome them with your joy.
Albert: Do you believe I possess the gift of joy?
Evelyn: Undoubtedly, God bestowed it upon you for service. When you’re joyful, your demeanor transforms, spreading positivity; nothing perturbs you as you jest about everything… It’s delightful to be in your company.
Albert: Thank you, Evelyn. Your words inspire hope; I’ll implement this approach henceforth.

Mother,

Mary, our Mother, grant us the ability to step aside, setting aside the sorrow we anticipate in our relationship, to embrace the joy that God instills in my husband and our marriage. Through Jesus Christ Our Lord. Amen.

GOSPEL

The shepherds went in haste to Bethlehem and found Mary and Joseph,
and the infant lying in the manger. When eight days were completed, he was named Jesus,
Reading from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Luke 2, 16-21

The shepherds went in haste to Bethlehem and found Mary and Joseph,
and the infant lying in the manger.
When they saw this,
they made known the message
that had been told them about this child.
All who heard it were amazed
by what had been told them by the shepherds.
And Mary kept all these things,
reflecting on them in her heart.
Then the shepherds returned,
glorifying and praising God
for all they had heard and seen,
just as it had been told to them.

When eight days were completed for his circumcision,
he was named Jesus, the name given him by the angel
before he was conceived in the womb.

The word of the Lord.

How he acts!

Mary, today we celebrate that you are the Mother of God. Precious blessing from the Father for you, full of grace. I imagine you surprised at the arrival of the shepherds who came to praise the Child. Admirable how God acts, how he does things. He calls the little ones and the poor to be the first to know His coming and have the opportunity to worship Him. What a simple call, what finesse in His loving acts. How little fanfare he gives himself, and to this unique moment in the history of humanity, in which God becomes one of so many to teach man to be human.

Precious action of God, so simple, so silent, so beautifully full of humility. Today, Mother, like you, I keep all these things in my heart to meditate on them.

Applied to married life:

Andrés: Carmen, I have been contemplating our life since we consecrated ourselves to the Virgin. I have reviewed how God has been acting in our hearts, in our marriage, in our children… I see His loving hand in our lives. Life becomes wonderful when one puts oneself in God’s hands. Very slowly, with apparent setbacks at times and in many circumstances filled with opportunities to learn and grow, He acts, He loves us so much…
Carmen: The first miracle is listening to these precious reflections of yours. A few years ago, it would have been unthinkable. Everything has changed so much…. The best thing we have done is to say Yes to God and put ourselves at His disposal. There cannot be a more beautiful life than the one God has planned for us. But for that, we must have a soul awake through prayer to be close to Him.
Andrés: Glory to God.
Carmen: Thank you, blessed Mother.

Mother,

You teach us with Your life. Blessed be you! Take us under your mantle and take care of all the marriages and families of Proyecto Amor Conyugal in this new year that God gives us, as only you know how to do. We love you!

GOSPEL

She gave thanks to God and spoke about the child
to all who were awaiting the redemption of Jerusalem.
Reading from the holy Gospel according to Saint Luke 2, 36-40

There was a prophetess, Anna,
the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher.
She was advanced in years,
having lived seven years with her husband after her marriage,
and then as a widow until she was eighty-four.
She never left the temple,
but worshiped night and day with fasting and prayer.
And coming forward at that very time,
she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child
to all who were awaiting the redemption of Jerusalem.

When they had fulfilled all the prescriptions
of the law of the Lord,
they returned to Galilee,
to their own town of Nazareth.
The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom;
and the favor of God was upon him.
The word of the Lord.

Complaints and praises.

We see in Anna a woman, very old, yet full of life. She arrives praising God. Can one be complaining and praising God at the same time? Can one be bitter and praise God? Anna was happy in her old age because she had dedicated her entire life to surrendering herself to God. First as a wife, then as a widow, but with her heart set on the love of God and allowing herself to be filled with the love of God. She spoke to everyone about the Lord, communicating to them the love she had received from Him.

As a husband, I know that the only thing preventing me from being happy in life is myself when I do not focus my heart on God, but instead, put my joy and hope in my expectations. If I want to live happily even in old age, I have to set my heart on the Lord, serving the Lord through my vocation.

As the catechism says: Man has been created by God and for God, and only in God will he find the truth and happiness that he constantly seeks.

Applied to married life:

Antonio: Lately, you’ve been complaining a lot, not giving me the attention I need, and I can’t be happy like this.

Marga: I feel the same way. I don’t feel valued by you, you ask things of me that you don’t do yourself… and I don’t feel you in my heart.

Antonio: We need to do something, but certainly, looking at ourselves won’t get us anywhere. That’s not love.

Marga: I think the solution is that we stop looking at ourselves and start being spouses not to receive from the other, but to give glory to God, with our hearts set on God. It’s a decision: I am going to love you, specifically you, because it’s the mission God has entrusted to me and because He is in you.

Antonio: You’re right. God doesn’t deserve us to respond like this after creating us with love and assigning us this wonderful marital mission, with all its excitement, so that we become saints through it. Let’s love each other with our eyes on Him. I’m beginning to regain joy!

Marga: Yes, and hope. Let’s go for it! I’m going to love you so much, you’re going to be amazed!

Antonio: Haha, and I to you. You’re going to be amazed!

Mother,

We seek happiness outside of God and we won’t find it. We need constant conversion to regain the true perspective, which will allow us to be happy until the end of our days. Surrendering ourselves for God and with God. Glory to God!

GOSPEL

The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom.
Reading from the Holy Gospel according to Luke 2:36-40

There was a prophetess, Anna,
the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher.
She was advanced in years,
having lived seven years with her husband after her marriage,
and then as a widow until she was eighty-four.
She never left the temple,
but worshiped night and day with fasting and prayer.
And coming forward at that very time,
she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child
to all who were awaiting the redemption of Jerusalem.

When they had fulfilled all the prescriptions
of the law of the Lord,
they returned to Galilee,
to their own town of Nazareth.
The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom;
and the favor of God was upon him.

This is the Word of the Lord.

Masterpiece.

God wanted to be a part of a family, and by doing so, besides dignifying it, He teaches us that this is the means to enter human life, to grow and strengthen as people. In the family, there is an authority of the parents that seeks to free their children from the slavery of sin, an obedience of the children that fulfills them and builds them up, an equality of differences in which, being all of equal dignity, we live with our great differences, a communion in which reciprocal love is lived like nowhere else, a love that unites us and makes the family possible despite our imperfections, and the Peace of Christ that redeems our relationships time and time again. This is the wealth of the family.
What a great miracle of God the family is, what beauty of creation, capable of reflecting the Family that is God.

Applied to married life:

Husband: My wife is key in taking care of the small details. She has been crucial for the growth in faith of our family. She is the one who always seeks to understand the other, who shows close affection towards our children. She is the delicacy, the tenderness of the family.
Wife: My husband is the head of the family. He is like the pillar to which all the rest of us cling. He provides strength, security, and when he says yes, it is a firm yes. He greatly helps in the steadfastness of our children, teaches them to mature in life, and loves them from that apparent distance of someone who, above all sentimentality, wants their well-being.
Both parents: Our children are a gift from God. Bringing them forward in life costs us our very lives, but that is precisely what fills us: Giving our lives to see them grow healthy (especially spiritually). It is an honor that God places these children of His under our authority; they will be our siblings in Christ for all eternity, if He wills it.
Children: Our parents are a demonstration of God’s abundance. Seeing how our parents have devoted themselves to us, we understand a little more how much God loves us. We have a debt to them that we can never repay. So many sleepless nights, so many worries, so many hours spent teaching us, educating us… The honor of having witnessed firsthand a testimony of love, seeing them love each other, strive, ask for forgiveness…

Father,

Thank you for the family you have given us. Thank you because love and family communion have been and are essential for all. Thank you because in it, we have known you and learned to pray. Thank you because it is clear that the family is your masterpiece born from your creative hand. Praise be to you, Lord.

GOSPEL

A light to reveal you to the nations.
Reading from the holy Gospel according to Saint Luke 2, 22-35

When the days were completed for their purification according to the law of Moses, the parents of Jesus took him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord, just as it is written in the law of the Lord, Every male that opens the womb shall be consecrated to the Lord, and to offer the sacrifice of a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons, in accordance with the dictate in the law of the Lord.
Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. This man was righteous and devout, awaiting the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he should not see death before he had seen the Christ of the Lord. He came in the Spirit into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to perform the custom of the law in regard to him, he took him into his arms and blessed God, saying: “Lord, now let your servant go in peace; your word has been fulfilled: my own eyes have seen the salvation which you prepared in the sight of every people, a light to reveal you to the nations and the glory of your people Israel.”
The child’s father and mother were amazed at what was said about him; and Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be contradicted (and you yourself a sword will pierce) so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.”

The Word of the Lord.

Unsatisfied.

If we were not unsatisfied, we would not move. In this life, we will live with permanent dissatisfaction until our last days. This dissatisfaction, of which we speak, can drag me to despair, because I cannot seem to find what I am looking for, because my desires are not fully satisfied. Our marriage is heading towards a constant search for perfection, for mutual understanding, for that love that never seems to be fully satisfied. The missing piece to stabilize and balance this permanent dissatisfaction is called Hope. The Song of Songs reflects very well that beautiful search between the lover and the beloved that does not cease, but always hopes to reach the summit. Simeon’s key was that, the Hope that arises from faith and leads to peace.

Applied to married life:

Almudena: I feel like giving up. I don’t know what else to do for our marriage. And it seems like my husband doesn’t care at all, he does nothing, doesn’t make an effort, I always have to do everything… Marriage mentor: We believe you need more hours of adoration before the Blessed Sacrament. Almudena: But what does that have to do with it? The problem is with my husband, he’s not making an effort. Marriage mentor: That’s what you believe, the problem is that you lack faith, and that’s why you’re losing hope. You base your arguments on your efforts, on what you do, on what your husband does, and you don’t realize that your marriage is a work of God. You lack faith. Trust us. Adore the Blessed Sacrament and you’ll see. (A few weeks later) Almudena: You were right. I felt so small by His side… Thank you. I have renewed my sacrament with a renewed hope.

Mother,

We have faith, but increase our faith to continue living our vocation with Hope and reach peace. Praise the Lord. Only He is enough.