Gospel of the Day
From the Gospel according to Luke
9:43b–45
While they were all amazed at his every deed, Jesus said to his disciples:
“Pay attention to what I am telling you. The Son of Man is to be handed over to men.”
But they did not understand this saying; its meaning was hidden from them so that they should not understand it, and they were afraid to ask him about this saying.
Different Languages
In this Gospel, the Lord speaks to His disciples, but they do not understand what He is telling them. Their Master’s language seems obscure to them, and they fail to grasp its meaning.
The same thing often happens to us as spouses: we do not understand one another and we misinterpret what our spouse is saying, almost as though we were speaking different languages.
In reality, they are different languages, because men tend to communicate in a more conceptual way, while women’s communication is often more emotional. The same words can take on different meanings for one and the other, and this can confuse us and prevent us from grasping their deeper meaning.
Spouses, in order to build our communion, we must make the effort to allow ourselves to be known and to know the heart of our spouse and their feelings, which give meaning to their words. In this way, we can try to put ourselves in our spouse’s place. To do this, we need to know how they think, how they communicate, and the deepest parts of their heart.
How necessary conjugal prayer is for us to reach this mutual knowledge of one another’s innermost selves! What are we waiting for?
Applied to Married Life
Nuria: What’s wrong, Nacho? You seem so distant.
Nacho: You know, Nuria… I just can’t understand you. You tell me I don’t do anything, but this morning I took the children to school before going to work. When I got home, I emptied the dishwasher and put everything away. Then I went through the accounts to check our spending and make sure we can make ends meet. We went to the Eucharist together…
Nuria: You see? You’re talking about specific things. What I feel is that these past few days you’ve been distant from me, that you haven’t shown me those little signs of affection, and that you’re not doing anything to build our communion.
Nacho: And what else do you want me to do, on top of everything I’m already doing?
Nuria: I think I need more prayer with you, more conjugal prayer. We haven’t prayed together for several days, and I can feel the difference.
Nacho: It’s just that I’m going through a particularly busy period at work and I barely have any time. And when I come to bed, you’re already asleep or you’re exhausted.
Nuria: We can’t carry on like this. We need to prioritise what matters most, what is truly important: our marriage, our conjugal communion. Let’s agree on a time and set aside some time every day so that we don’t neglect what is essential: praying more, filling our hearts with what is good, with God’s Love, and making sure we don’t miss our conjugal prayer. If you don’t have time to empty the dishwasher, I’ll do it. That isn’t as important.
Nacho: Look at that! You’re always saying you don’t like doing it, so I had made that a priority because I thought it would make you happier…
Nuria: Don’t stop doing it! Of course it helps me, and I really appreciate it… but not at the expense of missing our prayer together.
Nacho: I can see that I still find it difficult to understand you sometimes. But the truth is that conjugal prayer has brought us much closer together, and it helps me to know you more deeply. All right, let’s make our prayer a priority from now on.
Mother,
teach us to pray, so that we may fill our hearts with the things of God and empty them of the things of the world, as you did, and thus bear abundant fruits of Love.
Blessed and glorious are you, Mother!
Praised be the Lord for ever!