 
General Theme: Means of perseverance General Objective: To grow in our relationship with God through fraternal love Objective of the week: To reflect and deepen on Fraternal love INTRODUCTION We continue deepening in the means of perseverance. For several weeks we focused our reflection on prayer in order to improve our relationship with God. During our life here on earth we face a constant growth in our friendship with God and in our prayer life which leads us to live out the great commandment of Jesus as written in Mt 22:36-40 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law? Jesus answered, Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the most important commandment. The second most important commandment is like it: Love your neighbor as you love yourself. The whole Law of Moses and the teachings of the prophets depend on these two commandments." VDMD[1] Regulation # 75 “The VDMFa[2] has the Four Exercises as a means for us to live out our spirituality and mission. These are: - exercise of prayer - exercise of fraternal love - exercise of the cross and humility -exercise of mission The four exercises have their foundation in the life of Jesus. He taught His disciples to pray, love, and evangelize based on a foundation of humility. Through these exercises, the Holy Spirit forms and transforms the disciple into Christ.” The “Four Exercises” were introduced by our founder, Jaime Bonet, in his preaching in the spiritual exercises of 1993-1994. He saw that they were a help to discover the will of God in a way that is affective, in that the person feels loved and called to participate in the Trinitarian Love and it is effective, as one discovers the best way to make God’s will for him/her into reality. Secondly, Jaime saw that in order to allow God’s will to truly condition and permeate one’s life and vocation, the disciple’s hierarchy of values needed to be transformed; this is the fruit of the “Four Exercises” and of our daily prayer. What our world lacks are not ideas but people who are in love with God and who are living out their faith effectively in their daily options. The two following weeks we will center our reflection on “Fraternal Love” which is very vital and necessary if we wish to be effective in the task of evangelization. IMVDMFa[3] # 76 “The experience of fraternal love established by Jesus centers the existence of the VDMFa in making the Kingdom visible and committing to it. This is, in effect, the distinguishing mark of the VDMFa, as a Christian community.” [1] VDMD - Verbum Dei Missionary Disciples [2] VDMFa – Verbum Dei Missionary Family [3] IMVDMFa - Identity and Mission of the Verbum Dei Missionary Family MONDAY “Be One in the Journey With the Spirit of Christian Community” VDMD Regulation # 80 The VDMFa, gathers around the table of the Eucharist: around common prayer, the breaking of the bread, the fraternal community of goods, and the teachings. In this way, in the same Euchariatic love, we become the seed of small evangelizing communities that are transforming the world through the prayer of the Word of God IMVDMFa # 77 The sources of the Verbum Dei spirituality, from which we drink and in which we consolidate our self-giving, are also the first foundation of our fraternal love. John 15:1-27 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes[a] so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. 5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. 9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. 17 This is my command: Love each other. 18 “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. 19 If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. 20 Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’[b] If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. 21 They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the one who sent me. 22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin. 23 Whoever hates me hates my Father as well. 24 If I had not done among them the works no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. As it is, they have seen, and yet they have hated both me and my Father. 25 But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: ‘They hated me without reason.’[c] 26 “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me. 27 And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning. John 7:37-39; 37 On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”[a] 39 By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified. It is a beautiful picture of Fraternal Love in which Jesus Himself is so concerned for each one of us not to be astray from His flock. To sustain our journey together to heaven, He invites us to come to Him and drink in His fountain of love to be spiritually strong for our journey is a long and rough road to travel. As much as Jesus promised us to abide in Him and He in us to bear much fruit, we too shall embrace our brothers and sisters who need our special care and attention so that they could be guided back to the flock where Christ is our real Vine. Our self-giving is an essential tool in increasing a community of faith.
TUESDAY “Trinitarian Love of The Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit is the origin and source of all love” IMVDMFa # 78 The personal and communitarian living of the Trinitarian love is, for the VDMFa, the best source of communion, making his Kingdom present among us. The love shared by the Trinity unites us with stable bonds of love and friendship, and makes it possible to present to the world in a credible way the project of love of God the Father: that we come to love as Jesus has loved us, through the power of his Spirit. VD Statutes # 72 The divine charity, essence of the same God, without which nothing can be and many things can take advantage of us, is the vital nucleus of the Kingdom of God, of all the fraternity and of each individual. This fontal love of God, is the origin and source of all loves, laws and norms of all Christian life. 1 Corinthians 13: 4-7. 11-13; 4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. 13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. Matthew 20:25-28; 25 Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 26 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— 28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” The Trinity shows us what fraternal love and how it is expressed to our brothers and sisters. The Trinity is our model in practicing Fraternal love. Fraternal love that unites us the members of the community, for the simplicity of our lives, for the mission we undertake, and for persevering fidelity to the charism. Fraternal love is said to be a constant diffusion of the sweet perfume of Trinity's love so that the most diverse circumstances may point to peace even for the confused and fragmented members of our modern society.
WEDNESDAY “The Spirit of” IMVDMFa # 80 With the spirit of the first Christian community, the VDMFa gathers around the table of the Eucharist: around common prayer, the breaking of the bread, the fraternal communion of goods and the teaching. In this way, in the same Eucharistic love, we become the seed of small evangelizing communities that are transforming the world through the power of the Word of God. Acts 2:43-47; 4:32-35 43 Awe came upon everyone, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. 44 All who believed were together and had all things in common; 45 they would sell their property and possessions and divide them among all according to each one’s need. 46 Every day they devoted themselves to meeting together in the temple area and to breaking bread in their homes. They ate their meals with exultation and sincerity of heart, 47 praising God and enjoying favor with all the people. And every day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved. 32 The community of believers was of one heart and mind, and no one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they had everything in common. 33 With great power the apostles bore witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great favor was accorded them all. 34 There was no needy person among them, for those who owned property or houses would sell them, bring the proceeds of the sale, 35 and put them at the feet of the apostles, and they were distributed to each according to need. Prayer brings us together as a community with shared purpose and intention to serve and to love the Lord and each other. The Word of God unites us towards a common mission and desire to proclaim His word and love. Prayer also nourishes our fraternal love. It makes us sensitive to the needs of our brothers and sisters, and moves us to reach out to them.
THURSDAY “We are brothers and sisters in union with Christ” IMVDMFa # 81 The intimate union of the apostle with the Total Christ will make us feel vitally linked with all our brothers and sisters, with ties stronger than those of flesh and blood. This awareness in the members of the VDMFa becomes the source and motor of our fraternal relations with everyone, raising up the desire for a universal love for those who are near and those who are far away. Feeling, with the Church, the fraternal heartbeat, healthy or sick, leads us to love everyone with Christ and like Him, without exception or any discrimination. VD Statutes # 71 The Verbum Dei community, fed by the Trinitarian Love of God in the breast of our Mother, the Catholic Church, won’t do less than assimilate the same impulse and universal dynamism that transforms the community into a living and revitalizing cell of Christ's Mystical Body and expression of the Kingdom of God on earth. Matthew 10:37 “Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me” Matthew 12:46-50 While he was still speaking to the crowds, his mother and his brethren appeared. They were standing outside, wishing to speak with him. Someone told him, “Behold, your mother and your brothers are standing outside. They want to speak with you.” But Jesus replied to that man, “Who is my mother? Who are my brethren? Then, pointing to his disciples, he said, “Behold, my mother and my brethren. Whoever does the will of my heavenly Father is my brother and sister and mother.” It is human nature that we are attached or close to those with whom we have blood relations, especially our immediate family. This is a cherished family value, however, this can also become a reason for some families or individuals to be exclusive, limiting the possibility to extend their tents beyond family ties. Fraternal love as exemplified by Jesus however, teaches us that our ties are not limited to blood relations. Rather, our union with Christ makes us all brothers and sisters. Jesus makes us His family members sinners and righteous alike. He saves all of us, without exception. We are invited to love like Jesus. To do this, we should always be vitally united to Him, so that we can love and obey Him. By doing so, fraternal loving becomes a necessity, we can love our brothers and sisters unconditionally. We can become open to universal love without reservation or prejudices.
FRIDAY “Fraternal Love... A Grace and A Gift, Accompanied by Mary our Mother” IMVDMFa # 82 The growth in love involves a path of progress and setbacks, fruit of the constant and renewed effort, founded in the grace of God and especially in his mercy. The presence of Mary, Mother of the Church and of Verbum Dei, is fundamental in this patient path of gestating a family of faith according to the values of the Gospel. VD Statues # 210 All our existence is projected with Mary's maternal look on the Mystical Body of Christ that is still suffering today. It is dying and resurrecting in its members in all latitudes. Mary accompanies us and she encourages us to repeat in our lives Christ's Paschal mystery, of death and resurrection, for her children's redemption. John 19:25-27 25 Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, “Woman,[a] here is your son,” 27 and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home. Acts 1:12-14 12 Then the apostles returned to Jerusalem from the hill called the Mount of Olives, a Sabbath day’s walk[a] from the city. 13 When they arrived, they went upstairs to the room where they were staying. Those present were Peter, John, James and Andrew; Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew; James son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. 14 They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers. Have you realized why you still exist in your discipleship up to this present moment? What holds you here? "Fraternal Love is like this, " It is the kind of love where I would do anything to help him and I know he would do the same." A grace and a gift to your discipleship is the answer. The love of our Father in heaven flows us through Jesus. A love that flows from God to the whole of humanity. What a lovely gesture from our God! Jesus is showing to us concretely today that He himself is trusted by the Father to become the source of this love. That even to the point of His death He entrusted us to His own Mother Mary. Whom, very willing to extend the love of God to all of us. Where she became the mother of the whole of humanity. We are reminded today that we must have an open heart to be accompanied in both personal and communitarian ways. That way, we can learn how to accompany others. Fraternal Love is like this: " It is the kind of love where I would do anything to help him and I know he would do the same." Let us be grateful to our Mother Mary, for she continues to guide and teach us about fraternal love until this very moment.
SUNDAY 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time 1st Reading: Wisdom 2:2,17-20
Psalm: Psalm 54:3-8 2nd Reading: James 3:16-4:3 Gospel: Mark 9:30-37
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About the Guidelines SheetThe Guidelines sheet is a prayer guide with the Word of God to help us journey together and be one in our weekly prayer as one community. This contains daily passages from scriptures together with reflections focused on a common theme and intention for the week. Archives
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