 
General Theme: Means of perseverance General Objective: To grow in our relationship with God through fraternal love Objective of the week: How to love as Jesus did? Characteristics of fraternal love INTRODUCTION We continue this week with the reflection on fraternal love. We usually prioritize prayer thinking that it´s the main means of perseverance. Be reminded of the four means of perseverance that are interconnected in a way that we need to practice the four exercises(prayer, fraternal love, humility and cross and mission) in following Jesus closely. REGULATION VDMDs 79: The exercise of fraternal love is a visible fruit of a truly affective and effective prayer and fruit of a living faith. In prayer, we love Christ the Head, and in exercising love for those around us, we love Christ in his members. It is this deepening friendship with Jesus which makes his love permeate our relationships with others. We desire the best for them by giving them what will truly satisfy the heart, the love of God. We are the bearers of Christ, his living letters to others, to show that Christ is alive. 2 Corinthians 3:2-3 “You yourselves are the letter we have, written on our hearts for everyone to know and read. It is clear that Christ himself wrote this letter and sent it to us. It is written, not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, and not on stone tablets but on human hearts.” REGULATION VDMDs 80: First of all, faith transforms our way of seeing, such that we come to treat the other as a child of God. Also, in small or large gestures, visible or not, this exercise gradually transforms our quality of love into the same love of Christ, who loved his own to the end (Jn 13:1) REGULATION VDMDs 94: Our desire as VDMDs is to express God's love by making the command of Jesus visible in our everyday life: "Love one another as I have loved you. By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."(Jn 13:33-34). God invites us to be the human cords of love with which God draws people to Himself (Hosea 11:4) This means incarnating in us the attitudes and gestures of Jesus' love in our lives: humility, gentleness, service, forgiveness, acceptance, generosity and respect. MONDAY “Unconditional love, a transparency of faith” IMVDMFa 79 The unconditional love of God, who first loved us, leads us to desire that all his children may participate in the family of God. His love for humanity is a love like that of a father and mother, a faithful spouse, a brother and friend, forming the basis of the warmth of home and gratuitous relationships that unite us as God’s family. IMVDMFa 87 The fraternal love lived out in the VDMFa signifies friendship, and gratuitous, committed and unconditional love; it supposes environments of trust in which each one may grow as a person and as a disciple of Jesus, where they can enjoy the closeness of the other and the gift that each one is for the whole VDMFa. Luke 6: 27-38 “But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. 29 If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. 30 Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. 31 Do to others as you would have them do to you. 32 “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. 34 And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full. 35 But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. 36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. 37 “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. 38 Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” Romans 12:17-21 17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. 18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19 Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,”[a] says the Lord. 20 On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; If he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”[b] 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Prayer defines our faith in God while fraternal love defines our faith in action. Fraternal love is a reflection of our intimacy with Jesus. Each person is God's instrument of love and a gift for us to demonstrate our intimate relationship with Him, where we can exercise our hearts to love, to care, to forgive, and to transmit Christ. Our transparency creates an atmosphere of the living presence of God. Let us not waste the grace and the privilege of the Word of God to ponder, live, and enjoy the source of the fullness of life.
TUESDAY “Mutual help co-responsible for one another” IMVDMFa 88 Fraternal love is translated into mutual help to live the Verbum Dei charism from the concrete reality of each one. This implies, according to the different ways of belonging, the sharing of faith and the communion of material and spiritual goods, necessary so that everyone may live the charism according to their possibilities. Our commitment in the help to form and capacitate ourselves to carry out faithfully our mission is reflected in concrete gestures which express the co responsibility with our brothers and sisters in the various dimensión of human life. IMVDMFa 86 For each member, the VDMFa will constitute a support network, a homely environment, especially in the midst of the dispersion of life in the great urban centers, where Christian identity is also dispersed amidst a globalized context. The members of the VDMFa feel co-responsible for one another, mutually helping each other to discover and develop to the maximum their vocation to love and baptismal consecration. The love of Christ brings us to welcome and value the individuality and diversity of each one, promoting their personal and communitarian response. Romans 12:9-13 9 Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10 Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. 11 Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. 12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 13 Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality. Romans 13:8-10 8 Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. 9 The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,”[a] and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”[b] 10 Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. Galatians 6:10 10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers. Dearest brothers and sisters showing concerns also for the good of our brothers and sisters and working side by side respecting the uniqueness of each on is another manifestation that we mature in our loving and this is a continuous process, an act worth to exercise each day not only to people closest to us but to everybody we meet, believing that each one of us is special in the eyes of God and we are all brothers and sisters. We are all invited by Jesus to be his disciple in the manner of how he Loves each one of His disciples and to all the people He met, and also learn the meaning of His Word when He said, “Love one another. As I have loved you, so you also must love one another. 35By this everyone will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another.”
WEDNESDAY “Specific mutual help: revision of life” REGULATION VDMDs 99 The lived experience of fraternal love in the VDMFa is born from the heart of God and compels us to mission. The fraternal commitment among us leads us to form fraternal communities within the VDMFa. In addition, we want to take care of shared moments of prayer and liturgical celebration and express our communion with fraternal gestures and attitudes. One of the ways we can express our fraternal commitment to one another is our mutual help through the Revision of Life. IMVDMFa 90.8 Having the revision of life, which is an effective means for living out the fraternal and communitarian commitment, helps us to realize the authentic meaning of a family forged in the love of Christ. It is a real contagion of faith and of the love of Jesus. In it, respecting the freedom of each one, we commit ourselves to defend and to maximize the potential of each person, their values and talents, to better respond to the vocation and mission to which the Lord has called and gathered us together in a common ideal. VD STATUES 266 The revision of life has as objective the fraternal help so that the following of Jesus be faithful. It helps to assure that the vocation be holy and that the mission be effective. VD STATUTES 270 This concrete, real and effective application of true charity and fraternal love, that is defended by the revision of life responsibly taken, constitutes our principal mission and apostolic activity. VD STATUTES 273 An authentic revision of life, guided and revised from Christ's evangelical optics, will maintain alive among us the same love of Jesus, and increase it, for which we will be able to live in the same life as the Trinity and the life of Christ's Mystical Body. Thereby we may reveal to the world the genuine face of God. Ephesians 3:14-19 For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Revision of life is a way for us to support each other to journey in faith throughout our realities of life. Through the eyes of faith we learn to see Jesus at work in our life and that of others widens, deepens, strengthens our understanding of God and his presence in our life. When we reflect on how God works in our life through the experiences of faith of our brothers and sisters we learn to discover how Christ’s way of life transforms ours.
THURSDAY “Specific mutual help: spiritual direction” REGULATION VDMDs 59 In this stage of discipleship we can choose a qualified spiritual director. 34 This accompaniment is vital to be able to discern the will of God in our life. As VDMD, we will have an open dialogue with our spiritual director about specific situations relating to our conscience and internal forum. The Revision of Life and spiritual accompaniment are two means with a different purpose. While the Revision of Life is a commitment to mutual help and to share faith in everyday circumstances, spiritual accompaniment is a means that helps to discern the will of God. VD STATUTES 275 The spiritual direction that we also call ‘opening’, is a half indispensable one that helps us to discern the light of the Spirit and the Father's will for us in each situation and circumstance, above our own personal desires, and to be faithful in sharing it. It frees us from being conditioned by people or things that would impede or slow down our following of Jesus. VD STATUTES 277 The spiritual direction will consist in accompanying the people so that they obey the initiatives of God with readiness and fidelity and so that they learn to be governed by the faith, until they have an attitude of total docility and joy in the Lord. Our life can then be a clear testimony of how God frees people from the selfishness that would constantly interfere with and hinder our following of Christ. VD STATUTES 278 Until we are clearly faithful to the guidance of the Spirit and the fruits of the Spirit are seen in our lives, our continuous exercise of formation will consist of practicing an active and generous obedience to the same Spirit that is our guide and is the strength in us. We will pray to the Father with ineffable wailings in favour of our sanctification. Romans 8:5-8 Those who live according to the flesh fix their attention on the things of the flesh, while those who live according to the Spirit set their thoughts on spiritual things. 6 The desires of the flesh result in death, but the desires of the Spirit result in life and peace. 7 Indeed, the desires of the flesh will be hostile to God, for they do not submit to the Law of God, nor could they do so. 8 Those who live according to the flesh can never be pleasing to God. Romans 12:1-2 1 Therefore, brethren, I implore you by the mercies of God to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice that is holy and acceptable to God—a spiritual act of worship. 2 Do not be conformed to the world, but be transformed by the renewal of your minds, so that you will be able to discern the will of God and to know what is good and acceptable and perfect. The journey of discipleship is a challenging one. We are constantly exposed to so many worldly influences that can threaten our calling to remain with Jesus, thus we need to be accompanied spiritually, in order to discern the will of God through spiritual direction. Spiritual direction is to direct the disciple according to the light of the Holy Spirit. As it is said in our VD Statutes that it's an “opening” that helps us to discern the light of the Spirit and the Father's will for us in each situation and circumstance, above our own personal desires, and to be faithful in sharing it. It frees us from being conditioned by people or things that would impede or slow down our following of Jesus. Our spiritual director will guide us so we become open to the Holy Spirit, so that in doing so, we will not conform to the world but rather desire to be pleasing and perfect to God (Rom 12:2). Let us be humble enough to recognize our need for spiritual direction because each one of us needs one. Let us be grateful for this means offered by our community in order for us to truly discern the will of God.
FRIDAY “To Grow Together in Loving and Caring As One Big Family of God” IMVDMFa 90 The experience of fraternal love that is born from the heart of God opens itself to the mission, making fraternal love itself a mission. Fraternal love leads us to:
IMVDMFa 94 The mission configures our way of living as a community of faith. As a Missionary Family we understand ourselves as a community of apostles that aims to live and share the Kingdom, through the creation of evangelizing communities that pray and teach others experientially to pray, and that strive to live the Gospel and transmit it. IMVDMFa 95 Creating evangelizing communities presupposes a solid formation in fraternal love, in teamwork and in humility to promote one another in our vocation and mission. In this way, we will be instruments of communion amid the differences and we will learn to work together with other charisms, in the project of each particular Church 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.” Philippians 2:1-11 Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. 5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature[a] God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; 7 rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature[b] of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross! 9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue acknowledges that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Today, Jesus strongly entrusted to us the mission to love everyone unconditionally - the key to human redemption. He believes that our human heart is a vessel of love that contains treasures: humility, charity, and service, capable of loving the way Jesus loves. Our Christian behavior can motivate others to discover Christ and be one in the community. How blessed we are to have this Verbum Dei community where Jesus clearly reveals to us that we are in His heart. He also makes this community the right venue in forming discipleship. Where we can participate in establishing His kingdom by accompanying our brothers and sisters with perseverance.
SUNDAY 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time 1st Reading: Nm 11:25-29
Psalm Ps 19:8, 10, 12-13, 14 2nd Reading: Jas 5:1-6 Gospel: Mk 9:38-43, 45, 47-48
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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
January 2025
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