Weekly Prayer Guidelines: May 20-26, 2019

Love and you will live.

​(cf. Luke 10:28)
 
May 20-26, 2019

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General Theme:
Your Life is for Loving
 
General Objective:
-To love with the love of Christ is vital in order to live.
-To convince the people that to love is to plant God’s love in all through the Word and this is the deepest and most effective way of responding to the cry of Jesus in the suffering of the world.
-To be convinced that the concrete way to live as Verbum Dei is to evangelize.
 
Objective of the week:
         To lead others into the same dynamism of God’s love

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INTRODUCTION

“To love is to give, not only something material, but also something of one’s self: one’s own time, one’s friendship, one’s own abilities.” The Lord is a friend forever. Even if you disappoint Him and walk away from Him, Jesus continues to want the best for you and to remain close to you. This is an example of genuine love that Jesus teaches us. (Spiritual Reflection from the Homily of Pope Francis, April 24, 2016)
 
            As Christian believers, we are called to a higher calling of love – by loving more unconditionally and selflessly. We have been talking about the real purpose of life – to love, yet many of us have deviated from the truth and deceived by the overwhelming offers of the world. We tend to forget where we’re from and how to love because of our self-centeredness and materialism. As we are allured by the world, we become the masters of ourselves, making impulsive decisions, accumulating things that we thought will give us true happiness. We neglect ourselves from offering our time to others as we turn ourselves to what gives us pleasure. We are keeping a distance from God, making ourselves strangers to Him that would finally lead us to destruction and death.

The Father never dreamt of destruction to all His creations, especially to all his children whom He created with love.  Rather, He wants us to be united with Him. Through Him, love is concretely manifested. Through him we learn what it means to love. Loving makes our life beautiful and bearable. Despite our wrong decisions and weakness, God never stops in loving us. He never gives up on us. Therefore, we should be thankful to God for He always makes initiative to restore our friendships through love in the life of Christ, because only in loving can breaks the cycles of self- centeredness, anger, pride and crime that surround us.
 
     This is the spiritual challenge for us. His love calls for self-forgetfulness and self-emptying from what can hinder us to be truly be available for others. In doing so, we grow in our love for God.

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MONDAY
BRINGING GOD’S MESSAGE

Rom. 10:14  
​But how can they call to him for help if they have not believed? And how can they believe if they have not heard the message? And how can they hear if the message is not proclaimed?

To believe is to trust in someone who has the capacity to carry the task. There is someone who believes in us, no other than our  Lord. He sees our hearts and is confident that we can proclaim the gospel to everyone. He eventually endowed us with gifts and these gifts are appropriate to express how He works in us and through us. Thus, if we believe in Him, words are not enough to utter but we are truly moved to love and to serve others.
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                What have I contributed to the Church? Have I been an agent to help others hear God’s message?

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TUESDAY
CARRYING A RENEWED LIFE

1 Pet. 1:23
​For through the living and eternal word of God you have been born again as the children of a parent who is immortal, not mortal.

We, who are Easter people have been born in Christ, must leave our old ways by leaving the darkness of sin. We must be renewed by his passion and death and reborn by His resurrection. A renewed life is the fruit of faith. Faith is accepting Jesus into our hearts, trusting His words to change us and making it our guiding light towards the right path of life. We must deepen our faith within us by being sensitive to God’s presence and sharing our personal encounters with Him to others. Who knows, they might be moved and eventually live in the light of Christ from our sharing.
 
            Have I been sensitive to the Lord’s presence? Have I been cultivating my faith in Him?

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WEDNESDAY
A LOVE PUT INTO ACTION

Jn. 15:12-17
​12 My commandment is this: love one another, just as I love you. 13 The greatest love you can have for your friends is to give your life for them. 14 And you are my friends if you do what I command you. 15 I do not call you servants any longer, because servants do not know what their master is doing. Instead, I call you friends, because I have told you everything I heard from my Father. 16 You did not choose me; I chose you and appointed you to go and bear much fruit, the kind of fruit that endures. And so the Father will give you whatever you ask of him in my name. 17 This, then, is what I command you: love one another.

Jesus keeps on repeating the word “love”. What is behind this single word that he repeatedly utters for us to live by? Love is a driving force for us to do His commandments. All our activities without love are useless and meaningless. But once love is incorporated in our actions, the burden becomes lighter and the yoke becomes easy. In loving, one can live in freedom, with nothing and no one to be scared of. Love makes the impossible possible because it is no longer you alone who are working but it is God who is with you the one enabling you to exercise your identity as “love” – a child of God who is love.
 
            Have I exercised my identity as “love”? am I faithful to God’s commandment of loving?  Have I bear much fruit in loving?

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THURSDAY
LOVING THE WAY  I  LOVE MYSELF

Jn. 15:9-11
I love you just as the Father loves me; remain in my love. 10 If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed 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. ​

It has been said that the meaning of the vertical line of the cross is our relationship with our God. If God asks us, “how do you love me?” and it is difficult to answer, then let us simply gaze at the horizontal line of the cross that speaks, “love your neighbour as you love yourself.” This line expresses our relationship with others who are the concrete image of God and our concrete way to love God. How blessed we are as we respond to God’s invitation to love in loving others inasmuch as we love ourselves and remain in His love.
 
            Am I a gift to others? What kind of gift am I to them?  How am I loving myself?Is my way of loving rooted in the love of Christ?

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FRIDAY
PARTICIPATING IN THE TRINITARIAN LOVE

 Jn. 14:23
​Jesus answered him, “Those who love me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and my Father and I will come to them and live with them.

To live with our own sufficiency is worthless; to live apart from God burdensome. No matter how much we own in this world, it cannot suffice our need and cannot make us feel real happiness because we are made for God whose nature is love. It is worth enough to live when we are with Him even if we own nothing for God is everything. God fills our emptiness that makes us feel joyful and contented. Being with Him capacitates us to love, care, serve and forgive for life is for loving and not for accumulating. In loving others, we are one with the Son, Jesus with the help of the Spirit , in giving glory to the Father.

            Am I obedient to the Father? How can I live with Him while I live with others, while I do my job and while I do my chores and when I’m caught in a dilemma?

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SATURDAY
LOVING IS A DECISION

Jn. 21:15-18 15 
After they had eaten, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these others do?”
“Yes, Lord,” he answered,
“you know that I love you.”
Jesus said to him, “Take care of my lambs.” 
16 A second time Jesus said to him, “Simon son of John,
do you love me?”
“Yes, Lord,” he answered,
“you know that I love you.”
Jesus said to him, “Take care of my sheep.” 
17 A third time Jesus said, “Simon son of John,
do you love me?”
Peter became sad because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” and so he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you!”
Jesus said to him, “Take care of my sheep. 
​18 I am telling you the truth: when you were young, you used to get ready and go anywhere you wanted to; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands and someone else will tie you up and take you where you don't want to go.”

Jesus shows intimacy among His friends. He is a type of person who could easily establish a relationship with open communication and confidence. As we can see with Peter,Jesus accepted his love, then  gave Him the mission to take care and look after His sheep.The invitation is not only addressed to Peter, but to all of us who have a personal encounter with Him. Being His friends, He already assumes that we already knew what to do. He confidently entrust His mission to us with the assurance that He will accompany us as He is a true and loyal friend. Though sometimes we feel the unworthiness to accompany our brothers and sisters, but if we try to open our hearts and be aware of the presence of the Holy Spirit, we then can speak and do our best for the glory of God. Let us dare to love by giving totally ourselves for the good of others, and without asking anything in return.
 
            If God would ask me, “Do you love me?” how can I answer Him? Will I be able to answer Him with strength in my heart? Who are those people that I’ve been accompanying? Have I given  them light to their path?

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SUNDAY
6th SUNDAY of EASTER

1st  Reading: Acts 151-2,22-29
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 67:2-3,5-6,8
2nd Reading: Revelations 21:10-14,22-23
Gospel: John 14:23-29