1 00:00:00,640 --> 00:00:07,120 Prayer of the heart Thursday of the fourteenth week of ordinary time come Holy Spirit, 2 00:00:08,080 --> 00:00:12,839 today I want to give you in my future, until the last day 3 00:00:12,839 --> 00:00:17,719 of my life. I want to walk illuminated by your divine light to know 4 00:00:17,719 --> 00:00:20,480 where I am going, so as not to wear out energies in things that 5 00:00:20,480 --> 00:00:27,519 are not worth it. I don' t want to be obsessed with the 6 00:00:27,519 --> 00:00:30,320 future, and that' s why I' d rather deliver it in your 7 00:00:30,320 --> 00:00:32,640 presence and let myself be driven by your impulse. Holy Spirit, it will 8 00:00:32,679 --> 00:00:35,759 be my anxiety to accept that everything comes to its time, already in its 9 00:00:35,880 --> 00:00:42,079 time. Today the Church celebrates St Benedict of Nursia, the chief patron of 10 00:00:42,079 --> 00:00:47,159 Europe, the Gospel of St Matthew, chapter nineteen, verses twenty- seven 11 00:00:47,159 --> 00:00:52,359 to twenty- nine. At that time Jesus said Peter to Jesus. We 12 00:00:52,479 --> 00:00:56,119 ' ve left everything and followed you. What' s going to happen to 13 00:00:56,119 --> 00:01:00,640 us? Jesus told them I assure you when the renewal comes and the son 14 00:01:00,719 --> 00:01:04,120 of man feels the throne of his glory, you too, who have followed 15 00:01:04,159 --> 00:01:07,760 me, will sit on twelve thrones to rule the twelve tribes of Israel. 16 00:01:10,359 --> 00:01:14,560 Whoever leaves home for me, brothers or sisters, father or mother, wife, 17 00:01:15,200 --> 00:01:19,640 children or lands, will receive a hundred times more and inherit eternal life. 18 00:01:23,120 --> 00:01:26,400 Gratitude in following Jesus is the answer to the gratitude of the love and 19 00:01:27,359 --> 00:01:34,159 salvation that Jesus gives us. And when you want, when you want, 20 00:01:34,239 --> 00:01:38,079 to reconcile the Lord with what the world offers or poverty of spirit with selfish 21 00:01:38,120 --> 00:01:45,920 material wealth. The result is a meliocre Christianity. It' s the spirit 22 00:01:45,920 --> 00:01:49,040 of the world. These Christians echo the words of the prophet Elijah who said 23 00:01:49,120 --> 00:01:55,799 they took with both legs because they do not know what they want. To 24 00:01:55,840 --> 00:02:00,959 understand this it is necessary to remember that Jesus tells us that the first will 25 00:02:00,079 --> 00:02:04,480 be the last. And the last will be the first, that is to 26 00:02:04,519 --> 00:02:07,039 say the one who is believed to be the greatest, it has to be 27 00:02:07,159 --> 00:02:12,240 returned to become the smallest server. Following Jesus from a human point of view 28 00:02:12,319 --> 00:02:15,800 is not a good business. It' s serving he said. And if 29 00:02:15,919 --> 00:02:21,759 Mr Gives You the chance to be the first, you have to behave like 30 00:02:21,759 --> 00:02:24,599 the last one to serve? And if the Lord gives you the possibility of 31 00:02:24,680 --> 00:02:29,639 having goods, you have to employ yourself to serve the others. There are 32 00:02:29,680 --> 00:02:34,360 three things, three steps that distance you from Jesus, riches, vanity and 33 00:02:34,439 --> 00:02:39,800 pride. That' s why riches are so dangerous because they immediately lead you 34 00:02:39,879 --> 00:02:44,280 to vanity and you think you' re important. And how hard he thinks 35 00:02:44,360 --> 00:02:46,280 he' s an important foot of his head and he' s lost you 36 00:02:46,280 --> 00:02:52,000 see. We' ve left everything and followed you. It would be not 37 00:02:52,360 --> 00:02:57,400 to understand it well if we interpreted leaving the whole pedro as just the option 38 00:02:57,439 --> 00:03:00,000 of becoming a missionary or one who becomes that of the other religion. Every 39 00:03:00,080 --> 00:03:06,280 Christian is called in some way to leave that whole thing that begins by leaving 40 00:03:06,319 --> 00:03:12,439 oneself. When Jesus calls us to love more and invites us to a more 41 00:03:12,520 --> 00:03:16,280 full and conscious surrender. The first thing we should do is reject the selfishness 42 00:03:16,400 --> 00:03:23,960 of our lives. With the words of Pope John 23rd. We' re 43 00:03:23,000 --> 00:03:29,039 putting self- respect under our shoes. It is our main obstacle and what 44 00:03:29,159 --> 00:03:32,400 prevents God' s love from reaching us and spreading around us. Therefore, 45 00:03:32,639 --> 00:03:38,120 our reward will have the measure of our love for God. The more generous 46 00:03:38,120 --> 00:03:42,879 it is, the greater it will be. It is not forgiveness of an 47 00:03:42,960 --> 00:03:46,520 option, of a delivery that we can easily reach from ourselves. It is 48 00:03:46,560 --> 00:03:51,800 an invitation that comes from God, which he certainly wants for each one of 49 00:03:51,840 --> 00:03:57,120 us, although he also asks us for our cooperation in this, we must 50 00:03:57,680 --> 00:04:01,840 trust, for it is God who inspires so many purposes. He himself will 51 00:04:01,960 --> 00:04:08,080 assist with his grace and will never abandon them, because following Christ means behaving 52 00:04:08,439 --> 00:04:13,479 like Jesus does not behave. It means going wherever he goes, always following 53 00:04:13,560 --> 00:04:17,319 in his footsteps, loving as he loves, guarding others as he guards us. 54 00:04:18,079 --> 00:04:25,959 To be interested in the life of those who trust me to follow him 55 00:04:26,040 --> 00:04:29,959 also means to speak with his words, to feel how he feels to have 56 00:04:29,959 --> 00:04:33,480 his values. Following Jesus means coming to sea as Jesus loves me by following 57 00:04:33,560 --> 00:04:39,079 the tendencies that he imposes on me in my life. We would like to 58 00:04:39,399 --> 00:04:43,079 feel that what we have left everything to follow in his footsteps. Whatever happens 59 00:04:43,079 --> 00:04:48,240 in the light of our successes, in the darkness of our failures. We 60 00:04:48,279 --> 00:04:54,199 don' t always feel so free to follow him without fear. These words 61 00:04:54,240 --> 00:04:57,519 have been with us for many years. I' ll follow you. Lord 62 00:04:57,800 --> 00:05:02,319 where you go s s s s chapter eight, remind us that our vocation 63 00:05:02,399 --> 00:05:09,000 passes by being with him, by walking with him, following Christ does not 64 00:05:09,439 --> 00:05:13,720 consist in doing many things, in achieving many goals. It is not to 65 00:05:13,759 --> 00:05:17,839 be very effective and successful, to find my pastoral successes full of hands, 66 00:05:18,240 --> 00:05:25,600 for example, to be with him, to sleep where he sleeps, to 67 00:05:25,680 --> 00:05:28,040 follow in his footsteps and if suddenly I lose his traces. And if I 68 00:05:28,120 --> 00:05:33,079 won' t be no And if I don' t know if I' 69 00:05:33,360 --> 00:05:36,240 ve left the place where he, where I am to set out on a 70 00:05:36,240 --> 00:05:38,839 new path, I don' t know. I just know he' s 71 00:05:39,079 --> 00:05:42,800 with me, and that makes me think that I' m where he' 72 00:05:42,839 --> 00:05:46,360 s doing what he wants me to do tell Lord Jesus, when I compare 73 00:05:46,439 --> 00:05:48,399 myself to others, when I try to see how others do it. Sometimes 74 00:05:48,399 --> 00:05:54,079 I doubt and I get that pressure to be like us. I want to 75 00:05:54,120 --> 00:05:57,399 be true to your call to follow you on the paths of life, of 76 00:05:57,399 --> 00:05:59,759 my life. I don' t want to feel like I' m asking 77 00:05:59,759 --> 00:06:00,800 for your face. Sometimes I don' t know how to do it. 78 00:06:01,480 --> 00:06:05,040 I think it means that for once I stop thinking about my plans and how 79 00:06:05,120 --> 00:06:10,240 to ask you, sir, to get into them and help me figure them 80 00:06:10,240 --> 00:06:15,079 out. In my own way, following you is leaving my plans and thinking 81 00:06:15,160 --> 00:06:18,800 empty of me what your plan is for me, your way. For me, 82 00:06:19,600 --> 00:06:25,120 I trust him. Abandonment is the only way to follow it. I 83 00:06:25,240 --> 00:06:28,720 don' t want to make excuses, I don' t want to hinder 84 00:06:28,720 --> 00:06:35,439 your wishes. I recommend that you pray frequently a jaculatory that will help you 85 00:06:35,480 --> 00:06:40,839 to fight discouragement in the face of difficulties, with the enthusiasm of my faith 86 00:06:40,879 --> 00:06:44,839 and of my love for God, for example, is that I learned from 87 00:06:44,839 --> 00:06:49,959 St Joseph Mary, Lord God, mine, in your hands I abandon the 88 00:06:50,040 --> 00:06:54,480 past and the present and the future, the little, the small and the 89 00:06:54,560 --> 00:06:58,639 great, the little and the much, the temporal and the eternal. Jesus, 90 00:06:59,000 --> 00:07:01,319 of this meeting with you, help me, that this meeting with you 91 00:07:01,360 --> 00:07:05,759 helps me to realize my generosity. I want to live with that openness in 92 00:07:05,839 --> 00:07:14,560 all the circumstances of my life, especially in those that require a special detachment 93 00:07:14,639 --> 00:07:18,079 from my own being to make myself available to others' ideas, without seeking 94 00:07:18,079 --> 00:07:24,240 ephemeral rewards, but only to fulfill your will out of love. May the 95 00:07:24,319 --> 00:07:27,720 blessing, Lord, be in your heart that you may know how to love 96 00:07:27,800 --> 00:07:30,759 with all him, that he may be in your lips, that you may 97 00:07:30,800 --> 00:07:34,800 speak with strength and faith of his resurrection, that he may be in your 98 00:07:34,839 --> 00:07:39,000 arms, that you may work without rest for his sake, and that I 99 00:07:39,040 --> 00:07:42,639 may enter his kingdom, that it may be in your feet, that you 100 00:07:42,720 --> 00:07:45,600 may walk in the paths of peace which he will show you, that it 101 00:07:46,279 --> 00:07:49,680 may be in your clean gaze, that your eyes may see Jesus and others, 102 00:07:50,040 --> 00:07:54,560 that it may be your joy that you may never lose it, even 103 00:07:54,639 --> 00:07:56,160 if you have reason and may give to others in the name of the father 104 00:07:55,879 --> 00:07:56,160 and son and of the Holy Spirit Amen.