Step #1: Lectio / ReadClick the link below or open your Bible to the passage and read through the reading at least once, paying attention to what is happening in the text.
Step #2: Meditatio / MeditateUse the following meditation to help you reflect more deeply on the Scripture (you may want to read the passage again).
Getting responses is getting more complicated nowadays. Statistics say that people wait to the last minute before they commit to a particular invitation or event, afraid that after they have responded with yes, something better might come up. The invited people in the Gospel today sounds so familiar to our own situation nowadays. Whenever I ask my students why did they not go to Mass on Sundays, the most popular answer was that they are busy on Sundays. Just like the invited guests in the Gospel, we have become indifferent to the Lord's invitation to His banquet because we are too preoccupied with less important things in life. Yet the Lord never stops inviting. He invites us to love Him in our daily prayer. He invites us to love Him in our suffering family members. He invites us to love Him in our own difficulties in life. He invites us to be intimate with Him at Holy Communion. He invites us to receive His full forgiveness and mercy in the Sacrament of Confession. Jesus is inviting you now. Will you commit your life to Him? Step #3: Oratio / PrayThese questions are to be used to talk to God; have a conversation with the Lord about these questions and what is going on in your heart as you pray today.
In what ways do I put my plans or my busyness above the Lord? How am I preparing myself to respond to the invitation God is giving me to sit at his eternal banquet? How do I invite others to share in God's goodness? In what ways am I evangelizing those around me? Step #4: Contemplatio / ContemplateIn this step, you listen. Stop talking, let God speak to your heart. You may repeat one of these short phrases to focus your mind on the Lord.
"Help me respond to your invitation." "You are my all." "I give you my life." Step #5: Actio / ActIn light of today's reading and your time spent in prayer with the Lord, what concrete action or actions will you take to let this encounter with the Lord bear fruit in you today?
Make a conscious effort to both spend time in prayer, to be better equipped to respond to God's invitation to you, and invite someone to Mass or your youth group today to extend the invitation God is also offering them. Smartphone Lock ScreenThe following image is here for you to save and use as a background or lock screen on your smartphone or device to help you carry today's Lectio Divina with you the rest of the day.
Today's prayer was prepared by Fr. Ervin Caliente, priest of the Diocese of Rockford. If you have anything you'd like our team to pray for, please go to the page of our website called "Prayers" and let us know how we can pray for you today. Comments are closed.
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