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). What is the point of marriage? Well, marriage foreshadows the love of the Trinity. God the Father loves Jesus Christ the Son. Jesus receives that love and then loves the Father in return. The fruit of their love is the Holy Spirit. Therefore a marriage is meant to foreshadow that love. The husband loves his wife, she receives that love and she then loves her husband. The fruit of this love is a physical person. Their love incarnates into a person. Incarnate literally means to "in flesh." Their love is "in fleshed" as their child. So therefore if marriage is meant to foreshadow the Trinity, then when you get to heaven you no longer need the foreshadowing because you are enveloped directly into that love. When I tell this to people they become saddened because all they hear is that they are not married in heaven. This is true but it isn't a loss of love; it is the increasing of it! In heaven love is not lost, rather it is perfected! A husband and wife in heaven have every wound and brokenness healed and every desire fulfilled therefore there is no longer anything blocking them to love the other. Therefore in heaven they can actually love one another perfectly... what a grace! There is no longer any ulterior motive or caveat to giving and receiving love. Now it is important also to recognize that in receiving this love we "become like angels." Now notice that we don't actually become angels, like some people believe, rather we become like them in the sense that we too will then be enveloped into God's perfect love. The difference between us and angels is that angels are pure spirit and we as humans are both body and soul. When we die and encounter this perfect love, our bodies are resurrected like Jesus' and then for all of eternity we are body and soul submersed in love. So to sum it up. We are both body and soul for eternity and loved perfectly in that body and soul forever in heaven. So how do we prepare for this? Go daily to the Trinity in prayer. I mean never miss a day and ask God to heal the wounds that you have and fulfill your beautiful desires; for it is there that we get a taste of heaven! 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. How do you need the ways you love people to be perfected? What are some areas that you need the perfect love of God to heal? How can you let that healing begin today so you can better give and receive love from God and others? 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. "Lord, I love You." "Help me to love like You." "All Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit." 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? Let your love be for the eternal joy of your beloved. If your "love" isn't bringing them closer to Jesus, then you need to reevaluate if you really are loving 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. Kyle Manno, priest of the Diocese of Rockford.
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