Your prayer," teaches St. Augustine, "is like a conversation with God. When you read, God speaks to you; when you pray, you speak to him. The Lord speaks to us in many ways when we read the Holy Gospel: The Lord speaks to us in many ways when we read the Holy Gospel: he gives us an example with his life so that we may imitate him in ours; he teaches us how to behave with our brothers and sisters; he reminds us that we are children of God and that nothing should take away our peace; he calls the attention of our hearts to forgive that little wrong we have received; It encourages us to prepare with care the frequent Confession, where the Father of Heaven waits for us to give us a hug; it asks us to be merciful with the defects of others, because He was in the highest degree; it urges us to sanctify the work, doing it with human perfection, because it was his task during so many years of his life in Nazareth. .. Every day we can draw a purpose, a teaching, a thought that we will remember while we work. Therefore, if possible, it will be better to read those brief minutes early in the day and then exercise ourselves in that simple teaching that will help us so much to improve a little each day. There are even those who read it standing up, remembering the old custom of the first Christians, which remains in the gesture of the Mass of listening to the Gospel in this vigilant attitude.
It will do our soul a lot of good to see to it that the reading of the Gospel often gives us the plot of the prayer: sometimes because we will introduce ourselves into the scene as would someone who saw the group gathered around Jesus, or stood at the door from where the Master taught, or on the shore of the lake Perhaps only a part of the parable or a few isolated phrases reached him, but that was enough for something very profound to begin to change in his soul; at other times we will dare to tell him something: perhaps what those same characters were talking about or shouting at him, because his need was so great: Domine, ut videam!17 that I may see, Lord, give light to my soul, set me on fire; O God, have mercy on me, who am a sinner,18 we will beseech you with the words of the publican who did not feel worthy to stand before his God; Domine, tu omnia nosti Lord, you know all things, you know that I love you19 , and the words of Peter will take on a personal accent in our hearts, and we will express to him the feelings and desires of love and purification that fill our hearts Many times we shall contemplate his Most Holy Humanity, and the sight of him as a perfect Man will move us to love him more, to desire to be more faithful to him. We will see him working in Nazareth, helping Saint Joseph, later taking care of his Mother..., or tired because many hours he has preached during that day, or the road has been very long...
Every day, while we read the Gospel, Jesus passes by us. Let us not fail to see and hear him, like those disciples who met him on the road to Emmaus. "Stay with us, for it has become dark The prayer of Cleophas and his companion was effective.
"-What a pity, if you and I did not know how to "stop" Jesus passing by, what a pity, if we do not ask him to stay!"