Preparatory Prayer <\/strong>(to place myself in God’s presence)<\/em><\/p>\n Lord God, I come from dust and to dust I will return. You exist before all time and have created me to share Your infinite love. You formed me in my mother’s womb with infinite care and tenderness, and I hope that You will embrace me on the day of my death to take me to Your house in heaven to enjoy Your presence forever. Thank You for giving me so much love, for always being with me guiding and strengthening me with Your grace, in addition to blessing me permanently with Your love. Take my love in return. Humbly I offer You everything I have and everything I am.<\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n Gospel of the Day <\/strong>(to guide your meditation)<\/em><\/p>\n From the Holy Gospel according to John 19:25-27<\/p>\n At that time, standing by the cross of Jesus were His mother, His sister, Mary of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw His mother and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, He said to His mother: “Woman, behold your son.” Then He said to the disciple: “Behold your mother.” And from that hour, the disciple took her into his home.<\/p>\n Word of the Lord.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Reflect on what God tells you in the Gospel<\/strong> (we suggest you read what the Pope said)<\/em>.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cOur journey of faith is indissolubly united to Mary from the moment Jesus, dying on the cross, gave her to us as Mother, saying: \u2018Behold your mother.\u2019 These words have the value of a testament and give the world a Mother. From that moment, the Mother of God also became our Mother. At that hour, when the faith of the disciples was cracking due to so many difficulties and uncertainties, Jesus entrusted them to the one who was the first to believe, and whose faith would never wane. And the \u201cwoman\u201d becomes our Mother at the moment she loses the divine Son. Her wounded heart expands to embrace all men, good and bad, and loves them as Jesus loved. The woman who at the wedding in Cana of Galilee cooperated with her faith in the manifestation of God’s wonders in the world, at Calvary keeps the flame of faith in her Son\u2019s resurrection alive, and affectionately shares it with others. Mary thus becomes a source of hope and true joy.<\/p>\n The Mother of the Redeemer precedes us and continually confirms us in faith, vocation, and mission. With her example of humility and availability to God’s will, she helps us translate our faith into a joyful and borderless Gospel proclamation. In this way, our mission will be fruitful because it is modeled on Mary\u2019s motherhood. We entrust to her our journey of faith, the desires of our hearts, our needs, those of the whole world, especially the hunger and thirst for justice and peace; and we invoke her together: Holy Mother of God!\u201d (Homily of His Holiness Pope Francis, January 1, 2014).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n