Introductory Prayer: Lord, I turn to you today with faith, knowing that you are the Lord of life and history. Aware of my weaknesses and failures, I set my hopes in you, for you always fulfill your promises. As I contemplate your love that becomes fidelity, I, too, desire to repay you with my fidelity. I am here before you to listen and, in listening, discover your will for me today.
Petition: Lord, grant me the grace to set my heart on what is eternal and everlasting.
1. Things Change: Like the people gazing at the physical beauty of the Temple, we, too, can be mesmerized by the fleeting glitter of the treasures of this world. Time, experience and our faith teach us that things change, including relationships. Our relationships with one another are never static; they are either being weaved more intimately, or they are fraying or coming apart at the seams. This also holds true for our relationship with Christ. All we do moves us deeper into his Sacred Heart or moves us away from him.
2. Christ Is Always the Same: Christ is the most sacred of temples; he is the Temple. Yet he changed. His body suffered the wounds that man inflicted upon his body. Christ changed interiorly, too. He suffered loneliness of the worst kind, when he experienced the effects of sin in the depths of his soul – separation from the Father and separation from his closest friends, his apostles. Yet in essence, Christ always remained the same, for he is love itself, and love is everlasting. Christ suffered physical and interior changes in his human nature so that we might partake of his divine nature, which is the same yesterday, today and forever.
3. The Gift of Perseverance: In order for us to enjoy eternal life, we must persevere. St. Paul talks about running the race, and moreover, about winning the race. Christ teaches us about the final victory and that to achieve this we must never deny him. Yet we are weak, and there are many ways that we deny our Lord. How can we who are so weak run the race and win the gift that lasts forever? Christ gives us the answer: Trust in him, not in ourselves or in the things or ways of this world. We will persevere through the grace he won for us on Calvary.
Conversation with Christ: Lord Jesus, your beauty transcends all creation, even my holiest of thoughts. Please bless me with the gift to appreciate more perfectly the limited beauty of created things and the infinite and everlasting beauty of you, my Lord and my God.
Resolution: Today I will reflect on the beauty of God’s creation and on the reality that all creation changes. As well, I will see and respect the everlasting beauty that resides, or should reside, in the hearts of all men, so that I will treat all people with the highest degree of respect.
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