10 minutes wih Jesus are group of Catholic priests who share friendship with Jesus, plus keenness to help young people of all ages to learn the art of loving Jesus and speaking to Him. You can find them in WhatsApp, Spotify, Ivoox, Telegram, Goggle Podcasts and Apple Podcast. Every saturday, we are going to share one meditation by 10 minutes with Jesus. Enjoy it.
My Lord and my God, I firmly believe that you are here, that you see me, that you hear me. I adore you with profound reverence, I beg your pardon for my sins, and the grace to make this time or prayer fruitful. My Immaculate Mother, St. Joseph, my Father and Lord, my guardian angel intercede for me.
A difficult decision
In recent months during the covid 19 pandemic, persons and authority have had to make difficult decisions, many of those decisions have to be made right now, and regardless of what one’s opinion might be regarding the decisions that have been made, I think we can all agree that it is never easy to make decisions that affect the lives of so many people. It is a position, I think, that very few of us would probably want to be in. And so in our meditation today, in our time of prayer, we will try to talk to you Lord, about prayer for civil authorities, prayer for our civil leaders, and the reason for this being is well, they are our brothers and sisters, our fellow human beings, and they have a special responsibility, with hard decisions that they have to make which certainly affect many people. A few months ago, in the United States, towards the beginning of the pandemic, when things were getting very serious, there was one particular state that asked the federal government for a certain number of ventilators, and they asked for a very high number of ventilators, in fact it was it was more than what they needed, and this is completely understandable if you for example, are the governor of a particular state, you want to make sure you have more than enough to take care of the people in your state, no one can predict the future, and you want to plan for the worst, so it seems to me, a perfectly reasonable way of proceeding, right, of asking for more than you need; and then on the other end, you have the federal government, who gets this request for a high number of ventilators, and the federal government has a limited number of ventilators, and not enough to give to each state that which they’re asking, and so what the government does is, sends out a team to investigate, just how many are really needed in that particular state, asking the hospitals, getting a good idea on the ground of how many are needed right now, and for the short-term future, in order to buy time to produce more ventilators.
A reasonable way
And this I think, we can also say is a reasonable way of acting right, because that they have to try to make sure that they can give ventilators to other states as well, and so all of these decisions, whether it’s from a particular state, to ask for a certain number of ventilators, or from the point of view, of the federal government, all of these decisions require prudence, shrewdness, patience, hard work and it must also fight against the tendency to act rashly, in the case of that particular state, I’m not sure if the solution that was chosen was the perfect one, but the only thing I want to point out with this situation that I’ve described is, that these decisions are not easy, they’re not easy to make, and persons in authority have had to make many decisions like that in the past few months, and they will have to make some very important ones in the upcoming months. Some countries have begun to reopen others, they are preparing to do so, and these decisions, as we’ve said, are not easy, whether we’re in a time of crisis right now, and I wanted to use that story, which is a real story, in order to lead us to the conclusion that we have a responsibility as Christians to pray for our civil leaders. As followers of Christ, Jesus, you showed us that we have to live with understanding, with compassion towards others, that’s how we see you live Jesus, you are attentive to the needs of others, you’re attentive to the situation that they’re in, and this includes of course, political leaders as well right, they are people, and they are in positions of authority, in which they make decisions that affect many people. And so, we follow the example of our Lord right, who loves each and every person, who created each and every person. We have to follow the example, and love and try to love each and every person, that includes of course, our political, our civil leaders, regardless of whether I agree with them or not, we want them to find God, you want them to get to heaven, we want them to do their job. Well, we want them to seek the common good, and so that leads us I think, logically to pray for them so that God give them wisdom, so that they use their talents.
Jesus and the Paharises
There is a scene in Jesus’s life where some of the Pharisees tried to entrap him in his speech, so that they can be able to accuse him of having spoken in some way against the law, and they approached him and they say -Teacher, we know that you are a truthful man, and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth, and you’re not concerned with anyone’s opinion for you do not regard a person’s status, tell us then what is your opinion, is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not? – so, they’re trying to catch Jesus, does he go against civil law or does he go against religious law, what’s he gonna do, and knowing their malice Jesus said – Why are you testing me? You hypocrites, show me the coin that pays the census tax, then they handed him the Roman coin, he said to them whose image is this and whose inscription? They replied Caesars, at that, he said to them, then repaid to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.- to give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar has been commonly understood to give to the civil authority what belongs to the civil authority. And so, this response that Jesus gives to the Pharisees is also an invitation to us to give to the rightful civil authority, what belongs to the rightful civil authority, by fulfilling our obligations as citizens, by obeying laws, and by laws, a true law it is a just law, and ought to be followed for our good and for the good of others, and part of giving to the rightful civil authority, what belongs to the rightful civil authority I would also venture to say prayer, because they’re always right people that make up civil authority, and to pray for that civil authority regardless of whether I agree with them or not, whether they are on the same team, we could say that I’m on or not.
Say, say, say
Let’s say I only prayed for those who agreed with me, well it would sound like something that Jesus, Jesus, and we’re trying to talk to you in this time of Prayer, it sounds like something that you once said, you said for – if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have? do not the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brothers only, What is unusual about that? Do not the pagans do the same? – And right before that Jesus had said – love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you – and so, Jesus, you’re calling us to love each and every person, also those people that I don’t necessarily agree with politically. So whoever is in a position of civil authority, let’s pray for that person, let’s pray for them so that they do their job well in consideration for other people, and also we pray for their eternal salvation. So let’s think how am I going to do that, maybe with a Hail Mary every day, but maybe include them in my mass intentions or my rosary intentions, or I can pray for them when I see them on TV you know, we see them and so god bless them, and so let’s remember those in government have souls and they have a difficult job to do, so let’s pray for them knowing that doing this certainly pleases God, who is the father of each and every person.
it´s the end
I thank you my God for the good resolutions, affections and inspirations which you have communicated to me in this time of prayer. I ask your assistance in putting them into effect. My immaculate Mother, Saint Joseph my father and my Lord, my guardian Angel, intercede for me.
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