Send victory like a dew, you heavens,
and let the clouds rain it down.
Let the earth open and bring forth the saviour. IS 45:8
ISAIAH 41:13-20
My Soul's Beloved,
My Soul's Beloved,
Holy Mother Church is an all-wise and tender Mother. We live the entire mysteries of our faith through each liturgical year and learn to be ever more grateful to God for giving us so great a Savior, Redeemer, Messiah, Friend, and Beloved. We begin the year with the season of Advent filled with hope as we ponder, reflect, and contemplate in faith, the humility of God and the inexpressible love of the Father for us in sending You into the world to ransom us back to Himself through Your life, passion, death, and glorious resurrection.
The words of Isaiah are heartwarming, revealing to us the tenderness of the Heart of our God. It is comforting to know how greatly we are loved by the all-powerful, almighty God who stoops low over each one of us as if we were the only person in the whole wide world. You tend to us as lovingly as a mother cares for her child. The tragedy in the world today is that so many do not know You, and this is why they are suffering torments of every kind through their addictions, as well as all manner of illnesses of body, mind, soul, and spirit, often in terrible isolation, and are living lives of desperation leading to spiritual death. Those of us who know You, Beloved, do not witness as we ought that we have such a wonderful God. No one needs to suffer alone, Lord. You came to give us life and to give it abundantly. But who is witnessing to Your love? We hug our blessings and our knowledge of You to ourselves selfishly and go about our lives untouched by the terrible misery in the world.
This is the Good News that the prophet Isaiah is telling us about, and the whole world should exult and rejoice that God came down to us to be born as one of us, live among us, experience all that we do so that there is no human being, man, woman, or child that can say You do not understand. You do. You came into the world, as Scripture tells us, not to take by the hand angels, but each one of us. Thank You, Lord. We pray that the Holy Spirit fills us who know and love You, with a divine fire to make You known and loved by everyone we encounter, all the days of our lives.
I, the Lord, your God,
I am holding you by the right hand;
I tell you, ‘Do not be afraid,
I will help you.’
Do not be afraid, Jacob, poor worm,
Israel, puny mite.
I will help you – it is the Lord who speaks –
the Holy One of Israel is your redeemer.
See, I turn you into a threshing-sled,
new, with doubled teeth;
you shall thresh and crush the mountains,
and turn the hills to chaff.
You shall winnow them and the wind will blow them away,
the gale will scatter them.
But you yourself will rejoice in the Lord,
and glory in the Holy One of Israel.
The poor and needy ask for water, and there is none,
their tongue is parched with thirst.
I, the Lord, will answer them,
I, the God of Israel, will not abandon them.
I will make rivers well up on barren heights,
and fountains in the midst of valleys;
turn the wilderness into a lake,
and dry ground into waterspring.
In the wilderness I will put cedar trees,
acacias, myrtles, olives.
In the desert I will plant juniper,
plane tree and cypress side by side;
so that men may see and know,
may all observe and understand
that the hand of the Lord has done this,
that the Holy One of Israel has created it.
PSALM 144(145):1,9-13a
The Lord is kind and full of compassion, slow to anger, abounding in love.
I am holding you by the right hand;
I tell you, ‘Do not be afraid,
I will help you.’
Do not be afraid, Jacob, poor worm,
Israel, puny mite.
I will help you – it is the Lord who speaks –
the Holy One of Israel is your redeemer.
See, I turn you into a threshing-sled,
new, with doubled teeth;
you shall thresh and crush the mountains,
and turn the hills to chaff.
You shall winnow them and the wind will blow them away,
the gale will scatter them.
But you yourself will rejoice in the Lord,
and glory in the Holy One of Israel.
The poor and needy ask for water, and there is none,
their tongue is parched with thirst.
I, the Lord, will answer them,
I, the God of Israel, will not abandon them.
I will make rivers well up on barren heights,
and fountains in the midst of valleys;
turn the wilderness into a lake,
and dry ground into waterspring.
In the wilderness I will put cedar trees,
acacias, myrtles, olives.
In the desert I will plant juniper,
plane tree and cypress side by side;
so that men may see and know,
may all observe and understand
that the hand of the Lord has done this,
that the Holy One of Israel has created it.
PSALM 144(145):1,9-13a
The Lord is kind and full of compassion, slow to anger, abounding in love.
I will give you glory, O God my king,
I will bless your name for ever.
How good is the Lord to all,
compassionate to all his creatures.
All your creatures shall thank you, O Lord,
and your friends shall repeat their blessing.
They shall speak of the glory of your reign
and declare your might, O God,
to make known to men your mighty deeds
and the glorious splendour of your reign.
Yours is an everlasting kingdom;
your rule lasts from age to age.
The Lord is kind and full of compassion, slow to anger, abounding in love.
MATTHEW 11:11-15
My Soul's Beloved,
Every baptized Catholic is invited to be a John the Baptist, an Elijah, in short, a saint. You say of John the Baptist, that there never has been anyone born of women who is greater than he, and immediately You say, yet, the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he is. This teaches us the value of humility and littleness in the eyes of God. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit unceasingly stoop low over each of us, creatures, abject sinners though we all are, and lovingly minister to each of us as if there were only one of us in the entire world.
Beloved, You did not die for us collectively but individually. You came to save me, redeem me, give Your life for me, shed Your Blood to ransom me. You came that I may live life abundantly, and having given Your life for me, I am commissioned to share this life with everyone I meet each day.
Today, I am instructed to open my ears and to listen to You and do as You command. I am called to be a witness by the way I live my life. I am called to be little and the least. The hall of saints is filled with examples of men, women, and children who knew that the sure straight way to the Kingdom of Heaven is to forget ourselves and lose our lives for Your sake and for the Kingdom, if we are to gain entry to it.
Jesus spoke to the crowds: ‘I tell you solemnly, of all the children born of women, a greater than John the Baptist has never been seen; yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he is. Since John the Baptist came, up to this present time, the kingdom of heaven has been subjected to violence and the violent are taking it by storm. Because it was towards John that all the prophecies of the prophets and of the Law were leading; and he, if you will believe me, is the Elijah who was to return. If anyone has ears to hear, let him listen!’
