tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2517937697070478292024-03-28T12:42:50.313+05:30Whom Shall I Send? Send me LordQuiet time daily inspiration.Myra DSouzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01070180846707694830noreply@blogger.comBlogger3132125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-251793769707047829.post-56133785309273303402024-03-28T12:42:00.001+05:302024-03-28T12:42:07.031+05:30MAUNDY THURSDAY - 2024<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b>DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS</b><br /><br /></span><b><i><span style="color: red; font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>I give you a new commandment:</span><br /><span>love one another just as I have loved you,</span><br /></span><span><span style="font-size: medium;">says the Lord. JN 13:24</span></span></span></i></b><div><span style="color: red; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span><b><i><span style="color: red; font-family: times;"><span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: x-large; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhex9HWc96gS1IZ9cUHGWUrZv9cD8nojjhoRpsr5stUy_JLw-652NuFl6PWTDx7QG_vcQf_pBu2L06xSalhyphenhyphen2HXlO-5XfeeEuWmgMX-rAPpD2zi39DKAQz0VdJ3WTSPWpqSnMLotRoBRJdJPSQAr4CkiFsa-i9TuOuE5Gx00ibMUZZTSSwglB3BTRCeQ_ZF/s876/True%20God%20and%20True%20Man.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="876" data-original-width="583" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhex9HWc96gS1IZ9cUHGWUrZv9cD8nojjhoRpsr5stUy_JLw-652NuFl6PWTDx7QG_vcQf_pBu2L06xSalhyphenhyphen2HXlO-5XfeeEuWmgMX-rAPpD2zi39DKAQz0VdJ3WTSPWpqSnMLotRoBRJdJPSQAr4CkiFsa-i9TuOuE5Gx00ibMUZZTSSwglB3BTRCeQ_ZF/w426-h640/True%20God%20and%20True%20Man.jpg" width="426" /></a></div><br /></span></span></i></b><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b>EXODUS 12:1-8,11-14 <a href="https://universalis.com/asia.india/530/mass.htm#copyright">©</a></b><br /><br /></span><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">My Soul's Beloved,</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">When God instituted the Passover before He led His people from slavery and exile in Egypt to the Promised Land, He gave Moses and Aaron clear instructions on how the community of Israel was to prepare and eat the Lamb, how they were to be dressed while they ate it and what they were to do with the blood of the lamb. All these instructions had to be followed faithfully and after they entered the promised land future generations were to continue to celebrate the Passover each year recalling how God had intervened mightily to save His people.</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia;">That first Passover was a foreshadowing of the new Passover instituted by God. He provided the Lamb, His well-beloved Son without blemish or stain to become the Lamb of Sacrifice that takes away the sins of the whole world, freeing the new people of God from the jaws of death, hell, and Satan. The lamb of sacrifice had to be a male one year old, without blemish</span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia;"> taken from either sheep or goats. </span></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia;">This is what God instructed, the people of Israel to do with the blood of the lamb that was slain, s</span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia;">ome of the blood was to be taken and put on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses where it is eaten. The lamb had to be roasted whole and eaten with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. They were to be dressed for the journey as they ate: </span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia;">with a girdle round their waist, sandals on their feet, and a staff in their hand. If the family was too small to eat the animal they were to ask their nearest neighbors to join them as many as were required to eat it. </span></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">The blood of the lamb on doorposts and lintel would </span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">serve to mark the houses that God's people lived in and t</span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">he angel would pass over and not strike dead the firstborn of man and beast in that house. </span><span style="color: #20124d;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> God said,</span><i><span style="font-family: times;"> '</span></i></span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i>When I see the blood I will pass over you and you shall escape the destroying plague when I strike the land of Egypt. This day is to be a day of remembrance for you, and you must celebrate it as a feast in the Lord’s honor. For all generations, you are to declare it a day of festival, forever.’</i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">While the Jews continue to celebrate Passover just as their ancestors did, the new people of God celebrate the fulfillment of that first Passover until You return again in glory and majesty. As we enter the Triduum today, the most solemn of all the days of salvation history leading up to the greatest event of all time changing the course of history forever, the Church will faithfully recall all You said and did on Your last days on earth. Thank You, Beloved, for instituting the Sacraments of the Holy Eucharist and the Priesthood today. </span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> </span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b>PSALM 115(116):12-13,15-18 <a href="https://universalis.com/asia.india/530/mass.htm#copyright">©</a></b><br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i>How can I repay the Lord<br /> for his goodness to me?<br />The cup of salvation I will raise;<br /> I will call on the Lord’s name.<br /><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">O precious in the eyes of the Lord</span></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i> is the death of his faithful.<br />Your servant, Lord, your servant am I;<br /> you have loosened my bonds.<br /><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">A thanksgiving sacrifice I make;</span></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i> I will call on the Lord’s name.<br />My vows to the Lord I will fulfil<br /> before all his people.<br /><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">The blessing-cup that we bless is a communion with the blood of Christ.</span></i><br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b>1 CORINTHIANS 11:23-26 <a href="https://universalis.com/asia.india/530/mass.htm#copyright">©</a><br /></b><br />My Soul's Beloved,</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">My Lord and my God, my God and my all thank You for instituting the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist and for the Holy Priesthood at the same time. We could not eat Your Body and drink Your Blood if there were no priests to consecrate these simple gifts of bread and wine into the supernatural food that our souls need and would die if deprived of it.</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"> There never was a time after You instituted this Sacrament of the Eucharist when it was not celebrated even before the Church was formally born at Pentecost. On the road to Emmaus, the two disciples recognized You at the breaking of bread and we recognize You at Holy Mass when the priest does what You did at the Last Supper. We make that moment present at every celebration of the Holy Eucharist and so it will be until You return again in glory.</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">For as long as the sun rises and sets and rises again a perfect offering is offered to the Father - the Sacrifice most pleasing to Him and by the power of the Holy Spirit the world is sustained. It can never be destroyed no matter how hard Satan and his minions outside the Church and even within her might plot and even carry out their evil designs to annihilate her. </span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">May we who remain faithful by the love of God and the grace of the Holy Spirit never cease to pray that the whole world may come to know You, love You, worship You, and be one with You in the Church You established which is Your Body. </span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">This is what I received from the Lord, and in turn passed on to you: that on the same night that he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took some bread, and thanked God for it and broke it, and he said, ‘This is my body, which is for you; do this as a memorial of me.’ In the same way he took the cup after supper, and said, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Whenever you drink it, do this as a memorial of me.’ Until the Lord comes, therefore, every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are proclaiming his death.</span></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><br /><b style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">JOHN 13:1-15 <a href="https://universalis.com/asia.india/530/mass.htm#copyright">©</a></b><br /><br /><i style="font-family: times;">It was before the festival of the Passover, and Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to pass from this world to the Father. He had always loved those who were his in the world, but now he showed how perfect his love was.</i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i> They were at supper, and the devil had already put it into the mind of Judas Iscariot son of Simon, to betray him. Jesus knew that the Father had put everything into his hands, and that he had come from God and was returning to God, and he got up from table, removed his outer garment and, taking a towel, wrapped it round his waist; he then poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel he was wearing. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, ‘Lord, are you going to wash my feet?’ Jesus answered, ‘At the moment you do not know what I am doing, but later you will understand.’ ‘Never!’ said Peter ‘You shall never wash my feet.’ Jesus replied, ‘If I do not wash you, you can have nothing in common with me.’ ‘Then, Lord,’ said Simon Peter ‘not only my feet, but my hands and my head as well!’ Jesus said, ‘No one who has taken a bath needs washing, he is clean all over. You too are clean, though not all of you are.’ He knew who was going to betray him, that was why he said, ‘though not all of you are.’<br /> When he had washed their feet and put on his clothes again he went back to the table. ‘Do you understand’ he said ‘what I have done to you? You call me Master and Lord, and rightly; so I am. If I, then, the Lord and Master, have washed your feet, you should wash each other’s feet. I have given you an example so that you may copy what I have done to you.’</i></span></div></div>Myra DSouzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01070180846707694830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-251793769707047829.post-57570130925622179972024-03-27T07:27:00.000+05:302024-03-27T07:27:32.908+05:30WEDNESDAY OF HOLY WEEK - 2024<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b>DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS</b><br /><br /></span><span style="color: red; font-family: times;"><i><b><span style="font-size: large;">Hail to you, our King!</span><br style="font-size: large;" /><span style="font-size: large;">You alone have had compassion on our sins.</span></b></i></span><div><span style="color: red; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span><span style="color: red; font-family: times;"><i><b><span style="font-size: large;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4qFeOXxmFw8YJVi02mv3wXIMBAeh2JbH0JxAyrHUBMpzPnLZjO5YzsZkmAVTGEXAp1XxF445cpG8WKWsbsPewG-GpXtQl1OhJr1gbRYYOVE9GRunpGHu_KB0tiTsTw04JvfDYLSh9ONruMG8BA2zlWUsYWlcUlqjEF3dq2A3tfcgXLHxJ4gf3iKuKXtpA/s1136/Judas.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1136" data-original-width="640" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4qFeOXxmFw8YJVi02mv3wXIMBAeh2JbH0JxAyrHUBMpzPnLZjO5YzsZkmAVTGEXAp1XxF445cpG8WKWsbsPewG-GpXtQl1OhJr1gbRYYOVE9GRunpGHu_KB0tiTsTw04JvfDYLSh9ONruMG8BA2zlWUsYWlcUlqjEF3dq2A3tfcgXLHxJ4gf3iKuKXtpA/w360-h640/Judas.jpg" width="360" /></a></div><br /></span></b></i></span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b>ISAIAH 50:4-9 <a href="https://universalis.com/asia.india/530/mass.htm#copyright">©</a></b><br /><br /></span><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">My Soul's Beloved,</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">If I desire to be Your disciple I must follow You closely. I must remain with You. I must make Your Heart my home and open my heart and life so You can make Your home in me. I must emulate You in all things. I must strive to be holy and pure. To be humble and obedient in embracing God's will for my life. I must cease complaining, whining, and grumbling.</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Every Christian is called to be a saint. To follow the way of perfection. To pick up whatever cross is given daily and follow You humbly and obediently. You have given us Your Word and Your Church - You have shown us the Way and commanded us to walk in it. Your life on earth is a template on which all Christians must base their lives. There is no other Way but the Way of Suffering and the Way of the Cross. We must die to ourselves if we are to find ourselves. We are to lose our lives if we wish to gain it. You have made it clear that we, like the grain of wheat which falls to the ground must die before it can bear fruit, so must we. </span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">You have given us the Holy Spirit. He teaches us to pray. He gives us the gifts necessary to live holy lives pleasing to God. He empowers us and with His help, we can live lives that will set the world ablaze with the fire of God's love.</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Jesus, meek and humble of heart, may each day of this holiest of weeks enable us to enter more fully into the mystery of suffering and embrace the crosses that we must bear gladly and with grace no matter how great the cost. </span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Grant, Beloved, that I do not allow temptations to defeat me with discouragement as I carry the cross, rather, may I keep my gaze fixed on You as You hang between heaven and earth and find healing and strength through Your wounds.</span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">I offered my back to those who struck me,<br />my cheeks to those who tore at my beard;<br />I did not cover my face<br />against insult and spittle.<br />The Lord comes to my help,<br />so that I am untouched by the insults.<br />So, too, I set my face like flint;<br />I know I shall not be shamed.<br /></span></i><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /><b>PSALM 68(69):8-10,21-22,31,33-34 <a href="https://universalis.com/asia.india/530/mass.htm#copyright">©</a></b><br /><br /></span><span style="color: #20124d;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">It is for you that I suffer taunts,</span></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i> that shame covers my face,<br />that I have become a stranger to my brothers,<br /> an alien to my own mother’s sons.<br />I burn with zeal for your house<br /> and taunts against you fall on me.<br /><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">Taunts have broken my heart;</span></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i> I have reached the end of my strength.<br />I looked in vain for compassion,<br /> for consolers; not one could I find.<br />For food they gave me poison;<br /> in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.<br /><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">I will praise God’s name with a song;</span></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i> I will glorify him with thanksgiving.<br />The poor when they see it will be glad<br /> and God-seeking hearts will revive;<br />for the Lord listens to the needy<br /> and does not spurn his servants in their chains.<br /><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">In your great love, O Lord, answer my prayers for your favour.</span></i><br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b>MATTHEW 26:14-25 <a href="https://universalis.com/asia.india/530/mass.htm#copyright">©</a></b><br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">My Soul's Beloved,</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">The Apostle and evangelist St. Matthew, writing this passage with the wisdom of hindsight says of the one who was numbered among the Twelve, 'the man called Judas Iscariot'. His disgust is palpable when narrating Judas' treacherous betrayal of their Master and Lord. Many saints and Scripture commentators have written much about why Judas did what he did yet it is hard to comprehend his actions. Here was a man, chosen by God and privileged to be numbered as one of the Twelve. You knew he was wicked, a rogue, and a thief to boot, yet You chose him. Before we get too carried away in condemning him though, let us reflect on our own wayward, and often tepid discipleship.</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">It boggles the mind though that his love for money was so great that for the paltry sum of thirty pieces of silver he was prepared to betray a Man who was clearly so much more. He was a witness to the many miracles You performed. He heard You teaching and preaching. You spent time with him and the rest of the apostles, away from the crowds, while You formed them into disciples, teachers, and leaders and filled them with the power of the Holy Spirit to do the things that You had done. And yet it is clear that his heart was far from You. He remained untouched by grace. Sadly, Beloved, so it is with us.</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Judas had the temerity to ask You point-blank whether it was he who would betray You when You revealed that one of them would betray You knowing all the while that it was he. And although he knew that You knew he still went out into the dark night that had entered his soul he betrayed You. </span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">My Lord and my God, preserve me from ever deliberately doing evil. I am weak and frail and in my weakness, I will fall over and over again but O Lord, do not let me be lost forever but stay with me and help me begin again no matter how many times, and how hard I fall. Thank You, Lord.</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">When evening came he was at table with the twelve disciples. And while they were eating he said ‘I tell you solemnly, one of you is about to betray me.’ They were greatly distressed and started asking him in turn, ‘Not I, Lord, surely?’ He answered, ‘Someone who has dipped his hand into the dish with me, will betray me. The Son of Man is going to his fate, as the scriptures say he will, but alas for that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! Better for that man if he had never been born!’ Judas, who was to betray him; asked in his turn, ‘Not I, Rabbi, surely?’ ‘They are your own words’ answered Jesus.</span></i></span></div></div>Myra DSouzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01070180846707694830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-251793769707047829.post-80730249545518460022024-03-26T07:39:00.003+05:302024-03-26T07:39:22.902+05:30TUESDAY OF HOLY WEEK - 2024<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b>DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS</b><br /><br /></span><span style="color: red; font-family: times;"><i><b><span style="font-size: large;">Hail to you, our King!</span><br style="font-size: large;" /><span style="font-size: large;">Obedient to the Father, you were led to your crucifixion</span><br style="font-size: large;" /><span style="font-size: large;">as a meek lamb is led to the slaughter.</span></b></i></span><div><span style="color: red; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span><span style="color: red; font-family: times;"><i><b><span style="font-size: large;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIadx7NmQlORUJNCmjWs89Rsj_4TF9qrOxya44t6Z5Dxk44DHHzdkW_bm6J12QNDYnhp5c968A0kRnsVTKJFJHyn9tw70VFoAiN5fuO0eSDYrKhwzEs0gTfGKh5dr_qVBoxAjxtwoD_0hCJxksT7aDVhIe2oRDxDtQaQlRjn7iEjlPzEtyI_Io9FBYZkJ_/s1136/Cry%20out%20to%20God.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1136" data-original-width="640" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIadx7NmQlORUJNCmjWs89Rsj_4TF9qrOxya44t6Z5Dxk44DHHzdkW_bm6J12QNDYnhp5c968A0kRnsVTKJFJHyn9tw70VFoAiN5fuO0eSDYrKhwzEs0gTfGKh5dr_qVBoxAjxtwoD_0hCJxksT7aDVhIe2oRDxDtQaQlRjn7iEjlPzEtyI_Io9FBYZkJ_/w360-h640/Cry%20out%20to%20God.jpg" width="360" /></a></div><br /></span></b></i></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><b style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia;">ISAIAH 49:1-6 <a href="https://universalis.com/asia.india/530/mass.htm#copyright">©</a><br /></b><br /><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia;">My Soul's Beloved,</span></span><div><br /></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Your Name is Jesus which means one who saves, Messiah, and Christ which means the anointed one, Emmanuel which means God with us. You are the Alpha and the Omega. You are the only Son of the Living God born before all ages and called by God to save and redeem the world.</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Formed in Your Mother's womb by the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit and power of the Most High, You became incarnate of the Virgin and became Man. Leaving Your glory behind You came down from heaven in perfect humility to become the Scapegoat who carried away the sins of the world. </span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">You are the Eternal Word of the Father - His only Word through You, all that is came into existence. Sharper than a double-edged sword, Your Word O Lord spoken by God by the breath of the Spirit will not return to Him void but will fulfill all that God has desired it to accomplish.</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Every page in salvation history speaks of Your coming and how You will make all things new. You were sent by Your Father to lay down Your life and You did in perfect accord with His will. These days of the Passion Week, Beloved, grant the Church and all who believe in You to enter fully into the mysteries of our salvation. May we receive the rich graces with which You will flood every soul who desires them and may we become powerful witnesses of the Good News of our salvation and may all who see us and hear us come to the knowledge of Truth and be saved. <br /></span><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><br /><i><span style="font-family: times;">‘It is not enough for you to be my servant,<br />to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back the survivors of Israel;<br />I will make you the light of the nations<br />so that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.’</span></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /><b>PSALM 70(71):1-6,15,17 <a href="https://universalis.com/asia.india/530/mass.htm#copyright">©</a></b><br /><br /></span><span style="color: #20124d;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">In you, O Lord, I take refuge;</span></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i> let me never be put to shame.<br />In your justice rescue me, free me:<br /> pay heed to me and save me.<br /><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">Be a rock where I can take refuge,</span></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i> a mighty stronghold to save me;<br /> for you are my rock, my stronghold.<br />Free me from the hand of the wicked.<br /><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">It is you, O Lord, who are my hope,</span></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i> my trust, O Lord, since my youth.<br />On you I have leaned from my birth,<br /> from my mother’s womb you have been my help.<br /><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">My lips will tell of your justice</span></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i> and day by day of your help.<br />O God, you have taught me from my youth<br /> and I proclaim your wonders still.<br /><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">My lips will tell of your help.</span></i><br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b>JOHN 13:21-33,36-38 <a href="https://universalis.com/asia.india/530/mass.htm#copyright">©</a></b><br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">My Soul's Beloved,</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">In these last days of Your life on earth, the fact that You were fully human was most apparent. You were troubled in spirit so You understand perfectly when we are troubled, anxious, worried, fearful, filled with sorrow and apprehension when faced with grave situations that seem too difficult to overcome. </span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">One of Your own was to betray You into the hands of Your enemies. Being God You knew all that You would have to endure and it was too much for any human being no wonder anguish crushed Your spirit. Unbearable as the physical pain would be what would cause You greater anguish is that many souls would perish eternally despite the Sacrifice of Your life as the Lamb of God offered as a holocaust for the sins of the world. </span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">So many of us who claim to be Your disciples receive so many good things from Your hands and yet go out into the night to betray You for tawdry and passing things of this world that have no lasting value. We make idols of the world and the passions of the flesh readily falling for the wiles of the Enemy for a few moments of pleasure.</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Thank You, Beloved, for paying the debt we owed and could never pay.</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Even if like Peter we fall Beloved, may we always rise up like he did and follow You anew.</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: large;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">Peter said to him, ‘Why can’t I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.’ ‘Lay down your life for me?’ answered Jesus. ‘I tell you most solemnly, before the cock crows you will have disowned me three times.’</span></i></span></div></div></div>Myra DSouzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01070180846707694830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-251793769707047829.post-24050756340728465562024-03-25T08:03:00.003+05:302024-03-25T08:03:51.974+05:30MONDAY OF HOLY WEEK - 2024<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b>DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS</b><br /><br /></span><span style="color: red; font-family: times;"><i><b><span style="font-size: large;">Hail to you, our King!</span><br style="font-size: large;" /><span style="font-size: large;">You alone have had compassion on our sins.</span></b></i></span><div><span style="color: red; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span><span style="color: red; font-family: times;"><i><b><span style="font-size: large;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCjZmtaL97UhOg6tt7cZGNaTp0f9p20tbfZTkrD_Y_7AWgCgX7iVVtbm0vb7bS6YXVk3Iw1kW9Il9JFkNH7BBGDe0xSZCIK69RyO6WnErYq0Nala4-vZr8A53dgmPZY-RgYrskD02R3qsSWDNDvZPZKL1MFnLCmyjgLXf-mK-uvEENfSKPDFWR8HDUIMwG/s225/Mary%20of%20Bethany%20or%20Judas.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="225" data-original-width="225" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCjZmtaL97UhOg6tt7cZGNaTp0f9p20tbfZTkrD_Y_7AWgCgX7iVVtbm0vb7bS6YXVk3Iw1kW9Il9JFkNH7BBGDe0xSZCIK69RyO6WnErYq0Nala4-vZr8A53dgmPZY-RgYrskD02R3qsSWDNDvZPZKL1MFnLCmyjgLXf-mK-uvEENfSKPDFWR8HDUIMwG/w400-h400/Mary%20of%20Bethany%20or%20Judas.jpg" width="400" /></a></div></span></b></i></span><div><b style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">ISAIAH 42:1-7 <a href="https://universalis.com/asia.india/530/mass.htm#copyright">©</a></b></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">My Soul's Beloved,</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">You are God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten not made, consubstantial with the Father.</span></i><span style="font-family: georgia;"> You are the only, and well-beloved Son of the Living God, and God sent You into the world to save and redeem His sinful, wilful, children. Had You not come into the world as one of us, O Lord, we would not have survived. The prophet Isaiah, inspired by the Holy Spirit revealed God's plan of salvation to His chosen people, Israel, but while they panted, and waited with longing for the Messiah - they rejected You when You came into the world. They had preconceived ideas and since You did not fit their mold they refused to believe that God could come as You did as a Servant, as the Suffering Servant.</span></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">You O Lord, are most beloved of Your Father. You are the delight of the Father's heart. You and Your Father are one in the love of the Holy Spirit. Three Persons in One God - Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier, One in Being, and One in Essence yet Three divine Persons. This is the mystery of our faith and the faith of our fathers. </span></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">You were sent into the world to reveal the Face of the Father. To demonstrate in action the Love of God and to bring back to Him the children lost to Him by the sin of disobedience by our first parents. God woos us through You. God gentles our passions through You. God takes us by the hand through You. God ministers to us through You. God leads us gently from the paths of unrighteousness to the Way that leads us back to the Father's house. You bind our wounds by Your stripes. You pour Living Water into us and revive us. You feed us with Your Body and give us eternal life. Your love for us never wavers no matter how gravely we offend You and how forcefully we reject Your love. </span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i>He does not cry out or shout aloud,<br />or make his voice heard in the streets.<br />He does not break the crushed reed,<br />nor quench the wavering flame.</i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">You meet us where we are in our lives. The lower we sink You will still reach us for You went to the uttermost bounds of the netherworld and there You unshackled our bonds and brought us freedom and liberation from sin and death. </span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">You came to bring us new life. You came to save us. You came to give us peace that the world cannot give. Taking upon Yourself the sins of the whole world we receive forgiveness and reconciliation for our sins. Through Your bloody Sacrifice, the unpayable debt we owed to God is paid in full.</span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i>Faithfully he brings true justice;<br />he will neither waver, nor be crushed<br />until true justice is established on earth,<br />for the islands are awaiting his law.</i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">O Lord our God, our redeemer and savior, our hope of eternal life we receive humbly and gratefully the life You have come to give us in You. In return, we give You our sinful lives. Thank You, for redeeming us. Thank You for the hope we have in You of eternal joy with You and our heavenly Father.</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><br /><i><span style="font-family: times;">Thus says God, the Lord,<br />he who created the heavens and spread them out,<br />who gave shape to the earth and what comes from it,<br />who gave breath to its people<br />and life to the creatures that move in it:<br />‘I, the Lord, have called you to serve the cause of right;<br />I have taken you by the hand and formed you;<br />I have appointed you as covenant of the people and light of the nations,<br />‘to open the eyes of the blind,<br />to free captives from prison,<br />and those who live in darkness from the dungeon.’</span></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /><b>PSALM 26(27):1-3,13-14 <a href="https://universalis.com/asia.india/530/mass.htm#copyright">©</a></b><br /><br /></span><span style="color: #20124d;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">The Lord is my light and my help;</span></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i> whom shall I fear?<br />The Lord is the stronghold of my life;<br /> before whom shall I shrink?<br /><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">When evil-doers draw near</span></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i> to devour my flesh,<br />it is they, my enemies and foes,<br /> who stumble and fall.<br /><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">Though an army encamp against me</span></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i> my heart would not fear.<br />Though war break out against me<br /> even then would I trust.<br /><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">I am sure I shall see the Lord’s goodness</span></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i> in the land of the living.<br />Hope in him, hold firm and take heart.<br /> Hope in the Lord!<br /><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">The Lord is my light and my help.</span></i><br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b>JOHN 12:1-11 <a href="https://universalis.com/asia.india/530/mass.htm#copyright">©</a></b><br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">My Soul's Beloved,</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">On that day, when You were invited for a celebration dinner at the house of Lazarus, Martha, and Mary in Bethany there would have been a festive atmosphere in that home. Many were invited to celebrate the miracle You performed by raising Your friend to life. The palpable air of mystery surrounded You - the people were beginning to believe You were the long-awaited Messiah. As for the members of that household, they already believed it. </span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Mary, full of gratitude, love, reverence, and worship brought out a pound of very costly ointment, pure nard, and with it she anointed Your feet. She then wiped Your feet with her hair and the whole house was filled with the fragrance of the ointment. Everyone present would have wondered at the extravagance of Mary's gesture in their hearts but Judas Iscariot, the man who would betray You as the evangelist John bluntly points out, said: </span><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: large;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">Why wasn’t this ointment sold for three hundred denarii, and the money given to the poor?</span></i><span style="font-family: georgia;">’</span></span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> St. John also reveals the character of Judas the betrayer - </span><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: large;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he was in charge of the common fund and used to help himself to the contributions.</span></i><span style="font-family: georgia;"> This was a man who made a pretense of righteousness while his heart was corrupt. </span></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">You looked at Judas and said,</span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: large;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">‘Leave her alone; she had to keep this scent for the day of my burial. You have the poor with you always, you will not always have me.’</span></i></span><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: large;"><i><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></i><span style="font-family: georgia;">You knew him to be a blackguard at heart, You knew the weak man that he was, You knew that he would soon commit the dastardly deed of betraying You to those who sought to kill You even as You revealed that You would not always be with them. </span></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The truly good and righteous person is hated by the wicked of this world and this is why those in authority burned with hatred for You and plotted to kill You. Feeling the stranglehold of power they exercised over the people</span></span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> was slipping after You raised Lazarus from the dead, they wanted nothing more than to destroy You.</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Grant O Lord, that when our own faith in You is tested we may not flee but embrace the Cross for love of You. May we cling to the Cross always for the road to heaven is the way of sorrow and suffering.</span></div></div></div>Myra DSouzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01070180846707694830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-251793769707047829.post-170250622103807552024-03-24T06:29:00.002+05:302024-03-24T06:29:11.154+05:30PALM SUNDAY - 2024<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b>DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS</b><br /><br /></span><i><span style="color: red; font-family: times;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Christ was humbler yet,</span><br style="font-size: large;" /><span style="font-size: large;">even to accepting death, death on a cross.</span><br style="font-size: large;" /><span style="font-size: large;">But God raised him high</span><br style="font-size: large;" /><span style="font-size: large;">and gave him the name which is above all names. PH 2:8-9</span></b></span></i><div><span style="color: red; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span><i><span style="color: red; font-family: times;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2Mau126v4O-Pxzhi-IyxO0kCCMVbvJTMfUm5NrDVsPwb54wT8pDcd3HnEDogNVbClOfKnqHMnV98h6sG049D3YUZUo-5-lncUAS8kIV6SkioR4_bGjBsO2OnTtsTDBxuToY0gCBdZnQ3E9kr_xNfy0ZUWQMjgRdvgdS3m9b8r4dmgxjdSzhVqSiptq-FB/s960/Palm%20Sundaya.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="630" data-original-width="960" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2Mau126v4O-Pxzhi-IyxO0kCCMVbvJTMfUm5NrDVsPwb54wT8pDcd3HnEDogNVbClOfKnqHMnV98h6sG049D3YUZUo-5-lncUAS8kIV6SkioR4_bGjBsO2OnTtsTDBxuToY0gCBdZnQ3E9kr_xNfy0ZUWQMjgRdvgdS3m9b8r4dmgxjdSzhVqSiptq-FB/s320/Palm%20Sundaya.jpg" width="320" /></a></div></span></b></span></i><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><b style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia;"><br /></b></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><b style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia;">ISAIAH 50:4-7 <a href="https://universalis.com/asia.india/530/mass.htm#copyright">©</a></b><br /><br /><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia;">My Soul's Beloved,</span></span><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">As we enter the holiest season of the Church grant us the grace to be attentive to all the liturgical services may we, as one body, reflect, meditate, and participate with our whole being as we relive with You the last days leading up to Your death and Your glorious resurrection.</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Let us be fully present and take away all distractions and may the prayers, praise, worship, thanksgiving, and sorrow for sins of the whole Church rise up to the glorious throne of God and be acceptable to Him. May the merits that You have won for her as her Bridegroom flows in torrents over her and into each of her members.</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">We are living in evil times O Lord, protect Your faithful people. May we imitate Your courage and humility if we are ever called to suffer for our faith as Christians. May we keep our gaze fixed on You and remain with You from the Garden of Gethsamane to Golgotha and the tomb. May we keep vigil beside You with true compunction for our sins and resolve to sin no more. Let this be a particular time of grace for me, for my family, for the Church, and for the world.<br /></span><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><br /><i><span style="font-family: times;">The Lord has opened my ear.<br />For my part, I made no resistance,<br />neither did I turn away.<br />I offered my back to those who struck me,<br />my cheeks to those who tore at my beard;<br />I did not cover my face<br />against insult and spittle.<br />The Lord comes to my help,<br />so that I am untouched by the insults.<br />So, too, I set my face like flint;<br />I know I shall not be shamed.</span></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /><b>PSALM 21(22):8-9,17-20,23-24 <a href="https://universalis.com/asia.india/530/mass.htm#copyright">©</a></b><br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">My Soul's Beloved,</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">In You is fulfilled every prophecy from creation, the fall, the promise of a Messiah, Your birth, life, passion, death, and resurrection.</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">The psalmist spoke of all that would take place and the evangelists have given us a faithful account that matches all that the psalmist has said.</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Thank You, Beloved, for all You suffered for me and for the world. Father God do not permit a single soul to be lost for too great a price was paid for our redemption.</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">All who see me deride me.</span></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i> They curl their lips, they toss their heads.<br />‘He trusted in the Lord, let him save him;<br /> let him release him if this is his friend.’<br /><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">Many dogs have surrounded me,</span></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i> a band of the wicked beset me.<br />They tear holes in my hands and my feet<br /> I can count every one of my bones.<br /><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i>My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?<br /><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i>They divide my clothing among them.<br /> They cast lots for my robe.<br />O Lord, do not leave me alone,<br /> my strength, make haste to help me!<br /><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">I will tell of your name to my brethren</span></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i> and praise you where they are assembled.<br />‘You who fear the Lord give him praise;<br /> all sons of Jacob, give him glory.<br /> Revere him, Israel’s sons.<br /><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?</span></i><br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b>PHILIPPIANS 2:6-11 <a href="https://universalis.com/asia.india/530/mass.htm#copyright">©</a></b><br /><br />My Soul's Beloved,</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">In this holiest of all weeks grant all who believe in You to participate with our whole beings in the sacred mysteries of our faith. The world needs to know You Lord today more than ever before and yet sadly many are ignorant of You or reject You completely.</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Our world is in chaos. It is difficult not to be afraid and apprehensive about the future of our children, grandchildren, and generations to come. Beloved, You died for us. You paid the price for our redemption. We are saved. Have mercy, Lord. Have mercy on Your people and grant us renewed faith. Set the world on fire with Your own love and rekindle in us anew faith, hope, and love. </span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i>His state was divine,<br />yet Christ Jesus did not cling<br />to his equality with God<br />but emptied himself<br />to assume the condition of a slave<br />and became as men are;<br />and being as all men are,<br />he was humbler yet,<br />even to accepting death,<br />death on a cross.<br />But God raised him high<br />and gave him the name<br />which is above all other names<br />so that all beings<br />in the heavens, on earth and in the underworld,<br />should bend the knee at the name of Jesus<br />and that every tongue should acclaim<br />Jesus Christ as Lord,<br />to the glory of God the Father.</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /><div style="color: #20124d;"><br /></div><div><span style="color: red;"><i><b>Gospel<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>MARK 14:1-15:47 ©</b></i></span></div><div><span style="color: red;"><i><b>The Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Mark</b></i></span></div></span></div></div></div></div>Myra DSouzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01070180846707694830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-251793769707047829.post-83858845813225042722024-03-23T06:57:00.006+05:302024-03-23T08:05:32.651+05:30SATURDAY OF THE FIFTH WEEK OF LENT - 2024<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia;"><b>DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS</b><br /><br /></span><span style="color: red; font-family: times;"><i><b><span>God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son:</span><br /><span>everyone who believes in him has eternal life. JN 3:16</span></b></i></span></span><div><span style="color: red; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span><span style="color: red; font-family: times;"><i><b><span style="font-size: large;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUzf3RhAVgIneLeKz_4B4GPTQMzbsNK6DjRJbCbz618FrOA24dSrCwED4SC-KwyA7RZY2owtoMOOHx5eXDmkny3hTRo7_jzebddHxpfALbKC6mS2bl9sxkwF4ElWR0wiPTO3Cao_1SKRWhWuUAbXrHAhamUvyfFfA5yAV2m5Egp-NfQUjzNC4QRIMkIpHb/s1136/People%20of%20God.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1136" data-original-width="640" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUzf3RhAVgIneLeKz_4B4GPTQMzbsNK6DjRJbCbz618FrOA24dSrCwED4SC-KwyA7RZY2owtoMOOHx5eXDmkny3hTRo7_jzebddHxpfALbKC6mS2bl9sxkwF4ElWR0wiPTO3Cao_1SKRWhWuUAbXrHAhamUvyfFfA5yAV2m5Egp-NfQUjzNC4QRIMkIpHb/w225-h400/People%20of%20God.jpg" width="225" /></a></div></span></b></i></span><b style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">EZEKIEL 37:21-28 <a href="https://universalis.com/asia.india/0/mass.htm#copyright">©</a></b></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br />My Soul's Beloved,</span><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">This description of how God is going to deal with the children of Israel who despite their adulterous, idolatrous, decadent, evil, sinful lives, will nevertheless redeem them and make them a people after His own heart, filled with His life and His Spirit - is a template of what God in You, have done for us in forming Your Church. She was created from Your side. Her members by Baptism are made children of God. We are cleansed by Your Blood in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. We are fed by Your Body in the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. We are confirmed and strengthened by the Holy Spirit in the Sacrament of Confirmation. We are fitted as Your disciples to go out into the world and preach the Good News of salvation and all who come to the knowledge of Truth will be saved. </span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">We have only one King, one Lord, one Savior, one Father who is Father of us all and we are bound in the Love of the Holy Spirit to Father and Son. We belong to God's household and to His Kingdom. Your priestly prayer of unity Lord Jesus, is heard and answered for Your Father always hears You. All who have separated from Your Body will return to the Church and there will be but one flock and one Shepherd. For it is in the Church that You dwell in fullness and in truth. </span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">We pray for that day. We long for that day. We know it is coming. </span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><br /><i><span style="font-family: times;">They will no longer defile themselves with their idols and their filthy practices and all their sins. I shall rescue them from all the betrayals they have been guilty of; I shall cleanse them; they shall be my people and I will be their God. My servant David will reign over them, one shepherd for all; they will follow my observances, respect my laws and practise them. They will live in the land that I gave my servant Jacob, the land in which your ancestors lived. They will live in it, they, their children, their children’s children, forever. </span></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i>David my servant is to be their prince forever. I shall make a covenant of peace with them, an eternal covenant with them. I shall resettle them and increase them; I shall settle my sanctuary among them forever. I shall make my home above them; I will be their God, they shall be my people. And the nations will learn that I am the Lord, the sanctifier of Israel, when my sanctuary is with them forever.’</i></span><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /><b>PSALM - JEREMIAH 31:10-13 <a href="https://universalis.com/asia.india/0/mass.htm#copyright">©</a></b><br /></span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">O nations, hear the word of the Lord,</span></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i> proclaim it to the far-off coasts.<br />Say: ‘He who scattered Israel will gather him<br /> and guard him as a shepherd guards his flock.’<br /><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">For the Lord has ransomed Jacob,</span></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i> has saved him from an overpowering hand.<br />They will come and shout for joy on Mount Zion,<br /> they will stream to the blessings of the Lord.<br /><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">Then the young girls will rejoice and dance,</span></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i> the men, young and old, will be glad.<br />I will turn their mourning into joy,<br /> I will console them, give gladness for grief.<br /><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">The Lord will guard us as a shepherd guards his flock.</span></i><br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b>JOHN 11:45-56 <a href="https://universalis.com/asia.india/0/mass.htm#copyright">©</a></b><br /><br />My Son's Beloved,</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">The vision of those in authority, and holding positions of power who can command and their decrees carried out without question is at best myopic. They lack divine vision. They are blinkered and hence unable to embrace the grandeur of God's will for His people. Because they are a bunch of narrow-minded, mean-spirited, navel gazers who are so full of themselves they miss the times of divine visitation. This is true of the chief priests, Pharisees, and the religious authority of Your day and true of all organizations and governments across the globe, across eons to the present day, and perhaps will be the state of the world until You return.</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">It is hard to comprehend the diabolic levels to which a few who think they are gods and who possess unlimited power and wealth believe that they can change the divine world order with impunity. They are zealots convinced they know best what humanity needs.</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Four days after Lazarus was in the tomb You raised him to life. Only God has the power to do this and Your enemies were afraid. They knew perfectly well that their reign of terror would cease if people began to comprehend that You are truly who said You were, the Son of God, and the world as they knew it would crumble and their power with it. They would rather deny that the longed-for Messiah had come and were prepared to murder You rather than relinquish their authority and power over the people. </span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Today, all dissident voices against cruel governments are silenced by the entire machinery of power available to the powerful. They are eliminated by every means possible. Yet Truth cannot be overcome by lies. The reign of malice will cease. Evil has been conquered by Good and death has lost its sting because the Son of God became the Son of Man and has redeemed the world. </span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">Jesus was to die to gather together the scattered children of God<br />Then the chief priests and Pharisees called a meeting. ‘Here is this man working all these signs’ they said ‘and what action are we taking? If we let him go on in this way everybody will believe in him, and the Romans will come and destroy the Holy Place and our nation.’ One of them, Caiaphas, the high priest that year, said, ‘You do not seem to have grasped the situation at all; you fail to see that it is better for one man to die for the people, than for the whole nation to be destroyed.’ He did not speak in his own person, it was as high priest that he made this prophecy that Jesus was to die for the nation – and not for the nation only, but to gather together in unity the scattered children of God. From that day they were determined to kill him. </span></i></span></div></div></div>Myra DSouzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01070180846707694830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-251793769707047829.post-71217851636047976482024-03-21T07:50:00.004+05:302024-03-21T07:50:45.074+05:30THURSDAY OF THE FIFTH WEEK OF LENT - 2024<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b>DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS</b><br /><br /></span><span style="color: red; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><i><b><span>Harden not your hearts today,</span><br /><span>but listen to the voice of the Lord. PS 94:8</span></b></i></span><div><span style="color: red; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span><span style="color: red; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><i><b><span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLfd04QjvR8U3d_19ojuWBLnHS464_cR_7-dAcKGdg8_d3ylKTOuy0eHHdgN1vd-0qrKJeZ_CxvaV-49JHffynGqucyGBv3i63XrcE1VAOEN6SzVyoMt3GMAZDVuwoju8Xb_qpCF3yrAj1CjFVYcQor3avGm2lkUb9PJ47LybjuCUa_wwIliQU8F4EX_B1/s1136/Before%20Abraham.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1136" data-original-width="640" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLfd04QjvR8U3d_19ojuWBLnHS464_cR_7-dAcKGdg8_d3ylKTOuy0eHHdgN1vd-0qrKJeZ_CxvaV-49JHffynGqucyGBv3i63XrcE1VAOEN6SzVyoMt3GMAZDVuwoju8Xb_qpCF3yrAj1CjFVYcQor3avGm2lkUb9PJ47LybjuCUa_wwIliQU8F4EX_B1/w225-h400/Before%20Abraham.jpg" width="225" /></a></div></span></b></i></span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b>GENESIS 17:3-9 <a href="https://universalis.com/asia.india/20240321/mass.htm#copyright">©</a></b><br /><br />My Soul's Beloved,</span><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">God made a covenant with Abraham. From him God was to form a people for Himself, uniquely His. He would reveal Himself to Him, talk to him, and lead and guide him through the unknown. All the while, Abraham was to trust God even when he did not understand. Even when years passed by with God's promises remaining unfulfilled, he still trusted in God.</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Unlike Abraham, Lord, my faith wavers. When things do not work out as I thought they should I become disheartened, I grow despondent, and I allow anxiety to crush my spirit. I lose my peace and my feverish brain finds no rest. In times like this Lord, I need to call to mind past blessings. You have been my ever-present help always and have never failed me. No matter how bleak my present situation is, Lord, may I keep my gaze on You, trusting that You O Lord, are the same yesterday, today, and forever. </span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">You are God's Covenant with me. It is You alone who are my Cup and my Portion and I will never run out of blessings so long as I remain in You and You in me. Keep me and all I love always under the shelter of Your wings. Amen.</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">‘</span><i style="color: #20124d;"><span style="font-family: times;">I will be your God.</span></i></div><div><i style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;">You on your part shall maintain my Covenant, yourself and your descendants after you, generation after generation.’</i></div><div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><br /><b style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">PSALM 104(105):4-9 <a href="https://universalis.com/asia.india/20240321/mass.htm#copyright">©</a></b><br /><br /><i><span style="font-family: times;">Consider the Lord and his strength;</span></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i> constantly seek his face.<br />Remember the wonders he has done,<br /> his miracles, the judgements he spoke.<br /><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">O children of Abraham, his servant,</span></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i> O sons of the Jacob he chose.<br />He, the Lord, is our God:<br /> his judgements prevail in all the earth.<br /><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">He remembers his covenant for ever,</span></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i> his promise for a thousand generations,<br />the covenant he made with Abraham,<br /> the oath he swore to Isaac.<br /><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">The Lord remembers his covenant for ever.</span></i><br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b>JOHN 8:51-59 <a href="https://universalis.com/asia.india/20240321/mass.htm#copyright">©</a></b><br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">My Soul's Beloved,</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Today I take to heart the words You spoke to the Jews and to anyone who hears and believes:</span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><i>‘I tell you most solemnly,<br />whoever keeps my word<br />will never see death.’</i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Your Word O Lord is spirit, truth, and life and all who abide in Your Word receive Your Spirit and Life. You confer on those who are members of Your Body, everlasting life. Death is the doorway through which we enter into the Life that is in You and is given to all who believe, hope, trust, and abide in You.</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Unless we believe that the Father sent You into the world, not to condemn it but to save it, we cannot hope to receive a share in the abundant life that You came to give all who receive Your Word and keep it. </span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">You are the Father's revelation of love to a sin-darkened world. You are the Light that came to banish the darkness of sickness, disease, decay, and death. You alone O Lord, are our hope of health, joy, wholeness, and life. You are our peace.</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Beloved You spoke the truth when You declared to the Jews </span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><i>‘I tell you most solemnly,<br />before Abraham ever was,<br />I Am.’</i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">They understood perfectly what You meant when You uttered the words - I AM. You declared that You are God. It is no wonder that they picked up stoned to throw at You. The Truth has a way of unnerving sinners and unbelievers and rouses in them uncontrollable rage - rage that prompts them to kill.</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">In every age this is true. People would rather die in their sins than acknowledge that there is a God on whom we depend for every breath we breathe. Do not count us among the wicked, Beloved, but keep us in Your Word and Your love all the days of our life.</span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><i>At this they picked up stones to throw at him; but Jesus hid himself and left the Temple.</i></span></div></div></div>Myra DSouzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01070180846707694830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-251793769707047829.post-87432503569747713422024-03-20T07:45:00.003+05:302024-03-20T07:45:22.012+05:30WEDNESDAY OF THE FIFTH WEEK OF LENT - 2024<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b>DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS</b><br /><br /></span><span style="color: red; font-family: times;"><i><b><span style="font-size: large;">Blessed are those who,</span><br style="font-size: large;" /><span style="font-size: large;">with a noble and generous heart,</span><br style="font-size: large;" /><span style="font-size: large;">take the word of God to themselves</span><br style="font-size: large;" /><span style="font-size: large;">and yield a harvest through their perseverance. LK 8:15</span></b></i></span><div><span style="color: red; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span><span style="color: red; font-family: times;"><i><b><span style="font-size: large;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLXqE2lPo1R7WyGmCUKvPivthdPbiQTLFYyWQ73wwuhSJRQJT6UidE_RV87SGev5Mxcc_E3S2N4kkRoRt8Ul72ebbKxmILumUztRyo_B3rvk5hgiTCaDpDWhpOspsW9gjM-I32vN2fND9G9_32OybTxwhkkXlC4PhZ6lo80-9ghQi1juYLW_SCos5zSgBq/s876/Concupiscence.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="876" data-original-width="583" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLXqE2lPo1R7WyGmCUKvPivthdPbiQTLFYyWQ73wwuhSJRQJT6UidE_RV87SGev5Mxcc_E3S2N4kkRoRt8Ul72ebbKxmILumUztRyo_B3rvk5hgiTCaDpDWhpOspsW9gjM-I32vN2fND9G9_32OybTxwhkkXlC4PhZ6lo80-9ghQi1juYLW_SCos5zSgBq/w426-h640/Concupiscence.jpg" width="426" /></a></div><br /></span></b></i></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><b style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia;">DANIEL 3:14-20,24-25,28 <a href="https://universalis.com/asia.india/530/mass.htm#copyright">©</a></b><br /><br /></span><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">My Soul's Beloved,</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Faith like these three young men in the Book of Daniel is the kind of faith that is of the Holy Spirit and can transform the world. Not only in the era before You have men and women been prepared to die rather than renounce their faith in God but continues through the course of history. Having found the Pearl of Great Price, which is Yourself O Lord, martyrs gladly go to their death to keep it. </span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Those with great power like King Nebuchadnezzar are easily flattered into believing their commands must be obeyed at all costs and if thwarted are prepared to take barbaric measures to crush insubordination. This is currently happening all over the world. A powerful minority seeks to abolish not just common sense, but divine wisdom and to do away with all that is true, good, and beautiful. </span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">By the power of the Holy Spirit let us stand firm in our faith and be prepared to undergo all persecution, tribulation, and die if necessary, rather than sell our soul to the devil. The blood of martyrs is the seed of Christians. If we are granted the great privilege of dying for You who died for us may we not hesitate but go to our death gladly just as </span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, and so many countless martyrs through the course of salvation history. Grant us the grace to die to ourselves daily as we prepare for eternal life so we can receive a share in Your glorious resurrection.</span></div><div><i><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></i></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">‘Did we not have these three men thrown bound into the fire?’ They replied, ‘Certainly, O king.’ ‘But,’ he went on ‘I can see four men walking about freely in the heart of the fire without coming to any harm. And the fourth looks like a son of the gods.’</span></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i> Nebuchadnezzar exclaimed, ‘Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego: he has sent his angel to rescue the servants who, putting their trust in him, defied the order of the king, and preferred to forfeit their bodies rather than serve or worship any god but their own.’</i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><br /><b style="font-family: georgia;">DANIEL 3:52-56 <a href="https://universalis.com/asia.india/530/mass.htm#copyright">©</a></b><br /><br /></span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i>You are blest, Lord God of our fathers.</i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i>Blest your glorious holy name.</i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i>You are blest in the temple of your glory.</i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i>You are blest on the throne of your kingdom.</i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i>You are blest who gaze into the depths.</i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times; font-size: large;"><i>You are blest in the firmament of heaven.</i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><i>To you glory and praise for evermore.</i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /><b>JOHN 8:31-42 <a href="https://universalis.com/asia.india/530/mass.htm#copyright">©</a></b><br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">My Soul's Beloved,</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Concupiscence has ruined us. The choices we make daily, hourly, moment by moment tend towards the flesh, the world, and the devil. If we made Your Word our home as so many saints did, we would find it easy to choose wisely, to choose life rather than death. We call ourselves Your disciples, members of Your Body which is the Church You founded, and yet we disobey her teachings, we water down her doctrines, we pick and choose what we believe, we are swayed by the culture we live in and we are attracted by the gaudy tinsel and the strident noise of the world that the wiles of the Enemy constantly lures us with.</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Urging the Jews around You to learn the truth that has the power to liberate, they countered that they were not slaves but free. You pointed out that we are slaves when we are bound by sinful habits and the chains of this kind of slavery are hardest to break.</span></div><div><br /></div><div><i><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="color: #20124d;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQtisSchCFdAVhKqX_eNszTeAxTd05SsIuqTeE39IPj2GOSorkigPr9Bb6T2-cNf5tpIvKvau6Vpozl5j42SLDG9J3EZ7tLZuxRk43eWLwa0cjcgAbcp62mJJ9unQCcMakOy5zMib0DCN31mHT-7EM36n2ObXezb1wpKIG1n-13ZxsCiN9VBBHwroCTiTC/s876/Concupiscence.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="876" data-original-width="583" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQtisSchCFdAVhKqX_eNszTeAxTd05SsIuqTeE39IPj2GOSorkigPr9Bb6T2-cNf5tpIvKvau6Vpozl5j42SLDG9J3EZ7tLZuxRk43eWLwa0cjcgAbcp62mJJ9unQCcMakOy5zMib0DCN31mHT-7EM36n2ObXezb1wpKIG1n-13ZxsCiN9VBBHwroCTiTC/s320/Concupiscence.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br />‘I tell you most solemnly,<br />everyone who commits sin is a slave.<br />Now the slave’s place in the house is not assured,<br />but the son’s place is assured.<br />So if the Son makes you free,<br />you will be free indeed.</span><span style="color: #20124d;">’</span></span></i></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">We fool ourselves into believing that we are saved because we are baptized but baptism is only the first step - we are called to live holy and virtuous lives. We must obey the two great commandments or else we will separate ourselves from the love of God. Cafeteria Catholics treat the doctrines of the Church like a buffet from which they pick and choose what suits their spiritual palate. We keep all the Ten Commandments and when we don't we commit a grave sin, a mortal sin, the consequence of such sins is death to the soul. </span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">We are guilty of the sin of presumption when we take our salvation for granted as You rightly pointed out to Your hearers:</span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i>‘If you were Abraham’s children,<br />you would do as Abraham did.<br />As it is, you want to kill me<br />when I tell you the truth<br />as I have learnt it from God;<br />that is not what Abraham did.<br />What you are doing is what your father does.’</i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Within the Church, are many divisive voices that cause confusion and disunity among the faithful. All division is the work of Satan who never sleeps but works tirelessly to destroy it. We are grateful O Lord, for Your assurance that the gates of hell will never prevail against Your Bride, the Church.</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">We were chosen by God to belong to the Church You founded not on our merits but on Your goodness and mercy. May we always remember that to those to whom much is given much is required. Let us embrace the fullness of the faith we have received as a gift in all its beauty, truth, goodness, and splendor. </span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">God is our Father. You are our Brother and Friend, and the Holy Spirit is our Comforter, Helper, and Guide. We believe, O Lord, and by believing we are saved.</span></div></div>Myra DSouzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01070180846707694830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-251793769707047829.post-86912021758486713832024-03-19T04:55:00.000+05:302024-03-20T04:55:56.302+05:30ST. JOSEPH, HUSBAND OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY - 2024<span style="color: #783f04; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b>DAILY HOLY MASS READING</b><br /><br /></span><i><span style="color: red; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><b><span>They are happy who dwell in your house, O Lord,</span><br /><span>for ever singing your praise. PS 83:5</span></b></span></i><div><span style="color: red; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span><i><span style="color: red; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><b><span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9rgtjepx1R0cC4ov8zjkDa_oS6L2s0944wH1oqxY6qd7QkiYKjU_u2bRTbvz13_nazpFTr35zbcS79Wugw1FKyBmN4r7ixJQi8ngw-dXjd7Nhpl3gWJt02JydBodKqY_6jUmjUosdkqFr9cR9jnOeN9-SpmipTJIWyaKQAFWiNr0ZBloS1h7myRKdAfPo/s1280/St.%20Joseph.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9rgtjepx1R0cC4ov8zjkDa_oS6L2s0944wH1oqxY6qd7QkiYKjU_u2bRTbvz13_nazpFTr35zbcS79Wugw1FKyBmN4r7ixJQi8ngw-dXjd7Nhpl3gWJt02JydBodKqY_6jUmjUosdkqFr9cR9jnOeN9-SpmipTJIWyaKQAFWiNr0ZBloS1h7myRKdAfPo/s320/St.%20Joseph.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /></span></b></span></i><span style="color: #783f04; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b>2 SAMUEL 7:4-5,12-14,16 <a href="https://universalis.com/asia.india/530/mass.htm#copyright">©</a></b></span></div><div><span style="color: #783f04; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br />My Soul's Beloved,</span><div><span style="color: #783f04; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #783f04; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">From the creation of the world and our first parent, Adam and Eve, You O Lord our God, have been passionately and lovingly involved with every aspect of our universe. Nothing is meaningless, or superfluous, but all things have a divine purpose. Every event is interconnected and interlocked, everything has a bearing on the other, and each is placed on its own course to fulfill God's plan which is at work in all things, in all times and places, and throughout history until it culminates in Your glorious second coming. </span></div><div><span style="color: #783f04; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #783f04; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">St. Joseph, Your foster father was chosen and appointed by Your eternal Father to be Your guardian on earth and the most chaste spouse of Your Mother Mary. He belongs to the royal house of David, and Joseph's legal guardianship over You too a descendant and heir. </span></div><div><span style="color: #783f04; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #783f04; font-family: georgia;">St. Joseph had charge over Your Body - to feed, protect, teach, guide, and instruct You from the time of Your birth, through Your infancy, childhood, and adulthood. You were subject to Mary and Joseph as the Gospel of Luke tells us after You were lost and found at the Temple when You were 12. And since the Church is Your mystical body she </span><span style="color: #783f04; font-family: georgia;">recognizes that St. Joseph has guardianship of her too. As she celebrates his feast today, we rely on his powerful intercession with You to protect her from all danger just as he protected You and Mary. </span></span></div><div><span style="color: #783f04; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #783f04; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Thank You, Jesus, for giving us the wonderful gift of St. Joseph as our spiritual father just as You gave us Mary to be our Mother too. Thank You for including us in the Holy Family of God. </span></div><div><span style="color: #783f04; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #783f04;"><i><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">‘Go and tell my servant David, Thus the Lord speaks: “When your days are ended and you are laid to rest with your ancestors, I will preserve the offspring of your body after you and make his sovereignty secure. (It is he who shall build a house for my name, and I will make his royal throne secure for ever.) I will be a father to him and he a son to me. Your House and your sovereignty will always stand secure before me and your throne be established for ever.”’</span></i></span></div><div><div><span style="color: #783f04;"><b style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br />PSALM 88(89):2-5,27,29 <a href="https://universalis.com/asia.india/530/mass.htm#copyright">©</a></b><br /><br /><i><span style="font-family: times;">I will sing for ever of your love, O Lord;</span></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #783f04; font-family: times;"><i> through all ages my mouth will proclaim your truth.<br />Of this I am sure, that your love lasts for ever,<br /> that your truth is firmly established as the heavens.<br /><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #783f04;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">‘I have made a covenant with my chosen one;</span></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #783f04; font-family: times;"><i> I have sworn to David my servant:<br />I will establish your dynasty for ever<br /> and set up your throne through all ages.<br /><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #783f04; font-family: times;"><i>‘He will say to me: “You are my father,<br /> my God, the rock who saves me.”<br />I will keep my love for him always;<br /> with him my covenant shall last.’<br /><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #783f04;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">His dynasty shall last for ever.</span></i></span></div></div></div>Myra DSouzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01070180846707694830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-251793769707047829.post-64051546165365384082024-03-18T09:33:00.004+05:302024-03-18T09:33:19.758+05:30MONDAY OF THE FIFTH WEEK OF LENT - 2024<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b>DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS</b><br /><br /></span><i><span style="color: red; font-family: times;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">I take pleasure, not in the death of a wicked man</span><br style="font-size: large;" /><span style="font-size: large;">– it is the Lord who speaks –</span><br style="font-size: large;" /><span style="font-size: large;">but in the turning back of a wicked man</span><br style="font-size: large;" /><span style="font-size: large;">who changes his ways to win life. EZ 33:11</span></b></span></i><div><span style="color: red; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span><i><span style="color: red; font-family: times;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3fhQLhRrGzByhaOEvBBATBC4QGxcHQyyveubIp94RP_YMghM-a9oVmeMJGviid4RZTSvyc3G1ZZqsFyYBx_EYFqahJon-lK346cccGnyUX7Wfkj3i_rJypZMUzOUbsDu_e4oTA6pO9cozV22HKemDMLbEK279BB-WOq3o-EzkXRWnCalZT6AkltWVGWTb/s1136/Sin%20No%20More.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1136" data-original-width="640" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3fhQLhRrGzByhaOEvBBATBC4QGxcHQyyveubIp94RP_YMghM-a9oVmeMJGviid4RZTSvyc3G1ZZqsFyYBx_EYFqahJon-lK346cccGnyUX7Wfkj3i_rJypZMUzOUbsDu_e4oTA6pO9cozV22HKemDMLbEK279BB-WOq3o-EzkXRWnCalZT6AkltWVGWTb/w360-h640/Sin%20No%20More.jpg" width="360" /></a></div><br /></span></b></span></i><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b>DANIEL 13:1-9,15-17,19-30,33-62 <a href="https://universalis.com/asia.india/0/mass.htm#copyright">©</a></b><br /><br />My Soul's Beloved,</span><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">This story about Susanna, the wicked judges, and Daniel is also a commentary on how the sins of the flesh can enslave, blind, and cause those in its grip to go to unbelievable lengths to punish those who reject their evil advances. In their rage at being thwarted, they become positively demonic in their desire to crush, smite, and destroy those who courageously refuse to succumb to evil. </span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Susanna was raised right by God-fearing parents, what a wonderful testament this is of them, sadly this cannot be said of most parents today and this is why our young people have lost their way. Ignorant of God they try unsuccessfully to satisfy the aching void within them with the things of the world and fail miserably. One can at least find excuses for the young but what Daniel said of the two evil judges can very well be said of many in our own time who use their positions to do evil </span><i><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: large;"> ‘Spawn of Canaan, not of Judah, </span><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: large;">beauty has seduced you, lust has led your heart astray! This is how you have been behaving with the daughters of Israel and they were too frightened to resist; but here is a daughter of Judah who could not stomach your wickedness!</span></span></i><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: large;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">’ </span></i><span style="font-family: georgia;">Evil men and women can be found in all walks of life but it is even more heartbreaking when these people especially in the Church, use their office to prey upon the vulnerable.</span></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Thankfully, there are a few like Susanna who are prepared to die rather than become victims of the wicked. They are prepared to die rather than sell their soul. </span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><i>‘</i></span><i><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: large;">If I agree, that means my death; if I resist, </span><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: large;">I cannot get away from you. But I prefer to fall innocent into your power than to sin in the eyes of the Lord.’</span><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: large;"> </span></span></i></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">They did their worst and Susanna was sentence</span><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: times;">d</span></span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> to death but she cried out to God and He heard her. Daniel, filled with the Holy Spirit and moved by Him was able to prove that those two evil judges had condemned an innocent woman to death. All too often we try to appease the world, the culture, and those in power especially if they have power over us. But there is another way, it is the way that You showed us and which many noble men and women have taken. Death rather than sin should be our battle cry in a wicked world.</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Any time the innocent cry out to You O Lord, You will hear and answer, we just need to trust You for You are never deaf to the cry of the poor and needy. No matter in what situation we find ourselves may we never cower in fear but trust You to deliver us in Your way, in Your time, and according to Your will.</span></div><div><br /></div><div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b>PSALM 22(23) <a href="https://universalis.com/asia.india/0/mass.htm#copyright">©</a></b><br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i>The Lord is my shepherd;<br /> there is nothing I shall want.<br />Fresh and green are the pastures<br /> where he gives me repose.<br />Near restful waters he leads me,<br /> to revive my drooping spirit.<br /><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">He guides me along the right path;</span></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i> he is true to his name.<br />If I should walk in the valley of darkness<br /> no evil would I fear.<br />You are there with your crook and your staff;<br /> with these you give me comfort.<br /><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">You have prepared a banquet for me</span></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i> in the sight of my foes.<br />My head you have anointed with oil;<br /> my cup is overflowing.<br /><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">Surely goodness and kindness shall follow me</span></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i> all the days of my life.<br />In the Lord’s own house shall I dwell<br /> forever and ever.<br /><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">If I should walk in the valley of darkness, no evil would I fear.</span></i><br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b>JOHN 8:1-11 <a href="https://universalis.com/asia.india/0/mass.htm#copyright">©</a></b><br /><br />My Soul's Beloved,</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">All too often in the course of history, women have been sinned against and sinned against gravely yet they are made scapegoats, humiliated, and punished while the man who aided, abetted, and participated in the sin goes scot-free. </span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">The woman taken in adultery from the Gospel of St. John is a clear example of this. </span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">You came from Mount Olivet to the temple at daybreak and already a crowd had gathered to listen to You preach and teach when:</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><i><br /><span style="font-family: times;">The scribes and Pharisees brought a woman along who had been caught committing adultery; and making her stand there in full view of everybody, they said to Jesus, ‘Master, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery, and Moses has ordered us in the Law to condemn women like this to death by stoning. What have you to say?’ They asked him this as a test, looking for something to use against him. </span></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">The self-righteous especially if they are in positions of authority are judgmental, condemnatory, fault-finding nitpickers notoriously expert in veiling their own faults, failings, and immorality or whitewashing them. But You are God and these scribes and Pharisees would soon find out that they had more than met their match. How strange it seems that instead of reacting immediately You bend down and start writing on the ground with Your finger. Thinking that perhaps You were refusing to take the bait they persisted with their question. You look up and say to her accusers </span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">‘If there is one of you who has not sinned, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.’ Bending down again You resumed writing on the ground. </span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Then the incredible happens. Having heard You they went away one by one, beginning with the eldest, until You, O Lord, was left alone with her who remained standing there. Looking at her You said, </span><i><span style="font-family: times;">‘Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?’</span></i><span style="font-family: georgia;"> She replied, ‘No one, sir’ And then she heard You say the blessed words that every penitent hears when they go for Confession: </span><i><span style="font-family: times;"> ‘Neither do I condemn you, go away, and do not sin any more.’</span></i></span></div></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Thank You, Lord, for the wonderful healing remedy to sin that You grant us in the Sacrament of Confession.</span></div></div>Myra DSouzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01070180846707694830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-251793769707047829.post-8846812173476472512024-03-17T13:04:00.001+05:302024-03-17T13:04:06.271+05:30FIFTH SUNDAY IN LENT - 2024<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b>DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS</b><br /><br /></span><span style="color: red; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><i><b><span>Whoever serves me must follow me, says the Lord;</span><br /><span>and where I am, there also will my servant be. JN 12:26</span></b></i></span><div><span style="color: red; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span><span style="color: red; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><i><b><span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidWg0XORis_uCfCLW6QzHFNiUdmVA4Jj_HH_l5UQ0YscxgWyGzV0anp6jM2kPsFV8U2Pcf-lWCnk1bUyUb1T1sHBWUgiyGPU7Y-RHxa6_2-h9oa1YbENjZNCPaS1WZOzdc-Nfj9OQ_pYwEUp6fYccdW-93SPkEB8jZXHpMQRoX50kKJdqhhFb-XaPrXgqg/s1136/Christ%20Finds%20Us.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1136" data-original-width="640" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidWg0XORis_uCfCLW6QzHFNiUdmVA4Jj_HH_l5UQ0YscxgWyGzV0anp6jM2kPsFV8U2Pcf-lWCnk1bUyUb1T1sHBWUgiyGPU7Y-RHxa6_2-h9oa1YbENjZNCPaS1WZOzdc-Nfj9OQ_pYwEUp6fYccdW-93SPkEB8jZXHpMQRoX50kKJdqhhFb-XaPrXgqg/w360-h640/Christ%20Finds%20Us.jpg" width="360" /></a></div><br /></span></b></i></span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b>JEREMIAH 31:31-34 <a href="https://universalis.com/asia.india/530/mass.htm#copyright">©</a></b><br /><br /></span><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">My Soul's Beloved,</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">We are so blessed that You, O Lord, are the Covenant that God has made with us. It is unlike every other Covenant ever made between God and His people for by it You seal us to God by the power of Your Blood. This Covenant is everlasting because the power of the Holy Spirit abiding in us draws us into the very life of God. </span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">The Law of Love is inscribed on our hearts - this Law is alive for it is the Eternal Word of God that is made one with us in the Holy Spirit. The power of the Holy Spirit abiding in us makes it possible for us to live, move, and have our being in You and the Father. </span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Beloved, we are grafted onto Your Body. Your life gives us life. We are animated by Your Holy Spirit. You are the visible image of the invisible God who has so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in You will not perish but have eternal life. </span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Thank You, Lord, for the Sacraments especially the Sacrament of Reconciliation that makes it possible for us to rise to new life in You no matter how far we have strayed and how gravely we have sinned. </span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">Deep within them I will plant my Law, writing it on their hearts. Then I will be their God and they shall be my people. There will be no further need for neighbour to try to teach neighbour, or brother to say to brother, ‘Learn to know the Lord!’ No, they will all know me, the least no less than the greatest – it is the Lord who speaks – since I will forgive their iniquity and never call their sin to mind.</span></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /><b>PSALM 50(51):3-4,12-15 <a href="https://universalis.com/asia.india/530/mass.htm#copyright">©</a></b><br /></span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i>Have mercy on me, God, in your kindness.</i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i> In your compassion blot out my offence.<br />O wash me more and more from my guilt<br /> and cleanse me from my sin.<br /><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i>A pure heart create for me, O God,</i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i> put a steadfast spirit within me.<br />Do not cast me away from your presence,<br /> nor deprive me of your holy spirit.<br /><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i>Give me again the joy of your help;</i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i> with a spirit of fervour sustain me,<br />that I may teach transgressors your ways<br /> and sinners may return to you.<br /><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">A pure heart create for me, O God.</span></i><br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b>HEBREWS 5:7-9 <a href="https://universalis.com/asia.india/530/mass.htm#copyright">©</a></b><br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">My Soul's Beloved,</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">At the heart of every sin is pride, and You, our crucified Savior, nailed this besetting sin of the world to the Cross. Emptying Yourself completely of everything that was Yours as God and the Son of God, the Eternal Word of the Father in whom and through whom all things came out of nothing to be You showed us how much the Father loves us. But this is not everything, Lord, we are called to love God with all the fervor of our being. We are called to lay down our lives for You and for another for this is how we are loved by God. </span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Every day that is given to us as a gift we are called to serve as You served. We are called to be humble and obedient. We are called to hold back the proud look, the haughty words, the sarcasm, the belittling, the putting down, and the casting out of each other by dying to ourselves constantly. To do this, Lord, we are called to keep our gaze on You crucified, only then can we hope, with grace, to empty ourselves of our pride, and our ego, and to be ready to be the last, the least, and the lowest. </span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Thank You, Lord, for all You have won for us through Your life, passion, death, and glorious resurrection into Heaven. Thank You for not just showing us the Way to the Father but for being the only Way to Him.</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">During his life on earth, Christ offered up prayer and entreaty, aloud and in silent tears, to the one who had the power to save him out of death, and he submitted so humbly that his prayer was heard. Although he was Son, he learnt to obey through suffering; but having been made perfect, he became for all who obey him the source of eternal salvation.</span></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /><b>JOHN 12:20-33 <a href="https://universalis.com/asia.india/530/mass.htm#copyright">©</a></b><br /><br />My Soul's Beloved,</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Dying spiritually to ourselves is so much harder than actually dying. To die daily to our faults, weaknesses, our besetting sins is a moment-by-moment struggle. We fail often but we keep trying, and this is what is most pleasing to You, Lord. </span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">When people are seeking You, Lord, as those Greeks who approached Philip, let us bring them into the Church, introduce them to the other members in the family of God, and ultimately to faith in You.</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br />Nothing that happened to You came as a surprise. This is why You came into the world - that dreaded yet long-awaited hour was always before You from the crib until the grave. You knew that the salvation of the entire human race was to be given a new beginning. Creation was groaning, as St. Paul writes, as with the pains of childbirth. You had to fall to the ground and die accepting our death so we could rise from death to share new life in You through Your resurrection. </span></div><div><br /></div><div><i><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="color: #20124d;">‘Now the hour has come<br />for the Son of Man to be glorified.<br />I tell you, most solemnly,<br />unless a wheat grain falls on the ground and dies,<br />it remains only a single grain;<br />but if it dies,<br />it yields a rich harvest.</span><span style="color: #20124d;">’</span></span></i></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">We live in an age where people chase the illusion of eternal youth. Many are so blind they cannot see that they are caricatures of what they once were. We cannot make an idol of this life that God has given us which is fleeting. We were created for eternity, eternal bliss with God in company with all the angels and saints in heaven. This life is fleeting the wisdom of God reminds us that we are like the flowers in the field here today and gone tomorrow.</span><br /><br /><i><span style="font-family: times;">Anyone who loves his life loses it; anyone who hates his life in this world<br />will keep it for the eternal life.</span></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">You have given us Your Word and Your Church so we know the Way to the Father's house and to You. We have to become another Christ if we hope to have a share in Your glory.</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><br /><i><span style="font-family: times;">If a man serves me, he must follow me,<br />wherever I am, my servant will be there too.<br />If anyone serves me, my Father will honour him.</span></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">We thank You, Lord, for winning the price of our freedom for us all. Keep our gaze fixed on You raised between heaven and hell and know for certain that it is only through it that You will draw the whole world to Yourself and the Father through the Holy Spirit.</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">‘Now sentence is being passed on this world;</span></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i>now the prince of this world is to be overthrown.<br />And when I am lifted up from the earth,<br />I shall draw all men to myself.’</i></span></div></div>Myra DSouzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01070180846707694830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-251793769707047829.post-51869446337617234152024-03-15T11:12:00.008+05:302024-03-15T19:09:02.939+05:30FRIDAY OF THE FOURTH WEEK OF LENT - 2024<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b>DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS</b><br /><br /></span><i><b><span style="color: red; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span>Man does not live on bread alone,</span><br /><span>but on every word that comes from the mouth of God. MT 4:4</span></span></b></i><div><span style="color: red; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span><i><b><span style="color: red; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6Tr2CXvNX6qIEFYrKHogfmf7y-F6TKcgN0krcvGZzxbQkWlQxDVRrwWz9mV_gBFKArpUIXBO6-qCO54rjAk_gU8Id-I8vvEnVAImkxhvMCZumKq_-foahjF9aWibuEvWfcLeo-Rs0H002kcYQvGiNKS-4V_PkqVBTOlXY-wsWZ__IcboP10ZuUTKlls0T/s1136/You%20Know%20Me.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1136" data-original-width="640" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6Tr2CXvNX6qIEFYrKHogfmf7y-F6TKcgN0krcvGZzxbQkWlQxDVRrwWz9mV_gBFKArpUIXBO6-qCO54rjAk_gU8Id-I8vvEnVAImkxhvMCZumKq_-foahjF9aWibuEvWfcLeo-Rs0H002kcYQvGiNKS-4V_PkqVBTOlXY-wsWZ__IcboP10ZuUTKlls0T/w360-h640/You%20Know%20Me.jpg" width="360" /></a></div><br /></span></span></b></i><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b>WISDOM 2:1,12-22 <a href="https://universalis.com/asia.india/530/mass.htm#copyright">©</a></b><br /><br /></span><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">My Soul's Beloved,</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">These verses from the Book of Wisdom point out clearly how those sinners who have given their lives over to Satan are positively rabid in their diabolical hatred of You, of Your Revelation of Truth, and of Your followers. No institution in the world is hated with such venomous rage as the Catholic Church because she alone stands unmoved by the different cultures that have come and gone and have raised their fists against her demanding she change according to the current popular sinful deranged fad and fashion of the day. Aeons have come and gone but she is unmoved for she is built on the Rock of Peter and You, O Lord our God, are her Cornerstone.</span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i>The godless say to themselves, with their misguided reasoning:<br />Let us lie in wait for the virtuous man, since he annoys us<br />and opposes our way of life,<br />reproaches us for our breaches of the law<br />and accuses us of playing false to our upbringing.<br />He claims to have knowledge of God,<br />and calls himself a son of the Lord.</i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Institutions created by misguided human beings who in their pride rejected the sole authority handed down to Your Bride, the Church, continue splinter ad infinitum ad nauseam and scorn and mock the teachings of Holy Mother Church having themselves kowtowed to, and giving obeisance to an immoral, amoral culture. </span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><br /><i><span style="font-family: times;">Before us he stands, a reproof to our way of thinking,<br />the very sight of him weighs our spirits down;<br />his way of life is not like other men’s,<br />the paths he treads are unfamiliar.<br />In his opinion we are counterfeit;<br />he holds aloof from our doings as though from filth;<br />he proclaims the final end of the virtuous as happy<br />and boasts of having God for his father.</span></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Obscene laws are imposed by those in power and are enforced to the fullest extent of force at their command. The aim is to crush Your faithful remnant who heroically refuse to affirm them in their sins. The good are persecuted relentlessly because they have placed all their hope in You. You have assured us O Lord, that if they did not spare You, the Son of God, we too will not be spared. They put You to death and we must expect no less.</span></div><div><i><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></i></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i>Let us test him with cruelty and with torture,<br />and thus explore this gentleness of his<br />and put his endurance to the proof.<br />Let us condemn him to a shameful death<br />since he will be looked after – we have his word for it.’</i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">We trust You to keep Your faithful remnant safe in the shadow of Your wings O Lord for we have placed all our hope in You.</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i><br />This is the way they reason, but they are misled,<br />their malice makes them blind.<br />They do not know the hidden things of God,<br />they have no hope that holiness will be rewarded,<br />they can see no reward for blameless souls.</i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /><b>PSALM 33(34):16,18,19-21,23 <a href="https://universalis.com/asia.india/530/mass.htm#copyright">©</a></b><br /><br /></span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i>The Lord turns his face against the wicked</i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i> to destroy their remembrance from the earth.<br />The just call and the Lord hears<br /> and rescues them in all their distress.<br /><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i>The Lord is close to the broken-hearted;</i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i> those whose spirit is crushed he will save.<br />Many are the trials of the just man<br /> but from them all the Lord will rescue him.<br /><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">He will keep guard over all his bones,</span></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i> not one of his bones shall be broken.<br />The Lord ransoms the souls of his servants.<br /> Those who hide in him shall not be condemned.<br /><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">The Lord is close to the broken-hearted.</span></i><br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b>JOHN 7:1-2,10,25-30 <a href="https://universalis.com/asia.india/530/mass.htm#copyright">©</a></b><br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">My Soul's Beloved,</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Prudence not fear kept You out of Judaea as You were aware that the Jews were out to kill You and You could not move freely. No one could touch You before the hour appointed by God. However, You did go there quietly and alone before the Jewish feast of Tabernacles but You were recognized by some. You were without Your disciples and the usual crowd that accompanied You so they could not be sure so they discussed and speculated among themselves, </span><i><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="color: #20124d;">‘Isn’t this the man they want to kill? And here he is, speaking freely, and they have nothing to say to him! Can it be true the authorities have made up their minds that he is the Christ?</span><span style="color: #20124d;">’</span><span style="color: #20124d;"> </span></span></i></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Yet, on the heels of this thought came the observation: </span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">‘</span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Yet we all know where he comes from, but when the Christ appears no one will know where he comes from.’ Too often we think we know based on our prejudices, or lies we have been fed. These lies have been preached, shouted from the rooftops, and repeated ad infinitum ad nauseam until they seem true, and generation after generation is deceived into believing these lies. We have only to look at the ever-growing number of Christian denominations each claiming that they know where You came from while rejecting all that the Apostles heard from Your lips, witnessed You do, and carried it all out faithfully with the help of the Holy Spirit. In fact, You knew that without divine assistance they could never recall everything so You assured them,</span><span class="vv vnumVis" face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #777777; display: inline;"> </span></div><div><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #010000;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i><span style="background-color: white;">‘I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. </span><span style="background-color: white;">When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. </span><span style="background-color: white;">He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. </span><span style="background-color: white;">All that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.</span> </i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">But we need not be downcast, Lord, Your priestly prayer for unity is heard and answered and we must wait and pray as we wait for the dawn of its fulfillment. It has already begun.</span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i> Then, as Jesus taught in the Temple, he cried out:<br />‘Yes, you know me<br />and you know where I came from.<br />Yet I have not come of myself:<br />no, there is one who sent me<br />and I really come from him,<br />and you do not know him,<br />but I know him because I have come from him<br />and it was he who sent me.’</i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">First will come the great persecution and we must be prepared to suffer as You did before that day arrives. You also assured us that we will receive all the grace, courage, and strength and to die if need be. Thank You!</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><br /><i><span style="font-family: times;">They would have arrested him then, but because his time had not yet come no one laid a hand on him.</span></i></span></div></div>Myra DSouzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01070180846707694830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-251793769707047829.post-20833845319256907182024-03-14T09:04:00.000+05:302024-03-14T09:04:25.839+05:30THURSDAY OF THE FOURTH WEEK IN LENT - 2024<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b>DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS</b><br /><br /></span><i><span style="color: red; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><b><span>God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son:</span><br /><span>everyone who believes in him has eternal life. JN 3:16</span></b></span></i><div><span style="color: red; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span><i><span style="color: red; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><b><span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZEax1gOFMkxQJPZxbHJXDaQgtaZtm8BFluMpYW1R_4D1haNY_M6-Bxy82KL1Bxz-jk0x-QNEEzt85Jyz2MhVHJys6w5v0WweOptblK79q1Fa1A9LUDNKeQmccZaBR5A_Ymb5iFBptsrgWskNLtELRNXsIpF6q__dgDBd3EJapwFIGRMPBYj86ghBJ9za6/s1136/New%20Covenant.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1136" data-original-width="640" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZEax1gOFMkxQJPZxbHJXDaQgtaZtm8BFluMpYW1R_4D1haNY_M6-Bxy82KL1Bxz-jk0x-QNEEzt85Jyz2MhVHJys6w5v0WweOptblK79q1Fa1A9LUDNKeQmccZaBR5A_Ymb5iFBptsrgWskNLtELRNXsIpF6q__dgDBd3EJapwFIGRMPBYj86ghBJ9za6/w225-h400/New%20Covenant.jpg" width="225" /></a></div><br /></span></b></span></i><span style="font-size: medium;"><b style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia;">EXODUS 32:7-14 <a href="https://universalis.com/asia.india/20240314/mass.htm#copyright">©</a></b><br /><br /></span><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">My Soul's Beloved,</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Even though Your anger burns against us O Lord You relent for You are a God of Love and until we miserable sinners are alive we can count on Your mercy. But this is my great sorrow Beloved, that those we love and pray for may die in their sins and will be condemned to be separated from You eternally. How can I bear this agony, my Lord and my God? My heart is broken because perhaps we failed as parents in safeguarding the souls entrusted to us and now, as adults, they have strayed far from the path of righteousness. </span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">The people of Israel were quick to forget how You saved them with mighty signs and miracles and brought them out of exile and slavery to freedom and they made for themselves and worshipped as their deliverer a molten calf. Your righteous anger as well as the anger of Moses burned against them. They deserved to be destroyed, to be annihilated, Moses knew this yet he stood in the breach and pleaded for their lives.</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><br /><i><span style="font-family: times;">The Lord said to Moses, ‘I can see how headstrong these people are! Leave me, now, my wrath shall blaze out against them and devour them; of you, however, I will make a great nation.’<br /> But Moses pleaded with the Lord his God. ‘Lord,’ he said ‘why should your wrath blaze out against this people of yours whom you brought out of the land of Egypt with arm outstretched and mighty hand? Why let the Egyptians say, “Ah, it was in treachery that he brought them out, to do them to death in the mountains and wipe them off the face of the earth”? Leave your burning wrath; relent and do not bring this disaster on your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, your servants to whom by your own self you swore and made this promise: I will make your offspring as many as the stars of heaven, and all this land which I promised I will give to your descendants, and it shall be their heritage for ever.’</span></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">God did hear the prayer of intercession that Moses made on behalf of His people. He did relent and did not bring on His people the disaster He had threatened.</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">You O Lord, are the new Moses, You stand in the breach our Mediator, and plead for us night and day before the throne of God. This is why I hope that in the end not just I, O Lord, but I and my entire household will be saved. I believe, I adore, I hope, and I trust, and I love You, my Lord and my God and You will not put me to shame. For no one who hopes in You will be put to shame.</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /><b>PSALM 105(106):19-23 <a href="https://universalis.com/asia.india/20240314/mass.htm#copyright">©</a></b><br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i>They fashioned a calf at Horeb</i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i> and worshipped an image of metal,<br />exchanging the God who was their glory<br /> for the image of a bull that eats grass.<br /><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">They forgot the God who was their saviour,</span></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i> who had done such great things in Egypt,<br />such portents in the land of Ham,<br /> such marvels at the Red Sea.<br /><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">For this he said he would destroy them,</span></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i> but Moses, the man he had chosen,<br />stood in the breach before him,<br /> to turn back his anger from destruction.<br /><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">O Lord, remember me out of the love you have for your people.</span></i><br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b>JOHN 5:31-47 <a href="https://universalis.com/asia.india/20240314/mass.htm#copyright">©</a></b><br /><br />My Soul's Beloved,</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Reading and reflecting on today's Gospel of John all that You said to the Jews on that particular day over two millennia ago, nothing much has changed in this present age. Every word that You spoke against the Jews then is true of Christians today - lukewarm, tepid, neither hot nor cold and this is why You will vomit us out of Your mouth. At least the Jews of the time could be excused for they had not yet witnessed the entire work of redemption embracing the entire spectrum of Your life beginning with Your lowly birth, life, passion, horrendous crucifixion, and culminating with Your glorious resurrection and triumph over death. </span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"> The testimony of the Triune God during Your 33 years on earth is greater than any human testimony, we need no other from where we stand today. Yet O Lord never in the history of time are we living in such decadent and satanic times. If Your righteous anger swept across the globe we would all be consigned to the darkest pit in hell for eternity. Many in the world arrogantly call themselves atheists even though Your finger is evident in all creation. Many proudly affirm that they are idolaters who bow before artifacts made by human hands and they offer these deaf, dumb, and blind artifacts and worship them. Those of us who identify as Catholics and Christians are no better - we cherry-pick what we choose to believe and reject what is uncomfortable or those divine and doctrinal teachings that we refuse to conform to.</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">What You said to the Jews listening to You applies to many of us who are ill-formed in the faith. Proud, haughty, and spiritually blind making us unteachable even though 2000 years of unbroken doctrinal teaching is safeguarded and the Sacred Deposit of faith is handed down from one generation to the next. We would rather be fed by ill-formed teachers and accept their erroneous teaching as infallible trues. </span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><br /><i><span style="font-family: times;">‘You study the scriptures,<br />believing that in them you have eternal life;<br />now these same scriptures testify to me,<br />and yet you refuse to come to me for life!’</span></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">How apt this is Beloved for all those many, many splinter groups who are blind leaders of the blind, and yet their followers froth at the mouth in their derision and outright rejection of revealed doctrine which is both Oral and Written comprising a whole. </span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><i><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="color: #20124d;">‘I have come in the name of my Father<br />and you refuse to accept me;<br />if someone else comes in his own name<br />you will accept him.<br />How can you believe,<br />since you look to one another for approval<br />and are not concerned<br />with the approval that comes from the one God?</span><span style="color: #20124d;">’</span></span></i></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Let not those who are the bosom of Holy Mother Church take salvation for granted, Lord, rather grant us the grace to work out our salvation with fear and trembling for we count on Your goodness and mercy and not on our merits. The works of the apostles, the early Church Fathers, and the doctors of the Church will be the ones accusing us for we refused to embrace revealed Truth in all its fullness, grandeur, goodness, and beauty.</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><br /><i><span style="font-family: times;">‘Do not imagine that I am going to accuse you before the Father:<br />you place your hopes on Moses,<br />and Moses will be your accuser.<br />If you really believed him<br />you would believe me too,<br />since it was I that he was writing about;<br />but if you refuse to believe what he wrote,<br />how can you believe what I say?’</span></i></span></div></div>Myra DSouzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01070180846707694830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-251793769707047829.post-1969973710662571362024-03-13T10:04:00.001+05:302024-03-13T10:04:27.979+05:30WEDNESDAY OF THE FOURTH WEEK OF LENT - 2024<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b>DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS</b><br /><br /></span><span style="color: red; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><i><b><span>I am the resurrection and the life, says the Lord;</span><br /><span>whoever believes in me will never die. JN 11:25, 26</span></b></i></span><div><span style="color: red; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span><span style="color: red; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><i><b><span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_iahMy69jzxblz4xLHL1U7SWc-ZZTYTgvynZdX_KZpPFPcAxTP6wX-3X9F62AM2mHyXTdgfTh2VtYURomukWSnxd2KDl534sIsPHicB3Yf84IjfHTKOs2VNt0tieYTUpysaqy3MJeJoloNFZAO6TVwWYrgPlcwZ1XKR9WWJE1YWkIPNF7wQwjcayXr8cp/s1136/God%20With%20Us.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1136" data-original-width="640" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_iahMy69jzxblz4xLHL1U7SWc-ZZTYTgvynZdX_KZpPFPcAxTP6wX-3X9F62AM2mHyXTdgfTh2VtYURomukWSnxd2KDl534sIsPHicB3Yf84IjfHTKOs2VNt0tieYTUpysaqy3MJeJoloNFZAO6TVwWYrgPlcwZ1XKR9WWJE1YWkIPNF7wQwjcayXr8cp/w225-h400/God%20With%20Us.jpg" width="225" /></a></div><br /></span></b></i></span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b>ISAIAH 49:8-15 <a href="https://universalis.com/asia.india/20240313/mass.htm#copyright">©</a></b><br /><br />My Soul's Beloved,</span><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">You are so good and I am so blessed. All that You have said to me this morning is confirmed in these consoling verses from the prophet Isaiah. I know Lord, that I deserve to die. I am unworthy of so great a love that You lavish on me awake or asleep. Your love O Lord is constant mine is inconstant and changeable, I grow hot and cold but You O Lord are faithful, patient, kind, tender, merciful, and compassionate.</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">When You created the world You looked at the work of Your hands and said </span><i><span style="font-family: times;">behold it is very good</span></i><span style="font-family: georgia;">, bu</span></span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">t original sin tainted everything, and from that moment on we seem hell-bent on spiraling headlong into eternal damnation. Thank You, Lord, for Your words of consolation and comfort. This is Your world and we are Your people. It is precisely because God did not desire to annihilate us as we deserve that He sent You into the world to redeem us.</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">We have hope because of You. Thank You Father for creating us and loving us even at our most unlovable. Thank You, Beloved Son, for laying down Your life to save us. Thank You, Holy Spirit for making it possible to live a life of grace and truth by Your power aflame in us and in the Church.</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">All glory to You - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit now and forever. Amen. <br /></span><div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><br /><span style="font-family: times;"><i>Thus says the Lord:</i></span></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i>At the favourable time I will answer you,<br />on the day of salvation I will help you.<br />(I have formed you and have appointed you<br />as covenant of the people.)</i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i>They will never hunger or thirst,<br />scorching wind and sun shall never plague them;<br />for he who pities them will lead them<br />and guide them to springs of water.<br /><br />For the Lord consoles his people<br />and takes pity on those who are afflicted.<br />For Zion was saying, ‘The Lord has abandoned me,<br />the Lord has forgotten me.’<br />Does a woman forget her baby at the breast,<br />or fail to cherish the son of her womb?<br />Yet even if these forget,<br />I will never forget you.</i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><br /><b style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">PSALM 144(145):8-9,13b-14,17-18 <a href="https://universalis.com/asia.india/20240313/mass.htm#copyright">©</a></b><br /><br /><i><span style="font-family: times;">The Lord is kind and full of compassion,</span></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i> slow to anger, abounding in love.<br />How good is the Lord to all,<br /> compassionate to all his creatures.<br /><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">The Lord is faithful in all his words</span></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i> and loving in all his deeds.<br />The Lord supports all who fall<br /> and raises all who are bowed down.<br /><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">The Lord is just in all his ways</span></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i> and loving in all his deeds.<br />He is close to all who call him,<br /> who call on him from their hearts.<br /><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">The Lord is kind and full of compassion.</span></i><br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b>JOHN 5:17-30 <a href="https://universalis.com/asia.india/20240313/mass.htm#copyright">©</a></b><br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">My Soul's Beloved,</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Knowing that Your Father and You are always at work is calming and comforting. Just as His eye is on the sparrow it is on us and we can rest in Him as a weaned child on its mother's lap.</span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">All You did while on earth was what You had seen Your Father do. You did nothing on Your own for in Your own words You have said, </span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">‘I tell you most solemnly,</span></i></span></div><div><i><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="color: #20124d;">the Son can do nothing by himself;<br />he can do only what he sees the Father doing:<br />and whatever the Father does the Son does too.</span><span style="color: #20124d;">’</span></span></i></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">You and the Father are eternally one, consubstantially one in being. You are God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God - the breath of love between Your Father and You is the Ruah of God, the Holy Spirit. The love of the Holy Spirit also draws us into the divine love of God and whosoever believes in You will not perish but will have eternal life. </span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i>For the Father loves the Son<br />and shows him everything he does himself,<br />and he will show him even greater things than these,<br />works that will astonish you.</i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">All who believe in You, my Beloved, are raised from death to life. All life comes from the Father the Creator of all things and as is His Son You have the power to give eternal life to whomever You choose to give it. </span><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: times;"><i>You laid down Your life for us while we were yet sinners</i>,</span></span><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> we can count on You being a merciful judge for </span><i><span style="font-family: times;">You bore our iniquities, You were pierced for our sins, and by Your stripes, we are healed.</span></i><span style="font-family: georgia;"> While our sins demand justice O Lord, it will be tempered with mercy for You paid in full the debt we owed which is so great that it condemned us to eternal death. Thank You, Lord, for saving me and for the hope I have in You.</span></span></div><div><br /></div></div></div></div>Myra DSouzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01070180846707694830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-251793769707047829.post-35980479128010066852024-03-12T10:32:00.002+05:302024-03-12T10:32:09.149+05:30TUESDAY OF THE FOURTH WEEK OF LENT - 2024<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b>DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS</b><br /><br /></span><span style="color: red; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><i><b>A pure heart create for me, O God,<br />and give me again the joy of your help. PS 50:12, 14</b></i></span><div><span style="color: red; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span><span style="color: red; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><i><b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOg9tCxJ8DPFU4rACzSmkTO9DwoZB0odBoBKYk6Po6zgHzp6qJxHXyrS0t9t9K3F1DdwqKJHXzSqovBmGlGn9N7VIyEsf4U3q_rR1q1lyDj9dapwzsc0HVECSWcowbR5fUjgMFgitABBecrtO37KhGUHrWUehuQiryiX7o9qwRyYBPuBSNlPxtF8HXd-em/s876/Count%20Me%20among%20Your%20Faithful.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="876" data-original-width="583" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOg9tCxJ8DPFU4rACzSmkTO9DwoZB0odBoBKYk6Po6zgHzp6qJxHXyrS0t9t9K3F1DdwqKJHXzSqovBmGlGn9N7VIyEsf4U3q_rR1q1lyDj9dapwzsc0HVECSWcowbR5fUjgMFgitABBecrtO37KhGUHrWUehuQiryiX7o9qwRyYBPuBSNlPxtF8HXd-em/w266-h400/Count%20Me%20among%20Your%20Faithful.jpg" width="266" /></a></div><br /></b></i></span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b>EZEKIEL 47:1-9,12 <a href="https://universalis.com/asia.india/20240312/mass.htm#copyright">©</a><br /></b><br />My Soul's Beloved,</span><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">How good You are in giving us the waters of baptism that fill us with the grace of the Holy Spirit causing all His wonderful gifts to bear good fruit in us, fruit that will last. </span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">This passage about the Temple describes Your Bride, the Church </span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">formed from Your pierced side out of which flowed Blood and Water. In the Sacrament of Baptism, we are plunged into Your death and rise to new life in You. We receive Your own life poured out on all who believe in You, hope in You, place all their trust in You, and love You above and before all. </span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">The Blood and Water which gushed forth from Your side are perennial for the grace of the Holy Spirit is eternal. We receive these graces through the Sacraments You instituted which are sense perceptible signs of Your abiding presence in us and in the Church. </span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">You have given us all we need for our pilgrim journey we need to receive with faith trusting that the bowl of flour and the jar of oil, representing the Holy Eucharist and the anointing of the Holy Spirit, will not run out until we come into Your Kingdom. </span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Lord God, Beloved of my soul, grant that I will be a good steward of all You have so graciously given me. May I share all without thought of whether or not I will have enough for myself but to give with abandon knowing that the God of all goodness, mercy, and love, will provide everything I need always.</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i>‘This water flows east down to the Arabah and to the sea; and flowing into the sea it makes its waters wholesome. Wherever the river flows, all living creatures teeming in it will live. Fish will be very plentiful, for wherever the water goes it brings health, and life teems wherever the river flows. Along the river, on either bank, will grow every kind of fruit tree with leaves that never wither and fruit that never fails; they will bear new fruit every month, because this water comes from the sanctuary. And their fruit will be good to eat and the leaves medicinal.’</i></span><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><br /><b style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">PSALM 45(46):2-3,5-6,8-9ab <a href="https://universalis.com/asia.india/20240312/mass.htm#copyright">©</a></b><br /><br /><i><span style="font-family: times;">God is for us a refuge and strength,</span></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i> a helper close at hand, in time of distress,<br />so we shall not fear though the earth should rock,<br /> though the mountains fall into the depths of the sea.<br /><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">The waters of a river give joy to God’s city,</span></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i> the holy place where the Most High dwells.<br />God is within, it cannot be shaken;<br /> God will help it at the dawning of the day.<br /><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">The Lord of hosts is with us:</span></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i> the God of Jacob is our stronghold.<br />Come, consider the works of the Lord,<br /> the redoubtable deeds he has done on the earth.<br /><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">The Lord of hosts is with us: the God of Jacob is our stronghold.</span></i><br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b>JOHN 5:1-3,5-16 <a href="https://universalis.com/asia.india/20240312/mass.htm#copyright">©</a></b><br /><br />My Soul's Beloved,</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">You purposefully and deliberately sought out the man who was paralyzed for thirty-eight years and was lying at the pool of Bethesda hoping for a miracle that seemed impossible since he was unable to get into the pool at the opportune moment. Sadly, many unfortunates to this day put their hope in things that can never give them the desired outcome.</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Crowds of sick people lay beside the healing pool, the blind, lame, and paralyzed all waiting to receive a miracle but came looking for this particular man the Gospel does not tell us why. You asked him a strange question, </span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #20124d;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">‘Do you want to be well again?’</span></i><span style="font-family: georgia;"> Of course, one would think, why else would he be there. But surprisingly he does not say, yes, instead he gives a long-winded, whining response, </span></span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i>‘Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is disturbed; and while I am still on the way, someone else gets there before me.’</i></span><span style="color: #20124d;"><i><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></i><span style="font-family: georgia;">Knowing what he truly desired You told him to,</span><i><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></i></span><i><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="color: #20124d;">‘Get up, pick up your sleeping mat and walk.’</span><span style="color: #20124d;"> </span></span></i></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia;">Thank You, Lord, for coming to me each time I need healing and You meet my need for forgiveness in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Forgive me for dragging my feet instead of approaching this wonderful Sacrament more frequently than I do Lord and avail the rich graces that are mine for the asking.</span></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i>Heal me, O Lord, </i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i>and I will be healed.</i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i>Save me and I will be saved</i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i>for You O Lord are my praise. </i></span></div></div></div></div>Myra DSouzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01070180846707694830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-251793769707047829.post-12109443282986766262024-03-11T07:09:00.004+05:302024-03-11T07:09:26.062+05:30MONDAY OF THE FOURTH WEEK OF LENT - 2024<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b>DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS</b><br /><br /></span><span style="color: red; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><i><b><span>Seek good and not evil so that you may live,</span><br /><span>and that the Lord God of hosts may really be with you. AMOS 5:14</span></b></i></span><div><span style="color: red; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span><span style="color: red; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><i><b><span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1fDZZc1YNIrvsXWiGtT8p_xbGsjMl5Npwyf-n3Wy0rQsRxUzDhRkC1lTe2loyWkC6wXgde_eVTAVWredxoB37OFyKgmk0qeH6bBMqCFYZq47JRdzz-G5pg4GsHIP7uwZmfTdyJtU6C7_NQpIs_7oJdiXVeVYNIq4z3L75EaQUk_ZS_NhtzPA6A7gyOYht/s876/Heal%20My%20Son.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="876" data-original-width="583" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1fDZZc1YNIrvsXWiGtT8p_xbGsjMl5Npwyf-n3Wy0rQsRxUzDhRkC1lTe2loyWkC6wXgde_eVTAVWredxoB37OFyKgmk0qeH6bBMqCFYZq47JRdzz-G5pg4GsHIP7uwZmfTdyJtU6C7_NQpIs_7oJdiXVeVYNIq4z3L75EaQUk_ZS_NhtzPA6A7gyOYht/w266-h400/Heal%20My%20Son.jpg" width="266" /></a></div><br /></span></b></i></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><b style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia;">ISAIAH 65:17-21 <a href="https://universalis.com/asia.india/20240311/mass.htm#copyright">©</a></b><br /><br /><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia;">My Soul's Beloved,</span></span><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia;">We are in the fourth week of Lent and in a couple of weeks we will celebrate the glorious feast of Easter. But for now we continue to wear the sackcloth and ashes of penitence and make reparation for our sins and the sins of the whole world. </span></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia;">Thank You for the promises that God has made through the prophet Isaiah. It is this prophet who foretold Your terrible sufferings and how You would be made a thing of horror and shame which it would be difficult for us to look upon. But it was our sins, our faults, our iniquities that brought about Your brutal and inhuman death at the hands of cruel, barbaric men. Let us never forget that while they were the ones who struct the blows, who spat on You, mocked You, derided and cursed You, buffeted You about so You stumbled and fell over and over again, who pressed the crown of needle sharp thorns on Your Sacred Head, those who scourged You until the skin on Your Sacred Body was torn to purple ribbons and Your Precious Blood ran down into the earth as You obtained the remission of the sins of the whole world, it was my sins that contributed to Your suffering and death. It was my hand that struck the blows, that nailed You to the Cross. I, a miserable sinner who brought about the death of the Son of God. </span></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia;">I could not pay the debt I owed for my life and so You paid it for me. And not just that, my Lord and my God You paid it possible for me to make the triumphant hymn of Isaiah my own because of what You did for me and for us all by creating a new heaven and a new earth. You have reconciled us to the Father and filled with Your Holy Spirit we are now God's own cherished people. We have hope for we are saved. </span></span><div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><br /><b style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">PSALM 29(30):2,4-6,11-13 <a href="https://universalis.com/asia.india/20240311/mass.htm#copyright">©</a></b><br /><br /><i><span style="font-family: times;">I will praise you, Lord, you have rescued me</span></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i> and have not let my enemies rejoice over me.<br />O Lord, you have raised my soul from the dead,<br /> restored me to life from those who sink into the grave.<br /><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">Sing psalms to the Lord, you who love him,</span></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i> give thanks to his holy name.<br />His anger lasts a moment; his favour all through life.<br /> At night there are tears, but joy comes with dawn.<br /><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">The Lord listened and had pity.</span></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i> The Lord came to my help.<br />For me you have changed my mourning into dancing:<br /> O Lord my God, I will thank you for ever.<br /><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">I will praise you, Lord, you have rescued me.</span></i><br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b>JOHN 4:43-54 <a href="https://universalis.com/asia.india/20240311/mass.htm#copyright">©</a></b><br /><br />My Soul's Beloved,</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">You were rejected in Nazareth by the people who knew You but were welcomed by the Galileans. They had heard and seen all that You had done and they believed. All too often my Lord, we too who know You intimately in the Sacraments, reject You. We take the bountiful Gifts and the riches of graces received in the Church becoming indifferent and taking for granted the treasures that are lavished on us without measure. </span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Fools that we are we forget that we will be called to stricter account when we stand before You as our Judge. You warn us clearly that since we have received more than those outside the Church our accountability is greater and our judgement more severe. We are witnesses to the greatest and unceasing signs and wonders in the Sacraments and still we ask for signs and miracles. How tired You must be of us, Lord.</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Yet You are patient, tender, compassionate and kind. When the official pleads with You to heal his son who was on the point of death, You said a little wearily,</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><br /><i><span style="font-family: times;"> ‘So you will not believe unless you see signs and portents!’ </span></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">But the grief-stricken dad pleaded, ‘Sir, come down before my child dies.’ And as always my Lord, moved with compassion You did as he asked saying, ‘Go home,’ said Jesus ‘your son will live.’ The man's faith was so great he believed what You had said and started on his way. The story of this miraculous healing does not end here. We learn that </span><i style="color: #20124d; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: times;">while he was still on the journey back his servants met him with the news that his boy was alive. He asked them when the boy had begun to recover. ‘The fever left him yesterday’ they said ‘at the seventh hour.’ The father realised that this was exactly the time when Jesus had said, ‘Your son will live’. </span></i></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">The grace of faith is so rich and powerful it had the power to cause his entire household to believe in You and they were all saved. </span></div></div></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Grant us O Lord a vibrant faith. A faith that moves mountains. A faith that causes others who witness it in us to believe as well and to come to the knowledge and the fullness of Truth and believing in it they too will live.</span></div></div>Myra DSouzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01070180846707694830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-251793769707047829.post-88310775617178732102024-03-10T11:13:00.004+05:302024-03-10T11:13:38.785+05:30FOURTH SUNDAY OF LENT (LAETARE SUNDAY) - 2024<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b>DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS</b><br /><br /></span><span style="color: red; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><i><b><span>God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son:</span><br /><span>everyone who believes in him has eternal life. JN 3:16</span></b></i></span><div><span style="color: red; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span><span style="color: red; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><i><b><span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiliAMW34hC7ZOnQkP0U5WRI1Kp9Wu69NM6Hny3XBCk-QGlyxkAORyXSf4Kb7v_1IZw7e1jnkn79H4lf6e4ArgZRIdDcMiUBAoNPeFmSP3wPDH4EAemc3JFpRzSnc33vedbROOrHwZ_S_p723BFYnmRFFfVEl-On9PMSvGxczbfOHEr6WuwagiwundkQwgj/s876/Lifted%20on%20the%20Cross.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="876" data-original-width="583" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiliAMW34hC7ZOnQkP0U5WRI1Kp9Wu69NM6Hny3XBCk-QGlyxkAORyXSf4Kb7v_1IZw7e1jnkn79H4lf6e4ArgZRIdDcMiUBAoNPeFmSP3wPDH4EAemc3JFpRzSnc33vedbROOrHwZ_S_p723BFYnmRFFfVEl-On9PMSvGxczbfOHEr6WuwagiwundkQwgj/w426-h640/Lifted%20on%20the%20Cross.jpg" width="426" /></a></div><br /></span></b></i></span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b>2 CHRONICLES 36:14-16,19-23 <a href="https://universalis.com/asia.india/20240310/mass.htm#copyright">©</a></b></span><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">My Soul's Beloved,</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Today's first reading strikes terror because we know we are just as deserving of God's wrath. We live in an era where unprecedented evil reigns in epic proportions around the globe. It is Your mercy alone O Lord and the power of Your sorrowful passion that has stayed the mighty hand of God. We have become anathema in the sight of God for we no longer possess the fear of the Lord which is the beginning of wisdom. Governments and institutions have taken over individual rights and they punish, ridicule, persecute, imprison, and even murder not just Christians but anyone who dares to resist the evil that they permit to infiltrate every area of human life. </span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">We are currently living in the age of unprecedented evil and for a period of some time, Satan has been given reign over the world. In this brief period, he has unleashed all the forces of terror and darkness before You return. Give us strength to withstand with courage and to remain faithful under the wicked and deadly onslaught of his minions.</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br />The Church and the faithful remnant must be prepared for the great battle that has already begun. She is weakened from without and within and many have fallen and will continue to fall until all of her outward trappings are destroyed forever and only the eternal treasures entrusted to her will remain. This is all she requires the rest is dross. We too will become a people in exile but we are comforted O Lord by Your assurance that the gates of hell will never prevail against Your Bride, the Church.<br /><br /></span><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b>PSALM 136(137):1-6 <a href="https://universalis.com/asia.india/20240310/mass.htm#copyright">©</a></b><br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i>By the rivers of Babylon</i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i> there we sat and wept,<br /> remembering Zion;<br />on the poplars that grew there<br /> we hung up our harps.<br /><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i>For it was there that they asked us,</i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i> our captors, for songs,<br /> our oppressors, for joy.<br />‘Sing to us,’ they said,<br /> ‘one of Zion’s songs.’<br /><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i>O how could we sing</i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i> the song of the Lord<br /> on alien soil?<br />If I forget you, Jerusalem,<br /> let my right hand wither!<br /><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i>O let my tongue</i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i> cleave to my mouth<br /> if I remember you not,<br />if I prize not Jerusalem<br /> above all my joys!<br /><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><span style="font-family: times;"><i>O let my tongue cleave to my mouth if I remember you not!<br /></i></span><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b>EPHESIANS 2:4-10 <a href="https://universalis.com/asia.india/20240310/mass.htm#copyright">©</a></b><br /><br />My Soul's Beloved,</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">We have indeed been saved and we need not allow our fears at the evil raging all around us to destroy our faith and our hope in Your everlasting love for us. St. Paul's words are full of encouragement assuring us that we can count on the generosity of Your mercy for while we were yet sinners You gave us new life in You. We are a people of the Resurrection and while we must first walk the Way of the Cross which is the Way of Salvation we know that our mortal bodies will become like Yours in glory. The Father has made us co-heirs with You to the Kingdom of Heaven.</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Grant me this grace O Lord, that while we live amid evil we remain untouched by it for we are covered in Your Blood, we are strengthened by Your Body in the Eucharist, and we are consecrated to God by You in the power of the Holy Spirit. Grace has saved us. Fear has no place in the hearts of the children of God:</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><br /><i><span style="font-family: times;">We are God’s work of art, created in Christ Jesus to live the good life as from the beginning he had meant us to live it.</span></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /><b>JOHN 3:14-21 <a href="https://universalis.com/asia.india/20240310/mass.htm#copyright">©</a></b><br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">My Soul's Beloved,</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">You said to Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews who came to You by night,</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><i>‘The Son of Man must be lifted up</i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><i>as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert,<br />so that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.’</i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">This is why the Church and Catholics everywhere cherish the crucifix. We look at Your crucified Body nailed to the horrific and ultimate instrument of torture and we are filled with love and gratitude for what the Son of God endured for our salvation. We are overwhelmed by this incomprehensible love of God for us. Sin brings death and with it the loss of our inheritance as children of God. Our Father does not desire the death of His little ones, rather He desires that we all live and come to the knowledge of Truth. You O Lord are the very embodiment of Truth, consecrate us to the Truth.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">The world constantly condemns the poor, the weak, the marginalized, and those who refuse to bow down to its diktats and stand up boldly for Truth. But You did not come to condemn the world by to save it. Thank You for Your assurance that no one who believes in You will be condemned. Your justice O Lord is always tempered with mercy and for this, we are truly grateful. If it were not for Your mercy we would all be deserving of being cast into the everlasting fire that never dies. </span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Loving Father, grant that none of Your children perish. Too great a price was paid for our redemptions. Save us O Lord despite ourselves for we are dull, stupid, weak, frail, and we need You to seek us no matter how lost we are. </span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">Yes, God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son,<br />so that everyone who believes in him may not be lost<br />but may have eternal life.<br />For God sent his Son into the world<br />not to condemn the world,<br />but so that through him the world might be saved.<br /></span></i><br /></span></div></div></div>Myra DSouzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01070180846707694830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-251793769707047829.post-57000801187756517732024-03-09T07:09:00.004+05:302024-03-09T07:09:36.483+05:30SATURDAY OF THE THIRD WEEK OF LENT - 2024<b><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS<br /><br /></span><span style="color: red; font-family: times;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">Harden not your hearts today,</span><br style="font-size: large;" /><span style="font-size: large;">but listen to the voice of the Lord. PS 94:8</span></i></span></b><div><span style="color: red; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span><b><span style="color: red; font-family: times;"><i><span style="font-size: large;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCYceTWZOH5ckVqyjoed8C3lA2GeWBve2CBjwjzlat6eoFxZRDulDyT6bZGSaZ_y3vmz3A85bHGBJVgocoHge3EtzZHQ6xsqs3hOZEHthNmqrPdObzuKqyzZUOGMQ-FdsFNTFQ0RR4U_oUhfY2xzoZ14YTR7bb0KHdviO5LuRQq7-pRTxlWLC1uZsyxkCk/s1136/Be%20Merciful%20to%20Me%20a%20Sinner.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1136" data-original-width="640" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCYceTWZOH5ckVqyjoed8C3lA2GeWBve2CBjwjzlat6eoFxZRDulDyT6bZGSaZ_y3vmz3A85bHGBJVgocoHge3EtzZHQ6xsqs3hOZEHthNmqrPdObzuKqyzZUOGMQ-FdsFNTFQ0RR4U_oUhfY2xzoZ14YTR7bb0KHdviO5LuRQq7-pRTxlWLC1uZsyxkCk/w225-h400/Be%20Merciful%20to%20Me%20a%20Sinner.jpg" width="225" /></a></div><br /></span></i></span></b><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b>HOSEA 5:15-6:6 <a href="https://universalis.com/asia.india/530/mass.htm#copyright">©</a></b><br /><br />My Soul's Beloved,</span><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">We pray with tears and with broken hearts for the conversion of those we love, those nearest and dearest to us, and today, I wish to thank You most humbly for assuring me that You desire the conversion of the sinner even more than any of us ever can. There is no greater proof of the Father's love for us that while we were yet sinners He sent You into the world as one like us in all things save sin, to become the Lamb of Sacrifice that takes away the sins of the whole world.</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Yes, in this world we will have suffering, difficulties, sickness, heartache, and heartbreak, but You assure us to be of good cheer for You have overcome the world, the flesh, and the devil. We are invincible through the merits that You won for us on the Cross. You assure us that bathed in Your most precious Blood, no evil can touch Your anointed and we are anointed and consecrated to You in baptism.</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">I will continue to pray Beloved of my Soul for the return of the lost sheep in my family to Your sheepfold and I will have confidence that in the end, You will bring them home in safety. Thank You, Lord.</span></div><div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><br /><i><span style="font-family: times;">‘Come, let us return to the Lord.<br />He has torn us to pieces, but he will heal us;<br />he has struck us down, but he will bandage our wounds;<br />after a day or two he will bring us back to life,<br />on the third day he will raise us<br />and we shall live in his presence.</span></i></span><i style="color: #20124d;"><span style="font-family: times;">’</span></i><span style="color: #20124d;"><i><span style="font-family: times;"><br /><br /></span></i></span></div><div><b style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">PSALM 50(51):3-4,18-21 <a href="https://universalis.com/asia.india/530/mass.htm#copyright">©</a></b></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><span style="color: #20124d;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">Have mercy on me, God, in your kindness.</span></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i> In your compassion blot out my offence.<br />O wash me more and more from my guilt<br /> and cleanse me from my sin.<br /><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">For in sacrifice you take no delight,</span></i></span></div><div><i><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="color: #20124d;"> burnt offering from me you would refuse,<br />my sacrifice, a contrite spirit.<br /> A humbled, contrite heart you will not spurn.<br /></span><span style="color: #20124d;"><br /></span></span></i></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">In your goodness, show favour to Zion:</span></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i> rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.<br />Then you will be pleased with lawful sacrifice,<br /> burnt offerings wholly consumed.<br /><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">What I want is love, not sacrifice.</span></i><br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b>LUKE 18:9-14 <a href="https://universalis.com/asia.india/530/mass.htm#copyright">©</a></b><br /><br />My Soul's Beloved,</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">You who know the hearts of all are also aware that I can readily call to mind those I believe fall under the category of the Pharisee in this parable while </span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">self-righteously </span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">considering myself to have the virtues of the tax collector whose prayer was accepted by God and who went home right with Him. </span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">You and I both know, my Beloved, this isn't true. I may fool myself but not You who are God. While cataloging the sins of others, looking minutely for specks in my neighbor's eye I constantly overlook the glaring logs in my own. I am all the things that the Pharisee in this parable accused the tax collector to be. I am selfish, grasping, unjust, and ungenerous most often in my thoughts and sometimes in word and deed. I can parrot all the virtues I imagine I possess like the Pharisee did when he read out a laundry list of his good deeds. </span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Pity me Lord, I am foolish. Anything that I do which I believe is worthy in Your sight are actually filthy rags. Without Your mercy and compassion, I would be spiritually dead and deserving of eternal damnation. Continue to look with tender compassion on me and those I love O Lord, and in Your great goodness and through the merits of Your sorrowful passion, have pity and mercy on us and on the whole world. Save us O Lord and we will be saved for You O Lord are my praise. </span></div></div></div>Myra DSouzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01070180846707694830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-251793769707047829.post-12779140525401667102024-03-08T13:24:00.000+05:302024-03-08T13:24:01.573+05:30FRIDAY OF THE THIRD WEEK OF LENT - 2024<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b>DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS</b><br /><br /></span><span style="color: red; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><i><b><span>Repent, says the Lord,</span><br /><span>for the kingdom of heaven is close at hand. MT 4:17</span></b></i></span><div><span style="color: red; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span><span style="color: red; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><i><b><span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_IRSsVozEnTFGfgUSA8F98YKPdLbWciOTNXA3Lt06EZzU2MtJb1i1pDJ73tCANGfq94hL2MfWIE1Q4dLJkx1qt9x-CqaIZr9LAWKv2_1z6yfMbKaty8k_IaAs4Gqyvoe8sqSK1LUgDzCkfXnbaG223TPflWrkU3ckUJ9qePc7E4_OzTdDdGWxmK5p6EN9/s1136/Loving%20God.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1136" data-original-width="640" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_IRSsVozEnTFGfgUSA8F98YKPdLbWciOTNXA3Lt06EZzU2MtJb1i1pDJ73tCANGfq94hL2MfWIE1Q4dLJkx1qt9x-CqaIZr9LAWKv2_1z6yfMbKaty8k_IaAs4Gqyvoe8sqSK1LUgDzCkfXnbaG223TPflWrkU3ckUJ9qePc7E4_OzTdDdGWxmK5p6EN9/w225-h400/Loving%20God.jpg" width="225" /></a></div><br /></span></b></i></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><b style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia;">HOSEA 14:2-10 <a href="https://universalis.com/asia.india/20240308/mass.htm#copyright">©</a></b></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">My Soul's Beloved,</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Holy Mother Church gives us this penitential season of Lent every year so we who are weak-willed, and giving into temptation all the time forgetful of Your great mercies, turn back to You once more with contrite and humble hearts. Let us take advantage of this holy season to contemplate all the wounds that were inflicted on Your Sacred Body by our sins. The sins of the flesh are the most heinous they kill the life of the Holy Spirit in us. He flees from souls who deliberately, wantonly, and willfully seek to pander to the cravings of the flesh. The more we fall into the trap of Satan the more desensitized we become to the inspirations of the Holy Spirit.</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Today, once again, You invite us to return to You:</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><br /><i><span style="font-family: times;">Israel, come back to the Lord your God;<br />your iniquity was the cause of your downfall.<br />Say to him, ‘Take all iniquity away<br />so that we may have happiness again<br />and offer you our words of praise.’</span></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Too long O Lord we have looked for help in all the wrong places our only hope of salvation is You. You are the one who has compassion on the poor, the sinner, the widow, and the orphan, You alone. We are the work of Your hands and when we look to You for help You will not deny it to us.</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Yes, our sins have been like scarlet but You have the power to wash our souls whiter than wool. Thank You for being ever willing to forgive us when we turn to You humbly and ask You to forgive and heal our wounds. Our world is in turmoil O Lord. Have pity on us for the sake of Your faithful remnant. Turn Your blazing wrath away from us and grant us the wisdom to turn away from our wickedness. If we do, You assure us of a time of healing, restoration, and fruitfulness.</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Grant us the grace to acknowledge that You alone O Lord can save us and when we do You will readily heal us. You will turn Your anger away from us and Your love, like dew will fall upon us and the words of the prophet will be fulfilled:</span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">I will heal their disloyalty,<br />I will love them with all my heart,<br />for my anger has turned from them.<br />I will fall like dew on Israel.<br />He shall bloom like the lily,<br />and thrust out roots like the poplar,<br />his shoots will spread far;<br />he will have the beauty of the olive<br />and the fragrance of Lebanon.<br />They will come back to live in my shade;<br />they will grow corn that flourishes,<br />they will cultivate vines<br />as renowned as the wine of Helbon.<br />What has Ephraim to do with idols any more<br />when it is I who hear his prayer and care for him?<br />I am like a cypress ever green,<br />all your fruitfulness comes from me.</span></i><br /><br /></span></div><div><b style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">PSALM 80(81):6,8-11,14,17 <a href="https://universalis.com/asia.india/20240308/mass.htm#copyright">©</a></b></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><br /><i><span style="font-family: times;">I am the Lord your God: listen to my warning.</span></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i><br />A voice I did not know said to me:<br /> ‘I freed your shoulder from the burden;<br />your hands were freed from the load.<br /> You called in distress and I saved you.<br /><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">‘I answered, concealed in the storm cloud;</span></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i> at the waters of Meribah I tested you.<br />Listen, my people, to my warning.<br /> O Israel, if only you would heed!<br /><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">‘Let there be no foreign god among you,</span></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i> no worship of an alien god.<br />I am the Lord your God,<br /> who brought you from the land of Egypt.<br /><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i>I am the Lord your God: listen to my warning.<br />‘O that my people would heed me,<br /> that Israel would walk in my ways!<br />But Israel I would feed with finest wheat<br /> and fill them with honey from the rock.’</i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><i><span style="font-family: times;"><br />I am the Lord your God: listen to my warning.</span></i><br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b>MARK 12:28-34 <a href="https://universalis.com/asia.india/20240308/mass.htm#copyright">©</a></b><br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">My Soul's Beloved,</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Not all the scribes and Pharisees were hypocrites, some loved God and kept the law, they meditated on God's Word and they applied it to their lives. This scribe who put a question to You was praised by You, how blessed he was to be assured by You that he was on the right track and not far from God's Kingdom.</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">We ought to go deeper into our faith not just for knowledge sake but in order to be rooted in You and in Your Word so that it has an impact on every area of our lives. Lord Jesus, Eternal Word of the Father, thank You for sending Your Holy Spirit into the world and into our lives. It is He who enables us to understand and to live the Gospel. It is He who gives us the words we need to stand up and defend our faith in You. </span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Grant the Church O Lord a fresh outpouring of Your Holy Spirit and a new Pentecost so that the fire of Your love may envelop every heart and engulf the whole world.</span></div></div>Myra DSouzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01070180846707694830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-251793769707047829.post-9180376440412172062024-03-07T06:53:00.000+05:302024-03-07T06:53:00.313+05:30THURSDAY OF THE THIRD WEEK OF LENT - 2024<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b>DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS</b><br /><br /></span><i><b><span style="color: red; font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: large;">Now, now – it is the Lord who speaks –</span><br style="font-size: large;" /><span style="font-size: large;">come back to me with all your heart,</span><br style="font-size: large;" /><span style="font-size: large;">for I am all tenderness and compassion. JOEL 2:12-13</span></span></b></i><div><span style="color: red; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span><i><b><span style="color: red; font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: large;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhA0Zvb-TnnzXoMav0XMuzPHxfspzKoX5Gc33ZkoOlb6-f1YjzhfKjbwbyexKWQi5o429fbK-wo24tvUHOnwBU-4ScHaO-0Ed7lO_vLTxxVFR__yVaa7H3xshu-KjFVM_IpmMh6N9sPBh3BNDlyqBajnfLigJvoTjH5ZJRzhrPfnLdcSiL-BfDsSpQyHnhs/s876/Standing%20on%20the%20Rock.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="876" data-original-width="583" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhA0Zvb-TnnzXoMav0XMuzPHxfspzKoX5Gc33ZkoOlb6-f1YjzhfKjbwbyexKWQi5o429fbK-wo24tvUHOnwBU-4ScHaO-0Ed7lO_vLTxxVFR__yVaa7H3xshu-KjFVM_IpmMh6N9sPBh3BNDlyqBajnfLigJvoTjH5ZJRzhrPfnLdcSiL-BfDsSpQyHnhs/w426-h640/Standing%20on%20the%20Rock.jpg" width="426" /></a></div><br /></span></span></b></i><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b>JEREMIAH 7:23-28 <a href="https://universalis.com/asia.india/0/mass.htm#copyright">©</a></b><br /><br /></span><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">My Soul's Beloved,</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Since the Fall O Lord, we are a broken people, we sin without compunction, and we give into concupiscence without even offering token resistance. We are sinners who exult in wallowing in the miry muck and stench of the base desires of our flesh, as we follow the siren call of the world shackled to our evil inclinations by the wiles of the Enemy. </span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Salvation history shows us with terrible clarity what happens not just to people but to nations who refuse to answer the call to repentance and whose hardened hearts prefer spiritual death rather than obeying Your voice. Beloved, the consequence of sin is death and the world is in moral and spiritual decay. How much longer O Lord will You stay Your righteous Hand of Justice before You sweep us away in Your wrath?</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">O Lord God, if You show mercy and compassion it is for the sake of the faithful remnant who cry out to You night and day hidden in monasteries and in cloistered convents, souls who are espoused to You and who plead with You to take pity on a faithless world. Shake the world O Lord and let there me signs in the sky warning us out of our lethargy that we might repent and come back to You with all our hearts before it is too late.</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Have mercy on us O Lord. Have mercy on us. For the sake of Your sorrowful passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.</span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b>PSALM 94(95):1-2,6-9 <a href="https://universalis.com/asia.india/0/mass.htm#copyright">©</a></b><br /><br /></span><span style="color: #20124d;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">Come, ring out our joy to the Lord;</span></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i> hail the rock who saves us.<br />Let us come before him, giving thanks,<br /> with songs let us hail the Lord.<br /><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">Come in; let us bow and bend low;</span></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i> let us kneel before the God who made us:<br />for he is our God and we<br /> the people who belong to his pasture,<br /> the flock that is led by his hand.<br /><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">O that today you would listen to his voice!</span></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i> ‘Harden not your hearts as at Meribah,<br /> as on that day at Massah in the desert<br />when your fathers put me to the test;<br /> when they tried me, though they saw my work.’<br /><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">O that today you would listen to his voice! ‘Harden not your hearts.’</span></i><br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b>LUKE 11:14-23 <a href="https://universalis.com/asia.india/0/mass.htm#copyright">©</a></b><br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">My Soul's Beloved,</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">We are living at a time when all the forces of evil have been unleashed like a voracious, all-consuming fire on the world. It is slowly and steadily reducing to ashes all that is good, true, noble, and beautiful and leaving in its wake the stench of decay and death. It is all very well to lay the blame on dark powers that are controlling the world and while this may or may not be true we will be foolish to deny that it is our careless and wanton squandering of grace on unholy and self-indulgent lifestyles that has brought the civilized world to its knees.</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">You were accused by the evil elite of the time of doing good while being evil - this is ridiculous as You point out to Your naysayers who accused You of casting devils through the power of Beelzebul, the prince of devils. Today too the most nonsensical arguments are used to accuse those who are called by Your Name and who are faithful to Your call and the mission You have entrusted to Your Church.</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">This is the unvarnished truth - it is the consequence of sin, grave sin, that has prompted evil leaders to open the gates of their nations to those who worship Baal, Moloch, Asherah and a host of others. Nothing has changed. Many of these aliens, like those in salvation history, have entered with an evil agenda and the fruit of misguided compassion and generosity has opened the gates of hell, and unleashed the powers of darkness in every area of the globe. The Enemy's minions are those whose people are within the nation where division and disunity are actively promoted and his minions are entering either by invitation or by force. The world's stage is now set for a huge conflagration of its own making.</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Those filled with vice currently use deadly force to carry out the plans of the enemy and seem invincible and victorious but evil can never overpower good. The Church is the stronger man and in the end, it will triumph with the victory and triumph that You have won for her and for the world on the Cross. We know the end of the story, Lord, and it is freedom from sin and death and the ultimate reign of Your Kingdom of peace and joy on the earth forever. Maranatha! Come, Lord Jesus! Maranatha!</span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i>‘Every kingdom divided against itself is heading for ruin, and a household divided against itself collapses. So too with Satan: if he is divided against himself, how can his kingdom stand? </i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i>So long as a strong man fully armed guards his own palace, his goods are undisturbed; but when someone stronger than he is attacks and defeats him, the stronger man takes away all the weapons he relied on and shares out his spoil.<br /> ‘He who is not with me is against me; and he who does not gather with me scatters.’</i></span></div></div>Myra DSouzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01070180846707694830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-251793769707047829.post-59948451108984954872024-03-04T09:32:00.001+05:302024-03-04T09:32:06.720+05:30MONDAY OF THE THIRD WEEK OF LENT - 2024<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b>DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS</b><br /><br /></span><span style="color: red; font-family: times;"><i><b><span style="font-size: large;">My soul is waiting for the Lord,</span><br style="font-size: large;" /><span style="font-size: large;">I count on his word,</span><br style="font-size: large;" /><span style="font-size: large;">because with the Lord there is mercy</span></b></i></span><div><span style="color: red; font-family: times;"><i><b><span style="font-size: large;">and fullness of redemption. PS 129:5, 7</span></b></i></span></div><div><span style="color: red; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span><span style="color: red; font-family: times;"><i><b><span style="font-size: large;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrSjc-MxCA-CdAV1GZz8SdTiMSlJfQMN-sWi4zXTj4FXNlzTL-DhPuDjFiTTvJkq5bWNzUUIMlgGxTZ0zMgnxfVTImCBPrvhT3_R556ymxCm_XkFd6LUr2YGhC78YLlOemFGcQuc2smsvP9qt-iePvMPAw4Pv2GTTXk5jGfLDB3Np0nqY1CzLY5zxDlEyV/s1136/Unafraid.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1136" data-original-width="640" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrSjc-MxCA-CdAV1GZz8SdTiMSlJfQMN-sWi4zXTj4FXNlzTL-DhPuDjFiTTvJkq5bWNzUUIMlgGxTZ0zMgnxfVTImCBPrvhT3_R556ymxCm_XkFd6LUr2YGhC78YLlOemFGcQuc2smsvP9qt-iePvMPAw4Pv2GTTXk5jGfLDB3Np0nqY1CzLY5zxDlEyV/w360-h640/Unafraid.jpg" width="360" /></a></div><br /></span></b></i></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><b style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia;">2 KINGS 5:1-15 <a href="https://universalis.com/asia.india/530/mass.htm#copyright">©</a></b><br /><br /></span><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">My Soul's Beloved,</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Naaman was a gentile but God's favor rested on him just as it rests on all His children those that know Him as well as those that don't. We must never make false presumptions on whether or not someone or anyone is worthy or not of God's goodness, mercy, compassion, and tender love. </span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">We have only to look at the Cross my Lord and You nailed to it to realize that God's mercy extends to the whole world, priest, prophet, beggar, pagan, believer, and king. But for us O Lord, who know You, the one, true, God as the little girl carried off into exile and was the servant of Naaman's wife, we must always be ready to proclaim the power of God and the goodness of God. In every age, at all times and seasons, God is at work in all His creatures to bring them into His Kingdom. We need to be aware and receptive to the working of God in our lives no matter where we are given a glimpse of You as we encounter You in the people and circumstances of our ordinary lives.</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Thank You for all the ways in which You make Yourself and Your will known to us and grant us the grace and the wisdom to hear and submit to Your will in humility and perfect surrender. Naaman balked at first. His pride was ruffled and he was indignant, </span><span style="color: #20124d;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">But Naaman was indignant and went off, saying, ‘Here was I thinking he would be sure to come out to me, and stand there, and call on the name of the Lord his God, and wave his hand over the spot and cure the leprous part. Surely Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, are better than any water in Israel? Could I not bathe in them and become clean?’ And he turned round and went off in a rage.</span></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">It was his servants' advice that opened his eyes and heart to the simplicity of what God asked of him, </span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">But his servants approached him and said, ‘My father, if the prophet had asked you to do something difficult, would you not have done it? All the more reason, then, when he says to you, “Bathe, and you will become clean.”</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">All too often we think that we have to twist ourselves like pretzels to please You but all You ask of us is to love as You love. You made a total gift of Yourself to us, pouring out Your life in sacrificial love for us. We in turn are required to return that love in total self-donation first to God and then to our neighbor. Your word reminds us that if we do not love our neighbor whom we can see we lie when we say we love You whom we cannot see. </span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">We have been bathed and made clean in the waters of Baptism, we have been incorporated into Your Body, we are sons and daughter of God, we belong to the family of God. Thank You, Lord. May we never take what You have done for us for granted but may our praise and thanksgiving be manifest with every breath we breathe until the end of our life on earth. </span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /><b>PSALM 41(42):2-3,42:3-4 <a href="https://universalis.com/asia.india/530/mass.htm#copyright">©</a></b><br /><br /></span><span style="color: #20124d;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">Like the deer that yearns</span></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i> for running streams,<br />so my soul is yearning<br /> for you, my God.<br /><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">My soul is thirsting for God,</span></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i> the God of my life;<br />when can I enter and see<br /> the face of God?<br /><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">O send forth your light and your truth;</span></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i> let these be my guide.<br />Let them bring me to your holy mountain,<br /> to the place where you dwell.<br /><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">And I will come to the altar of God,</span></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i> the God of my joy.<br />My redeemer, I will thank you on the harp,<br /> O God, my God.<br /><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i>My soul is thirsting for God, the God of my life: when can I enter and see the face of God?</i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /><b>LUKE 4:24-30 <a href="https://universalis.com/asia.india/530/mass.htm#copyright">©</a></b><br /><br />My Soul's Beloved,</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Oftentimes the truth is bitter, painful, and hard to swallow. Speaking to the people You knew and grew up among in Your childhood and youth, they thought they knew You. Despite having heard of the things that You had done they dismissed You because they judged You by what they knew of You in the past before You began Your public ministry.</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">You spoke candidly to the people in the synagogue saying: </span><span style="font-size: medium;"><i><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia;">‘I tell you solemnly, no prophet is ever accepted in his own country.</span><span style="color: #20124d;"><span style="font-family: times;">’</span></span></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><i><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">There were many widows in Israel, I can assure you, in Elijah’s day, when heaven remained shut for three years and six months and a great famine raged throughout the land, but Elijah was not sent to any one of these: he was sent to a widow at Zarephath, a Sidonian town. And in the prophet Elisha’s time there were many lepers in Israel, but none of these was cured, except the Syrian, Naaman.’</span></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">You never held back from speaking the truth. You did not water down the message to suit the sensibilities of your audience as we often do. The Truth is the Truth is the Truth and we ought not to back down from speaking it in love and with gentleness. We ought never to let fear however keep us from speaking up. </span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">You enraged Your hearers so greatly there was murder in their hearts. <br /></span><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">When they heard this everyone in the synagogue was enraged. They sprang to their feet and hustled him out of the town; and they took him up to the brow of the hill their town was built on, intending to throw him down the cliff, but he slipped through the crowd and walked away.</span></i></span></div></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">In many countries, Lord, the power of Your Word is so palpable and so effective that it stirs hearts to faith in You or to such hatred that they are willing to let the blood of Christians run through the streets. Thank You, Lord, for the steadfast faith of many who would rather die than deny You. I am a coward, Lord, if I am ever required to stand up for my faith may I now put You to shame. Grant me the grace to be counted as one of Your own who would rather die than apostatize. </span></div></div>Myra DSouzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01070180846707694830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-251793769707047829.post-17316222045771562282024-03-03T12:10:00.008+05:302024-03-03T18:28:10.895+05:30THIRD SUNDAY IN LENT (2024)<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b>DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS </b><br /><br /></span><span style="color: red; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><i><b><span>God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son:</span><br /><span>everyone who believes in him has eternal life. JN 3:16</span></b></i></span><div><span style="color: red; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span><span style="color: red; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><i><b><span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr4LDsot9qJeWx9US_eIp8q9a6lfRjTE9alyBJsoponZIK-5QVTTVU7y8xxWxXgBwFHIwdKIKZ1aMe2XaXGHNnV-vANlibBiid4S3yTP9ldpDpszuXz2ZlUDI_tersYXIhyphenhyphenOWBQIyY6tY0wF75CInSDW9XmO-kkLr7OMA-v5aUNTm9NPmduCtSH6Rfrizt/s876/Destroy%20this%20Temple.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="876" data-original-width="583" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr4LDsot9qJeWx9US_eIp8q9a6lfRjTE9alyBJsoponZIK-5QVTTVU7y8xxWxXgBwFHIwdKIKZ1aMe2XaXGHNnV-vANlibBiid4S3yTP9ldpDpszuXz2ZlUDI_tersYXIhyphenhyphenOWBQIyY6tY0wF75CInSDW9XmO-kkLr7OMA-v5aUNTm9NPmduCtSH6Rfrizt/w426-h640/Destroy%20this%20Temple.jpg" width="426" /></a></div><br /></span></b></i></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><b style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia;">EXODUS 20:1-17 <a href="https://universalis.com/asia.india/530/mass.htm#copyright">©</a></b><br /><br /><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia;">My Soul's Beloved,</span></span><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">You are the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets - Your law is the law of love and when we keep this law we keep all the laws for love is the divine touchstone by which we measure the quality of our lives.</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">The Ten Commandments given to Moses were taken to a deeper and higher level on the Sermon on the Mount when You gave us the Beatitudes. They were the blueprint of Your life and we must strive to make it ours as well from the rising of the sun to its setting. Yes, Beloved, we are sinners, we are broken, we lack the strength to live holy and perfect lives but what pleases You most is when we strive wholeheartedly to keep the Law. It does not matter how many times we fall even when You are right beside us, the Holy Spirit dwells in us, and You take us by the hand - we still fail, falter, stumble, and fall but all we need to do is rise up and You will help us to begin anew. </span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">You O Lord are our God - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit may I live in Your Presence every moment in awe of Your majesty, goodness, and humility as I contemplate Your unfathomable love. May I never put anything or anyone above my love for You my Lord, my God, and my King, my Creator, my Redeemer, and my Sanctifier and Helper.<br /></span><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">You created me for love. You created me for Yourself. You created me for eternity. Help me Lord with every breath I breathe to remain faithful. Keep me close to Holy Mother Church may I use all the rich graces she makes available to me through the Sacraments that You O Lord instituted. Thank You for making provision for all my needs in the Church You founded. All worship, praise, glory, and honor to You O Lord my God now and forever. Amen.</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b>PSALM 18(19):8-11 <a href="https://universalis.com/asia.india/530/mass.htm#copyright">©</a></b><br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i>The law of the Lord is perfect,<br /> it revives the soul.<br />The rule of the Lord is to be trusted,<br /> it gives wisdom to the simple.<br /><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">The precepts of the Lord are right,</span></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i> they gladden the heart.<br />The command of the Lord is clear,<br /> it gives light to the eyes.<br /><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">The fear of the Lord is holy,</span></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i> abiding for ever.<br />The decrees of the Lord are truth<br /> and all of them just.<br /><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">They are more to be desired than gold,</span></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i> than the purest of gold<br />and sweeter are they than honey,<br /> than honey from the comb.<br /><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i>You, Lord, have the message of eternal life.</i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /><b>1 CORINTHIANS 1:22-25 <a href="https://universalis.com/asia.india/530/mass.htm#copyright">©</a></b><br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">My Soul's Beloved,</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">St. Paul was another Christ. Wholly surrendered to God and filled with the Holy Spirit he was given, through the supernatural gift of understanding, insights into the heart and mind of God, and the ability to express these divine revelations to the world through his teaching, preaching, and writing. </span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Who but the Holy Spirit could help him express the inexpressible with such profound beauty:</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i>While the Jews demand miracles and the Greeks look for wisdom, here are we preaching a crucified Christ; to the Jews an obstacle that they cannot get over, to the pagans madness, but to those who have been called, whether they are Jews or Greeks, a Christ who is the power and the wisdom of God. For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.</i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Thank You, Lord Jesus, for showing the world through the conversion of St. Paul and other great sinners like Mary Magdalene, St. Augustine, and others that our past is of no consequence. No matter how wicked we have been and worthy of eternal damnation You can transform the greatest sinners into the greatest saints. </span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Come into my life Lord, break into the hardness of my heart and my stubborn self-will, and make me a new creation in Your image and likeness. Amen. </span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /><b>JOHN 2:13-25 <a href="https://universalis.com/asia.india/530/mass.htm#copyright">©</a><br /></b><br />My Soul's Beloved,</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">We are entering the third week of Lent yet so many of us have not yet made a good beginning, our resolve if we have any is weak. Our prayer, fasting, and almsgiving have not yet begun or begun weakly or are at best indifferent. We are like the people in the Temple who are misusing God's sanctuary. Buying and selling, money changers, bartering, haggling, and overlooking the sole reason why people have come to the Temple. We come to worship God as one body and we allow ourselves to get sidetracked by the non-essentials. Our focus is on everything else but prayer, praise, worship, adoration, and fellowship.</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">You burned with zeal and righteous anger because God's house was turned into a marketplace place and You did something about it. You cleared the Temple, overturned the tables, and commanded the buyers and sellers to take their paraphernalia outside. The Jews were indignant and demanded that You give them a sign to justify what You had done. </span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">You replied, </span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia;">‘Destroy this sanctuary, and in three days I will raise it up.’</span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia;"> They misunderstood what You said just as Christians to this day misunderstand what You said and did. They quote Your Word out of context and twist it leading themselves and others into error. </span></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #20124d;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">But as St. John the evangelist says,</span><i><span style="font-family: times;"> Your </span></i></span><span style="color: #20124d;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">disciples remembered these words of scripture: Zeal for your house will devour me.</span></i></span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia;"> And they understood what You meant after You rose from the dead three days after Your burial. </span></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">‘Destroy this sanctuary, and in three days I will raise it up.’ The Jews replied, ‘It has taken forty-six years to build this sanctuary: are you going to raise it up in three days?’ But he was speaking of the sanctuary that was his body, and when Jesus rose from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the scripture and the words he had said.</span></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">L</span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">ord God, by the power of Your Holy Spirit You have assured us that the Church will never teach error on matters of faith and morals. We can trust her to guard the deposit of faith entrusted to her until time shall cease. </span></div></div></div>Myra DSouzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01070180846707694830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-251793769707047829.post-52464791116417311462024-03-02T17:59:00.003+05:302024-03-02T17:59:36.525+05:30SATURDAY OF THE SECOND WEEK OF LENT (2024)<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b>DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS</b><br /><br /></span><span style="color: red; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><i><b><span>I will leave this place and go to my father and say:</span><br /><span>‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.’ LK 15:18</span></b></i></span><div><span style="color: red; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span><span style="color: red; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><i><b><span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsRKczssVdpbeTufZD44HCklCUDmKCXu5tRQTMjGAfxk9436VS8PwfpKy2263aRFXZzO_TT90abR2EhU7kiAUuzjwybX5mbiDoGzuhycv_kyoJrViJfcuwKxFwWGDqh1dq8ildrd90VUNG7LX3WetpcE746gwmyclpIuh8VYWam2Eg4cMSwKkMvk9D10qD/s876/Run%20to%20the%20Father.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="876" data-original-width="583" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsRKczssVdpbeTufZD44HCklCUDmKCXu5tRQTMjGAfxk9436VS8PwfpKy2263aRFXZzO_TT90abR2EhU7kiAUuzjwybX5mbiDoGzuhycv_kyoJrViJfcuwKxFwWGDqh1dq8ildrd90VUNG7LX3WetpcE746gwmyclpIuh8VYWam2Eg4cMSwKkMvk9D10qD/w426-h640/Run%20to%20the%20Father.jpg" width="426" /></a></div><br /></span></b></i></span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b>MICAH 7:14-15,18-20 <a href="https://universalis.com/asia.india/0/mass.htm#copyright">©</a><br /></b><br /></span><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">My Soul's Beloved,</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #20124d;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">How great is our Father's love for us, we deserve death, we deserve eternal death for we sin gravely, constantly, and willfully. We know that we must strive always to be like Him, holy and perfect but we prefer to indulge our flesh, pander to the culture, and allow the wiles of the Tempter to weaken our will. The Father's mercy far outweighs His justice - justice demands that He obliterate us from the face of this earth. We deserve nothing but condemnation yet He loves us. He says to each of us tenderly, </span><i><span style="font-family: times;">'</span></i></span><i><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;">Can a woman forget her nursing-child, or show no compassion for the child of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. See, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands.<span style="background-color: white;">’</span> </span></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Thank You, Lord Jesus, for Your obedience to the will of the Father and for saving us by Your redeeming Sacrifice. O Lamb of God, Savior of the world, thank You for Your infinite mercy, thank You for taking away the sins of the world and for making us co-heirs with You to the Kingdom of God.</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">What god can compare with you: taking fault away,</span></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">pardoning crime,<br />not cherishing anger for ever<br />but delighting in showing mercy?<br />Once more have pity on us,<br />tread down our faults,<br />to the bottom of the sea<br />throw all our sins.</span></i><br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b>PSALM 102(103):1-4,9-12 <a href="https://universalis.com/asia.india/0/mass.htm#copyright">©</a></b><br /><br /></span><span style="color: #20124d;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">My soul, give thanks to the Lord</span></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i> all my being, bless his holy name.<br />My soul, give thanks to the Lord<br /> and never forget all his blessings.<br /><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">It is he who forgives all your guilt,</span></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i> who heals every one of your ills,<br />who redeems your life from the grave,<br /> who crowns you with love and compassion.<br /><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">His wrath will come to an end;</span></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i> he will not be angry for ever.<br />He does not treat us according to our sins<br /> nor repay us according to our faults.<br /><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">For as the heavens are high above the earth</span></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i> so strong is his love for those who fear him.<br />As far as the east is from the west<br /> so far does he remove our sins.<br /><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">The Lord is compassion and love.<br /></span></i><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b>LUKE 15:1-3,11-32 <a href="https://universalis.com/asia.india/0/mass.htm#copyright">©</a></b><br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">My Soul's Beloved,</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">What do we possess that is not a given to us as a gift from the Father except our sins, our frailties, our failures? Thank You, Lord, that You are a God of mercy and compassion slow to anger and overflowing with love for us miserable sinners. </span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">It is no wonder that tax collectors and sinners came flocking to You - they were ostracized and marginalized by the scribes, Pharisees, and the religious elite. They were unwelcome in respectable circles and treated as the very dregs of society. Now, for the first time, a charismatic rabbi with divine powers actually sought them out and taught them, healed them, interacted with them. In our world too there are so many who are wounded, lonely, suffering from all kinds of illness mental, spiritual, and physical. In our encounters with them may we look at them with the same love that You did. May we seek Your Face reflected in theirs and may they see Your Face reflected in ours.</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Each of us at some stage in our lives have been the prodigal son taking all that we have received as pure gift as if it were a right. We have squandered our baptismal graces and lost our innocence and wandered far from home. At first we were happy to live a life of self-indulgence but soon it left a bitter taste. The more we squander our lives on passing things the more decadent we become and more unhapp</span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">y.</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">In this parable You point out to the lost who have wandered far from home that there is always a way back not matter how low we have fallen in the miry pit of sin and evil. The father in the parable is a beautiful image of God whom You taught us to address as Abba, Dad, Papa.</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">How often we can be self-righteous, pompous, a spiritual prig like the older son whose heart is cold, selfish, and mean-spirited. Even then You remind us to be generous and merciful just as He is because all He has is ours as well for we are co-heirs with You.</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Thank You, Lord, for the glorious sacrament of reconciliation and for the grace that is readily available to every humble and contrite heart who resolves to sin no more. Thank You for our priests, thank You for the Church You established, and thank You for assuring us that You will remain with her until the end of time.</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i>“My son, you are with me always and all I have is yours. But it was only right we should celebrate and rejoice, because your brother here was dead and has come to life; he was lost and is found.”</i></span></div></div>Myra DSouzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01070180846707694830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-251793769707047829.post-46185630149971401482024-03-01T11:00:00.001+05:302024-03-01T11:00:07.273+05:30FRIDAY OF THE SECOND WEEK OF LENT - 2024<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b>DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS </b><br /><br /></span><span style="color: red; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><i><b><span>God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son:</span><br /><span>everyone who believes in him has eternal life. JN 3:16</span></b></i></span><div><span style="color: red; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span><span style="color: red; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><i><b><span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiztxta_ES4_1deB-nZAndE-L8GGPgoealM-AVtTtPMHAQnEk38rsSIvaI5e5rGCsVrUtUSASdrZSlleeDKSchxl-yjokRJPkj6jEjQwdFA5_Hm-2EnpAknqHFo6RKotWaOQbsQySu3ikkyy3kqN0FeZ6woiRsmvuZVBFXxloR0w2CHtBgaOZXraHWQ67ta/s1136/Crown%20of%20Thorns.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1136" data-original-width="640" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiztxta_ES4_1deB-nZAndE-L8GGPgoealM-AVtTtPMHAQnEk38rsSIvaI5e5rGCsVrUtUSASdrZSlleeDKSchxl-yjokRJPkj6jEjQwdFA5_Hm-2EnpAknqHFo6RKotWaOQbsQySu3ikkyy3kqN0FeZ6woiRsmvuZVBFXxloR0w2CHtBgaOZXraHWQ67ta/w360-h640/Crown%20of%20Thorns.jpg" width="360" /></a></div><br /></span></b></i></span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b>GENESIS 37:3-4,12-13,17-28 <a href="https://universalis.com/asia.india/0/mass.htm#copyright">©</a></b><br /><br />My Soul's Beloved,</span><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">As we read these verses every human failing is clearly visible from the moment of the fall. Israel had eleven sons but his greater love for Joseph was so evident it wounded the rest. They envied and resented him so greatly that it roused a murderous rage. Joseph, in turn, lacked prudence. He knew he was his father's favorite, he was aware that his brothers hated him and yet he provoked greater rage in them by telling them about his dreams. These dreams did nothing to endear him to them for they clearly indicated that they would be ruled by him.</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">His father was clueless about how his sons felt about his preference and greater love for Joseph and he sent him out into the wilderness to look for them dressed in a special coat made exclusively for him. The brothers saw him in the distance grumbled about him and plotted to kill him. They first threw him in a well without water However, when they saw a group of Ishmaelite merchants passing by </span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Putting thought into action they threw him in a dry well and when the Ishmaelites passed by they sold him for 20 pieces of silver. </span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">While it is easy to judge the brothers let us take a moment and reflect how often we allow envy to decide our decisions. Have we sold people we dislike or who we are jealous of, for momentary gain? </span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">You O Lord have blessed me with abundance and yet there are times when envy has colored my actions. Forgive me O Lord and pardon me and help me with the help of Your grace to love as You love always.</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b>PSALM 104(105):16-21 <a href="https://universalis.com/asia.india/0/mass.htm#copyright">©</a></b></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><b style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></b><span style="font-family: times;"><i>The Lord called down a famine on the land;</i></span></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i> he broke the staff that supported them.<br />He had sent a man before them,<br /> Joseph, sold as a slave.<br /><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><span style="font-family: times;"><i>His feet were put in chains,</i></span></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i> his neck was bound with iron,<br />until what he said came to pass<br /> and the word of the Lord proved him true.<br /><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><span style="font-family: times;"><i>Then the king sent and released him</i></span></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times;"><i> the ruler of the people set him free,<br />making him master of his house<br /> and ruler of all he possessed.<br /><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><span style="font-family: times;"><i>Remember the wonders the Lord has done.</i></span><br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b>MATTHEW 21:33-43,45-46 <a href="https://universalis.com/asia.india/0/mass.htm#copyright">©</a></b><br /><br />My Soul's Beloved,</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">A guilty conscience makes us hyper-sensitive to criticism. The chief priests and the elders knew exactly who You were addressing when You told this parable. It is the elite and the power-hungry who will do everything possible to ensure the status quo where everything is tailored to their benefit. Hypocrites of the worst kind are those who sanctimoniously and piously hold themselves up as morally superior to everyone else and yet they are often the ones who are spiritually most bankrupt.</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Finger-pointing is easy when we forget that our own actions are often suspect and cannot withstand scrutiny. </span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Beloved, all too often I have pretended to be more righteous than I really am. I can be pretentious, sanctimonious, judgmental, ready to pick the speck in another's eye while ignoring the log in my own.</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Thank You, Beloved, for laying down Your life for me. Thank You for dying in my place. Thank You for redeeming me and for making a way for me to enter Your Kingdom. Keep me ever mindful of how weak, frail, and sinful I am, to lean on You, and to pray for grace constantly.</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Jesus, meek and humble of heart, make my heart like Yours. Amen.</span></div></div></div>Myra DSouzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01070180846707694830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-251793769707047829.post-43313515489539097352024-02-29T07:03:00.003+05:302024-02-29T07:03:43.490+05:30THURSDAY OF THE SECOND WEEK OF LENT - 2024<span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b>DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS<br /></b><br /></span><span style="color: red; font-family: times;"><i><b><span style="font-size: large;">Blessed are those who,</span><br style="font-size: large;" /><span style="font-size: large;">with a noble and generous heart,</span><br style="font-size: large;" /><span style="font-size: large;">take the word of God to themselves</span><br style="font-size: large;" /><span style="font-size: large;">and yield a harvest through their perseverance. LK 8:15</span></b></i></span><div><span style="color: red; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span><span style="color: red; font-family: times;"><i><b><span style="font-size: large;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidcC3uitK6NC6NS8FP_4dNMam10gudYQ2WnhlCkqrdefGWhODznwCNuq2yoH4_tpV1f2V3VHUUijuc2w0D9Bf6MRdoCFFHKFZe8jxilUu2S8ugSwyrqmbpXim3qkGUESURqIjjGqc5oElVIbyvsjamTHr4Lbq2xALff_YD2VzKaxkvOad1u4iTKtSiQIp1/s876/Give%20and%20You%20will%20be%20given.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="876" data-original-width="583" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidcC3uitK6NC6NS8FP_4dNMam10gudYQ2WnhlCkqrdefGWhODznwCNuq2yoH4_tpV1f2V3VHUUijuc2w0D9Bf6MRdoCFFHKFZe8jxilUu2S8ugSwyrqmbpXim3qkGUESURqIjjGqc5oElVIbyvsjamTHr4Lbq2xALff_YD2VzKaxkvOad1u4iTKtSiQIp1/w266-h400/Give%20and%20You%20will%20be%20given.jpg" width="266" /></a></div><br /></span></b></i></span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b>JEREMIAH 17:5-10 <a href="https://universalis.com/asia.india/530/mass.htm#copyright">©</a></b><br /><br />My Soul's Beloved,</span><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Nothing is more pleasing to you than a childlike spirit. Humility and trust in Your goodness, mercy, and love will always move Your Sacred Heart to grant us all that we need to navigate the troubles and trials of this life. These are necessary I know for they strengthen our faith, increase our hope, and deepen our love for You. </span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Grant me this grace O Lord, when trials come to throw myself into Your loving arms and remain there content like a weaned child on its mother's breast. I have experienced the foolishness of looking for human help that often never comes and if it does it is inadequate and disappoints.</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Keep my gaze ever on You, Beloved. In times of distress and suffering may I take Your hand which is always extended to help me. Thank You for assuring me that You are my ever-present help in times of trouble.</span></div><div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b>PSALM 1:1-4,6 <a href="https://universalis.com/asia.india/530/mass.htm#copyright">©</a></b><br /></span><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: large;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">Happy indeed is the man</span></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><i> who follows not the counsel of the wicked;<br />nor lingers in the way of sinners<br /> nor sits in the company of scorners,<br />but whose delight is the law of the Lord<br /> and who ponders his law day and night.<br /><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: large;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">He is like a tree that is planted</span></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><i> beside the flowing waters,<br />that yields its fruit in due season<br /> and whose leaves shall never fade;<br /> and all that he does shall prosper.<br /><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: large;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">Not so are the wicked, not so!</span></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><i>For they like winnowed chaff<br /> shall be driven away by the wind:<br />for the Lord guards the way of the just<br /> but the way of the wicked leads to doom.<br /><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: medium;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">Happy the man who has placed his trust in the Lord.<br /></span></i><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b>LUKE 16:19-31 <a href="https://universalis.com/asia.india/530/mass.htm#copyright">©</a></b><br /><br />My Soul's Beloved,</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">This parable of Dives and Lazarus reveals how selfish and self-absorbed we can become when we have all the things that make life easy and comfortable. Our senses are insatiable. The more we indulge them the more they demand until they overwhelm, blind, and destroy us.</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">So it was with the rich man. He was blind to the plight of the poor man at his gate. He went in and out several times a day and yet his gaze never once rested on Lazarus. We too can become so self-absorbed with our needs, our wants, and our desires that we spend all our time tirelessly catering to them. We can become so obsessed with self-indulgence and self-pandering that we could easily die without ever noticing those whose lives are torment and misery to them that they long for death to release them from their suffering.</span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #20124d; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Beloved, You teach us that we are only stewards of all we have received and we will have to give a strict account of our stewardship. Whether the gifts are material or spiritual they are meant to be used generously to ensure that those who have more have nothing left over and those who have little will lack nothing. This is the world that You desire, this is what is expected of us who are called by Your Name. When we recognize that we are all members of Your mystical body and work towards ensuring the good of all only then will we experience the peace that You came to give. Your peace O Lord is a gift that surpasses all human understanding and when we all possess it the Kingdom of God will come among us.</span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="color: #20124d;"><i><span style="font-family: times;"> ‘The rich man replied, “Father, I beg you then to send Lazarus to my father’s house, since I have five brothers, to give them warning so that they do not come to this place of torment too.” “They have Moses and the prophets,” said Abraham “let them listen to them.” “Ah no, father Abraham,” said the rich man “but if someone comes to them from the dead, they will repent.” Then Abraham said to him, “If they will not listen either to Moses or to the prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone should rise from the dead.”’</span></i></span><br /> </div></div></div>Myra DSouzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01070180846707694830noreply@blogger.com0