THURSDAY OF THE 2ND WEEK OF EASTERTIDE - 2025

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

‘You believe, Thomas, because you can see me.
Happy are those who have not seen and yet believe. JN 20:29

ACTS 5:27-33

My Soul's Beloved,

Truth has always been the thorn in the side of those who are given over to evil, those who reject the one true God, those who reject You, His only Son, who refuse to receive Sacred Scripture in its entirety and discard anything that condemns their desire to sin with impunity. Abortion, divorce, and sexual deviations are satanic, and the world and culture we currently live in are doing everything in their power to promote, celebrate, and encourage such a lifestyle. Disciples of the devil, those with power, wealth, and influence, are working tirelessly to destroy every trace of Christianity, the principles of which so many nations have their roots. 

Today, we read the account of the Apostle Peter, who stands unafraid before the high priest in the Sanhedrin, and boldly proclaims hard truths, unpalatable to those who were responsible for condemning You before Pilate and engineering Your death by crucifixion. The very man who denied You three times, even though he was forewarned by You, now, filled with the Holy Spirit, boldly proclaims the Truth. All those who stand on the side of Truth need be afraid of nothing, for when we stand on the side of Truth, we stand with You who are Truth.  

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, most of us are cowards. When we are required to take a bold stand, we cower in fear, we weigh our options, we consider what we could lose, and if we consider the loss of temporal things greater than we can bear, we either remain silent or compromise our conscience. Grant us, O Lord, a greater fervor. A stronger faith. A more ardent love for Truth.

When the officials had brought the apostles in to face the Sanhedrin, the high priest demanded an explanation. ‘We gave you a formal warning’ he said ‘not to preach in this name, and what have you done? You have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and seem determined to fix the guilt of this man’s death on us.’ In reply Peter and the apostles said, ‘Obedience to God comes before obedience to men; it was the God of our ancestors who raised up Jesus, but it was you who had him executed by hanging on a tree. By his own right hand God has now raised him up to be leader and saviour, to give repentance and forgiveness of sins through him to Israel. We are witnesses to all this, we and the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him.’
This so infuriated them that they wanted to put them to death.

PSALM 33(34):2,9,17-20

This poor man called and the Lord heard him.

I will bless the Lord at all times,
his praise always on my lips;
Taste and see that the Lord is good.
He is happy who seeks refuge in him.

The Lord turns his eyes to the just
and his ears to their appeal.
They call and the Lord hears
and rescues them in all their distress.

The Lord is close to the broken-hearted;
those whose spirit is crushed he will save.
Many are the trials of the just man
but from them all the Lord will rescue him.

This poor man called and the Lord heard him.

JOHN 3:31-36

My Soul's Beloved,

John understood the role entrusted to him perfectly. He was to prepare the way of the Lord. He was to announce the Kingdom of God. He was sent to be the voice crying out in the wilderness to all to repent, be baptized, put away sin, and receive the One God sent, His only Son, to save and redeem the world.

John was popular with the people. He challenged them and stirred a desire in them for more, more of God. He could so easily have sown division when his disciples questioned him about You, but in perfect humility and awareness that the time had come for him to decrease and You to increase, he stepped aside and pointed to You. He did so uncompromisingly and with clarity, so his disciples would not be confused as to who You were, where You came from, and Your greater mission.  

Sadly, Beloved, many Christian leaders are more in love with their fame and popularity and all the trappings that go with it, who exploit their followers without a qualm of conscience, sowing hate and division among believers. All who seek to divide Your Body are agents of the devil. We are one Body in You, and only when we are united with You can we hope to spread the joy and peace of the Kingdom of God to the ends of the earth.

Belief in You, the Son of God, must unite us as one; only then can we establish Your Kingdom on earth and hasten Your coming. Maranatha! Lord Jesus, maranatha!.

He who comes from above is above all; he who comes from the earth belongs to the earth, and his   words belong to the earth. He who comes from heaven speaks of the things he has seen and heard; he bears witness to these things, but no one accepts his testimony. Whoever does receive his testimony acknowledges the truthfulness of God. The one sent by God speaks God’s words, and gives the Spirit unstintingly. The Father loves the Son and has entrusted everything into his hands. Whoever believes in the Son lives with eternal life; but he who will not believe in the Son will never know life, and always faces the justice of God.”

WEDNESDAY OF THE 2ND WEEK OF EASTERTIDE - 2025

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son:
everyone who believes in him has eternal life. JN 3:16

ACTS 5:17-26

My Soul's Beloved,

The human tragedy is that we allow ourselves to be governed by brutish men. We allow ourselves to be taken in by empty talk and show. We allow ourselves to be victimised by choosing leaders who are vain, pompous, greedy, who lack conscience, and are for sale to anyone willing to pay the right price. Once they have tasted power, they are addicted to it, set themselves up as gods, and are prepared to crush any opposition that threatens the status quo they have set up for themselves. 

Nothing has changed concerning the high priest, the members of the Sadducees, and the Pharisees in the Sanhedrin. Just as they saw You as a threat to their power and their authority over the people, so too do they now view Peter and the apostles. They are prepared to do anything once again to hold on to their positions, their power, and their influence. They were not prepared to accept that nothing they did could stop the power of the Resurrection and the work of the Holy Spirit.

Thank You, Lord, for Your Church, this divine institution that You instituted under the leadership of Peter, which continues to work uninterrupted despite the ceaseless efforts of Satan and his minions to bring her down. The Sanhedrin is long since gone and forgotten, the Catholic Church lives and will do so until You come for her, Your Bride, at the end of time.

But at night the angel of the Lord opened the prison gates and said as he led them out, ‘Go and stand in the Temple, and tell the people all about this new Life.’ They did as they were told; they went into the Temple at dawn and began to preach.
When the high priest arrived, he and his supporters convened the Sanhedrin – this was the full Senate of Israel – and sent to the gaol for them to be brought. But when the officials arrived at the prison they found they were not inside, so they went back and reported, ‘We found the gaol securely locked and the warders on duty at the gates, but when we unlocked the door we found no one inside.’ When the captain of the Temple and the chief priests heard this news they wondered what this could mean. Then a man arrived with fresh news. ‘At this very moment’ he said, ‘the men you imprisoned are in the Temple. They are standing there preaching to the people.’ The captain went with his men and fetched them. They were afraid to use force in case the people stoned them.

PSALM 33(34):2-9

This poor man called and the Lord heard him.

I will bless the Lord at all times,
his praise always on my lips;
in the Lord my soul shall make its boast.
The humble shall hear and be glad.

Glorify the Lord with me.
Together let us praise his name.
I sought the Lord and he answered me;
from all my terrors he set me free.

Look towards him and be radiant;
let your faces not be abashed.
This poor man called, the Lord heard him
and rescued him from all his distress.

The angel of the Lord is encamped
around those who revere him, to rescue them.
Taste and see that the Lord is good.
He is happy who seeks refuge in him.

This poor man called and the Lord heard him.

JOHN 3:16-21

My Soul's Beloved,

Nicodemus was blessed to hear You speak these words to him. He received this great revelation of God's plan of salvation from the lips of the Son of God, and yet he was not prepared to openly declare himself Your disciple. He came under the cover of night, afraid to lose his place of distinction among his peers in the Sanhedrin. It is easy to point our fingers at him and find him wanting, although in the end he, along with Joseph of Arimethea, came to bury You. They did not have the advantage of seeing the whole picture as we do, yet so many continue to reject You. We refuse to surrender our lives to You, knowing full well what God and the Son of God have done for us through the power of the Holy Spirit. You have spoken to us plainly through the Gospels. We know the Truth that can set us free. Yet we prefer the world and its fleeting attractions because we are broken by sin and weakened by concupiscence. 

Love became incarnate in the womb of the Virgin. Love became visible, taking on flesh and living among us. The invisible God became visible in You and walked among us. You gave us knowledge of heavenly things. You opened our minds to know the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven and how we can get there. You taught us that to rule is to serve. To lose is to gain. To die is to live. Contradictions that the world scoffs at and ridicules to this day. 

Thank You, Father, for sending Your beloved Son Jesus into the world, for without Him and the redemption He won for us through His life, passion, death, and glorious resurrection and ascension into heaven, we would be lost forever. Thank You, Jesus, for Your 'Yes" to the Father, thank You for sending the Holy Spirit to be our Paraclete and our Helper. Thank You, Holy Spirit for making it possible through Your gentle promptings to bring us slowly but sure, one step at a time, through the graces made available to us in the Sacraments to enter finally into the Kingdom of Heaven and remain with God - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit forever and ever.

‘God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son,
so that everyone who believes in him may not be lost
but may have eternal life.
For God sent his Son into the world
not to condemn the world,
but so that through him the world might be saved.
No one who believes in him will be condemned;
but whoever refuses to believe is condemned already,
because he has refused to believe in the name of God’s only Son.
On these grounds is sentence pronounced:
that though the light has come into the world
men have shown they prefer darkness to the light
because their deeds were evil.
And indeed, everybody who does wrong
hates the light and avoids it,
for fear his actions should be exposed;
but the man who lives by the truth comes out into the light,
so that it may be plainly seen that what he does is done in God.’