THURSDAY OF THE FIRST WEEK OF ADVENT - 2025

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

Seek the Lord while he is still to be found,
call to him while he is still near. IS 55:6

ISAIAH 26:1-6

My Soul's Beloved, 

It is so easy to lose confidence and hope when we look at our world today. Might is right is the unsavory lie that is being rammed down our throats. We look at those who govern the nations around the globe, and they are no better than puppets whose puppeteers are the wealthy, the powerful, and those with the greatest influence through nefarious dealings. These elected leaders remain indefinitely in power by capturing all the agencies and compelling them to kowtow to their demands or else face the consequences. In times like these, Lord, it is easy to lose heart if we lose sight of You and Your promises.

Today, Isaiah's triumphant hymn emphasizes the power of God to guard over His own and to crush those who stand against His beloved children. Lord God, Savior of the world, we are called by Your Name. We are redeemed by You. You loved us to the end, and we are built on the Rock that can never be moved or shaken.

Let us, your little ones, understand that no matter how evil the world gets, how powerful the godless, how violent the agents of lies, we keep our eyes fixed on You. The battle rages endlessly, but we know the war is won, and we are sharers in Your triumphant victory.

We make the Magnificat of our Mother Mary our own, for it is always the lowly, your own little ones, who will ultimately rejoice and be glad forever.

That day, this song will be sung in the land of Judah:

We have a strong city;
to guard us he has set
wall and rampart about us.
Open the gates! Let the upright nation come in,
she, the faithful one
whose mind is steadfast, who keeps the peace,
because she trusts in you.
Trust in the Lord for ever,
for the Lord is the everlasting Rock;
he has brought low those who lived high up
in the steep citadel;
he brings it down, brings it down to the ground,
flings it down in the dust:
the feet of the lowly, the footsteps of the poor
trample on it.

PSALM 117(118):1,8-9,19-21,25-27

Blessed in the name of the Lord is he who comes.

Give thanks to the Lord for he is good,
for his love has no end.
It is better to take refuge in the Lord
than to trust in men;
it is better to take refuge in the Lord
than to trust in princes.
.
Open to me the gates of holiness:
I will enter and give thanks.
This is the Lord’s own gate
where the just may enter.
I will thank you for you have answered
and you are my saviour.

O Lord, grant us salvation;
O Lord, grant success.
Blessed in the name of the Lord
is he who comes.
We bless you from the house of the Lord;
the Lord God is our light.

Blessed in the name of the Lord is he who comes.

MATTHEW 7:21,24-27

My Soul's Beloved,

The one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church is built on the Rock. As long as she is our foundation, we can never be moved or shaken. She is founded on You, O Christ, the anointed of the Father, and it is the Spirit of the Father and the Son that gives her life. Having put down roots deep into Your Body, O Lord, we receive life and grace unceasingly, and this is why we remain unfazed by the works of the devil, who sows discord, destruction, death, mayhem, and division, and these things have been utterly destroyed by the precious Blood of the Lamb and the power of Your holy, glorious Name.

Lord, all I ask of You today is that we, who are Yours, not just pay lip service to our faith in You and to the Church we belong of which You are the Head and we its members. Rather, grant us a faith that moves mountains, walks on water, calms the storm, and raises the dead to life by the witness of our lives. And should it be required, O Lord, to gladly lay down our lives for Your sake and the sake of the Gospel as so many have done before us. The blood of martyrs is the seed of Christians, and the blood of those persecuted will soon yield an abundance of fruit, bringing the whole world to the knowledge of truth in the only one who has the power to save. 

Jesus said to his disciples: ‘It is not those who say to me, “Lord, Lord,” who will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the person who does the will of my Father in heaven. Therefore, everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a sensible man who built his house on rock. Rain came down, floods rose, gales blew and hurled themselves against that house, and it did not fall: it was founded on rock. But everyone who listens to these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a stupid man who built his house on sand. Rain came down, floods rose, gales blew and struck that house, and it fell; and what a fall it had!’

TUESDAY OF THE FIRST WEEK OF ADVENT - 2025

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

Behold, our Lord will come with power
and will enlighten the eyes of his servants.

ISAIAH 11:1-10

My Soul's Beloved,

The Kingdom of God is already in our midst; it came to us on Your stooping low from heaven into the womb of the Virgin and into our world. You revealed to us the love of God, the wisdom of God, the power of God, and this is for all who believe in You and the One who sent You. The same Holy Spirit, which is the Spirit of Father and Son, has been given to us. We lack nothing, Beloved, to realize the Kingdom of God which has been established in our hearts, in the Church, and in the world. Sadly, we have allowed the great Deceiver and Father of Lies to distract us. We are all consumed with the trivial, the passing, the baubles that are dangled before us, and we are drawn away from the Truth that saves.

Ignorance of God and His Word keeps us from flourishing as God, our Father, intends. We have failed to raise children nourished on Your Word and on Your Body and Blood. Our parents and grandparents have been largely ignorant, and that ignorance is handed down from generation to generation. They could be excused then, Lord, we have no excuse, and neither to our children and the coming generation, for all we need to grow and thrive on our faith is available freely to us. However, we choose to use the gifts of God not for growing in the knowledge of You and Him, but in things of this perishable world that bring death.

Lord Jesus, it is not too late. It never is, for You are a God of second chances, and we never run out of another chance to begin anew. Shake us out of our lethargy, our complacency, our indifference to the things of life, and our preoccupation with the things that only bring sorrow, grief, sadness, loneliness, depression, sickness, and death. All we need to live, grow, and thrive is ours if we only desire it. Do for u,s O Lord, what we are too stupid to do for ourselves.

A shoot springs from the stock of Jesse,

a scion thrusts from his roots:
on him the spirit of the Lord rests,
a spirit of wisdom and insight,
a spirit of counsel and power,
a spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.
(The fear of the Lord is his breath.)
He does not judge by appearances,
he gives no verdict on hearsay,
but judges the wretched with integrity,
and with equity gives a verdict for the poor of the land.
His word is a rod that strikes the ruthless,
his sentences bring death to the wicked.
Integrity is the loincloth round his waist,
faithfulness the belt about his hips.
The wolf lives with the lamb,
the panther lies down with the kid,
calf and lion feed together,
with a little boy to lead them.
The cow and the bear make friends,
their young lie down together.
The lion eats straw like the ox.
The infant plays over the cobra’s hole;
into the viper’s lair
the young child puts his hand.
They do no hurt, no harm,
on all my holy mountain,
for the country is filled with the knowledge of the Lord
as the waters swell the sea.
That day, the root of Jesse
shall stand as a signal to the peoples.
It will be sought out by the nations
and its home will be glorious.

PSALM 71(72):1-2,7-8,12-13,17

In his days justice shall flourish, and peace till the moon fails.

O God, give your judgement to the king,
to a king’s son your justice,
that he may judge your people in justice
and your poor in right judgement.

In his days justice shall flourish
and peace till the moon fails.
He shall rule from sea to sea,
from the Great River to earth’s bounds.

For he shall save the poor when they cry
and the needy who are helpless.
He will have pity on the weak
and save the lives of the poor.

May his name be blessed for ever
and endure like the sun.
Every tribe shall be blessed in him,
all nations bless his name.

In his days justice shall flourish, and peace till the moon fails.

LUKE 10:21-24

My Soul's Beloved, 

We, too, are filled with the same joy by the Holy Spirit that You always experienced because it is this same Spirit that You have given us. Nothing is hidden from us any longer after the Father sent You into the world to make known His unfathomable love for us who are so unworthy and undeserving of it. Yet, look at us, sad, joyless creatures, with our eyes fixed to the earth, we are unable to see the unmistakable signs of God's loving care and tenderness that are everywhere. We prefer to focus on all the negativity instead of Your promises, Your assurances, the Truth of  Your Word, Your abiding presence in us.

You were sent by the Father to make Him and His love visible and tangible to us in and through You. You, in turn, sent us the Holy Spirit, so we could begin, even now, to experience on earth the joys of heaven. Have pity on Your people, Lord, those called by Your Name, members of Your Body, that we may realize how blessed and privileged we are to be one with You, the Father and the Holy Spirit. We are called to spread the Kingdom of God; this is our mission. Grant us the grace to so live our lives that others, too, may desire and receive what we have been so graciously given by You. Thank You, Lord. 

Filled with joy by the Holy Spirit, Jesus said:
‘I bless you, Father, Lord of heaven and of earth, for hiding these things from the learned and the clever and revealing them to mere children. Yes, Father, for that is what it pleased you to do. Everything has been entrusted to me by my Father; and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.’
Then turning to his disciples he spoke to them in private, ‘Happy the eyes that see what you see, for I tell you that many prophets and kings wanted to see what you see, and never saw it; to hear what you hear, and never heard it.’