Repent, says the Lord,
for the kingdom of heaven is close at hand. MT 4:17
DEUTERONOMY 30:15-20
My Soul's Beloved,
Daily, we have to make choices about important things and simple things, but every decision we make, whether big or small, impacts our lives and the lives of those around us. Either for good or for evil, whether we are aware of it or not, our choices often have short-term, long-term, or eternal consequences. The truth is that more often than not, we make choices that allow frivolity, shallowness, lack of character, lack of a well-formed conscience, or, as is most of the case, a total absence of serious thought, which impact our actions that can have life-altering results.
How is it, Beloved, that despite having some knowledge of Sacred Scripture that warns us time and time again, both in the Old and the New Testament, that love of God alone can help us make wise and healthy choices, and yet, Lord, we choose to satisfy the cravings of our flesh, we give in to the wiles of the enemy, or we succumb to the lure of the world. There are many reasons for this: poor catechesis, poor knowledge of Scripture, a shallow faith, or we are heavily influenced by our peers and the liberal and lax culture that bombards the morally and spiritually weak on every side.
Sadly, Beloved, our lives can become the sum total of our poor choices if we do not wake up, repent, and return to You with a humble heart and a contrite spirit.
Moses said to the people: ‘See, today I set before you life and prosperity, death and disaster. If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I enjoin on you today, if you love the Lord your God and follow his ways, if you keep his commandments, his laws, his customs, you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land which you are entering to make your own. But if your heart strays, if you refuse to listen, if you let yourself be drawn into worshipping other gods and serving them, I tell you today, you will most certainly perish; you will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. I call heaven and earth to witness against you today: I set before you life or death, blessing or curse. Choose life, then, so that you and your descendants may live, in the love of the Lord your God, obeying his voice, clinging to him; for in this your life consists, and on this depends your long stay in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob he would give them.’
PSALM 1:1-4,6
Happy the man who has placed his trust in the Lord.
LUKE 9:22-25
My Soul's Beloved,
Jesus said to his disciples:
‘The Son of Man is destined to suffer grievously, to be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes and to be put to death, and to be raised up on the third day.’
Then to all he said:
‘If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross every day and follow me. For anyone who wants to save his life will lose it; but anyone who loses his life for my sake, that man will save it. What gain, then, is it for a man to have won the whole world and to have lost or ruined his very self?’
Moses said to the people: ‘See, today I set before you life and prosperity, death and disaster. If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I enjoin on you today, if you love the Lord your God and follow his ways, if you keep his commandments, his laws, his customs, you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land which you are entering to make your own. But if your heart strays, if you refuse to listen, if you let yourself be drawn into worshipping other gods and serving them, I tell you today, you will most certainly perish; you will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. I call heaven and earth to witness against you today: I set before you life or death, blessing or curse. Choose life, then, so that you and your descendants may live, in the love of the Lord your God, obeying his voice, clinging to him; for in this your life consists, and on this depends your long stay in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob he would give them.’
PSALM 1:1-4,6
Happy the man who has placed his trust in the Lord.
Happy indeed is the man
who follows not the counsel of the wicked;
nor lingers in the way of sinners
nor sits in the company of scorners,
but whose delight is the law of the Lord
and who ponders his law day and night.
He is like a tree that is planted
beside the flowing waters,
that yields its fruit in due season
and whose leaves shall never fade;
and all that he does shall prosper.
Not so are the wicked, not so!
For they like winnowed chaff
shall be driven away by the wind:
for the Lord guards the way of the just
but the way of the wicked leads to doom.
who follows not the counsel of the wicked;
nor lingers in the way of sinners
nor sits in the company of scorners,
but whose delight is the law of the Lord
and who ponders his law day and night.
He is like a tree that is planted
beside the flowing waters,
that yields its fruit in due season
and whose leaves shall never fade;
and all that he does shall prosper.
Not so are the wicked, not so!
For they like winnowed chaff
shall be driven away by the wind:
for the Lord guards the way of the just
but the way of the wicked leads to doom.
Happy the man who has placed his trust in the Lord.
LUKE 9:22-25
My Soul's Beloved,
Long before the end of Your 3-year ministry, time and time again You told Your disciples how You would die, who would put You to death, and that death could not hold You, for after 3 days You would rise again. And yet, my Lord, it did not register with them. You are telling them You are God, and to them it's just words, impossible to comprehend the magnitude of Your frank revelation about Yourself. Nothing in their history prepared them for believing such a claim, and hence they can be excused. Not so we. Apart from the testimony of the Apostles, the written Word of God, Sacred Tradition, as well as history, have proved over and over again the authenticity of Your revelation, yet so many choose not to believe.
Today, we are reminded of the cost of discipleship. You embraced the Cross, and the Cross is the only way by which we can be saved. Each of us is privileged to receive from Your hands our own crosses. It is not the whole cross we deserve, no, You bore the entirety of the suffering that is rightfully mine, the weight of my entire cross, and yet I struggle, I chafe under its weight even though You assure me that You are yoked to me and that You carry my cross with me.
Grant me the graces I need every moment of every day to die to myself, to renounce the lure of the world, to scourge my flesh of its unruly passions, and to hide myself in You and Your Sacred Heart so the devil has no access to me. I am weak, Lord, and given a chance, I will deny You as Peter did, doubt as Thomas did, and betray You as Judas Iscariot did. Pity me, Lord, and help me. I have recourse to none but You.
Jesus said to his disciples:
‘The Son of Man is destined to suffer grievously, to be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes and to be put to death, and to be raised up on the third day.’
Then to all he said:
‘If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross every day and follow me. For anyone who wants to save his life will lose it; but anyone who loses his life for my sake, that man will save it. What gain, then, is it for a man to have won the whole world and to have lost or ruined his very self?’
