4TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - 2026

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

Rejoice and be glad:
your reward will be great in heaven. MT 5:12A

ZEPHANIAH 2:3,3:12-13

My Soul's Beloved,

Humility is the hallmark of saints. Nothing we ever do will be pleasing to You, O Lord, or to the Father and the Holy Spirit if it lacks the sweet fragrance of humility. You, O Lord our God, are humble; how can we poor, sinful, frail, weak creatures dare to be anything else? Pride cost Lucifer and his minions the glorious life that was theirs, and hell will be the reward of those who refuse to humble themselves before God. St. Paul reminds us so eloquently to have the same mind as Yours:

6 who, though he was in the form of God,

    did not regard equality with God

    as something to be exploited,

7but emptied himself,

    taking the form of a slave,

    being born in human likeness.

And being found in human form,

8     he humbled himself

    and became obedient to the point of death—

    even death on a cross.

9 Therefore God also highly exalted him

    and gave him the name

    that is above every name,

10so that at the name of Jesus

    every knee should bend,

    in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

11 and every tongue should confess

    that Jesus Christ is Lord,

    to the glory of God the Father. PH 2:6-11

Beloved Lord, our days are numbered. Grant us the grace, the courage, and the strength to live them out in fear and trembling and not take our salvation for granted. Keep our gaze fixed on You, O Lord, who from the moment of Your conception until Your glorious resurrection and ascension into heaven have given us an example of the ultimate reward of authentic humility.

Seek the Lord,
all you, the humble of the earth,
who obey his commands.
Seek integrity,
seek humility:
you may perhaps find shelter
on the day of the anger of the Lord.
In your midst I will leave
a humble and lowly people,
and those who are left in Israel will seek refuge in the name of the Lord.
They will do no wrong,
will tell no lies;
and the perjured tongue will no longer
be found in their mouths.
But they will be able to graze and rest
with no one to disturb them.

PSALM 145(146):6-10

How happy are the poor in spirit: theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

It is the Lord who keeps faith for ever,
who is just to those who are oppressed.
It is he who gives bread to the hungry,
the Lord, who sets prisoners free.

It is the Lord who gives sight to the blind,
who raises up those who are bowed down,
the Lord, who protects the stranger
and upholds the widow and orphan.

It is the Lord who loves the just
but thwarts the path of the wicked.
The Lord will reign forever,
Zion’s God, from age to age.

How happy are the poor in spirit: theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

1 CORINTHIANS 1:26-31

MATTHEW 5:1-12a

SAINT JOHN BOSCO, PRIEST, ON SATURDAY OF WEEK 3 IN ORDINARY TIME - 2026

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

2 SAMUEL 12:1-7,10-17

My Soul's Beloved, 

The rich and the powerful are feckless. They lord it over the poor and those who have nothing. They steal constantly, the little that they have to accumulate more of what they do not need. Insatiable greed for the things of the world consumes them. 

David, too, sinned against one who was powerless against him. He coveted what was not his, and he took it. He committed multiple sins to satisfy his lust. One lapse in his duty as king and ruler led to another and another until he plotted to commit murder and made sure that it was carried out. He had power, and he used it to sin gravely over and over again until the prophet Nathan revealed how profoundly he had sinned against God and neighbor.

Once David recognized his sin, he was repentant and contrite, and God forgave him, but he still had to make reparation, for there are always consequences to sin. In David's case, he lost the child that Bathsheba bore him. 

Lord Jesus, we cannot sin blithely without ending up doing grave injury to our souls. Sin has a deadly effect: it causes others to suffer. It has a ripple effect, causing grave distress to everyone it touches. The tragedy of mortal sin is that the innocent also suffers with the guilty for sin, as well as virtue affects the whole Church, which is Your Body, we being its members.  But once reparation is made, O Lord, and divine justice is satisfied, You will restore all, and we will praise and glorify You.

The Lord sent Nathan the prophet to David. He came to him and said:
‘In the same town were two men,
one rich, the other poor.
The rich man had flocks and herds
in great abundance;
the poor man had nothing but a ewe lamb,
one only, a small one he had bought.
This he fed, and it grew up with him and his children,
eating his bread, drinking from his cup,
sleeping on his breast; it was like a daughter to him.
When there came a traveller to stay, the rich man
refused to take one of his own flock or herd
to provide for the wayfarer who had come to him.
Instead he took the poor man’s lamb
and prepared it for his guest.’
David’s anger flared up against the man. ‘As the Lord lives,’ he said to Nathan ‘the man who did this deserves to die! He must make fourfold restitution for the lamb, for doing such a thing and showing no compassion.’
Then Nathan said to David, ‘You are the man. So now the sword will never be far from your House, since you have shown contempt for me and taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.”
‘Thus the Lord speaks, “I will stir up evil for you out of your own House. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to your neighbour, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. You worked in secret, I will work this in the face of all Israel and in the face of the sun.”’
David said to Nathan, ‘I have sinned against the Lord.’ Then Nathan said to David, ‘The Lord, for his part, forgives your sin; you are not to die. Yet because you have outraged the Lord by doing this, the child that is born to you is to die.’ Then Nathan went home.
The Lord struck the child that Uriah’s wife had borne to David and it fell gravely ill. David pleaded with the Lord for the child; he kept a strict fast and went home and spent the night on the bare ground, covered with sacking. The officials of his household came and stood round him to get him to rise from the ground, but he refused, nor would he take food with them.

PSALM 50(51):12-17

A pure heart create for me, O God.

A pure heart create for me, O God,
put a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me away from your presence,
nor deprive me of your holy spirit.

Give me again the joy of your help;
with a spirit of fervour sustain me,
that I may teach transgressors your ways
and sinners may return to you.

O rescue me, God, my helper,
and my tongue shall ring out your goodness.
O Lord, open my lips
and my mouth shall declare your praise.

A pure heart create for me, O God.

MARK 4:35-41

https://lovesongstothebeloved.blogspot.com/2009/04/so-what.html

https://lovesongstothebeloved.blogspot.com/2009/08/tossing-in-wind.html