Jeremiah 31:28, Deuteronomy 30:15-20, Luke 9:22-25, Psalm 1:1-4, 6

Daily Mass Readings:  Deuteronomy 30:15-20, Luke 9:22-25, Psalm 1:1-4, 6

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 Jeremiah 31:28

I will refresh the weary and lift up the downhearted.

What a beautiful promise my Beloved.  There are so many times and days when we feel weary and disheartened.  We are anxious about so many things as worry  besets us on all sides.  But with You beside us, refreshing and strengthening us, we can walk in faith, knowing that You have loved us with an everlasting love.

Deuteronomy 30:15-20

Beloved, once we know You, once You have revealed Your Word and Your love to us, then we must choose freely to either live safe in the protection of Your mercy and goodness or we can turn away from You and face the perils of life apart from Your grace.  Either way the choice is ours.  You love us too much to coerce us into making our choices.  We must choose to love freely only then it is love.  To stay in the shadow of Your goodness and receive Your light and life is a blessing freely given and freely chosen.  Verses 19-20 is most comforting, "19 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and holding fast to him; for that means life to you and length of days, so that you may live in the land that the Lord swore to give to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob."  It is full of promise not only for me but for those I love.

Luke 9:22-25

Beloved, even until this day there are some who have started their walk with You but for some reason have fallen away. They have made no attempt to know You through Your Word or Your Church - lacking an intimate knowledge of You, they blindly refuse to see how powerfully You have always worked for good in their lives.  They attribute these blessings falsely to their own hard work or to their talents or to other reasons failing all the while to see Your love behind all the blessings. Even today millions reject You.  You are persecuted and put to death daily in Your faithful members.  Teach me how to carry my Cross in union with You and to choose to lose my life for Your sake and for the the sake of those I love.