Deuteronomy 6:5-9, Isaiah 49:1-6, John 13:21-33, 36-38, Psalm 71: 2-6, 15 & 17

Daily Inspiration:  Deuteronomy 6:5-9

Deuteronomy 6:5-9

5 And you shall love Yahweh, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 Engrave on your heart the commandments that I pass on to you today. 7 Repeat them over and over to your children, speak of them when you are at home and when you travel, when you lie down and when you rise. 8 Brand them on your hand as a sign, and keep them always before your eyes. 9 Engrave them on your doorposts and on your city gates

I am called to love You my God with all of my being.  I must love, praise and glorify You in every circumstance of my life.  Nothing that happens to me is outside Your control.  Your commandments and my obedience to them must be complete if I am to have joy in this world and in the next.  It is absolutely essential for me to live the commandments fully - all of them including the ones that challenge me and what is more, I am called to hand them down to my children and children's children so that future generations will also know and obey them.  The two great commandments which embrace all 10 must be a part of the very fabric of my life - love of God and love of neighbor must be at the heart of every thought, word and action.  HELP ME LORD!!!!!

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Daily Mass Readings:  Isaiah 49:1-6, John 13:21-33, 36-38, Psalm 71:2-6, 15 & 17

Isaiah 49:1-6

Once again the prophet speaks of You.  Once again the Father is making known His plan of salvation through the prophet Isaiah.  He will send You Beloved, to fulfill it.  We profess this each time we pray in the Nicene Creed, "Who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven. And was incarnate of the Holy Spirit  and of the Virgin Mary and was made man."  You become one like is in order to to draw us all back into the loving arms of the Father.  We will be called from all the four corners of the world to know the One True God - Father, Son and Holy Spirit and every man, woman and child will someday worship God in spirit and in truth.

John 13:21-33, 36-38

Beloved, we continue to distress You as we betray You left, right and center and say brazenly, "You don't mean me do You?"  Cafeteria Christians prefer to ignore the commandments and Cafeteria Catholics prefer to remain ignorant of the teachings of the Church as revealed in Your Word and Apostolic Tradition.  They prefer to ignore the Magisterium of the Church.  Each sets himself as god and worships before this idol.  Is it any wonder thaw we are unhappy and unfulfilled in our relationship with You and with one another?

So many of us don't go to confession but step up without any qualms of conscience to receive You in the Eucharist and make a sacrilegious Communion and when we do Satan enters us as he entered Judas after he too made a sacrilegious Communion at the Last Supper.  We  have wounded our soul mortally with sin and only a good confession in the Sacrament of Reconciliation can once again heal our relationship with You, ourselves, our neighbor as well as the cosmos.  Mortal sin wounds You and all that You have created.    

Judas was not converted after received You in the Eucharist, it only served to harden a deadened conscience and he went out into the dark to bring to fruition the wicked plot hatched by evil men.

Like Peter, I too make many promises my Beloved.  How often You must smile sadly knowing that I will fail, falter, stumble and fall.  When I do let me like Peter shed bitter tears of repentance and come flying back to You for forgiveness.

Psalm 71:3, 15 & 17

3 Be my rock of refuge, a stronghold to give me safety, for you are my rock and my fortress.

15 My lips will proclaim your intervention and tell of your salvation all day, little though it is what I can understand.

17 You have taught me from my youth and until now I proclaim your marvels.