Daily Inspiration: Proverbs 17:6
6 The crown of the aged is their children’s children, the children’s glory is their father.
My Beloved, I have seen many grandparents who delight and dote on their grandchildren. They seem to take a special joy in watching these little ones and they in turn return that love as fervently and in equal measure. They know that in those loving eyes they can do no wrong. The second half of this proverb is also absolutely true. To a child there is no greater hero than dad. How tragic it is in this day and age that so many children are left fatherless, not through death but by careless abandonment or through a painful, or self-indulgent divorce, or because children are born out of wedlock and their mother has multiple partners and the child knows no real father.
The absent father is the cause of so many children in the world growing up without a sense of belonging or of being loved, feeling special and protected by their dad who is a hero to all children. Is it any wonder then that children look for this father figure all their lives unconsciously, often getting into wrong relationships? If only they could look to our Father in heaven and find in Him a greater, better, and more loving Father than any earthly one, as I myself have discovered, how happy they would be.
Daily Mass Readings: Isaiah 50:4-7, Philippians 2:6-11, Matthew 26:14 --27 :66, Psalm 22:8-9, 17-18, 19-20, 23-24
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Isaiah 50:4-7
Beloved, long before You came into the world, the prophet Isaiah prophesied about You. No other prophet has foretold as accurately as he did, all that You are. Your birth, Your life, and most especially Your passion are recorded in amazing detail by him. Today he tells us that You spoke as a perfect disciple of the Lord our God. he speaks of how You would give strength to the weary, of Your life of prayer which strengthened You and kept You attentive to the Father's voice and of Your ultimate betrayal into the hands of vicious and cruel men. He goes on to describe the terrible suffering You would have to undergo. The wonder of it all is that we still have skeptics.
Philippians 2:6-11
My Lord, everyone that the world looks up today as an icon - the rich, the powerful, the famous, the intellectuals - each of these are proud and arrogant and believe themselves deserving of all the adulation they receive from hearts hungry to love and to be loved. There is a longing to look up to someone they can admire and imitate, so they follow these tinsel gods and goddesses. On the other hand we have You who had every right to boast because You are the Son of God and yet You were humble and obedient. These two virtues stick in the throat of the world yet they alone are the keys to unlock a world that is filled with everlasting wonder, joy, love, peace and hope.
Someday Beloved, all will acknowledge why the Father has exalted You and one day, at the Name that God has given You which outshines every other name, all knees shall bend in heaven and on earth and among the dead, and all tongues shall proclaim that You the Christ, the Son of the almighty, ever living and eternal God are Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
10 so that at the Name of Jesus all knees should bend
in heaven, on earth and among the dead,
11 and all tongues proclaim that Christ Jesus is the Lord
to the glory of God the Father.
Matthew 26:14 --27 :66
My Beloved, Judas betrayed You for a paltry sum of 30 pieces of silver. For what paltry sum do we in the world betray You over and over and over again, especially those of us who call ourselves Catholic and Christian?
At the wedding feast in Cana You told Your Mother that Your hour had not yet come. Now You proclaim that Your hour is drawing near.
How often and quite brazenly, like Judas, we plot evil and we dare to say with feigned innocence, "Is it I Lord who will betray You?" You reveal to Judas that You know exactly what he is up to and You give him another chance. You even included him and appointed him as Your priest with the rest of the apostles for that was Your mission and the mandate of Your Father. Yet he sold You shamelessly for a pittance. Why are we so shocked today when Your Bishops and priests betray You like Judas? Here was one who walked with You for 3 years. You taught him along with the rest, he witnessed all the marvelous signs and wonders that You worked. He ate and drank with You, talked with You, he was even put in charge of the money, yet You knew all the while that he would betray You.
How many chances I have been given and over and over again and how often I too have failed. In verse 31 You once gain tell this intimate band that they will falter and fall, each one of them who love You better than anyone else, will abandon You when You need them the most. Why then are we surprised that a few in the Church continue to give scandal? Peter loudly and robustly claimed that he would not deny You. Poor Peter did exactly as You said he would do and when he realized what he had done he repented with bitter tears. He needed to know his frailty and the subsequent humility arising from this knowledge helped him understand how utterly dependent he was on You as Your first Vicar on earth.
Beloved, when we are called to suffer, You have given us a blueprint of how we must handle it from the Agony in the Garden through the passion and death, before we can experience a glorious Resurrection in You.
How often have You found me asleep when You needed me to keep watch and pray? Three time You urged the disciples to stay awake and pray. The world is asleep to the reality of sin today. Sin has been turned upside down and is being trumpeted by the world as virtue.
verse 40-41
All the Lord asks of us is to offer Him 1 hour each day in prayer. It isn't too much to ask and in return He floods our soul with riches that are too numerous to number. To say, "Thy will be done," can be as bitter as gall but in saying it life becomes sweeter than honey in the end.
The kiss of a traitor is something we have all experienced. Judas was a friend, You did not cease to consider Him as a friend even though You knew He had betrayed You. He blistered his lips with that awful kiss. Have I blistered mine in the past Beloved? Forgive me.
verses 51 and following
The world continues too look at You with suspicion You have been struck and dishonored through the ages and this will continue. Sin is made to appear so much more attractive than the Truth that sets men free. The world is prepared to sacrifice the hereafter for a life of self-indulgence today. The mantra touted as a commandments today are, 'I can do as I please as long as it does not hurt anyone else.' 'I submit to no other law except to my desire for self-gratification.' 'Each one is free to pursue their own life style if that is what makes them happy.' Your Eternal Word has become irrelevant to many and You continue to be crucified on the altar of self.
Poor cowardly Peter he could not stand up to a servant girl and be counted for Christ. What about me?
In verses 62-66 The High Priest asked You to identify Yourself in the Name of the Living God and when You did, they could not stomach the Truth. He made a great and pompous show of being outraged just as many do today. The Gospel truths and the commandments continue to outrage the world and so we spit on it, pour vitriol on it and kill it. How pitiful we are!
Psalm 22:8-9, 17-18, 19-20, 23-24
8 All who see me make a jest of me; they sneer and shake their heads.
9 “He put his trust in the Lord, let the Lord rescue him! If the Lord is his friend, let him help him!”
17 Round about me are vicious dogs, villainous rogues encircling me. They have tied up my hands and feet.
18 They can count all my bones, for they are looking and watching me,
19 dividing my garments among them and casting lots for my raiment.
20 O Lord, be not far from me! O my strength, come quickly to my help.
How accurately the Psalmist foretells all that You will suffer.
Thank You for Your One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church Beloved, and for the many celebrations in Passion week which begins today. It willl end triumphantly next Sunday. I love this week because it brings home to me more clearly each year what my God did for me.
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