Jeremiah 27:9, Wisdom 1:16, Acts 2:42-47, 1Peter 1:3-9, John 20:19-31, Psalm 118:2-4, 13-15, 22-24

Daily Meditation:  Jeremiah 27:9, Wisdom 1:16

Jeremiah 27:9

9 Hence you must no longer pay attention to your proph­ets, diviners, interpreters of dreams, astrologists or sorcerers who say that you must not submit yourselves to the king of Babylon.

Wisdom 1:16

16 It is the godless that consider death a friend and call for it in every way. They have made a pact with it and they shall justly belong to it.

The sign of every Christian is the sign of the Cross from which flows every grace and blessing, yet there are many sincere Catholics and Christians who think nothing of astrology and horoscopes.  They talk about their personality traits and attribute them to being born under certain star signs.  So many countries are under the bondage of Satan because they have given themselves up to different occult practices.  They take these things either lightly saying there is no harm in it or they take it very seriously and will do nothing without consulting their horoscope from birth to death and every other event in between.  The movies, songs and culture of the day celebrate evil and death.  The skull is seen decorating their jewelery or clothes.  

This verse in Wisdom reminds us that death flows from Satan and the godless make a pact with evil and sink deeper into darkness, gloom, hopelessness and despair.  In the end, death claims both their body and soul to eternal damnation.

Preserve us and our children from every evil my Beloved.  Thank You.

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Daily Mass Readings:  Acts 2:42-47, 1Peter 1:3-9, John 20:19-31, Psalm  118:2-4, 13-15, 22-24

Acts 2:42-47

Beloved, we have strayed so far away from the early Church and what it looked like.  The Church is packed to the rafters with cafeteria Catholics on holy days like Christmas, Passion Week and Easter.  The rest of the year each lives their life according to their own personal gospel and their own image of god.  If all Catholics lived as the early Church meeting each morning to celebrate the Eucharist and then living each day with simplicity and working together and sharing everything in love, Your pray for unity would quickly be a reality.  The world would want to have a share in our joy.  Your Body, now broken from the Church You founded, forming splinter churches which are now in the tens of thousands, would no longer fragment itself further but would come together as one Body under Peter, Your Vicar on earth.  We continue to pray Lord and trust that someday Your prayer for unity will be answered.

1Peter 1:3-9

How wonderfully consoling are these words of our first Pope St. Peter, the Vicar of Christ on earth.  Beloved You are alive and we have hope.  The inheritance we have received from You is one of life unlike that of Satan which bring corruption and death.  It is Your power that flows to us through the Sacraments that help us to remain faithful.  Through trouble and sorrow we are purified and tested like gold in a furnace and we emerge pure, strong and powerful in You.  True Beloved, I have not seen You physically but I love You and I believe in You and life is beautiful and worth living because You are the source of life and joy in my life.

John 20:19-31

Beloved, if we lock You out of our our lives there is chaos, darkness and fear but once we let You in through the Sacraments, You enter bringing with You joy and every other grace and blessing.  You carry the marks of Your Crucifixion in triumph for they are proof of God's merciful love for us.

Thank you for the power to forgive sin given to Your Priests.  We now do not have to carry the heavy burden of our iniquities and weaknesses.  In Confession, You set us free - free to love You and love ourselves as well as others.  

Breathe on me and on Your Church.  Breathe on the various organizations within the Church to encourage, nourish and foster growth through works of mercy.  Help us to grow in wisdom and knowledge and fill us with the gifts of the Holy Spirit in order that His fruits may be manifest in our lives.

So many have left the Church on some excuse or the other - some flimsy some serious.  If You stood before them and said to them like You did to Thomas,  “Put your finger here and see my hands; stretch out your hand and put it into my side. Doubt no longer but believe,” perhaps like Thomas, they would fall on their knees and say, "My Lord and my God."  Such a conversion is good but far better is the faith of those who have not seen You but accept the Word of the Gospel, believe in its authenticity and are prepared to lay down their lives in witnessing to it.  To these You say, "Blessed are they who have not seen and yet believe."

Psalm 118:24 

24 This is the day the Lord has made;

so let us rejoice and be glad.