Isaiah 5:20-21
20 Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil,
who change darkness for light
and light for darkness,
who give bitter for sweet
and sweet for bitter.
21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes
and take themselves for sages.
My Beloved, today we live in a world where evil is routinely called good and good evil. All God's commandments which were obeyed gladly at one time, are now turned on their head. The darkness of sin is prevalent everywhere. Self indulgence and selfishness are considered a virtue and are mistaken for life; when in truth many who pretend to be merciful are in truth merciless, pitiless and pro-death. The putrid, decaying, flaccid underbelly of evil is exposed and is reflected in the culture. This miasma of evil is not limited to any one nation or nations but its cancerous tentacles are spreading ever wider and suffocating all that has life. Have mercy on Your people O Lord. Have mercy.
Daily Mass Readings: Exodus 16:1-5, 9-15, Matthew 13:1-9,
Psalm 78:18-19, 23-28
Exodus 16:1-5, 9-15
My Beloved, we would rather die while being sated than live according to Your holy will, plan and purpose for us. We are ready to sacrifice the Kingdom in order to have bread for today and while our bellies are full our spirits become weak and our senses dull. At the smallest inconvenience or difficulty we begin to moan, groan and complain, because we refuse to place our faith in You and trust You. Our faith tested all day long and most often we fail miserably. We are indeed to be pitied for we refuse to walk in faith, hope and love.
You have now made celestial food available to us by giving us Your own Body and Blood in the Eucharist. We take this unsurpassable gift for granted from Eucharist to Eucharist, scarcely understanding its incomparable value. We are rarely transformed because we are ignorant and indifferent to its transforming power. Have mercy Beloved and grant us a greater awareness of the beauty of this Sacrament and all the other Sacraments as well. Save us through these channels of grace as is Your will, Amen.
Matthew 13:1-9
Beloved, the first verse tells us that You left the house where You were staying with Your disciples and sat down by the lakeside. You were in close intimacy with Your disciples in the confines of the house. Within the house we find those who belong to Your inner circle. But You are also aware of those who are on the outside. You came out and sat down making Yourself available to all who were seeking You. Anyone was free to come to hear You preach, evangelize and be healed by Your Word and Your touch. When the crowd got too large, You entered the boat which signifies the Kingdom. You Beloved, are the Kingdom of God because Heaven means nothing if You are not in it, and where You are there is the Triune God. If we truly wish to belong to You and be a part of the Kingdom, we must be prepared to take the risk and leave the safety of the shore. We must be willing to put out into the deep with You, (always with You and Your Church never alone.)
Your Word, is the seed that is sown into our lives at various stages of our existence on earth. Quite a few of these seeds are lost and destroyed because there are places in our heart that are hard, rocky, dry, dusty and open to attack by evil. Yet we are always surprised to find that a lot of those seeds remain dormant waiting for the right opportunity, and as the soil is slowly and carefully exposed to all that happens to us during our life time, and we allow God to take control, the seeds spring forth to life, begin to bloom and yield a harvest for the Kingdom - some thirty, some sixty and some a hundred fold.
May Your Word O Lord long dormant in my heart begin to yield a plentiful harvest for Your glory. Amen.
Psalm 78:18-19, 23-24
18 They tested God, demanding the food they craved.
19 They blasphemed against God, saying: “Can God spread a table in the desert?
23 Yet he commanded the skies above and opened the doors of heaven; 24 he rained down manna upon them and fed them with the heavenly grain.
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