Ephesians 6:1-9, Psalm 145:10-14, Luke 13:22-30

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS:

---- Mine, trust Me!

Ephesians 6:1-9, Psalm 145:10-14, Luke 13:22-30

 Ephesians 6:1-9

My Beloved, if we truly wanted a stress free life all we need do is take Scripture at its word. It is Your Word.  It is You and You are the Way, the Truth and You are Life.

Obeying, honoring and serving in humility in perfect imitation of You will enable us to live lives that are at peace with God and with the world despite anything that we may be called to face.  With God and in God, all things are possible. 

Psalm 145:10-14

Everything that You do in our lives is cause for praise.  We may not always feel like it and praising can be really difficult in trying circumstances, but if we do it anyway, we will find You in the centre of the storm.  

In the eye of the storm where You are present, all is calm and we will not be wrecked if we remain in peace with You. We can trust You in all circumstances without exception.  Thank You.

Luke 13:22-30

My Beloved, You preached tirelessly.  You walked from village to village and from town to town.  There was an urgency to announce the Good News to all so everyone would have an opportunity to hear Your invitation, accept and embrace it.

We too have been handed the same mission.  Grant us the same zeal.  You have made it clear that the way is narrow and rough and few choose to enter it, but if we are passionate about the Good News, if we are passionate about the Person who is the Good News then with the aid of the Holy Spirit we will be able witnesses.  All we need to do speak of all that God has made possible in our lives perhaps through our testimony they will be attracted and will desire to know You as we do, as a personal Lord, God and Savior.  Our goal and purpose is to bring with us as many brothers and sisters as we can to the Kingdom and there to celebrate God eternally.

Ephesians 5:21-33, Psalm 128:1-5, Luke 13:18-21

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS:

Ephesians 5:21-33, Psalm 128:1-5, Luke 13:18-21

---- Mine, no one who comes to Me leaves empty handed.  Ask anything you wish and I will give it to you.

My Beloved, grant me the desire, a hunger and a thirst to read and to understand and express with clarity all that I read.  Thank You Lord.

Ephesians 5:21-33

My Beloved,we are called to be obedient in various ways and in different situations.  Obedience to all legitimate authority is ultimately obedience to You.  It is a loving and cheerful surrender, it is a yielding of the will to the Beloved.  The Church, Your Bride is adorned with every grace and virtue.  She receives gifts that she uses wisely for the good of her children.  The Church is Your Body and You love her and care for her to the extent that You even lay down Your life for her.  You saved her, You feed her, You empower her and You will stop at nothing to ensure she is safe, happy and above all loved.  In turn, she submits to You in love.  In this is her joy.

Marital, spousal human love is meant to reflect the same love that You have for Your Bride, the Church.

 Psalm 128:1-5

 My Beloved, as a wife and a mother You have given me gifts that I am to use wisely in nurturing my loved ones.  All the resposibilities of husband and wife can either be taken lightly and ignored or they can be a sacred duty, trust and obligation.  Every Catholic home must image the Holy Home at Nazareth.

 Luke 13:18-21

My Beloved, a mustard seed, small as it is holds within itself the total potential to grow into a tree.  A tree which when fully grown is able to shelter in its branches the birds of the air.  But first it must be buried in the ground, it must die in order that it may become what it was meant to be.

This is the Gospel principle bury your self in himility, die to yourself and become what God created you to be - a daughter/son and a co-heir.

When yeast is kneaded into the flour the whole batch rises.  So it must be with every baptized Christian.  Our life must enter every aspect of humanity and become a force for all that is good and true.  This is our mission especially in this Year of Faith.

Ephesians 4:32----5:8, Psalm 1:1-4 & 6, Luke 13:10-17

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS:

Ephesians 4:32----5:8, Psalm 1:1-4 & 6, Luke  13:10-17

Ephesians 4:32----5:8

My Beloved, from these verses it is most clear that St. Paul is asking us to be saints, to be holy as You are holy.  He would not have  asked of us the impossible.  True, without the Holy Spirit and without the grace that He makes available to us freely it would most certainly be impossible but for Catholics this is not so.  We can live godly lives because we have the Sacraments through which grace is poured into our souls and we have the example of a multitude of saints whose lives bear testimony to this truth.

If I call God Father, if I call You my Brother and Spouse and if I believe that the Holy Spirit resides in me, then I will reflect You in all things.  There should not be even a hint of any kind of deliberate sin to taint my soul.   I must always stay within the sheltering wings of the Church and I must learn from her because I have the sure knowledge that she is preserved from ever teaching error. Truly I have no excuse not to be a saint.

Psalm 1:1-4 & 6

Beloved, the world is full of scoffers and it can be terribly hard not to feel intimated when pseudo intellectuals snobbishly crush all opinion making the claim that only what they say is legitimate.  It takes courage to stand on the side of Truth.  If however one walks in the Way of Truth, if one is trained and formed in the Truth and if one is nourished by the Truth, then no evil, no matter how forceful can tempt us to deviate from the Way of Truth.

When I stand on the side of Truth I can stand boldly, fearlessly, courageously, staunchly, and unflinchingly just as You who are Truth did my Lord.

Luke  13:10-17

My Beloved, sin has the devastating ability to cripple us.  It happens over time. We open ourselves to evil influences as this poor woman in today's Gospel passage had done and in the end she became so tightly enmeshed she was trapped and unable to rid herself of its evil.  The burden she carried was so great that it bent her double under its weight. You were teaching on the Sabbath in the Synagogue and this crippled woman was there. Your heart was overwhelmed with pity as You looked at her, You called out to her and You told her that she was set free from her infirmity. Scripture does not say whether she had come there seeking to be healed all it says was that You saw her, You called out to her, You commanded the evil spirit to leave her and You touched her.

You touched her.  Touch often played an important part in Your healing.  I think You touched those people who had never before felt the warmth of a loving, gentle, kindly, compassionate, tender, human touch.  The leper, the blind beggar and now this poor crippled woman. At Your touch her back became straight and she was healed.  

This is what You do for us in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  You call us, we approach You, we confess our sins, we ask for pardon and You absolve us, restore us to new life and You fill us with Your grace and peace.  This awesome Sacrament has the power to set us free and make our twisted spirit whole again.  Thank You Beloved for this most precious of gifts.

Jeremiah 31:7-9, Hebrews 5:1-6, Psalm 126:1-6, Mark 10:46-52

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS:

Jeremiah 31:7-9, Hebrews 5:1-6, Psalm 126:1-6, Mark 10:46-52

Jeremiah 31:7-9

My Beloved, in You all of us are saved.  This was our Father's plan that all nations come to the knowledge of truth that You are Lord. God's plan of salvation was born of His great love for us poor, weak sinful creatures.  No one would have questioned Him had He swept us off the face of the earth and started over.  Yes, He did start over when He sent You into the world to be the means by which all of us now have the opportunity of entering the Kingdom and taking the place that has been prepared for us.  We have the love of the Father made visible in You and we have the power of Your Holy Spirit that helps us walk the way of righteousness.

Hebrews 5:1-6

In the Old Testament a High Priest was chosen from among men.  Being weak and sinful as all men are, when he offered sacrifices for sin, he offered them for himself as well as for the people.  

To be a priest is a call, a vocation.  It is God's prerogative to make the invitation and those who are called must accept it in humility and obedience.  Even You Beloved were asked by the Father to take upon Yourself this dignity of being our High Priest forever. You said yes and You took upon Yourself our human flesh and entered into our humanity but unlike us You were sinless therefore, You could make perfect atonement and expiation for our sins.  You are the eternal Priest, the Altar and the Victim perfectly pleasing and acceptable to the Father.

Psalm 126:1-6

My Beloved, we are a joyful people, a people filled with praise for all the marvels that God has done for us through You.  We are redeemed, we have been brought back from exile where we were banished because of our offences but God took pity on His people, His creatures and He sent You into the world.  Now He looks at You and sees us who are grafted on to You.  We are nourished by Your own Body and we are made holy and acceptable to the Father once more because of what You have done for us.

Mark 10:46-52  

My Beloved, Bartimaeus heard of You.  He did not stop there he had a need and he believed what he heard to be true so he did something about it.  He placed himself in a situation where he was certain to encounter You.  He know that You had to pass that way in order to reach Jerusalem.  His sensitive sense of hearing picked by the sound of the crowd coming his way, here was his opportunity and no one was going to deny him his chance to be saved.  As soon as the crowd drew near he shouted himself hoarse and would not let anyone hush him.  You knew all the time of his presence and that You would restore his sight that day.  You heard his voice.  You always do.  You stopped and You called. Bartimaeus needed no second invitation leaving behind anything that could be an impediment to him, he jumped up and came to You. He still needed to ask though what it was that he wanted You to do for him so that there could be no doubt in his mind that this was what he truly desired.  "Master," he said without a moments hesitation, "I want to see again." The poor man did have sight once and he know what it meant to have vision and then lose it. 

Sin does that to us my Beloved, we lose our sight and when we realise what we have lost, our soul longs to re-capture the lost vision that comes from grace.  In the Sacrament of Reconciliation You restore us to sight every time we come to You in repentance and we can begin anew to follow You on the way to heaven.

Ephesians 4:7-16, Psalm 122:1-5, Luke 13:1-9

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS:  

Ephesians 4:7-16, Psalm 122:1-5, Luke 13:1-9

Ephesians 4:7-16

My Beloved, grace is that wonderful gift which makes all things possible.  You came into the world becoming one like us ad when You returned to glory You left behind a people who now were empowered to be anything that God desired them to be.  To some You gave the gift of becoming apostles, others prophets, still others preachers, healers, teachers.  Each one helps to build Your Body with You as our Head directing us, feeding us, sustaining us, encouraging us and filling us with the power of Your own Holy Spirit of Wisdom adnd Truth we can remain faithful to Your teaching and to revealed Truth.

Rooted in You, planted in You we will not be deceived by those who distort the Truth no matter how artfully they dress it up.  The Church that You founded You preserve and she can be trusted to speak only the Truth.


Psalm 122:1-5

My Beloved, to go to Your house, to dwell in the place where You reside if only for a while.  To experience Your Living Presence even if it is only a veiled Presence hidden behind the Host.  If we saw You in all Your glory we would be too awestruck to approach.  Your light which is ten times brighter than the sun would make it impossible to draw close to You.  But You desire that we come to You, to touch You, to taste You and to love You wholeheartedly, this is the reason why You who are God becomes mere Bread in order that we may live.  Thank You.  

Luke 13:1-9

My Beloved, no one is condemned by You or destroyed and abandoned by God.  You give us every grace we need to make it possible for us to bear fruit, to make the right choices and to choose life. You give us the Sacraments.  You died for us, You make us one in You.  You gave us the Church and the hierarchy and You gave the Church Your authority so she could care for the people You redeemed and ransomed.  You left nothing undone and we have no excuse not to bear fruit for Your glory and to be Your light in a world that seems to grow ever darker with sin and its rejection of You.  Help those of us Lord who have chosen You to draw  all people back to You through the gifts You have given us .  Together may we all love and serve You as we love and serve those around us.  Thank You Lord!


  

Ephesians 4:1-6, Psalm 24:1-6, Luke 12:54-59

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS:

"---- Mine, remember this your hand in Mine always."

Ephesians 4:1-6, Psalm 24:1-6, Luke 12:54-59

Ephesians 4:1-6

My vocation is to be a witness to the Good News wherever You my Beloved send me.  All I need to carry out this misison is humility, obedience, kindness, patience and above all love.  The kind of love that serves, that accepts, that bears, that endures - the kind of love that best resembles Your love my Lord.

Unity is the work of the Spirit, division is the work of the devil.  We strive for unity among ourselves, we work to keep united and we look for common ground that can permit unity wherever possible without compromising the Truth.  As Catholics we must remember that we are one body, Your body and it is the Holy Spirit that gives us supernatural life and grace to be a light in a dark world.

All Christians profess faith in the one Lord, we are baptized in the one baptism and we worship the one God - Him whom we dare to call Father, Him whom we are privileged to call Brother and into whose Body we are grafted becoming truly a chosen race, a royal priesthood and a holy nation.  In the power of the one Holy Spirit we are all destined for heaven by the grace granted freely to those who choose to follow the way of the Cross which is the way of Christ.                                                                     

 

Psalm 24:1-6

We belong to You. You help us to climb up to the highest heavens, to ascend to You in prayer and there You shelter us beneath Your wings.  A clean hands and a pure heart would not be possible were it  not for You who bathes us, cleanses us and restores us.  You transform us so we begin to hunger and thirst for holy things - for You.  At every Sacrament You flood us with blessings, we who approach Your table never leave it hungry.  Thank You for counting us as Your own. 

Luke 12:54-59 

Beloved, grant us all the ability to read the signs of the time and the age in which we live.  We have the Church as our mother, teacher and guide for it is the Holy Spirit that loves, nurtures, teaches and guides through her.  We have no excuse for ignorance.  Now is the time to unite. Only in true unity can we face the enemy and win the victory that You have gained for us.  With You we can crush the devourer for You have already destroyed evil and death and all we need to do is to claim that victory in Your Name.

Ephesians 3:14-21, Psalm 33:1-2, 4-5. 11-12, 18-19, Luke 12:49-53

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS:

Ephesians 3:14-21, Psalm 33:1-2, 4-5. 11-12, 18-19, Luke 12:49-53

Ephesians 3:14-21, 

My Beloved, this is the prayer I have been praying for years, that the Triune God - my Father, my Brother and Spouse and my Councillor and Guide may make a home in my heart and there to dwell strengthen and sanctify me and make it a beautiful place for Him alone.

 PRAYER FOR TODAY: Eph :3:14-19

Abba Father in heaven,
As I come in Your Presence today,
And fall on my knees before You,
Grant me this petition I pray.

From the wealth of Your glory in heaven,
Dear Father I ask that You give,
Me power through Your Holy Spirit,
To be strong as long as I live.

I ask not for strength in my body
But strength in my inner self.
And of You My Lord and My Savior,
I have a favour to ask of as well.

In faith I ask You Lord Jesus,
To make Your home in my heart,
Then will my roots and foundation
Be deeply embedded in love.

So I, along with Your people,
Have the power to understand,
The breadth, length, the height, the depth of,
The wonderful love of my Lord.

Yes, my Lord and my Saviour,
May I know and be filled with Your love,
A love that can never be fully known,
And so have the nature of God.
Myra D’souza
14.2.1998

 Psalm 33:1-2, 4-5. 11-12, 18-19, 

My Beloved, praise is the natural expression of those who love You because You are O so worthy of praise.  Knowing You and loving You makes praise spill over from our hearts to our lips all the time.  You stir up in the heart a    love that is kindled by Your own.  In loving You we find meaning and purpose for our lives.  How good it is to know that the Eternal Word of God expressed by You is a word that can be trusted.  It is something we can hold on to in perfect confidence, certain that it will never let us down.

My Beloved, all that the Father has ordained to be accomplished in You will be fulfilled eventually for God our Father is a God of love, God the Son is a God of Love and God the Holy Spirit is a God of Love.  Love will win in the end, it will triumph and it will be victorious. Love never fails because God never fails.

I believe that Your eyes are always upon me as a mother's eyes are always on her baby.  You will keep me safe from the fowler's net and the traps laid by the enemy to snare me.  Thank You Lord.

Luke 12:49-53

My Beloved You came to cast the fire of Your love upon the earth.  It is a cleansing fire that purifies all that is false and leaves only that which is true, good and beautiful.  The Holy Spirit's power is ours because You have poured it into our hears in super abundance.  We have died to our sins in You and we rise to glory and to new life in You.

To truly live the Beatitudes and the Gospel is to become a sign of contradiction in the world, a sign of hatred and division.  The Gospel is on the side of the poor, the weak, the outcast, the downtrodden, the sinner, the prostitute, the forgotten, the dregs, the sinner, the untouchable, the abused, the discriminated against, the utterly helpless human being who has become faceless, voiceless and invisible.  The world would rather sweep them out of sight and build shiny new machines that kill or that can travel into space.  They build huge mansions out of the sweat, blood and tears of the masses whom see as a resource to be exploited in every conceivable and inconceivable way.  

The wealth of the earth which is Your gift to all is squandered, guzzled and destroyed by a few.  When the day of reckoning comes Beloved the rich like Dives will beg for Lazarus to dip the tip of his fingers in water and cool his tongue but it will be much too late.

We make our choices on earth while we still can.  Save us Lord, have pity and save the world that the God of Love created in Love.

Ephesians 3:2-12, Isaiah 12:2-6, Luke 12:39-48

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS:

Ephesians 3:2-12, Isaiah 12:2-6, Luke 12:39-48

"---- Mine, no more fear or doubt only a boundless confidence and trust in Me."

GOD DOES NOT CALL THE EQUIPPED HE EQUIPS THE CALLED

Ephesians 3:2-12,

2 You may have heard of the graces God bestowed on me for your sake. 3 By a revelation he gave me the knowledge of his mysterious design, as I have explained in a few words. 4 On reading them you will have some idea of how I understand the mystery of Christ.

My Beloved, this is humility.  St. Paul recognized that all the wonderful gifts given to him were only because You equipped him with them and they were given to him for the sole purpose of drawing souls to You.  It was You who through Your Holy Spirit, enabled him to have a greater grasp of the mysteries of our faith in order that he could better explain them to his hearers.  So too with all the saints who have searched the depths of God with the help of His Spirit and have shared the wealth of that knowledge with the members of Your Body.  He stands right up there among all the spiritual giants in the Church whose intellect the Holy Spirit has anointed in order to explain the sacred mysteries to us.  

It has been God's desire to reveal to us His sinful, weak wilful creatures that He is love. His entire revelation to us is this that He is love and the proof that Love is that He sent You into the world to be the means by which all who believe are saved. This is what St. Paul explains as brilliantly as it is possible to explain a mystery and we we are caught up in it as our minds are blown aways with its indescribable beauty and the immeasurable richness of its truth.  

It pleases God to reveal these mysteries through His one, holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.  The wisdom of God in the expression of His Word, has revealed how His plan of salvation is being worked out by every baptized Christian and is living a life of faith in the fullness of Truth and is being fed by the Holy Eucharist which is the source and summit of our lives exactly as God has ordained.

If we accept the place that God has reserved for us in this marvellous plan that is being unfolded to us in all its beauty, grandeur and mystery, He will grant us a spirit of boldness and confidence to walk right up to Him with childlike and expectant faith and receive as St. Paul, did all we need to be His witnesses all the time and everywhere.

Shyness, self-consciousness, timidity are traits that we have to overcome if we are to mature in the faith.  Hiding behind these excuses reveals a lack of humility and obedience.  When God calls us we step up and say, "Here I am Lord, I come to do Your will."

Isaiah 12:2-6,

This must be my song as it was the song of every one who answered Your call beginning with Abraham, followed by the Apostles, the Fathers of the Church, the saints through the ages and until the end of time, when the Beloved will come again to claim His Bride.

God saves me, I trust in Him no more will be afraid to say, "Yes," to all He asks of me because He is my strength. I direct all my praise and  thanksgiving to Him who saved me from the pit of death and has drawn me into the divine life of the Trinity where He provides every grace and blessing that I need to be His witness always and everywhere.

Luke 12:39-48

48.....................Much will be required of the one who has been given much, and more will be asked of the one entrusted with more.

Verse 48 is a very sobering truth that You reveal to those whom You have called and who have responded to that call.  Yes, You have equipped us but have we used the gifts You have given us?  Have we hidden them lest we be required to move out of our comfort zone hoping someone else will step in and pick up the slack while we go about our business of caring for the things of the world rather than being occupied with the things of heaven?

Should the Master of the house return today will he find me serving honestly, faithfully, obediently, humbly, lovingly?  Or will I use this time before He returns to become more and more entrenched in the preoccupations of the world, the flesh and the devil. The choice is mine.