Galatians 2:1-2, 7-14, Psalm 117:1-2, Luke 11:1-4

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS:

Galatians 2:1-2, 7-14, Psalm 117:1-2, Luke 11:1-4

  

Galatians 2:1-2, 7-14

 Verse 1-2

1 After fourteen years I again went up to Jerusalem with Barnabas, and Titus came with us. 2 Following a revelation, I went to lay before them the Gospel that I am preaching to the pagans. I had a private meeting with the leaders—lest I should be working or have worked in a wrong way. 

My Beloved verses 1-2 is the Magisterium in action WOW – it is so clear.  How then is it that our separated Christian brethren cannot see it?  I know that many are coming home but many still leave because of their colossal ignorance of all things Catholic.  The Church has taught sound doctrine for over 2000 years and will continue to do so until the end of time.  She will speak, teach, preach and act with one heart, one mouth, one mind, one zeal and one faith in the one Lord and God as she has always done and will do so until You come again in glory.

How confident Paul is in the mission You entrusted to him.  No false modesty or humility.  You gave him a huge responsibility and he accepted it and executed it despite the dangers and threats to his life.  His primary concern was that he do it right.   

You never forgot the poor my Beloved and Your Church does not either.  She continues to shelter all who have been marginalized and relegated to the fringes of society beneath her wings. True it is not always done perfectly but she does it. One has only to look at the missionary work undertaken by her religious sisters, they do an exemplary job working tirelessly in sometimes difficult and dangerous conditions as  do her missionary priests, brothers and lay missionaries.

Paul was a true brave heart Lord, poor Peter was still a  little bit of a coward sometimes, so human that we readily relate to him, but he would grow out of it in the end.  Spiritual growth is a work in progress.  We have to be true to the letter and the spirit of the Gospel, we must be unafraid to correct and refute  error especially grave error.

Psalm 117:1-2

 Praise the Lord, all you nations;

all you peoples, praise him.

2 How great is his love for us!

His faithfulness lasts forever.

This psalm has only these two verses it is short, succinct, concise and complete.  These two verses encompass everything that anyone would wish to say in praise of God.  All nations praise You, all peoples praise You.  All acknowledge Your great, unfathomable love for us and Your unfailing mercy to us unworthy, poor miserable creatures and we will do so eternally.

Luke 11:1-4

My Beloved, what did You look like after Your encounter with Your Father in prayer that prompted Your disciples to ask You to teach them to pray?  What was their own prayer experience like until then? Was it perfunctory, dependant on their moods, did they know the form but had somehow forgotten the substance and the purpose of prayer?  How often did they long to ask You to teach them to prayer before they could hold back no longer for they yearned to have what You did in prayer?

You knew what was in their hearts and it pleased You that they too desired to pray as You did but You were waiting for them to ask You to teach them how to pray.  They had to desire it, yearn for it, hunger for it and then in humility ask before they received.  At every Eucharistic celebration we recite this beautiful prayer You taught Your disciples – the celebrant says, “At the Savior’s command and formed by divine teaching we dare to say.” Before we recite the Lord’s Prayer.  Yes, Lord, Your apostles were formed by divine teaching and when they were ready to encounter God as Father, You taught them to address Him as such and today You teach us to dare to call Him our Father as well.

Many of us have woefully inadequate fathers or absent fathers.  Many more have good dads and they will appreciate a perfect one totally, but those who have had less than perfect fathers will be glad to find a Father in God.  A perfect Dad, a loving, forgiving, merciful, generous Daddy God who does not hesitate to sacrifice His only Beloved Son in order that we may live.  Thank You Jesus for this most beautiful of prayers and for teaching us that when we pray we are drawn into sweet intimacy with God as Father, with the SON as Spouse and with the Holy Spirit who is the bond of love that unites us with the Trinity.

How then do we pray my Beloved?  We first address the almighty, omnipotent, awesome God as Father because that’s what He desires.  He knows that we dare not do so.  To Moses He said, "Do not come any closer, take off your sandals, for the place on which you stand is holy ground.”  But to us You say, “Call Him Dad, He is My Father but He wants to be Your Father too.”  You invite us into the inner circle of God’s family as His adopted children.  A child is not afraid to approach his father and God does not want us to be afraid – fear has no place in love.

When God’s Kingdom is made present on earth, then earth will be transformed into heaven and this is our mission, to pray for the coming of God’s Kingdom and to work tirelessly to make it a reality because this is what God desires. Your will be done – God’s will is that we love him as He ought to be loved with all the fervor our finite beings are capable of.  We pray that God’s will be accomplished by every man, woman and child on earth as perfectly as it delights the angels and saints in heaven to do His will.

Give us this day our daily bread, the Bread of Life, the Bread of the Eucharist, the Food that keeps the soul alive, the mind at peace and the heart joyful.  The goodness of the Bread of Angels that the Father ordained that His Son make of Himself for us.  Food for the journey.  Beloved, if we did not eat Your Body and drink Your Blood at every Eucharist we celebrate, our love, our faith, our hope would soon die and become as cold and dead as ashes.

God’s forgiveness is conditional – that seems harsh and yet it isn’t.  If I am not prepared to forgive all the hurts and the sins committed against me by my family in Christ and the human family at large, how can I expect to be forgiven? The more fully I forgive the more fully am I forgiven.  This is justice and Your Father is merciful, compassionate, forgiving, loving but he is also a God of Justice as well.  He would not be God if he were not just.  And finally our Father knows how weak we are and so we ask Him not to test us beyond our ability to endure and if He must test us then to grant us the grace and the strength we need to endure the testing and triumph over it.

Thank You my Beloved for teaching us to pray.