DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS:
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| “First wash the inside of the cup and the dish, and then the outside will become clean, too.” Matthew 25:26 |
FEAST OF ST. GERARD MAJELLA - PATRON SAINT OF EXPECTANT MOTHERS
My Beloved, I asked You to help me recall any unconfessed
sin in order that I may ask for Your pardon and healing because I am truly
sorry for having offended You in any way in the past. You are a generous and loving God. Slow to anger and quick to forgive as You
have so wonderfully demonstrated to me this morning. Hardly had I finished my prayer and opened
the Scriptures and You spoke to me through these verses.
60 But I will remember my covenant with you
in the days of your youth and make in your favor an eternal covenant. 62 For
I will uphold my covenant with you and you will know that I am Yahweh, 63 ……….. I have pardoned you for all you have done,”
word of Yahweh.
My Beloved, it is the easiest thing in the world to backslide,
to return back to old sinful ways and habits, to be yoked to the slavery of
sin, to satisfy the passions of the flesh which once sated become dull. The spirit becomes heavy and finds it is
unable to soar again on the wings of the Spirit and touch the divine.
I am free, You have set me free. You have made it possible to separate me from
my sins and You have cast them into the depths of Your infinite mercy. You have blotted them out and it is as if
they have never been. Thank You for
setting me free today from the shackles of the memory of my past sins which I
know were an affront to Your goodness, generous compassion and tender merciful love
for me. I’m free.
The law never had power to save it only made us aware of our
guilt for which there was no remedy save fear from falling ever deeper into its
trap when realizing that we had broken the law.
Not until You came my Beloved and took on our burden and shame and
nailed them to the Cross, not until we were covered with Your precious Blood
poured out in expiation for our sins, not until the Lamb of God was given up in
atonement for us, not until You returned to Your Father after Your Bloody
Sacrifice and sent Your Holy Spirit to us to help us understand and grasp the
enormity of God’s love made manifest in You, could we hope to be free. Free to be everything that the Father
intended us to be when He created us.
Thank You Eternal Father, Thank You most Holy Spirit of God, THANK YOU
MY BELOVED!!
You do Lord, every morning at dawn You give me Your unfailing
love and You renew Your covenant of saving love with me. I am strengthened by the Bread of Life and my
trust in You deepens. Your Word has
power to sustain me and give me hope.
Keep me ever mindful of Your promise so I may walk in the freedom of a
child of God. Your Word is my joy, it
sustains e, it gives me light in darkness and it comforts me to know how much
You love me. I open y hands and life
them up to You in prayer, worship, thanksgiving and praise as I meditate on
Your perfect commandment of love to God and neighbor.
My Beloved, how often I am exactly like this Pharisee who
invited You into his home to have a meal with him. You were an honored guest and instead of
treating You as one and making You comfortable and at ease by service You and
caring for Your needs, he had the temerity to criticize You in the silent unseen
unheard tribunal of his mind. He castigated
You in that court where there is neither compassion, pity, understanding ,
mercy or love.
How often I have acted exactly like that Pharisee. At Holy Mass instead of paying attention to
Your Holy Word prayed by the Lectors I caught every mispronounced word, I
judged the way they read, I judged the choir and caught the lone voice that
went a little off key, I caught the stray and seldom discordant key of the
organist. The misspelled word in the
hymns displayed on the projector flashed like a neon light in my brain instead
of concentrating on adding my voice to the others in praise and worship. Instead
of listening to what God had to say to me in the homily I dared to judge the
homilist and sometimes found Jesus’ brother priest wanting. I had the temerity to search for the speck in
my brother’s eye while heedless of the log in my own.
It is only now that I see what I was like. Awareness came through grace and with
awareness the desire to check my sour, critical spirit that did not recognize
the generous, loving service freely offered by my brothers and sisters in
You. I still lapse sometimes but now I
check myself and have learned to be more appreciative. I have learned to pay more attention to my
own dish and ensure it is kept clean on the inside. I am learning to check my desire of making an
outward show of what is clearly lacking within me. Giving is not true giving if it does not
include the total gift of oneself.
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