Galatians 3:1-5, Luke 1:69-75, Luke 11:5-13

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

Open our hearts, O Lord,

to listen to the words of your Son. Acts 16:14b

Galatians 3:1-5, Luke 1:69-75, Luke 11:5-13

Galatians 3:1-5

My soul's beloved, when one loves as St. Paul loves those he has evangelized with the love of a father he does not hesitate to scold and berate the Galatians for being taken in by false teaching. The Good News is this - that You were born of the Virgin Mary, You lived in total obscurity and poverty with Joseph and Mary until You reached the age of 30 which was the appointed time to begin Your short public ministry. During this time You worked marvelous signs and wonders to accompany Your teaching about the Kingdom of God, revealing its mysterious and making the Father known and loved. You were rejected by the rich, the influential, and the powerful - those who hated You because you threatened the nice little world they created from themselves and over which they ruled with an iron fist. 

You were not afraid to speak the truth and to tell them that there were hypocrites and whited sepulchers and if they did not repent and change their ways they would be damned eternally.   St. Paul does not want the Galatians to make the same mistake. He has led them to You. They have been baptized and have received the Holy Spirit. They have witnessed the power of Your Love and how it has transformed their lives and yet the influence of the world and the flesh is luring them away from the Way of Life and Truth to the old ways.

Once we have put our hand to the plow there is no turning back - if we do we are doomed to suffer the fate of Lot's wife. Through the grace You make available to me may I never return to my former way of life but grant that I may remain grafted to You always for without You I will wither and die.