DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS
May the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ
enlighten the eyes of our hearts,
that we may know what is the hope
that belongs to our call. Eph 1:17-18
Jeremiah 20:7-9, Psalm 63:2-6, 8-9, Romans 12:1-2, Matthew 16:21-27
Jeremiah 20:7-9
Dear Love, Beloved of my soul,
The prophet is complaining because You called him to leave his life as a potter and to prophecy to Your people inviting them to turn away from their sins and come back to God. You prevailed and triumphed over him for he found that he was Your reluctant instrument. Neither he nor his message was accepted instead he was made an object of ridicule, he was persecuted, and he feared for his very life. Yet he continued to make known to the people their sins and warned them of the coming wrath if they did repent. The people laughed at him, mocked him yet he would not be silenced even if he wanted to he couldn't for Your message burned in his heart like a fire and he could only find relief by proclaiming God's message to the people.
I too have been called Beloved, I too have been given a mission, may I like the prophet find an unbearable burning in my heart that only finds release and relief when I proclaim to the world the message that God loves and God saves through His only Son, my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Psalm 63:2-6, 8-9
Dear Love, Beloved of my soul,
I desire to feel like the psalmist who is wholly in love with You. He desires nothing more than to gaze at You night and day and be satisfied. Nothing else can satisfy his hunger or slake his thirst but You my Soul. He has experience Your goodness, Your mercy, and Your love and having tasted You and drunk from the well of life he wants nothing more than to feast on You and Your love all his days. He will bless you all the days of his life, he will lift up his hands to offer You thanksgiving and praise while You fill him with the finest, the richest banquet to satisfy his soul. The psalmist knows that You alone are his help, his shield, his refuge and so he clings to You, he hides under the shelter of Your wings and is quite content to be forgotten there. He is happy, his soul is satisfied for hidden in You with Your right hand holding him close he desires nothing more.
Grant me my Beloved this awesome grace to shelter in You all the days of my life.
Romans 12:1-2
Dear Love, Beloved of my soul,
Through every age ever since the world was tainted by the sin of our first parents, we have been creatures of the age we live in. Sinful, sorrowful, sick, and yet we refuse to deny our flesh and its cravings. The world holds up a mirage and lures us into believing that we must conform to its dictates in order to be happy and so many are taken up by its siren call and are lost forever. St. Paul urges us to offer up our bodies and our lives to God as a living sacrifice, uniting it with the one, holy, and perfect Sacrifice that alone atones for the sins of the whole world. You have granted us Your Holy Spirit and with His help we can be transformed and our minds renewed. We can discern the will of God and choose to do what is good, right, pleasing, and perfect every time and in every instance. Help me Lord, I beg You, I cannot do it on my own.
Matthew 16:21-27
Dear Love, Beloved of my soul,
There is no way to the Father except the narrow and difficult path of self control, self discipline, and sacrifice. It is the way that You walked. There is not easy path. The world trumpets a false gospel of ease and prosperity, of living selfishly and satisfying all our cravings immediately in order to be happy.
This is not the way of the Gospel, this is not Your Way and this is why the world hates You and all who follow You. In Your own time the elders, the chief priests and the scribes found You such a threat that they did not rest but plotted Your death almost from the very first year of Your public ministry.
This is why You came into the world, to embrace the Cross that would redeem the whole world through the suffering You would endure and when Peter tried to influence You to turn away from it You rebuked him calling him Satan for not thinking as God does.
Then You revealed who a true disciple is and how we can save our lives and gain a Kingdom that will last forever,
"Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself,
take up his cross, and follow me.
For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world
and forfeit his life?
Or what can one give in exchange for his life?
For the Son of Man will come with his angels in his Father's glory,
and then he will repay all according to his conduct."
May the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ
enlighten the eyes of our hearts,
that we may know what is the hope
that belongs to our call. Eph 1:17-18
Jeremiah 20:7-9, Psalm 63:2-6, 8-9, Romans 12:1-2, Matthew 16:21-27
Jeremiah 20:7-9
Dear Love, Beloved of my soul,
The prophet is complaining because You called him to leave his life as a potter and to prophecy to Your people inviting them to turn away from their sins and come back to God. You prevailed and triumphed over him for he found that he was Your reluctant instrument. Neither he nor his message was accepted instead he was made an object of ridicule, he was persecuted, and he feared for his very life. Yet he continued to make known to the people their sins and warned them of the coming wrath if they did repent. The people laughed at him, mocked him yet he would not be silenced even if he wanted to he couldn't for Your message burned in his heart like a fire and he could only find relief by proclaiming God's message to the people.
I too have been called Beloved, I too have been given a mission, may I like the prophet find an unbearable burning in my heart that only finds release and relief when I proclaim to the world the message that God loves and God saves through His only Son, my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Psalm 63:2-6, 8-9
Dear Love, Beloved of my soul,
I desire to feel like the psalmist who is wholly in love with You. He desires nothing more than to gaze at You night and day and be satisfied. Nothing else can satisfy his hunger or slake his thirst but You my Soul. He has experience Your goodness, Your mercy, and Your love and having tasted You and drunk from the well of life he wants nothing more than to feast on You and Your love all his days. He will bless you all the days of his life, he will lift up his hands to offer You thanksgiving and praise while You fill him with the finest, the richest banquet to satisfy his soul. The psalmist knows that You alone are his help, his shield, his refuge and so he clings to You, he hides under the shelter of Your wings and is quite content to be forgotten there. He is happy, his soul is satisfied for hidden in You with Your right hand holding him close he desires nothing more.
Grant me my Beloved this awesome grace to shelter in You all the days of my life.
Romans 12:1-2
Dear Love, Beloved of my soul,
Through every age ever since the world was tainted by the sin of our first parents, we have been creatures of the age we live in. Sinful, sorrowful, sick, and yet we refuse to deny our flesh and its cravings. The world holds up a mirage and lures us into believing that we must conform to its dictates in order to be happy and so many are taken up by its siren call and are lost forever. St. Paul urges us to offer up our bodies and our lives to God as a living sacrifice, uniting it with the one, holy, and perfect Sacrifice that alone atones for the sins of the whole world. You have granted us Your Holy Spirit and with His help we can be transformed and our minds renewed. We can discern the will of God and choose to do what is good, right, pleasing, and perfect every time and in every instance. Help me Lord, I beg You, I cannot do it on my own.
Matthew 16:21-27
Dear Love, Beloved of my soul,
There is no way to the Father except the narrow and difficult path of self control, self discipline, and sacrifice. It is the way that You walked. There is not easy path. The world trumpets a false gospel of ease and prosperity, of living selfishly and satisfying all our cravings immediately in order to be happy.
This is not the way of the Gospel, this is not Your Way and this is why the world hates You and all who follow You. In Your own time the elders, the chief priests and the scribes found You such a threat that they did not rest but plotted Your death almost from the very first year of Your public ministry.
This is why You came into the world, to embrace the Cross that would redeem the whole world through the suffering You would endure and when Peter tried to influence You to turn away from it You rebuked him calling him Satan for not thinking as God does.
Then You revealed who a true disciple is and how we can save our lives and gain a Kingdom that will last forever,
"Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself,
take up his cross, and follow me.
For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world
and forfeit his life?
Or what can one give in exchange for his life?
For the Son of Man will come with his angels in his Father's glory,
and then he will repay all according to his conduct."
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