DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS
I give you a new commandment:
love one another as I have loved you. Jn 13:34
Jonah 1 --- 2, 1-2, & 11, Jonah 2:2-5, 8, Luke 10:25-37
Jonah 1 --- 2, 1-2, & 11
Dear Love, Beloved of my soul,
This vivid story of Jonah has much to say to all of us who are baptized and at our baptism have been called to go out into the world and preach the Good News of our salvation.
Jonah was given a direct command from the Lord, to go the Ninevah and to make known to them God's displeasure for they had sinned and in His mercy wanted to invite them to repentance or face His wrath. Jonah, like most of us disobeyed God and decided to actually take a boat and flee. But who can hide from God? A great storm arose tossing the boat and its crew so gravely they feared they would drown. Jonah himself was curled up at the bottom of the boat asleep. Not only had he disobeyed God but he was completely indifferent to the consequences of his actions on others.
In the end however, he confessed to the crew that God had sent the storm because of him and to toss him into the sea so they could be saved. Jonah knew God's will, he understood the consequences of disobedience, and he was prepared to pay the price for his sin. However, God cannot be thwarted. He was not going to make it easy for Jonah to get away from his mission. In the belly of the whale he had time to think and come to his senses and when he did. God spewed him out of the whale.
God is always in control and in the end God's will will be done.
Jonah 2:2-5, 8
Dear Love, Beloved of my soul,
Never have You disappointed me. Each time I called out to You to save me You hurried to my side and You lifted me up from the danger that assailed me and brought me to safe harbor.
Yes, my sins caused me to sink, to falter, to drown but You are a God of mercy, infinite tenderness, and unfathomable love for the sinner. You did not allow my soul to be lost forever for You cannot bear the death of the sinner whose life You redeemed on the Cross. I deserved death Beloved, but You would not allow me to be lost to You forever for I am Your own little nothing, Your poor little creature who is too weak to help herself.
You rescued me. You picked me up. You washed me in Your Blood. You nourished me with Your Flesh. You quenched the thirst of my soul. Thank You for being my God who is always with me and makes His temple in my poor body.
Luke 10:25-37
Dear Love, Beloved of my soul,
Very often, like the scholar of the law we know the answers to what God desires of us. But we prevaricate. We hedge, we pretend for whatever the stupid reasons we have for deceiving ourselves, we cannot play dumb with God as this upstart scholar found out.
He know the answer to the question he posed to you, "Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" He knew the law. But he still wanted to find some wiggle room to put You on the spot. And so he posed the next question, "Who is my neighbor?" And after he heard the beautiful parable of the Good Samaritan in which You illustrated so perfectly who is a true neighbor, You tossed the question back to him, "Which of these three, in your opinion, was neighbor to the robbers' victim?" He dropped the pretense then and answered, "The one who treated him with mercy." However, the matter does not end there. You take the man one step forward now that he knows the answer to his question and You command him to, "Go and do likewise."
Help me Beloved to always be a good neighbor to everyone I encounter in my journey from this life to the life that is to come. Amen.
I give you a new commandment:
love one another as I have loved you. Jn 13:34
Jonah 1 --- 2, 1-2, & 11, Jonah 2:2-5, 8, Luke 10:25-37
Jonah 1 --- 2, 1-2, & 11
Dear Love, Beloved of my soul,
This vivid story of Jonah has much to say to all of us who are baptized and at our baptism have been called to go out into the world and preach the Good News of our salvation.
Jonah was given a direct command from the Lord, to go the Ninevah and to make known to them God's displeasure for they had sinned and in His mercy wanted to invite them to repentance or face His wrath. Jonah, like most of us disobeyed God and decided to actually take a boat and flee. But who can hide from God? A great storm arose tossing the boat and its crew so gravely they feared they would drown. Jonah himself was curled up at the bottom of the boat asleep. Not only had he disobeyed God but he was completely indifferent to the consequences of his actions on others.
In the end however, he confessed to the crew that God had sent the storm because of him and to toss him into the sea so they could be saved. Jonah knew God's will, he understood the consequences of disobedience, and he was prepared to pay the price for his sin. However, God cannot be thwarted. He was not going to make it easy for Jonah to get away from his mission. In the belly of the whale he had time to think and come to his senses and when he did. God spewed him out of the whale.
God is always in control and in the end God's will will be done.
Jonah 2:2-5, 8
Dear Love, Beloved of my soul,
Never have You disappointed me. Each time I called out to You to save me You hurried to my side and You lifted me up from the danger that assailed me and brought me to safe harbor.
Yes, my sins caused me to sink, to falter, to drown but You are a God of mercy, infinite tenderness, and unfathomable love for the sinner. You did not allow my soul to be lost forever for You cannot bear the death of the sinner whose life You redeemed on the Cross. I deserved death Beloved, but You would not allow me to be lost to You forever for I am Your own little nothing, Your poor little creature who is too weak to help herself.
You rescued me. You picked me up. You washed me in Your Blood. You nourished me with Your Flesh. You quenched the thirst of my soul. Thank You for being my God who is always with me and makes His temple in my poor body.
Luke 10:25-37
Dear Love, Beloved of my soul,
Very often, like the scholar of the law we know the answers to what God desires of us. But we prevaricate. We hedge, we pretend for whatever the stupid reasons we have for deceiving ourselves, we cannot play dumb with God as this upstart scholar found out.
He know the answer to the question he posed to you, "Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" He knew the law. But he still wanted to find some wiggle room to put You on the spot. And so he posed the next question, "Who is my neighbor?" And after he heard the beautiful parable of the Good Samaritan in which You illustrated so perfectly who is a true neighbor, You tossed the question back to him, "Which of these three, in your opinion, was neighbor to the robbers' victim?" He dropped the pretense then and answered, "The one who treated him with mercy." However, the matter does not end there. You take the man one step forward now that he knows the answer to his question and You command him to, "Go and do likewise."
Help me Beloved to always be a good neighbor to everyone I encounter in my journey from this life to the life that is to come. Amen.
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