DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS
May your kindness, O LORD, be upon us;
who have put our hope in you. Ps 33:22
Romans 4:1-8, Psalm 32: 1-2, 5, 11, Luke 12:1-7
Romans 4:1-8
Dear Love, Beloved of my soul,
All of us have sinned and all of us, without exception, are unworthy of the Father's love that prompted Him to You in sacrifice for the expiation of our sins. Nothing could heal the chasm that willful disobedience had created except that the Father, whose love is beyond our understanding, sent You into the world as a willing Victim to enter into our eternal death so we may receive Your eternal life.
Abraham, through no merit of his own, was chosen by the Father to become our father in faith because he believed that all that God had promised him, He would fulfill. He could boast of nothing except of what God had done for him and for all future generations through him.
St. Paul echoes what You said, "A laborer is required to work and is paid for it. His wages are not a gift but he has earned it. But we, who know that we have been saved by You through no merit of our own, are indeed blessed by God just as those whom You have chosen and blessed in the past, not for any work that they had done but because God chose to favor them and bless them.
This is faith. This is pleasing to God, that we believe in You and in the One who sent You. Our works no matter how worthy are as filthy rags before God. We are blessed because we have been forgiven by the Blood of the Lamb and for Your sake the Father has wiped away all record of our sins and our iniquities.
All praise and glory be to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ now and forever. Amen.
Psalm 32: 1-2, 5, 11
Dear Love, Beloved of my soul,
How can we thank You for the immeasurable gift of the Sacrament of Reconciliation? The psalmist had no way of knowing when he wrote this psalm that those who were baptized and who belonged to the Church You instituted, would have this powerful experience of being forgiven so completely, that there would even be no record of the sin. Wow!
Once we confess our sins to the priest and we receive absolution in Your Name, God no longer has any remembrance of that sin. We begin anew. We are a new creation in His sight. Once we acknowledge our sins to the priest, are contrite and resolve to sin no more, once we do the penance required of us, which is so easy it is laughable, and because You have already paid the debt that no amount of penance on our part could expiate, You take away our guilt, restore our wounded relationship with God, fill us with Your Holy Spirit so we receive help to sin no more. Each time we leave the confession we ought to be laughing, and leaping and praising God for doing for us what we could never to for ourselves.
May I never be filled with such wicked pride that I ever doubt at any time that my sins are to great and too grave for Your mercy O Lord. In You there is always mercy, kindness, compassion, and forgiveness of any and all sin.
Thank You for Your salvation, rich and completely free.
Luke 12:1-7
Dear Love, Beloved of my soul,
One can picture this scene, You were the center of attention and people came from miles around to listen to You for here was someone who spoke freely, spoke words of hope, and was unafraid to take on the establishment and vested interests whose only function seemed to be lining their pockets, and leading people away from God instead of to Him. The crowds were so great that the Pharisees could do little but gnash their death in fury when You pointed to them and called them out, naming and shaming them for failing in fulfilling their duties before God.
They concealed their wickedness by making a pompous show of their good works. You called them hypocrites to their faces and warned them that while they may imagine their evil to be hidden from the eyes of men, it was not hidden before God and a day of reckoning would come when all would be made known.
It is good for us to take not that the words spoken then are just as true for us today who believe that an outward show of piety which may fool people, does not fool God. The world today is so afraid of disciplining the body, and denying the spirit of the world the power to lure us just as the devil lured Eve and she in turn lured Adam into believing the lies of Satan. The world turns viciously upon those who call them out in their lies, their spurious science, their evil, facile explanations that all our disordered passions are not disordered and sinful because we are created that way and therefore have no choice. To believe that we are unable to make a choice is the biggest lie of all. The greatest gift we have received is the gift of our free will so we may always choose the right, the true, the good, the beautiful always. The world will even put to death those who steadfastly defend the truth.
Today Your word assures us, not to be afraid of those who kill the body but can no nothing else once they have done so. Rather, You say,
"Be afraid of the one who after killing
has the power to cast into Gehenna;
yes, I tell you, be afraid of that one."
You close today's word with sweet assurance of the Father's watchful gaze tenderly upon His little ones,
"Are not five sparrows sold for two small coins?
Yet not one of them has escaped the notice of God.
Even the hairs of your head have all been counted.
Do not be afraid.
You are worth more than many sparrows."
Thank You Beloved.
May your kindness, O LORD, be upon us;
who have put our hope in you. Ps 33:22
Romans 4:1-8, Psalm 32: 1-2, 5, 11, Luke 12:1-7
Romans 4:1-8
Dear Love, Beloved of my soul,
All of us have sinned and all of us, without exception, are unworthy of the Father's love that prompted Him to You in sacrifice for the expiation of our sins. Nothing could heal the chasm that willful disobedience had created except that the Father, whose love is beyond our understanding, sent You into the world as a willing Victim to enter into our eternal death so we may receive Your eternal life.
Abraham, through no merit of his own, was chosen by the Father to become our father in faith because he believed that all that God had promised him, He would fulfill. He could boast of nothing except of what God had done for him and for all future generations through him.
St. Paul echoes what You said, "A laborer is required to work and is paid for it. His wages are not a gift but he has earned it. But we, who know that we have been saved by You through no merit of our own, are indeed blessed by God just as those whom You have chosen and blessed in the past, not for any work that they had done but because God chose to favor them and bless them.
This is faith. This is pleasing to God, that we believe in You and in the One who sent You. Our works no matter how worthy are as filthy rags before God. We are blessed because we have been forgiven by the Blood of the Lamb and for Your sake the Father has wiped away all record of our sins and our iniquities.
All praise and glory be to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ now and forever. Amen.
Psalm 32: 1-2, 5, 11
Dear Love, Beloved of my soul,
How can we thank You for the immeasurable gift of the Sacrament of Reconciliation? The psalmist had no way of knowing when he wrote this psalm that those who were baptized and who belonged to the Church You instituted, would have this powerful experience of being forgiven so completely, that there would even be no record of the sin. Wow!
Once we confess our sins to the priest and we receive absolution in Your Name, God no longer has any remembrance of that sin. We begin anew. We are a new creation in His sight. Once we acknowledge our sins to the priest, are contrite and resolve to sin no more, once we do the penance required of us, which is so easy it is laughable, and because You have already paid the debt that no amount of penance on our part could expiate, You take away our guilt, restore our wounded relationship with God, fill us with Your Holy Spirit so we receive help to sin no more. Each time we leave the confession we ought to be laughing, and leaping and praising God for doing for us what we could never to for ourselves.
May I never be filled with such wicked pride that I ever doubt at any time that my sins are to great and too grave for Your mercy O Lord. In You there is always mercy, kindness, compassion, and forgiveness of any and all sin.
Thank You for Your salvation, rich and completely free.
Luke 12:1-7
Dear Love, Beloved of my soul,
One can picture this scene, You were the center of attention and people came from miles around to listen to You for here was someone who spoke freely, spoke words of hope, and was unafraid to take on the establishment and vested interests whose only function seemed to be lining their pockets, and leading people away from God instead of to Him. The crowds were so great that the Pharisees could do little but gnash their death in fury when You pointed to them and called them out, naming and shaming them for failing in fulfilling their duties before God.
They concealed their wickedness by making a pompous show of their good works. You called them hypocrites to their faces and warned them that while they may imagine their evil to be hidden from the eyes of men, it was not hidden before God and a day of reckoning would come when all would be made known.
It is good for us to take not that the words spoken then are just as true for us today who believe that an outward show of piety which may fool people, does not fool God. The world today is so afraid of disciplining the body, and denying the spirit of the world the power to lure us just as the devil lured Eve and she in turn lured Adam into believing the lies of Satan. The world turns viciously upon those who call them out in their lies, their spurious science, their evil, facile explanations that all our disordered passions are not disordered and sinful because we are created that way and therefore have no choice. To believe that we are unable to make a choice is the biggest lie of all. The greatest gift we have received is the gift of our free will so we may always choose the right, the true, the good, the beautiful always. The world will even put to death those who steadfastly defend the truth.
Today Your word assures us, not to be afraid of those who kill the body but can no nothing else once they have done so. Rather, You say,
"Be afraid of the one who after killing
has the power to cast into Gehenna;
yes, I tell you, be afraid of that one."
You close today's word with sweet assurance of the Father's watchful gaze tenderly upon His little ones,
"Are not five sparrows sold for two small coins?
Yet not one of them has escaped the notice of God.
Even the hairs of your head have all been counted.
Do not be afraid.
You are worth more than many sparrows."
Thank You Beloved.
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