Zechariah 8:1-9, Psalm 102:16-21, 29, 22-23, Matthew 18:1-5, 10

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS


FEAST OF THE GUARDIAN ANGELS

Bless the LORD, all you angels,
you ministers, who do his will. Ps 103:21

Zechariah 8:1-9, Psalm 102:16-21, 29, 22-23, Matthew 18:1-5, 10


Zechariah 8:1-9

Dear Love, Beloved of my soul,

You created me for Yourself and today You declare that You are intensely jealous for all whom You have redeemed. We belong to You and You have made Your home with us and in us. You dwell in our tabernacles in our churches all over the world and You are truly God with us, Emmanuel. This is never more true in the intimacy of the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist.

You assure us of a future in which peace will reign. It is impossible for us to grasp this joyful truth for the world in which we live today is divided, violent, sin-filled, and ugly. It is like a dream to imagine a world that You promise Your faithful remnant. A world where both the old and the young are safe, content, at peace, and happy. But You envision it and You promise that such a time will dawn and we look with eyes of hope to the future when the world will be as You meant it to be. A world in which You assure us You that we will be Your people and You will be our God with faithfulness and justice.

Psalm 102:16-21, 29, 22-23

Dear Love, Beloved of my soul,

Thank You for all the readings in the Liturgy today that fills our hearts with joy and hope. You have not forgotten us despite the frightening state the world is today. Not only do natural calamities ravage our world there is a spiritual war going on for souls and it looks as if evil is winning. There is war on every front and the spiritual battle seems even more grave than the wars raging in the world.

Thank You for the faithful remnant on whom You will look kindly and whose prayer You will hear and for their sake You will ensure that the peace You came to bring on earth will be realized. You have heard the groaning, the cries, the tears that rise up to heaven because the world has become too much to bear. Count me Beloved as one of Your faithful ones and grant me the grace to mourn for my sins and the sins of the world.

Thank You for hope, than You for all Your promises that the time of trials will pass and Your children will worship in Your Holy Temple on Mount Zion, the New Jerusalem and peace will prevail as Your love helps us to overcome the terrors of the night.

Matthew 18:1-5, 10

Dear Love, Beloved of my soul,

In the world we live today innocence is preyed upon and ravaged. There is a war on children from the moment they are conceived. Many are torn from the womb and if they are born then there is the culture of evil that presently prevails that denies them the identity that You blessed them with. Scripture says over and over again that children are a blessing and barrenness a curse. Yet today the world advocates sterile unions that produce neither life nor fruit and their voices are so shrill, so loud, so raucous that they drown out the voice of wisdom and truth.

Your word tells us very clearly that the Kingdom of heaven belongs to the childlike. We who are entrusted with future generations bring damnation upon ourselves when we receive children and destroy them making them unfit for the glorious destiny that they were created to enjoy.

Have mercy on us Beloved. Let not Your Sacrifice be in vain. Grant that Wisdom may descend once more and prevail. 

Thank You for our Guardian Angels, so often forgotten, ignored, and neglected. May they intercede for us before the Throne of Grace rather than punishment because their little charges, the littlest ones, have been treated as things to be used as a whim and discarded rather than as God's most precious gifts. 

Have mercy on us O Lord and on the world.