DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS
My sheep hear my voice, says the Lord;
I know them, and they follow me. Jn 10:27
2 Samuel 24:2, 9-17, Psalm 32:1-2, 5-7, Mark 6:1-6
2 Samuel 24:2, 9-17
King David said to Joab and the leaders of the army who were with him,
"Tour all the tribes in Israel from Dan to Beer-sheba
and register the people, that I may know their number."
Joab then reported to the king the number of people registered:
in Israel, eight hundred thousand men fit for military service;
in Judah, five hundred thousand.
Afterward, however, David regretted having numbered the people,
and said to the LORD:
"I have sinned grievously in what I have done.
But now, LORD, forgive the guilt of your servant,
for I have been very foolish."
When David rose in the morning,
the LORD had spoken to the prophet Gad, David's seer, saying:
"Go and say to David, 'This is what the LORD says:
I offer you three alternatives;
choose one of them, and I will inflict it on you.'"
Gad then went to David to inform him.
He asked: "Do you want a three years' famine to come upon your land,
or to flee from your enemy three months while he pursues you,
or to have a three days' pestilence in your land?
Now consider and decide what I must reply to him who sent me."
David answered Gad: "I am in very serious difficulty.
Let us fall by the hand of God, for he is most merciful;
but let me not fall by the hand of man."
Thus David chose the pestilence.
Now it was the time of the wheat harvest
when the plague broke out among the people.
The LORD then sent a pestilence over Israel
from morning until the time appointed,
and seventy thousand of the people from Dan to Beer-sheba died.
But when the angel stretched forth his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it,
the LORD regretted the calamity
and said to the angel causing the destruction among the people,
"Enough now! Stay your hand."
The angel of the LORD was then standing
at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.
When David saw the angel who was striking the people,
he said to the LORD: "It is I who have sinned;
it is I, the shepherd, who have done wrong.
But these are sheep; what have they done?
Punish me and my kindred."
Dear Love, Beloved of my soul,
When we take our gaze away from You and focus instead of material things, finding our strength and comfort in them rather that in the God of Love, we can be certain that we will fail. Faith comes from knowing You, loving You, and clinging to You. David, in a moment of weakness, looked at his army to determine his strength forgetting that numbers didn't matter, Your faithfulness was the source of his strength.
He repented of his sin immediately, but there are always consequences for our folly. David was given three option to choose from for his suffering - he chose the third, three days of pestilence to plague his land. Seventy thousand people perished and David realized that when we sin sometimes the innocent are caught up in its wake.
David cried out to the Lord, "It is I who have sinned;
it is I, the shepherd, who have done wrong.
But these are sheep; what have they done?
Punish me and my kindred."
Beloved, each time I sin, grant me the grace to acknowledge my sins in the Sacrament of Reconciliation and receive Your pardon and healing.
Psalm 32:1-2, 5-7
Dear Love, Beloved of my soul,
I am deeply sorry for not taking advantage of Your great mercy and frequenting the great gift of the Sacrament of Reconciliation as often as I ought. Keep me from spiritual sloth and for taking Your goodness, mercy, and love for granted. I have sinned and sinned often in so many ways and have delayed in approaching this Sacrament of Grace where I can be healed, restored, and strengthened.
I cry out with the psalmist today to delay no more, so my sins may be washed away, that You may cover my iniquities with Your most precious Blood and restore the purity of my soul. Only when I am free from sin can Your grace and blessings flow to me and to those I love and keep me and mine safe from the snares of the enemy. Forgive the wrongs I have done and may Your Spirit grant me the grace to approach the Sacrament of Grace, Love, and Mercy as soon as an opportunity presents itself. Thank You.
Mark 6:1-6
Dear Love, Beloved of my soul,
Today we seen in the Gospel that You have come home, the place where the people in Your neighborhood saw You grow from a child to manhood and they assumed that they knew You based on what they remembered of You and Your family. You have returned with Your disciples and when they hear You teach in the synagogue they are all impressed and struck by Your wisdom. However, it is a superficial reaction only, Your words fall like seed on rocky soil, their hearts are hard, they reject You because they think they know You and thus they lost their moment of grace and conversion.
How often Beloved, we too are guilty of forming skewed opinions about people because we think we know them. We judge them on what we see and what we knew of them in the past. We do not grant them the benefit of having grown and changed completely from the people we once knew. We chain them to our of them memories in the past and thus lose the opportunity of discovering them anew in the present.
Lord God, Beloved of my soul, I pray that You may never at any stage in my life, be amazed at my lack of faith. Amen.
My sheep hear my voice, says the Lord;
I know them, and they follow me. Jn 10:27
2 Samuel 24:2, 9-17, Psalm 32:1-2, 5-7, Mark 6:1-6
2 Samuel 24:2, 9-17
King David said to Joab and the leaders of the army who were with him,
"Tour all the tribes in Israel from Dan to Beer-sheba
and register the people, that I may know their number."
Joab then reported to the king the number of people registered:
in Israel, eight hundred thousand men fit for military service;
in Judah, five hundred thousand.
Afterward, however, David regretted having numbered the people,
and said to the LORD:
"I have sinned grievously in what I have done.
But now, LORD, forgive the guilt of your servant,
for I have been very foolish."
When David rose in the morning,
the LORD had spoken to the prophet Gad, David's seer, saying:
"Go and say to David, 'This is what the LORD says:
I offer you three alternatives;
choose one of them, and I will inflict it on you.'"
Gad then went to David to inform him.
He asked: "Do you want a three years' famine to come upon your land,
or to flee from your enemy three months while he pursues you,
or to have a three days' pestilence in your land?
Now consider and decide what I must reply to him who sent me."
David answered Gad: "I am in very serious difficulty.
Let us fall by the hand of God, for he is most merciful;
but let me not fall by the hand of man."
Thus David chose the pestilence.
Now it was the time of the wheat harvest
when the plague broke out among the people.
The LORD then sent a pestilence over Israel
from morning until the time appointed,
and seventy thousand of the people from Dan to Beer-sheba died.
But when the angel stretched forth his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it,
the LORD regretted the calamity
and said to the angel causing the destruction among the people,
"Enough now! Stay your hand."
The angel of the LORD was then standing
at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.
When David saw the angel who was striking the people,
he said to the LORD: "It is I who have sinned;
it is I, the shepherd, who have done wrong.
But these are sheep; what have they done?
Punish me and my kindred."
Dear Love, Beloved of my soul,
When we take our gaze away from You and focus instead of material things, finding our strength and comfort in them rather that in the God of Love, we can be certain that we will fail. Faith comes from knowing You, loving You, and clinging to You. David, in a moment of weakness, looked at his army to determine his strength forgetting that numbers didn't matter, Your faithfulness was the source of his strength.
He repented of his sin immediately, but there are always consequences for our folly. David was given three option to choose from for his suffering - he chose the third, three days of pestilence to plague his land. Seventy thousand people perished and David realized that when we sin sometimes the innocent are caught up in its wake.
David cried out to the Lord, "It is I who have sinned;
it is I, the shepherd, who have done wrong.
But these are sheep; what have they done?
Punish me and my kindred."
Beloved, each time I sin, grant me the grace to acknowledge my sins in the Sacrament of Reconciliation and receive Your pardon and healing.
Psalm 32:1-2, 5-7
Dear Love, Beloved of my soul,
I am deeply sorry for not taking advantage of Your great mercy and frequenting the great gift of the Sacrament of Reconciliation as often as I ought. Keep me from spiritual sloth and for taking Your goodness, mercy, and love for granted. I have sinned and sinned often in so many ways and have delayed in approaching this Sacrament of Grace where I can be healed, restored, and strengthened.
I cry out with the psalmist today to delay no more, so my sins may be washed away, that You may cover my iniquities with Your most precious Blood and restore the purity of my soul. Only when I am free from sin can Your grace and blessings flow to me and to those I love and keep me and mine safe from the snares of the enemy. Forgive the wrongs I have done and may Your Spirit grant me the grace to approach the Sacrament of Grace, Love, and Mercy as soon as an opportunity presents itself. Thank You.
Mark 6:1-6
Dear Love, Beloved of my soul,
Today we seen in the Gospel that You have come home, the place where the people in Your neighborhood saw You grow from a child to manhood and they assumed that they knew You based on what they remembered of You and Your family. You have returned with Your disciples and when they hear You teach in the synagogue they are all impressed and struck by Your wisdom. However, it is a superficial reaction only, Your words fall like seed on rocky soil, their hearts are hard, they reject You because they think they know You and thus they lost their moment of grace and conversion.
How often Beloved, we too are guilty of forming skewed opinions about people because we think we know them. We judge them on what we see and what we knew of them in the past. We do not grant them the benefit of having grown and changed completely from the people we once knew. We chain them to our of them memories in the past and thus lose the opportunity of discovering them anew in the present.
Lord God, Beloved of my soul, I pray that You may never at any stage in my life, be amazed at my lack of faith. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment