Hosea 8:4-7, 11-13, Psalm 115:3-10, Matthew 9:32-38

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

I am the good shepherd, says the Lord;
I know my sheep, and mine know me. Jn 10:14


Hosea 8:4-7, 11-13, Psalm 115:3-10, Matthew 9:32-38


Hosea 8:4-7, 11-13

My Love, Beloved of my soul,

Why is it that we are so perverse? Despite all that You have done for us, despite Your revelation of the Father's love and the descent of Your Holy Spirit we still prefer to walk in the ways of sin. We are contemptuous of the Law of God. We are determined to give a lie to what ought to be the greatest gift that we can offer each other - the gift of authentic love. 

We make idols of our own selfish desires and many of these desires have become twisted because we have been sinned against by those very people who were expected to protect, nurture and love us. We have only to look at the terrible things that happen in our world today, see what people do to each other which is clearly a testament of our rejection of the true, the good, the noble, the beautiful, the divine.  

The calf we worship is ourselves and we are destined for slavery and eternal flames if we do not return to the way that gives us grace and life.

Psalm 115:3-10

My Love, Beloved of my soul,

We are the new Israel, we are the city that is on the hill where the lamp of God shines for all those who make their way to her. Those who worship You Beloved, worship in Spirit and in Truth and we receive life in abundance. It is not so with those who worship the world, the flesh, and the devil. They are caught up and burn with sinful desires. They deceive themselves into believing the lies they make up for themselves as well as the lies that they are fed; lies which encourage them to live their whole lives on deceit and falsehoods.

Satan is the father of lies and the greatest deceiver of all time and he has managed to snare many in his web of deceit. They are denied the salvation that You won for us and the place that You have prepared for us in the Kingdom.

I thank You Beloved for those who continue to put their hope and trust in You and are faithful to the mission entrusted to them. Keep them safe O Lord and grant them a fruitful and abundant harvest. Include me in their number my Lord.

Matthew 9:32-38

My Love, Beloved of my soul,

Our world today is no different from the world where the Pharisees, those who had power an authority then, preferred to attribute the power of God to demons.  This You said was the unpardonable sin which denied the existence of the Holy Spirit and His power.

The Pharisees who were the leading authority of the law in those days would rather spread lies than accept that God the Holy Spirit was truly at work in You to heal, to forgive, to raise from death to life. Even nature trembled and obeyed before the Spirit of God in You.

Despite our coarsened desires and our unhealthy appetite for sin in all its varied ways and forms which have made us weak in every way, Your heart is still moved with pity at our ignorance, our stupidity, our inability to face the truth and pick ourselves from the gutter and return to You and the Father as the prodigal son did.

You look at us tenderly. You desire to pick us up and carry us home and we refuse because we are too blind to see, too deaf to hear. You are the Good Shepherd who will not abandon us. You will use the faithful remnant to bring in the harvest. Count me among them Beloved, and use me if only infinitesimally for that is all the ability I have, to bring about Your Kingdom on earth. Amen.