2 Thessalonians 2:1-3A, 14-17, Psalm 96:10-13, Matthew 23:23-26

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

The word of God is living and effective,
able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart. Heb 4:12

Memorial of Saint Augustine, 
Bishop and Doctor of the Church


2 Thessalonians 2:1-3A, 14-17, Psalm 96:10-13,
Matthew 23:23-26



2 Thessalonians 2:1-3A, 14-17

My Love, Beloved of my soul,

We are called to live calmly and peacefully and not to allow ourselves to be alarmed by sensationalism. There are prophets of doom who seek to excite fear and apprehension. Your Spirit is a Spirit of wisdom, docility, gentleness, humility, kindness, tenderness, and all that is pure and holy. This is the Spirit that must pervade our beings and our gatherings when we come together in prayer and fellowship.

St. Paul also urges us to hold fast to the Truth as taught by the teaching authority of the Church and handed down by You to Your Apostles and from them to their successors. You will not permit error to be taught to Your Church and this is why we must stay close to her. The world is constantly coming up with new theories that seek to affirm the world in their sinful choices. They call good evil and evil good and will do all in their power to force their false ideologies on the world.

Those who stand firm to the end will do so only by the grace we receive through the Sacraments. Keep us safe Beloved within You for we are Your Body, Your Church. We are Yours.

Psalm 96:10-13


My Love, Beloved of my soul,

The Father has appointed You as King of the nations and the sole arbiter of justice. To You, the Father has given all authority, rule, power, Kingship, and majesty. All that lives and breathes must bow before You and worship You. This is the Father's will.

You can be trusted to judge fairly for You took upon Yourself our transgressions. You who are sinless became sin taking upon Yourself the punishment due to us and paying the price of our iniquity. Your justice will be tempered by mercy because You became one like us in all things save sin. You understand our fragility, our weakness, our concupiscence.

Thank You, Father, for giving us such a glorious Savior in Your Son. Thank You Beloved for laying down Your life for us and saving us. Thank You Holy Spirit for sanctifying us.
Matthew 23:23-26

My Love, Beloved of my soul,

You abhor sin. Nothing that is tainted can come into Your Holy Presence. This is why, as the scandals in the Church come to light, and the sins of those who were charged with caring for Your Body are exposed to the gaze of horror by the world, we become aware of how easy it is to allow ourselves to become entangled in the snares of the devil. 

A little laziness, a little self-indulgence, a little wink at evil, a little compromise of the Truth here and there and before we know it we are down the slippery slope to damnation.

Today's Gospel passage is an indictment to those who believed that their powerful positions and the reverence and loyalty of the people they were supposed to serve, protected them. Not so. Sin will out. The truth will be exposed. God will not permit His Church to be sullied by those who were entrusted to look after His sheep.

"Blind guides, who strain out the gnat and swallow the camel!

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites.
You cleanse the outside of cup and dish,
but inside they are full of plunder and self-indulgence.
Blind Pharisee, cleanse first the inside of the cup,
so that the outside also may be clean."

You love Your Church. You lay down Your life for her. You will not permit stand by and watch her be destroyed by those who have been blinded by lust, by sin, by greed, by power. The Church belongs to You. It is holy because You make her so even though all her members are sinners. Come to the aid of Your Bride, Beloved. Wash her clean of the filth, defilement, and evil which threaten to destroy her. May she emerge once again, as she has done so often in the past, stronger, brighter, and more glorious. The New Jerusalem.