THURSDAY OF THE FOURTH WEEK OF EASTER - 2020

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS


Jesus Christ, you are the faithful witness,
the firstborn of the dead,
you have loved us and freed us from our sins by your Blood.  REV 1:5AB




ACTS 13:13-25

My Beloved, Soul of my soul,

We who call ourselves Christians ought to be familiar with salvation history for it is our history. This is our story, unless we know it we cannot evangelize with the passion and conviction  the Apostles and early disciples did.

How can any Christian not be overjoyed at what God has done for us, His sinful children? And how can we not shout this Good News from the rooftops because we are all children of God?

God knew us and loved us passionately even before He laid the foundations of the world. After the fall, this unfathomable love for His creatures could not conceive of losing us forever and so He sent You to save us. God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God begotten not made consubstantial with the Father. 

We are an Easter people and we have a glorious destiny because the Father loves us. 

PSALM 89:2-3, 21-22, 24 & 27

My Beloved, Soul of my soul,

Every Christian's heart ought to well with praise declaring God's goodness and faithfulness always even when we least deserved it. 

Our faith is a free gift, given to us by a  bountiful God who delights in lavishing gifts on His children, the greatest gift of all being You, His well-beloved Son, whom He sent to save and redeem.

Thank You, our God, our Rock, our Savior,  for Your faithfulness that never fails and never ends and for our hope of eternal life with You.

JOHN 13:16-20

My Beloved, Soul of my soul,

We ought to pay particular attention to all You do and say to Your disciples in today's Gospel passage, as the time is drawing near when You will be given up to the world - the world that rejected You from the moment You came into it. 

You, our Master and Lord and the Son of God, having performed one of the most menial tasks of a slave, by washing the feet of Your disciples teach us a very important element of discipleship - service born of love. 

We need to pay particular attention to what You now say, for You speak to every Christian: "If you understand this, blessed are you if you do it." There are those among Your disciples to this day who understand but do not do as You have done; who eat the Eucharistic meal and then raise their heel against You. If we reject You we do so to our eternal damnation. You have said, "Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.”