DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS
The word of the Lord remains forever:
What is this word?
It is the Good News that has been brought to you. 1 PET 1:25
JEREMIAH 26:1-9
My Beloved, Soul of my soul,
You said if anyone believes in You and keeps Your word are Your true disciples because they know the truth. The truth has the power to free all who believe in Your word.
Jeremiah was commanded to go into the court of the Temple and speak the word of God that was given to him without omitting anything. When he had finished speaking the priests, the prophets, and the people were so furious they seized him and threatened to kill him.
Those who hear the Truth of the Gospel either react with indifference, believe and are saved, or are filled with murderous rage and go on a bloody rampage to kill the messengers of Truth. The history of the Church bears witness to this fact. The blood of martyrs, beginning with Your own most precious Blood, continues to flow and it is because of this powerful witness of Life and Truth that many come to believe in You and are saved.
However, there are far more people, who on discovering the Truth, lack the courage to cross the Tiber and complete the journey. Sadly, too many do not take the journey to its final conclusion; many deliberately, and many perhaps inadvertently are hindered by prejudice, fear, spiritual myopia or a combination of all three that proves to be too great a hindrance to come home to Rome and into the arms of Holy Mother Church.
PSALM 69:5, 8-10, 14
My Beloved, Soul of my soul,
The sad truth faced by all faithful Christians and most especially by all faithful Catholic Christians today is the vitriolic hatred of those who live in the flesh and are driven by the prevalent popular culture of the world formed in great part by ignorance of mythic proportions.
The psalmist's lament applies to the suffering Church:
More numerous than the hairs on my head
are those who hate me without cause.
Those who attack me with lies
are too much for my strength.
How can I restore
what I have never stolen?
It is for you that I suffer taunts,
that shame covers my face,
that I have become a stranger to my brothers,
an alien to my own mother’s sons.
I burn with zeal for your house
and taunts against you fall on me.
Thankfully, Beloved, we know the end of the story. You have triumphed and victory belongs to You. The Father will ensure that all will come to believe in the Truth that sets us free.
MATTHEW 13:54-58
My Beloved, Soul of my soul,
In today's gospel passage we see clearly how familiarity breeds ignorance and contempt. Too often our world is plagued with this disease. We think we know. We make life-changing decisions and form arbitrary judgments based on hearsay, past knowledge, or a superficial study of skeletal and often spurious facts. This is dangerous, irresponsible, and evil.
The news of all the wondrous signs and miracles You performed preceded You in Your home town in Nazareth. One would expect that the townsfolk would give You a hero's welcome. Instead, they thought they knew You because they knew You as a child growing up, they knew Your parents, Your father's occupation, Your relatives, so they labeled You and dismissed You. They missed an opportunity for a divine encounter with You because of what they thought they knew.
The same is true today. So many people of other faiths dismiss the Truth because of what they perceive to be the truth based on their own limited experience and faulty knowledge. The world is hungry for Truth but sadly we who know the Truth that sets the world free are too busy navel-gazing, too caught up with our own narrow lives, to set the world on fire with it. I wonder what it will take to make us burn with zeal for Your House O Lord? Perhaps we will soon find out.
The word of the Lord remains forever:
What is this word?
It is the Good News that has been brought to you. 1 PET 1:25
My Beloved, Soul of my soul,
You said if anyone believes in You and keeps Your word are Your true disciples because they know the truth. The truth has the power to free all who believe in Your word.
Jeremiah was commanded to go into the court of the Temple and speak the word of God that was given to him without omitting anything. When he had finished speaking the priests, the prophets, and the people were so furious they seized him and threatened to kill him.
Those who hear the Truth of the Gospel either react with indifference, believe and are saved, or are filled with murderous rage and go on a bloody rampage to kill the messengers of Truth. The history of the Church bears witness to this fact. The blood of martyrs, beginning with Your own most precious Blood, continues to flow and it is because of this powerful witness of Life and Truth that many come to believe in You and are saved.
However, there are far more people, who on discovering the Truth, lack the courage to cross the Tiber and complete the journey. Sadly, too many do not take the journey to its final conclusion; many deliberately, and many perhaps inadvertently are hindered by prejudice, fear, spiritual myopia or a combination of all three that proves to be too great a hindrance to come home to Rome and into the arms of Holy Mother Church.
PSALM 69:5, 8-10, 14
My Beloved, Soul of my soul,
The sad truth faced by all faithful Christians and most especially by all faithful Catholic Christians today is the vitriolic hatred of those who live in the flesh and are driven by the prevalent popular culture of the world formed in great part by ignorance of mythic proportions.
The psalmist's lament applies to the suffering Church:
More numerous than the hairs on my head
are those who hate me without cause.
Those who attack me with lies
are too much for my strength.
How can I restore
what I have never stolen?
It is for you that I suffer taunts,
that shame covers my face,
that I have become a stranger to my brothers,
an alien to my own mother’s sons.
I burn with zeal for your house
and taunts against you fall on me.
Thankfully, Beloved, we know the end of the story. You have triumphed and victory belongs to You. The Father will ensure that all will come to believe in the Truth that sets us free.
MATTHEW 13:54-58
My Beloved, Soul of my soul,
In today's gospel passage we see clearly how familiarity breeds ignorance and contempt. Too often our world is plagued with this disease. We think we know. We make life-changing decisions and form arbitrary judgments based on hearsay, past knowledge, or a superficial study of skeletal and often spurious facts. This is dangerous, irresponsible, and evil.
The news of all the wondrous signs and miracles You performed preceded You in Your home town in Nazareth. One would expect that the townsfolk would give You a hero's welcome. Instead, they thought they knew You because they knew You as a child growing up, they knew Your parents, Your father's occupation, Your relatives, so they labeled You and dismissed You. They missed an opportunity for a divine encounter with You because of what they thought they knew.
The same is true today. So many people of other faiths dismiss the Truth because of what they perceive to be the truth based on their own limited experience and faulty knowledge. The world is hungry for Truth but sadly we who know the Truth that sets the world free are too busy navel-gazing, too caught up with our own narrow lives, to set the world on fire with it. I wonder what it will take to make us burn with zeal for Your House O Lord? Perhaps we will soon find out.
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