DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS
May the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ
enlighten the eyes of our mind,
so that we can see what hope his call holds for us.
enlighten the eyes of our mind,
so that we can see what hope his call holds for us.
EPH 1:17-18
JEREMIAH 20:7-9
My Beloved, Soul of my soul,
By virtue of our baptism, we are called to have this burden pressing upon us, to make You known and loved. Like Jeremiah, we ought to feel this fire burning in our spirit that gives us no rest and only finds release when we obey this call to evangelise by our love.
Jeremiah reveals clearly the cost of submitting totally to the will of God. He is no longer his own master but is now the servant of God who directs his life commanding him to speak to His people words they do not want to hear. The world has always rejected those who speak the truth because the truth has the power to make the world uneasy and uncomfortable. They would rather kill the truth than listen and obey.
Beloved, today, let us ask for this grace, to obey the call to preach the Good News from the rooftops, and receiving it, let us shake off our lethargy and like the prophet Jeremiah, feel the fire of the Holy Spirit burning in our heart, imprisoned in our bones, and gives us no rest until we speak the words of life and truth that will revive a dying world.
PSALM 63:2-6, 8-9
My Beloved, Soul of my soul,
There is a divine thirst, a thirst that You expressed to the Woman at the Well, it is a thirst we all feel, it is the thirst of God and the thirst of all humanity for God that You drew into Yourself on the Cross and expressed in a loud cry, 'I thirst.'
You say, 'If anyone is thirsty let him come to me and drink.' In Psalm 23 You speak of Yourself as the shepherd who leads his sheep to streams beside still waters that refresh the soul. This thirst can be satisfied only by You, by Your Word, Your Spirit, by Your Flesh and Blood.
You thirst for souls to receive Your invitation to know God, to love Him, and to be united with Him in joy in this life and eternally in the next.
We are parched, our souls are shrivelled, our spirit is weary, and yet we refuse to receive what You give freely and in abundance. “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, ‘Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.”
Grant us the wisdom O Lord, to hear Your invitation and respond to it. Grant that we cling to You for help and nestle joyfully under the shadow of Your wings safe and secure from the wiles of the world, the flesh and the devil.
ROMANS 12: 1-2
My Beloved, Soul of my soul,
The world entices us to desire what it peddles as necessities to live a happy and contented life. The way of the world is diametrically opposed to Your Way - which is the way of suffering, the way of the cross, the way of self-denial, and the way of death to self.
We are grafted into Your Body, Your life of grace flows from You to us through the Sacraments, we are empowered by the gifts of the Holy Spirit, we belong to the family of God, we no longer belong to the world and so we ought to be different from those of the world. But are we?
St. Paul urges us, 'not model yourselves on the behaviour of the world around you.' We are called to put on Your mind, the mind of Christ and our behaviour must change modelled by our new mind. This is the only way to discover the will of God and know what is good, what it is that God wants, what is the perfect thing to do.'
MATTHEW 16:21-27
My Beloved, Soul of my soul,
There is no crown without the cross. There is no victory and triumph without suffering. There is no life without first tasting death.
The world is opposed to all of the above and does all in its power to promote values that are in direct opposition to the values of the Gospel.
In today's Gospel passage You speak of Your coming suffering, death, and resurrection. You know exactly what You will face in Jerusalem and Your face is set determinedly to it. This is why You came into the world. The hour is fast approaching.
Peter, like every one of us, would rather have the glory without the suffering and death that precedes it. It is the eternal temptation - it was one faced by Adam and Eve and they succumbed. You faced it in the desert and triumphed over it. We face temptation for as long as there is breath in our body and it is so much more tempting to bypass the cross than to be stretched out on it. But to all who are tempted to forsake the cross, You say, ‘Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle in my path, because the way you think is not God’s way but man’s.’
Once again we see how contrary the values of the world are to that of the Kingdom of God. Let us always bear the words You spoke to Your disciples in our minds daily. We cannot be Your follower if we renounce the cross. We cannot save our life unless we first lose it for Your sake and the sake of the Gospel. What good will it do us if we have all the world can offer us in this brief life but are plunged into eternal death in the next? What has a man to exchange for his life? We have nothing, apart from the life we receive freely and generously from You.
It is good for us to remind ourselves every day that You will come again in glory and we will be rewarded according to our behaviour. Now is the time to be salt, light, and leaven in the world. Tomorrow is guaranteed to no one.
JEREMIAH 20:7-9
My Beloved, Soul of my soul,
By virtue of our baptism, we are called to have this burden pressing upon us, to make You known and loved. Like Jeremiah, we ought to feel this fire burning in our spirit that gives us no rest and only finds release when we obey this call to evangelise by our love.
Jeremiah reveals clearly the cost of submitting totally to the will of God. He is no longer his own master but is now the servant of God who directs his life commanding him to speak to His people words they do not want to hear. The world has always rejected those who speak the truth because the truth has the power to make the world uneasy and uncomfortable. They would rather kill the truth than listen and obey.
Beloved, today, let us ask for this grace, to obey the call to preach the Good News from the rooftops, and receiving it, let us shake off our lethargy and like the prophet Jeremiah, feel the fire of the Holy Spirit burning in our heart, imprisoned in our bones, and gives us no rest until we speak the words of life and truth that will revive a dying world.
PSALM 63:2-6, 8-9
My Beloved, Soul of my soul,
There is a divine thirst, a thirst that You expressed to the Woman at the Well, it is a thirst we all feel, it is the thirst of God and the thirst of all humanity for God that You drew into Yourself on the Cross and expressed in a loud cry, 'I thirst.'
You say, 'If anyone is thirsty let him come to me and drink.' In Psalm 23 You speak of Yourself as the shepherd who leads his sheep to streams beside still waters that refresh the soul. This thirst can be satisfied only by You, by Your Word, Your Spirit, by Your Flesh and Blood.
You thirst for souls to receive Your invitation to know God, to love Him, and to be united with Him in joy in this life and eternally in the next.
We are parched, our souls are shrivelled, our spirit is weary, and yet we refuse to receive what You give freely and in abundance. “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, ‘Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.”
Grant us the wisdom O Lord, to hear Your invitation and respond to it. Grant that we cling to You for help and nestle joyfully under the shadow of Your wings safe and secure from the wiles of the world, the flesh and the devil.
ROMANS 12: 1-2
My Beloved, Soul of my soul,
The world entices us to desire what it peddles as necessities to live a happy and contented life. The way of the world is diametrically opposed to Your Way - which is the way of suffering, the way of the cross, the way of self-denial, and the way of death to self.
We are grafted into Your Body, Your life of grace flows from You to us through the Sacraments, we are empowered by the gifts of the Holy Spirit, we belong to the family of God, we no longer belong to the world and so we ought to be different from those of the world. But are we?
St. Paul urges us, 'not model yourselves on the behaviour of the world around you.' We are called to put on Your mind, the mind of Christ and our behaviour must change modelled by our new mind. This is the only way to discover the will of God and know what is good, what it is that God wants, what is the perfect thing to do.'
MATTHEW 16:21-27
My Beloved, Soul of my soul,
There is no crown without the cross. There is no victory and triumph without suffering. There is no life without first tasting death.
The world is opposed to all of the above and does all in its power to promote values that are in direct opposition to the values of the Gospel.
In today's Gospel passage You speak of Your coming suffering, death, and resurrection. You know exactly what You will face in Jerusalem and Your face is set determinedly to it. This is why You came into the world. The hour is fast approaching.
Peter, like every one of us, would rather have the glory without the suffering and death that precedes it. It is the eternal temptation - it was one faced by Adam and Eve and they succumbed. You faced it in the desert and triumphed over it. We face temptation for as long as there is breath in our body and it is so much more tempting to bypass the cross than to be stretched out on it. But to all who are tempted to forsake the cross, You say, ‘Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle in my path, because the way you think is not God’s way but man’s.’
Once again we see how contrary the values of the world are to that of the Kingdom of God. Let us always bear the words You spoke to Your disciples in our minds daily. We cannot be Your follower if we renounce the cross. We cannot save our life unless we first lose it for Your sake and the sake of the Gospel. What good will it do us if we have all the world can offer us in this brief life but are plunged into eternal death in the next? What has a man to exchange for his life? We have nothing, apart from the life we receive freely and generously from You.
It is good for us to remind ourselves every day that You will come again in glory and we will be rewarded according to our behaviour. Now is the time to be salt, light, and leaven in the world. Tomorrow is guaranteed to no one.
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