THURSDAY OF THE TWENTY-FIFTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME - 2020

 DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

I am the Way, the Truth and the Life, says the Lord;
No one can come to the Father except through me. JN 14:6

ECCLESIASTES 1:2-11

My Beloved, Soul of my soul,

After Adam's fall, they and their children were expelled from the Garden of Joy to till the earth for bread by their sweat. Then You came into the world and You became for us, the Bread of Life given freely to all who believe. But many refuse the life You offer preferring to toil endlessly for husks.

'Vanity of vanities all is vanity.' All who are of the world, Beloved, experience the dreariness of life just as the writer expresses. Nothing is new for those who do not have eyes to see and ears to hear the marvelous, wondrous new thing that God has done for us. 

The people of the world from one generation to the next, have no memory of the sins of the past and hence have no memory of its tragic consequences. This is how the writer puts it, 'Take anything of which it may be said, ‘Look now, this is new.’ Already, long before our time, it existed. Only no memory remains of earlier times, just as in times to come next year itself will not be remembered.' How true this is of the world who in every age make the same mistakes repeatedly through colossal ignorance of the past. 

The Church alone remembers. She fights a lone battle. There are many within her who betray her but there are many, many more who have been taught by her of the serious consequences of past errors and she wisely steers the bark of Peter away from these evil waters that threaten to swamp the world.

PSALM 90:3-6, 12-14, 17

My Beloved, Soul of my soul,

Today's psalm is so apt for the time that the world presently finds itself in. An invisible virus has swept across the world and has changed the way we once lived. We went about our daily business, arrogantly impervious to the voice of the Spirit of the Wisdom, little did the world dream that life would come to a shuddering halt and all we once took for granted has come to an end, at least for the foreseeable future.  

Now, let us heed Your Word, and know that we are not invincible, we are like the grass that springs in the morning and by evening withers and fades. People everywhere are being swept away by tragedy upon tragedy. Hopefully, we will now realize how short life truly is. Lord, let not this time pass us by without teaching us that the things of earth are passing and only that which is divine remains. Grant that we begin to labor for fruit that does not perish, for in the end, it will determine our final destiny. 

LUKE 9:7-9

My Beloved, Soul of my soul,

There will always be people like Herod whose desire to know remains only a desire. They lack the will to delve deeper, to make an effort to shake off their apathy about the things of God. They prefer the comfort of what they know lest in coming face to face with the truth, they will have to take a stand regardless of the consequences.

Herod heard all about You and was puzzled by the things he heard. He gave a direct order to behead John the Baptist even though he knew John was innocent. He thought once he had rid himself of John his conscience would be at ease but it wasn't. Here was news of another, who made him anxious and curious. He wanted to see You but refused to make a serious effort to do so until You were sent to him bound and a prisoner by Pilate. By then it was too late for him.

Let it not be too late for us. If we have any stirrings, any doubts, any questions; if we find that the things we have long believed in and held to be true do not stand up to scrutiny, or are false in any way, then we must begin a sincere search for the truth no matter what it may cost us. 

Truth is not an ideal, or a way, or a word, Beloved. Truth is the Way, Truth is Life, Truth is a Person, a divine Person, it is You, the Eternal Word of God.  And You dwell in the fullness of Your Spirit in the Church You founded which is one, holy, catholic and apostolic.