DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS
If anyone loves me he will keep my word,and my Father will love him,
and we shall come to him. JN 14:23
EXODUS 22:20-26
My Beloved, Soul from my soul,
God called Abraham to take a great leap of faith and to trust Him. He did and God kept His promises, He made him the father of many nations and gave him descendants more numerous than the stars in the sky and the sands on the shore. God reached out through space and time and thus began the most exciting journey of our walk with God.
God took Abraham by the hand and kept it firmly in His. He continues to do so faithfully keeping all His promises. God, Himself is our teacher constantly teaching us to model our lives and our actions on Him. We are called to treat each other as He treats us. We are called to have compassion, to be merciful, to show justice to the poorest of the poor, and to the weakest and most vulnerable among us.
Holy Mother Church, Your Bride, continues to keep alive in her memory with the help of the Holy Spirit, all that God has taught from the very beginning. She faithfully observes all that You have taught her and teaches all who are born in her to do the same. She has never swerved from the Truth that has been revealed through the patriarchs, prophets, kings, and finally through You, the Son of God who is Truth incarnate. The Church has always shown a preferential love for the poor as You taught her to. She has often been persecuted and misjudged because of it but there always is and there always will be room in her for all whom the world marginalizes and rejects.
PSALM 18:2-4. 47, 51
My Beloved, Soul of my soul,
To whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Thank You, for revealing the Face of God to us through Your incarnation. Thank You, for taking us out of the world and into Yourself. Thank You, for providing all we need from moment to moment of that which is both temporal and spiritual. Thank You, for being our light, our hope, our joy, our peace, our place of refuge, and our safe harbor in a world that grows increasingly dark, dreary, joyless, fearful, and unsafe for all who believe in You and whose lives are guided by the Gospel.
Thank You, for being our Savior and for rescuing us from the snares and traps that are constantly being set to steal us away from You. Thank You for loving us perfectly - perfect love dies joyfully to self so another may live. The source of our strength, Beloved, is Your love for us which kindles in us a love for You and love for our neighbor. Love never ends for love never dies.
1 THESSALONIANS 1:5-10
My Beloved, Soul of my soul,
All that Paul says of the Thessalonians in his letter to them ought to be true of all who are called by Your Name. Each of the baptized is called to preach the Good News to the ends of the earth - the most effective way to do this is by the witness of our lives as Your disciples. We are Your heralds of love, peace, and joy. We are the sign of contradiction in the world expressing love for hate, courage in the face of injustice to the poor, hope in the midst of despair, joy in the midst of sorrow, laughter in the midst of tears, peace in the midst of violence, unity in the face of division, forgiveness to those who persecute and discredit us.
Wherever we go, just as wherever the Apostles and Paul went, we are to carry the Good News with us and build the Kingdom of God so others too may come to know You, believe in You, renouncing all that separates them from You. Saved by You we can all look forward to Your coming again in glory and to receiving a share in Your glorious resurrection. Maranatha, Lord Jesus, Maranatha!
MATTHEW 22:34-40
My Beloved, Soul of my soul,
The Church, Your Church, teaches tirelessly and uncompromisingly just as You taught her, that we are liars if we say we love You but display a distinct lack of love for our neighbor.
The world is filled with deceitful people like the hardhearted Pharisees who seek wiggle room by claiming ignorance. The natural law is written by God on every human heart yet they pose the questions to which they already know the answer. ‘Master, which is the greatest commandment of the Law?’
You replied, ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment.' But You did not stop there, You added, 'The second resembles it: You must love your neighbor as yourself.' You summarized the entire teaching of Sacred Scripture, both the old and the new in these two commandments. I cannot faithfully keep the first without keeping the second. If I keep the first with a sincere heart and an honest spirit then I will fulfill the second. Grant me this grace, My Lord, to always see Your beloved Face in everyone I meet so I will faithfully keep both the commandments of love, just as Your Church always strives to do.
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