DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS
Blessings on the King who comes,in the name of the Lord!
Peace in heaven
and glory in the highest heavens! LK 19:38, 2:14
EPHESIANS 6:10-20
My Beloved, Soul of my soul,
The devil has used his considerable arsenal of deceit in tricking the world into believing his works are harmless. The world has fallen for his treacherous lie that neither he nor sin exists yet nothing can be further from the truth.
Today, more than ever we ought to wake up and understand that more and more people and even nations are under the dominion of evil forces. The devil is the father of lies and all who spread lies are spawns of satan. The biggest lie that the world has embraced and the gravest sin that the world commits today is the sin of abortion. The world is drowning in the blood of innocents and their cries ring out unceasingly to heaven for justice.
Today St. Paul reminds us that we are no match for evil if we are not made strong with Your strength and power. We cannot resist the devil's works unless we are clothed with Your armour as we have no resources of our own that can withstand the powers of evil and darkness.
As children of the light, we have received all we need to withstand the forces of evil for we have God's own Holy Spirit residing in us. We need to submit ourselves to Him with humility and to listen and obey His promptings.
We cannot win the battle against evil without powerful help from God and so we are invited to pray constantly and plead with the Holy Spirit to provide all we need to triumph over temptation. The world has fallen asleep just as the Apostles did in the Garden of Gethsemane. It is time to wake up and wage war against evil. With the power of the Cross and the Holy Spirit, we can reclaim what You won for us at so great a price.
PSALM 144:1-2, 9-10
My Beloved, Soul of my soul,
Not by might, nor by power, but with the Holy Spirit can we win the war against evil, the world, and the flesh.
We must be warriors of the Word. We must be armed with the Good News. We must pray constantly, live virtuously, strive after holiness and purity. We must be loving, gentle, kind, and above all be filled with the wisdom that is granted by the Holy Spirit, only then we receive the victory obtained for us on the Cross.
We need to rely on You on Your Word. Your promises are true. If we make Your Word the rule of our life and if we allow ourselves to be guided by the Holy Spirit we can overcome the world.
You are our love, our fortress, our stronghold, our rock, our deliverer, our place of refuge, our shield, our redeemer and our saviour. You bring the world under Your rule with love, kindness, gentleness, humility, and obedience, and loving submission to the Father's will.
We must grow more and more like You until we reflect You more clearly every day. You have put a new song in our hearts. You have freed us from death and You have given us a share in Your victory and triumph. You have made us sons and daughters of God and You have obtained our freedom from slavery by the power of Your Blood. In You, we are truly free to love as God loves. Help us, Beloved, to become more and more like You.
LUKE 13:31-35
My Beloved, Soul of my soul,
You came unto Your own, but Your own did not receive You. These words are true not only of the Jews but of us too. We have been baptized into the Church You founded, we have received the Sacraments of Initiation, we are privileged to eat Your Body and Blood. We are born anew each time we make a good confession in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, and yet we are strangers to the Sacraments because we are clueless about their life-giving, supernatural powers.
Were the Pharisees being genuinely concerned when they warned You of Herod's plan to kill You and urged You to leave that place? But why would You? You were sent by the Father on a mission and You would complete it, drinking to the dregs the bitter Cup of Suffering for our redemption, in perfect and loving obedience and submission to the Father's will.
How tenderly You loved God's chosen race from whom You were born and how utterly they rejected You. How extraordinarily easy it is to sow lies and deceit, and to propagate evil when the hearts of people are far from God. This is exactly where our world stands today as well.
Your prophecy of Jerusalem is a prophecy for the world as well - we will be crushed as Jerusalem was crushed and the Temple blotted out completely. We will be utterly vanquished by the forces of evil if we do not wake up from our slumber and the whole world believes and cries out to heaven with a thunderous cry, ‘Blessings on him who comes in the name of the Lord!’ Believing in You alone, Beloved, will we be spared the coming, fearsome peril that will annihilate the world. Be merciful O Lord, for the sake of Your faithful remnant.
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