DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS
keep faithful, and I will give you
the crown of life. REV 2:10
REVELATION 14:14-19
My Beloved, Soul of my soul,
As the Liturgical Year draws to a close the Church reminds us ever more forcefully that time will cease and the day of reckoning and judgment will come upon us. It is given to men and women to die once and then to be judged by the Just Judge and to receive sentence - some to their reward others to their punishment.
We were created for eternity and it is we alone who decide whether we will spend it on the side of the angels and saints beholding the beatific vision or whether we prefer to reject the Lamb who was slain for our redemption.
You have warned us saying, 'Hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky. How is it that you don't know how to interpret this present time?' Now is the time for repentance and conversion, while today lasts we may approach You as our Lord who is compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness. But time will cease and You will return to judge the living and the dead as John describes in his vision when the harvest will be reaped and the wheat separated from the chaff and the vine will be stripped of its grapes. The angel will reap the harvest and the whole vintage of the earth and put it into a huge winepress, the winepress of God’s anger.
PSALM 96:10-13
My Beloved, Soul of my soul,
The psalmist reminds us to praise You as our God and King who created the world and everything in it. All creation gives You praise for this is what we were created to do. We fulfill the purpose for which we were created when we render the praise and worship that is due to You.
The heavens and the earth together join in harmony to offer to God, our Father, the highest form of praise that is possible.
There is no praise more fitting, more pleasing, or as acceptable to Him as the Sacrifice of Praise and Worship we offer Him in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. You are the firstborn Son, the Lamb without blemish, the Lamb of Sacrifice that is offered to the Father from the rising of the sun to its setting and it is the Sacrifice that holds back the wrath of God that would otherwise spillover and destroy the earth and all in it.
We wait in joyful anticipation for Your return to bring justice to the world, to judge all the nations of the world with truth, and to establish Your reign forever.
LUKE 21:5-11
My Beloved, Soul of my soul,
Today's Gospel passage speaks of the final and complete destruction of the second Temple of which the Jews were so proud. It took 46 years to build it. We read in the first verses that, When some were talking about the Temple, remarking how it was adorned with fine stonework and votive offerings, You foretold what would happen to that beautiful edifice and all that it contained. ‘All these things you are staring at now – the time will come when not a single stone will be left on another: everything will be destroyed.’ And all that You foretold came to pass exactly as You said it would.
Then Your disciples asked the perennial question that has us all fascinated and absorbed, 'Master, when will this happen, then, and what sign will there be that this is about to take place?’ And what You said then applies to us all, because so many of us are so easily carried away by false teachers, false prophets, and false messiahs ‘Take care not to be deceived, because many will come using my name and saying, “I am he” and, “The time is near at hand.” Refuse to join them. And when you hear of wars and revolutions, do not be frightened, for this is something that must happen but the end is not so soon.’ Before the end arrives we will face many calamities, ‘Nation will fight against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes and plagues and famines here and there; there will be fearful sights and great signs from heaven.’
The truth we must bear in mind is this, anyone who willfully, deliberately, and pridefully rejects You will be destroyed as completely and permanently as the Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed. However, while there is time yet let us be faithful to the mission given to us to spread the Good News by the witness of our lives so many may come to believe and be saved.
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