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
TITUS 2:1-8, 11-14
My Beloved, Soul of my soul,
St. Paul writing to Titus advises him on how to conduct himself and how to deal with different people within the church he established and which is under Titus' pastoral care.
Titus, as pastor of the church entrusted to his care, must not only lead an exemplary life in keeping with Gospel values but must ensure that all the members of his church, all the baptized old and young men, husbands, wives, young and old women, are to be living examples of the faith they profess.
Although in our age licentiousness is the norm, the advice given here by Paul to Titus is timeless. In a culture that propagates the worship of self and the dizzy pursuit of pandering and acquiescing to all that the self desires we are presented with another pattern of living - the Christian way a way that the world will laugh to scorn, mock and ridicule for the Way of Christ is anathema to the worldly, the selfish, the navel-gazer, the dissipated.
Perhaps when we have given ourselves enough rope to hang ourselves and we find ourselves on the cusp of doom we might decide that we prefer life to death. God grant that it may be so before it is too late. He sacrificed himself for us in order to set us free from all wickedness and to purify a people so that it could be his very own and would have no ambition except to do good.
PSALM 37:3-4, 18, 23, 27, 29
My Beloved Soul of my soul,
We were not left orphaned when You entered into Your glory, but You gave us Your own Holy Spirit to abide in us. You who are the Way, the Truth, and the Life, have shown us the Way, You have revealed the Truth, and Your abundant life is available to us through the channels of grace in the life-giving Sacraments You instituted.
You have taught us to call God, Father, and as children of God, made in His image and likeness, we are called to be good and to do good. You opened the gates of heaven doing all that was divinely and humanly possible to do to help us receive the inheritance that God ordained for us when He laid the foundations of the world.
It is hard not to be despondent and discouraged when we look at our world but as Christians, we know You are victorious and we along with You. May we never stray from the narrow way that leads to life. Help us as we pick up our cross daily and follow You. Protect us from our own selfish inclinations, take us by the hand, and lead us gently but firmly all the days of our life until we reach the Kingdom of Heaven.
LUKE 17:7-10
My Beloved, Soul of my soul,
As members of Your Church and of Your Body, we are to work constantly within our vocation. We are laborers in the vineyard and we are to bring in the harvest, this is our duty for this we were appointed, and to this end, we must be faithful. We cannot gloat with pride for having fulfilled that which we ought to do, rather we are to fulfill our duties without complaining and with humility.
We are servants but we serve joyfully just as You, our Master, have shown us. You put on an apron on the night You were betrayed and You washed the feet of Your Apostles after which You said, "If I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet."
Let us not expect to be patted on the back and wait for praise and applause for having done our duty rather let us work diligently, humbly, obediently, and gladly until You call us to eternal rest in Your Father's house.
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