DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS
Stay awake and stand ready,
because you do not know the hour
when the Son of Man is coming. MT 24:42A, 44
WISDOM 6:12-16
My Beloved, Soul of my soul,
Wisdom is granted to those who desire it, those who long for it, those who ask for it. Unless we have wisdom we cannot discern the things of God and His will for our lives. Wisdom is a divine attribute and is withheld from fools for they would not know what to do with so great a treasure.
King Solomon, when asked what gift he desired God to give him, asked for Wisdom and besides Wisdom was granted everything else as well in great measure.
Wisdom is to see as God sees, wisdom loves as God loves, wisdom gladly gives herself to those who hunger and thirst for her. Wisdom is granted to those whose hearts do not grow weary in seeking her, in fact, she goes in search of such souls and gladly makes her dwelling place in them.
She is present everywhere in the world and with her, one can make sense of even those events that are incomprehensible. Wisdom is God's gift to His friends.
PSALM 63:2-8
My Beloved, Soul of my soul,
True love for You creates in us a hunger and a thirst for You that nothing but You can satisfy. A soul that lives to love You is always in Your Presence for no matter what their duties in life may be, their inward gaze never wavers from You who dwell in their innermost being.
Having known Your love, having experienced the sweetness of Your Presence, the delight of complete union with You the soul desires nothing else but You. The aridity and hunger of our soul can only be satisfied with the living water of baptism, and the Bread of Life.
We thank You, Beloved, that You have made our hearts Your sanctuary, Your dwelling place, Your home in which You delight because we love You no matter how imperfect that love might be.
My Beloved, this is all I ask for in this life, that I may praise You with every breath I breathe, that Your Name might be always on my lips, that I may never cease to worship You all the days of my life, and that my last breath may breathe Your Name even as I enter eternally into Your Living Presence and finally behold You face to face.
1 THESSALONIANS 4:13-18
My Beloved, Soul of my soul,
One thing that we can all be quite sure of is death. It comes to us all whether we are ready or not. We lose loved ones all the time and there are some that we will miss more painfully than others. The good news is this, Beloved, as St. Paul said so well, "Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?"
Our hope of eternal life with You is possible because of Your incarnation, Your passion, Your death, Your glorious resurrection, and You ascension into heaven. You opened the gates of heaven that were firmly shut to the children of Adam.
We do not know the time of Your coming again in glory, Beloved, but we know that You will. At a time that the Father has already decided, You will come to reconcile all things to Yourself and You will present us to Your Father as Your Bride.
So while we may weep at the passing of those whom we have loved well in this life we are consoled that they are not lost to us forever. They have gone home before us and we will follow.
Year follows year, and millennium follows millennium but time will eventually run out, the heavens will part, and You will come in glory and majesty to take to Yourself Your faithful friends, Your brothers, and sisters, Your Church, Your Bride. So let us not grieve as St. Paul reminds us, as those who have no hope for our hope is in You and this world is not home.
MATTHEW 25:1-13
My Beloved, Soul of my soul,
There is never a time when we ought not to be ready for that final hour when You will come again in glory. We are to be prepared, ready, and waiting for although we do not know when, we know that it will, and once that hour is upon us our final destiny is sealed.
We must be like the five wise bridesmaids who made provision to accompany You, the Bridegroom on Your arrival with their lamps trimmed, filled with oil, and with extra oil in their flasks. We are to keep a close guard on our senses lest we find ourselves asleep and unprepared when the hour of death comes to us.
We carry Your light in the clay vessel that is our body. The oil is the good works that our heavenly Father has already planned for us to do in this life. Through the water of baptism, we begin our journey from this life to the next, it is only the very first step in a long and arduous pilgrimage. If we do not remain close to You, if we do not receive the life-giving Sacraments, we will fall into a deep, lethargic, spiritual slumber. When You arrive we will find that Your light within us has gone out, and we are without oil.
At the midnight hour when the cry is heard, "The bridegroom is here! Go out and meet him.” and realize we are unprepared for Him, time will have run out. The door will be shut against us and even as we cry out to You to open the door to us we will hear You strike our death knell with the words, “I tell you solemnly, I do not know you.”
Now is the hour to prepare. Let us not look back at what is past but begin anew again today. Let us stay awake because we know neither the day nor the hour of Your return.
No comments:
Post a Comment