TUESDAY OF THE THIRTY-FIRST WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME - 2020

 DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened,
and I will give you rest, says the Lord. MT 11:28

PHILIPPIANS 2:5-11

My Beloved, Soul of my soul,

St. Paul invites us just as You did, to make our own the crowning virtue of humility. Without it, it is impossible to please God for there was no one who as humble as You for although You were equal to God You were obedient to Him even to death, and not just death but the most ignoble death of all, crucifixion. 

Self-emptying, kenosis, is the attribute that we who are baptized into Your Body are called to do in our relationship both with God and with one another. Unless I empty myself of all that is unworthy of a child of God I cannot make room for the spiritual riches You desire to heap on me.

What does it mean, Beloved, to be like You? St. Paul gives us a beautiful hymn to Your humility that sums up succinctly what it means to possess this rich attribute of the divine. In a world that is cruelly and mindlessly grasping and greedy, in a world where it is considered a virtue to drag people down in order to succeed, to command rather than obey, to submit rather than to lord it over others, to use one's authority and power to crush others into submission regardless of the means used to do so, we are reminded of another way. A Christlike way. 

It is the paradox of the cross, the paradox of suffering, the paradox of humility, the paradox of putting the self to death. All this You taught us by Your life, Your passion, Your death, and Your Resurrection. If we imitate You closely, Beloved, just as St. Paul and the saints did, we too will be raised by You just as the Father raised You 

But God raised him high
and gave him the name
which is above all other names
so that all beings in the heavens,
on earth and in the underworld,
should bend the knee at the name of Jesus
and that every tongue should acclaim
Jesus Christ as Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

PSALM 22:26-32

My Beloved, Soul of my soul,

This psalm reminds us that we belong to God and all we receive comes from His abundance. The tragedy of our world today is that we have rejected You, rejected God, rejected the Creator and the Savior of the world. It has been done slowly, persistently, with devilish guile, by worldly powers whose sole aim has been to encourage living according to the flesh rather than the spirit. 

Generations of parents and elders have failed to hand down what they received from previous generations. What has been handed on by each succeeding generation is a watered-down Gospel that bears little resemblance to the Way, the Truth, and the Life. 

But we take comfort in Your Word and Your promises. You will never leave us nor forsake us. You have won the victory and have triumphed. Keep Your remnant faithful and strong Beloved for the Day of the Lord is here when all the world will turn to You, all the people will gather together to give You true praise and worship. Hasten that day, Beloved, we long for its coming.

And my soul shall live for him, my children serve him.
They shall tell of the Lord to generations yet to come,
declare his faithfulness to peoples yet unborn:
‘These things the Lord has done.’

LUKE 14:15:24

My Beloved, Soul of my soul,

You were sent into the world to fulfill the law and the prophets and to draw the chosen people of Israel to the Father through You, the one promised to them by God, the Son of David, the Prince of Peace, who would establish God's Kingdom on earth. They were the privileged ones from them God chose to become incarnate through the Virgin. This was supposed to be the happy ending that God had planned ever since Adam and Eve ruined the first happy ending or rather happy beginning.

But they rejected You and their rejection was absolute. The chief priests, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the teachers of the Law were convinced that if they accepted You as the people did then their authority and power would not only be diminished but they were afraid they would lose it completely. They looked for ways to discredit You and when that failed they sought to put You to death.

Because of their rejection, the whole world is invited to the Wedding Feast of the Lamb. The Banquet Hall is full, the rich and the poor, the sinner and the saint, from every nation, every race, every culture are called. Just as the Church sings of Adam's sin as a 'happy fault' so too do we sing joyfully for it is through the rejection of the chosen people that the Good News of salvation is extended to the whole world.