DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee! Blessed art thou among women. LK 1:28
GENESIS 3:9-15, 20
My Beloved, Soul of my soul,
Curiosity is at the root of all sin as our first parents discovered. We are tempted into desiring the things that please the senses and we are lured into buying into the lie that there is no harm in indulging those desires. The insatiable desire for knowledge that gnaws at the entrails of so many, even at the cost of the grave evil it does when put into effect. Our age is living proof of the toll that lust for knowledge takes on the vast majority and most especially on those who are most vulnerable.
Although original sin is washed away by the waters of baptism, its weakening effects remain, this is why we are prone to sin and this is why we need a Savior. The children of Adam and Eve were cursed until she who was to be born was conceived immaculately, she, the new Eve, the new Mother of all the living, who brings us the hope of our salvation.
A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth. Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on its heads. Its tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that it might devour her child the moment he was born.
PSALM 98:1-4
My Beloved, Soul of my soul,
Mary is the reason the world has a new song. Mary is the reason for the wonders God has done in bringing about the salvation of the world. Stretching forth His right hand and His holy arm over the Virgin Mary, she was conceived free from the stain of original sin. She was redeemed by the merits of the Son of God whom she herself would conceive, who would take away the sins of the world.
Thank You, Father, for the gift of Mary, the new Eve, thank You, Mary, for the gift of Jesus, the new Adam, thank You, Holy Spirit, for Your spotless spouse who gave us so great and powerful a Savior who has redeemed the world.
EPHESIANS 1:3-6, 11-12
My Beloved, Soul of my soul,
No one can exhaust their praises to God, our heavenly Father for all He has done for us in and through You, our Lord, and our God. Who but God could conceive of such a plan that would forgive the unforgivable, redeem the irredeemable, repair the irreparable. We who were created in His image and likeness and were meant to be His highest creation fell and so great was the fall that we damned ourselves forever.
The love of God, our Father, found a way to make whole what was irreparably broken. He sent You, His Son, into the world, like us in all things save sin. In You we claim God as our Father for in You He adopted us, with Your help we can strive to be holy and spotless, through You we gain admittance into the sacred inner sanctuary where God resides.
Even as Adam and Eve sinned and were banished from paradise God found a way to heal the rupture caused between Him and the children of His first creation. He chose Mary to be the new Ark of the Covenant, the new Temple more fitting than the Temple of Solomon, to conceive and bear You, His Son. As the Son of Man, taking Your sacred Body from the Virgin, You would become cursed, and defiled by our sins and make reparation for the whole world.
Mary's redemption was obtained in the same way that all the children of Adam are redeemed, through the Cross, except that she was preserved from original sin and its effects by grace according to God's predetermined plan, after the fall. Mary is the reason for Christmas joy as well as Easter joy for without her we would not have You, the Christ, the anointed one, the one who alone can save.
LUKE 1:26-38
My Beloved, Soul of my soul,
Mary, highly favored by God His new Eve would bring forth the new Adam. Answering her query, ‘But how can this come about, since I am a virgin?’ The angel responds, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will cover you with its shadow. And so the child will be holy and will be called Son of God.' And Mary says, ‘I am the handmaid of the Lord,’ said Mary ‘let what you have said be done to me.’
You who taught us to call God, Father, gave us Your Mother Mary to be our Mother as well, for You knew that she who was would teach us how to respond to all He asks of us. She leads by example. Nothing is asked of us that she herself has not experienced. Not only is she is the perfect disciple she is also the perfect intercessor for nothing will be denied her whose whole mortal life was one long drawn-out 'yes' to all that God asked of her.
Thank You, Beloved, for Mary, Your Mother, and ours who intercedes for us night and day so none of her little ones will be lost.
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