MEMORIAL OF ST. ELIZABETH ANN SETON, RELIGIOUS - 2021

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

A hallowed day has dawned upon us.

Come, you nations, worship the Lord,

for today a great light has shone down upon the earth.

1 JOHN 3:7-10

My Soul's Beloved,

We are children born of the love of God, our Father. He sent You into the world to set us free from captivity to sin and to live holy and blameless lives through the merits You won for us by Your death and resurrection and through the working of the Holy Spirit in us.

The devil is a deceiver and a liar from the beginning and never tires of tempting us away from the Way leading to Truth and Life.  

Beloved, You do not command us to live holy lives on our own strength, that would be impossible. We need the help of the Holy Spirit and we need the Sacraments, through them, we receive the grace and strength so necessary for us. We could not save ourselves we needed one like us, yet sinless, to become the Victim who would bear our punishment, our sin, our shame. You gave Your life to ransom sinners and we are saved.

The beloved disciple says, 'It was to undo all that the devil has done that the Son of God appeared.' You entered into our death so we could enter Your life. Washed clean in the waters of baptism we are freed from the yoke of original sin. Through Your merits won for us on the Cross, we are begotten by God and we dare to call Your Father, our Father.

However, we are cautioned, 'anybody not living a holy life

and not loving his brother is no child of God’s.' 

PSALM 98:1,7-9

My Soul's Beloved,

Salvation is ours through the Cross. We are redeemed by Your Blood - this is the Good News that we must proclaim joyfully by the witness of our lives.

There is salvation in nothing and no one by You. By the power of Your passion, death, and resurrection, You have broken forever, the shackles that bound us to slavery by the sin of our first parents. You have made us children of God by the saving work of redemption on Calvary. 

You crushed the head of Satan and the whole of creation rejoices at all that God has done in saving the world. 

Your Presence is immanent in the world and illumines it. The Light of grace and truth is granted to all God's people for we are ruled by Truth and Justice by the Prince of Peace and the Savior of the world.  

JOHN 1:35-42

My Soul's Beloved,

John the Baptist preached about the coming of the Kingdom of God at a time when there was great longing for freedom from the yoke of foreign rule. The people were hungry for hope and John provided it in his message proclaiming the dawn of a new era and urging the people to prepare for it by receiving the baptism of repentance. Of all his disciples two, in particular, were destined to become Your Apostles - Andrew and John. 

This is how the evangelist John narrates it, 'As John stood with two of his disciples, Jesus passed, and John stared hard at him and said, ‘Look, there is the lamb of God.’' The Holy Spirit revealed to Him who You were as You passed by and without hesitation, John indicated to the two disciples who You were. 

The immediate response of the two was to leave John the Baptist and follow You. You turned around acknowledging their presence, You looked at them, and said, ‘What do you want?’ They answered, ‘Rabbi, where do you live?’ They were not just curious about You but wanted to know You, You responded by saying, ‘Come and see.’ 

John the Baptist had prepared Andrew and John for this day and when it arrived he had no hesitation in setting them free to follow the One sent by God. They in turn followed You, to the place where You lived and spent the rest of the day getting to know You. 

Andrew, we are told, met his brother Simon Peter the next day and promptly spoke of all he had experienced. Having encountered You, having spent time with You, after getting to know You, he had no hesitation in saying to his brother, We have found the Messiah’ – which means the Christ. 

Once we encounter You, like Andrew, we must bring everyone to You, beginning with those nearest to us. You have great plans for each of us as together we labor in Your vineyard just as You had for Simon. The gospel passage concludes by saying, Jesus looked hard at him and said, ‘You are Simon son of John; you are to be called Cephas’ – meaning Rock.

Andrew took his brother Peter to You - how many have I led to You, my Lord?