SATURDAY OF THE FIRST WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME - 2021

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

The Lord has sent me to bring the good news to the poor,
to proclaim liberty to captives. LK 4:17

HEBREWS 4:12-16

My Soul's Beloved,

How wonderfully reassuring this Letter to the Hebrews is. What a wonderful God You are, our Lord Jesus Christ. In You the Father has given us a High Priest who became one like us, clothed in human flesh. You became man, in order to identify with us by experiencing our human condition and You suffered far more than most of us do in a lifetime. 

You took upon Yourself all the sins of all mankind beginning with Adam to the last human being at the end of time. You bore our shame, our punishment, our death, this is why God has raised You to the highest heavens and this is why You alone are the righteous and just judge. You plead with us at the right hand of the Father for You understand human frailty, human weakness, for You were tempted in every way that we are tempted but did not sin. 

Thank You, Father, for loving us better than all earthly fathers and mothers, and for desiring to make Yourself vulnerable for our sake by sacrificing Your only and well-beloved Son in expiation for ours sins and the sins of the world. 

PSALM 19:8-10,15

My Beloved, Soul of my soul,

Your law is the law of love and this is why it is perfect. We who strive to obey Your law do so because we trust You and Your Word. The childlike walk in freedom and without fear because they know You are trustworthy.

What do You command, Beloved? That we love God with our whole being, and love neighbor as we love ourselves. If we keep these we will walk joyfully and confidently in the brilliant light of faith.

The fear of the Lord is not a servile fear but a holy, reverential, loving fear of ever displeasing You, for You are all good and worthy of all our love. Those who abide by Your Word abide in love and in truth.

Thank You for sending Your Holy Spirit on the Church and on all who are baptized and grafted into Your Body. He fills us with divine wisdom and directs our thoughts, words, and actions so we may always be pleasing to You. Thank You, Beloved, for rescuing us from the jaws of death, and the fires of hell. Our Rock, our Deliverer, our Stronghold - in You alone may we place all our trust all the days of our lives.

MARK 2:13-17

My Soul's Beloved,

You attracted crowds wherever You went because You were unlike the teachers of the law, the Pharisees, the scribes, the priests. You were gentle and kind. You allowed Yourself to be touched and You touched. It was a touch of sympathy, empathy, tenderness. A gentle healing touch that restored, brought life, and made whole. 

The people were hungry for God. There was an aching void in their lives oppressed and crushed by Roman rule made even more intolerable by the innumerable laws that they were bound to keep. You spread the fragrance of sanctity, gave them an understanding of true freedom, and brought light and hope. You taught them to see with the eyes of faith and to know that they were loved and cherished by God who was their Father.

Walking along the shore You stopped by the customs house, looked at Levi a tax collector, and said to him, 'Follow me." And just as the fishermen Peter and Andrew, and James and John did, he too got up and followed You. He would have certainly heard of You for by that time Your fame had spread. Being a despised tax collector, hated by all, considered a public sinner, and unclean, he would have been momentarily dumbfounded but once he realized that You were actually inviting him to be Your disciple his heart would have thrilled with joy. Leaving everything without a backward glance he followed You.

Levi hosted a farewell meal for his friends which included other tax collectors and sinners as well, to which You and Your disciples were also invited. A group of scribes who saw You seated among them sneered to Your disciples saying, ‘Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?’ Hearing them You spoke the most comforting words to all sinners everywhere and in every age, ‘It is not the healthy who need the doctor, but the sick. I did not come to call the virtuous, but sinners.’

No sinner, no matter how many and how grave their sins, are beyond the reach of Your saving love, grace, and help. Your mercy covers the whole world and brings healing and pardon to all who repent and are contrite.