SATURDAY OF THE SECOND WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME - 2021

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

Open our heart, O Lord,

to accept the words of your Son. ACTS 16:14

HEBREWS 9:2-3,11-14

My Soul's Beloved,

Every aspect of worship, offerings of thanksgiving, as well as sacrificial offerings for the forgiveness of sins in the Old Testament, was but a dim reflection of the true worship that was to come. In the tent was the Holy Place where the lampstand, the table, and the loaves were kept and in the innermost part of the tent, was the Holy of Holies where none but the high priest could enter once a year. Until the Father sent You to be our High Priest.

You are the Living Tent and now, after entering the Holy of Holies to offer the Father, not the sacrifice of animals but Your Blood. You did what all the blood of animals could not, You washed away the sins of the world, remitting the punishment resulting from disobedience to the will of God by taking upon Yourself the death that was ours and in exchange giving us a share in Your Your resurrection. 

From the moment of Your perfect Sacrifice and until time shall cease, You offer Yourself eternally to the Father in expiation for our sins. You make present, at every celebration of Holy Mass, in every Catholic Church, from the rising of the sun to its setting, Your bloody once-for-all sacrifice that paid the wages of sin, death. Now, through Your Flesh, we all can enter the Holy of Holies, the innermost sanctuary where God dwells, and we are privileged to experience perfect union with You, even in this life, in every worthy reception of Your Flesh and Blood in the Eucharist. Thank You!

PSALM 47:2-3,6-9 

My Soul's Beloved,

We have this assurance that just as You ascended triumphantly into heaven You will return. This is the reason for our hope and for our joy in our pilgrim journey in this valley of tears. The Light of Faith assures us that You will come to claim us for Yourself. 

As godless as the world appears to be, as evil and corrupt as people are, despite the injustice, malice, division, hate, violence, and the petty mindedness of shallow, unprincipled, godless, earth-bound men and women, we are redeemed by Your Blood. The world and all in it belongs to You. So let us rejoice for the victory is won. Good has triumphed over evil, and our God, who is Lord of Lord, and King of Kings, reigns. 

God is king of all the earth,
sing praise with all your skill.
God is king over the nations;
God reigns on his holy throne.

MARK 3:20-21

My Soul's Beloved,

How easy it is to reduce people to the labels we slap on them and dismiss them because we do not like what they have to say, or because they challenge us, or they make us fearful. This is what these two short verses in today's Gospel passage brings home to us. 

You challenged the status quo by Your teaching, preaching, and Your way of life, and the Pharisees, Scribes, and religious leaders believed that the best way to undermine You and dilute Your power with the people was to call You insane. 

When You visited Your hometown crowds thronged around You clamoring to be touched and healed by You and to listen to You. Not understanding Your immense popularity Your small-minded, ignorant, envious relatives who saw You work tirelessly and selflessly along with Your disciples, heedless of Your bodily needs, readily believed the charge of insanity and decided You needed to be removed, restricted, and confined. 

The paradox of the world is that the glutton, the sex-mad, the power-mad, the self-indulgent who give in to every craven impulse are admired and celebrated by the world; whereas the holy ones of God who choose chastity, purity, obedience, humility, poverty, gentleness, goodness, kindness, compassion, and selfless service because they love You, are misunderstood,  hated, despised, persecuted, and rejected by the world.