Blessed are those who,
with a noble and generous heart,
take the word of God to themselves
and yield a harvest through their perseverance. LK 8:15
HEBREWS 13:1-8
My Soul's Beloved,
Today, we receive a timely reminder that we are members of Your Body and because of this we are to love one another as You love us.
We are also invited today to offer hospitality to strangers, in doing so some like Abraham and Tobit have entertained angels without knowing it.
To this day Christians all over the world are being persecuted, tormented, imprisoned, and denied their basic rights because they are faithful witnesses to the Good News. May we never fail to remember them in our prayers and to offer them all the support we can in any way possible.
The definition of marriage in our day has been perverted and distorted to such an extent that the world is prepared to accept and define the most depraved partnerships as marriage. The marital bed is sullied with multiple partners and the fruit of such unions are the innocent, the most helpless, the most vulnerable of all God's creatures. The world is under judgment today and we do not need the wisdom of Solomon to know why.
Our greed knows no limits. Our whole lives are spent getting, hoarding, and spending because we depend not on You but our possessions for security. It does not matter how much we amass for there can be no true security without You. We do not believe Your words, "I will not fail you or desert you", and so we are unable to say with perfect confidence: "With the Lord to help me, I fear nothing: what can man do to me?"
Let us remember daily in our prayers, not only those who have consecrated their lives to preaching the Gospel, but reflect on the lives of those who have done so in the past. They have left us a rich testimony of their indomitable courage and unwavering faith in You and Your Word. May we take courage, strength, and comfort from the fact that You, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, are unchanging, the same today, yesterday, and forever. Amen.
PSALM 27:1,3,5,8-9
My Soul's Beloved,
The words of the psalmist today in the Liturgy for our reflection and for our spiritual nourishment are most comforting.
Every Christian who leans on Your Word will walk boldly and will fear nothing even if an army of hostile forces surround them. You are our God and we are Your people. We grafted to Your Body, washed in Your Blood, and sealed in Your Spirit. The God of all ages is our Father, Redeemer, and Guide.
We dwell in Your Sacred Heart and there we remain as content as a weaned child at its mother's breast for no evil can touch us when we make our home in You.
How blessed we are to be Catholic and how much more so to cradle Catholics? Many of us are ignorant of the honor and privilege of so great a gift of being born to parents who belong to Holy Mother Church. This Church You founded with You as its Cornerstone and Peter its Rock has this assurance from You, her Spouse, that You will remain with her always, until the end of the age, and the gates of hell are powerless to prevail against her.
Grant O Lord, for as long as I have breath in my body, that I behold Your Face in that of my neighbor and that I never sin so greatly that You will hide Your Face from me. Be my help and guide, my Lord and my God, all the days that You have granted to me. Amen.
MARK 6:14-29
My Soul's Beloved,
Herod, having sinned by marrying his brother's wife Herodias, lost his moral compass. In a drunken stupor, and inflamed with passion, watching Salome dance before his guests, he swore a foolish oath and was committed to granting it no matter at what cost.
The beheading of John the Baptist was possible due to the malice of a wicked woman, a licentious, corrupt man, and the careless regard of a mother for her daughter's virtue. Instead of restraining her daughter she encouraged her and used her to avenge herself against a man of God who had the moral courage to condemn her sins.
The price of a foolish oath was murder by beheading a good and holy man of God and a prophet no less. It was no wonder that Herod's conscience troubled him greatly - a bad conscience robs the soul of peace. So when he heard about You and Your miraculous powers he thought that perhaps John, whom he beheaded had risen from the dead.
We live in a world where those with authority do not use their power, and influence for good. Rather, having corrupted their souls in their hunger for earthly advantage and gain, they allow themselves to be manipulated by those who have the means to inveigle them into their evil, devilish, fiendish, schemes. Evil has so possessed some of the most powerful people in the world who profit greatly from exploiting and preying upon the poor, the vulnerable, the ignorant, and the masses, without conscience.
These men and women who have sworn oaths to protect their country and the people who elected them to care for their interests; have no qualms to behead, destroy, crush, remove and bury any obstacle whether it is the law, persons, or things that dare to stand in the way of attaining their evil ends.
But there is always hope. We may be losing the wars being fought on every side but the final battle is won and the faithful share in Your victory.
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