FRIDAY OF THE THIRD WEEK OF LENT - 2021

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

Repent, says the Lord,
for the kingdom of heaven is close at hand. MT 4:17

HOSEA 14:2-10 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

How foolish we are - we belong to God and how can we ever hope to be happy apart from Him. Yet we drift further and further away because of our sins and we are clueless that we are sad, lonely, depressed, sick in heart mind, soul, and spirit simply because we refuse to heed Your invitation to return to You.

The deeper we sink into the pit of iniquity the more difficult it is to rid ourselves of the mire of sin. But You are ready to save, to forgive, to cleanse, and to restore us to health, life, and joy again. Truly, You have the words of eternal life.

Too often and too long has the world looked to external things to provide it with security and happiness but nothing can ever hope to satisfy the hungry heart but You. No one can love us as You do - unworthy of love as we are You love us with an everlasting love and to You we are worth the cost of Your life. 

Grant O Lord, that we turn to You again confident that You will forgive all our iniquity and transgressions. Let Your forgiving love and mercy fall gently upon our souls and heal us. Restore us to the joy we once knew. Let us give up the idols to which we have been clinging and let us embrace You and acknowledge that apart from You we can do nothing. You are Truth, Beloved, consecrate us in the Truth and we will live again.

PSALM 81:6,8-11,14,17 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

Day and night You woo us with Your love but we are deaf to Your Voice. Let us not delay in returning to You lest the hour of our judgment will arrive and then it will be too late to receive Your mercy.

Now is the hour of our salvation. Hear our prayers on behalf of those we love who have turned away from You. They are sealed in Your love in the waters of baptism, may its grace awaken their spirit to new life in You before it is too late. 

All the signs of impending disaster are around us but we are unable to see them because we are consumed by our selfish little lives. We have made false gods of pleasure, material possessions, and have made idols for ourselves before which we offer obeisance. 

You have the power to bring the whole world to an abrupt end if You so wished. We keep heaping iniquity over iniquity and we test Your patience. Thank You, for not treating us as we deserve but for wooing us gently back to the way of wisdom, truth, and light. Hear the prayers of Your faithful remnant and bring about the conversion of the whole world. For the sake of Your sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world. Amen. 

MARK 12:28-34 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

God, our Father has hidden nothing from us. In You, the Father has revealed His unfathomable love for His children.  After the fall of Adam and Eve, instead of just wiping us off the face of the earth, God found a way to begin anew. How can we even begin to say, thank You for so undeserved and so immeasurable a gift? You give us an answer in today's Gospel by reiterating the two great commandments that we are duty-bound to obey if we are to live. 

‘This is the first: Listen, Israel, the Lord our God is the one Lord, and you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: You must love your neighbour as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.’

The scribe summed up the two commandments of love saying, 

‘Well spoken, Master; what you have said is true: that he is one and there is no other. To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself, this is far more important than any holocaust or sacrifice.’ 

If only those who know You, believe in You and are called by Your Name strive our entire lives in keeping these two commandments then You will say to us as well, ‘You are not far from the kingdom of God.’