TUESDAY OF THE FOURTH WEEK OF EASTER - 2021

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

The sheep that belong to me listen to my voice,
says the Lord,
I know them and they follow me. JN 10:27

ACTS 11:19-26 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

You have the power to draw immense good from every difficult situation. The persecution of the early Christians served to spread the Gospel beyond Jerusalem and was preached not only to Jews but to Greeks as well.

We see the hierarchy of the Church in action from the start and how necessary it was and is to ensure the smooth functioning of Your Body. The growing Church needed trustworthy overseers and Peter and the apostles appointed good men like Barnabas, he is described as a man filled with the Holy Spirit and with faith.

We need good and faithful shepherds to govern Your flock, to take them to pasture, ensure they are given food and drink so they remain healthy. A holy Church filled with the Holy Spirit and on fire with the love of God is prepared to emulate You in every way. The early Church teaches us how to live with one another in harmony as brothers and sisters. 

This is the time to cast all divisions aside and unite in love as Barnabas and Paul did, to be filled with the Holy Spirit, and boldly profess the Good News so all may hear it and believing in it be saved.

PSALM 87:1b-3, 4-5, 6-7 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

While there will always be prophets of doom and gloom who keep pontificating about Catholics leaving the Church in droves there is always hope.  There is always springtime. While many leave because of poor formation, and shoddy catechesis, many more who are genuine seekers of Truth are finding You and are joyfully entering the Church. 

She is built on Your holy mountain - You cherish her and make Your dwelling place in her. There are many places where You are praised, adored, and worshipped and Your Holy Spirit is at work in these loyal and faithful hearts but the irrefutable, unvarnished, and inescapable truth is this - You prefer the Church born from Your side as Eve was created from the side of Adam. You wrapped her in garments of light, You bathed her in waters of mercy and washed away her sins from the tide of Blood pouring from Your side, and You work gloriously and marvelously in her constantly drawing men and women of goodwill to You through her. 

She is Holy Mother to all for she loves, nurtures, teaches, feeds, governs, and looks after all her children. God delights in her for she is espoused to the You.

In his register of peoples he writes:

‘These are her children,’
and while they dance they will sing:
‘In you all find their home.’

JOHN 10:22-30 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

For three years You dedicated Yourself exclusively to teaching, preaching, and performing the most astounding miracles, and still, despite everything they have witnessed and heard they ask, ‘How much longer are you going to keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.’ How frustrated You must have become on so many occasions in Your ministry when the people just didn't get it. We are so dull in our thinking, so caught up with the mundane we miss the spectacular. We are so busy with the cares of this world we forget we were created for eternal joy with You in the Kingdom of God.

Your response is a charge against all who have eyes yet refuse to see, and ears but refuse to hear:

‘I have told you, but you do not believe.
The works I do in my Father’s name are my witness;
but you do not believe.'

You point out the sobering truth to all who refuse to believe despite having heard the truth: You are no sheep of mine.

The sheep who belong to You listen to Your voice and embrace all You have said without watering down any of Your teachings because they are too hard or will make them unpopular.

The Church and all its members hear Your voice and follow You. She holds on to the Truth despite every opposition from the world, she embraces all the life-giving ways in which You nourish her, and because she does she receives eternal life from the Life-Giver, the Holy Spirit. None of her members have come to her on their own - it is the express will of Your Father that they belong to You. He chose them for You and You will ensure that not one sheep that the Father has entrusted to You will be lost for You and the Father are of one heart and mind.