TUESDAY OF THE SECOND WEEK OF EASTER - 2021

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

The Son of Man must be lifted up
so that everyone who believes in him
may have eternal life. JN 3:15

ACTS 4:32-37 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

The Key to unity is given to us but we ignore it and blunder

on fracturing, dividing, splintering into even more ineffective little groups that are powerless in forming a community of believers united in heart and soul. 

We are selfish, greedy, afraid that by giving without counting the cost to ourselves we will be left wanting for ourselves and those who depend on us. We are so afraid to put the Gospel values, and the beatitudes to the test and our fear causes us to lose the Kingdom. We are enslaved by our lack of faith and hence we do not possess the kind of faith that can transform us as well as the world. We are afraid to give You our loaves and fish trusting You to supply all our needs. 

We are told that the 5000 ate their fill and were satisfied and there were 12 baskets left over. The early Church believed in the power of Your Name and the power of Your Word and acted on it. They were on fire with the Holy Spirit because they yielded their whole being to Him and gave Him the liberty to possess them completely and use them for the greater glory of God.   

Your resurrection resonates with divine power and to this day and until the end of time,  can and will resurrect dead souls and dead lives from graves of their own making in which they have entombed themselves. 

Which of us has the courage, the faith, the confidence that we ought to have in You to follow the example of the early Christians. We hoard, we cling, we amass and we are happy that we have set aside something other than You on which we can rely on. We do not wish to commit as completely as we ought. We look with great admiration at the members of the early Church and think that is not for us. Anyway, we tell ourselves, it is not possible in this day and age to do as they did. 

None of their members was ever in want, as all those who owned land or houses would sell them, and bring the money from them, to present it to the apostles; it was then distributed to any members who might be in need.

It is up to us to be inspired as Barnabas was and to offer all we are and all we have to the Church and to be the agents of a dynamic new beginning in this time and in this age.  It all begins with saying, "Yes Lord, I am here, do with me what You will."

PSALM 93:1-2,5 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

How is it that we are so stupid? We have the personal
testimony of countless holy men and women who have experienced the power of God at work in their lives and have been transformed into another Christ.

We know Your Word is true - we have experienced the power of Your Word at work in our lives. We have the assurance of God Himself that the Word, the Eternal Word, will not return to Him without accomplishing all that God desires. Yet we lack both the faith and the courage to believe and in believing unleash the power of the Word in our lives.  

You are Lord, King, Messiah, Redeemer, Savior, but above all, You are the love of God made visible and tangible to the world.  Yes, You are the power of God but You are also the mercy of God. Yes, it is the power of the Word that sustains the world, but the Word is also made tangible in our lives by the Breath of the Spirit that has the power to transform our lives and make us a new creation. 

Hear the prayers of Your faithful remnant O Lord. Let the faith of those who believe rise up night and day before the throne of grace and obtain for the whole world grace, mercy, and pardon. Remember our sins no more and permit Your Holy Spirit to renew the face of the earth. 

JOHN 3:7-15 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

If only we opened Scripture, both Old and New, and feasted on them as at a banquet, we would see God and Love revealed in its pages. All would become clear as the Holy Spirit enables us to see God's plan from the moment He laid the foundations of the world. 

God was always in the world He created except that the world did not see Him. He spoke through the patriarchs and the prophets and people did not always listen and obey. When they failed to do so they suffered. 

Today, the evangelist reveals Your conversation with Nicodemus, and in doing so we have a glimpse of what is in God's heart and mind. You speak of great and wonderful things that are to come. After the Son of Man is lifted high above the earth we are to experience the age of the Holy Spirit. Nicodemus did not quite understand all that You said to him them just as the disciples did not understand a great deal of what You said to them.

But now we do. With the help of the Holy Spirit, we see it all with the eyes of faith. Love comes alive and shimmers on every page of the New Testament and when read in the light of the Old we see how God has always been with us. He never failed us even when we failed Him. He loves even when we fail to love in return. 

Those who wish to see and wish to hear will see the marvels that God has done for us in every age but most effectively when the Word became Flesh and grace and truth walked with us. 

'No one has gone up to heaven
except the one who came down from heaven,
the Son of Man who is in heaven;
and the Son of Man must be lifted up
as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert,
so that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.’

Thank You, Beloved, for Your 'Yes' to the Father grant that with the help of the Holy Spirit we may always yield to You in all things and experience the power of Your Word in our lives as we witness to You and the Good News that You came to give the world - the Good News that saves.