TUESDAY OF THE SIXTH WEEK OF EASTER - 2021

DAILY HOLY MASS READING

I will send you the Spirit of truth, says the Lord;
he will lead you to the complete truth. JN 16:7,13

ACTS 16:22-34 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

There is always a celebration when God's little ones find their way home as we see in today's first reading.

Once again we see that the crowds are always volatile - the same people that celebrate you are the ones that will tear you apart like rabid wolves. We saw it with You and we see it right through salvation history. Those who stand on the side of truth without fear and speak boldly unafraid of the consequences are marked for persecution, imprisonment, torture, and even death. But on the other hand, we see how You never forsake those who take You at Your word and act on it.

Despite being stripped and flogged, despite the many lashes that cut into their flesh, Paul and Silas rejoiced to suffer for Your sake and for the sake of the Gospel. Their feet were in chains and they were imprisoned but this did not stop them from singing praises to God. The best and the strongest weapon that Christians possess is the power to praise God in all circumstances.

Praise releases the power of the Holy Spirit and God moves in the most wonderful ways to perform amazing miracles and all who are witnesses are wonderstruck. You caused a great earthquake to shake the prison to its very foundations and the chains of every prisoner fell away and every prison door was flung wide open.

When the guard saw this he would have killed himself in fear but Paul assured him that none of the prisoners had escaped. The grateful guard, recognizing the hand of God was at work took Paul and Silas to his home and attended to their wounds and having witnessed the power of God at work desired to be saved and not only he but his entire family were baptized that night. The extraordinary events of that night were concluded with great celebration, rejoicing, and a meal - a perfect reflection of the Holy Eucharist, a meal shared by sinners celebrating the awesome gift of love who shares His life, saves us and desires to be one with us. Thank You!

PSALM 138:1-3,7-8 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

You hear every prayer. No sigh escapes You. You gather every tear, and Your heart is always attuned to our needs. You give us angels to guard and protect us and You invite us to enter the very portals of heaven to praise, adore, worship, and honor You. What more could the human heart desire.

We are faithless but You are always faithful. We fall several times each day but You lift us up. We are weak but we can lean on You and Your strength. The more we know You the more there is to know - we can never exhaust the depths of Your wisdom and Your love - for both are infinite and beyond human comprehension. 

We are never so strong as when we are most weak and cling to You to hold us up and save us. The more we cling to You the more courage, grace, and strength are poured into us. It is You uphold us, Your Spirit that sustains us, and Your love that comforts and consoles us. Thank You for the hope we have in You, Beloved, that You will never forsake those who belong to You.

JOHN 16:5-11 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

You have gone back to heaven and just as You promised, You sent the Holy Spirit. We have witnessed His power. The Holy Spirit is a blazing, purifying fire that sweeps across the world and makes of every soul who yields to Him a new creation.

The Holy Spirit is the breath of God, the love of God, a cleansing, purifying, consuming fire. It is a welcome purification for nothing unclean can enter Your holy Presence. 

When we are bogged down by human emotions and feelings are vision is cloudy for we cling to the things of the flesh. The Holy Spirit helps us to look beyond the flesh and the flesh. With the eyes of faith, He helps us to lift our gaze to heavenly things, to the things that give life. 

It is over 2000 years since You came into the world as Man and revealed the power of God's love for us. But today, as we look at our world that is so different in every way from the world You came into millennia ago, it seems that not much has really changed. The greater the advances in science and technology the world regresses to immorality and godlessness.  

The reason You sent us the Holy Spirit was to show us the consequences of sin and how great is the need of the world to avoid it. But we refuse to believe that we are sinners, we refuse to believe in sin, we refuse to believe that we will be judged on our actions and by our refusal to love as You loved us.

We only have to cast a glance at our world today in the grip of the pandemic that has ravaged our world like an evil spirit bringing darkness, devastation, terror, and death in its wake. How different is the evil spirit from the Spirit of God - how different the world would be today if we had only yielded to Him rather than to the spirit of the world.

It is never too late. The world and all in it belongs to You. You won the victory. You have triumphed and death will never have the last word for it has been crushed.