ELEVENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - 2021

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

The seed is the word of God, Christ the sower;
whoever finds this seed will remain forever.

EZEKIEL 17:22-24 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

Adam and Eve were created free of original sin. They were perfect. They were the crown of God's creation. They were given all - eternal life, eternal joy, eternal beauty, and above all eternal love. They walked with God in Eden in the cool of the evening and God's bountiful love was visible in the abundance of every good and perfect thing that was His gift to them. They could have no desire for anything as all was theirs for the taking.

And yet Satan was able to enter and to strike them where God had made Himself most vulnerable, in that most precious of gifts that God had given them - their free will. By this gift, God desired that they love as He loved them, freely and without coercion. They used this precious gift to say, 'Not Your will but mine be done.'

God did not need us. We added nothing to His glory and could take nothing away from it - He could have just as easily have wiped us off the face of the earth and continued to live in perfect love and harmony lacking nothing, desiring nothing, needing nothing. But He loved us too much to destroy what He had created so lovingly and with such tenderness and care. So God planned a do-over. He would use another Woman - she would be the pinnacle of goodness, beauty, and perfection and from her would come the shoot which He would plant on the high mountain of Israel, He would be the New Jerusalem, the New Covenant, He would begin a new era where justice and peace would embrace and God would walk once again among His people.

The shoot has grown into a mighty cedar and its branches are spread invitingly welcoming the world's weary, sick, downtrodden, and forgotten to make their home in it and find there a place of peace and rest. This Church that You founded and wherein You make Your dwelling place, is a place where every repentant and contrite sinner is welcome. In her, all will find food and drink, all will be satisfied, and God's abundance will never run out.

PSALM 92:2-3,13-16 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

This psalm encapsulates all that a joyful Christian can experience from baptism until old age and death. Nothing is hidden to those who desire to know You, love You, and walk in the Way that leads to eternal life with You, the Father, and the Holy Spirit. 

Praise and thanksgiving in all things is the key that opens every door and each of these doors leads to God. We thank You for the joy of opening our eyes each morning and be filled with praise for the gift of another day and to close our eyes at night when it comes to a close filled with thanksgiving for Your love, and grateful for a night of rest confident that You are watching over us is a gift of faith.

Thank You for Your Church and for the Sacraments that enable us to grow, flourish, and bear an abundance of fruit for Your glory. Thank You for Your mark upon our souls sealing us in the love of the Holy Spirit - His Presence in us ensures that we will be filled with the joy of the Lord and continue to be fruitful in old age for we are planted on the Rock in God's house.

2 CORINTHIANS 5:6-10 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

St. Paul reminds us that as long as we are in our body we live by faith. To live by faith is to live in hope of the glorious destiny that will be granted to all Christians. Death is a welcome release for many whose lives are often marked by sorrow and trials of many kinds especially in a world that is hostile to Your disciples. Death is the doorway that we must all pass through in order to behold You face to face. 

When it will come we do not know but come it will and we are to prepare ourselves every moment of every day so we can stand before You unashamed. Time passes and there will no longer be a today, no hope of another tomorrow, but we will enter into an eternal present. While we live in the flesh we determine where that eternal present will be either in Your Presence and banished from Your sight forever. Let us be mindful of the words of St. Paul always:

Whether we are living in the body or exiled from it, we are intent on pleasing him. For all the truth about us will be brought out in the law court of Christ, and each of us will get what he deserves for the things he did in the body, good or bad.

MARK 4:26-34 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

It is not given to all to understand eternal truths, truths that lead to life and not death. truths that we must believe in and accept, and live by if we are to be true disciples.

Your Word is the seed of faith which is God's free gift given to us in Baptism. Planted in the soul it takes root and grows with the help of the Sacraments. The more we frequent the Sacrament of Reconciliation and the daily partaking of the Holy Eucharist are the two surest and easiest ways to allow the mustard seed of faith given to us in Baptism to grow and flourish. The grace of the Holy Spirit enables us to grow in the virtues providing all that is necessary to help us bear an abundance of good fruit for the glory of God. 

There are so many in the world who do not know You. Baptized Christians who are lukewarm and indifferent and choose to believe that they can live without You. We who believe are to be a sign of contradiction in the world - a light on the mountain top, the salt of the earth, that is a testimony and a witness that there is another way to live a way of peace and joy even in the midst of a sin-filled world.