FRIDAY OF THE FOURTEENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME - 2021

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

When the Spirit of truth comes
he will lead you to the complete truth,
and he will remind you of all I have said to you. JN16:13,14:26

GENESIS 46:1-7,28-30 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

Only You have the power to give the kind of joy that is impossible to imagine. When all the sorrows we have suffered are ended, when we reach the end of life's journey after enduring many trials, loss, pain, and disappointments, You will reveal Your great love for us. You will grant us such immeasurable joy, You will cause dancing where once was mourning, and You will draw laughter from hearts once crushed and broken with grief, loss. 

Jacob thought his beloved son Joseph was lost to him forever he believed him to be dead but in his old age, God granted him the boundless joy of restoring his beloved boy to him and in such wonderful circumstances.  May we never lose faith, hope, and trust in You for in the end even if our days on this earth only bring us sorrow and tears we know that in the end joy will be ours when we behold You face to face eternally.

PSALM 37:3-4,18-19,27-28,39-40 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

How wonderfully the psalmist expresses himself in enumerating all the ways in which You are good, kind, loving, merciful, and gracious to all who trust in You, believe in Your word, and strive always to please You in all things.

We are given one life to live and we are invited to do as much good as we can so we may spread the fragrance of Your love and the light of Your truth in the world. If we desire to live happy lives we must make You, our delight. Only You can satisfy every longing of our hearts. Only You can fill the empty spaces in our lives. 

All who have You for their friend, protector, and guide walk without fear. They are confident in whom they believe, in whom they have placed all their hope and trust, and You, in turn, grant them all the need always. They will never know want, hunger, or thirst, for You are their fullness.

Thank You for all the graces that are heaped on us through the Sacraments without them we would lack the strength and the necessary graces to walk the narrow path that leads to the Kingdom of God in safety and security. You never forsake those who are marked by Your Blood and sealed in Your Spirit.

Thank You for saving us. Thank You for being our refuge and our deliverer. Thank You for Your being the gate through which all God's people may enter and find a place of safety and rest.

MATTHEW 10:16-23 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

The warning You give us today about evil men and women in the world, evil rulers, evil neighbors, evil family members even, comes as no surprise to us. Ever since sin entered the world we have witnessed periods in history when certain sections of people have become so possessed by the power of evil, they have perpetrated the worst crimes against other human beings. 

The innocent, the guileless, those who are unafraid to stand up to the bully in order to protect the powerless regardless of the consequences are the ones that are most hated. The greatest example of miscarriage of justice can be found on Calvary. We have only to look at the Cross to see how evil, powerful individuals, groups of people, regimes, and even whole nations ruthlessly, systematically, and unscrupulously destroy and murder those who are a thorn in their side and an obstacle in their way.

The warning and advice You gave the Twelve are as relevant today as it was then. ‘Remember, I am sending you out like sheep among wolves; so be cunning as serpents and yet as harmless as doves.'

Let us not be surprised when we are hauled before the courts on trumped-up charges, persecuted, tortured, imprisoned, and stripped of everything, and even put to death because we believe in You and proclaim the Gospel from the rooftops by our lives. 

Thank You for Your assurance that we need not prepare a defense nor do we need to speak for ourselves - You have given us the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, the Helper, He will give us the words we need when we need it when the time comes, because, as You assure us, 'It is not you who will be speaking; the Spirit of your Father will be speaking in you.'

Thank You also for Your wonderful assurance that all who stand firm to the end will be saved.