THURSDAY OF THE THIRTEENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME - 2021

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

God in Christ was reconciling the world to himself,
and he has entrusted to us the news that they are reconciled.

2 COR 5:19

GENESIS 22:1-19 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

We are constantly being put to the test not so that You may test the quality of our faith but that we may test it. It is only in trying, testing times, that we can know for ourselves how true or how superficial our love for You is.

Abraham was prepared to sacrifice the one person he loved more than every other, his son, Isaac, and when God called him to offer him as a sacrifice to Him, he did not question, he simply obeyed.

He must have had myriad questions and yet his lips were silent because he had faith that God would fulfill his promises to him. Isaac carried the wood up Mt. Moriah on which he would be laid, just as You would one day carry the Cross up Mt. Calvary. Abraham bound his son, laid him on the wood, and raised his hand aloft to slay the boy. At the very moment when all seemed lost an angel of the Lord stayed his hand against the boy and God provided a ram caught in the thickets for the sacrifice. It was on Mt. Moriah that God made His first covenant with Abraham and his descendants.

The Father indeed provided a Lamb for the Sacrifice that takes away the sins of the whole world. Abraham's son was spared but the Father did not spare You, His only Son but gave You up in atonement for my sins and for the sins of the whole world. You are the eternal Covenant of Love made by the Father with all who believe in You, hope in You, and love You. This is why there is salvation in no other save You, my Lord, and my God.  

PSALM 116:1-6,8-9 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

There has never been a time when I called and You did not answer when I cried and You did not console me when I came to You and handed You my broken heart and You did not receive all the broken pieces and put it back together again.

When I sinned, when I was on the brink of destruction, when I ought to have perished, in your great pity and mercy You reached out and saved me. You took away my sorrow and shame and restored me and made me whole once again. You deliver me over and over again when I come to you with a contrite heart and a repentant spirit.

You are good, kind, gracious, merciful, and generous You do not keep a record of my sins but throw them into the depths of the ocean of Your love. They are forgotten and you no longer remember my transgressions. Those with a simple and childlike spirit you will never abandon.

Thank You, for the hope I have that there is a place with my name on it in the Kingdom of God prepared for me even before You laid the foundations of the world. For this, Beloved, I am exceedingly grateful.

MATTHEW 9:1-8 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

Your word has the power to affect exactly what they say. You said to the storm, 'Hush, be still.' And the wind died down and the waves were still. You commanded the demoniacs to leave the poor possessed men who lived among the caves in Gerasenes and they left immediately. You Restored the sight of the blind man, Bartimaeus seated by the road who cried out to You. You took the hand of Jairus' little girl and commanded her to wake up. You said a word of healing and the Centurion's servant was healed at the very moment You spoke.  The priest lifts the little white host made of wheat and the chalice of wine and in Persona Christi says, 'This is My Body, this is My Blood,' and so it is. And we eat and we drink food that wells up to eternal life in us.

In today's Gospel passage for our reflection, we see how scandalized the Scribes were because You forgave the sins of the paralytic for they knew that only God has the power to forgive sins. Reading and revealing their thoughts to them You proved that You are indeed not only from God but God Himself when You commanded the paralytic to, 'Get up, and pick up your bed and go off home.’ And he did. You proved that as the Son of Man You indeed had the power to forgive sins.

You gave this same power to Your Apostles, and to their successors and because of this most wonderful healing Sacrament of Confession, we can be reconciled to God each time we sin and separate ourselves from You. Thank You for giving the Church and her priests the power to forgive sins.

 A feeling of awe came over the crowd when they saw this, and they praised God for giving such power to men.