MONDAY OF THE TWENTY-SECOND WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME - 2021

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

The Lord has sent me to bring the good news to the poor,
to proclaim liberty to captives. LK 4:18

1 THESSALONIANS 4:13-18 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

St. Paul reminds us that death is not the end and that all who believe in You, have faith in You, are members of Your Body, and belong to the family of God for we are His adopted children and co-heirs with You to the Kingdom of Heaven, will live forever. This is why when we grieve for those whom we have loved well and who are now dead we ought not to grieve as those who have no hope. Our hope is in You, our joy is You, our eternal reward is You.

This is certain, those who love You, those who spend their lives actively seeking Your will and doing it, those who live their lives with their gaze fixed on heaven will not fear death for it is only the doorway to eternal bliss with You and with those we loved on earth. 

PSALM 96:1,3-5,11-13 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

The Good News is not something we ought to lock up in our hearts and delight in it in secret, rather it must compel us to open our mouths and proclaim it to the world so all can share in the wondrous love of God who so loved the world that He sent His only Son into it to pay the price for our redemption.

All who know You must have a song on our lips as joy wells and overflows from our hearts for heaven is ours, we have hope of eternal life and bliss because God was prepared to pay the ultimate price for our salvation.  

Truly, my Lord and my God, You are worthy of praise, love, worship, and adoration with every breath I breathe, every word I speak, every thought I have, every act I do. Not only are You our God and ruler of the heavens and the earth but You stoop low over Your unworthy creatures whose sole desire is to possess You and be possessed by You.

Yes, we live in a sinful world that is growing ever dark with evil but the Light has not gone out and never will. The love of God has and will prevail and one day when time shall be no more You will come in glory and:

With justice he (You) will rule the world,
he (You)will judge the peoples with his (Your) truth.

LUKE 4:16-30 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

The extraordinary prophecy of Isaiah is the most astounding and most thrilling news that finds its complete fulfillment in You. You are God's Covenant of love with us and this is the Good News that You came to announce to the world:

'The spirit of the Lord has been given to me,
for he has anointed me.
He has sent me to bring the good news to the poor,
to proclaim liberty to captives
and to the blind new sight,
to set the downtrodden free,
to proclaim the Lord’s year of favor.'

When we hear this proclamation through the millennia, from one generation to the next, many will believe in You and will exult in this joyful news and many will reject it too because they prefer to cling stubbornly to their own human thinking. Unless we put on the mind of God we will be unable to accept that our God is a God of love. A love so extraordinary, so unfathomable, changeless, who loves us not for what we do but for who we are - His children, and hence we do not need to do anything to earn it. 

Those who allow their prejudices, their preconceived ideas, their ignorance, their inability to go beyond their narrow experiences, and are unwilling to unlock the mental cages imprisoning them by their own narrow way of thinking are prepared to destroy that which could liberate them and fill them with ecstasy. They are not prepared to allow themselves to believe what their eyes see and their ears hear because the past has them in shackles. To these, You say in no uncertain terms that they will never experience the power of God in their lives and they will be the poorer for it. 

To this day unbelievers do their best to discredit You just as the unbelieving Jews in Your hometown did. They thought they knew You and this prevented them from recognizing that God was in their midst. They thought so little You, Mary, and Joseph who lived so simply and humbly that they simply could not believe that You, a carpenter's son, could be the Messiah. And when they heard what You had to say they became so enraged they were prepared to kill You. 'But You slipped through the crowd and walked away.'