MEMORIAL OF OUR LADY OF SORROWS - 2021

DAILY MASS READINGS

Happy is the Virgin Mary,
who, without dying,
won the palm of martyrdom
beneath the cross of the Lord.

1 TIMOTHY 3:14-16 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

All that we know, believe, and profess about the Church You founded is true. She teaches that outside the embrace of Holy Mother Church there is no salvation for within her is deposited the fullness of the Holy Spirit, the fullness of Grace, the fullness of Truth, the fullness of God's Presence, the fullness of God's power, and the fullness of Goodness and Beauty. She makes these claims humbly, confidently, and boldly. 

The Church is the first to admit that she is a hospital for sinners, that her members are weak, fragile, prone to fail and fall constantly, but she has Your Word assuring her that the gates of hell shall not prevail against her.  

What St. Paul, writes to Timothy can also be understood in the context of Your return to us in glory and how we, as member of Your Church should conduct ourselves as we wait for Your return which could be imminent or delayed - only God knows :

- The Church, he reminds us, is the Church of the living God

- She upholds the truth

- She safeguards the truth 

- The mysteries of our faith are deep and can never be fully understood but in the words of St Paul, this is the Good News that we believe in and profess to the world:

He was made visible in the flesh,
attested by the Spirit,
seen by angels,
proclaimed to the pagans,
believed in by the world,
taken up in glory.

While we wait in joyful hope for Your glorious return, Beloved, keep us faithful, keep us humble, keep us close to You and to each other, and let nothing prevent us from proclaiming the Good News that saves by the witness of our lives.

PSALM 111:1-6 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

At every celebration of the Holy Mass, the people of God assemble to profess and exult in the mysteries of our faith, which is the mystery of divine love. It is beyond the grasp of finite minds all we can do is gasp in wonder and awe at the lengths God has gone for love of His creatures.

The work of redemption is the greatest mystery of our faith. And while we ponder, celebrate, meditate on, and reflect on it our whole lives we will never fully comprehend. In heaven we will be drawn deeper and deeper into this glorious mystery of Your love, we will be entranced by it for it will be ever new as it is infinite.  

God in His goodness who is complete in Himself in the Trinity and needs nothing has created us in order that we too may be drawn into this Mystery of divine love so we can have a share in it. In responding to this love we are complete, and we become what God desires us to be, like Him.

Thank You, Beloved for being our food and drink, and for Your abiding presence with us. May we, in turn, be joyful witnesses so all nations may turn to You, worship You, and be with You eternally.

JOHN 19:25-27 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

The greatest gift the Church has received from Your hands apart from Yourself is Your Mother. Which of us has not needed the love of a mother at every stage in our lives? The best of earthly mothers fall short despite their immense, sacrificial love for their children. Many lose their mother to death early in life, some are abandoned by their mothers, many mothers are absent from the children's lives for a variety of reasons. 

At the foot of the Cross stood the three Mary's, Your Mother, Mary, the wife of Clopas, and Mary of Magdala, with the disciple You loved dearly, John. Looking at Your wounded, sorrowful Mother, You entrusted her to John and they were to be Mother and son from then on. In doing so, You also gave her to the Church and to the world. She is the Mother of all the living. In doing so You ensured that we would always have a powerful intercessor pleading our cause to You as she did at the Wedding Feast at Cana. Through her intercession, and if we listen to her as she instructs us to do whatever You tell us to do, we will never run short of wine.