MONDAY OF THE THIRTIETH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME - 2021

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

Your word is truth, O Lord:
consecrate us in the truth. JN 17:17

ROMANS 8:12-17 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

St. Paul reminds us today that we have received God's own Spirit and He makes His dwelling place in us. When our spirit is yielded to the Spirit of God in us then we will always choose to live holy lives pleasing to You. We will be able to choose wisely so there is no conflict within us and we will be docile to His promptings.  

You did not leave us orphans, You taught us to call God, Abba, Father, and so we are because we are grafted to You. You raise us up with You to the City where You dwell. 

The Spirit of God is opposed to the spirit of the world and when our spirit is influenced by it our whole lives are in disarray. This is why You said that You had to go only then could You spend the Holy Spirit The indwelling of the Holy Spirit in us empowers us to know who awe are, He affirms and confirms us in our relationship with the Father, through You.  

 The Spirit himself and our spirit bear united witness that we are children of God. And if we are children we are heirs as well: heirs of God and coheirs with Christ, sharing his sufferings so as to share his glory. This is our true identity and may we never forget it.

PSALM 68:2,4,6-7,20-21 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

Now, in these present times that we live in which is the age of the Holy Spirit, we are able to see the fulfillment of God's entire plan of salvation, the work of our redemption wrought for us on the Cross. Every prophecy, every promise, every wondrous assurance from God is thrown into stark relief when we see it in the light of the Gospels.

Announcing the birth of God's Son to the Blessed Virgin  and inviting her to collaborate with Him, the Angel Gabriel said to her, 'You will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus.' Long before this blessed could take place the psalmist tells us exactly what You will accomplish for all God's people in this psalm.

You will triumph and all Your enemies will be crushed. Evil will flee, and all who are called by Your Name will exult, dance, sing, and rejoice at the mighty deeds of our God who has saved us. 

Over and over in the Old Testament God commands us to look after the orphan and the widow and not to deny their rights for God Himself is their defender and protector. And we see in the Gospels over and over again Your preferential love for them. May we too never fail them.

Father of the orphan, defender of the widow,

such is God in his holy place.
God gives the lonely a home to live in;
he leads the prisoners forth into freedom.

This God of ours is a God who saves.

Beloved, thank You once again for every one of the glorious Sacraments You instituted. Thank You most especially for the Sacrament of the Eucharist. How blessed and priviledged we are to dine at the Eucharistic table and exchange all that we are for all of You. There is no greater act of praise, prayer, thanksgiving and worship than the Holy Mass where all God's people bless You from the rising of the sun to its setting. Yours O Lord, is a love that saves.

May the Lord be blessed day after day.
He bears our burdens, God our saviour.
This God of ours is a God who saves.
The Lord our God holds the keys of death.

LUKE 13:10-17 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

Too often we are as bigoted, narrow minded, and spiritually stunted like the Pharisees, the Scribes, and the religious officials. We are puffed up with pride, full of sanctimonious self-righteousness we insist that the cold, unbending, letter of the law be adhered to without exception in every instance. Today's Gospel teaches us to see people, especially those that are suffering, as God sees them.

Even as You are teaching the people in the synagogue on the sabbath day, Your attention is drawn to a woman there. You were aware that she had been a cripple for eighteen years. We are also told that her infirmity was caused by a spirit that had taken possession of her and and made her weak, bent double, and unable to stand upright. You called her to come to You and said, ‘Woman, you are rid of your infirmity’ You spoke the Word and laid Your hands on her. She was healed instantly and promptly began to glorify God. One would have imagined that great joy would have erupted among the people who witnessed the miracle and they too along with the synagogue officical would have joined her in giving glory to God.

Sadly, that was not the case, he actually became indignant that the sabbath law was broken. One can almost imagine him screeching queroulously in misplaced outrage, ‘There are six days when work is to be done. Come and be healed on one of those days and not on the sabbath.’ 

Your turned to him pinning him with the full blaze of Your righteous indignation and addressing him You said, ‘Hypocrites! Is there one of you who does not untie his ox or his donkey from the manger on the sabbath and take it out for watering?' You shamed them into acknowledging that people in need, the suffering, the marginalized, the forgotten, those on the peripheries are never forgotten by God, and we too ought never to forget them. Every one of us is invited today to do our part in untying the bonds of those who are enslaved in any way and set them free.