WEDNESDAY OF THE FIRST WEEK IN LENT - 2022

LENT 2022

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

Now, now – it is the Lord who speaks –
come back to me with all your heart,
for I am all tenderness and compassion. JL 2:12-13

JOHN 3:1-10 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

We hear Your Word addressed to us constantly and too often we respond reluctantly as Jonah did the second time. Like Jonah we get caught up in ourselves, our emotions, the reactions of others, acceptance by others, our fears, our feelings of inadequacy, our certainty that someone else is better suited to the task that You are asking us to do.  

The need of the hour was for Jonah to hear, to get up, and go lest the people of Nineveh perish in their sins. The reluctant prophet did as he was bid by God. His preaching was so effective that the king of Nineveh believed that in forty days they would be destroyed as God warned and he ordered that everyone in Nineveh obey God, repent, and fast - men, women, and animals as well neither ate nor drank. They covered themselves in sackcloth and ashes and they repented and renounced all the evil that they had done so God would not destroy them as He warned He would. 

God saw, God heard, God forgave, and God did not destroy the people of Nineveh for they had truly repented of their sins.

Let us approach the Sacrament of Reconciliation this Lent and make a good confession, resolving to put aside our wicked way and abide in love with You, O Lord, and with each other.

LUKE 11:29-32 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

We are living in an age that beguiles us into giving in to our basest desires. Constant bombardment appeals to the lowest instincts of those who have never been exposed to anything sublime and have never been trained to recognize Truth,  Goodness, and Beauty but only to the carnal, to the perishable, to the decadent, and to death. 

Today, we read a passage from the Gospel of Luke which tells us that You faced a crowd that was growing increasingly large and You spoke boldly, with courage, and were unafraid to call out sinners who insisted on seeing signs before they repented. To them You said, the only sign given will be the sign of Jonah and is a that saves the whole human race.

There is no excuse for us in the present age to be ignorant of You. There is no excuse for those who have heard of You to refuse to believe in You because the cost is too high. There is no excuse for those who have doubts in the beliefs they currently hold on to because they lack the courage to pursue Truth to its logical conclusion. Many do not want to go where Truth will ultimately lead them - the Church You founded on Peter.

There are also many members of Your Body who refuse to take the faith seriously. Many are indifferent, lukewarm, some reject it completely, many believe they do not need to be united to Your Body; they believe they can get along perfectly well without belonging and being a part of the Church You founded, established, sanctified, and glorified. The fullness of Truth is found only in the Catholic Church whether the world believes it or not and many will find themselves condemned by their own wilfulness. 

'On Judgement day the men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation and condemn it, because when Jonah preached they repented; and there is something greater than Jonah here.’