MONDAY OF THE FIFTH WEEK OF LENT - 2022

LENT 2022

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

I take pleasure, not in the death of a wicked man
– it is the Lord who speaks –
but in the turning back of a wicked man
who changes his ways to win life. EZ 33:11

DANIEL 13:1-9,15-17,19-30,33-62 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

This lovely little story in the book of Daniel reminds us that the innocent need fear nothing and that the wicked no matter how powerful they believe they are will be brought to justice.

We are told that Susanna was God-fearing because her parents had instructed her in the Law of Moses. Too few Christian parents can make this claim and this is why we see our world in shambles. 

The wicked abound in the highest places. They are found everywhere and they prey on the innocent and rob them of their virtue. They are so vile and so confident that they will not be discovered that they go from evil to evil believing that they are invincible.

But every cry, every sigh, every whimper of those who are violated is heard by God. Every tear is gathered up and vindication will come in Your perfect time. No one escapes God's wrath. Just as God heard Susanna's cry.

The innocent, the poor, the helpless are violated constantly and are easy prey for the powerful but they will receive justice those who sinned against them will be called to account and they will pay, 'the mills of God may grind slowly but they grind exceedingly fine.'

JOHN 8:12-20 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

You are Light and anyone who follows You will neither stumble nor go astray but will walk with confidence on the Way that leads to eternal life. Not only will we walk in the Light, Beloved, but Your Light in us will illumine our whole being, and we will abide in the Truth that sets us free.

The Triune God is One God - Father, Son, and Spirit - Three in One and One in Three because the nature of each Person in the Trinity is the same - divine.

The Father and the Spirit were with You always even when You left Your glory behind in Your incarnation. This is why we can believe everything You said, everything You did. Every sign and wonder that You performed testified that God was with You and in You for You are God from God, Light from Light, True God from True God.

The skeptics of this world like the Pharisees will never believe because they refuse to believe. They would rather die in their stubbornness because they are clinging to an idea of God that they are unwilling to relinquish because it is inconceivable to them that God can walk among men as one of us, and that God came for sinners, for the poor, for the outcast, for those whom the world refuses to see let alone acknowledge. And that God would take upon Himself all our human misery and sin in His Flesh and crucify it to the Cross so we can receive Your glorious life and share in Your resurrection.

These are the last day of Your life on earth and John recounts them as they occurred - You were inexorably moving to that dreaded, wondrous hour but until then no one could lay a hand on You. You lay down Your life at a time of Your choosing and You will take it up again gloriously in three days. You O Lord, are God.