THURSDAY OF THE THIRD WEEK OF LENT - 2023

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

JEREMIAH 7:23-28 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

Lacking humility we disobey You. The root cause of all sin is pride, it causes us to rebel, it hardens our hearts, and fills us with insolent disdain. We deceive ourselves when we believe that we are wiser than You and can live independently from You. Over and over again not only in salvation history but in the history of the world we have seen the fruit of living a self-indulgent and selfish life. Your commands are clear -  Listen to my voice, then I will be your God and you shall be my people. Follow right to the end the way that I mark out for you, and you will prosper. 

But we are foolhardy, reckless, stubborn, and hard of heart - when things go well with us we stray from the path of prudence and wisdom. We are like Your people of old, 'who followed the dictates of their own evil hearts, refused to face You, and turned their backs on You.'   To this day we keep forgetting how much we need You and Your Holy Spirit. No sooner do we cut ourselves from You we find ourselves flailing and drowning in stormy seas, no sooner do we cry out, "Save me, Lord!" You hear and answer us.

Save us, Lord, save Your people, rescue us from the jaws of death lest we perish forever.

PSALM 94(95):1-2,6-9 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

You are the Rock who saves us and it is the Father's will that all who believe in You will be saved. You are the Cornerstone of our lives without You, the whole edifice crumbles and falls. If we are to be truly happy in this life and eternally happy with You in heaven we must heed the words of St. Peter who urges us, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. We have only one Lord, only one Father, there is only one Spirit and before this Triune God, we are to kneel, worship, adore, and give unending praise and thanksgiving for all that God has done for us in giving us a Brother, a Redeemer, a Savior like You who has become for us our Food and Drink and the eternal and only atoning Sacrifice acceptable to the Father, for the forgiveness of our sins and the sins of the world.

How much longer O Lord before Your patience runs out? How much longer will You tolerate our hardness of heart and our disobedience? Hear the prayers of Your faithful who cry out to You night and day for mercy. Be merciful O Lord, do not allow the evil abounding in the world to destroy those who believe in You, hope in You, and have put all their faith in You.

Give us a new heart and a new spirit that is pliant to Your Word and Your will and we will be saved. 

LUKE 11:14-23 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

Wherever there is division, discord, or disunity, we can be certain that satanic forces are at work. The devil's ploy is to divide, isolate, control, and destroy and all who sow seeds of dissension are pawns of satan. But the fruit of the Spirit is peace, unity, harmony, and You O Lord, are the Prince of Peace. 

We have only to read the diabolic rhetoric today opposing all that is good, holy, pure, noble, and true to know that demonic elements have been let loose in the world.  The murderous lying evil violent malevolent agents of the demonic world are often clearly visible and they are loud, brash, physically and spiritually dirty, and extremely ugly. The devil is so emboldened in this present age that he and his minions no longer disguise themselves as angels of light.

Your words in today's Gospel passage are a stark reminder of how evil works and how evil uses proud, haughty, conceited, narrow-minded bigots to sow discord and spread hate. The people in the crowd accused You of using Beelzebul the prince of devils to cast out evil spirits but You responded by revealing that, ‘Every kingdom divided against itself is heading for ruin, and a household divided against itself collapses. So too with Satan.’ You also show us how to arm ourselves against the diabolic forces that have been unleashed in the world. 

‘So long as a strong man fully armed guards his own palace, his goods are undisturbed; but when someone stronger than he is attacks and defeats him, the stronger man takes away all the weapons he relied on and shares out his spoil. ‘He who is not with me is against me; and he who does not gather with me scatters.’

You have given us all we need to stay strong and invincible against the wiles of the Enemy. Holy Mother Church, Your bride, will keep all her faithful safe from the attacks of the father of lies. The Source and Summit of our life and the remedy for all the evils in the world are found in You and in the Sacraments that the Church administers to her children.