TUESDAY OF THE FIFTH WEEK OF LENT - 2023

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

The seed is the word of God, Christ the sower;
whoever finds this seed will remain forever.

NUMBERS 21:4-9 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

Just like the Israelites, when the journey gets difficult and troubles press around me when I am overwhelmed with worry, anxiety, and sorrow when I am distressed, I forget all the times You have been gracious to me and You have come to my aid and lifted me up and poured grace upon grace on me.  More times than I can count, my Lord, You have heard my prayers and have granted my petitions yet my memory is short and when I am troubled and afraid I cry aloud to You and beg You not to forget or forsake me. You never have my Lord. Forgive me when in times of trial tears are never far from my eyes and I drown in unhappiness as my faith dims.

The Lord punished the Israelites who were murmured against Him despite all the miraculous signs and wonders they had witnessed. He sent fiery serpents to sting them and they died. Sin kills. When the people repented of their sins and cried out to God to save them, You instructed Moses to make a bronze replica of the fiery serpent and to raise it up on a standard and all who were bitten by the serpent were asked to look at it and they lived. 

As the new Moses, You took upon Yourself the sins of all humanity and absorbed them into Your own sinless Body. You were nailed to the Cross, lifted high on the Cross, pierced by a lance, and all of us who were doomed to die in sin can now live because You died in our place. You paid the price and redeemed us. We live because You became the atoning Lamb of Sacrifice, pleasing and acceptable to the Father. Thank You, Lord. 

PSALM 101(102):2-3,16-21 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

I cry to You ceaselessly night and day begging You to hear and answer me. Have pity on us O Lord. Who do we have but You? Who has the power but You to do the impossible?  So often I feel that You are distant, far from the sound of my cries, far from the voice of my pleading. Do not forsake me my Lord I beg You. Grant me and those I love the help that I plead with You to send us. Do not hesitate O Lord, do not delay, but in Your great kindness, Your goodness, and Your tender compassion for us who are helpless and needy, reach out and enfold us in Your love and heal us in every way that we need healing.

Thank You, Beloved, that You always hear and answer those who are called by Your Name.

JOHN 8:21-30 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

It is just as You have said to the Pharisees, if we do not believe in You then we cannot follow You to the place where You live and reign eternally. So many of us look in all the wrong places, profess faith in gods of our own making, offer sacrifice to false gods made in our image and likeness and we stray further and further away from the path of truth, holiness, and righteousness. 

As long as we do not lift up our eyes, as long as our vision is focused on the things of the earth, as long as we refuse to recognize the truth that is emblazoned in the greatest of all signs, the sign of the Cross, we cannot be healed, we cannot be saved, we cannot live. It is only when we embrace the Cross and accept the healing that flows from it only then can we be saved. It is the will of the Father that only those who believe in His only Son will live with Him eternally.

‘When you have lifted up the Son of Man,

then you will know that I am He
and that I do nothing of myself:
what the Father has taught me is what I preach;
he who sent me is with me,
and has not left me to myself,
for I always do what pleases him.’