SATURDAY OF THE SEVENTH WEEK OF EASTERTIDE - 2023

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

I will send you the Spirit of truth, says the Lord;
he will lead you to the complete truth. JN 16:7, 13

ACTS 28:16-20,30-31 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

No one has power over us who keep Your Word, follow Your commands, and live in Your Presence as is so clearly seen in the life of St. Paul. No one can touch a hair on our head unless You permit it. 

There is much we can learn from the example of Paul. It was You who instructed him to go to Rome and to preach and teach the Gospel. Taking advantage of the circumstances created by the Jews and Sadducees to have him imprisoned he saw an opportunity to do as You asked him and invoking his Roman rights as a citizen he demanded to be tried in Rome. If we desire to do Your will in all things You will always make a way for us to accomplish all You ask.

Paul was allowed to stay in relative freedom in his own lodgings. He prayed for three days relying on the Holy Spirit before he called the leading Jews in order to lay to rest any rumors they may have heard about him and to assure them that the reason he was in chains was on account of the hope of Israel. 

He spent two years tirelessly spreading the Gospel not letting his circumstances restrict his zeal in accomplishing the mission entrusted to him. Welcoming all who came to him while You made it possible for him to do so with complete freedom and without hindrance from anyone. When You entrust us with a task we can trust You to also equip us to carry it out. 

Grant O Lord that wherever You have placed us we cooperate with Your grace to be the light and salt of the world. Amen.

PSALM 10(11):4-5,7 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

The psalmist says that You O Lord are in Your holy Temple? Where is Your Temple? It is within us for the Holy Spirit dwells in us. You are closer to us than our breath yet most of us live from infancy through all the stages of our lives until old age with heedless disregard for the Treasure we carry in our mortal bodies. 

We are too caught up and distracted by the hypnotic baubles that the world dangles before us. Thank You, Lord, for not abandoning us even though we abandon You, are thoughtless and thankless for all You have done for us. Thank You for Your love that pursues us relentlessly and for not hesitating to whack us on the head when in order to get our attention. The stakes are high - eternal life with You or eternal damnation and You, divine Savior, desire that all come to know You, the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and be saved. Too great a price was paid for our redemption. You will not permit anyone to be lost except those who actively desire it. The upright shall see your face, O Lord.

JOHN 21:20-25 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

We must guard against useless curiosity. You stopped Peter in his tracks when he was questioning You about things that he did not require to know and were not necessary for him to know either. It had nothing to do with the great mission entrusted to him. 

Too often many of us get sidetracked by inanities and superficialities, and when the Holy Spirit convicts us of this we must train ourselves and ask for the grace to keep our focus on the great commission lest we waste time and are filled with regret at all the wasted opportunities that were given to us to spread the Gospel.

What God will for my neighbor concerns God and my neighbor, not me. When I get caught up with foolish distractions like Peter You say to me what You said to him, ‘If I want him to stay behind till I come, what does it matter to you? You are to follow me.’ I must follow You with single-minded devotion. I must fix my gaze on You. You are my lodestar if I follow You I will reach my destination, my heavenly home, my place of eternal rest in Your Kingdom.

St. John, as well as the other evangelists, have recorded all that is necessary for our salvation let us focus on what is written, on Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition, and not waste time in foolish and unnecessary speculation, There were many other things that Jesus did; if all were written down, the world itself, I suppose, would not hold all the books that would have to be written. The time is short and we know neither the day of the hour of Your return let us always be prepared for Your coming and while we wait let us pray, Maranatha Lord Jesus, Maranatha!