TUESDAY OF THE SEVENTH WEEK OF EASTERTIDE - 2023

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

I shall ask the Father,

and he will give you another Advocate

to be with you for ever. JN 14:16

ACTS 20:17-27 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

If every one who is in authority in the hierarchy of the Church which You founded on the Apostles could speak with the conviction of Paul about his life and his witness to Your Gospel the whole world would become Christian. Sadly, the scandalous lives of many bishops and priests through the years deface her horrendously. So many with weak faith, so many who have been wounded by her ministers, so many whose innocence has been robbed by those who were meant to be fathers have wrinkled and stained Your Bride, the Church. While the Church is holy her members are most assuredly not. We are all children of Adam, we are all wounded by original sin. Concupiscence is the legacy of our first parents. Thanks be to God, however, and Your salvific work of redemption there are many, many good and holy bishops and priests in the Church who suffer greatly because of the evil done by some.

We pray today, Beloved Jesus our High Priest, that You grant us a new Pentecost. May the Fire of the Holy Spirit purge the Church from all evil. Give us many holy vocations to the priesthood and religious life so the Church and all her members will be renewed and transformed so we can be living stones that preach and witness to the Good News by the sanctity of our lives.

Let not persecution or hardships, or trials, or threats of violence deter us from being powerful witnesses to Your Love and to the Gospel that saves. At the end of life's journey may our conscience not trouble us but may we look forward eagerly to coming home to You and to rest in You eternally.

‘But life to me is not a thing to waste words on, provided that when I finish my race I have carried out the mission the Lord Jesus gave me – and that was to bear witness to the Good News of God’s grace.’

PSALM 67(68):10-11,20-21 ©

My Soul's Beloved

Thank You for Your tender assurance that You bear our burdens daily. You are our God, our Savior, You are the God who saves. You hold the keys that open the door of death to eternal life in the Kingdom of God.

May all the nations of the earth come to know You, love You, adore and worship You, and acknowledge that You alone O Lord are God - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

May every breath I breathe bless Your Holy Name and give You praise.  

May the Lord be blessed day after day.
He bears our burdens, God our saviour.
This God of ours is a God who saves.
The Lord our God holds the keys of death.

JOHN 17:1-11 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

Your final discourse with Your disciples and the prayer You make to Your Father in their presence is one which we must read over and over again. 

The verses chosen for our reflection in today's Gospel focuses on the prayer to Your Father, it is an ardent, faith-filled prayer. You are One with the Father and this is palpable in every word You address to Him. It is a perfect prayer made with utmost confidence to Your Dad, Your Abba, who delights in You and in whom You delight.

You completed the mission entrusted to You by Your Dad. You made known the incomprehensible love of the Father for us, His sinful creatures. You made visible the invisible God. You took on a body like ours, a body subject to corruption and death because of sin and You redeemed it. Taking upon Yourself the punishment that was ours due to our sins and making reparation on our behalf, You vanquished the devil, sin, and death and opened the gates of paradise for us.

We now know the true God, the Father who created us, the Son who redeemed us, and the Holy Spirit who sanctifies us. Thank You.

We are sealed with Your Blood and with the Holy Spirit and we are Yours in time and in eternity.