FRIDAY OF WEEK 8 IN ORDINARY TIME - 2023

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

I chose you from the world
to go out and bear fruit,
fruit that will last,
says the Lord. JN 15:16

ECCLESIASTICUS 44:1,9-13 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

These verses from the poem A Psalm of Life by H. W. Longfellow illumine what the writer of Ecclesiasticus says in today's First Reading:

Lives of great men all remind us

   We can make our lives sublime,

And, departing, leave behind us

   Footprints on the sands of time;

Footprints, that perhaps another,

   Sailing o’er life’s solemn main,

A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,

   Seeing, shall take heart again.

We are truly grateful, O Lord, for the Church's Hall of Saints, they are a constant reminder to us of what is possible when we surrender our lives to You completely and how the Holy Spirit when given free rein can enable us to live lives of heroic virtue. The Saints spur us to strive for greater holiness, greater purity, greater humility, and greater obedience in every area of our lives, and to make the best use of the gifts and talents given to us. 

We are called to leave a mark not only by raising God-fearing children but also to be such powerful witnesses to Truth and Love that our memory will live on as a blessing and not a curse.

But here is a list of generous men
whose good works have not been forgotten.
In their descendants there remains
a rich inheritance born of them.
Their descendants stand by the covenants
and, thanks to them, so do their children’s children.
Their offspring will last for ever,
their glory will not fade.

PSALM 149:1-6,9 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

Joy should be the hallmark of the children of God. The great apostle tells us that we ought not to worry about anything. Worry and anxiety demonstrate a clear lack of faith in the love, wisdom, and goodness of God. He exhorts us that in all things our attitude must be one of thanksgiving as we bring our petitions both great and small to You in prayer and Your peace, despite the gravity of the situations we may be facing, if we rest in the knowledge that with You nothing is impossible, the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard our hearts and our minds in You.

You O Lord have put a new song in our hearts. You are our God, our Savior, our Redeemer, our Messiah, our Lord, our King, our Brother, our Friend, and our Bridegroom.  You O Lord are nearer to us than our breath. What need we fear, Beloved, when You are near. Lord of our days and our nights, thank You for loving us even when we are most unlovable. Thank You for forgiving us even though we often behave so fiendishly cannot hope for forgiveness. Thank You for constantly relenting and blessing us and restoring to us in the Sacrament of Reconciliation the true riches we so wantonly flung away like the prodigal son. 

Thank You for delighting in Your people, Your Church, the members of Your Body, and for keeping Your loving gaze steadfastly on us. We believe in Your Word which assures us that not one of us who belongs to You will be lost. 

The Lord takes delight in his people.

MARK 11:11-26 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

For those of us who are sealed in the Holy Spirit in Baptism making us children of God, this parable reminds us that there is never a season in our lives when we do not produce fruit. Too often from a distance, like the fig tree, we appear to be healthy because we are full of foliage but in fact, we are barren and good for nothing. You warn us today in this parable that if we are sterile and incapable of bearing good fruit we will be chopped down and thrown into the fire where the flames do not go out. We are called to model our lives on You. In the Holy Eucharist, You become our Food and Drink giving us the spiritual nourishment we need to be effective disciples in the world. Like You, we too, in our own small way must be food for the hungry, by our little acts of kindness and love.

Today, in the Gospel reading we are invited to reflect on the passage when You cleared the Temple that the buyers and sellers had desecrated by the unholy commerce taking place within its sacred precincts. Many of us are unaware that our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit and those of us who do know it grieve Him constantly by our careless way of living. 

So much that is of the world occupies our hearts that there is no room either for Kingdom values or the Kingdom of God in it. This Temple ought to be a place where we are aware of God's Presence in us. We are living sanctuaries but we carelessly and thoughtlessly defile our bodies and our souls by our sins both great and small constantly grieving the Holy Spirit abiding in us.

Finally, You remind us of the power of faith and the power of forgiving from the heart all the real and imagined faults and grievances we hold against our brothers and sisters: ‘Have faith in God. I tell you solemnly, if anyone says to this mountain, “Get up and throw yourself into the sea,” with no hesitation in his heart but believing that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. I tell you therefore: everything you ask and pray for, believe that you have it already, and it will be yours. And when you stand in prayer, forgive whatever you have against anybody, so that your Father in heaven may forgive your failings too. But if you do not forgive, your Father in heaven will not forgive your failings either.’