Let the message of Christ, in all its richness,
find a home with you;
through him give thanks to God the Father. COL 3:16a - 17
ECCLESIASTICUS 51:17-27 ©
My Soul's Beloved,
There are no greater examples than Mother Mary and St. Joseph who pursued Truth, Beauty, and Goodness with such single-minded devotion and ardor as they did. Wisdom is a gift of the Holy Spirit and this gift was given to both Mary and Joseph in its fullness. Wisdom was their constant companion and all the saints desiring to emulate them begged You to bless them with this gift of the Spirit as well.
Possessing Wisdom we will discern the will of God, recognize the hand of God, and gladly embrace all God's plans for our lives. Because Wisdom is a gift that is freely given we need to pray earnestly to the Holy Spirit, imploring Him to graciously bestow on us this gift as well as all His other gifts.
Today, O Lord, grant us the grace to hunger and thirst for this gift and after it is bestowed on us may we treasure her, hold her close to our hearts and grant her complete freedom to rule our lives and direct our will in the Way that will lead us safely in the perilous journey from this life to the life that awaits us in eternity.
PSALM 18(19):8-11 ©
My Soul's Beloved,
The Law of God is life and all who keep us live in peace regardless of their circumstances. The stronger the storms around us the greater the calm within us for we know that God has His eye on us and nothing can wrest us from His Heart and His Hands.
Grant us this grace, my Beloved, to desire to obey Your will in all things even if it costs me some temporal loss for the sake of the things that are eternal. The joy and peace that are ours when we are faithful in keeping Your commandments are more precious than anything the world has to offer. Grant us Wisdom O Lord to always choose to obey Your law rather than to pursue the momentary pleasures of the world.
The precepts of the Lord gladden the heart.
They are more to be desired than gold,
than the purest of gold
and sweeter are they than honey,
than honey from the comb.
and sweeter are they than honey,
than honey from the comb.
MARK 11:27-33 ©
My Soul's Beloved,
When You O Lord, in righteous indignation, cleared the temple and overturned the table of the money changers, the chief priests, and the temple authorities did not dare to stop You. They were guilty of profaning the Temple by permitting commerce to be carried out freely since they benefitted from it. However, the next time You came to Jerusalem and were walking in the Temple they approached You, still bristling with resentment, and asked, ‘What authority have you for acting like this? Or who gave you authority to do these things?’
You answer their question with a question of Your own - ‘I will ask you a question, only one; answer me and I will tell you my authority for acting like this. John’s baptism: did it come from heaven, or from man? Answer me that.’
Now we can see their devious little minds thinking feverishly about how to give an appropriate answer to this sticky question. St. Matthew tells us that they argued it out this way among themselves: ‘If we say from heaven, he will say, “Then why did you refuse to believe him?” But dare we say from man?’ – they had the people to fear, for everyone held that John was a real prophet. So their reply to Jesus was, ‘We do not know.’ And Jesus said to them, ‘Nor will I tell you my authority for acting like this.’
We are no different from the hypocritical religious elite - we are afraid to be truthful and to call out sin where and when we find it either in ourselves or those we love. Instead, we fudge the truth and try to blur the lines, in order to make our half-truths more palatable to ourselves. But You O Lord cannot be mocked nor can You be deceived and in the end, there will be no place to hide for we will stand in the bright light of Your eternal day.
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