WEDNESDAY WEEK 9 IN ORDINARY TIME - 2023

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

I am the resurrection and the life, says the Lord;
whoever believes in me will never die. JN 11:25, 26

TOBIT 3:1-11,16-17 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

As we reflect on these verses from the Book of Tobit You, O Lord, comfort and strengthen our souls. 

Tobit, a righteous man in exile, keeps the law despite real danger and threat to his life. His compatriots mock him, yet he remains faithful. Giving generously to those in need and performing acts of mercy even if it meant self-denial. Now, that blindness has afflicted him he becomes disheartened and discouraged. And from the very depths of his soul, he arises a heartfelt prayer to God. 

Sarah too, the only daughter of her father, has suffered greatly. Having lost seven bridegrooms, she is crushed by the cruel taunts of her maidservant. Wanting to take her life she recollects how such a deed will destroy her poor father Raguel. Instead, she cries out to God begging for death that would end her misery and suffering. 

This time the prayer of each of them found favour before the glory of God, and Raphael was sent to bring remedy to them both. He was to take the white spots from the eyes of Tobit, so that he might see God’s light with his own eyes; and he was to give Sarah, the daughter of Raguel, as bride to Tobias son of Tobit, and to rid her of Asmodeus, that worst of demons. 

When we turn to You, my Lord, tirelessly and faithfully You will hear and You will answer. Help me Lord, never to lose heart but to come to You and lean on You and trust that in Your time and in Your way You will give me everything I have prayed for, and pleaded for, perhaps not in the way that I desired but so much better than anything that I could dream or hope for. Thank You, Lord.

PSALM 24(25):2-9 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

The surest way of finding comfort in times of distress is to run to You, hide in You, and take refuge in You. No one who ever approached You was ever turned away or went away disappointed. 

Often, when we have to wait for an answer, we become discouraged and despondent, and our faith wavers. When we persist in prayer, in faith, when we persist in praising and glorifying Your Name, recalling all the blessings that You have showered on us in the past, and Your abiding faithfulness even when we sinned and turned away from You, our faith is strengthened and our confidence returns.

I know my Beloved, that You will never give up on me. Thank You for hearing all my prayers and for answering me.

In you I hope all day long

because of your goodness, O Lord.
Remember your mercy, Lord,
and the love you have shown from of old.
Do not remember the sins of my youth.
In your love remember me.

MARK 12:18-27 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

Many well-meaning Christians believe and teach false doctrines like the Sadducees. They have a faulty understanding of Scripture and hence they come to flawed conclusions and they hold fast to their errors. It takes humility and obedience to embrace the whole Truth which is revealed by the Holy Spirit not all at once but develops in stages over time. 

The fullness of Truth is entrusted to the Church founded on Peter the Chief of the Apostles, the apostles, and their successors. They do assiduously search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that testify on my behalf. However, they trust their own reasoning, their own wisdom,  disregarding the truth that "all salvation comes from Christ the Head through the Church which is his Body". 

We will never go wrong when we embrace the entire deposit of faith entrusted to  Holy Mother Church. We need both Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture if we are to navigate safely through the storms until we reach safe harbor. Your words addressed to the Sadducees are also directed at anyone who wants to pick and choose what doctrinal teachings they will accept as well as the interpretation of Sacred Texts that are not in line with Apostolic Tradition.

‘Is not the reason why you go wrong, that you understand neither the scriptures nor the power of God? For when they rise from the dead, men and women do not marry; no, they are like the angels in heaven. Now about the dead rising again, have you never read in the Book of Moses, in the passage about the Bush, how God spoke to him and said: I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob? He is God, not of the dead, but of the living. You are very much mistaken.’