SEVENTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - 2023

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

Blessed are you, Father,
Lord of heaven and earth,
for revealing the mysteries of the kingdom
to mere children. MT 11:25

1 KINGS 3:5,7-12 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

When we desire the things that please You and we ask You to grant these gifts to us You do so promptly and You give in full measure. Solomon asked for the gift of wisdom when he could have asked for anything else because he discerned that on his own he could not rule the people and the nation entrusted to him without divine assistance. You give generously. You open the floodgates of grace and You pour into our hearts and our lives and You overwhelm us with Your goodness and kindness. Undeserving as we are You delight when we strive to live in the light of Your Word and allow Your Word to guide our steps.

This day, Beloved, I have asked that if it is in accord with Your will to grant me two favors, one to go make a pilgrimage to a Basilica dedicated to Your Blessed Mother and the second to make a retreat. I also desire that it is my husband who proposes that we do so. Thank You, Lord.

PSALM 118(119):57,72,76-77,127-130 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

Thank You for Your Word, Your Law of Love that has the power to strengthen and console. To heal and to build up. If we permit Your Word to make its home in our hearts we will need nothing more. 

Let your love be ready to console me

by your promise to your servant.
Let your love come and I shall live
for your law is my delight.

Your will is wonderful indeed;
therefore I obey it.
The unfolding of your word gives light
and teaches the simple.

ROMANS 8:28-30 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

St. Paul says that You have the power to turn all things that happen to us to our good if we love You as we ought. There is nothing so bad, so evil, so heartbreakingly sad or tragic from which You cannot draw out good, and breathtakingly and unbelievably beautiful. This is the power of the Living God. All things without exception work for good for those who love You, those who trust You, and those who gladly surrender their whole being to You. 

Here I am my Lord, I surrender my life to You. With every breath I breathe, I desire to be bound ever closer to Your Sacred Heart through the Immaculate Heart of Mary. You are our older Brother and You have given us Your Mother to be our own. You entrust us to her and I now rest in her arms as a weaned child in its mother's lap. Thank You Jesus for giving us Your Dad and Your Mom Mary to be our Abba and Imma as well. 

Thank You for calling me by name, thank You for justifying me, and thank You for sharing Your glory with me and with all the members of Your mystical body. 

MATTHEW 13:44-52 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

You are my Treasure in the Field, You are my Pearl of Great Price, the world, and my life is well lost for love of You. Grant me this wonderful grace O Lord to trust You wholeheartedly always no matter how terrifyingly the storms rage around me, grant me the kind of faith that remains unperturbed in the midst of the howling, shrieking winds, and the lashing of the waves. 

Count me among the good fish. Use me in any way You desire. I am Yours, Lord, do with me just as You will. Keep me from serious sin and hear my prayers for the conversion and salvation of those I love. Thank You, Lord, for always hearing and answering my prayers.