FRIDAY OF WEEK NINETEEN IN ORDINARY TIME - 2023

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

Accept God’s message for what it really is:
God’s message, and not some human thinking. 1TH 2:13

JOSHUA 24:1-13 ©

---- mine,

Whenever you are discouraged, sad, or feel overwhelmed by the weight of all the weights you down and oppress your soul, I want you to go over your life as far back as you can recall and ponder over all that you have experienced. The good, the bad, the joyful, the sad, and see the hand of God in each of them. This is what Joshua did, he gathered the people of God, descendants of Abraham and he reminded them of how God having chosen them to be a people uniquely His own was with them in all their trials and sufferings. It was God who delivered them mightily from the tyranny of the Egyptians and gave them possession of vast territories of bountiful land where they never toiled, He gave them towns that they did not build, and they ate from vineyards and olive-groves they never planted. 

Count your blessings ---- my own, each time sadness and anxious thoughts overwhelm you and rob you of My peace. Trust in Me, trust in My Word. Have faith. It is I who fight your battles for you and through all your struggles I AM with you. I uphold you with My victorious right hand. I never have nor will I ever leave you or abandon you - you are Mine.

PSALM 135(136):1-3,16-18,21-22,24 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

Thank You for reminding me once again that You are good and Your great love is endless and immeasurable. 

It is right and fitting that always and everywhere thanksgiving, praise, worship, and adoration are offered to You, O glorious God, from the rising of the sun to its setting.

May my voice unite with the earth and the choirs of angels and all the saints in heaven singing songs of praise and worship until You bring me home to Yourself and I behold You face to face. You have saved us O Lord and now we are Yours in time and in eternity.

MATTHEW 19:3-12 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

Marriage is sacred and it is God who calls us to this Sacrament. It is a lifelong vocation where both husband and wife learn how to love sacrificially. It is God who trusts us with children - we must welcome them and raise them in the fear of the Lord but witness to them by our lives how to live as God's holy people in a wicked and ungodly world. We pray for them unceasingly and teach them how to be pleasing to You always.

My Lord and My God, You know we are imperfect, You know we make mistakes, You know that we have not always made good choices, and we have often put the wisdom of the world before the wisdom of God in the raising of our children.  We thank You that You can still draw infinite good even from the poor choices we have made. Let us not allow regret for the things we failed to do to make us bitter and discouraged rather may we be humble enough to surrender all to You and trust You write straight on our crooked lines.

Chastity is a bad word in the current culture we live in and celibacy is seen as unnatural. Today You remind us that we are children of God, heirs to the Kingdom, and holy men and women are witnesses to the truth that it is possible to live chaste lives for the sake of the Gospel and for the Kingdom of God.