WEDNESDAY OF WEEK SEVENTEEN IN ORDINARY TIME - 2023

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

I call you friends, says the Lord,
because I have made known to you
everything I have learnt from my Father. JN 15:15

EXODUS 34:29-35 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

Each time Moses came into the Presence of the Living God his whole being was illumined by the Light of God. So bright was the radiance that emanated from him that he had to keep his face covered except when he came into the presence of God. 

This is true for each of us who receive You worthily in Holy Communion or when we come into Your Presence in the Adoration Chapel except that we know this by faith. Our eyes do not perceive this but our spirit knows. We are regenerated, we are transformed, we become a little more like You whom we consume in the Flesh in the Holy Eucharist. We believe Your Word that when we eat Your Flesh and drink Your Blood we receive divine life for Your Flesh is real food and Your Blood real drink.

What do You ask of us my Lord and my God as we make our pilgrim journey from this life to our eternal home? You ask us to keep Your Commands. Anyone who listens to Your Word and obeys it builds their house on the Rock which cannot be destroyed no matter how powerful the rabid rage of the demonic forces unleashed against her. We have Your Word that the gates of hell will never prevail against her. Your lips have said it and Your Word is true.

 

PSALM 98(99):5-7,9 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

If every baptized Catholic cooperated with the graces that are heaped upon us through the Sacraments, kept Your commandments, made Your will the rule of our lives, and loved God and neighbor as You have instructed us to love, then we would be saints just like the ones we honor, admire, and strive to emulate.  

They invoked the Lord and he answered.

To them he spoke in the pillar of cloud.

They did his will; they kept the law,
which he, the Lord, had given.

MATTHEW 13:44-46 

My Soul's Beloved,

Nothing the world offers is comparable to the great treasure that is the Kingdom of God. Martyrs through the ages have preferred to die horrific deaths rather than give up this Pearl of Great Price, this Treasure hidden in the field. With God, it is all or nothing for You O Lord want nothing to do with a divided heart. You do not desire just a part of us, You want us to give our whole being to You without reservation. 

Too often we lack the courage of the saints who would rather die with You than live with the riches and honor that the world offered world without You. We live compromised lives. We are unwilling to make an unequivocal commitment to give up the world and to choose the narrow road that leads to life. We are cowardly,  too concerned with what the world thinks of us, and too attracted to a life of self-indulgence and ease and this is why we find it hard to lay down our lives for Your Sake and for the sake of the Gospel.

We know that the world and all it offers are transient, yet we choose the world, and the flesh, and allow ourselves to be enticed by evil.  You know that we are plagued by concupiscence. Pity us Lord and intervene. Take us by the hand and lead us. Have mercy on us sinners and keep us from final damnation for we know that there is no other name by which we can be saved but in Your Name alone Lord Jesus.