FEAST OF STS. MICHAEL, RAPHAEL AND GABRIEL, ARCHANGELS - 2023

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

Give thanks to the Lord, all his hosts,
his servants who do his will. PS 102:21

DANIEL 7:9-10,13-14 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

The Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit who are from eternity to eternity did not need us, creatures, yet in His great goodness and providence He loved us into being simply because He who is, who was, and ever shall be desired in His great magnanimity to share in the delight by creating us in order to draw us into this infinite and glorious love.  We could have had it all if our first parents had not sinned and separated us from God forever.

But God did not let Adam's sin become the inglorious epitaph of the man and the woman whom He created for eternal life and joy with Him. So what did God, our Father do? He gave us a New Adam in His Son, One who would be obedient unto death even death on a cross in order to redeem His poor, wounded, frail, sinful creatures who would otherwise be forever condemned to separation from their Creator. So You, my Beloved, came into the world to redeem what Adam had destroyed through pride and willful disobedience.

Today as we read and contemplate Daniel's vision of God, the One of Great Age to whom the entire cosmos and all in it worships in awe and delight, we are also given a foretaste of what will happen when time will cease. The New Adam, the Son of Man and the Son of God who entered into the very depths of the human experience so no one can ever say that You do not understand our misery and our suffering no matter what it may be, is conferred with the Crown of sovereignty, glory and kingship, and men of all peoples, nations and languages became his servants.

His sovereignty is an eternal sovereignty which shall never pass away, nor will his empire ever be destroyed, by Your Father and our Father in heaven. We are saved by the Blood of the Lamb and this is why no one can come into the Father's house unless they come through You.

PSALM 137(138):1-5 ©

I thank you, Lord, with all my heart:
you have heard the words of my mouth.
In the presence of the angels I will bless you.
I will adore before your holy temple.

I thank you for your faithfulness and love,

which excel all we ever knew of you.
On the day I called, you answered;
you increased the strength of my soul.

All earth’s kings shall thank you

when they hear the words of your mouth.
They shall sing of the Lord’s ways:
‘How great is the glory of the Lord!’

In the presence of the angels I will bless you, O Lord.

JOHN 1:47-51 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

It is most comforting to know that You know me, You see me, Your gaze is constantly on me. You know when I stand up and sit down. Before You, nothing is secret for You know all. Nathanael was surprised when You said to him, ‘Before Philip came to call you, I saw you under the fig tree.’ He was so wonderstruck that he exclaimed, ‘Rabbi, you are the Son of God, you are the King of Israel.’ You responded, ‘You believe that just because I said: I saw you under the fig tree. You will see greater things than that.’ 

It is true Lord, that there are more wondrous things that point out to us that You are not only the Son of God and the King of Israel but also the Ruler of the heavens and the universe. As St. Paul tells us, 'God put this power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come.' And elsewhere he says, "Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name   that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,  and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

Lord, Jesus, we long for the day of Your coming in glory. Maranatha! Lord Jesus, Maranatha!