TUESDAY OF WEEK TWENTY-THREE IN ORDINARY TIME - 2023

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

I chose you from the world
to go out and bear fruit,
fruit that will last,
says the Lord. JN 15:16

COLOSSIANS 2:6-15 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

The first three lines of today's reading taken from Colossians tell me how I ought to live my life as a Christian. St. Paul says that I must live my whole life according to You - for You, O Lord are the Image of the unseen God and I am invited to be like You for God has created us in His image and likeness. My whole being must be rooted in You through the power of the Holy Spirit that I received at my Baptism. My life, built on the firm foundation of Your Word, will be unmoved and unshaken if I live by faith in You and not by sight or by my feelings and motions, or allow my situation or the troubles in my life to take center stage and thus rob me of the peace that You have given me.  The secret of Christian joy is to be filled with thanksgiving to God for everything without qualification for all things without exception, work for good for those who love You and who are called by You to live in You and to have our being in You.

I must strip myself of all that hinders my growth as a Christian for through baptism I died to the world and I received new life and grace through the power of Your Resurrection. Thank You, Beloved, for the Sacrament of Reconciliation for through it I am forgiven completely of all my sins and I can begin anew every single time I approach this Sacrament with true contrition and repentance. Thank You for the Holy Eucharist and thank You for the grace to receive You every day strengthening me as I journey through this valley of tears to the Kingdom of God.

You have been buried with him, when you were baptised; and by baptism, too, you have been raised up with him through your belief in the power of God who raised him from the dead. You were dead, because you were sinners and had not been circumcised: he has brought you to life with him, he has forgiven us all our sins.

PSALM 144(145):1-2,8-11 ©

I will give you glory, O God my king,

I will bless your name for ever.
I will bless you day after day
and praise your name for ever.

The Lord is kind and full of compassion,
slow to anger, abounding in love.
How good is the Lord to all,
compassionate to all his creatures.

All your creatures shall thank you, O Lord,

and your friends shall repeat their blessing.
They shall speak of the glory of your reign
and declare your might, O God.

How good is the Lord to all.

LUKE 6:12-19 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

Without the lifeline of prayer that keeps us united with God, we would soon be crushed by the Enemy. You show us the way to stay in union with God - the evangelists reveal to us that You often went away by Yourself and spent whole nights in prayer, in close communion with Your Father and the Holy Spirit. You did this in order to know the Father's will and to align Your will with His in everything.

Returning to the disciples You chose twelve from among them and You called them Apostles. To them, You would give a special mission that would last until You returned.

You descended from the hills with them to the large

Jesus went out into the hills to pray; and he spent the whole night in prayer to God. When day came he summoned his disciples and picked out twelve of them; he called them ‘apostles’: Simon whom he called Peter, and his brother Andrew; James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Simon called the Zealot, Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot who became a traitor.

He then came down with them and stopped at a piece of level ground where there was a large gathering of his disciples with a great crowd of people from all parts of Judaea and from Jerusalem and from the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon who had come to hear him and to be cured of their diseases. People tormented by unclean spirits were also cured, and everyone in the crowd was trying to touch him because power came out of him that cured them all.