27TH SUNDAY 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

ISAIAH 5:1-7 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

Over and over again we hear God lamenting about His people whom He had chosen, nurtured, and revealed Himself by sending You His only Son to take flesh from a maiden chosen from among them. The Son of God lived His life among them as the Son of Mary and Joseph unveiling the Face of God to them and grew to be a Man in Nazareth. For the first thirty years of Your life, no one was even aware that God had descended from heaven and walked in their midst.  

There is nothing more that God our Father could have done for His chosen people whom He chose from all the nations. You spent three years of Your life preaching and teaching about the Kingdom of God urging them to recognize that every prophecy that God had ever made to them was being fulfilled even as they listened to You. You worked mighty signs and wonders that only proved who You were but despite everything the enemies of Truth put You to death. Not any death, Beloved, but having given Yourself up to those who hated You - You permitted hell and evil and all the powers of darkness to momentarily have their way. You were seemingly crushed, beaten, battered, and made a laughing stock before they crucified You brutally nailing You to the Tree of Life.

Except that death did not have the last word - You, O Lord, the Eternal Word of the Father rose up gloriously on the third day. Death could not hold You. Your triumph and victory in now the triumph and victory of all who believe.

Right now Beloved, the whole world is in distressing upheaval. It seems evil once again is overpowering the world that You redeemed. This is a lie. Your remnant O Lord are faithful. We trust in You and we trust in Your work of salvation and redemption. And while we wait we pray. Come, Lord Jesus, do not delay. Maranatha!

PSALM 79(80):9,12-16,19-20 ©

You brought a vine out of Egypt;

to plant it you drove out the nations.
It stretched out its branches to the sea,
to the Great River it stretched out its shoots.

Then why have you broken down its walls?

It is plucked by all who pass by.
It is ravaged by the boar of the forest,
devoured by the beasts of the field.

God of hosts, turn again, we implore,

look down from heaven and see.
Visit this vine and protect it,
the vine your right hand has planted.

And we shall never forsake you again;

give us life that we may call upon your name.
God of hosts, bring us back;
let your face shine on us and we shall be saved.

The vineyard of the Lord is the house of Israel.

PHILIPPIANS 4:6-9 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

Who could imagine that You could take a man like Saul, an enemy of Christians who hated them with a hatred he believed was righteous and would stop at nothing to annihilate every one of Your followers and make him an apostle to the Gentiles?

In our Sunday Liturgy today as we meditate and contemplate a passage from his letter to the people of Philippi we are comforted, consoled, and blessed by the wisdom and insight given to him by the Holy Spirit. In an age where darkness and evil are engulfing the world at a terrifying, we know that God is alive and God is at work. Truth will triumph, a new day is dawning and God will bless His people with peace.

There is no need to worry; but if there is anything you need, pray for it, asking God for it with prayer and thanksgiving, and that peace of God, which is so much greater than we can understand, will guard your hearts and your thoughts, in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, fill your minds with everything that is true, everything that is noble, everything that is good and pure, everything that we love and honour, and everything that can be thought virtuous or worthy of praise.

Beloved, if all the shepherds whom You have appointed and anointed to guard Your flock could say with the confidence of St. Paul, 'Keep doing all the things that you learnt from me and have been taught by me and have heard or seen that I do. Then the God of peace will be with you.' The Kingdom of God would already be in our midst and our world would be transformed into heaven. We pray with hope that that day is not far away.