FRIDAY OF WEEK 28 IN ORDINARY TIME - 2023

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

May your love be upon us, O Lord,

as we place all our hope in you. PS 32:22

ROMANS 4:1-8 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

Whatever I may think of myself whether good or evil, whether I am boastful or humble, whether I think I am of consequence or not is meaningless because what I think is immaterial what matters O Lord is what You think of me. If, despite all my sins, all my weaknesses, all the times I have been ensnared by the wiles of the Enemy, you still look on me with tenderness and lavish your love on me, it is not because of anything that I have done for all my deeds are as filthy rags before You.

I look at You O Lord and I am blown away by Your faithfulness, kindness, gentleness, forbearance, and patience. Even my faith in You Beloved is a gift that the Holy Spirit bestowed on me through baptism.  You O Lord have made me a child of the Father and have sent Your Holy Spirit to abide in me. Every breath I take, and every good act that the Holy Spirit inspired me to do is but a response to Your infinite, irrevocable, unfathomable love for me.

It is You who have pardoned my sins, You have wiped my soul clean of all my offences, You justify me by the power of Your sacrificial love that bore my sins, my iniquities and purchased my redemption. I owe You my life and I surrender my life to You do with me what you will.

David says the same: a man is happy if God considers him righteous, irrespective of good deeds:

Happy those whose crimes are forgiven,
whose sins are blotted out;
happy the man whom the Lord considers sinless.

PSALM 31(32):1-2,5,11 ©

Happy the man whose offence is forgiven,

whose sin is remitted.
O happy the man to whom the Lord
imputes no guilt,
in whose spirit is no guile.

But now I have acknowledged my sins;

my guilt I did not hide.
I said: ‘I will confess
my offence to the Lord.’
And you, Lord, have forgiven
the guilt of my sin.

Rejoice, rejoice in the Lord,

exult, you just!
O come, ring out your joy,
all you upright of heart.

You are my refuge, O Lord; you fill me with the joy of salvation.

LUKE 12:1-7 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

Every sin can be forgiven except our denial of the fact that we are sinners. We are born in sin and can only be forgiven if we acknowledge that we are sinners and with humble and contrite hearts confess them and beg Your forgiveness and pardon. You assure us that no sin is greater than Your mercy.

In today's Gospel reflection, we read of the thousands who pressed around You hungry for Your word, yearning for Your healing touch, and the assurance and consolation that God had not forgotten them even though they were under the oppressive rule of the Roman empire. Even in the midst of being under foreign rule their own religious authorities also lorded it over them demanding that follow all the Mosaic laws.

You taught with authority and were not afraid to strip the veil of self-righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees and expose their hypocrisy publicly. What You said then is relevant today and until time runs its course.  In the early days of Christianity they met in secret, prayed in secret, and offered the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in secret just as You said it would be:

Everything that is now covered will be uncovered, and everything now hidden will be made clear. For this reason, whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in hidden places will be proclaimed on the housetops.

But that time has now passed. Now is the time of the proclamation of the Good News so that all may be saved and come to the knowledge of truth. The one thing that You forbid is to be cowed down with fear because God is our Father, we are covered by the Blood of the Lamb and we are the temples of the Holy Spirit. You call us friends and You reveal that we are precious in the Lord's sight. So precious that God sent You into the world to reveal the full extent of His love for us in Your humanity, in Your passion, in Your ignominious crucifixion, and in Your glorious resurrection from the dead. Let us prepare ourselves armed with Truth for the tribulation that seems imminent as we surrender our lives with complete confidence to You. 

‘To you my friends I say: Do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. I will tell you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has the power to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him. Can you not buy five sparrows for two pennies? And yet not one is forgotten in God’s sight. Why, every hair on your head has been counted. There is no need to be afraid: you are worth more than hundreds of sparrows.’