MONDAY OF WEEK 28 IN ORDINARY TIME - 2023

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

Harden not your hearts today,
but listen to the voice of the Lord. PS 94:8

ROMANS 1:1-7 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

The mission of every baptized Christian is clear - we are called to preach the Gospel by our lives. The sad truth today is that Christians themselves are ignorant of the power of the Gospel to heal, to empower, and to save. If we are to know true joy then there is only one way - we must keep the Commandments that God Himself who created us has given us. Beloved, the Father knows best how to ensure that His children will be happy and live life to its full this is why we must obey them. 

In keeping the first three commandments are lives are rightly oriented toward God. The love of God is everything. It is only when we are faithful in keeping them that the rest of the commandments are easier to keep as well. It is only true love for God that enables us to love one another as sisters and brothers. 

The Commandments are considered old-fashioned and meant for the older generations not for the world today and yet our world has never been closer to fragmentation and destruction than it has ever been before. Only the Good News can save the world and the need of the hour is for Christians who are filled with apostolic zeal and prepared to lay down their lives for You and for the sake of the Gospel. We need the fire of the Holy Spirit to be enkindled in us before we can go out into the world and set it ablaze with the love of the Father, the Truth of the Eternal Word and the power of the Holy Spirit. 

PSALM 97(98):1-4 ©

Sing a new song to the Lord
for he has worked wonders.
His right hand and his holy arm
have brought salvation.

The Lord has made known his salvation;
has shown his justice to the nations.
He has remembered his truth and love
for the house of Israel.

All the ends of the earth have seen
the salvation of our God.
Shout to the Lord, all the earth,
ring out your joy.

The Lord has made known his salvation.

LUKE 11:29-32 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

We have failed as parents just as our parents failed us, and their parents failed them. Ignorant of the faith that we were privileged to receive we went no further in making that faith come alive in us by studying it, reflecting on it, and living it. Had we done so we would have spent less time ensuring that our children were equipped to survive economically and materially in the world. In matters of the faith though we have done dismally and if their ignorance is abysmal the blame lies squarely with us.

Today, it is time we take Your words to heart as You address the crowds that thronged to see You in order to be healed or to just satisfy their curiosity. We too clamor for signs in order to believe and there is no dearth of doomsayers looking for them in order to order to make sense of the turbulent and worrying times we live in.

As You rightly point out, Beloved, this is the only Sign we need - the Sign of the Cross, the Sign of our redemption and our salvation, and the triumph and victory of Your glorious resurrection that crushed the head of Satan and conquered death.

‘This is a wicked generation; it is asking for a sign. The only sign it will be given is the sign of Jonah. For just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to this generation. On Judgement day the Queen of the South will rise up with the men of this generation and condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and there is something greater than Solomon here. On Judgement day the men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation and condemn it, because when Jonah preached they repented; and there is something greater than Jonah here.’