MONDAY OF WEEK 31 IN ORDINARY TIME - 2023

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

If you make my word your home
you will indeed be my disciples,
and you will learn the truth, says the Lord. JN 8:31-32

ROMANS 11:29-36 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

Lord increase my faith!. St. Paul assures me today that Your choice is irrevocable confirming graciously the loving word of assurance You spoke to me today. Yet, O Lord, I am weak and I am easily shaken with fear for those whom I love dearly and for whom I pray and plead with You unceasingly.

St. Paul also reassures me that God is unfailingly faithful and will never take back the gifts showered on us nor will nor go back on His choice. We are all Your people redeemed by the power of Your Blood and we are destined for eternal bliss with You in heaven. However, for as long as I and those I love walk in the valley of tears we will have to pick up our cross daily and follow You. There is no other way for us to be purified, strengthened, and prepared for the wedding banquet and the great joy that awaits us in Your Presence forever. And not only me O Lord but all humanity. Hasten the day of Your return in glory Beloved but not before all receive and acknowledge You as Lord, Redeemer, and Savior of the world.

PSALM 68(69):30-31,33-34,36-37 ©

As for me in my poverty and pain

let your help, O God, lift me up.
I will praise God’s name with a song;
I will glorify him with thanksgiving.

The poor when they see it will be glad

and God-seeking hearts will revive;
for the Lord listens to the needy
and does not spurn his servants in their chains.

For God will bring help to Zion

and rebuild the cities of Judah
and men shall dwell there in possession.
The sons of his servants shall inherit it;
those who love his name shall dwell there.

In your great love, answer me, O God.

LUKE 14:12-14 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

You came to seek and save the lost. You came for the sick, the outcast, the sinner, the marginalized, the exploited. The world is filled with victims of the grave injustices perpetrated against them by evil persons who forget that the day of reckoning will visit us all. 

The poor are always with us. They are among us and more often than not we are blind to their existence. We are deaf to their sighs and blind to their pain. Terror, violence against the helpless, and death are the lot of many in this world. Grant us the grace O Lord to see those in need around us and do what we can to alleviate a little of their suffering. Let us learn to give and not count the cost and You O Lord will ensure that we will be blessed abundantly in this life and super abundantly in the next.