WEDNESDAY OF WEEK 34 IN ORDINARY TIME - 2023

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

Even if you have to die, says the Lord,
keep faithful, and I will give you
the crown of life. REV 2:10

DANIEL 5:1-6,13-14,16-17,23-28 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

When we profane sacred things we bring God's wrath upon us. God is holy all God's creation is holy, God's creatures are holy, and above all created things man is holy. You have commanded us to be holy and perfect as Your Father and our Father in Heaven is holy and perfect. Our words, thoughts, and our deeds must be holy. We must strive for holiness and perfection always only then can we be pleasing to God. It is in our constant striving that has value in Your sight. Of course, we will fail any number of times in a day because we are broken, weak, frail, and subject to concupiscence. Each time we fall we rise again and begin anew.

Our bodies were created to glorify God and when we desecrate them we invite all kinds of diseases both physical and spiritual into our souls, however, when we use our bodies as they were meant to be used by God we thrive in every way. Beloved we have only to look at our broken world and see the horrific errors that are being promoted as desirable and good. All sanity, plain commonsense, and logic have fled from public discourse while diabolic lies that are destructive to body and soul are being touted and celebrated and even made punishable by law if we refuse to fall in line with the evil that is being forced upon all.

Today the Church reminds us that our lives are finite and we are accountable for our actions. The first two commandments are the only rules by which we ought to live our lives if we are to know joy in this life and everlasting joy in the life to come. 

The prophet Daniel refused the gifts and rewards that the king promised to give him for a correct interpretation of the writing on the wall, he would tell him what the words meant without accepting anything favors in return. He told the king that he had defied the Lord of Heaven and there would be severe consequences. What the prophet Daniel said to the king applies to our world as well. As long as we deny and defy God our world will sink deeper and deeper into corruption, decay, and death. We bring about our own annihilation the further we stray from the path of holiness, goodness, beauty, and truth. 

Responsorial Psalm DANIEL 3:62-67 ©

Sun and moon! bless the Lord.
Give glory and eternal praise to him!

Stars of heaven! bless the Lord.
Give glory and eternal praise to him!

Showers and dews! all bless the Lord.

Give glory and eternal praise to him!

Winds! all bless the Lord.
Give glory and eternal praise to him!

Fire and heat! bless the Lord.
Give glory and eternal praise to him!

Cold and heat! bless the Lord.
Give glory and eternal praise to him!

LUKE 21:12-19 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

In this final week as the liturgical comes to an end we are reminded about the things that matter, the things that are eternal, the things that are necessary to prepare us as we come to an end of our own personal pilgrim journey from this world to the next and for Your Second Coming in glory. 

To be faithful disciples in all seasons is to take up our cross daily and follow You. The world hated You and continues to hate You and all who follow You are hated as well. The Enemy will stop at nothing to steal what belongs to God. He lost paradise and his envy of us who are bound for heaven is all-consuming and he and his agents will stop at nothing to snatch us from You. You warn us most solemnly of what we can expect and also that we need not fear the Enemy for You O Lord are with us and You assure us that no one has the power to steal what God has entrusted to You. Let us not be anxious about what the rulers of this world can do to us for the only power they possess is to kill the body but after that can do nothing else. You assure us that if we endure to the end we will receive eternal life with You in heaven. You will be our reward.

Jesus said to his disciples: ‘Men will seize you and persecute you; they will hand you over to the synagogues and to imprisonment, and bring you before kings and governors because of my name – and that will be your opportunity to bear witness. Keep this carefully in mind: you are not to prepare your defence, because I myself shall give you an eloquence and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to resist or contradict. You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, relations and friends; and some of you will be put to death. You will be hated by all men on account of my name, but not a hair of your head will be lost. Your endurance will win you your lives.’