ST. JOSEPH VAZ - TUESDAY OF WEEK 2 IN ORDINARY TIME - 2024

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

May the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ
enlighten the eyes of our mind,
so that we can see what hope his call holds for us. EPH 1:17, 18

1 SAMUEL 16:1-13 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

Too often we can be like Samuel, we hold on to things that You desire us to let go of because You want to give us something better but we cling on to things of the past unwilling to give them up and embrace the wonderful new thing that You wish to give us. Saul proved to be unworthy of his high calling and God had chosen another, David, the shepherd whom He would be king of His people, Israel, and a foreshadow of the true Shepherd King.

Sometimes we are unwilling to trust You, Lord, like the elders of the town who were afraid that God had sent Samuel to punish them but he assured them that he had come to offer a sacrifice and to bless the house of Jesse by anointing his youngest son as the king of Israel. Samuel's gaze noted the outward appearances of Jesse's sons and believed that because they were tall, handsome, and strong one of them would be God's anointed. But Your ways O Lord are not our ways, nor are Your thoughts our thoughts. You rejected them all,  saying to Samuel, ‘God does not see as man sees; man looks at appearances but the Lord looks at the heart.’ When the youngest son, a mere lad, was called from the fields the Lord said, ‘Come, anoint him, for this is the one.’ At this, Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him where he stood with his brothers; and the spirit of the Lord seized on David and stayed with him from that day on. 

Beloved, we too are Your anointed - fill us with Your Holy Spirit so we may always do what is pleasing to You, our Lord, our King, and our God.

PSALM 88(89):20-22,27-28 ©

Of old you spoke in a vision.

To your friends the prophets you said:
‘I have set the crown on a warrior,
I have exalted one chosen from the people.

‘I have found David my servant

and with my holy oil anointed him.
My hand shall always be with him
and my arm shall make him strong.

‘He will say to me: “You are my father,

my God, the rock who saves me.”
And I will make him my first-born,
the highest of the kings of the earth.’

I have found David, my servant.

MARK 2:23-28 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

Today Your Word reminds us that we must guard against the law becoming blinkers that prevent us from being human, compassionate, empathetic, kind, and sensitive to the needs of those around us. When we impose the law regardless of whether or not it is inappropriate to do so in some circumstances we become soulless, heartless, and tyrannical. 

The chief priests, scribes, and Pharisees were hell-bent on imposing the whole law, many of them man-made, insisting it was mandatory to keep them all and causing great difficulty to those who were poor and ignorant. The law in these cases became a tyrant. Grant O Lord to remember that we are more pleasing to You when we are merciful and kind rather than judgmental and condemnatory especially to the poor, the less fortunate, and the ignorant. 

The Church, following Your example, has always welcomed and embraced with mercy those whom the world despises and rejects and we who are her children must do the same remembering always Your teaching: ‘The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath; the Son of Man is master even of the sabbath.’