MONDAY OF THE FIRST WEEK OF LENT - 2024

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

Now is the favourable time:
this is the day of salvation. 2 COR 6:2

LEVITICUS 19:1-2,11-18 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

This book was written over a thousand years before God sent You into the world at a time when the world was godless, or pagan, and wholly barbaric. Who then can deny that the Commandments given to Moses were out of this world. The people in the ancient world thought nothing of committing the most outrageous crimes against each other. They were lawless. Their conscience was ill-formed. But God, having created us for Himself, chose Abraham to begin the work of revealing Himself to us which would ultimately lead to our redemption and our salvation.  

This is what God had to say to His people, to us, and to the whole world until You come again in glory.

“Be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy.”

If we strive with the help of the grace that You so readily make available to us when we ask for it, then we will keep all the commandments that have been given to us. When we begin to love our neighbor as we love ourselves then the Kingdom of God will definitely be visible among us. 

Your words are spirit, Lord, and they are life. Help us to keep Your words, Beloved.

PSALM 18(19):8-10,15 ©

The law of the Lord is perfect,

it revives the soul.
The rule of the Lord is to be trusted,
it gives wisdom to the simple.

The precepts of the Lord are right,

they gladden the heart.
The command of the Lord is clear,
it gives light to the eyes.

The fear of the Lord is holy,

abiding for ever.
The decrees of the Lord are truth
and all of them just.

May the spoken words of my mouth,

the thoughts of my heart,
win favour in your sight, O Lord,
my rescuer, my rock!

Your words are spirit, Lord, and they are life.

MATTHEW 25:31-46 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

The Law of God is written in our hearts whether we know You or not because we are created by God. This is why many, though they did not know You, have done great works of charity because their hearts were moved to compassion and empathy by the natural law that is imprinted on every heart. 

The pity and tragedy is when we O Lord, who are called by Your Name are indifferent to the poor, the suffering, the sick, the outcast, the stranger, the weak, the prisoner, the homeless, those broken in heart, mind, soul, body, and spirit. On us will fall a harsher judgment. 

While we have time, Lord, grant us the grace to see You in everyone we meet especially those less fortunate than we are. We are but stewards of the gifts You have given us and You will demand a strict account of our stewardship. We are called to have open hands and open hearts. Help us to share while we still can not just material things but more importantly of ourselves and above all the treasure of God's Word and saving work. At the end of our lives may we be counted among those to whom You will say: 

 “Come, you whom my Father has blessed, take for your heritage the kingdom prepared for you since the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave me drink; I was a stranger and you made me welcome; naked and you clothed me, sick and you visited me, in prison and you came to see me.” Then the virtuous will say to him in reply, “Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you; or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and make you welcome; naked and clothe you; sick or in prison and go to see you?” And the King will answer, “I tell you solemnly, in so far as you did this to one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did it to me.”