MONDAY OF HOLY WEEK - 2024

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

Hail to you, our King!
You alone have had compassion on our sins.

ISAIAH 42:1-7 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

You are God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten not made, consubstantial with the Father. You are the only, and well-beloved Son of the Living God, and God sent You into the world to save and redeem His sinful, wilful, children. Had You not come into the world as one of us, O Lord, we would not have survived. The prophet Isaiah, inspired by the Holy Spirit revealed God's plan of salvation to His chosen people, Israel, but while they panted, and waited with longing for the Messiah - they rejected You when You came into the world. They had preconceived ideas and since You did not fit their mold they refused to believe that God could come as You did as a Servant, as the Suffering Servant.

You O Lord, are most beloved of Your Father. You are the delight of the Father's heart. You and Your Father are one in the love of the Holy Spirit. Three Persons in One God - Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier, One in Being, and One in Essence yet Three divine Persons. This is the mystery of our faith and the faith of our fathers. 

You were sent into the world to reveal the Face of the Father. To demonstrate in action the Love of God and to bring back to Him the children lost to Him by the sin of disobedience by our first parents. God woos us through You. God gentles our passions through You. God takes us by the hand through You. God ministers to us through You. God leads us gently from the paths of unrighteousness to the Way that leads us back to the Father's house. You bind our wounds by Your stripes. You pour Living Water into us and revive us. You feed us with Your Body and give us eternal life. Your love for us never wavers no matter how gravely we offend You and how forcefully we reject Your love. 

He does not cry out or shout aloud,
or make his voice heard in the streets.
He does not break the crushed reed,
nor quench the wavering flame.

You meet us where we are in our lives. The lower we sink You will still reach us for You went to the uttermost bounds of the netherworld and there You unshackled our bonds and brought us freedom and liberation from sin and death. 

You came to bring us new life. You came to save us. You came to give us peace that the world cannot give. Taking upon Yourself the sins of the whole world we receive forgiveness and reconciliation for our sins. Through Your bloody Sacrifice, the unpayable debt we owed to God is paid in full.

Faithfully he brings true justice;
he will neither waver, nor be crushed
until true justice is established on earth,
for the islands are awaiting his law.

O Lord our God, our redeemer and savior, our hope of eternal life we receive humbly and gratefully the life You have come to give us in You. In return, we give You our sinful lives. Thank You, for redeeming us. Thank You for the hope we have in You of eternal joy with You and our heavenly Father.

Thus says God, the Lord,
he who created the heavens and spread them out,
who gave shape to the earth and what comes from it,
who gave breath to its people
and life to the creatures that move in it:
‘I, the Lord, have called you to serve the cause of right;
I have taken you by the hand and formed you;
I have appointed you as covenant of the people and light of the nations,
‘to open the eyes of the blind,
to free captives from prison,
and those who live in darkness from the dungeon.’

PSALM 26(27):1-3,13-14 ©

The Lord is my light and my help;

whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life;
before whom shall I shrink?

When evil-doers draw near

to devour my flesh,
it is they, my enemies and foes,
who stumble and fall.

Though an army encamp against me

my heart would not fear.
Though war break out against me
even then would I trust.

I am sure I shall see the Lord’s goodness

in the land of the living.
Hope in him, hold firm and take heart.
Hope in the Lord!

The Lord is my light and my help.

JOHN 12:1-11 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

On that day, when You were invited for a celebration dinner at the house of Lazarus, Martha, and Mary in Bethany there would have been a festive atmosphere in that home. Many were invited to celebrate the miracle You performed by raising Your friend to life. The palpable air of mystery surrounded You - the people were beginning to believe You were the long-awaited Messiah. As for the members of that household, they already believed it. 

Mary, full of gratitude, love, reverence, and worship brought out a pound of very costly ointment, pure nard, and with it she anointed Your feet. She then wiped Your feet with her hair and the whole house was filled with the fragrance of the ointment. Everyone present would have wondered at the extravagance of Mary's gesture in their hearts but Judas Iscariot, the man who would betray You as the evangelist John bluntly points out, said: Why wasn’t this ointment sold for three hundred denarii, and the money given to the poor?’ St. John also reveals the character of Judas the betrayer - He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he was in charge of the common fund and used to help himself to the contributions. This was a man who made a pretense of righteousness while his heart was corrupt. 

You looked at Judas and said, ‘Leave her alone; she had to keep this scent for the day of my burial. You have the poor with you always, you will not always have me.’ You knew him to be a blackguard at heart, You knew the weak man that he was, You knew that he would soon commit the dastardly deed of betraying You to those who sought to kill You even as You revealed that You would not always be with them. 

The truly good and righteous person is hated by the wicked of this world and this is why those in authority burned with hatred for You and plotted to kill You. Feeling the stranglehold of power they exercised over the people was slipping after You raised Lazarus from the dead, they wanted nothing more than to destroy You.

Grant O Lord, that when our own faith in You is tested we may not flee but embrace the Cross for love of You. May we cling to the Cross always for the road to heaven is the way of sorrow and suffering.