SATURDAY OF THE 5TH WEEK OF EASTERTIDE - 2024

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

Since you have been brought back to true life with Christ,
you must look for the things that are in heaven, where Christ is,
sitting at God’s right hand. COL 3:1

ACTS 16:1-10 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

We can learn much from the verses in this chapter of the Book Acts of the Apostles. A good reputation matters, it comes from living an upright life, a life that is shaped by the Word of God. The Church needs good, faithful, holy disciples to assist her in teaching, preaching, and witnessing to the Word of God. How wonderful it would be if we all lived as Timothy did so the Church would have no dearth of evangelists.

Here there was a disciple called Timothy, whose mother was a Jewess who had become a believer; but his father was a Greek. The brothers at Lystra and Iconium spoke well of Timothy, and Paul, who wanted to have him as a traveling companion, had him circumcised. This was on account of the Jews in the locality where everyone knew his father was a Greek.

There are times when the Church in her wisdom makes certain allowances in special cases to better serve her children. Paul was against circumcision for pagans who were baptized but he had Timothy circumcised to make it easy for him to be accepted by the Jewish believers. 

Another lesson we learn from this passage is to always be attentive to the Holy Spirit and docile to His instructions only then will the work for the Kingdom of God be fruitful. Paul was trusted by his companions because he was truly Your servant this is why the rest were prepared to follow where he led. We must set our egos aside and humbly follow those whom God has appointed to lead us. 

One night Paul had a vision: a Macedonian appeared and appealed to him in these words, ‘Come across to Macedonia and help us.’ Once he had seen this vision we lost no time in arranging a passage to Macedonia, convinced that God had called us to bring them the Good News.

Lord Jesus, Son of the Living God and Bridegroom of the Church keep all who are born of water and the Holy Spirit in humble and childlike docility under the leadership of the Magisterium.

PSALM 99(100):1-3,5 ©

Cry out with joy to the Lord, all the earth.
Serve the Lord with gladness.
Come before him, singing for joy.

Know that he, the Lord, is God.
He made us, we belong to him,
we are his people, the sheep of his flock.

Indeed, how good is the Lord,
eternal his merciful love.
He is faithful from age to age.

Cry out with joy to the Lord, all the earth.

JOHN 15:18-21 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

Forewarned is forearmed. We can be under no illusion about the world and hence we will not be disturbed, perturbed, or alarmed. The world committed deicide and attempts to do so to this day.  You died once, Lord, and can die no more. 

Let us not be fainthearted no matter what the enemies of Beauty, Truth, Goodness, and Love do to us. The crown of glory comes only after we have first worn the crown of thorns and carried our cross faithfully daily.

We live in a world that hates You and hates the Church You established because she will not kowtow to the demonic culture of our age. In a raging sea of evil and sin, she is the bark of Peter, the Ark of Noah, that will carry all God's children, baptized into Your Body, to safe harbor.

‘If the world hates you,
remember that it hated me before you.
If you belonged to the world,
the world would love you as its own;
but because you do not belong to the world,
because my choice withdrew you from the world,
therefore the world hates you.
Remember the words I said to you: A servant is not greater than his master.
If they persecuted me, they will persecute you too;
if they kept my word, they will keep yours as well.
But it will be on my account that they will do all this,
because they do not know the one who sent me.’