THURSDAY OF WEEK 7 IN ORDINARY TIME - 2024

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

Accept God’s message for what it really is:
God’s message, and not some human thinking. 1TH 2:13

JAMES 5:1-6 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

If only the rich, the powerful, those who are fat and sleek by preying on the misery and the sweat, blood, and tears of the widow, the orphan, the marginalized, the outcast, the unseen. Because of the wealth they have accumulated on the backs of those who labor for them, and the power, position, and honor that the world bestows on them, they are foolish enough to believe that there is no greater power over them to whom they will have to render a strict account of their stewardship.

The Epistle of St. James is not very popular to those who prefer to blur the lines between the judgment of God and His mercy, and tender compassion. The meek will inherit the earth not those who lord it over them. Who suck the spirit of the poor and then spit them out. Like the rich man who was blind to the plight of Lazarus at his gate and then begged for Your mercy when he found himself in the pit of hell and in torment in the raging, unquenchable flames of hell, so too will those who have lived unconscionable lives perish in the undying pit of the nether world.

While we yet have time, Beloved, grant us the grace to always remember that we who are the Church always have a preferential love for the poor.

An answer for the rich. Start crying, weep for the miseries that are coming to you. Your wealth is all rotting, your clothes are all eaten up by moths. All your gold and your silver are corroding away, and the same corrosion will be your own sentence, and eat into your body. It was a burning fire that you stored up as your treasure for the last days. Labourers mowed your fields, and you cheated them – listen to the wages that you kept back, calling out; realise that the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. On earth you have had a life of comfort and luxury; in the time of slaughter you went on eating to your heart’s content. It was you who condemned the innocent and killed them; they offered you no resistance.

PSALM 48(49):14-20 ©

This is the lot of those who trust in themselves,
who have others at their beck and call.
Like sheep they are driven to the grave,
where death shall be their shepherd
and the just shall become their rulers.

With the morning their outward show vanishes
and the grave becomes their home.
But God will ransom me from death
and take my soul to himself.

Then do not fear when a man grows rich,
when the glory of his house increases.
He takes nothing with him when he dies,
his glory does not follow him below.

Though he flattered himself while he lived:
‘Men will praise me for all my success,’
yet he will go to join his fathers,
who will never see the light any more.

How happy are the poor in spirit: theirs is the kingdom of heaven.