TUESDAY OF THE 6TH WEEK OF EASTERTIDE - 2024

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

I will send you the Spirit of truth, says the Lord;
he will lead you to the complete truth. JN 16:7, 13

ACTS 16:22-34 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

You O Lord are the Way to the Father's house and You have shown us how to get there - it is only through suffering, the cross, and death to self. There is no other way, there isn't an easier way, if there was You would have revealed it to us. The Apostles including Paul and every martyr who followed in Your footsteps from Gethsemane, to Golgotha, to the tomb have received a share in Your glorious resurrection. 

The world has been and will always be hostile to Your followers, Lord. Paul and Silas were stripped and flogged by the magistrates to please the crowd and they were thrown in jail with their feet fastened in the stocks. Bleeding and in pain they chose to pray and sing hymns of praises to God late into the night instead of wallowing in their suffering. The other prisoners there listened and marveled. We learn the kind of attitude we must have when we are privileged to suffer for Your sake and for the Gospel and then we will experience the power of God and the Holy Spirit. Faith has the power to move mountains, cause kingdoms to fall, the wicked to be destroyed, and God's people to be victorious. 

Paul and Silas's attitude of faith and trust in God at a time when they were in chains and in prison caused an entire family to believe in You and be saved. Help us O Lord, in our own small way to witness to those around us by carrying our daily cross cheerfully and with faith. 

PSALM 137(138):1-3,7-8 ©

I thank you, Lord, with all my heart:
you have heard the words of my mouth.
In the presence of the angels I will bless you.
I will adore before your holy temple.

I thank you for your faithfulness and love,
which excel all we ever knew of you.
On the day I called, you answered;
you increased the strength of my soul.

You stretch out your hand and save me,
your hand will do all things for me.
Your love, O Lord, is eternal,
discard not the work of your hands.

You stretch out your hand and save me, O Lord.

JOHN 16:5-11 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

Thank You for all You revealed to Your disciples and we are grateful to the Holy Spirit who has helped the Church since its inception to preserve all You did and taught in her treasury of faith. This rich deposit of our faith she passes down faithfully from one generation to the next with the help and the power of Your Holy Spirit who abides in her and will do so until You return in glory. She cannot teach error because You have guaranteed by the power of Your Word that she never can nor will she ever do so because of the Spirit dwelling in her. 

Jesus said to his disciples:
‘Now I am going to the one who sent me.
Not one of you has asked, “Where are you going?”
Yet you are sad at heart because I have told you this.
Still, I must tell you the truth:
it is for your own good that I am going
because unless I go,
the Advocate will not come to you;
but if I do go,
I will send him to you.
And when he comes,
he will show the world how wrong it was,
about sin,
and about who was in the right,
and about judgement:
about sin: proved by their refusal to believe in me;
about who was in the right: proved by my going to the Father and your seeing me no more;
about judgement: proved by the prince of this world being already condemned.’