SATURDAY OF WEEK 10 IN ORDINARY TIME - 2024

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

Bend my heart to your will, O Lord,
and teach me your law. PS 118:36, 29

1 KINGS 19:19-21

My Soul’s Beloved, 

When You call, Lord, we must answer, when You invite us to follow You we must do so without stopping to weigh our options, or counting the cost for to follow You is everything. It is food, it is drink, it is abundance, it is eternal life but first persecution, and dying above all to self. 

Beloved, You have thrown the cloak over us who are members of Your Body and this is the sign that invites us into a deeper and lasting relationship with You. For Your Sake and for the sake of the Kingdom of God we are to leave everything and without turning back, we must follow You wholeheartedly. For Your Word tells us that anyone who puts his hand to the plough and then looks back is unworthy of the Kingdom of Heaven. 

If we hesitate, if we make very plausible excuses and seem quite legitimate, it is an indication of a divided heart and a reluctant spirit. Once Elisha understood that he was being called to something far greater than anything he could have ever imagined, he made certain that he would not leave any room for anything to tempt him to return to his former life. 

Grant me the grace O Lord that having put my hand to the plough I will never turn back but cling to You and have no craving for the things that could bring me to eternal ruin.

PSALM 15(16):1-2,5,7-10

Preserve me, God, I take refuge in you.
I say to the Lord: ‘You are my God.’
O Lord, it is you who are my portion and cup;
it is you yourself who are my prize. 

I will bless the Lord who gives me counsel,
who even at night directs my heart.
I keep the Lord ever in my sight:
since he is at my right hand, I shall stand firm. 

And so my heart rejoices, my soul is glad;
even my body shall rest in safety.
For you will not leave my soul among the dead,
nor let your beloved know decay. 

You are my inheritance, O Lord. 

MATTHEW 5:33-37

My Soul’s Beloved, 

You are the Eternal Word, the Living Word, the Word that sustains and upholds all creation and today You say to every disciple that we must be transparent in our words. Words can be used to deceive, to prevaricate, to quibble, to obfuscate what is really in our hearts. You abhor such deception. We are to be simple, innocent, childlike, open-hearted, and speak with such clarity that no one can misunderstand what we say. 

Swearing to something that we have every intention to do is unnecessary, but swearing to a lie is worse. There is no need to swear oaths because as You remind us today: 

Do not swear at all, either by heaven, since that is God’s throne; or by the earth, since that is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, since that is the city of the great king. Do not swear by your own head either, since you cannot turn a single hair white or black. 

We have control over nothing least of all God, and hence: 

All you need say is “Yes” if you mean yes, “No” if you mean no; anything more than this comes from the evil one.’