ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA, RELIGIOUS, FRIDAY OF THE 11TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME - 2024

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

How happy are the poor in spirit:
theirs is the kingdom of heaven. MT 5:3

2 KINGS 11:1-4,9-18,20

My Soul's Beloved,

Right through salvation history we see that "Although evil has its hour, God will have His day." Athaliah was a wicked queen and for a while she reigned she triumphed but it was for but a season. God is constantly working behind the scenes making all things work for good, of this we can be sure.

Lord Jesus, we lose heart too easily. We are ready to give up too soon when we keep our focus on the things that disturb our peace. We would be much happier if we kept our gaze on You instead and recalled all Your promises and all the times when we thought that our sorrows would never end, they did. Joy and gladness did come and we rejoiced.

In all the trials I am facing presently Beloved, let me never lose sight of hope. My confidence is in the love of God who has never failed me and never will.

PSALM 131(132):11-14,17-18

The Lord swore an oath to David;
he will not go back on this word:
‘A son, the fruit of your body,
will I set upon your throne.

If they keep my covenant in truth

and my laws that I have taught them,
their sons also shall rule
on your throne from age to age.’

For the Lord has chosen Zion;
he has desired it for his dwelling:
‘This is my resting-place for ever;
here have I chosen to live.

There David’s stock will flower;

I will prepare a lamp for my anointed.
I will cover his enemies with shame
but on him my crown shall shine.’

The Lord has chosen Zion; he has desired it for his dwelling.

MATTHEW 6:19-23

My Soul's Beloved,

They say one person's treasure is another person's trash. This is especially true when children clear out the accumulation of years their late parents had collected and treasured. Some of it may even have some value, some were part of their parent's priceless memories but the children have no use for much of it. We set such store by these material things as we collect, hoard, and find hard to part with. What good does it do any of us in the end since we have to leave it all behind? 

Today You remind us of the kind of treasure we are required to accumulate and store if we desire to enjoy the beatific vision. ‘Do not store up treasures for yourselves on earth, where moths and woodworms destroy them and thieves can break in and steal. But store up treasures for yourselves in heaven, where neither moth nor woodworms destroy them and thieves cannot break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.’

We spend a lifetime agonizing about things that in the end are irrelevant. Our faith, hope, and love are weak and we make these virtues subject to our ephemeral feelings, desires, and wants, and make ourselves positively unhappy for much of our lives. Nothing is in our control and this truth can either depress us and make us joyless or we can exult in this truth that God is in control, He is our Abba and He loves us. When we live in the right knowledge that God is good all the time we can place our lives and the lives of our children securely in His hands and we will experience true serenity of soul. Sadly, Beloved, I for my part struggle daily to snuggle close beside You like a weaned child at its breast and this is why my life is filled with sorrow, terror, and anxiety. 

Lord Jesus, this is my prayer today, give me the heart and spirit of a little child so I may trust you completely. May light, life, and love fill all my days for I know in whom I have placed all my hope.

‘The lamp of the body is the eye. It follows that if your eye is sound, your whole body will be filled with light. But if your eye is diseased, your whole body will be all darkness. If then, the light inside you is darkness, what darkness that will be!’