THURSDAY OF WEEK 12 IN ORDINARY TIME - 2024

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

If anyone loves me he will keep my word,
and my Father will love him,
and we shall come to him. JN 14:23

2 KINGS 24:8-17

My Soul's Beloved,

Over and over again, salvation history teaches us how God deals with sinners and the consequences of choosing to sin gravely over keeping the Laws of God. Today we read how Jehoiachan who was 18 years of age did what was displeasing to God just as his father had done. It resulted in the troops of the king of Babylon marching on Jerusalem and devastating it. All the able-bodied people were taken into exile and only the poor were left behind. 

When we choose to use the wonderful gifts given to us for self-aggrandizement rather than to share them and serve others, we will eventually be separated from God. We are taken into exile and slavery. Sin enslaves but love sets us free. Who was left behind? The anawim of God are those who recognize that they are nothing, possess nothing, and rely solely on God for strength and to provide for all they need. When we use God's gifts selfishly and are prideful of them we lose His favor. Loving obedience and humble submission to the will of God guarantee us a life of abundance in grace and blessings. We lose everything when we squander God's gifts in a life of self-indulgence.

Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he came to the throne, and he reigned for three months in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Nehushta, daughter of Elnathan, from Jerusalem. He did what is displeasing to the Lord, just as his father had done.

The king of Babylon,  King Nebuchadnezzar carried off all the treasures of the Temple of the Lord and the treasures of the royal palace, and broke up all the golden furnishings that Solomon king of Israel had made for the sanctuary of the Lord, as the Lord had foretold. He carried off all Jerusalem into exile, all the nobles and all the notables, ten thousand of these were exiled, with all the blacksmiths and metalworkers; only the poorest people in the country were left behind. 

PSALM 78(79):1-5,8-9

O God, the nations have invaded your land,

they have profaned your holy temple.
They have made Jerusalem a heap of ruins.
They have handed over the bodies of your servants
as food to feed the birds of heaven
and the flesh of your faithful to the beasts of the earth.

They have poured out blood like water in Jerusalem;

no one is left to bury the dead.
We have become the taunt of our neighbours,
the mockery and scorn of those who surround us.
How long, O Lord? Will you be angry for ever;
how long will your anger burn like fire?

Do not hold the guilt of our fathers against us.

Let your compassion hasten to meet us;
we are left in the depths of distress.

O God our saviour, come to our help.

Come for the sake of the glory of your name.
O Lord our God, forgive us our sins;
rescue us for the sake of your name.

Rescue us, O Lord, for the glory of your name.

MATTHEW 7:21-29

My Soul's Beloved,

We are created by God, our Father, the Creator of the universe, and of all that is seen and unseen. We can function best when we follow His instruction manual to the letter. Any deviation will cause us to malfunction and ultimately, if we persist, we will fail hopelessly and be good for nothing except to be cast in the outer darkness and on the rubbish heap of hell.

Many of us are very good at making a great show of our piety. We are seen in all the right places at Holy Mass, spiritual retreats, novenas, and various parish activities. We make the right noises, say the right things, and ensure that all our good works are noticed. We overtly and subtly invite flattery and praise, and gloat and revel in it until we actually fool ourselves into believing we are indeed very good and pleasing to God, yet all the while, our hearts are far from Him. Darkness dwells in our soul for in the hidden recesses of our being there is only corruption and evil. Decay and death.

Let us pay close attention to Your warning to us today, we who are prone to hypocrisy -

‘It is not those who say to me, “Lord, Lord,” who will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the person who does the will of my Father in heaven. When the day comes many will say to me, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, cast out demons in your name, work many miracles in your name?” Then I shall tell them to their faces: I have never known you; away from me, you evil men!’ 

There can be no greater tragedy than to hear You say to us, 'Depart from Me, I have never known you.'

Each new day is a gift. Tomorrow is guaranteed to no one. Thank You, Lord, that we are built on You, the Rock and we will not be destroyed as long as we remain in You, our Lord and our God.

‘Therefore, everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a sensible man who built his house on rock. Rain came down, floods rose, gales blew and hurled themselves against that house, and it did not fall: it was founded on rock. But everyone who listens to these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a stupid man who built his house on sand. Rain came down, floods rose, gales blew and struck that house, and it fell; and what a fall it had!’