FRIDAY OF WEEK 13 IN ORDINARY TIME - 1014

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened,

and I will give you rest, says the Lord. MT 11:28

AMOS 8:4-6,9-12

My Soul's Beloved,

We live in a world where the Word of God is being stifled. Evil forces are tirelessly at work in the world doing all in their power to expunge all knowledge of God, the Word of God, and the Word of Truth You so wickedness will rule the hearts and minds of God's children without being troubled by a guilty conscience. 

More and more licentiousness in every area of human life is encouraged. Suffering is considered evil. Self-sacrifice, self-abnegation, and mortification are ridiculed and people are encouraged to worship at the altar of self-gratification. The more we close in on ourselves the smaller and more warped we become. When we cease to grow we will rot and die.

Do not give us up to our depravity Lord, but remember the price You paid for our salvation. We are the work of Your hands do not forsake us lest we are doomed eternally. Grant courage and perseverance to Your faithful remnant to work tirelessly in spreading the Good News of salvation despite the suffering, deprivation, and persecution they endure. In Your great goodness and generosity count me among their number though I am unworthy. 

Listen to this, you who trample on the needy

and try to suppress the poor people of the country,

See what days are coming – it is the Lord who speaks –

days when I will bring famine on the country,

a famine not of bread, a drought not of water,

but of hearing the word of the Lord.

They will stagger from sea to sea,

wander from north to east,

seeking the word of the Lord

and failing to find it.

PSALM 118(119):2,10,20,30,40,131

They are happy who do his will,

  seeking him with all their hearts,

I have sought you with all my heart;

  let me not stray from your commands.

My soul is ever consumed

  as I long for your decrees.

I have chosen the way of truth

  with your decrees before me.

See, I long for your precepts;

  then in your justice, give me life.

I open my mouth and I sigh

  as I yearn for your commands.

Man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.

MATTHEW 9:9-13

My Soul's Beloved,

I thank You that You came for those whom the hypocrites despise. Thank You that You came for sinners. Thank You for seeking and saving the lost. Thank You for pursuing sinners until they repent of their sins and return to the fold. 

Matthew was rejected by his people because he chose a profession that was despised by his countrymen. By virtue of his profession, he was tarnished in the eyes of all self-respecting Jews and was not only considered a traitor but a thief as well. But You O Lord, see the heart. How Matthew's heart must have leaped because You looked at him without judgment and You invited him to follow You. He needed no second invitation but jumped up and once and followed You.

As Jesus was walking on, he saw a man named Matthew sitting by the customs house, and he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And he got up and followed him.

Matthew gave a feast in Your honor and invited his fellow tax collectors and other sinners to celebrate the new life that he had received. As usual the holier than thou Pharisees complained:

‘Why does your master eat with tax collectors and sinners?’ 

You replied: ‘It is not the healthy who need the doctor, but the sick. Go and learn the meaning of the words: What I want is mercy, not sacrifice. And indeed I did not come to call the virtuous, but sinners.’

Thank You, Jesus, for coming for me, a sinner. Thank You for ensuring that in the end, despite all the wrong turns that I have taken and will continue to take, You will seek me and You will find me, and You will give me a new heart and a new spirit and I will be saved.