MONDAY OF WEEK 14 IN ORDINARY TIME - 2024

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

Our Saviour Jesus Christ abolished death
and he has proclaimed life through the Good News. 2TIM 1:10

HOSEA 2:16,17-18,21-22

My Soul's Beloved,

What a great comfort it is to know that You came for sinners and not for the righteous. How good it is O Lord to belong to the Church which You founded and where the healing Sacraments are freely given to all God's children who have been born in her. 

The prophecy of Hosea finds its fulfillment in the Sacrament of Reconciliation and its fruit is the gift of worthy reception of Your Body and Blood free from deadly sin and it deadly and vicious grip on our souls.

O Beloved and Divine Lover, You allure Your poor, unworthy, weak, faithless, sinful spouse constantly with sweet and tender pledges of eternal life and words of tenderness, mercy, and compassion for our faults, failings, and Your assurance of forgiveness, healing, pardon, peace and restoration. We are espoused to You, Lord, You are our Divine Consort, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Ruler of the Universe and yet You become the most tender and humble of lovers when You pursue us tirelessly, gently, relentlessly, and woo us lovingly to return to Your arms and find our heaven and safe refuge in Your Sacred Heart.

It is the Lord who speaks –
she will call me, ‘My husband’,
no longer will she call me, ‘My Baal.’
I will betroth you to myself for ever,
betroth you with integrity and justice,
with tenderness and love;
I will betroth you to myself with faithfulness,
and you will come to know the Lord.

PSALM 144(145):2-9

The Lord is kind and full of compassion.

I will bless you day after day

  and praise your name for ever.

The Lord is great, highly to be praised,

  his greatness cannot be measured.

Age to age shall proclaim your works,

  shall declare your mighty deeds,

shall speak of your splendour and glory,

  tell the tale of your wonderful works.

They will speak of your terrible deeds,

  recount your greatness and might.

They will recall your abundant goodness;

  age to age shall ring out your justice.

The Lord is kind and full of compassion,

  slow to anger, abounding in love.

How good is the Lord to all,

  compassionate to all his creatures.

The Lord is kind and full of compassion.

MATTHEW 9:18-26

My Soul's Beloved,

You came for all - sinner and saint, righteous and unrighteous, rich and poor, sick and healthy but it is up to us to freely desire You and to desire to be touched and healed by You. You will never intrude, never force Your will on us, never impose on our free will but You will woo, cajole, and wait patiently to invite You into our hearts and home. You will minister to our spiritually dead family members when we come to You and plead with You with broken hearts, lamentation, and tears to come and touch, to heal and restore and You will come immediately.

Not only will You respond to the direct approach as You did when the official bowed low in humility before You and made his appeal, ‘My daughter has just died, but come and lay your hand on her and her life will be saved.’ 

But You will also respond to the silent, humble, hesitant, frightened overtures of those who deem themselves too unworthy to come up boldly to You but instead have faith enough to believe that if they only touched the hem of Your garment covertly, silent, hidden, that You have the power to heal. And such faith is not only pleasing to You but is also rewarded just the visible faith of the official was heard and answered.

Then from behind him came a woman, who had suffered from a haemorrhage for twelve years, and she touched the fringe of his cloak, for she said to herself, ‘If I can only touch his cloak I shall be well again.’ Jesus turned round and saw her; and he said to her, ‘Courage, my daughter, your faith has restored you to health.’ And from that moment the woman was well again.

No soul is so dead that it cannot be reawakened to life by the power of Your Resurrection. All sinners no matter how gravely and how often they have sinned but who approach You humbly, filled with shame, repentance, and contrition will be forgiven, pardoned, and restored and it will be as if they had never sinned and ruptured their relationship with You. They will be a new creation the old forgotten and never to be recalled again.

However, faith is a necessary requisite - our faith, the faith of the one in need, the faith of the community, the faith of loved ones who implore You daily with tears and sorrow for the conversion of family members who are dead in their sins, and the faith of the Church. There is always hope for You came to seek and find, to heal and make whole, to restore from death to life for it is the will of our heavenly Father that not one of His little ones be lost but that all may be saved and receive eternal life in His Kingdom.