29TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - 2024

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

The Son of Man came to serve
and to give his life as a ransom for many. MT 10:45

ISAIAH 53:10-11

My Soul's Beloved,

Suffering entered the world with the fall of our first parents. By their disobedience, they forfeited heaven for themselves and their descendants. This fruit of willful sin is death and eternal separation from God of Love who is the Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier. The justice of God demanded that we be punished for our sins but the mercy of God, knowing that it was impossible for us to save ourselves, made a way by sending You into the world as one of us, true God and true Man, sinless, holy, and perfect, to pay the ransom for our salvation.

You O Lord, became the Victim, the Holocaust, and the Sacrifice, the Cross became the Sacred Altar on which You offered Yourself as a whole burnt offering, once and for all time. Your perfect Sacrifice brought forgiveness, healing, and restoration to the entire human race. We have hope because of You. We live because of You. We inherit a share in the Kingdom of God because You generously and wholeheartedly share all that Your Father has given You with us. Love sent You into the world to make perfect atonement for our sins. Love willingly laid Himself down on the Wood of the Cross and gladly entered into our death so we could enter into Your Life.

My Jesus, forgive me for my cowardly approach to suffering. For my desire to flee as far as possible from the daily cross that You desire me to pick up daily and follow You. Thank You for the rich graces You make available to me in the Sacraments through which abundant grace is given to every member of Your Body in the Church. 

Thank You, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We are Yours now and always.

The Lord has been pleased to crush his servant with suffering.
If he offers his life in atonement,
he shall see his heirs, he shall have a long life
and through him what the Lord wishes will be done.
His soul’s anguish over,
he shall see the light and be content.
By his sufferings shall my servant justify many,
taking their faults on himself.

PSALM 32(33):4-5,18-20,22

May your love be upon us, O Lord, as we place all our hope in you.

The word of the Lord is faithful
and all his works to be trusted.
The Lord loves justice and right
and fills the earth with his love.

The Lord looks on those who revere him,

on those who hope in his love,
to rescue their souls from death,
to keep them alive in famine.

Our soul is waiting for the Lord.

The Lord is our help and our shield.
May your love be upon us, O Lord,
as we place all our hope in you.

May your love be upon us, O Lord, as we place all our hope in you.

HEBREWS 4:14-16

My Soul's Beloved,

The reason why I am such a reluctant cross-bearer is because I forget that You have shown me how to accept and endure suffering. I take my gaze off of You and focus on my lack of courage and become consumed with fear and anxiety and give up and run away. I wallow in pathetic self-pity making my cross heavier than it needs to be. I am deaf to Your invitation to, 'Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden.’ 

You know how we feel - every one of us, every man, woman, and child can look at the Cross and find meaning and purpose in life. When the world and all its ugliness, violence, destruction, evil, and death become too much for us we must find comfort in the truth that we have a high priest who knows what we have to endure because You took upon Yourself all the suffering and grief of the world. Thank You, Lord.

Since in Jesus, the Son of God, we have the supreme high priest who has gone through to the highest heaven, we must never let go of the faith that we have professed. For it is not as if we had a high priest who was incapable of feeling our weaknesses with us; but we have one who has been tempted in every way that we are, though he is without sin. Let us be confident, then, in approaching the throne of grace, that we shall have mercy from him and find grace when we are in need of help.

MARK 10:35-45

My Soul's Beloved,

We see how from the very beginning as You were teaching and forming Your Church on the Twelve, they were as squint-eyed, and narrow in their vision as we are. We all jostle each other and elbow each other out of the way in order to be the first. To stand at the head. To have a position of authority and power over others. Like them, we are prepared to knock down people, step over them, and even on them to race ahead, get the most, and have access to the things of this world before everyone else. This is the way that leads to death, not life. 

Let us, O Lord, who desire to follow You closely imperfect as we are, take heed, pay attention and listen to what You say to the Twelve - it is what You say to Your Church as well and to all of us in it and all who desire to belong to it.

The Way to Life is the Way of the Cross. There is no other.

When the other ten heard this they began to feel indignant with James and John, so Jesus called them to him and said to them, ‘You know that among the pagans their so-called rulers lord it over them, and their great men make their authority felt. This is not to happen among you. No; anyone who wants to become great among you must be your servant, and anyone who wants to be first among you must be slave to all. For the Son of Man himself did not come to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.’