FRIDAY OF WEEK 27 IN ORDINARY TIME - 2024

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

Now the prince of this world is to be overthrown,
says the Lord.
And when I am lifted up from the earth,
I shall draw all men to myself. JN 12:31-32

GALATIANS 3:7-14

My Soul's Beloved,

Without seeing You, my Lord, we love You, we believe in You, we hope in You, and we know that our final and eternal reward is to finally see You face to face and to rest in You. This is faith, that we believe that You came into the world through the her fiat You became incarnate in the womb of the Virgin Mary by the Holy Spirit. You became one like us in all things save sin, and we are saved, Beloved, because You took on Yourself the curse that was ours through the sin of Adam and You turned that curse into an everlasting blessing. 

We are saved because You make one like us so we can become like You, sons and daughters of God. We receive a share in Your inheritance in the Kingdom of Heaven. We are not saved by keeping the commandments, all that the commandments serve to do is show us how guilty we are of sin and how deserving of death. But life O Lord comes from believing in You, loving You, serving You, and becoming like You. Salvation is Your gift to every man, woman, and child ever born of every race, nation, and language. The Father so loved the world that He gave us His only Son so that whoever believes in You, Beloved, has eternal life in the Holy Spirit whom You sent to help us. 

The Law will not justify anyone in the sight of God, because we are told: the righteous man finds life through faith. The Law is not even based on faith, since we are told: The man who practises these precepts finds life through practising them. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law by being cursed for our sake, since scripture says: Cursed be everyone who is hanged on a tree. This was done so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might include the pagans, and so that through faith we might receive the promised Spirit.

PSALM 110(111):1-6

The Lord keeps his covenant ever in mind.

I will thank the Lord with all my heart
in the meeting of the just and their assembly.
Great are the works of the Lord,
to be pondered by all who love them.

Majestic and glorious his work,
his justice stands firm forever.
He makes us remember his wonders.
The Lord is compassion and love.

He gives food to those who fear him;
keeps his covenant ever in mind.
He has shown his might to his people
by giving them the lands of the nations.

The Lord keeps his covenant ever in mind.

LUKE 11:15-26

My Soul's Beloved

The greatest lie of the Enemy is to deceive us into believing that what is good is evil and what is evil is good and the world is so ignorant of the Truth and yet so hungry for it that it is already disposed to believing anything. How have we reached here, Lord? The world is full of lapsed Catholics, lukewarm Catholics, Catholics in name, cafeteria Catholics, and part-time Catholics. We are either woefully ignorant and readily believe the half-baked arguments against Catholic doctrines by those who do not take the trouble of discovering why we believe what we believe but take the easier route of hating her with a visceral hatred and denigrating the Church at every turn.

The trick of the Enemy since the foundations of the world and our first parents is to slink and slither in through the slightest cracks and after gaining a foothold can crush us using our pride, envy, and concupiscence. Despite seeing firsthand the power of God at work in the signs and wonders wrought by You, Lord, the people could still be manipulated by the cunning of the Enemy that had found a home in the hearts of religious leaders.