ST. LUKE EVANGELIST, ON FRIDAY OF WEEK 28 IN ORDINARY TIME - 2024

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

I chose you from the world
to go out and bear fruit,
fruit that will last,
says the Lord. JN 15:16

2 TIMOTHY 4:10-17

My Soul's  Beloved,

St. Paul is writing frankly to Timothy whom he loves as a son, of all the troubles he is undergoing in his ministry of preaching and teaching the Gospel. Demas deserted him after following the Way for a while as the lure of the world proved too much for him. Others like Crescens and Titus left him as they had things to do elsewhere. However, the evangelist Luke remained and this would have been consoling to him. St. Paul is human as all of us are and we can see from this letter that he is hurt and disappointed. 

You too, suffered as the Son of Man, just as well all must who are in the flesh and You understand when we feel low and a little bitter. When we feel unappreciated. When we are lonely. When we have to suffer because of the harm done to us by people we know, as he was harmed by Alexander the copppersmith. He writes about being abandoned by everyone in his time of need. But through it all, he was aware that You did not abandon him Lord, but strengthened him and provided all the grace he needed to withstand the troubles, trials, and difficulties he had to face.  

Beloved, so long as we, in all sincerity and faith in You, carry out the work that You created us to do, we can be certain that just as You stood by Paul You will also stand by us and provide all we need to remain true and faithful always.

But the Lord stood by me and gave me power, so that through me the whole message might be proclaimed for all the pagans to hear.

PSALM 144(145):10-13a,17-18

Your friends, O Lord, make known the glorious splendour of your reign.

All your creatures shall thank you, O Lord,
and your friends shall repeat their blessing.
They shall speak of the glory of your reign
and declare your might, O God.

They make known to men your mighty deeds

and the glorious splendour of your reign.
Yours is an everlasting kingdom;
your rule lasts from age to age.

The Lord is just in all his ways

and loving in all his deeds.
He is close to all who call him,
who call on him from their hearts.

Your friends, O Lord, make known the glorious splendour of your reign.

LUKE 10:1-9

My Soul's Beloved,

You appointed the seventy-two and sent them ahead of You in pairs. You taught, trained, equipped, and sent them in pairs to preach, teach, proclaim the Gospel, and cure the sick.  Two are better than one. Two can help each other. When one is weak the other can provide the strength needed. Two can make the journey easier. Two can work together and pray together. Two together can supply what the other lacks. 

We live in a world where having, amassing, possessing, and striving constantly for more is the ruling mantra of the day. Our world is being ruined by rapacious greed, ruinous greed, greed that stops at nothing. No one is safe and the most vulnerable are the poor, babies, children, the sick, the old, the abandoned. These, the proud and the haughty are drunk with power and the belief that they are accountable to no one, not even to You for they believe they are invincible. The children of God are lambs among wolves. The way of God is the way of contradiction. It is a way that the world cannot understand and laughs to scorn. But God always has the last laugh at the Enemy. This is why the world rages with demonic rage against the Church. Those who voluntarily give up all for the sake of the Gospel are the most powerful in the world as St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta and others like her have proved. We are strongest when we are weak, richest when we are poor, foolish in the eyes of the world but wise in the wisdom of God.

The anawim of the Lord have nothing to fear and while the world continues to rape, steal, pillage, murder, and destroy, Your little ones will preach boldly and fearlessly, that the Kingdom of God is near.

 “The kingdom of God is very near to you.”