ST. TERESA OF AVILA, VIRGIN & DOCTOR, ON TUESDAY OF WEEK 28 IN ORDINARY TIME - 2024

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

The word of God is something alive and active:
it can judge secret emotions and thoughts. HEB 4:12

GALATIANS 5:1-6

My Soul's Beloved,

St. Paul warns us that we can become slaves of our personal ideas and interpretations of what we think or desire Your word to be. We manipulate its meaning to suit our circumstances. We water it. We hold on fast and rigidly to some things and fiercely ignore what we are commanded to hold on to and believe. Divisions and factions mushroom and these keep dividing and splintering according to personal preferences and pet theories until there is little or no resemblance to the truth. Rather one idea, one skewed belief is held above all others and every other truth must be subservient to this zealously held idea at all costs. Thus, like those in St. Paul's time, who insisted that circumcision, or keeping the law of Moses was necessary for salvation these Christian factions too remain under the yoke of slavery. St. Paul says clearly that to people such as these, You O Lord, have cut themselves off from You, Your Church, and sacramental grace. Ultimately they will all wither and die. 

The Body receives life from the Head which is Christ. The Body is nourished by Your Flesh and Blood which is the food and drink necessary for the soul and four spiritual life. We flourish when we become partakers of the life of grace when streams of living water in the Sacraments are poured into our souls. Without this life of grace, we become stunted in our spiritual growth, we will bear inedible fruit and eventually, we will be good for nothing and be cut off and thrown into the fire.

You came to give us life and to give it in abundance. This life can only be received by belonging to Holy Mother Church. If we do not receive our life from her we will not live. We cannot be members of Your Body. We do not belong to her if we reject any part of Your Eternal Word. 

Beloved, You taught many things that we must believe and hold on to if we are to belong wholly to You. You will have no part of anyone who accepts one part of Your doctrinal teaching while rejecting others. If we do, we build on sand and eventually, the whole structure will collapse in utter chaos and ruin.

It is I, Paul, who tell you this: if you allow yourselves to be circumcised, Christ will be of no benefit to you at all. With all solemnity I repeat my warning: Everyone who accepts circumcision is obliged to keep the whole Law. But if you do look to the Law to make you justified, then you have separated yourselves from Christ, and have fallen from grace. Christians are told by the Spirit to look to faith for those rewards that righteousness hopes for, since in Christ Jesus whether you are circumcised or not makes no difference – what matters is faith that makes its power felt through love.

PSALM 118(119):41,43-45,47-48

Lord, let your love come upon me.

Lord, let your love come upon me,
the saving help of your promise.
Do not take the word of truth from my mouth
for I trust in your decrees.

I shall always keep your law
forever and ever.
I shall walk in the path of freedom
for I seek your precepts.

Your commands have been my delight;

these I have loved.
I will worship your commands and love them
and ponder your statutes.

Lord, let your love come upon me.

LUKE 11:37-41

My Soul's Beloved,

The Church You founded on Peter is full of sinners and saints. From the greatest to the least we all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Anyone who says he or she has not sinned is a liar and if we continue in this deception we can have no part in You. Grave sinners can be found among those in the highest corridors of

power who thrive on pomp and circumstance as well as among the members of the laity. We are all in need of the Divine Physician and Your mercy.

The Church has never been one to shy away from the truth. She readily admits that she is far from perfect. There have been wicked popes in the past and we continue to have wicked bishops, priests, deacons, and wicked lay members. The Church is made perfect by You and by Your merits. Your spouse is wrinkled and stained but You are constantly at work in her by the power of Your Holy Spirit. She is constantly giving birth to great saints who show the rest of us feeble creatures what is possible when we love You as we ought and we lay down our lives for one another just as You have loved us and laid down Your life for us. 

One thing the Church is not is Pharaisacal, she sees herself as she is because she recognizes that we all have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of her Bridegroom. But there are a host of Pharisees outside the Church who are hell-bent on holding tightly to their chest, all their prejudices against Your Bride. They receive as absolute truth the lies that have been spewed against her by every two-bit, so-called enlightened preacher. To all those who point their grimy fingers at Your Church who has never once said that she was sinless but was in fact a hospital for sinners, You say in no uncertain terms, 

‘Oh, you Pharisees! You clean the outside of cup and plate, while inside yourselves you are filled with extortion and wickedness. Fools! Did not he who made the outside make the inside too? Instead, give alms from what you have and then indeed everything will be clean for you.’

You prayed a most heartening and hopeful prayer for unity, Beloved, and the Father heard You. The Church unites her prayer with Yours and we know that someday, at a time that God ordains and wills, there will be only one flock with only one Shepherd. Hasten that day, Beloved when we will worship You on Mt. Zion in spirit and in truth.