FRIDAY OF WEEK 34 IN ORDINARY TIME - 2024

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

Stand erect, hold your heads high,
because your liberation is near at hand. LK 21:28

APOCALYPSE 20:1-4,11-21:2

My Soul's Beloved,

There is life, death, judgment, and final reward. Those who deny that there is a God and that we were created by God for God do so at their own peril. Those who belong to the world believe they are accountable only to themselves for their actions, they believe they are the arbiters of their own fate and lives. They believe passionately that there is no God, no judgment, and no afterlife, if they didn't then they could not live as they pleased according to the flesh. If they acknowledged a higher power they would have to submit to it and the last thing they desire is to be held accountable for their sinful choices.  

All creation points to a Creator and every event since the creation of the world and the fall of our first parents has been a glorious, passionate, relentless pursuit of the God of love who desires nothing more than to restore to us, the crown of His creation, the glory that we had wantonly rejected and had lost forever. You O Lord, the Eternal Word of God, the only and most beloved Son of the Father are the only means acceptable to God to repair the unbridgeable chasm that original sin had created between God and us.  

Father, You created us, Lord Jesus, You have redeemed us and You, O Holy Spirit of God who proceeds from the Father and the Son sanctify us and make it possible for us, with the strength that comes from God alone, to make choices after the heart, mind, and will of God. We are living in the age of the Holy Spirit and while it may appear that the world is going to hell in a handbasket, the truth is that all things are working together for good for the glory of God and His Kingdom.

Keep us faithful and safe in the world until all the forces of darkness currently unleashed are vanquished by the Lamb that was slain and whose Blood has paid the price for our salvation. Hide us in Your Sacred Heart until the time of tribulation is ended and as co-heirs with You receive a share in Your triumph, victory, glory and inheritance.

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; the first heaven and the first earth had disappeared now, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the holy city, and the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, as beautiful as a bride all dressed for her husband.

PSALM 83(84):3-6,8

Here God lives among men.

My soul is longing and yearning,
is yearning for the courts of the Lord.
My heart and my soul ring out their joy
to God, the living God.

The sparrow herself finds a home
and the swallow a nest for her brood;
she lays her young by your altars,
Lord of hosts, my king and my God.

They are happy, who dwell in your house,

for ever singing your praise.
They are happy, whose strength is in you:
they walk with ever-growing strength.

Here God lives among men.

LUKE 21:29-33

My Soul's Beloved,

You ask us to be vigilant, to note the signs of the times and interpret them, we are to keep our eyes and ears open, we are to listen, we are to understand and amend our lives if we desire to be numbered among the sheep. Yet we procrastinate. We kid ourselves that we have time to do away with our evil inclinations, our concupiscence, and our tendency to choose the desires of the flesh rather than the life-giving spirit. 

The Kingdom of God is here do I truly desire it? Tomorrow is guaranteed to no one all I have is this day, this hour, this moment, and the choices I make now, if they are for life and not death will determine whether or not I spend eternity beholding You face to face in the beatific vision.

Jesus told his disciples a parable: ‘Think of the fig tree and indeed every tree. As soon as you see them bud, you know that summer is now near. So with you when you see these things happening: know that the kingdom of God is near. I tell you solemnly, before this generation has passed away all will have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.’