THE PRESENTATION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY ON THURSDAY OF WEEK 33 IN ORDINARY TIME - 2024

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

Harden not your hearts today,
but listen to the voice of the Lord. PS 94:8

APOCALYPSE 5:1-10

My Soul's Beloved,

Israel waited in hope for the fulfillment of the promise made to Abraham and while she waited, God was constantly at work. Slowly but surely He prepared a nation after His own heart. Generation after generation for thousands of years would come and go, and as the promise remained unfulfilled Israel grew restless and faithless. She lost hope, she gave herself up to playing the harlot, she soiled her garments, and she broke faith with God but He remained faithful. He pursued her relentlessly No matter how far she fled from her God He sought her, wooed her, forgave her, and cleansed her, fed her, and restored her. Yet time and time again she wandered into enemy territory. She was broken, ashamed, filled with regret and desolation, and each time God came to her rescue. Finally, the day of deliverance was at hand when a Virgin's tremulous whisper responding to God's invitation to her to become the Mother of His Son, said, 'Yes, may it be done unto me according to Your will.' And the Lamb of Sacrifice became incarnate in her womb. You, O Lord, would restore what our first parents had lost. You O Lord, the Christ, the hope of all nations the Light of the world, the fulfillment of all God's promises, would become incarnate in the womb of the Virgin and the bridge that would enable us to find our way back to God.

Now and until You return again in glory the Church sings an unending hymn of praise to You. You are the Lamb that was slain for our deliverance. Worthy are You O Lamb whose Blood paid the price for our redemption. 

‘There is no need to cry: the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed, and he will open the scroll and the seven seals of it.’

The Lamb came forward to take the scroll from the right hand of the One sitting on the throne, and when he took it, the four animals prostrated themselves before him and with them the twenty-four elders; each one of them was holding a harp and had a golden bowl full of incense made of the prayers of the saints. They sang a new hymn:
‘You are worthy to take the scroll
and break the seals of it,
because you were sacrificed, and with your blood
you bought men for God
of every race, language, people and nation
and made them a line of kings and priests,
to serve our God and to rule the world.’

PSALM 149:1-6,9

You made us a line of kings and priests to serve our God.

Sing a new song to the Lord,
his praise in the assembly of the faithful.
Let Israel rejoice in its Maker,
let Zion’s sons exult in their king.

Let them praise his name with dancing
and make music with timbrel and harp.
For the Lord takes delight in his people.
He crowns the poor with salvation.

Let the faithful rejoice in their glory,
shout for joy and take their rest.
Let the praise of God be on their lips:
this honour is for all his faithful.

You made us a line of kings and priests to serve our God.

LUKE 19:41-44

My Soul's Beloved,

Your Sacred Heart was crushed with sorrow at the faithlessness of God's people who rejected You even while waiting for the promised Messiah. Every prophecy was fulfilled in You, yet they were unable to look past their own prejudices and human wisdom and by doing so missed the day and time of their redemption. Their repudiation and denunciation of You cost them the joy of receiving and welcoming the Messiah with exultant joy instead, they brought ruin upon themselves. Insisting on continuing the old way of worship in the old temple both were destroyed forever for You are the New Jerusalem, You are the New Temple, and You are the new and only worship that God accepts for it is the only worship that is pleasing and acceptable to Him. The Sacrifice of Thanksgiving, worship, and praise instituted at the Last Supper and consummated on the Altar of the Cross at Golgotha is the New Sacrifice that redeems the world and stays the anger of God against a world that is filled with the stench of death caused by the depravity of the sins of many who have given themselves over to Satan.

You wept over Jerusalem because You knew the terrible fate that awaited her. She did not recognize the time of the visitation of the Messiah that she longed for and her downfall and destruction were caused because she preferred human thinking over divine revelation.

Lord Jesus, let the Church not gloat for while the fullness of beauty, truth, and goodness dwell in her, her members are far from You. If we do not wake up now and turn in sorrow, contrition, and repentance, to You and firmly resolve with Your help to turn away from sin, we will probably meet a similar fate as Jerusalem. 

As Jesus drew near Jerusalem and came in sight of the city he shed tears over it and said, ‘If you in your turn had only understood on this day the message of peace! But, alas, it is hidden from your eyes! Yes, a time is coming when your enemies will raise fortifications all round you, when they will encircle you and hem you in on every side; they will dash you and the children inside your walls to the ground; they will leave not one stone standing on another within you – and all because you did not recognise your opportunity when God offered it!’