ST. AMBROSE, BISHOP AND DOCTOR ON SATURDAY OF THE 1ST WEEK OF ADVENT - 2024

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

The Lord is our judge, the Lord our lawgiver,
the Lord our king and saviour. IS 33:22

ISAIAH 30:19-21,23-26

My Soul's Beloved,

Chastisement is the one sure way of purification. The furnace and winepress free the soul from all that hinders it from approaching You, beholding You, and becoming one with You. After the night of mourning joy will come with the dawn. All of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Every sin we commit ruptures our relationship with You. The more we sin the more we distance ourselves from You and the greater the sin the greater the chasm we create. 

Lord Jesus, Son of the Living God, the prophet assures us today that weeping will end because You are good, kind, gracious, slow to anger and rich in mercy. You O Lord are our Good Shepherd, we are the sheep of Your flock and You will not permit a single sheep whom God, Our Father has entrusted to You, to be lost. We are members of Your Body and You feed us, You care for us, You shelter us, and You cover and protect us with Your Blood. You will not abandon us to the wolves who prowl through the world seeking our ruin but will do battle on our behalf. By Your wounds O Lord we are healed, we are made whole, we are a new creation in You.

Thank You for showing us the way to the Father. Thank You for providing us with the Bread of Angels that gives us strength for the journey. Thank You for the Church that is the light on the hill that draws us all to the place where You dwell in fullness, in beauty, in splendor, in goodness, and in truth.

Thank You, Lord, for calling us by name, Your name. Thank You for sealing us in Your Spirit. Thank You for Your assurance that You will remain with us always even to the end of time.

Thus says the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel:
‘This is the way, follow it.’ He will send rain for the seed you sow in the ground, and the bread that the ground provides will be rich and nourishing. 

On every lofty mountain, on every high hill there will be streams and watercourses, on the day of the great slaughter when the strongholds fall. Then moonlight will be bright as sunlight and sunlight itself be seven times brighter – like the light of seven days in one – on the day the Lord dresses the wound of his people and heals the bruises his blows have left.

PSALM 146(147):1-6

Happy are all who hope in the Lord.

Praise the Lord for he is good;
sing to our God for he is loving:
to him our praise is due.
The Lord builds up Jerusalem
and brings back Israel’s exiles.

He heals the broken-hearted,
he binds up all their wounds.
He fixes the number of the stars;
he calls each one by its name.

Our Lord is great and almighty;
his wisdom can never be measured.
The Lord raises the lowly;
he humbles the wicked to the dust.

Happy are all who hope in the Lord.

MATTHEW 9:35-10:1,5,6-8

Nothing can be more contradictory to Your teaching and instructions or more displeasing to You than when false teachers preach a gospel of prosperity or rely on their own spirit to interpret Sacred Scripture. There are people who in Your Name have built vast fortunes and live in obscene ostentation while preying on the fears and worries of their followers. Anyone who has received gifts from You is given them freely and You desire that they give them freely to others.

All ordained ministers in the Church You founded and in whom the Holy Spirit dwells in fullness are given the authority and power that You gave the twelve disciples, over unclean spirits with the power to cast them out and to cure all kinds of diseases and sickness. The Sacraments You instituted are the surest way to receive all the graces necessary to live a fruitful life in the Holy Spirit, and the Church administers them freely and without cost to all its members who are eligible to receive them.

The call to evangelize is given to every Catholic and they are to evangelize our non-Catholic brothers and sisters as well as those of other faiths for the fullness of beauty, truth, and goodness is found in her who is Your Bride. We evangelize not so much by preaching but by the witness of our lives. There is nothing more powerful than a Catholic who lives his or her faith authentically and always. 

Jesus summoned his twelve disciples, and gave them authority over unclean spirits with power to cast them out and to cure all kinds of diseases and sickness. These twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them as follows: ‘Go rather to the lost sheep of the House of Israel. And as you go, proclaim that the kingdom of heaven is close at hand. Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out devils. You received without charge, give without charge.’