FEAST OF ST. JOHN BOSCO, PRIEST ON FRIDAY OF WEEK 3 IN ORDINARY TIME - 2025

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

Blessed are you, Father,
Lord of heaven and earth,
for revealing the mysteries of the kingdom to mere children. MT 11:25

HEBREWS 10:32-39

My Soul's Beloved,

From the beginning, You warned all who desired to follow You, all whom You called to follow You that it would not be easy. The road to eternal life is difficult and narrow. You invite Your disciples to take up their cross daily and follow You It is not a one-time event but must be carried daily and with perseverance to the end. 

It is difficult O Lord to be a minority in a nation of people practicing a faith that is the polar opposite of the faith that is a gift of God to us. The Church is hounded, persecuted, marginalized, overlooked, and treated with mockery and contempt, Your followers are denied justice, especially the little ones who have nothing but who, having found You, are prepared to die rather than deny You. It is we O Lord, cradle Catholics who do not appreciate the gift we have received of being born in a Catholic home. We have been raised in the bosom of Holy Mother Church. We have received the Sacraments. We have the most wondrous gifts of the Holy Eucharist and the Sacrament of Reconciliation. 

Grace upon grace is channeled into our souls through these Sacraments You instituted and the Bishops and priests administer to us. We belong to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit from the moment of our baptism, and all through life's journey the Church accompanies us until we reach the end of our earthly pilgrimage through the Sacrament of Anointing.

Yet, we are lukewarm, we reject the faith, we reject the Sacraments, we make choices that are detrimental to our salvation and we kill the life of God in us. Being Catholic in name how can we hope to stand confident and unbowed when we are persecuted? You even asked the question, Lord, 'but when the Son of Man comes will He find faith on earth?'

You will need endurance to do God’s will and gain what he has promised.
Only a little while now, a very little while,
and the one that is coming will have come; he will not delay.
The righteous man will live by faith,
but if he draws back, my soul will take no pleasure in him.
You and I are not the sort of people who draw back, and are lost by it; we are the sort who keep faithful until our souls are saved.

PSALM 36(37):3-6,23-24,39-40

The salvation of the just comes from the Lord.

If you trust in the Lord and do good,
then you will live in the land and be secure.
If you find your delight in the Lord,
he will grant your heart’s desire.

Commit your life to the Lord,

trust in him and he will act,
so that your justice breaks forth like the light,
your cause like the noon-day sun.

The Lord guides the steps of a man

and makes safe the path of one he loves.
Though he stumble he shall never fall
for the Lord holds him by the hand.

The salvation of the just comes from the Lord,

their stronghold in time of distress.
The Lord helps them and delivers them
and saves them: for their refuge is in him.

The salvation of the just comes from the Lord.

MARK 4:26-34

My Soul's Beloved,

Once You sow the seed the Holy Spirit is at work in us providing all we need, all the graces we ask for, and blesses every effort we make to help us produce good and abundant fruit that will last and abound to eternal life. The seed sprouts and grows until it begins to bear fruit and when ready, it is harvested. The quality of the fruit depends on the soil rich soil will yield a rich harvest and poor soil will produce little or nothing. At the time of harvesting, when we die and stand before You the quality of our fruit will be a testament to the life we have lived.

The world hears all that You have said in one way or another for the Gospel has been preached to the ends of the earth and continues to be preached. Every means available in the 21st century is being used to ensure that all hear the Good News that saves but how many actually believe. To live an authentic Catholic life is difficult in a world where selfish pleasures and the worship of the flesh which corrupts the spirit are encouraged. This is why St. Mark reveals, Using many parables like these, he spoke the word to them, so far as they were capable of understanding it. He would not speak to them except in parables, but he explained everything to his disciples when they were alone. The Church alone can explain exactly what Your teachings mean for all she has learned she has heard from You and seen You do. In her alone is found the fullness of the Holy Spirit who guides her to all truth - not my truth and your truth by divine truth which does not alter but is the same yesterday, today, and eternally.

Lord Jesus grant us a new Pentecost that will revive dead or half-dead Catholics so they will set the world on fire with the power of Your Word and the power of Your love and Your prayer for unity will be answered now before it is too late.

He also said, ‘What can we say the kingdom of God is like? What parable can we find for it? It is like a mustard seed which at the time of its sowing in the soil is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; yet once it is sown it grows into the biggest shrub of them all and puts out big branches so that the birds of the air can shelter in its shade.’

THURSDAY OF WEEK 3 IN ORDINARY TIME - 2025

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

Your word is a lamp for my steps
and a light for my path. PS 108:105

HEBREWS 10:19-25

My Soul's Beloved,

Through Your pierced side, the gates of heaven have been thrown wide open, and through this gate, which is Your Body, all who so choose may enter. You, my Beloved, died for all, whether they know it or not, whether they believe it or not, whether they deliberately choose to reject the truth or gladly welcome the invitation and accept it with a glad heart. Lord God, to choose You over the world and our concupiscence is not easy for we love comfort, ease, and self-indulgence. But we were created for God and for Him alone and He sent You into the world to show us that there is no other way to eternal joy than through suffering, the cross, self-denial, self-emptying, sacrifice, and service.

You O Lord are the Way. Your Blood is poured over us, the curtain that separated us from the Holy of Holies has been torn in two, and every one of us is invited to enter and worship God in spirit and in truth. Through Baptism, we are washed clean from original sin, we are born again and we become children of God. The Church, our mother nourishes us through the Sacraments that You instituted. You consecrated and anointed the Apostles and their successors to minister to us, the members of Your Body, so we can sojourn safely from this life to the next. 

Lord God, grant that Your faithful remnant may pray unceasingly, suffer gladly, and witness joyfully so that many fallen away Catholics may return home and our non-Catholic brothers and sisters may also cross the Tiber and take their place in Your Body, the Church. 

Through the blood of Jesus we have the right to enter the sanctuary, by a new way which he has opened for us, a living opening through the curtain, that is to say, his body. And we have the supreme high priest over all the house of God. So as we go in, let us be sincere in heart and filled with faith, our minds sprinkled and free from any trace of bad conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us keep firm in the hope we profess, because the one who made the promise is faithful. Let us be concerned for each other, to stir a response in love and good works. Do not stay away from the meetings of the community, as some do, but encourage each other to go; the more so as you see the Day drawing near.

PSALM 23(24):1-6

Such are the men who seek your face, O Lord.

The Lord’s is the earth and its fullness,
the world and all its peoples.
It is he who set it on the seas;
on the waters he made it firm.

Who shall climb the mountain of the Lord?

Who shall stand in his holy place?
The man with clean hands and pure heart,
who desires not worthless things.

He shall receive blessings from the Lord

and reward from the God who saves him.
Such are the men who seek him,
seek the face of the God of Jacob.

Such are the men who seek your face, O Lord.

MARK 4:21-25

WEDNESDAY OF WEEK 3 IN ORDINARTY TIME - 2025

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

The seed is the word of God, Christ the sower;
whoever finds this seed will remain forever.

HEBREWS 10:11-18

My Soul's Beloved,

You have put an end to all animal sacrifice for God Himself provided for the life of the world You as the Lamb of Sacrifice who takes away the sins of the world. Every other sacrifice apart from this one, holy, perfect, atoning Sacrifice instituted by You at the Last Supper and consummated by You on the Altar of the Cross at Golgotha is the only one acceptable and pleasing to God. The Blood of the Lamb has the power to forgive every sin, and every transgression, beginning with the sin of Adam and all the sins of every man woman, and child until Your glorious second coming.

Non-Catholics refuse to accept the truth that the only true worship offered to God is the celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Scripture says so plainly but they refuse to accept it simply to be contrary. Their colossal ignorance, their pride, their hardness of heart, and their stubborn denial of the truth that You founded only one Church and Peter is its visible head and that the fullness of Truth abides in her alone.  The preachings and the sermons of their greatest teachers, leaders, and preachers will be tainted and always fall short because they reject the undeniable Truth that there is only one Church - the Catholic Church.

But this is only for a time Lord. The Holy Spirit is alive, active, and at work. Many Catholics are actively engaging with our non-Catholic brothers and sisters and many are coming to acknowledge the Truth, being converted, and crossing the Tiber. The Church prays unceasingly for all to come to the knowledge of Truth and be saved and her prayers will be answered for this is the will of God. 

By virtue of that one single offering, he has achieved the eternal perfection of all whom he is sanctifying. The Holy Spirit assures us of this; for he says, first:
This is the covenant I will make with them
when those days arrive;
and the Lord then goes on to say:
I will put my laws into their hearts
and write them on their minds.
I will never call their sins to mind,
or their offences.
When all sins have been forgiven, there can be no more sin offerings.

PSALM 109(110):1-4

You are a priest for ever, a priest like Melchizedek of old.

The Lord’s revelation to my Master:
‘Sit on my right:
your foes I will put beneath your feet.’

The Lord will wield from Zion

your sceptre of power:
rule in the midst of all your foes.

A prince from the day of your birth

on the holy mountains;
from the womb before the dawn I begot you.

The Lord has sworn an oath he will not change.

‘You are a priest for ever,
a priest like Melchizedek of old.’

You are a priest for ever, a priest like Melchizedek of old.

MARK 4:1-20

My Soul's Beloved,

You are constantly sowing the good seed of Your Word, if we are attentive we will allow it to be planted deep in our hearts, it will take root in us and bear good fruit, fruit that will last. We hear Your Word at Holy Mass, when we pray, when we look at creation, and when we listen to those around us.  Your Word O Lord is everywhere and we will hear it if we are attentive. But it is pointless to hear Your Word if we do not allow it to transform our lives. 

The Holy Spirit living in us speaks to us, inspires us, and gives us wisdom and understanding to know what God is saying to us in every situation in our lives. If the soil of our heart is poor, rocky, and arid we will receive it indifferently, and good as the Word of God is it will be powerless to effect any change in us unless we give consent and submit willingly to all that the Word demands.   

The soil of my heart is only as good as the care I take of it with prayer, daily devotions, receiving the Sacraments, and living a sacramental life. Only in faithfully fulfilling all the duties and responsibilities of my vocation in life will I, with the help of the Holy Spirit bear good fruit in abundance.

What the sower is sowing is the word. Those on the edge of the path where the word is sown are people who have no sooner heard it than Satan comes and carries away the word that was sown in them. Similarly, those who receive the seed on patches of rock are people who, when first they hear the word, welcome it at once with joy. But they have no root in them, they do not last; should some trial come, or some persecution on account of the word, they fall away at once. Then there are others who receive the seed in thorns. These have heard the word, but the worries of this world, the lure of riches and all the other passions come in to choke the word, and so it produces nothing. And there are those who have received the seed in rich soil: they hear the word and accept it and yield a harvest, thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.’

ST. THOMAS AQUINAS, PRIEST, DOCTOR, ON TUESDAY OF WEEK 3 IN ORDINARY TIME - 2025

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

Blessed are you, Father,
Lord of heaven and earth,
for revealing the mysteries of the kingdom
to mere children. MT 11:25

HEBREWS 10:1-10

My Soul's Beloved,

Salvation is available to every man, woman, and child in the world but only if they desire it. All who believe in You Lord, all who believe in the Good News of salvation are a new creation in You the old is gone the new is here and to all who believe in You, all who receive You, all who testify that You are the Son of God, is given the right to be called children of God for that is who we are. Sons and daughters by adoption to the Living God because we believe in the One that the Father sent into the world, not to condemn but to redeem it.

It is pitiful and painful to see how non-Catholics, and people of other faiths through ignorance offer God worthless offerings and sacrifices that have no merit at all in the sight of God. They are idolaters because they worship mythical gods and legends, they worship nature and not the Creator, they worship things that they have created by hand or are mass-produced and worship these with great pomp and ceremony that signify absolutely nothing not even a little puff of smoke. 

Only the Blood of the Lamb, offered once and for all by Your Sacrifice on Calvary, for the whole world beginning with Adam has the power to wash away every sin, every blemish, every wrongdoing, and restore us, renew us, recreate us in Your image and likeness. We become children of God by the Blood and Water that flowed from You and Your side. No other sacrifice can save.

You who wanted no sacrifice or oblation,

prepared a body for me.
You took no pleasure in holocausts or sacrifices for sin;
then I said,
just as I was commanded in the scroll of the book,
‘God, here I am! I am coming to obey your will.’
Notice that he says first: You did not want what the Law lays down as the things to be offered, that is: the sacrifices, the oblations, the holocausts and the sacrifices for sin, and you took no pleasure in them; and then he says: Here I am! I am coming to obey your will. He is abolishing the first sort to replace it with the second. And this will was for us to be made holy by the offering of his body made once and for all by Jesus Christ.

PSALM 39(40):2,4,7-8,10,11

Here I am, Lord! I come to do your will.

I waited, I waited for the Lord
and he stooped down to me;
he heard my cry.
He put a new song into my mouth,
praise of our God.

You do not ask for sacrifice and offerings,

but an open ear.
You do not ask for holocaust and victim.
Instead, here am I.

Your justice I have proclaimed

in the great assembly.
My lips I have not sealed;
you know it, O Lord.

I have not hidden your justice in my heart

but declared your faithful help.
I have not hidden your love and your truth
from the great assembly.

Here I am, Lord! I come to do your will.

MARK 3:31-35

My Soul's Beloved,

No human being who ever lived or shall live will outdo Your Mother in holiness, goodness, purity, chastity, beauty, sanctity, and grace. She is the Woman par excellence above all the angels and saints. She is the Queen Mother who sits at the right hand of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. It is You Yourself O Lord who have prepared this seat for her and You took her by the hand and led her to the place that God created for her. There she reigns as our Queen Mother as well. We trust in her intercession with You, her Son just as she did at the Wedding Feast at Cana. Yes, Lord we are aware that  You alone are the only intercessor between God and man but she is our intercessor as Your mom and ours with our beloved older Brother. You will always honor her requests just as You did at Cana and she will always and everywhere say to us, 'Do whatever He tells you.' 

The mother and brothers of Jesus arrived and, standing outside, sent in a message asking for him. A crowd was sitting round him at the time the message was passed to him, ‘Your mother and brothers and sisters are outside asking for you.’ He replied, ‘Who are my mother and my brothers?’ And looking round at those sitting in a circle about him, he said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers. Anyone who does the will of God, that person is my brother and sister and mother.’

MONDAY OF WEEK 3 IN ORDINARY TIME - 2025

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

Our Saviour Jesus Christ abolished death
and he has proclaimed life through the Good News. 2TIM 1:10

HEBREWS 9:15,24-28

My Soul's Beloved,

The consequence of sin is death and grave sin brings with it eternal death. From the first sin of Adam death entered and created an unbridgeable gap between the Creator and the created. We were doomed to be separated from God forever and when we are separated from God we consign ourselves to hell.

But our Father in heaven so loved fallen humanity whom He created for a glorious destiny desiring us to be like gods, would not abandon us because He loved us and pitied us. He sent You into the world and You came into it as a weak, small, infant conceived in the womb of the Virgin. You became the Lamb of Sacrifice taking on the sins of the whole world. You entered into our frailty, our humanity, taking upon Yourself all our weaknesses and all our sins suffering the death that was our lot, You made perfect atonement, once and for all, for the sins of the world, and by it we are saved.

Thank You, Jesus. Thank You for instituting the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Thank You for breathing the Holy Spirit on Your Apostles and granting them and their successors the power to forgive all sins even the most heinous ones. All we need to do is approach You in Confession with a repentant heart and a humble and contrite spirit, confess all our sins and You will forgive us and we will be set free from the chains that ensnared us and will be restored once again as members of the family of God. 

 
Christ brings a new covenant, as the mediator, only so that the people who were called to an eternal inheritance may actually receive what was promised: his death took place to cancel the sins that infringed the earlier covenant. 

Since men only die once, and after that comes judgement, so Christ, too, offers himself only once to take the faults of many on himself, and when he appears a second time, it will not be to deal with sin but to reward with salvation those who are waiting for him.

PSALM 97(98):1-6

Sing a new song to the Lord for he has worked wonders.

Sing a new song to the Lord
for he has worked wonders.
His right hand and his holy arm
have brought salvation.

The Lord has made known his salvation;
has shown his justice to the nations.
He has remembered his truth and love
for the house of Israel.

All the ends of the earth have seen

the salvation of our God.
Shout to the Lord, all the earth,
ring out your joy.

Sing psalms to the Lord with the harp

with the sound of music.
With trumpets and the sound of the horn
acclaim the King, the Lord.

Sing a new song to the Lord for he has worked wonders.

MARK 3:22-30

My Soul's Beloved,

There are no new sins. In every age and every culture, there have been unspeakable atrocities and societies have continually sunk into unimaginable levels of wickedness, decadence, and atrocities against the weakest and most vulnerable among us. The cries as well as the blood of the innocents go up to God unceasingly crying out for vengeance. In our own age, we see how a few spiritually and mentally deranged people have convinced the ignorant and the godless but who are powerful that it is right to give their demonic demands legitimacy. They force the majority to go along with the lie that black is white, male is female and v.v., wrong is right, etc., ad infinitum ad nauseam.  The mentally deranged are given a platform to spread their vitriol while the sane are punished, silenced, violated, and even imprisoned. 

This is exactly what the scribes were doing when they said of You, ‘Beelzebul is in him’ and, ‘It is through the prince of devils that he casts devils out.’ Those who spread lies have an axe to grind and they have the power to create confusion among the ignorant. A false sympathy is aroused for those on the fringe who raucously demand legitimacy when, in truth, they are in desperate need of help.

When we are poorly catechized, ignorant of God's Word, choose to live unholy lives which place us outside the Church, and no longer live a Sacramental life we are bound to be taken in by the lies of the Enemy and will surely die. We have the freedom to choose whether the Holy Spirit or the Father of Lies will be the strong man in our house and we live or die by our choices. 

Grant us the grace O Lord not to be taken in by the wiles of the Enemy giving to God and attributing to Him the things that are His alone and not to Beelzebub.

‘I tell you solemnly, all men’s sins will be forgiven, and all their blasphemies; but let anyone blaspheme against the Holy Spirit and he will never have forgiveness: he is guilty of an eternal sin.’ This was because they were saying, ‘An unclean spirit is in him.’

THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - SUNDAY OF THE WORD OF GOD - 2025

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

The Lord has sent me to bring the good news to the poor,
to proclaim liberty to captives. LK 4:18

NEHEMIAH 8:2-6,8-10

My Soul's Beloved,

Sunday after Sunday, in keeping with the Law of God to keep the Sabbath holy, the people of God gather together in Your churches spread all over the face of the earth to offer to God the one, holy, and perfect Sacrifice of the Lamb of God, most pleasing and acceptable to Him. We are one body in You no matter in which part of the globe we assemble, and one with the Head, the Bridegroom, we unite the poor, and unworthy sacrifice of our lives with Yours. This Sacrament of Thanksgiving that You instituted at the Last Supper, consummated on the Altar of the Cross at Golgotha and as commanded will rise up and fill the highest heavens with its most pleasing fragrance until time shall cease unites us with God in a way that no other praise, prayer, worship, adoration, intercession, and thanksgiving offered apart from it can accomplish. 

All that occurred in the Old Testament finds fulfillment and perfection in the New. The Old has gone the New is here. New wine in new wineskins. 

Thank You Father for loving us so much that You have bound Yourself to Your poor, weak, frail, sinful children through Your dearly beloved Son, thank You Jesus for Your willing obedience to Your Father's will, thank You Holy Spirit for making this incomparable union possible.

Then Nehemiah – His Excellency – and Ezra, priest and scribe, and the Levites who were instructing the people, said to all the people, ‘This day is sacred to the Lord your God. Do not be mournful, do not weep.’ For the people were all in tears as they listened to the words of the Law.
He then said, ‘Go, eat the fat, drink the sweet wine, and send a portion to the man who has nothing prepared ready. For this day is sacred to our Lord. Do not be sad: the joy of the Lord is your stronghold.’

PSALM 18(19):8-10,15

Your words are spirit, Lord, and they are life.

The law of the Lord is perfect,
it revives the soul.
The rule of the Lord is to be trusted,
it gives wisdom to the simple.

The precepts of the Lord are right,

they gladden the heart.
The command of the Lord is clear,
it gives light to the eyes.

The fear of the Lord is holy,

abiding for ever.
The decrees of the Lord are truth
and all of them just.

May the spoken words of my mouth,
the thoughts of my heart,
win favour in your sight, O Lord,
my rescuer, my rock!

Your words are spirit, Lord, and they are life.

1 CORINTHIANS 12:12-30

My Soul's Beloved,

The wisdom of the Church is incomparable and unmatched because in her dwells the Holy Spirit in fullness. Where the Father is there is the Son and where the Son is is the Holy Spirit and here they dwell Three in One and One in Three, for this is God's will that He dwells among the children of men.

How wonderfully St. Paul explains the importance of the whole Body of Christ. Every member has a role to play, every role is important and necessary for each has a function that the other cannot do and is meaningless when separated from the rest. But as a whole, it functions as God designed and intended it to. With You as the Head O Lord, with the Spirit providing life that flows from the Head and sustains its members, and the Father, the Most High overshadowing the whole, we are always pleasing and acceptable in the sight of God. We can choose to belong to the Church You founded and live a life of abundance and grace or be cut off from her as a branch lopped off from the true Vine that will eventually decay and die. 

Just as a human body, though it is made up of many parts, is a single unit because all these parts, though many, make one body, so it is with Christ. In the one Spirit we were all baptised, Jews as well as Greeks, slaves as well as citizens, and one Spirit was given to us all to drink.

Now you together are Christ’s body; but each of you is a different part of it. In the Church, God has given the first place to apostles, the second to prophets, the third to teachers; after them, miracles, and after them the gift of healing; helpers, good leaders, those with many languages. Are all of them apostles, or all of them prophets, or all of them teachers? Do they all have the gift of miracles, or all have the gift of healing? Do all speak strange languages, and all interpret them?

LUKE 1:1-4,4:14-21

My Soul's Beloved,

From these opening verses in the first chapter of the Gospel of Luke, it is clear that the fullness of truth from the time of the Apostles and the early disciples some of who were also their close companions, has been handed down faithfully and treasured in the rich deposit of faith in the Catholic Church. She has received her teachings and doctrines from You, Your Apostles, disciples, and the early Church Fathers. The Doctors of the Church for 2000 years have studied the Gospels, Your life, the life of the Apostles and disciples, the martyrs and teachers of the faith, and the saints spending their whole lives living and breathing the Gospel and the fruit of their study, meditation, and contemplation on the Word, contributed to the rich and varied traditions of Holy Mother Church.

You chose Simon changed his name to Peter, and appointed him as the head of Your Church. Every generation since has received these Truths, doctrines, and living Traditions of the Church as it was handed to them from the beginning. The Magisterium changes nothing, alters nothing, waters down nothing - she hands down all that the Apostles and disciples received exactly as they received it from You. She has Your assurance that the gates of hell shall not prevail against her until You return in glory.  All her glory and all her life comes from You. She lives because You abide in her through Your Holy Spirit. You feed her with Your Flesh and Your Blood. You cleanse her of original sin in the waters of Baptism and continue to forgive her when she falls from grace in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. You confer on her Your Holy Spirit and accompany her until the end of her pilgrimage on earth. She lives because Your Word sustains, strengthens, and renews her ceaselessly because You are alive in her. 

Seeing that many others have undertaken to draw up accounts of the events that have taken place among us, exactly as these were handed down to us by those who from the outset were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word, I in my turn, after carefully going over the whole story from the beginning, have decided to write an ordered account for you, Theophilus, so that your Excellency may learn how well founded the teaching is that you have received.

The same spirit of the Lord that was given to You is given to Your Church and You have given her ministers Your authority to teach, heal, baptize, forgive sins, and set free from demonic possessions. To the Pope and to the Bishops You have given the power and authority You received from God. To the Church, You have poured out the same Spirit that binds You to the Father and makes You one. The Holy Spirit draws the Church, which is Your Body into this unity with the Father and we are made one with the Father and the Son in the Holy Spirit.

Unrolling the scroll he found the place where it is written:

‘The spirit of the Lord has been given to me,
for he has anointed me.
He has sent me to bring the good news to the poor,
to proclaim liberty to captives
and to the blind new sight,
to set the downtrodden free,
to proclaim the Lord’s year of favour.
He then rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the assistant and sat down. And all eyes in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to speak to them, ‘This text is being fulfilled today even as you listen.’

FEAST OF THE CONVERSION OF ST. PAUL - 2025

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

ACTS 22:3-16

My Soul's Beloved,

To follow You, to believe in You, to embrace the Word of God fully, and to allow the Word to live in us, move us, direct us, and animate us takes courage especially if we are non-Catholic or non-Christian for a vast majority have an ambivalence towards Catholics and the Church, some to a greater degree than others. Some hate the Church with a frightening almost demonic hatred. Ignorant of what the Church teaches which is what You and the Apostles taught, they spew venom about what they think the Church teaches. They are so blind in their hatred that they are unable to think rationally or make an attempt to understand why the Church stands firmly against the rationale of those who preach worldly wisdom of comfort, and the false gospel that it is ok to do whatever one pleases to do as long as no one is hurt. This is a lie that the father of lies uses to ensnare his victims.

St. Paul had everything to lose by embracing the Truth that was revealed to him in Person on the road to Damascus. He was struck blind by the Light in whom darkness cannot exist he groped in the darkness that represented his past life and beliefs. Face to face with the Truth that sets us free he acknowledged that he had encountered God and that there was no returning to who he was. 

Forgive me Lord for being a lukewarm Catholic, You have no use for such for You have said You will vomit out of Your mouth those that are tepid. Here I am, a sinner, weak, frail, unable to overcome the natural desire of my flesh which seeks ease and comfort rather than the need of my soul to carry my cross daily and gladly follow You on the narrow road to life.  

 

Like Paul, I am chosen to be an authentic witness to the Truth. I fail a thousand times a day. Help me, Lord, without You, I will surely choose the broad way that leads to death. You have given me sight through baptism and the Sacraments of healing and Life may I not squander the rich graces readily available and granted to me.

‘Someone called Ananias, a devout follower of the Law and highly thought of by all the Jews living there, came to see me; he stood beside me and said, “Brother Saul, receive your sight.” Instantly my sight came back and I was able to see him. Then he said, “The God of our ancestors has chosen you to know his will, to see the Just One and hear his own voice speaking, because you are to be his witness before all mankind, testifying to what you have seen and heard. And now why delay? It is time you were baptised and had your sins washed away while invoking his name.”’

PSALM 116(117)

Go out to the whole world; proclaim the Good News.

O praise the Lord, all you nations,
acclaim him all you peoples!

Strong is his love for us;
he is faithful for ever.

Go out to the whole world; proclaim the Good News.

MARK 16:15-18

THURSDAY OF WEEK 2 IN ORDINARY TIME - 2025

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

Our Saviour Jesus Christ abolished death
and he has proclaimed life through the Good News. 2TIM 1:10

HEBREWS 7:25-8:6

My Soul's Beloved,

Your one, holy, perfect, Sacrifice on the Cross, offering Yourself to the Father as the Lamb of God without stain or blemish continues uninterrupted from the time You instituted it at the Last Supper and consummated it on the Altar of the Cross at Golgotha. This holy and perfect Sacrifice will be offered by the Church You founded until the end of time obedient to Your command to do this in memory of You. 

At every celebration of Holy Mass, the Church makes present the Sacrifice on Calvary. The priest offers the simple gifts of bread and wine representing Your body and blood, to the Father, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, the Words of institution uttered by him in persona Christi transforms them into Your precious Body and Blood in the miracle of transubstantiation. 

At every celebration of Holy Mass all who participate in these sacred mysteries, are present at the foot of the Cross on Calvary and receive the outpouring of graces that flow unabated from Your sacred wounds to heal, nourish, and sustain our mortal bodies and immortal souls. Without this Sacrifice O Lord, without the pleasing fragrance of this Sacrifice that rises up to heaven unceasingly and fills the highest heavens with it from the rising of the sun to its setting, and raining down down blessings and graces from heaven the darkness of hell would have long overcome the world. 

You O Lord, are our Eternal High Priest, thank You for instituting the Sacrament of the Priesthood so we continue to receive the graces and blessings of having Your anointed and consecrated ministers accompanying us and assisting us on our pilgrim journey from this life to the next. 

The great point of all that we have said is that we have a high priest of exactly this kind. He has his place at the right of the throne of divine Majesty in the heavens, and he is the minister of the sanctuary and of the true Tent of Meeting which the Lord, and not any man, set up. It is the duty of every high priest to offer gifts and sacrifices, and so this one too must have something to offer. In fact, if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, since there are others who make the offerings laid down by the Law and these only maintain the service of a model or a reflection of the heavenly realities. For Moses, when he had the Tent to build, was warned by God who said: See that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.
We have seen that he has been given a ministry of a far higher order, and to the same degree it is a better covenant of which he is the mediator, founded on better promises.

PSALM 39(40):7-10,17

Here I am, Lord! I come to do your will.

You do not ask for sacrifice and offerings,
but an open ear.
You do not ask for holocaust and victim.
Instead, here am I.

In the scroll of the book it stands written

that I should do your will.
My God, I delight in your law
in the depth of my heart.

Your justice I have proclaimed

in the great assembly.
My lips I have not sealed;
you know it, O Lord.

O let there be rejoicing and gladness
for all who seek you.
Let them ever say: ‘The Lord is great’,
who love your saving help.

Here I am, Lord! I come to do your will.

MARK 3:7-12

WEDNESDAY OF WEEK 2 IN ORDINARY TIME - 2025

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

Jesus proclaimed the Good News of the kingdom
and cured all kinds of sickness among the people. MT 4:23

HEBREWS 7:1-3,15-17

My Soul's Beloved,

You are our High Priest, You are the Eternal High Priest. All our worship to God we offer through You. All our sacrifices including the poor sacrifice of our lives when offered apart from Yours are nothing but filthy rags however, if we offer it in union with Your one, holy, and perfect Sacrifice, it is wholly pleasing and acceptable to the Father. 

All that we are, all that we have, all that we hope to be, Beloved, has meaning only when we place all our confidence in You. Apart from You, we are nothing. Apart from You, life has neither meaning nor purpose but united with You, Lord, all that You are flows through us. We receive grace upon grace through the life-giving Sacraments, through them the Holy Spirit animates, empowers, and strengthens us to walk without fear through this valley of tears. 

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, our Eternal High Priest, thank You for making intercession for us ceaselessly before Your Father and for pouring Your Holy Spirit upon us and making it possible, with His help to walk the narrow way safely until we reach the end of our pilgrim journey to be united with You, the Father and the Holy Spirit forever.

PSALM 109(110):1-4

You are a priest for ever, a priest like Melchizedek of old.

The Lord’s revelation to my Master:
‘Sit on my right:
your foes I will put beneath your feet.’

The Lord will wield from Zion

your sceptre of power:
rule in the midst of all your foes.

A prince from the day of your birth

on the holy mountains;
from the womb before the dawn I begot you.

The Lord has sworn an oath he will not change.

‘You are a priest for ever,
a priest like Melchizedek of old.’

You are a priest for ever, a priest like Melchizedek of old.

MARK 3:1-6

My Soul's Beloved,

The world hates Christians with diabolical hatred but You warned us, Lord, ‘If the world hates you, be aware that it hated me before it hated you.’ But there are also a great many Christians who hate Catholics with incomprehensible and unjustifiable venom because they have caved to the guile of Satan for they are of the world. Whereas the Church You founded is built on Rock, the Rock of Peter and thus it belongs to You and will stay true to You, Your teaching, and obey the Commandments of God without diluting them in any way, and never giving in to the diktats of the world and the snares laid by the Enemy. She is prepared to die rather than dance with the devil. ‘If you belonged to the world, the world would love you as its own. Because you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world—therefore the world hates you.’

The reaction of the Pharisees to the healing of the man with the withered hand on the Sabbath is a clear example of how bizarrely an ungodly world reacts in the face of genuine good done by those who refuse to belong to it or kowtow to its diktats. They know the truth and yet refuse to acknowledge it because they are aware that the truth will expose their nefarious plans. You healed the man anyway although it was the Sabbah and You were fully aware that it would set the Pharisees and Herodians against You and unify them into planning and plotting to destroy You.  

You teach us, Lord, that it is better to have our bodies destroyed and save our souls rather than have both body and soul consigned eternally to hell fire. Help us Lord not to shrink from proclaiming, witnessing, and testifying to the truth of the Gospel no matter the cost.

Jesus went into a synagogue, and there was a man there who had a withered hand. And they were watching him to see if he would cure him on the sabbath day, hoping for something to use against him. He said to the man with the withered hand, ‘Stand up out in the middle!’ Then he said to them, ‘Is it against the law on the sabbath day to do good, or to do evil; to save life, or to kill?’ But they said nothing. Then, grieved to find them so obstinate, he looked angrily round at them, and said to the man, ‘Stretch out your hand.’ He stretched it out and his hand was better. The Pharisees went out and at once began to plot with the Herodians against him, discussing how to destroy him.

FEAST OF ST. AGNES, VIRGIN & MARTYR - TUESDAY OF WEEK 2 IN ORDINARY TIME - 2025

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

May the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ
enlighten the eyes of our mind,
so that we can see what hope his call holds for us.EPH 1:17, 18

HEBREWS 6:10-20

My Soul's Beloved,

It is true that many holy men and women who now decorate the Church's hall of saints lived holy lives surrendered wholly to You and conformed to Your most holy will. They lived for You and they died for You. They followed closely in Your footsteps and having grasped the great and unfathomable love of God that emptied Himself so utterly on the Cross and gave His life for the world, they strove to love You in return, with all the fervor of their entire being. This is the hope that the writer of Hebrews desires us to understand. Our hope in You, Lord, is based on the power of God's love for us and the power of the Sacrifice of the Lamb of God whose blood washes away the shame, the guilt, and the transgressions of the world.

Beloved, I on the other hand am a worm. My flesh is so weak that it holds complete sway over my willing spirit and I find myself incapable of making even the faintest effort to do what I ought. All that is required of me is to make the most infinitesimally tiniest effort but I lack the will to do even that because I prefer ease to discipline. 

Take pity on me Lord just as You have taken pity on so many wretched souls and do for me what I find impossible to do for myself. I desire to be all that You desire me to be but lack the will to help myself. I am a member of Your Body, perhaps its weakest, but I know that Your life of grace courses from You to each of its members even its weakest, and in this truth rest my hope. Every covenant and every oath that God has sworn includes me sinner though I am and I have this confidence O Lord, that Your great mercy will save me because I place all my hope in the power of Your love and the power of Your Sacrifice.

...... when God wanted to make the heirs to the promise thoroughly realise that his purpose was unalterable, he conveyed this by an oath; so that there would be two unalterable things in which it was impossible for God to be lying, and so that we, now we have found safety, should have a strong encouragement to take a firm grip on the hope that is held out to us. Here we have an anchor for our soul, as sure as it is firm, and reaching right through beyond the veil where Jesus has entered before us and on our behalf, to become a high priest of the order of Melchizedek, and for ever.

PSALM 110(111):1-2,4-5,9,10

The Lord keeps his covenant ever in mind.

I will thank the Lord with all my heart
in the meeting of the just and their assembly.
Great are the works of the Lord,
to be pondered by all who love them.

He makes us remember his wonders.

The Lord is compassion and love.
He gives food to those who fear him;
keeps his covenant ever in mind.

He has sent deliverance to his people

and established his covenant for ever.
Holy his name, to be feared.
His praise shall last for ever!

The Lord keeps his covenant ever in mind.

MARK 2:23-28

My Soul's Beloved,

You are our Good Shepherd, our Champion, our Warrior, our Shield, our mighty Savior and Redeemer who will stand by us and protect us to the end from the predators of this world whom the Enemy has beguiled and entrapped and who will not hesitate to destroy us, especially those of us that are weak.

We walk with You as the disciples walked with You that day through the cornfields, unthinkingly they picked the ripe ears of corn and began to eat as they walked through it. Were they hungry or did they do it absent-mindedly forgetting that it was prohibited on the Sabbath? You promptly defended the actions of Your disciples when Your severest critics, the Pharisees, upbraided You and them for their actions, condemning it as unlawful. You will do the same for us who sometimes are unintentionally thoughtless, or not as mindful as we ought to be and thus commit some infraction of the law. You O Lord who know all things, You who know the hearts and minds of all, will come to the defence of Your weak and defenceless sheep and You will save us on the basis of Your merits, Your goodness, Your love for us.

One sabbath day, Jesus happened to be taking a walk through the cornfields, and his disciples began to pick ears of corn as they went along. And the Pharisees said to him, ‘Look, why are they doing something on the sabbath day that is forbidden?’ And he replied, ‘Did you never read what David did in his time of need when he and his followers were hungry – how he went into the house of God when Abiathar was high priest, and ate the loaves of offering which only the priests are allowed to eat, and how he also gave some to the men with him?’
And he said to them, ‘The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath; the Son of Man is master even of the sabbath.’

SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - 2025

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

Through the Good News God called us
to share the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. 2TH 2:14

ISAIAH 62:1-5

My Soul's Beloved,

Today I exult in the promises of the prophet Isaiah concerning Your love for Your people. The redeemed of the Lord. Even though our sins be as scarlet O Lord, You will never forsake those for whom You laid down Your life. The Father is aware that too great a price was paid for His wayward, disobedient, willful, hard-hearted, stubborn children whom He loves so dearly, so incomprehensibly, so utterly that He sent You, His only begotten Son, to pay the price for our sins. We have separated ourselves from our Father yet He bridged that separation by offering You up as the Sacrificial Lamb whose precious blood washes away our sins. United in You as Your Body, Beloved, we become like You and God accepts us because You redeemed us.

We are holy because You are holy. We are acceptable because You make us so. We are filled with glory and splendor because You share Your glory and splendor with us. We are crowned as sons and daughters of the Living God because the King of Kings and Lord of Lords accepts us from the Hand of God as Your bride whose bridal garments are washed whiter than snow by the Blood of the Lamb. 

We, the forsaken children of Adam and Eve are no longer abandoned, miserable, forsaken, banished from the sight of God but God has so loved us that through the barbaric, heinous crime that men committed against the only Son of the Living God, You, made perfect atonement for the sins of the world and have made us pleasing and acceptable in the sight of God. We are now called:

‘My Delight’

and your land ‘The Wedded’;
for the Lord takes delight in you
and your land will have its wedding.

Like a young man marrying a virgin,
so will the one who built you wed you,
and as the bridegroom rejoices in his bride,
so will your God rejoice in you.

We cannot thank You enough, Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God for becoming the atoning sacrifice for our sins, for feeding us with Your Flesh and Blood, and for pouring out Your Holy Spirit in us to help us who are still so weak and so unworthy to help us in our pilgrim journey from this life to the next. All praise and glory to You, O Lord our God now and forever.

PSALM 95(96):1-3,7-10

Proclaim the wonders of the Lord among all the peoples.

O sing a new song to the Lord,
sing to the Lord all the earth.
O sing to the Lord, bless his name.

Proclaim his help day by day,
tell among the nations his glory
and his wonders among all the peoples.

Give the Lord, you families of peoples,

give the Lord glory and power;
give the Lord the glory of his name.

Worship the Lord in his temple.
O earth, tremble before him.
Proclaim to the nations: ‘God is king.’
He will judge the peoples in fairness.

Proclaim the wonders of the Lord among all the peoples.

1 CORINTHIANS 12:4-11

My Soul's Beloved,

The saddest thing in all the world is when we become prideful and boastful about the gifts of the Spirit given to us to build Your Body. Sadly we see this vainglory among many gifted teachers, preachers, and healers, who attract adulation and are placed on a pedestal. Instead of pointing to the Holy Spirit, the Giver of every good and perfect gift, they lap up all of it as their due, they set themselves up as being above the rest. Preaching a gospel of prosperity, overtly and covertly they lead many astray from the truth and away from the fold.   

Today's verses taken from St. Paul's letter to the Corinthians, remind us that all glory must redound to God alone. Any basking in self-glory is stealing what belongs to God alone. We are only servants in service to the Master. We are Yours to command, to send where You will, and to do with just as You will. All who confess to being members of Your Body are under Your Lordship and must work together in harmony to build the Kingdom of God on earth. 

Forgive us Lord when we ignore the gifts of the Spirit because we are afraid or unwilling to put them to use, or we misuse them for personal glory and gain. Keep us humble, little, childlike, always in the shadow of Your wings, and continue to watch over us, protect us from the wiles of the malignant Enemy who never sleeps.

The particular way in which the Spirit is given to each person is for a good purpose. One may have the gift of preaching with wisdom given him by the Spirit; another may have the gift of preaching instruction given him by the same Spirit; and another the gift of faith given by the same Spirit; another again the gift of healing, through this one Spirit; one, the power of miracles; another, prophecy; another the gift of recognizing spirits; another the gift of tongues and another the ability to interpret them. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, who distributes different gifts to different people just as he chooses.

JOHN 2:1-11

My Soul's Beloved,

The infinite and marvelous ways we can interpret this first miracle that You performed at the wedding in Cana are limitless. From the beginning preachers, teachers, and lovers of the Gospel, all who have meditated on it and inspired by the Spirit of God who is the Spirit of Truth have discovered so many truths in it but we will never plumb its depths and beauty.

You and Your disciples are invited to a wedding at Cana it is a time of celebration. There is no occasion more joyful and hope-filled than a young man who is wedded to his bride and is surrounded by the laughter and rejoicing of family and friends on their special day. Your Mother, who is also present notices that they have run out of wine early into the celebrations she is aware of the great embarrassment this will cause the young bride and groom and their families and so she approaches You. The Queen Mother approaches her Son, the King, knowing that You who love, respect honor, and revere her cannot and will not reject her plea.  

We read that there are six stone water jars meant for the ablutions and customary among the Jews that can hold twenty or thirty gallons of water. You instruct the servants to fill them with water. The servants have already received prior instruction from Your Mom, ‘Do whatever he tells you.’ They do exactly as she says. They fill the jars to the brim. You then instruct them to draw some out and take it to the steward which they do. He tastes it and has no idea where it came from, the servants know though, and having tasted it he calls the bridegroom aside and says, ‘People generally serve the best wine first, and keep the cheaper sort till the guests have had plenty to drink; but you have kept the best wine till now.’

Lord God, Savior of the world, we learn so much from this, Your first sign:

Your Mom notices all. She knows when we are in need. She will not hesitate to bring those needs to You. We will only know in heaven the manifold blessings we have received unbeknownst to us through her most powerful intercession because her maternal heart was moved with pity and compassion for us.  

The empty stone jars represent our lives with You and Your life to fill it with grace and with power.

The servants are Your anointed and consecrated ministers who will do whatever You tell them to do.

Through their tireless ministry always and everywhere, we receive the Sacraments of life and healing. We are forgiven and nourished. We are strengthened and renewed with the grace of God and the Holy Spirit.

Only through the waters of baptism can our ordinary lives be transformed into new wine and from us flows Your goodness and sweetness so all who meet us exclaim with wonder and awe when we live a life of grace.  

Outside the life of the Catholic Church our lives hold ordinary water but when the Living Word of God makes us members of His body and children of God through baptism, renews and cleanses us constantly in the Sacrament of Confession, feeds us, and strengthens us in the Holy Eucharist, confirms us in the Holy Spirit in the Sacrament of Confirmation, unites us and makes us one flesh in the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony, gives us new ministers to carry on the life of the Church for its flock in the Sacrament of Holy Orders, strengthens us when we are sick in the Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick, and helps on to make the final journey to the Kingdom of God we realize how good God is to give us this one, holy, catholic, apostolic church.

Thank You, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit that I am a member of this Church which is also the Bride of Christ.

This was the first of the signs given by Jesus: it was given at Cana in Galilee. He let his glory be seen, and his disciples believed in him.

SATURDAY OF WEEK 1 IN ORDINARY TIME - 2025

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

The Lord has sent me to bring the good news to the poor,
to proclaim liberty to captives. LK 4:17

HEBREWS 4:12-16

My Soul's Beloved,

The words in today's Epistle are most illuminating, invigorating, and comforting. We thank You, Lord for the power of Your Word in Sacred Scripture that can at any time and anywhere convict, raise to life, and bring about transformation. No matter how dead a soul may be to a life of grace God has the power to wake up the sick, dying, indifferent spirit to a new life of beauty, dignity, grace, power, life, love, goodness, and truth.

Lord Jesus, You know everything. You know our weaknesses, You know why we are the way we are, it is most comforting to know that nothing is hidden from Your loving gaze. You know all, You see all, You understand all. You do not despise us because we are weak for You were once like us and You know that being human, we suffer from the effects of original sin and how vulnerable it makes us to the lure of the world, the flesh, and the devil. You pity us and are always at hand to help us overcome our base inclinations. Although You were tempted in every way that we are tempted You never sinned this is why You do understand and have compassion on us and are ever willing to assist us by the power of Your grace and Holy Spirit.

Thank You, Father, for the confidence we have in Jesus, Your Son who even though He is the Son of God is also the Son of Man and understands us, and for the never-failing help of the Holy Spirit who abides in us and helps us to be holy and perfect just as You, Father, are holy and perfect. 

Since in Jesus, the Son of God, we have the supreme high priest who has gone through to the highest heaven, we must never let go of the faith that we have professed. For it is not as if we had a high priest who was incapable of feeling our weaknesses with us; but we have one who has been tempted in every way that we are, though he is without sin. Let us be confident, then, in approaching the throne of grace, that we shall have mercy from him and find grace when we are in need of help.

PSALM 18(19):8-10,15

Your words are spirit, Lord, and they are life.

The law of the Lord is perfect,
it revives the soul.
The rule of the Lord is to be trusted,
it gives wisdom to the simple.

The precepts of the Lord are right,
they gladden the heart.
The command of the Lord is clear,
it gives light to the eyes.

The fear of the Lord is holy,
abiding for ever.
The decrees of the Lord are truth
and all of them just.

May the spoken words of my mouth,
the thoughts of my heart,
win favour in your sight, O Lord,
my rescuer, my rock!

Your words are spirit, Lord, and they are life.

MARK 2:13-17

My Soul's Beloved,

It is wonderful to know that You came for me, a sinner and there is always hope for the most incorrigible sinner as long as we have breath in our body to turn to You with a contrite heart and a humble spirit. No sin no matter how grave is beyond the power of Your mercy and Your ability to forgive. The sinner always has access to the compassionate heart of God. It is always wrong to be so prideful as to say that You cannot forgive a particular sin or sins, this is the work of Satan, the Father of Lies,  the great deceiver who peddles this lie and we must never fall into this trap. 

The Lord is merciful and gracious,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
He will not always accuse,
nor will he keep his anger for ever.
He does not deal with us according to our sins,
nor repay us according to our iniquities.
For as the heavens are high above the earth,
so great is his steadfast love towards those who fear him;
as far as the east is from the west,
so far he removes our transgressions from us.
As a father has compassion for his children,
so the Lord has compassion for those who fear him.
For he knows how we were made;
he remembers that we are dust.

When the scribes of the Pharisee party saw him eating with sinners and tax collectors, they said to his disciples, ‘Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?’ When Jesus heard this he said to them, ‘It is not the healthy who need the doctor, but the sick. I did not come to call the virtuous, but sinners.’