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.’