TUESDAY AFTER EPIPHANY SUNDAY - 2025

DAILY HOLY MASS READING

The people that lived in darkness
has seen a great light;
on those who dwell in the land and shadow of death
a light has dawned. MT 4:16

1 JOHN 4:7-10

My Soul's Beloved,

We are called to love as You love not as we love for we do not know how. Our love is often wishy-washy, sentimental, tepid, and at the first sign of difficulty, all too often, vanishes like early morning dew. We cannot love as You love O Lord unless we first contemplate, meditate, and allow our hearts to enter into Yours. The Holy Spirit alone can fill us with grace and help us to rid ourselves of anything that prevents us from loving others by living a life of complete and total surrender to the will and plan of God. Love is always about the beloved never about self, we know this to be true, but how hard it is Lord to forget self and seek always and in all circumstances the good of others. Too often we put our comfort, our needs, and our desires, before others and we subtly justify ourselves when we do so.

Let this be the day, my Lord, having experienced Your love for us, we strive constantly to imitate You in our love for others. We cannot say we love You, Lord, and turn our gaze from the poor, the lonely, the marginalized, the stranger, the widow, the orphan, or anyone else who needs us to see them, talk to them, pray for, and with them, and offer what help we can.

Anyone who fails to love can never have known God,
because God is love.
God’s love for us was revealed
when God sent into the world his only Son
so that we could have life through him;
this is the love I mean:
not our love for God,
but God’s love for us when he sent his Son
to be the sacrifice that takes our sins away.

PSALM 71(72):1-4,7-8

All nations shall fall prostrate before you, O Lord.

O God, give your judgement to the king,
to a king’s son your justice,
that he may judge your people in justice
and your poor in right judgement.

May the mountains bring forth peace for the people

and the hills, justice.
May he defend the poor of the people
and save the children of the needy.

In his days justice shall flourish

and peace till the moon fails.
He shall rule from sea to sea,
from the Great River to earth’s bounds.

All nations shall fall prostrate before you, O Lord.

MARK 6:34-44

My Soul's Beloved,

St. John, the evangelist, experienced firsthand the sweet and tender compassion of Your love for others. Your heart always moved with pity for the poor, the hungry, the sick, in fact, anyone in need You never sent away unless You healed them, touched their lives and they were made whole in every way.

You looked at the large crowd who waited patiently to listen to You. They were hungry for the words of life. You filled their hungry hearts with manna for their soul and they felt alive, seen, and loved. But You did not overlook the physical needs as well of those who came in droves to hear You teach, preach, and heal. No one had to bring to Your notice that they were hungry. You know all, You see all, You understand all, and You minister to us always at the point of our need. We can trust You always to give us just what our hungry hearts, souls, minds, and bodies require.

Thank You, my soul's beloved, for knowing my needs and for granting me and those I love all we need, always. I trust You, my Lord and my God. You are a God who never disappoints those who place all their hope and trust in You.

‘How many loaves have you?’ he asked. ‘Go and see.’ And when they had found out they said, ‘Five, and two fish.’ Then he ordered them to get all the people together in groups on the green grass, and they sat down on the ground in squares of hundreds and fifties. Then he took the five loaves and the two fish, raised his eyes to heaven and said the blessing; then he broke the loaves and handed them to his disciples to distribute among the people. He also shared out the two fish among them all. They all ate as much as they wanted. They collected twelve basketfuls of scraps of bread and pieces of fish. Those who had eaten the loaves numbered five thousand men.