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