FRIDAY OF THE 1ST WEEK OF LENT - 2025

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

Shake off all your sins – it is the Lord who speaks –
and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. EZ 18:31

EZEKIEL 18:21-28

My Soul's Beloved,

Sin wounds us and ruptures our relationship with You and yet we do so over and over again. Without You, Lord, life is without joy or meaning. Sin darkens the soul, and the graver the sins we commit, the greater our misery and sorrow, and yet O Lord our flesh craves pleasure, its needs are endless. The more we pander to it the more we are sucked into the vortex of its insatiable appetites and the more insensate we become to all that it true, good, holy, noble, and beautiful. We also know Beloved what it means to our soul and to our lives when we repent of our sins, are truly humble and contrite, kneel before You in Confession, and beg to be forgiven. You do not hesitate. You wipe away all our iniquities, You cleanse us from all our sins, You restore our soul to its baptismal purity and our hearts are filled with indescribable joy as You remove from us the burden of our many and heinous transgressions and pour Your life in us once again.

Thank You, Lord for instituting the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Thank You that no matter how often we fall from grace You wait for our return and receive us with open hands. You assure us that You never tire of forgiving. You will forget all our sins, and we will be born anew.  

Thus says the Lord:
‘If the wicked man renounces all the sins he has committed, respects my laws and is law-abiding and honest, he will certainly live; he will not die. All the sins he committed will be forgotten from then on; he shall live because of the integrity he has practised. What! Am I likely to take pleasure in the death of a wicked man – it is the Lord who speaks – and not prefer to see him renounce his wickedness and live?
‘But if the upright man renounces his integrity, commits sin, copies the wicked man and practises every kind of filth, is he to live? All the integrity he has practised shall be forgotten from then on; but this is because he himself has broken faith and committed sin, and for this he shall die. 

PSALM 129(130)

If you, O Lord, should mark our guilt, Lord, who would survive?

Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord,
Lord, hear my voice!
O let your ears be attentive
to the voice of my pleading.

If you, O Lord, should mark our guilt,

Lord, who would survive?
But with you is found forgiveness:
for this we revere you.

My soul is waiting for the Lord.
I count on his word.
My soul is longing for the Lord
more than watchman for daybreak.
(Let the watchman count on daybreak
and Israel on the Lord.)

Because with the Lord there is mercy

and fullness of redemption,
Israel indeed he will redeem
from all its iniquity.

If you, O Lord, should mark our guilt, Lord, who would survive?

MATTHEW 5:20-26

My Soul's Beloved,

How easily we judge each other and condemn them to hellfire and brimstone, but we are very lax with the evil we do. We make excuses for our lapses. We justify our sins. We allow ourselves a broad interpretation of the Commandments and tell ourselves that You will understand. We put on a mantle of virtue when we are seen, and are devils in private. We deceive ourselves all the time when it comes to right judgment about how we live, making great allowances for our weaknesses, our self-indulgences, our lack of discipline, our lack of charity, empathy, and compassion for others, and are deeply offended when these are withheld from us.

This Lent O Lord, grant me the grace to turn my gaze inward and to correct the many faults that are an obstacle to growing in holiness and in virtue. I must be stern with myself but tender with my neighbor. Deny myself while being generous to others. Hold myself to a higher standard always while being mindful of the weaknesses of others and hence less critical of them.

It is not easy, Lord, I have spent a lifetime in coddling my flesh, and my spirit, please help me little by little, day by day, to make progress in the spiritual life. Help me not to get discouraged when I fail, as fail I surely will, but to remember that if I make a real effort to overcome my faults, weaknesses, and failings, You will provide all the help I need and even my poor efforts will please You. 

‘You have learnt how it was said to our ancestors: You must not kill; and if anyone does kill he must answer for it before the court. But I say this to you: anyone who is angry with his brother will answer for it before the court; if a man calls his brother “Fool” he will answer for it before the Sanhedrin; and if a man calls him “Renegade” he will answer for it in hell fire. So then, if you are bringing your offering to the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar, go and be reconciled with your brother first, and then come back and present your offering. Come to terms with your opponent in good time while you are still on the way to the court with him, or he may hand you over to the judge and the judge to the officer, and you will be thrown into prison. I tell you solemnly, you will not get out till you have paid the last penny.’