SATURDAY OF THE 5TH WEEK OF EASTERTIDE - 2025

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

Since you have been brought back to true life with Christ,
you must look for the things that are in heaven, where Christ is,
sitting at God’s right hand. COL 3:1

ACTS 16:1-10

My Soul's Beloved,

All that the Church has received through the Apostolic Tradition, we are bound to obey. Pride and a carnal spirit prevent those outside the Catholic Church to each listen to their own spirit instead of the Holy Spirit. St. Peter, St. Paul, all the Apostles are filled with the Holy Spirit and are always sensitive and attentive to His promptings and guidance, and it is the Holy Spirit who reveals when and where they are to preach and Gospel. It is not a matter of one's personal preference. We can only be effective missionaries if we are docile to the promptings of the Spirit of God, who is given to us at Baptism.

St. Paul circumcised Timothy, who was an upright young man, well thought of and with a good reputation among the believers, only because Jews in the region would reject him, and in rejecting him would reject the Gospel. His mission would be ineffective, since they knew that he was uncircumcised, although his mother was a Jew and his father Greek. It was the prudent thing to do, so we need not get all hot and bothered under the collar and accuse St. Paul of going back on something he had fought so hard to achieve, that circumcision was unnecessary for Gentile Christians.

Those outside the Catholic Church accuse her freely of all kinds of nonsense out of abject ignorance of why she teaches what she does and why her members must obey. We must submit to the Teaching Authority of the Church, for when we do so, we submit to You. The work of Satan is division, and is the fruit of arrogance and disobedience, because of unwillingness to submit to the Truth in its entirety.

From Cilicia Paul went to Derbe, and then on to Lystra. Here there was a disciple called Timothy, whose mother was a Jewess who had become a believer; but his father was a Greek. The brothers at Lystra and Iconium spoke well of Timothy, and Paul, who wanted to have him as a travelling companion, had him circumcised.

As they visited one town after another, they passed on the decisions reached by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem, with instructions to respect them.
So the churches grew strong in the faith, as well as growing daily in numbers.
They travelled through Phrygia and the Galatian country, having been told by the Holy Spirit not to preach the word in Asia. 

PSALM 99(100):1-3,5

Cry out with joy to the Lord, all the earth.

Cry out with joy to the Lord, all the earth.
Serve the Lord with gladness.
Come before him, singing for joy.

Know that he, the Lord, is God.
He made us, we belong to him,
we are his people, the sheep of his flock.

Indeed, how good is the Lord,
eternal his merciful love.
He is faithful from age to age.

Cry out with joy to the Lord, all the earth.

JOHN 15:18-21

My Soul's Beloved,

Christians who refuse to compromise with the culture are punished by the world. The blood of Christians continues to soak the earth, and more in some countries than others. The enemies of Truth persecute, imprison, torture, and even murder those who stand uncompromisingly for You. The flimsiest excuses are trumped up in order to destroy them and their families. Many of them have nothing, yet they refuse to back down and are prepared to die rather than deny their faith.

No one can be Your friend and a friend of the world. The present culture is diabolic, perverse, and demonic. It stifles and kills all that is true, good, holy, and noble. Those who refuse to call lies the truth and truth lies are hated, persecuted, ridiculed, and ostracised, but they refuse to back down. Currently, evil is having its hour, but the Truth is eternal and victorious. Truth always wins in the end. 

Your words to us today and to all the fearless Christians in the world are comforting. We are not born for this world, Beloved, for eternal life with You. Let us never forget that time is short, but we need never be afraid of what the world can do to us because we are created for eternity with You.

Jesus said to his disciples:
‘If the world hates you,
remember that it hated me before you.
If you belonged to the world,
the world would love you as its own;
but because you do not belong to the world,
because my choice withdrew you from the world,
therefore the world hates you.
Remember the words I said to you: A servant is not greater than his master.
If they persecuted me, they will persecute you too;
if they kept my word, they will keep yours as well.
But it will be on my account that they will do all this,
because they do not know the one who sent me.’