MONDAY OF WEEK 16 IN ORDINARY TIME - 2025

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

Harden not your hearts today,
but listen to the voice of the Lord. PS 94:8

EXODUS 14:5-18

My Soul's Beloved,

Like Pharaoh and his courtiers who chased the fleeing Israelites, our sins and our weaknesses pursue us. We are often victims of our own lack of self-mastery. Too often, it is the flacidity of our will, our lack of desire to put up a real fight against giving in to the trivial pursuits of entertaining our senses, which rob us of the time that belongs to You. We fail to understand that eventually we will run out of this precious commodity; concupiscence overrules the still, small voice of our conscience that constantly nudges us to choose the right, the true, the noble, and the good. If we fail to stand our ground, if we refuse to put up a fight against the little sins that tempt us to discipline our will, we will never gain mastery over our senses and our flesh. The less we fight, the easier it will be to lull our conscience until we find ourselves too deeply entrenched in the miry pit and will be too feeble to either help ourselves or cry out for help, and our soul will be destined for eternal death and separation from You, our only good.

Beloved, You are greater than Moses for You are God, and You are right hand and mighty arm are always stretched out to save us. But we need to desire to be saved. You will not save us against our will. Unless we freely choose to embrace Your will always and in all circumstances, all the days of our lives, only then will You part the sea of evil that threatens to drown us, and You will make a way for us to walk on dry ground to safety. Miracles are ours for the asking, but only if we rest in You with childlike serenity and simplicity, trusting that You will do for us what we are unable to do for ourselves. You will save us.

The sons of Israel were terrified and cried out to the Lord. To Moses they said, ‘Were there no graves in Egypt that you must lead us out to die in the wilderness? What good have you done us, bringing us out of Egypt? We spoke of this in Egypt, did we not? Leave us alone, we said, we would rather work for the Egyptians! Better to work for the Egyptians than die in the wilderness!’
Moses answered the people, ‘Have no fear! Stand firm, and you will see what the Lord will do to save you today: the Egyptians you see today, you will never see again. The Lord will do the fighting for you: you have only to keep still.’
The Lord said to Moses, ‘Why do you cry to me so? Tell the sons of Israel to march on. For yourself, raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea and part it for the sons of Israel to walk through the sea on dry ground. I for my part will make the heart of the Egyptians so stubborn that they will follow them. So shall I win myself glory at the expense of Pharaoh, of all his army, his chariots, his horsemen. And when I have won glory for myself, at the expense of Pharaoh and his chariots and his army, the Egyptians will learn that I am the Lord.’

EXODUS 15:1-6

I will sing to the Lord, glorious his triumph!

I will sing to the Lord, glorious his triumph!
Horse and rider he has thrown into the sea!
The Lord is my strength, my song, my salvation.
This is my God and I extol him,
my father’s God and I give him praise.

The Lord is a warrior! ‘The Lord’ is his name.
The chariots of Pharaoh he hurled into the sea,
the flower of his army is drowned in the sea.

The deeps hide them; they sank like a stone.
Your right hand, Lord, glorious in its power,
your right hand, Lord, has shattered the enemy.

I will sing to the Lord, glorious his triumph!

MATTHEW 12:38-42

My Soul's Beloved,

We demand signs for various reasons; for some, it is a lack of faith, whereas for others, like the scribes and Pharisees, it is a time-wasting tactic, an excuse to reject what is clearly the Truth. By this time, having already worked so many miracles, many were already convinced. At the very least, the religious authorities had to ask themselves whether or not a mere man could do the mighty deeds that You performed, and that there could be a real possibility that You were indeed from God.

To this day, many refuse to believe because they love their earthly and temporal power, wealth, authority, and influence more than they love God and the Truth. We sign our death warrant when we allow our possessions to possess us. We are created for God, and when we settle for anything other than You, O Lord, we cannot enter the Kingdom of God. 

Lord God, grant us the simplicity of a child so we can stand in awe as we gaze with wonder at the beauty, wisdom, and power of the Lord.  

Some of the scribes and Pharisees spoke up. ‘Master,’ they said ‘we should like to see a sign from you.’ He replied, ‘It is an evil and unfaithful generation that asks for a sign! The only sign it will be given is the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was in the belly of the sea-monster for three days and three nights, so will the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights. On Judgement day the men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation and condemn it, because when Jonah preached they repented; and there is something greater than Jonah here. On Judgement day the Queen of the South will rise up with this generation and condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and there is something greater than Solomon here.’