SATURDAY OF WEEK 19 IN ORDINARY TIME - 2025

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

Blessed are you, Father,
Lord of heaven and earth,
for revealing the mysteries of the kingdom
to mere children. MT 11:25

JOSHUA 24:14-29

My Soul's Beloved,

As Catholics, we are the most profoundly blessed people in all the earth. Sadly, not all recognize this singular gift of God given to so many of us who were born of Catholic parents. Baptized as infants we were brought into the Church just as You were brought to the Temple by Mother Mary and St. Joseph as the firstborn Son and presented to God. Yet, O Lord, how many are raised poorly in the beauty and Apostolic Tradition of the glorious faith that we have received most often because our parents were poorly catechized, and we, in turn, have been poorly catechized as well. How can earlier generations give us what they lacked, and how can we pass on what we lack? Yet, Lord, this cannot be an excuse for any of us. We are responsible for our own spiritual education, We are willing to spend great amounts of money to educate our children so they can succeed in the world but we fail to spend any time or resources on educating ourselves, learning about our faith, and growing spiritually strong in it so we can not only hand it down to our own children as well as make a strong defense against those who challenge us and our beliefs.

Faith is a choice. We cannot hide forever behind the excuse that we were ignorant, at some point in our lives, we have a solemn duty to remedy it. Just as Joshua required the people of God before they entered the promised land to declare themselves for or against God, so too are we called to renew our faith daily. Our faith must form all we do, the way we live, and who we are. This is not possible if we are ignorant of what God has done for us, the singular grace granted to us through no merit of ours to be born Catholic. Let us remember that we will be called to account when we come before You as judge when we die, and we will have to pay the penalty for having hidden the great talent given to us instead of recognizing its infinite value and multiplying it for God's glory.

Joshua said to all the people, ‘Fear the Lord and serve him perfectly and sincerely; put away the gods that your ancestors served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. But if you will not serve the Lord, choose today whom you wish to serve, whether the gods that your ancestors served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are now living. As for me and my House, we will serve the Lord.’

Then Joshua said to the people, ‘You cannot serve the Lord, because he is a holy God, he is a jealous God who will not forgive your transgressions or your sins. If you desert the Lord to follow alien gods he in turn will afflict and destroy you after the goodness he has shown you.’ The people answered Joshua, ‘No; it is the Lord we wish to serve.’ Then Joshua said to the people, ‘You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the Lord, to serve him.’ They answered, ‘We are witnesses.’ ‘Then cast away the alien gods among you and give your hearts to the Lord the God of Israel!’ The people answered Joshua, ‘It is the Lord our God we choose to serve; it is his voice that we will obey.’


PSALM 15(16):1-2,5,7-8,11

You are my inheritance, O Lord.

Preserve me, God, I take refuge in you.
I say to the Lord: ‘You are my God.’
O Lord, it is you who are my portion and cup;
it is you yourself who are my prize.

I will bless the Lord who gives me counsel,
who even at night directs my heart.
I keep the Lord ever in my sight:
since he is at my right hand, I shall stand firm.

You will show me the path of life,
the fullness of joy in your presence,
at your right hand happiness for ever.

You are my inheritance, O Lord.

MATTHEW 19:13-15

My Soul's Beloved,

My soul trembles with fear, for I know there are many parents, either one or both, who keep their children from coming to You, being grafted to Your Body, becoming members of the Church You founded on Peter, the Rock, and thus jeopardise the eternal inheritance of Your little ones.

Parents do this for many reasons, but mainly through a profound ignorance of what it means to become a child of God through the Sacrament of Baptism and heir to the Kingdom of Heaven. Such ignorance is not insurmountable if fathers and mothers who call themselves Catholics or Christians listened to the inner voice of their conscience, and as parents, understood the grave, great responsibility they have taken on in having children. They spend themselves and their resources on looking after their children's temporal needs while overlooking what will give them the fullness of life eternally in union with God in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Hear the prayers of all who plead with You with tears, inconsolable sorrow, and fear to touch the hearts of those parents who, either through deceit, ignorance, or indifference, deny their children the greatest gift they could ever give their children, the gift of faith, and withholding from them their rightful inheritance to become daughters and sons of the Living God.

People brought little children to Jesus, for him to lay his hands on them and say a prayer. The disciples turned them away, but Jesus said, ‘Let the little children alone, and do not stop them coming to me; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs.’ Then he laid his hands on them and went on his way.