FRIDAY OF THE FIRST WEEK OF ADVENT - 2025

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

Behold, our Lord will come with power
and will enlighten the eyes of his servants.

ISAIAH 29:17-24

My Soul's Beloved,

This passage is so full of hope for this particular time in our world today. We see how the powerful and the godless are filled with violence, discord, division, and murderous rage against those who follow You, are called by Your Name, and incite the ignorant to hate those who are faithful in holding on to divine truths in the face of persistent and harrowing opposition.

Our Holy Father's recent apostolic visits to Turkey and Lebanon have brought fresh hope to those nations, particularly Lebanon. We apply the promises of Isaiah not just to this nation but to all the nations of the world. We who stand on the promises of God are ready for their fulfillment. Enough of bloodshed, enough of the slaughter of innocents, children of God, who are murdered for their faith and belief in You and who refuse to deny You. For babies slaughtered in wombs in the most dastardly and barbaric ways. Enough of the diabolical evil that has spread its tentacles everywhere in its strangling grip.

We are a people of hope. We have been ransomed and redeemed by the Son of God, the Lamb of God, the Savior of the world. We know that our redeemer lives and that the day of our deliverance is at hand. While we wait, Lord, we will sing Your praise and glorify and worship You. Grant us grace to remain steadfast in our faith to the end.

The Lord says this:
In a short time, a very short time,
shall not Lebanon become fertile land
and fertile land turn into forest?
The deaf, that day,
will hear the words of a book
and, after shadow and darkness,
the eyes of the blind will see.
But the lowly will rejoice in the Lord even more
and the poorest exult in the Holy One of Israel;
for tyrants shall be no more, and scoffers vanish,
and all be destroyed who are disposed to do evil:
those who gossip to incriminate others,
those who try at the gate to trip the arbitrator
and get the upright man’s case dismissed for groundless reasons.
Therefore the Lord speaks,
the God of the House of Jacob,
Abraham’s redeemer:
No longer shall Jacob be ashamed,
no more shall his face grow pale,
for he shall see what my hands have done in his midst,
he shall hold my name holy.
They will hallow the Holy One of Jacob,
stand in awe of the God of Israel.
Erring spirits will learn wisdom
and murmurers accept instruction.

PSALM 26(27):1,4,13-14

The Lord is my light and my help.

The Lord is my light and my help;
whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life;
before whom shall I shrink?

There is one thing I ask of the Lord,
for this I long,
to live in the house of the Lord,
all the days of my life,
to savour the sweetness of the Lord,
to behold his temple.

I am sure I shall see the Lord’s goodness
in the land of the living.
Hope in him, hold firm and take heart.
Hope in the Lord!

The Lord is my light and my help.

MATTHEW 9:27-31

My Soul's Beloved, 

The two blind men in today's Gospel were healed because of their faith in You. They begged You to take pity on them. They did not give up but followed You and kept shouting persistently, 'Take pity on us, Son of David.' You responded,'Do you believe I can do this?' They answered, 'Sir, we do.' You then touched their eyes and said, 'Your faith deserves it, so let this be done for you.' And immediately their sight was restored.

Lord Jesus Christ, we learn from this healing that we ought not to be embarrassed by what people may think when we cry out to You loudly, expressing our need. Persistence in prayer is what You ask of us. When the answer to our prayers is delayed, we are not to give up but persevere. Perseverance and persistence strengthen our faith in You and teach us dependence on Your time to give us all that we need. You are a God of love, and You will not deny us all that we need to be happy in this life and eternally happy with You in the next.

Like the two blind men, let our joy in being healed overflow bountifully and let us spread the good news of all You have done for us to all we meet, so many more may come to believe and be saved. Thank You, Lord, for every grace and blessing that You have poured so generously on me and those I love. 

As Jesus went on his way, two blind men followed him shouting, ‘Take pity on us, Son of David.’ And when Jesus reached the house the blind men came up with him and he said to them, ‘Do you believe I can do this?’ They said, ‘Sir, we do.’ Then he touched their eyes saying, ‘Your faith deserves it, so let this be done for you.’ And their sight returned. Then Jesus sternly warned them, ‘Take care that no one learns about this.’ But when they had gone, they talked about him all over the countryside.

THURSDAY OF THE FIRST WEEK OF ADVENT - 2025

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

Seek the Lord while he is still to be found,
call to him while he is still near. IS 55:6

ISAIAH 26:1-6

My Soul's Beloved, 

It is so easy to lose confidence and hope when we look at our world today. Might is right is the unsavory lie that is being rammed down our throats. We look at those who govern the nations around the globe, and they are no better than puppets whose puppeteers are the wealthy, the powerful, and those with the greatest influence through nefarious dealings. These elected leaders remain indefinitely in power by capturing all the agencies and compelling them to kowtow to their demands or else face the consequences. In times like these, Lord, it is easy to lose heart if we lose sight of You and Your promises.

Today, Isaiah's triumphant hymn emphasizes the power of God to guard over His own and to crush those who stand against His beloved children. Lord God, Savior of the world, we are called by Your Name. We are redeemed by You. You loved us to the end, and we are built on the Rock that can never be moved or shaken.

Let us, your little ones, understand that no matter how evil the world gets, how powerful the godless, how violent the agents of lies, we keep our eyes fixed on You. The battle rages endlessly, but we know the war is won, and we are sharers in Your triumphant victory.

We make the Magnificat of our Mother Mary our own, for it is always the lowly, your own little ones, who will ultimately rejoice and be glad forever.

That day, this song will be sung in the land of Judah:

We have a strong city;
to guard us he has set
wall and rampart about us.
Open the gates! Let the upright nation come in,
she, the faithful one
whose mind is steadfast, who keeps the peace,
because she trusts in you.
Trust in the Lord for ever,
for the Lord is the everlasting Rock;
he has brought low those who lived high up
in the steep citadel;
he brings it down, brings it down to the ground,
flings it down in the dust:
the feet of the lowly, the footsteps of the poor
trample on it.

PSALM 117(118):1,8-9,19-21,25-27

Blessed in the name of the Lord is he who comes.

Give thanks to the Lord for he is good,
for his love has no end.
It is better to take refuge in the Lord
than to trust in men;
it is better to take refuge in the Lord
than to trust in princes.
.
Open to me the gates of holiness:
I will enter and give thanks.
This is the Lord’s own gate
where the just may enter.
I will thank you for you have answered
and you are my saviour.

O Lord, grant us salvation;
O Lord, grant success.
Blessed in the name of the Lord
is he who comes.
We bless you from the house of the Lord;
the Lord God is our light.

Blessed in the name of the Lord is he who comes.

MATTHEW 7:21,24-27

My Soul's Beloved,

The one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church is built on the Rock. As long as she is our foundation, we can never be moved or shaken. She is founded on You, O Christ, the anointed of the Father, and it is the Spirit of the Father and the Son that gives her life. Having put down roots deep into Your Body, O Lord, we receive life and grace unceasingly, and this is why we remain unfazed by the works of the devil, who sows discord, destruction, death, mayhem, and division, and these things have been utterly destroyed by the precious Blood of the Lamb and the power of Your holy, glorious Name.

Lord, all I ask of You today is that we, who are Yours, not just pay lip service to our faith in You and to the Church we belong of which You are the Head and we its members. Rather, grant us a faith that moves mountains, walks on water, calms the storm, and raises the dead to life by the witness of our lives. And should it be required, O Lord, to gladly lay down our lives for Your sake and the sake of the Gospel as so many have done before us. The blood of martyrs is the seed of Christians, and the blood of those persecuted will soon yield an abundance of fruit, bringing the whole world to the knowledge of truth in the only one who has the power to save. 

Jesus said to his disciples: ‘It is not those who say to me, “Lord, Lord,” who will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the person who does the will of my Father in heaven. Therefore, everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a sensible man who built his house on rock. Rain came down, floods rose, gales blew and hurled themselves against that house, and it did not fall: it was founded on rock. But everyone who listens to these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a stupid man who built his house on sand. Rain came down, floods rose, gales blew and struck that house, and it fell; and what a fall it had!’

TUESDAY OF THE FIRST WEEK OF ADVENT - 2025

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

Behold, our Lord will come with power
and will enlighten the eyes of his servants.

ISAIAH 11:1-10

My Soul's Beloved,

The Kingdom of God is already in our midst; it came to us on Your stooping low from heaven into the womb of the Virgin and into our world. You revealed to us the love of God, the wisdom of God, the power of God, and this is for all who believe in You and the One who sent You. The same Holy Spirit, which is the Spirit of Father and Son, has been given to us. We lack nothing, Beloved, to realize the Kingdom of God which has been established in our hearts, in the Church, and in the world. Sadly, we have allowed the great Deceiver and Father of Lies to distract us. We are all consumed with the trivial, the passing, the baubles that are dangled before us, and we are drawn away from the Truth that saves.

Ignorance of God and His Word keeps us from flourishing as God, our Father, intends. We have failed to raise children nourished on Your Word and on Your Body and Blood. Our parents and grandparents have been largely ignorant, and that ignorance is handed down from generation to generation. They could be excused then, Lord, we have no excuse, and neither to our children and the coming generation, for all we need to grow and thrive on our faith is available freely to us. However, we choose to use the gifts of God not for growing in the knowledge of You and Him, but in things of this perishable world that bring death.

Lord Jesus, it is not too late. It never is, for You are a God of second chances, and we never run out of another chance to begin anew. Shake us out of our lethargy, our complacency, our indifference to the things of life, and our preoccupation with the things that only bring sorrow, grief, sadness, loneliness, depression, sickness, and death. All we need to live, grow, and thrive is ours if we only desire it. Do for u,s O Lord, what we are too stupid to do for ourselves.

A shoot springs from the stock of Jesse,

a scion thrusts from his roots:
on him the spirit of the Lord rests,
a spirit of wisdom and insight,
a spirit of counsel and power,
a spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.
(The fear of the Lord is his breath.)
He does not judge by appearances,
he gives no verdict on hearsay,
but judges the wretched with integrity,
and with equity gives a verdict for the poor of the land.
His word is a rod that strikes the ruthless,
his sentences bring death to the wicked.
Integrity is the loincloth round his waist,
faithfulness the belt about his hips.
The wolf lives with the lamb,
the panther lies down with the kid,
calf and lion feed together,
with a little boy to lead them.
The cow and the bear make friends,
their young lie down together.
The lion eats straw like the ox.
The infant plays over the cobra’s hole;
into the viper’s lair
the young child puts his hand.
They do no hurt, no harm,
on all my holy mountain,
for the country is filled with the knowledge of the Lord
as the waters swell the sea.
That day, the root of Jesse
shall stand as a signal to the peoples.
It will be sought out by the nations
and its home will be glorious.

PSALM 71(72):1-2,7-8,12-13,17

In his days justice shall flourish, and peace till the moon fails.

O God, give your judgement to the king,
to a king’s son your justice,
that he may judge your people in justice
and your poor in right judgement.

In his days justice shall flourish
and peace till the moon fails.
He shall rule from sea to sea,
from the Great River to earth’s bounds.

For he shall save the poor when they cry
and the needy who are helpless.
He will have pity on the weak
and save the lives of the poor.

May his name be blessed for ever
and endure like the sun.
Every tribe shall be blessed in him,
all nations bless his name.

In his days justice shall flourish, and peace till the moon fails.

LUKE 10:21-24

My Soul's Beloved, 

We, too, are filled with the same joy by the Holy Spirit that You always experienced because it is this same Spirit that You have given us. Nothing is hidden from us any longer after the Father sent You into the world to make known His unfathomable love for us who are so unworthy and undeserving of it. Yet, look at us, sad, joyless creatures, with our eyes fixed to the earth, we are unable to see the unmistakable signs of God's loving care and tenderness that are everywhere. We prefer to focus on all the negativity instead of Your promises, Your assurances, the Truth of  Your Word, Your abiding presence in us.

You were sent by the Father to make Him and His love visible and tangible to us in and through You. You, in turn, sent us the Holy Spirit, so we could begin, even now, to experience on earth the joys of heaven. Have pity on Your people, Lord, those called by Your Name, members of Your Body, that we may realize how blessed and privileged we are to be one with You, the Father and the Holy Spirit. We are called to spread the Kingdom of God; this is our mission. Grant us the grace to so live our lives that others, too, may desire and receive what we have been so graciously given by You. Thank You, Lord. 

Filled with joy by the Holy Spirit, Jesus said:
‘I bless you, Father, Lord of heaven and of earth, for hiding these things from the learned and the clever and revealing them to mere children. Yes, Father, for that is what it pleased you to do. Everything has been entrusted to me by my Father; and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.’
Then turning to his disciples he spoke to them in private, ‘Happy the eyes that see what you see, for I tell you that many prophets and kings wanted to see what you see, and never saw it; to hear what you hear, and never heard it.’

MONDAY OF THE FIRST WEEK OF ADVENT - 2025

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

God of hosts, bring us back:
let your face shine on us and we shall be saved. PS 79:4

ISAIAH 4:2-6

My Soul's Beloved, 

You, the Fruit of the womb of the Blessed Virgin, are the hope and glory of the whole world. The old has passed, and with the rejection of the Son of Man and the Son of God by the people of Israel, who fiendishly used Rome to carry out the most dastardly act of Deicide, brought about their own crushing destruction and downfall. Every prophecy of Isaiah has been fulfilled. You founded the New Jerusalem on Mt. Zion, the city on the hill where it pleases God to dwell in fullness.

Thank You, Lord, for the Church. Thank You for Peter and the Petrine ministry. Thank You for the Magisterium. Thank You for Your enduring presence among us in the Holy Eucharist. Thank You for the fullness of faith that we receive as members of the Church You founded. We are grafted into Your Body, and we receive life from You. Your glory fills our churches as You come down on our Altars all over the world at the hands of the priests, and we eat Your Flesh and drink Your Blood and receive supernatural life. In You, O Lord, we take shelter from the storms of life that so often overwhelm us. No matter what difficulties we may have to face because we are Yours and called by Your Name, we will count it all joy for we share in Your victory and Your triumph and our eternal destiny is with You.

That day, the branch of the Lord

shall be beauty and glory,
and the fruit of the earth
shall be the pride and adornment
of Israel’s survivors.
Those who are left of Zion
and remain of Jerusalem
shall be called holy
and those left in Jerusalem, noted down for survival.
When the Lord has washed away
the filth of the daughter of Zion
and cleansed Jerusalem of the blood shed in her
with the blast of judgement and the blast of destruction,
the Lord will come and rest
on the whole stretch of Mount Zion
and on those who are gathered there,
a cloud by day, and smoke,
and by night the brightness of a flaring fire.
For, over all, the glory of the Lord
will be a canopy and a tent
to give shade by day from the heat,
refuge and shelter from the storm and the rain.

PSALM 121(122):1-2,4-5,6-9

I rejoiced when I heard them say: ‘Let us go to God’s house.’

I rejoiced when I heard them say:
‘Let us go to God’s house.’
And now our feet are standing
within your gates, O Jerusalem.

It is there that the tribes go up,
the tribes of the Lord.
For Israel’s law it is,
there to praise the Lord’s name.
There were set the thrones of judgement
of the house of David.

For the peace of Jerusalem pray:
‘Peace be to your homes!
May peace reign in your walls,
in your palaces, peace!’

For love of my brethren and friends
I say: ‘Peace upon you!’
For love of the house of the Lord
I will ask for your good.

I rejoiced when I heard them say: ‘Let us go to God’s house.’

MATTHEW 8:5-11

My Soul's Beloved, 

The centurion's faith is so astounding that You commented on it and praised his faith, but it puts most of us to shame millenia later, for our faith is often a poor, weak, vacillating thing. The character of this Roman centurion is remarkable on many levels. He cared deeply for his sick servant and empathized with his suffering. He was a man with authority and was aware of the power he wielded over his soldiers. He was aware of Jewish customs and was sensitive to the fact that he, being a Gentile, would cause You to become unclean had You entered his home, and so he asked that You command, and by Your authority, what You commanded would be accomplished. 

The centurion was convinced that by just a command, You could affect the healing of his servant even from a distance. His faith was rewarded. To this day and until the end of time, the Church recalls and honors him by the repeating his words at every Eucharistic celebration. ‘Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; just say the word and my soul will be healed.' Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, increase my faith, so I know beyond the shadow of a doubt that whatever I ask of You in faith it will be done. 

When Jesus went into Capernaum a centurion came up and pleaded with him. ‘Sir,’ he said ‘my servant is lying at home paralysed, and in great pain.’ ‘I will come myself and cure him’ said Jesus. The centurion replied, ‘Sir, I am not worthy to have you under my roof; just give the word and my servant will be cured. For I am under authority myself, and have soldiers under me; and I say to one man: Go, and he goes; to another: Come here, and he comes; to my servant: Do this, and he does it.’ When Jesus heard this he was astonished and said to those following him, ‘I tell you solemnly, nowhere in Israel have I found faith like this. And I tell you that many will come from east and west to take their places with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob at the feast in the kingdom of heaven.’