Jesus proclaimed the Good News of the kingdom
and cured all kinds of sickness among the people. MT 4:23
ISAIAH 8:23-9:3
My Soul's Beloved,
My Soul's Beloved,
Life without You in it, a life lived without God and the Holy Spirit, is a sad life indeed. We exist, we do not live when we choose hedonism and self-indulgence as our sole goal. How can we know true joy, peace, and serenity without You, O Lord? The world is filled with souls that are drab, gray, dull, and dead because they are ignorant of You, and lack true knowledge of the power of God, and the necessity of God in their empty lives. This is why they try without success to fill the void within with noise and cheap entertainment that further deadens their souls.
But You are a God of hope, my Lord. You do not give up easily. You are the God who leaves the 99 to search for the one that is lost. This is why I will not allow sadness and regret to make me discouraged about their salvation. You seek it with far greater passion than I ever could. Today, Lord, I claim the promises You made to Your people who walked in darkness before You tore the veil of time and entered into our world as one like us in all things save sin. I trust in every one of Your promises, and I will rest serenely, for I know I can trust You to save the souls of those I love so dearly, for You ransomed them with Your own life. Thank You, Lord.
In days past the Lord humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in days to come he will confer glory on the Way of the Sea on the far side of Jordan, province of the nations.
The people that walked in darkness
has seen a great light;
on those who live in a land of deep shadow
a light has shone.
You have made their gladness greater,
you have made their joy increase;
they rejoice in your presence
as men rejoice at harvest time,
as men are happy when they are dividing the spoils.
For the yoke that was weighing on him,
the bar across his shoulders,
the rod of his oppressor –
these you break as on the day of Midian.
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.
1 CORINTHIANS 1:10-13,17
My Soul's Beloved,
If this is not a direct condemnation from the lips of St. Paul that speaks directly to the fragmentation of Your Body through the various denominations that splintered the Church, I do not know what is. There were actually individuals arrogant enough who broke away from the Church You instituted, because they could not digest her infallible doctrines. In the Catholic Church alone, founded on the 12 Apostles, and espoused to You, her Bridegroom, does the fullness of beauty, goodness, and truth dwell. Those who identify themselves either by their human founders or their selective emphasis on one or other teaching of the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church, do so at the peril of their souls.
Beloved, the Church echoes Your prayer for unity that all God's people may be one, just as You and the Father are one. The Father has already heard and answered Your prayer the moment You made it, and now we are seeing many souls entering the bosom of Holy Mother Church. We pray that their numbers increase daily, and before long, we will truly be just one flock with You as our one Shepherd.
I appeal to you, brothers, for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ, to make up the differences between you, and instead of disagreeing among yourselves, to be united again in your belief and practice. From what Chloe’s people have been telling me, my dear brothers, it is clear that there are serious differences among you. What I mean are all these slogans that you have, like: ‘I am for Paul’, ‘I am for Apollos’, ‘I am for Cephas’, ‘I am for Christ.’ Has Christ been parcelled out? Was it Paul that was crucified for you? Were you baptised in the name of Paul?
For Christ did not send me to baptise, but to preach the Good News, and not to preach that in the terms of philosophy in which the crucifixion of Christ cannot be expressed.
MATTHEW 4:12-23
My Soul's Beloved,
The Church reflects on the beginning of Your public ministry when You began calling those who would be the foundation on which she was built. John the Baptist's mission had come to an end. He has been arrested, and before long, those who had sold their souls to indulge in the sins of the flesh would be responsible for his beheading and death. He, the herald of the Christ, had accomplished that which God had entrusted to him. He had prepared the way for You, and now You are here to begin the work of salvation.
The gospel recalls the prophecy of Isaiah, which we have already heard in the first reading, emphasising again that what was foretold was now coming to pass. This prophecy continues to fulfill itself, Lord, even as the Church carries the mission You entrusted to her forward. You called the 12, You sought them where they were going about the daily business of life, and You extended to them the greatest mission ever entrusted to man. These were ordinary men, some of them ignorant, many were fishermen, one was a tax collector, and a persona non grata. It mattered not to You what mattered was what You would make of them. They were to be the 12 on whom You would build Your Church, and the gates of hell shall never prevail against her.
Beloved, You issue the same invitation to each of us to follow You. When we hear Your voice, may we, like Andrew, Peter, James, and John, leave everything behind and, without a backward glance, go with You wherever You may lead.
Hearing that John had been arrested, Jesus went back to Galilee, and leaving Nazareth he went and settled in Capernaum, a lakeside town on the borders of Zebulun and Naphtali. In this way the prophecy of Isaiah was to be fulfilled:
‘Land of Zebulun! Land of Naphtali!
Way of the sea on the far side of Jordan,
Galilee of the nations!
The people that lived in darkness has seen a great light;
on those who dwell in the land and shadow of death
a light has dawned.’
From that moment Jesus began his preaching with the message, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is close at hand.’
As he was walking by the Sea of Galilee he saw two brothers, Simon, who was called Peter, and his brother Andrew; they were making a cast in the lake with their net, for they were fishermen. And he said to them, ‘Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.’ And they left their nets at once and followed him. Going on from there he saw another pair of brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John; they were in their boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets, and he called them. At once, leaving the boat and their father, they followed him.
He went round the whole of Galilee teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the Good News of the kingdom and curing all kinds of diseases and sickness among the people.
Way of the sea on the far side of Jordan,
Galilee of the nations!
The people that lived in darkness has seen a great light;
on those who dwell in the land and shadow of death
a light has dawned.’
From that moment Jesus began his preaching with the message, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is close at hand.’
As he was walking by the Sea of Galilee he saw two brothers, Simon, who was called Peter, and his brother Andrew; they were making a cast in the lake with their net, for they were fishermen. And he said to them, ‘Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.’ And they left their nets at once and followed him. Going on from there he saw another pair of brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John; they were in their boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets, and he called them. At once, leaving the boat and their father, they followed him.
He went round the whole of Galilee teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the Good News of the kingdom and curing all kinds of diseases and sickness among the people.
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