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
AMOS 7:10-17
My Beloved, Soul of my soul,
Each one of the members of Your body, is priest, prophet, and king. We are called according to Your will, to exhort, invite, and encourage each other for as long as it is today. This is the age of mercy. Now is the time to pay attention to those You send to wake us up from our apathy and indifference. Amaziah was a priest who preferred to lull the king into a false sense of security instead of listening to the warnings of the prophet Amos. Instead he asked him to leave and to take his prophesying elsewhere.
Too often, refuse to hear the truth. We think we can live as we like with no accountability to a higher power. We do so at our own peril. Sin ensnares and often we prefer the familiar comfort of our shackles rather than to throw off our chains and live in the exhilarating freedom of the children of God.
PSALM 19:8-11
My Beloved, Soul of my soul,
We are called to walk in the way of holiness and perfection and many never even consider it because they think it is boring and stifling. Sadly, they go through life never experiencing true freedom and joy.
The psalmist says:
The law of the Lord is perfect,
it revives the soul.
The rule of the Lord is to be trusted,
it gives wisdom to the simple.
They are more to be desired than gold,
than the purest of gold
and sweeter are they than honey,
than honey from the comb.
God is love, God's nature is love, everything that God does is prompted by love. If we know this then we know that we, who have been conceived in the eternal will and love of God were created to know love in its truest, fullest sense, by first loving God as we ought and loving one another as we love ourselves.
Lord of heaven and earth,
for revealing the mysteries of the kingdom
to mere children. MT 11:25
AMOS 7:10-17
My Beloved, Soul of my soul,
Each one of the members of Your body, is priest, prophet, and king. We are called according to Your will, to exhort, invite, and encourage each other for as long as it is today. This is the age of mercy. Now is the time to pay attention to those You send to wake us up from our apathy and indifference. Amaziah was a priest who preferred to lull the king into a false sense of security instead of listening to the warnings of the prophet Amos. Instead he asked him to leave and to take his prophesying elsewhere.
Too often, refuse to hear the truth. We think we can live as we like with no accountability to a higher power. We do so at our own peril. Sin ensnares and often we prefer the familiar comfort of our shackles rather than to throw off our chains and live in the exhilarating freedom of the children of God.
PSALM 19:8-11
My Beloved, Soul of my soul,
We are called to walk in the way of holiness and perfection and many never even consider it because they think it is boring and stifling. Sadly, they go through life never experiencing true freedom and joy.
The psalmist says:
The law of the Lord is perfect,
it revives the soul.
The rule of the Lord is to be trusted,
it gives wisdom to the simple.
They are more to be desired than gold,
than the purest of gold
and sweeter are they than honey,
than honey from the comb.
Who can ever understand the mind of God and yet, He desires us to have a personal, intimate, relationship with Him, so personal in fact, that He gave You to us and sent You to us as one like us in all things save sin so You could reveal to us the love of God in all its beauty, perfection, and fullness imaged in Yourself.
My Beloved, Soul of my soul,
After giving us the principles for Christian living in the Beatitudes, Matthew now gives on to give us an account of a series of miracles that You performed. The healing of the leper, the healing of the Centurion's servant, healing Peter's mother-in law and everyone else who was sick physically and spiritually in that region, You calmed the storm, You healed the two demoniacs, and now we read the account of how You healed a paralytic. He was brought in by his friends and You were so impressed by their faith You said to the sick man, ‘Courage, my child, your sins are forgiven.’
More often than not, the greater sickness is a diseased soul but we all clamor for physical healings and ignore the greater healing we need; the forgiveness of sins may bring about a physical healing as well, as in this case. But just being forgiven of our sins gives us a new lease on life and a better perspective on our identity as children of God.
The scribes who were present were self-righteously indignant that You claimed to have a power that only God had, to forgive sins. Having read their minds You proceeded to demonstrate Your power not only over the soul of the paralytic but his body as well saying, "Why do you have such wicked thoughts in your hearts? Now, which of these is easier to say, “Your sins are forgiven,” or to say, “Get up and walk”? But to prove to you that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins,’ – he said to the paralytic – ‘get up, and pick up your bed and go off home.’ Instantly the man got up and walked. A feeling of awe came over the crowd when they saw this, and they praised God for giving such power to men.
Those who give their lives over to You are in perpetual awe of You too for having given them this power as well.
MATTHEW 9:1-8
My Beloved, Soul of my soul,
After giving us the principles for Christian living in the Beatitudes, Matthew now gives on to give us an account of a series of miracles that You performed. The healing of the leper, the healing of the Centurion's servant, healing Peter's mother-in law and everyone else who was sick physically and spiritually in that region, You calmed the storm, You healed the two demoniacs, and now we read the account of how You healed a paralytic. He was brought in by his friends and You were so impressed by their faith You said to the sick man, ‘Courage, my child, your sins are forgiven.’
More often than not, the greater sickness is a diseased soul but we all clamor for physical healings and ignore the greater healing we need; the forgiveness of sins may bring about a physical healing as well, as in this case. But just being forgiven of our sins gives us a new lease on life and a better perspective on our identity as children of God.
The scribes who were present were self-righteously indignant that You claimed to have a power that only God had, to forgive sins. Having read their minds You proceeded to demonstrate Your power not only over the soul of the paralytic but his body as well saying, "Why do you have such wicked thoughts in your hearts? Now, which of these is easier to say, “Your sins are forgiven,” or to say, “Get up and walk”? But to prove to you that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins,’ – he said to the paralytic – ‘get up, and pick up your bed and go off home.’ Instantly the man got up and walked. A feeling of awe came over the crowd when they saw this, and they praised God for giving such power to men.
Those who give their lives over to You are in perpetual awe of You too for having given them this power as well.
