FRIDAY OF THE FIFTH WEEK OF LENT - 2021

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

Your words are spirit, Lord, and they are life;

you have the message of eternal life. JN 6:63,68

JEREMIAH 20:10-13 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

All the the prophet Jeremiah suffered was recorded in Scripture and it was a foreshadow of all that You would suffer at the hands of God's chosen people, Israel. Evil has plotted feverishly against good ever since the fall of man and woman. The world, the flesh, and the devil are in tune with each other to bring about destruction and death.

But You have overcome the world. To this day all who hear Your voice and walk on the side of Truth are privileged to suffer a little what You endured for the salvation of the world. Those who are called by Your Name are terrorized on every side, they are threatened, persecuted, imprisoned, denied their rights, and false charges are raised against them in order to intimidate them. 

Those who appeared to be friends are now enemies and bay for the blood of innocents because those who are called by Your Name are opposed to the evil the perpetrate in the name of their false gods. 

The wonder, the beauty, the marvel of all who hear Your Voice and walk on the side of Truth will never lack courage to walk into the lion's den and face death for Your sake and the sake of the Gospel. 

PSALM 18:2-7 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

Never was there a time when I cried out to You and You did not reach out , take e by the hand, and draw me out of the pit of terror, anxiety, and fear in which I was drowning. 

You are faithful O Lord. You have never abandoned me, even when I thought You were far from the sound of my cry, in truth You were closer to me than ever . You have permitted me to suffer in order to strengthen my faith in You and to teach me that hope in You is never misplaced. 

All the difficulties in my life, all the sorrow, all the anguish, all the disappointments have taught me that in You I am always triumphant. Even when the outcome is not as I planned or desired You plans are always better than anything I could envision for myself. 

Your Name is more powerful than any other. Demons tremble when I call on You for Your Name has the power to save. Your Name is a mighty shield against the Enemy. With Your Name as my tower and stronghold I will prevail.

Death has no power over me. The snares of the Enemy cannot hold me for I am covered in the Blood of the Lamb and I feed on the Flesh of the Son of God. I am alive because I live in You.

Thank You for this assurance that I have that when I call You will hear and You will always hasten to come to my aid and rescue me.

JOHN 10:31-42 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

When evil penetrates the entrails of the enemies of God they are consumed by a raging madness that robs them of all common sense. 

These Jews who wished to stone You to death heard You teach, preach, saw You perform the most amazing miracles that were sure signs that You were of God, and from God and yet now they take offence because You declared that You were the Son of God. They believed You blasphemed without taking a moment to see and understand that the words You spoke and the works You performed were a clear indication that You were God.  

When You challenged them ‘I have done many good works for you to see, works from my Father; for which of these are you stoning me?’ They responded that You were only a man claiming to be God but they failed to see that the power You possessed over life and death, over the elements of nature, over the spiritual realm was clearly of God. Your works testified that You were from God but they refused to see it and accused You instead of blasphemy. God Himself, recognizes as His children all who who believe in Him. 

We too are often guilty of judging rashly those whom we do not understand. The world does it all the time. Knowing little or nothing of what we believe as Catholics they accuse and condemn us as idolaters. Too lazy, too close minded, too arrogant, too dismissive of the Church and her teachings to which she adheres to faithfully as do her members, they do her a grave wrong just as Your accusers did.

They would have arrested You had You not slipped away and continued preaching and teaching and many believed in You in much the same way as many accusers of the Catholic Church who are sincerely seek the truth find it in its fullness in her.

SOLEMNITY OF THE ANNUNCIATION OF THE LORD - 2021

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

The Word became flesh,

he lived among us,

and we saw his glory. JN 1:14

ISAIAH 7:10-14,8:10 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

How often we make a fatuous show of piety like Ahaz, the great prophet Isaiah is speaking God's word to him and telling him to ask for a sign and he is too great a coward to ask for one because God desires to give him this sign. 

When God gives us signs we have to sit up and take notice. We have to discern what it means and act accordingly.

Even though Ahaz refuses to ask for a sign, the prophet reveals it anyway. Despite our stupidity, God pities us and does everything to reach out and deliver us from the traps we set for ourselves. Finally, God will make good on all His promises. The time will come when the veil between God and humans will be parted and the Son of God will descend in the tiniest, frailest, most vulnerable way into the womb of a Virgin that He Himself contemplated, designed, and created and desired to be the ultimate Woman and His Mother, His Mama, His Mom, His Ma - Mary, immaculately conceived and set apart for the Son who took flesh in her and became Immanuel for us.

PSALM 40:7-11 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

God did not ask human beings to become the sacrifice, the holocaust, the victim for the sins that they have committed. He did not ask His creatures to pay the price for their iniquity - they couldn't make atonement for their own sins. To do this He needed a Lamb without stain or blemish. A perfect Lamb. Perfection could not be found in tainted human flesh and so He sent You, His Son, to become one like us in all things save our tainted human nature.

You knew Your Father's loving heart. You were aware of His unfathomable love for the frail creatures He created with such passion and the wonderful future He desired for them and in that wordless look that You exchanged with Him, You said, 'Here am I,' You willingly became the Sacrifice, the Holocaust, the Victim because doing Your Father's will was food and drink to You. It delighted You to say, yes to Him. Just as it delighted Your Mother to say yes to Him.

We thank You Beloved, and we thank Your Mama and ours on this great feast of the Annunciation of Your Birth, for revealing to us the Face of the Father, the Word of the Father, the Love of the Father for His little ones.

HEBREWS 10:4-10 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

Non-Christians cannot wrap their heads around a God of flesh and blood. A God who would willingly become a frail human being giving up His glory in heaven in order to save sinful creatures. It takes faith which is God's free gift to those who believe and by believing we are saved.

Ever since humanity's separation from God because of sin, they have tried to appease Him with all kinds of bloody sacrifices but St. Paul tells us succinctly and bluntly, Bulls’ blood and goats’ blood are useless for taking away sins, and this is what Christ said, on coming into the world:

You who wanted no sacrifice or oblation,
prepared a body for me.
You took no pleasure in holocausts or sacrifices for sin;
then I said,
just as I was commanded in the scroll of the book,
‘God, here I am! I am coming to obey your will.’

God rejected and rejects every sacrifice that we can conceive of in expiation for our sins. No amount of blood of bulls, goats, sheep, and even the terrible and barbaric human sacrifices that humanity offered God in ages past. It has always been God's will that we are to be saved by one way and one way alone and that way is through You - there is NO OTHER.

The one, holy, perfect sacrifice made once-for-all on Calvary in the only Sacrifice pleasing and acceptable to the Father for the forgiveness of our sins. It is this Sacrifice that You instituted at the Last Supper and commanded us to offer in remembrance of Your that atones for the sins of all humanity. 

There is no other Way for us to be saved except in and through You. Except by eating Your Flesh and drinking Your Blood without which we can never have Life, and unless we accept the Truth of God that You revealed in Your incarnation - we can neither know the Way nor receive Your Life.

And this will was for us to be made holy by the offering of his body made once and for all by Jesus Christ.

LUKE 1:26-38 ©

https://lovesongstothebeloved.blogspot.com/2010/10/hail-mary.html

Wrapped in perfect silence,

She was immersed in prayer,

Quite unaware an angel of

The Lord was standing there.

He called her name out softly,

“Hail Mary, full of grace.”

His greeting filled her with alarm,

As she returned his gaze.

“Be not afraid dear Mary,

You're chosen to fulfill,

God's plan to bear the Saviour,

Naming Him Emmanuel.”

“You know I am a virgin,

How then can this be true?”

“By the Spirit’s powerful presence,

And God overshadowing you.”

“I am the Lord’s handmaiden,

As you’ve said, so may it be,

According to God’s Holy Word

And His plan for me.”

Not even for an instant,

Did she contemplate,

Refusal to the angel’s plea,

Nor did she hesitate.

Heaven's gates flew open,

Angelic choirs sang,

With her fiat, Divinity,

Took on the Flesh of Man. 

Today we honor Mary,

As the Mother of our race,

God’s exquisite masterpiece,

Adorned with matchless grace.

MYRA D’SOUZA / 11.1.1999