TUESDAY OF THE EIGHTEENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME - 2021

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

Rabbi, you are the Son of God,
you are the King of Israel. JN 1:49

NUMBERS 12:1-13 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

So often we are like Miriam and Aaron, we speak against Your anointed, our Holy Father, our Bishops, our priests, our religions. We say wicked things, we repeat half-truths and even outright lies. We are envious of those whom You have chosen and we appropriate for ourselves the authority given to those whom You have chosen to lead us.

Many of us are guilty of saying horrendous and offensive things about our Holy Father mostly out of sheer ignorance but we pontificate as if we had a direct line of communication with You. To those who are guilty of this sin, we will hear You say, as God did to Miriam and Aaron, 'How have you dared to speak against my servant Moses?'

Let us not be so quick to judge our Holy Father's words and actions, take what he says and does out of context, and demoralize others weaker than ourselves by our ignorant criticism of him. He is God's anointed. The successor of Peter. To him alone is given the keys of the kingdom. He alone has the authority to bind and to loose. He is answerable to You - as for us, we are called to obey him in all matters concerning faith and morals and leave all personal judgment of him to You lest we find ourselves feeling the heat of God's righteous wrath as Miriam and Aaron did.

PSALM 51:3-7,12-13 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

I am a miserable sinner. A righteous man falls seven times a day, I fall all the time. Today, I approach You and confess that I find myself unable to cooperate with the grace that You make so readily available to me. I find myself unable to bridle my impatience. I lack understanding, empathy, and sympathy when these virtues are so clearly demanded of me in my current situation.

You O Lord are a God of mercy and compassion. I need help. Forgive me, Lord, and help me to do better today. I can with You beside me. I come before You today and confess my guilt and I ask You once again to forgive me and cleanse me.

When I sin, I sin against You. It is You I wound. It is You I crown with thorns. It is You I scourge with my cruel words rising from my sometimes uncontrollable impatience - let me not forget this truth then perhaps I will be better able to abstain from speaking the angry, impatient words stemming from annoyance and spilling willy nilly from my lips.

My offences truly I know them;

my sin is always before me
Against you, you alone, have I sinned;
what is evil in your sight I have done.

A pure heart create for me, O God,

put a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me away from your presence,
nor deprive me of your holy spirit.

Have mercy on me O Lord, for the sake of Your sorrowful passion have mercy on me and help me.

MATTHEW 14:22-36 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

The best remedy to heal our ailing world, as You reveal to us today, is to leave everything that clamors for our attention and robs us of our peace and go to a lonely place to be alone with You. You sent the disciples ahead of You in the boat while You remained behind to pray. The important thing to remember is this, whether we are alone or with others we must always make sure that You are with us.

The disciples were making the crossing alone. It was night. They had just witnessed a stupendous miracle. They were far out on the lake when a storm arose. Buffeted on every side by the winds and the waves, they were overcome with fear as they battled with the elements. In those terrifying moments, they forgot they were Your disciples, Your friends, Your brothers, and that You would not permit any harm to come to them.

As dawn was breaking they saw You walking on the water and became even more alarmed thinking You were a ghost. Immediately You called out to them saying, ‘Courage! It is I! Do not be afraid.’ That's all it takes, one Word, and all our troubles melt away like mist in the morning sun.

Peter, in a moment of bravado, said, ‘Lord, if it is you, tell me to come to you across the water.’ And You replied, ‘Come.’ Peter got out of the boat and started walking towards You on the water. He was fine as long as His gaze was fixed on You but the moment he lost his focus and felt the force of the wind, he became frightened and began to sin. Today, we are reminded to keep our gaze, our focus, our eyes trained on You and not on the myriad troubles that threaten to overwhelm and drown us. But, in moments of weakness to which we are prone, all we need to do is cry out as Peter did, ‘Lord! Save me!’ And at one You will put out Your hand and take hold of us. Like Peter, You admonish us too, ‘O you of little faith, why did you doubt?’ 

With You in the boat of our lives, whether or not the winds drop to a gentle breeze and the waves are calmed we will be safe for we have the Son of God with us. 

Crowds were already waiting for You on the other side bringing with them all those who were sick and they begged You to touch even the hem of Your garment and all who did were healed completely. When we pray let us not fail to bring along with us, in spirit, those who ask us to pray for them. You will not send anyone away empty-handed.

MONDAY OF THE EIGHTEENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME - 2021

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

Man does not live on bread alone,
but on every word that comes from the mouth of God. MT 4:4

NUMBERS 11:4-15 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

There are whiners in every age among the children of God. Nothing is just right. It is either too hot or too cold, too sweet or too bitter, too soft or too hard, too much or too little - we are never content for long. As soon as one need is satisfied a thousand more spring up. As soon as one prayer is answered we wish for something else. 

You prayed the ideal prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, it is one that we must make our own in every situation, 'Not my will but yours be done.' It is only when we crucify our will and embrace the will of our Father in heaven that we will experience lasting peace and joy in our lives. But it takes courage to pray it, courage we all too often lack because we are afraid that yielding to God's will means giving up the things we find pleasurable. However, when we do, we will discover that great joy and peace are ours when we deny ourselves, take up our cross daily, and follow You. 

PSALM 81:12-17 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

The effects of disobedience to Your will are clearly evident in
all the nations of the world and in every corner of the globe. There is a deliberate, concerted effort on the part of the world to not know You, and those who do know You have decided that they can ignore You and Your commandments with impunity. 

We live in a world that is being torn by war, division, ignorance, hate, suspicion, lack of charity, lack of respect for one another, as well as a whole host of evils. This is because the world, its leaders, and its people have turned their back on You, Your will, and Your commands. There is a remedy - You. If only we turned back to You peace would reign in our lives and in our world.

You can subdue all our enemies, You can crush and destroy all that threatens to kill us, and You can set us free from all the demons that gnaw us. We are hungry, You can feed us. We are thirsty, You can give us living water, we are empty, You can fill us with Your Spirit. We are dying, You can revive us if only we turn to You, acknowledge You, and give our lives to You. Help us, Lord. Give us the grace we need to cry out to You to save us and we will be saved.

MATTHEW 14:13 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

Having heard of the beheading of John the Baptist, You desired to go away by Yourself to a lonely place not only to grieve his death in private but also to reflect on the next phase of Your mission. It was clear that the fate awaiting You would be no less brutal than that of John's but seeing the crowds who had followed You, You put their needs before Your own. 

Too often, we all too readily give way to the demands of our own needs, instead of trying to rise above them and putting the needs of others before our own. You saw the people, took pity on them, set Your own plans aside, and gave them what they hungered and thirsted for - God's word.

When evening came Your disciples asked You to send the crowds away as it was late and they could buy food for themselves on their way back home. But You did not want to send them away hungry so You asked Your disciples to arrange to give them something to eat. All they had was five loaves and two fish insufficient to satisfy their own hunger much less that of the crowd.

You asked them to bring what they had to You. You ordered them to seat the crowds on the grass, and taking what they had and raising Your eyes to heaven You prayed a blessing over the food and asked the disciples to give it to the crowds.

All ate as much as they wanted and the leftover scraps were collected which filled twelve baskets. Over five thousand were fed that day.

The Church You established will never run out out of manna from heaven until You return.