FEAST OF THE TRANSFIGURATION OF THE LORD - 2021

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

This is my Son, the Beloved:
he enjoys my favor.
Listen to him. MT 17:5

DANIEL 7:9-10,13-14 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

Only to a chosen, few the privilege of glimpsing into what awaits Your friends is granted. The prophet Daniel was one of these. He describes his vision of heaven and of God and the Son of God and what he saw is outside the realm of human experience while we are still in our mortal bodies. He is unable to find the words in human language to describe what he saw because it is so far above and beyond our limited imagination and understanding. 

What we do know is that he was given a vision of the glory that awaits all God's faithful because of what the Son of God has merited for us. To You beloved, is given all glory, all honor, all power, all rule, all majesty, because of the saving work that You wrought on the Cross for us. Faith in You raises us up to the dignity of being the children of God. To You is given a Name that is above every other name. To You is given glory above all others. To You is given all that the Father has to give and You rule over all is total and eternal

PSALM 97:1-2,5-6,9 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

God is invisible and dwells in impenetrable, inaccessible light.
But that does not mean that God makes Himself distant from us. He desires that we have a loving relationship with Him as His children. Even when we sinned He did not withdraw from us though we separated ourselves from Him.

St. John the evangelist expresses it beautifully when he reveals wondrous truth through the power of the Holy Spirit, God's inexplicable love for His creatures, ‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.'

No one is deserving of such love but God does not love us because we deserve it or earned it, it is gratis and costs us nothing but it cost Him everything. Thank You, Father, for loving us, thank You, Beloved, for revealing His immense love for us on the Cross, thank You Holy Spirit for the promise of a share in the resurrection.

There is no joy, no hope, no love, and no future so wonderful as that which awaits every faithful Christian at the end of our earthly sojourn.

MEMORIAL OF ST. JOHN VIANNEY, PRIEST - 2021

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

A great prophet has appeared among us;
God has visited his people. LK 7:16

NUMBERS 13:1-2,25-14:1,26-29,34-35 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

The leaders of each of the tribes of Israel were sent out to survey the land that God was going to give them. As promised to Abraham, it was indeed a land overflowing with milk and honey. It was a rich and fruitful land and was to be theirs for the taking - God would fulfil His promises. 

For forty days the men inspected the country and brought back to the camp the rich produce of that land. When they gathered to give an account of all they had experienced in order to make the decision to enter and take what was promised to them by God Himself, they were divided, only Caleb spoke confidently and said that they could easily take possession of the land. But he was great outnumbered. All the rest who stood against him focused on the possibility of being outnumbered and defeated until they believed it and convinced everyone else that they would surely die if they fought the inhabitants of the lands that God had promised and assured them would be theirs. Abraham long ago. 

These are the lies they spread: ‘The country we went to reconnoitre is a country that devours its inhabitants. Every man we saw there was of enormous size. Yes, and we saw giants there (the sons of Anak, descendants of the Giants). We felt like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.’ Their lies were so convincing the entire community believed them and we are told that they wailed all night about nonexistent fears. 

We are no different. We listen to half-truths, and outright lies and make no effort to discover what the real facts are and we thwart Your plans for our lives. In doing so we bring misery on our own heads. When we grumble against You, murmur against You, and believe all manner of lies about You we bring about our own downfall as the Israelites did in the wilderness.