THURDAY OF WEEK FIFTEEN IN ORDINARY TIME - 2023

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened,
and I will give you rest, says the Lord. MT 11:28

EXODUS 3:13-20 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

We too hear Your Voice speaking to us constantly but we drown it out most of the time because we are busy with worldly things, with trivialities, with what perishes and we miss the times of Your coming. But You O Lord are a persistent God, You are a relentless Lover, You pursue us for as long as we have mortal breath, and in this is our hope. You do not give up on us. 

Not only do You come to us, not only do You seek us, not only do You tenderly and lovingly woo us, but You do not lose patience with us nor do You strike us down in righteous anger. This is the Name by which God told Moses You He was to be known -  ‘I Am who I Am.’ But You, my Beloved, have taught us to address Your Father as our Father, Your Dad as our Dad, Your Abba as our Abba. 

Thank You, Lord. Grant O Lord that I may always listen to Your Word for they are life, light, and truth. May they be my guide and the light that lights my steps all the way to eternal life with You.

PSALM 104(105):1,5,8-9,24-27 ©

My Soul's Beloved

May thanksgiving, praise, adoration, and worship flow from my heart constantly for You O Lord are deserving of all glory always. I live, move, and draw breath simply because You are gracious to me and You bless me. You are God's Covenant with me and it is irrevocable. 

Thank You, Lord, for every grace and blessing. Thank You for always hearing and answering my prayers. Thank You for Your loving kindness to me and to all those whom I love. Thank You for Your loving Presence in my life. Thank You for never giving up on me even though You would have been justified in doing so.

Thank You for calling me by my name and for inscribing my name on the palm of Your Hands. Increase my love for You, my Beloved, daily more and more.

MATTHEW 11:28-30 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

Your yoke and your burden are light only when we surrender to Your will - in this is our true joy and consolation. Life is hard and suffering is the lot of all no one can escape the cross. When we embrace our cross in the spirit of true discipleship only then can we receive its immense merits and blessings. The unworthy sacrifice of our lives when united with the one, holy, perfect, and redeeming Sacrifice that You offered to the Father on Calvary has the power to obtain for us immeasurable graces and blessings. It is this grace that gives us hope and enables us in our daily struggles.

Suffering is our lot, Beloved, because of the sin of Adam and Eve.  You became one like us in all things save sin, to pay the price that redeemed us from the power of Satan. Original sin has made us prone to concupiscence and we fall from grace constantly. We are grateful my Beloved, that we do not have to walk the way the way of the Cross alone, You invite us to be yoked to You, and when we accept Your invitation, the journey becomes easier and our sufferings do not crush us even though they may sometimes overwhelm us because You are with us and provide all the help and graces we need to reach our eternal, heavenly destiny.

SATURDAY OF WEEK TWELVE IN ORDINARY TIME - 2023

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

He took our sicknesses away,
and carried our diseases for us. MT 8:17

GENESIS 18:1-15 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

May we be aware of the time of Your visitation to us as Abraham was aware when the Triune God visited him. Let not lethargy and the heat of the day, the troubles of our lives delay a faith-filled response to Your Presence among us. Let us invite You to stay with us, let us refresh You with our love, our confidence, our trust, our adoration, and worship our prayers of praise and thanksgiving. And you will stay awhile with us as we keep You company as Abraham did. He urged his entire household to make haste and help him in giving You a generous and warm welcome and he remained attentive as he stood by You while You were with him. 

Before God left Abraham he blessed him and his wife Sara with the promise of a son that would be born to them before long. Abraham was 100 years old and Sara 90  - when Sarah heard this blessing and promise she laughed and thought to herself, ‘Now that I am past the age of child-bearing, and my husband is an old man, is pleasure to come my way again!’ But You O Lord spoke to Abraham and said, ‘Why did Sarah laugh and say, “Am I really going to have a child now that I am old?” Is anything too wonderful for the Lord? At the same time next year I shall visit you again and Sarah will have a son.’ ‘I did not laugh’ Sarah said, lying because she was afraid. But he replied, ‘Oh yes, you did laugh.’

Today Beloved, I receive the consolation that You give me gladly, expectantly, hopefully trusting that Your Word O Lord is Truth. I do believe my Lord, that nothing is too wonderful or too difficult for You to do. I believe Lord, I believe.

MATTHEW 8:5-17 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

Nothing pleases God more than a grateful, thankful, heart. A heart that acknowledges all Your blessings, that notices even the little ways in which You care for us, look after all our needs and answer all our prayers often even before the words have escaped our lips and even as the intention is lying on our hearts. Thank You, Lord.

There are many remarkable things to take note of in the Gospel text chosen for our reflection in today's Liturgy of the Holy Mass. A Roman centurion pleaded with You to heal his paralysed servant who he said was in great pain, this alone moved Your heart to compassion. This was an officer in the Roman army who knew his servant and cared greatly because he was sick and suffering. Immediately You responded saying, ‘I will come myself and cure him’ said Jesus. To which the centurion replied, ‘Sir, I am not worthy to have you under my roof; just give the word and my servant will be cured. For I am under authority myself, and have soldiers under me; and I say to one man: Go, and he goes; to another: Come here, and he comes; to my servant: Do this, and he does it.’

If only we had such great faith Beloved. We know You. We know that You are Love, Goodness, Mercy, Compassion, ready to forgive us, heal us, restore all that we have lost, and yet when we approach You in prayer we come like beggars with a begging bowl and not as sons and daughters of the Living God. You have assured us that God is our Father and it pleases our Abba to give us all that we ask Him in Your Name. 

And I tell you that many will come from east and west to take their places with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob at the feast in the kingdom of heaven; but the subjects of the kingdom will be turned out into the dark, where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth.’ And to the centurion Jesus said, ‘Go back, then; you have believed, so let this be done for you.’ And the servant was cured at that moment.

You then went into Peter’s house and found his mother-in-law in bed with fever, You touched her hand and the fever left her and she got up and began to wait on You. Your day had just begun, my Lord, that evening they brought to You many who were possessed by devils and You cast out the spirits with a word and cured all who were sick. To this day, O Lord, our Healer, You continue to take our sicknesses away and carry our diseases for us. Thank You, Lord. Thank You.