SATURDAY OF WEEK TWENTY-ONE IN ORDINARY TIME - 2023

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

I give you a new commandment:
love one another just as I have loved you,
says the Lord. JN 13:34

1 THESSALONIANS 4:9-11 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

For as long as we have breath in our bodies, those who are called by Your Name, O Lord, those who are grafted into Your Body, are reminded that we are to abide by Your Word always. Your Word O Lord must be our food and drink. Only when we conform our lives to Yours, O Lord, just as St. Paul, the Apostles, and all Your disciples did, only then will we become salt and light in the world.

Let us not be timid, let us not be afraid but grant us this grace O Lord to live quietly, and busy ourselves about the things of heaven and establishing the Kingdom of God on earth. 

MATTHEW 25:14-30 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

Let not anyone who is a Christian dare to say, think, or believe that they have nothing to contribute to building the Kingdom of God on earth and ensuring the reign of the Prince of Peace in their hearts and in the world. God gives graciously according to our ability. 

You, O Lord, will not demand from us more than we are capable of doing or giving, however, when we use the gifts given to us You will increase our capacity to receive. Commensurate to our service in love will we be given more and more of the gifts and graces we need to labor fruitfully in Your vineyard.

Every baptized Christian is given one or more gifts and anyone who claims that they have received nothing from God is a liar. We are filled with admiration when we look at those who spend their whole lives using the gifts they've received and continually and readily seek more in order to work more effectively for Your glory. But it is not enough for us just to admire and praise these holy men and women - their lives, as well as the lives of the Saints must prompt us to do likewise. 

You do not ask for more than we are capable of. You are a God of Justice and only in the measure that we have received are we asked to give. When we put the gift or gifts we have received to use joyfully and generously the more You will entrust us with. Great will be our joy, or our sorrow O Lord, when at the end of our lives we either hear You say to us, “Well done, good and faithful servant; you have shown you can be faithful in small things, I will trust you with greater; come and join in your master’s happiness.” or the terrible condemnation: “You wicked and lazy servant! So you knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered? Well then, you should have deposited my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have recovered my capital with interest.”

You assure us that: Everyone who has will be given more, and he will have more than enough; but from the man who has not, even what he has will be taken away. As for this good-for-nothing servant, throw him out into the dark, where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth.

FRIDAY OF WEEK TWENTY ONE IN ORDINARY TIME - 2023

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

Stay awake, praying at all times
for the strength to stand with confidence
before the Son of Man. LK 21:36

1 THESSALONIANS 4:1-8 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

The world seems to have become untethered from its moorings and is moving swiftly in dangerous currents. Its destruction seems imminent. All have sinned, and all are wallowing in cesspools of evil and living licentious lives without any inhibitions or boundaries. Our culture is steeped in death, destruction, in mayhem and the few sane and wise voices are mocked, derided, and silenced by the raucous cacophony of fools claiming to be wise.   

There is a high moral standard. The bar has been set high. You have shown us how to love, how to live, and how to die in order to live forever. You have given us Your Holy Spirit, You have established Your Church. You have given us the Hierarchy and the Magisterium. The Church is adorned with the exemplary lives of Saints from all walks of life that show us that it is possible to walk in Your footsteps, to pick up our cross daily, and to follow You. 

Ignorance of You, ignorance of Your Word, and a refusal to accept the Truth and walk in it with faith, hope, and charity have brought us all to the brink of total annihilation by a few who have sold their souls to Lucifer. 

Let us listen to St. Paul today and understand that we have only one option - we either stand for God or we stand with evil there is no middle ground. We have been called by God to be holy, not to be immoral; in other words, anyone who objects is not objecting to a human authority, but to God, who gives you his Holy Spirit. Save us Lord in Your great goodness, mercy, and love do not permit us to destroy ourselves because You created us for Yourself. 

MATTHEW 25:1-13 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

How did the Christian world reach such depths of moral depravity? How did it lose its moral compass so completely? It happened with one little misstep at a time. One unwise decision at a time - thinking nothing of setting aside God's commandments and seeing them only as a hindrance to freedom rather than the freedom to always choose the right, the good, and the beautiful.  

The wise virgins are few and they are ready to meet the Bridegroom whenever He arrives. But the rest of the world is too caught up with the things of the flesh completely unaware that the tide is coming in slowly but inexorably and death is creeping up on us so quietly that we will be drowned before we can cry out for help. It all seems too late. The world seems to be in total darkness and all seem to have lost their way. 

Is this our fate as well O Lord? Is there anyone who is aware of the evil days that we are living in and are there any Elijahs and Jeremiahs in our day? Save us lost lest we perish eternally. Do not forsake the work of Your hands for You have saved the world. May we not hear those terrible words uttered by Your lips: “I tell you solemnly, I do not know you.” So stay awake, because you do not know either the day or the hour.’