FEAST OF THE PRESENTATION OF THE LORD - 2025

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

The light to enlighten the Gentiles
and give glory to Israel, your people. LK 2:32

MALACHI 3:1-4

My Soul's Beloved,

God sent You into the world not to condemn it but to redeem it. We are children of God saved by Your Blood. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God so many in the world do not know You, many who do are indifferent mistakenly thinking that faith in You is an option among many. God did not give Himself into the hands of evil to be one option among many this is a lie and many believe it.  It is easier to live a life of ease and self-indulgence rather than choose to walk in purity, holiness, goodness, and truth. To those Catholics and Christians who are lukewarm, and indifferent, those who blow hot and cold according to their feelings, will discover to their eternal sorrow that having been lackadaisical in life of the fact that God emptied Himself and took on our human condition to save us they are now condemned to an eternal death where the fire does not go out or the worms die. 

Yet, Lord, we know that as long as we have breath we have hope and You will hear and answer the prayers of those who cry out to You day and night. You are powerful and can break into the darkness of any heart with the light of Your Spirit and save and You do. May Your faithful remnant plead tirelessly before the mercy throne to save all souls for too great a price was paid for our redemption for a single soul to be lost.

And the Lord you are seeking will suddenly enter his Temple; and the angel of the covenant whom you are longing for, yes, he is coming, says the Lord of Hosts. Who will be able to resist the day of his coming? Who will remain standing when he appears? For he is like the refiner’s fire and the fullers’ alkali. He will take his seat as refiner and purifier; he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and then they will make the offering to the Lord as it should be made. 

PSALM 23(24):7-10

Who is the king of glory? He, the Lord, he is the king of glory.

O gates, lift high your heads;
grow higher, ancient doors.
Let him enter, the king of glory!

Who is the king of glory?

The Lord, the mighty, the valiant,
the Lord, the valiant in war.

O gates, lift high your heads;

grow higher, ancient doors.
Let him enter, the king of glory!

Who is he, the king of glory?
He, the Lord of armies,
he is the king of glory.

Who is the king of glory? He, the Lord, he is the king of glory.

HEBREWS 2:14-18

My Soul's Beloved,

There is nothing about the human condition that You are unfamiliar with. You became one like us in all things save sin. You became one like us so we can approach You certain that You will listen, understand, empathize, have compassion, and come to our help. We are children of Adam tainted by original sin and even though it is washed away in Baptism its effects have weakened us making us vulnerable to temptation. We are most susceptible to the temptations of the flesh this is why You gave Yourself up to the forces of darkness. You permitted Your flesh to be torn to purple ribbons by the lash of the Roman scourging, You permitted Your Sacred Heard to be crowned by cruel thorns that dug into Your skull in atonement for our shameless thoughts for sin is born in the mind before it takes root in our heart and we act on it. You permitted Your Sacred Heart to be pierced so that life-giving blood and water could flow from You until the end of time to take away the sins of the whole world and finally, the horrific and barbarous death by crucifixion to which You subjected Yourself to also put to death the sinful cravings of the flesh. By the Blood of the Lamb, we are washed clean, saved, made whole - we are redeemed.

May we, who unite the poor sacrifice of our lives with the one, holy, perfect, and only truly acceptable Sacrifice of the Son of God, at every Holy Mass we are privileged to celebrate, save all whom we lay before Your Altar. This is our hope. This is our prayer. This is our belief. Thank You, Lord.

It was essential that he should in this way become completely like his brothers so that he could be a compassionate and trustworthy high priest of God’s religion, able to atone for human sins. That is, because he has himself been through temptation he is able to help others who are tempted.

LUKE 2:22-40

My Soul's Beloved,

Mary, the sinless creature of God, the fairest and peerless daughter of the Most High, chosen by God to be the Mother of His Son, in humility and perfect obedience to the Law, together with Joseph her most chaste spouse, came into the Temple of Jerusalem to be purified and to offer to present to God His first-born Son. To all who saw this couple bringing their baby to fulfill the Law of Moses saw an ordinary event but heaven was present when Mary, the Mother of God, offered back to God the Gift He had given her. Mary was readily and whole-heartedly presenting to the Father the Son He sent because He so loved the world that He would not condemn it but redeem is and save the world.  There was no way she could know the significance of what was happening but she was aware that God's coming into the world meant something that no human heart could fully comprehend, she also knew it would cost her dearly, how she had no way of knowing but she knew it would.

They accepted their poverty and humbly offered the sacrifice of the poor, two turtledoves. Prompted by the Holy Spirit Simeon came into the temple and prophesied about the Babe in the arms of the young Mother, things that would surely set her heart and pulses racing and which Joseph heard with a little trepidation as well at what lay in store for his family.

Prompted by the Spirit he came to the Temple and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the Law required, he took him into his arms and blessed God; and he said:
‘Now, Master, you can let your servant go in peace,
just as you promised;
because my eyes have seen the salvation
which you have prepared for all the nations to see,
a light to enlighten the pagans
and the glory of your people Israel.’

As the child’s father and mother stood there wondering at the things that were being said about him, Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, ‘You see this child: he is destined for the fall and for the rising of many in Israel, destined to be a sign that is rejected – and a sword will pierce your own soul too – so that the secret thoughts of many may be laid bare.’

The prophetess and widow Anna, teaches us how we are to live in submission to God and in the presence of God. Widowed as a young woman and now in her eighty-fourth year she spent all the years left to her in the temple fasting and praying. We can learn from her how not to live a life of dissipation and frivolity when we are alone but to keep company with You and rejoice in knowing that nothing is more fruitful and delightful than constant and total union with You.

There was a prophetess also, Anna the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was well on in years. Her days of girlhood over, she had been married for seven years before becoming a widow. She was now eighty-four years old and never left the Temple, serving God night and day with fasting and prayer. She came by just at that moment and began to praise God; and she spoke of the child to all who looked forward to the deliverance of Jerusalem.

SATURDAY OF WEEK 3 IN ORDINARY TIME - 2025

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son:
everyone who believes in him has eternal life. JN 3:16

HEBREWS 11:1-2,8-19

My Soul's Beloved,

In this valley of tears and uncertainty, sickness and death, sorrow and suffering St. Paul reminds us that, 'Only faith can guarantee the blessings that we hope for, or prove the existence of the realities that at present remain unseen.' Faith alone is the light, the anchor, the rudder in a dark, unknown, rudderless world. Without faith, it is impossible to live, to move, and have our being in You. Faith is a gift from God and we have faith because You, my Lord, left Your glory behind and came into the world to make the invisible God visible and tangible to us.

Without faith, life would be terrifying, we would have no hope and be filled with fear and despair. But with faith, we walk in God's presence even if the night is dark and the road is narrow and difficult. 

Salvation history walks us through the lives of great men and women who put all their faith and hope in God even when there seemed to be no reason to hope. They believed in God's Word and God's Covenant. This hope would be fulfilled thousands of years later when the Eternal Word of God became incarnate in the womb of the Virgin and God's ultimate and final Covenant of Love was sealed with the Blood of the Lamb and the Holy Spirit of God. We are grateful for their faith and their hope the fruit of which we are blessed to see and enjoy when the Son of Man came into the world not to condemn it but to redeem it.

Only faith can guarantee the blessings that we hope for, or prove the existence of the realities that at present remain unseen. It was for faith that our ancestors were commended.

It was equally by faith that Sarah, in spite of being past the age, was made able to conceive, because she believed that he who had made the promise would be faithful to it. Because of this, there came from one man, and one who was already as good as dead himself, more descendants than could be counted, as many as the stars of heaven or the grains of sand on the seashore.

It was by faith that Abraham, when put to the test, offered up Isaac. He offered to sacrifice his only son even though the promises had been made to him and he had been told: It is through Isaac that your name will be carried on. He was confident that God had the power even to raise the dead; and so, figuratively speaking, he was given back Isaac from the dead.

PSALM - LUKE 1:69-75

Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel! He has visited his people and redeemed them.

He has raised up for us a mighty saviour
in the house of David his servant,
as he promised by the lips of holy men,
those who were his prophets from of old.

A saviour who would free us from our foes,

from the hands of all who hate us.
So his love for our fathers is fulfilled
and his holy covenant remembered.

He swore to Abraham our father

to grant us that free from fear,
and saved from the hands of our foes,
we might serve him in holiness and justice
all the days of our life in his presence.

Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel! He has visited his people and redeemed them.

MARK 4:35-41

My Soul's Beloved,

St. Mark paints a brilliant and insightful picture with just a few verses and those who read, study, contemplate, and meditate on them will never plumb the depths of all God desires to say to us through them. It gives us a model for our lives and an understanding of how we are to face the challenges that life throws at us, often unexpectedly, and unless we have faith in You unless we trust You completely, and have this confidence that when You are present in our lives, when we are aware that Your Holy Spirit abides in us, then no matter how sudden the squall, how great the waves, how terrifying the winds, no matter how quickly the water seems to fill the boat and threatens to drown us nothing that the devil throws at us can defeat us, conquer us, or destroy us because You are with us.

You have spent the whole day emptying Yourself and teaching the huge crowd that had spent the day with You and the disciples. You ministered to them healing them in heart, mind, soul, body, and spirit with the power of Your Word and Your touch. By the end of that day, You were spent. St. Mark says, 'And leaving the crowd behind they took him, just as he was, in the boat; and there were other boats with him.' Having forgotten about Yourself the whole day You were probably trembling with exhaustion, the disciples saw it and wanted to take You away quickly so You could rest. They lovingly ministered to You. Found a cushion on which to lay Your weary head, and You slept deeply. Immediately a storm arose.

Although they knew You needed to rest fear got the better of them when they saw the winds gather speed, churn the sea, and stir the waves terrifyingly as they crashed against the little boat almost swamping it and threatening to drown them. Panic-stricken they woke You up and cried, ‘Master, do you not care? We are going down!’ Lord Jesus, my faith is just as weak. I panic easily, and I become despondent, anxious, stressed, and even filled with terror when faced with difficulty, sickness, loss, and so many other troubles that plague this mortal life. 

Forgive me Lord for my lack of faith and trust in Your goodness, kindness, tenderness, compassion, and love. Grant me the wisdom to know that You are always in the boat of my life and no matter what storms, squalls, tidal waves, or typhoons beset me You are with me always. Grant me the quiet confidence to know that You are Master of the wind, waves, death, sickness, and anything else that the devil cares to throw at me and I need never be afraid.

Then it began to blow a gale and the waves were breaking into the boat so that it was almost swamped. But he was in the stern, his head on the cushion, asleep. They woke him and said to him, ‘Master, do you not care? We are going down!’ And he woke up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, ‘Quiet now! Be calm!’ And the wind dropped, and all was calm again. Then he said to them, ‘Why are you so frightened? How is it that you have no faith?’ They were filled with awe and said to one another, ‘Who can this be? Even the wind and the sea obey him.’