MEMORIAL OF OUR LADY, MOTHER AND QUEEN, ON FRIDAY OF WEEK 20 IN ORDINARY TIME - 2025

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee!
Blessed art thou among women. LK 1:28

ISAIAH 9:1-7

My Soul's Beloved,

Even as God, the Creator, through His Breath, the Holy Spirit, spoke His Eternal Word which is You, O Lord, His only and well-beloved Son, He knew that at the very first instance, the man and woman He created to be His sons and daughters would sin. They would thwart God's loving plan to create, lovingly and joyfully, men and women whom He desired to be like gods. Sadly, they listened to crafty whispers of the wily serpent and wanted to grasp what was not theirs to take, and in doing so, lost it all.

Banished from God's sight, naked and vulnerable and open to every attack from evil, God, in His everlasting mercy, clothed them in animal skin. Some animal had to be killed so God could cover their nakedness. Driven out of what God intended to be their home, the Garden of Eden, they were condemned to walk in the darkness and to labor with sweat and tears to sustain themselves. God created us for joy and fellowship with Him, for fruitful labor and to enjoy the fruit of that labor, but because we allowed ourselves to be beguiled by evil, we lost it all.

But as You have revealed to us, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life," And so God put into motion, from that very moment of our betrayal of His love a plan that would save us and give us renewed hope of eternal bliss with Him. 

Thank You, Father, for Your generosity in not permitting our disobedience to have the last word but in counteracting it by Your Son's perfect atonement with obedience to Your will. You, Beloved, opened once more the Garden of Eden to us.

Today is the day, in the Church You founded, when all its members honor the Lady who made it all possible by her fiat. Today we celebrate the recognition of the Church of that great Woman clothed with the Sun, who is crowned Queen of Heaven and Earth. We celebrate her maternal rule over our lives, and we, her loving children, acknowledge her with great tenderness as our Queen who has complete sway over us. Grant us this grace O Lord, that always and everywhere, to always say as she did, 'I am the handmaid of the Lord, let it be done to me as You will." And to obey her when she says to each of us, 'Do whatever He tells you to do.'

In this way, Lord, we are certain that our Queen, the Star of the Ocean, will navigate the stormy waters of our life and bring us to safe harbor and to the heavenly shore.

The people that walked in darkness
has seen a great light;
on those who live in a land of deep shadow
a light has shone.
You have made their gladness greater,
you have made their joy increase;
they rejoice in your presence
as men rejoice at harvest time,
as men are happy when they are dividing the spoils.
For the yoke that was weighing on him,
the bar across his shoulders,
the rod of his oppressor,
these you break as on the day of Midian.
For all the footgear of battle,
every cloak rolled in blood,
is burnt,
and consumed by fire.
For there is a child born for us,
a son given to us
and dominion is laid on his shoulders;
and this is the name they give him:
Wonder-Counsellor, Mighty-God,
Eternal-Father, Prince-of-Peace.
Wide is his dominion
in a peace that has no end,
for the throne of David
and for his royal power,
which he establishes and makes secure
in justice and integrity.
From this time onwards and for ever,
the jealous love of the Lord of Hosts will do this.

PSALM 112(113):1-8

May the name of the Lord be blessed for evermore!

Praise, O servants of the Lord,
praise the name of the Lord!
May the name of the Lord be blessed
both now and for evermore!

From the rising of the sun to its setting
praised be the name of the Lord!
High above all nations is the Lord,
above the heavens his glory.

Who is like the Lord, our God,
who has risen on high to his throne
yet stoops from the heights to look down,
to look down upon heaven and earth?

From the dust he lifts up the lowly,
from the dungheap he raises the poor
to set him in the company of princes,
yes, with the princes of his people.

May the name of the Lord be blessed for evermore!

LUKE 1:26-38

'I am the handmaid of the Lord'

https://lovesongstothebeloved.blogspot.com/2010/10/hail-mary.html

ST. PIUS X, POPE - ON THURSDAY OF WEEK 20 IN ORDINARY TIME - 2025

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

Harden not your hearts today,
but listen to the voice of the Lord. PS 94:8

JUDGES 11:29-39

My Soul's Beloved,

Jephthah already had God on His side, and true to His Covenant, deliverance of the enemy would have been theirs that day, and they would have been victorious whether or not he made a vow and a very rash one at that, as it turns out, in exchange for God granting them triumph against the Ammonites. 

Lord God, all we need to do is discern Your will and do it, trusting You to provide all we need to carry out all that You desire, if we do so with faith. To make a vow to God to discipline and mortify ourselves is one thing, but to make rash promises that could harm another or even ourselves is foolish. This is why, when we do, we ought to be certain that anything we vow to undertake will not go against wisdom or plain common sense.

Jephthah's foolishness cost him the life of his only and most precious daughter. Keep us from making rash promises, O Lord. Rather, let us trust You to watch over us and care for us and help us through the right interpretation of God's laws to rely on You in faith, to help us triumph over the world, the flesh, and the devil.

The spirit of the Lord came on Jephthah, who crossed Gilead and Manasseh, passed through to Mizpah in Gilead, and from Mizpah in Gilead made his way to the rear of the Ammonites. And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord, ‘If you deliver the Ammonites into my hands, then the first person to meet me from the door of my house when I return in triumph from fighting the Ammonites shall belong to the Lord, and I will offer him up as a holocaust. Jephthah marched against the Ammonites to attack them, and the Lord delivered them into his power. He harassed them from Aroer almost to Minnith (twenty towns) and to Abel-keramim. It was a very severe defeat, and the Ammonites were humbled before the Israelites.
As Jephthah returned to his house at Mizpah, his daughter came out from it to meet him; she was dancing to the sound of timbrels. This was his only child; apart from her he had neither son nor daughter. When he saw her, he tore his clothes and exclaimed, ‘Oh my daughter, what sorrow you are bringing me! Must it be you, the cause of my ill-fortune! I have given a promise to the Lord, and I cannot unsay what I have said.’ She answered him, ‘My father, you have given a promise to the Lord; treat me as the vow you took binds you to, since the Lord has given you vengeance on your enemies the Ammonites.’ Then she said to her father, ‘Grant me one request. Let me be free for two months. I shall go and wander in the mountains, and with my companions bewail my virginity.’ He answered, ‘Go’, and let her depart for two months. So she went away with her companions and bewailed her virginity in the mountains. When the two months were over, she returned to her father, and he treated her as the vow that he had uttered bound him. She had never known a man.

PSALM 39(40):5,7-10

Here I am, Lord! I come to do your will.

Happy the man who has placed
his trust in the Lord
and has not gone over to the rebels
who follow false gods.

You do not ask for sacrifice and offerings,
but an open ear.
You do not ask for holocaust and victim.
Instead, here am I.

In the scroll of the book it stands written
that I should do your will.
My God, I delight in your law
in the depth of my heart.

Your justice I have proclaimed
in the great assembly.
My lips I have not sealed;
you know it, O Lord.

Here I am, Lord! I come to do your will.
Gospel AcclamationPs118:27

MATTHEW 22:1-14

My Soul's Beloved, 

Every living soul is created by God, redeemed by God, Sanctified by God for an eternal purpose - to love Him, serve Him, and worship Him our whole life with all our strength and our entire being. From the moment God revealed Himself to Abraham, calling him out of his familiar life and surroundings to go to a place that God desired to give him and his innumerable descendants, he did as he was commanded in faith. The people of Israel were chosen by God from all the nations of the world, not because they were the greatest, but because they were the weakest. This is God's way. He chooses what is foolish and weak, so no one can doubt that it is He who is at work in us that makes us great, as You did with the Twelve.

Today's parable is a wonderful and apt commentary on the nation that God chose but who rejected Him so thoroughly and completely. They boast to themselves that although they are today a tiny nation, God's favor remains with them since they are still powerful because they have strong allies. While it is true that You will never withdraw Your favor on those You have chosen, Beloved, they rejected the fulfillment of God's eternal Covenant with them. They rejected You, their Messiah, out of hand, Lord, and not just rejecting You but condemning You to death by crucifixion. The religious authorities of the day ensured the complete destruction of their nation. What they feared that belief in You would do, they did by their own hand and hubris. 

Today, while individual Jews will come to know You, love You, and be baptized into Your Church, the political and religious authorities who continue to reject You as the Messiah who has already come into the world and redeemed it will never taste true freedom and peace.  God's Covenant with them is eternal, but they have forsaken it and the consequences remain of their own stubborn, hard-hearted making.

Jesus began to speak to the chief priests and elders of the people in parables: ‘The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a feast for his son’s wedding. He sent his servants to call those who had been invited, but they would not come. Next he sent some more servants. “Tell those who have been invited” he said “that I have my banquet all prepared, my oxen and fattened cattle have been slaughtered, everything is ready. Come to the wedding.” But they were not interested: one went off to his farm, another to his business, and the rest seized his servants, maltreated them and killed them. The king was furious. He despatched his troops, destroyed those murderers and burnt their town. Then he said to his servants, “The wedding is ready; but as those who were invited proved to be unworthy, go to the crossroads in the town and invite everyone you can find to the wedding.” So these servants went out on to the roads and collected together everyone they could find, bad and good alike; and the wedding hall was filled with guests. When the king came in to look at the guests he noticed one man who was not wearing a wedding garment, and said to him, “How did you get in here, my friend, without a wedding garment?” And the man was silent. Then the king said to the attendants, “Bind him hand and foot and throw him out into the dark, where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth.” For many are called, but few are chosen.’