If anyone loves me he will keep my word,
and my Father will love him,
and we shall come to him. JN 14:23
and my Father will love him,
and we shall come to him. JN 14:23
MICAH 7:14-15,18-20
My Soul's Beloved,
My Soul's Beloved,
Once again I come before You, O Shepherd of my soul, Good Shepherd who watches over Your sheep and will not permit robbers or wolves to snatch those that are Yours.
O Lord my God, You know we are weak. You are aware of the concupiscence to which human flesh is subject. In Your short life on earth, You walked among the worst of sinners—betrayers, liars, thieves—those with hardened hearts and blighted spirits, and You loved them all. Just as You continue to love the best of us and the worst of us with a love that is unwearied, steadfast, and passionate, so I come before You with confidence. I plead for the salvation of those I love so deeply, whose salvation I seek night and day.
You will hear me, Lord, because my prayer finds favor with the Triune God. Every one of us is a thought of God; we were born in His heart from eternity, and it is His will that not one of His precious little ones should be lost.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, they have strayed far from the fold. Seek them, find them, speak tenderly to them, cajole them with words of love. Cover them in Your love, pick them up from the dark pit into which they have wandered, carry them in Your arms and upon Your shoulders. Wash them once again with Your Precious Blood, fill them with Your Holy Spirit, and may they feast again on Your Flesh and Blood and receive the sustenance they need to travel the narrow way until they reach the Kingdom of God.
With shepherd’s crook, O Lord, lead your people to pasture,
the flock that is your heritage,
living confined in a forest
with meadow land all around.
Let them pasture in Bashan and Gilead
as in the days of old.
As in the days when you came out of Egypt
grant us to see wonders.
What god can compare with you: taking fault away,
pardoning crime,
not cherishing anger for ever
but delighting in showing mercy?
Once more have pity on us,
tread down our faults,
to the bottom of the sea
throw all our sins.
Grant Jacob your faithfulness,
and Abraham your mercy,
as you swore to our fathers
from the days of long ago.
PSALM 84(85):2-8
Let us see, O Lord, your mercy.
the flock that is your heritage,
living confined in a forest
with meadow land all around.
Let them pasture in Bashan and Gilead
as in the days of old.
As in the days when you came out of Egypt
grant us to see wonders.
What god can compare with you: taking fault away,
pardoning crime,
not cherishing anger for ever
but delighting in showing mercy?
Once more have pity on us,
tread down our faults,
to the bottom of the sea
throw all our sins.
Grant Jacob your faithfulness,
and Abraham your mercy,
as you swore to our fathers
from the days of long ago.
PSALM 84(85):2-8
Let us see, O Lord, your mercy.
O Lord, you once favoured your land
and revived the fortunes of Jacob,
you forgave the guilt of your people
and covered all their sins.
You averted all your rage,
you calmed the heat of your anger.
Revive us now, God, our helper!
Put an end to your grievance against us.
Will you be angry with us for ever,
will your anger never cease?
Will you not restore again our life
that your people may rejoice in you?
Let us see, O Lord, your mercy
and give us your saving help.
Let us see, O Lord, your mercy.
MATTHEW 12:46-50
My Soul's Beloved,
My Soul's Beloved,
You said to Your disciples that to do the will of Your Father was food and drink to You. All of Scripture teaches us that our whole aim in this life is to seek the will of God in all things and to do it, regardless of the consequences or the personal cost to ourselves.
We are first called to discern Your will in all things. Having discerned it with the help of the Holy Spirit, we are then to follow it with single-minded devotion. There can be no excuses. If we deviate from it, we will suffer the consequences, for if we go against the express will of God and His commandments, we are responsible for the terrible results of our choices. It is pointless to cry out later when we have destroyed our lives because we deliberately and willfully chose to do what was contrary to the will of the Father.
The whole world is made ugly by the consequences of the deliberate choices we have all made in seeking after the puerile pleasures of the world and the flesh. The devil has put a ring in our nose and leads us in a merry dance away from heaven. Having lost heaven himself, he will stop at nothing to take as many souls with him to hell.
Pity us, Lord; may we emulate the shining example of Your noble and Immaculate Mother, whose life of grace, goodness, obedience, and humility to the will of the Father has raised her to sit at Your right hand and to share in Your glory as Queen of heaven and earth.
Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
Jesus was speaking to the crowds when His mother and His brothers appeared. They were standing outside, anxious to speak with Him. But to the man who told Him this, Jesus replied, “Who is My mother? Who are My brothers?” And stretching out His hand toward His disciples, He said, “Here are My mother and My brothers. Anyone who does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother.”
