Tobit 7:17, Isaiah 50:4-9, Matthew 26:14-25, Psalm 69:8, 10, 21-22, 31, 33-34

Daily inspiration:  Tobit 7:17

Tobit 7:17

"Have courage, my child, the God of heaven and earth will change Your sorrow into joy.  Have confidence, my daughter."

Yes my Beloved, You have the power to change our sorrow to joy and our mourning to laughter.  Having You reside in me,  having Your Holy Spirit reside in my body making it His holy temple, means to possess within my being the source of perennial love, joy, peace, patience,  patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness and humility.  What more could one ask for?  Possessing You one possesses all things.

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Daily Mass Readings:  Isaiah 50:4-9, Matthew 26:14-25, Psalm 69:8, 10, 21-22, 31, 33-34

Isaiah 50:4-9

My Beloved, You are God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God.  Begotten not made One in Being with the Father.  So yes, You have the power to speak as God and to sustain all those who come to You.  To fulfill the purpose and plan of God, You had to go through the horror of the passion.  In order for to understand and plumb the depths of His love for one as unworthy as I am and in order for me to never ever doubt how precious I am in His sight, He asked You Beloved to demonstrate that love for me by going to the Cross and nailing every one of my transgressions on it, to set me free.  You died the death of a slave in order to free me from the slavery of sin which leads to eternal death.  Thank You my Beloved.  All I can offer You is a grateful loving heart and a contrite spirit.  With Your help my Lord I shall strive never to sin again.

Matthew 26:14-25

Beloved, Judas sold his friendship with You for 30 pieces of silver.  How cheaply have I sold my friendship with You in order to satisfy the lure of my senses?  Satan makes tantalizing promises knowing all the while he is a deceiver and the father of lies.  He is fully aware that he will not delivery on any of his promises.  All he can do is bring ruin, heartache and heartbreak because he is a liar and a thief.  Every sin is very attractive before we commit it and brings death when it is acted on.  The death of the spirit, of body, mind and soul.. 

Verse 18

18 Jesus answered, “Go into the city, to the house of a certain man, and tell him: ‘The Master says: My hour is near, and I will celebrate the Pass­over with my disciples in your house.”

The disciples heard You phrase this sentence differently in the past.  You said, "My hour has not yet come or my hour has not yet arrived."  Now You say, "My hour is near."  The awful, blessed, holy, bloody, horrific hour when You will deliver Yourself to the forces of evil and darkness.  Today we also read an account of the institution of the Sacrament of the Eucharist.  You make provision for our soul.  Spiritual nourishment through which we will be strengthened each day to avoid the daily pitfalls of temptation and to reduce the frequency to particular venial sins to which we are attached.  Here we receive complete forgiveness of all our venial sins if we are truly sorry.

Once again, You make known to the 12 that one of them would betray You.  Eleven of them are troubled at what You have just said and Judas still  had time to repent when You spoke these words  24 "The Son of Man is going as the Scriptures say he will. But alas for that one who betrays the Son of Man; better for him not to have been born.” But  Judas had the gall to respond with these words, 25 “You do not mean me, Master, do you?” and You replied, “You have said it.” You confirmed to Judas right to his face that You knew the evil he was plotting against You but his heart remained hard and unrepentant.

How often Beloved, I too have done things in my past that were not worthy of a child of God.  Thank You for the grace to repent and confess over and over and over again and thank You for forgiving me, healing me, accepting me and restoring me to the fold every time I returned penitently back to You.

Psalm 69:8  21-22, 31

– 8 since I am held in contempt for your sake, and shame has covered my  face.

21 Dishonor has driven me to despair; I looked for sympathy and there was none, for comforters and there was no one.  22 They gave me poison for food and vinegar to drink.

 31 I will praise the name of God in song; I will glorify him with thanks­­giving.

The words of the Psalmist in the psalm of the day can once again be applied to you.

Verse 8 speaks of the contempt You suffered for our sakes and verse 21 speaks of being betrayed and abandoned by every one of Your friends, being given vinegar and gall to drink and through it all You praised, glorified and trusted in the Father.

Help me my Lord to cling to You when I am in trouble and distress.  Stay always by me Beloved.

Deuteronomy 6:5-9, Isaiah 49:1-6, John 13:21-33, 36-38, Psalm 71: 2-6, 15 & 17

Daily Inspiration:  Deuteronomy 6:5-9

Deuteronomy 6:5-9

5 And you shall love Yahweh, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 Engrave on your heart the commandments that I pass on to you today. 7 Repeat them over and over to your children, speak of them when you are at home and when you travel, when you lie down and when you rise. 8 Brand them on your hand as a sign, and keep them always before your eyes. 9 Engrave them on your doorposts and on your city gates

I am called to love You my God with all of my being.  I must love, praise and glorify You in every circumstance of my life.  Nothing that happens to me is outside Your control.  Your commandments and my obedience to them must be complete if I am to have joy in this world and in the next.  It is absolutely essential for me to live the commandments fully - all of them including the ones that challenge me and what is more, I am called to hand them down to my children and children's children so that future generations will also know and obey them.  The two great commandments which embrace all 10 must be a part of the very fabric of my life - love of God and love of neighbor must be at the heart of every thought, word and action.  HELP ME LORD!!!!!

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Daily Mass Readings:  Isaiah 49:1-6, John 13:21-33, 36-38, Psalm 71:2-6, 15 & 17

Isaiah 49:1-6

Once again the prophet speaks of You.  Once again the Father is making known His plan of salvation through the prophet Isaiah.  He will send You Beloved, to fulfill it.  We profess this each time we pray in the Nicene Creed, "Who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven. And was incarnate of the Holy Spirit  and of the Virgin Mary and was made man."  You become one like is in order to to draw us all back into the loving arms of the Father.  We will be called from all the four corners of the world to know the One True God - Father, Son and Holy Spirit and every man, woman and child will someday worship God in spirit and in truth.

John 13:21-33, 36-38

Beloved, we continue to distress You as we betray You left, right and center and say brazenly, "You don't mean me do You?"  Cafeteria Christians prefer to ignore the commandments and Cafeteria Catholics prefer to remain ignorant of the teachings of the Church as revealed in Your Word and Apostolic Tradition.  They prefer to ignore the Magisterium of the Church.  Each sets himself as god and worships before this idol.  Is it any wonder thaw we are unhappy and unfulfilled in our relationship with You and with one another?

So many of us don't go to confession but step up without any qualms of conscience to receive You in the Eucharist and make a sacrilegious Communion and when we do Satan enters us as he entered Judas after he too made a sacrilegious Communion at the Last Supper.  We  have wounded our soul mortally with sin and only a good confession in the Sacrament of Reconciliation can once again heal our relationship with You, ourselves, our neighbor as well as the cosmos.  Mortal sin wounds You and all that You have created.    

Judas was not converted after received You in the Eucharist, it only served to harden a deadened conscience and he went out into the dark to bring to fruition the wicked plot hatched by evil men.

Like Peter, I too make many promises my Beloved.  How often You must smile sadly knowing that I will fail, falter, stumble and fall.  When I do let me like Peter shed bitter tears of repentance and come flying back to You for forgiveness.

Psalm 71:3, 15 & 17

3 Be my rock of refuge, a stronghold to give me safety, for you are my rock and my fortress.

15 My lips will proclaim your intervention and tell of your salvation all day, little though it is what I can understand.

17 You have taught me from my youth and until now I proclaim your marvels.