Sunday, August 17, 2014

Isaiah 56:1, 6-7, Romans 11:13-15, 29-32, Psalm 67:2-3, 5-6, 8, Matthew 15:21-28

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

Isaiah 56:1, 6-7, Romans 11:13-15, 29-32, Psalm 67:2-3, 5-6, 8, Matthew 15:21-28

Isaiah 56:1, 6-7

My Beloved, this is Your Church the one You established with the four marks that reveal her authenticity.  She is One, she is Holy, she is Catholic (Universal) and she is Apostolic. Every human person is invited to come to You through her and those who seek You and worship You in truth, whose lives are a joyful witness of faith in You and Your law, these are given a place in Your Kingdom.  No one is excluded who come to You with a pure heart and a humble and contrite spirit.

Romans 11:13-15, 29-32

My Beloved, sometimes we can have a tunnel vision, we are unable to either see or comprehend the larger picture.  St. Paul however understood perfectly well that God's call of faith in You is extended to all.  It was first given to the house of Israel true and it is also true that they as a nation rejected You with the exception of a few.  But this by no means that You failed.  God does not fail.  In this as in all things God is at work.  The ends of the earth receive the message of salvation and are being drawn into Your Body and become members of Your Church.  The day will come at the time of Your choosing when the people of God chosen by Him and sealed with His Covenant will come to know You and recognize You as God, the Son of God and the Messiah that they are still waiting for.  


What a day of rejoicing that will be my Beloved.  We pray for that day and long for it.


Psalm 67:2-3, 5-6, 8

My Beloved, the Good News will echo from one end of the earth to the other, from horizon to horizon all will acknowledge that You are the Son of God and the Son of man who entered our history and brought life into the world, defeating death.  The whole world will ring with Your praised from sea to sea and God's mercy and love will be experienced by all to the glory of the Father who conceived this awesome plan of salvation.

praise You Father, Son and Holy Spirit in whom we live and move and have our being.

Matthew 15:21-28

My Beloved, if all our prayers began and ended like that of the Canaanite women indeed we would all be blessed.

It is interesting my Beloved to see how You handled the entire incident and what You desire us to understand and learn from it. 

Here is the obvious foreigner, she is a woman and a mother who is deeply distressed  She has heard of You and she believes.  She has faith.  She addressed You as Lord and Son of David and she asks You to pity her and extend Your divine powers to heal her daughter.  Clearly she had greater faith than the Jews whom God chose from the first an through whom He sent You into the world as  Messiah.   They however did not believe yet  You ignored her wishing perhaps to see the reaction of the disciples.  They, instead of being moved with pity for her and interceding on her behalf  realizing that she was not a Jew wanted You to silence her and get rid o her.  Addressing the woman, You tell her that You were sent only to the lost of sheep of Israel, clearly excluding her as one who does not belong.  

She was not ready to give up in perfect humility she casts herself at Your feet and it would seem that You were still unmoved until she, refusing to accept Your response as final says that even the dogs are entitled to eat the scraps that would otherwise been thrown out.  It is then we see how You honor the woman for her extraordinary faith - a faith You did not find among Your own despite all the prophecies and the signs and wonders.  You responded to her faith by granting her the healing she sought for her daughter while the disciples learned that anyone who approaches You with faith will be heard and rewarded.

Saturday, August 16, 2014

Ezekiel 18:1-10, 13, 30-32,Psalm 51:12-15, 18-19, Matthew 19:13-15

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

Ezekiel 18:1-10, 13, 30-32,Psalm 51:12-15, 18-19, Matthew 19:13-15



Ezekiel 18:1-10, 13, 30-32


My Beloved, each of us is punished or rewarded according to our response to Your commandment of love.  God desires that all be saved which is why He sent You into the world so we may know the depth of His love for us.  He knows that we cannot save ourselves we need a Savior, a Redeemer, a Man who understood our human frailties and would be ready to lay down His life in order that we may live.

My Beloved, You make it possible for us to have a new heart and a new spirit. Through sincere repentance, contrition and resolve to sin o more, You forgive our iniquities and cleans us from our sins through the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  You make it possible for us to become a new creation.

Psalm 51:12-15, 18-19

Thank You my Beloved for the healing we receive in the Sacrament of Confession where sins although they be as scarlet are forgiven and the soul is restored to its baptismal purity.  Thank You for grace, help and strength granted to us through the indwelling of Your Holy Spirit.  Thank You for reconciling us to the Father and for the ongoing work of salvation in every celebration of the Eucharist.  Thank You for love that embraces the sinner who returns to You with a contrite and sorrowful heart.


I love You my Beloved!

Matthew 19:13-15

My Beloved, the world we live in stealthily, willfully, openly and deceitfully robs children of their innocence.  No child is safe no matter how small. Everything around them most conspires to steal their childhood from them, the flagrant immodesty in speech, dress and entertainment contribute to the general decadence of the culture of our age. All of us stand condemned; the home, the schools, the society have all failed these littlest ones in ways that make the angels weep.


We hinder the children's approach to You and instead hold up for them role models who rob them of the Kingdom of God which You have said rightly belongs to them.  You have also said that it would be better to put a millstone around our necks than to cause of Your little ones to stumble.  Is it any wonder then that the world we live in a world filled with violence so horrific and brutality so deadly it causes us to shudder in disbelief?