Tuesday of the Eleventh Week of Ordinary Time - Reflection

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

I give you a new commandment:
love one another as I have loved you. Jn 13:34
2 Corinthians 8:1-9, Psalm 146:2, 5-9, 
Matthew 5:43-48


2 Corinthians 8:1-9

My Love, Beloved of my soul,

The more we have the more miserly we are. It is the poor who have large, generous hearts. They know what it means to be in want, to be hungry, to have nothing and this is why when they see another with a greater need than their own they are willing to share the little they have. 

God who watches over the sparrows and tends to the lilies of the field watches even more tenderly over these little ones of His. He makes note of their generosity even in their abject poverty. He also sees those who have far more than they will ever need but who hoard what they have. They find it hard to give. They prefer to build larger barns than to share what they have received from the hand of a loving God.

It is only when we have suffered ourselves can we have empathy for those who do. Our love for You is tested by our ability to share what we have received. 

As disciples and members of Your Body, we are called to imitate You in everything. You shared in our humanity so we can have a share in Your divinity but we have first to embrace the cross if we wish to share in Your glory.

Psalm 146:2, 5-9

My Love, Beloved of my soul,

If I am to experience true joy in the world I am invited to pick up my cross every day and follow You. I am called to imitate You, to follow Your example. 

If I want a song in my heart I must open my lips and sing Your praise acknowledging all You have done for me. Everyone who knows me must know how good You have been to me and how good You are to all who call on Your Name.

We who have received much are called to give much in return. In the measure that we give we will receive. We are called to give not only of our abundance but also to give when we ourselves are in want. We are called to be people of faith confident that God will care for us when we care for others.

True Christians are those who walk in the Light and those who walk with them do not walk in the dark.


Matthew 5:43-48

My Love, Beloved of my soul,

To love as You did is hard but not impossible. We know that there a many witnesses in the Church who have lived lives of heroic virtue and who have loved their enemies, their persecutors, their jailors, their murderers because they followed Your example. Loving You and trusting You, they received the necessary grace, strength, and courage to love as You did and embrace the cross. 

It is hard to live the Gospel as You ask us to without first emptying ourselves of all that keeps us from loving You as we ought. You provide the grace but we must take that first step and when we do we can be sure that You will make all that seems impossible possible.

You invite us to be holy and perfect just as our heavenly Father is holy and perfect. We have God as our Father, You as our Brother, and the Holy Spirit as our Helper so we can and will grow in Your image and likeness for we are the children of God.

Monday of the Eleventh Week of Ordinary Time - Reflection

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS


A lamp to my feet is your word,
a light to my path. Ps 119:105
2 Corinthians 6:1-10, Psalm 98:1-4, Matthew 5:38-42


 2 Corinthians 6:1-10

My Love, Beloved of my soul,

If every priest and religious, and indeed every baptized Catholic could make the words of St. Paul in today's First Reading their own then truly the Kingdom of God would be here on earth.

If every baptized person who received the grace of this Sacrament did not receive it in vain, then the fire of the Holy Spirit would have spread to the four corners of the world and the world would be conquered by love and subject to You.

But, there is always hope - the beauty of our journey with You is that in every moment we can confidently say, 'Behold, now is a very acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.' How many of us beginning with our Bishops, priests, deacons, and the laity can say that we cause no one to stumble in anything? How many of us are truly humble and are prepared to suffer every hardship for the sake of the Gospel as St. Paul and the Apostles did and so many others who laid down their lives in imitation of You, our Savior and Redeemer?

We are called to show genuine love for all especially those whom we find difficult to love. We are called to be truthful in speech not like the many even those in the hierarchy who kowtow to the tyranny of political correctness. 

Yet, the genuine Christian will stand unbowed before the Sanhedrin and before Pilates of this world like Paul who says,

"We are treated as deceivers and yet are truthful;
as unrecognized and yet acknowledged;
as dying and behold we live;
as chastised and yet not put to death;
as sorrowful yet always rejoicing;
as poor yet enriching many;
as having nothing and yet possessing all things."

The history of Holy Mother Church has many powerful witnesses too numerous to count, both known and unknown, and if we follow their example then surely we will hasten Your Second Coming in glory. 


Psalm 98:1-4

My Love, Beloved of my soul,

We are living in the age of the Holy Spirit. You have saved us and now the Holy Spirit is at work in us enabling us to spread the Truth of Your Life in order to set the whole world on fire with Your Divine Love.

All those experience each day the joy of knowing and loving You, ought to be singing a new song praising You for the wondrous marvels You have wrought in the lives of all who believe. We have won the victory because You have won it. We triumph because You have triumphed. We have hope because You have given us hope on the Cross by crushing and defeating death forever.

Thank You for Your faithfulness and kindness to us weak and sinful though we are. Thank You for Your unending, unchanging, unfailing love for us.


Matthew 5:38-42

My Love, Beloved of my soul,

If we practiced today's Gospel we would surely be a 'sign of contradiction' in the world just as You were.

This is what is expected of every disciple, 

"You have heard that it was said,
An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.
But I say to you, offer no resistance to one who is evil.
When someone strikes you on your right cheek,
turn the other one to him as well.
If anyone wants to go to law with you over your tunic,
hand him your cloak as well.
Should anyone press you into service for one mile,
go with him for two miles.
Give to the one who asks of you,
and do not turn your back on one who wants to borrow."

The more we imitate You, Beloved, the more we will become like You, the Image of the Unseen God, for we are members of Your Body.

Thank You for not asking of us the impossible although it may seem so, for You not only grant us the grace to strive to be like You, You have also given us the Holy Spirit who will do for us what we cannot do for ourselves if we left Him.