FEAST OF THE EXALTATION OF THE HOLY CROSS - 2020

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

We adore you, O Christ,
and we bless you;
because by your cross
you have redeemed the world.





NUMBERS 21:4-9

My Beloved, Soul of my soul,

We are just as bad if not worse than the Israelites who grumbled constantly against God and Moses despite all that God did for them. Our life is a wilderness too, we are a people in exile, we are a pilgrim people, who day in and day out, for as long as we are alive, have to struggle but 'our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.' But if every Christian stopped for a moment to consider the great love of God we would fall on our knees in awe, in fear and trembling, and worship You, our Lord, and our God. Why? 'For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.'

We thank You, Father, for giving us the one and only healing remedy, the Sacrifice of Your Son, Jesus, on the Cross that saves. There is no other. The fiery serpent of bronze raised on a standard is a prefigurement of the Cross on which You were nailed and raised above the earth. All who raise their eyes and look at You and believe are saved from eternal death. God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.

PSALM 78:1-2, 34-38

My Beloved, Soul of my soul,

When You look at the world today are You sad, disappointed, do You shake Your head and wonder at our obtuseness, how we still don't get it? We seem to be spiraling into the pit of destruction and death deliberately and purposefully obliterating all that is good, noble, beautiful, wise, pure, chaste, and sacred.

How did we reach this point, this place? Where, when, and how did those who knew better fail to hand down what truly mattered for life and instead through indifference, selfishness, and laziness ignored their duty and their responsibility to safeguard and diligently pass on the truth?

You revealed the secrets of the Kingdom of God. You planted the mustard seed of faith, You left nothing hidden. You showed us the Face of God, the Love of the Father, and You gave us Your Holy Spirit. We received all, nothing was withheld from us. The psalmist says, 'Never forget the deeds of the Lord.' But the world has forgotten so completely that generations of complete ignoramus' are being raised because of those who knew and know failed in their duty.

The only true thing that we can take comfort in, Beloved is that You are a God who is full of compassion. You will forgive our sins and You will spare us the punishment that is due to us. When God, our Father, looks at You on the Cross, He will recall the price that was paid for our redemption, and once again, He will hold back His righteous anger, the rage that our sins have stirred up, and because of His everlasting mercy and love, we will be saved.

JOHN 3:13-17

My Beloved, Soul of my soul,

It is so easy to be disheartened when we look at the world today. We are so far from establishing Your Kingdom on earth despite the fact that we are living in the Age of Your Second Coming. We are so far from ready and yet we take comfort from the fact that You never give up on us.

You came down from heaven to live in poverty, humility, and obedience. You came to suffer and to die. You came to bear in Your human body our affliction, our sins, our shame, and our death in exchange for Your divine life. You rose in glory and we wait for the day when You will return in triumph, victory, and majesty to claim Your people, Your Church, Your Bride.

All will believe and believing we will live. Why? Because Love conquers all.

Yes, God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son,
so that everyone who believes in him may not be lost
but may have eternal life.
For God sent his Son into the world
not to condemn the world,
but so that through him the world might be saved.’

No matter how grim the world looks right now we do know the end of the story. It ends with,' Halleluiah.' Praise You, Lord Jesus, Maranatha!

TWENTY-FOURTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - 2020

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS 

I give you a new commandment:
love one another just as I have loved you,
says the Lord. JN 13:34

ECCLESIASTICUS 27:33 - 28:9

My Beloved, Soul of my soul,

If it were not for Your Word in Scripture both the Old and the New, we would still be barbarians. Left to ourselves with no divine direction or intervention, we would live by the savage law of the fittest and the most powerful. 

To this day we see how the godless live by the law of the world and the flesh. We only have to look at the world today to see how a lack of grace and divine wisdom can unleash the power of evil and bring in its wake only the fire of destruction and ruin. 

Thank You, Beloved, for teaching us a better way - the Way of forgiveness. The Way of love, the Way of wisdom. Today we are reminded that when we carry resentment, anger, and unforgiveness in our hearts they befoul our spirit and death and darkness make a home in us. The writer of the first reading of the Liturgy of the day also reminds us to remember member the last things, which are death, judgment, heaven, and hell. Let us always remember how much we have been forgiven and readily forgive the wrongs done to us as well.

PSALM 103:1-4, 9-12

My Beloved, Soul of my soul,

One sure way to be joyful always is to be grateful, to always count our blessings and be thankful. You always gave thanks to Your Father even as You instituted the Holy Eucharist before Your passion and death, You gave thanks to Him. You gave thanks before You broke Your Body to feed us so we who are Your adopted brothers and sisters would have food for the journey that would strengthen us to the end.

You taught us to be compassionate, to forgive, to rein in our anger and love instead of giving vent to hate. You came to show us a better way. The only way to the Father's house is love.

While we were yet sinners, Beloved, You died for us. You asked Your Father to forgive those who put You to death because they acted in ignorance and that same sacrificial love pleads for us as You make intercession for us night and day. All You ask is that we forgive the wrongs done to us and keep no record of the offenses committed against us just as You forgive and keep no record of our guilt. 

ROMANS 14:7-9

My Beloved, Soul of my soul,

We are one Body in You, this is why, what each member of Your Body does affects the other for good or ill. If one part of the body is sick the whole body suffers. Our world is sick because so many in the world are spiritually undernourished, sick, dying, and dead. The very life of grace in us is being suffocated because so many refuse to receive what You desire to give freely. I am so grateful that whether we are alive or dead we belong to You and even those who are spiritually dead have hope, for You are Lord of both the dead and the living. Where sin abounds grace abounds even more, this is why we must never give up praying for the world for with You there is always hope.

MATTHEW 18:21-35

My Beloved, Soul of my soul,

It is good for us to ponder Your answer to Peter's question to You today. 'Lord, how often must I forgive my brother if he wrongs me? As often as seven times?' That sounds pretty magnanimous we would think. Not so. You say, 'Not seven, I tell you, but seventy-seven times.' You do not wish us to keep a record of how many times we forgive the sins done against us because love keeps no record of wrongs.

The parable of the unforgiving servant vividly describes how God deals with us and we are called to deal with one another in the very same way.

If we fail to forgive from the heart, every single time we are asked to forgive no matter how many times we are sinned against, then we will not be forgiven. Each time we approach the Throne of Grace and beg for mercy and forgiveness You never withhold Your mercy, compassion, tenderness, and love. You cancel all our debt when we appeal to You and in like manner, we are called to forgive the debts of others. If not, we will receive divine retribution until we have paid our own debt to the full unless we forgive from the heart.