MONDAY OF THE 1ST WEEK OF LENT - 2025

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

Now is the favourable time:
this is the day of salvation. 2 COR 6:2

LEVITICUS 19:1-2,11-18

My Soul's Beloved,

If the world took to heart the Word of God, the command of the Most High, and lived it faithfully, earth would be paradise and the Kingdom would be among us. Sadly, this is as far from the reality as east is from west.

But this we can do, Lord, we who hear these words, who read them, who listen to them, can receive God's instructions on how to live a full and bountiful life, and make them our own. This Lenten Season, grant me the grace to know that the only person I can change is myself. May I begin today, this hour, this moment and by the end of this blessed season, with Your help, I will make a start in becoming the person I was created to be and no longer the small, vindictive, critical, hypocrite, unloving, ungenerous, uncharitable, selfish creature that I presently am. 

‘“Be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy.

‘“You must not steal nor deal deceitfully or fraudulently with your neighbour. You must not swear falsely by my name, profaning the name of your God. I am the Lord. You must not exploit or rob your neighbour. You must not keep back the labourer’s wage until next morning. You must not curse the dumb, nor put an obstacle in the blind man’s way, but you must fear your God. I am the Lord.
‘“You must not be guilty of unjust verdicts. You must neither be partial to the little man nor overawed by the great; you must pass judgement on your neighbour according to justice. You must not slander your own people, and you must not jeopardise your neighbour’s life. I am the Lord. You must not bear hatred for your brother in your heart. You must openly tell him, your neighbour, of his offence; this way you will not take a sin upon yourself. You must not exact vengeance, nor must you bear a grudge against the children of your people. You must love your neighbour as yourself. I am the Lord.”’

PSALM 18(19):8-10,15

Your words are spirit, Lord, and they are life.

The law of the Lord is perfect,
it revives the soul.
The rule of the Lord is to be trusted,
it gives wisdom to the simple.

The precepts of the Lord are right,
they gladden the heart.
The command of the Lord is clear,
it gives light to the eyes.

The fear of the Lord is holy,
abiding for ever.
The decrees of the Lord are truth
and all of them just.

May the spoken words of my mouth,

the thoughts of my heart,
win favour in your sight, O Lord,
my rescuer, my rock!

Your words are spirit, Lord, and they are life.

MATTHEW 25:31-46

My Soul's Beloved,

We were not created for isolation but to belong, first to God, then to our family, next our neighbour, and finally, the world. We are responsible for each other's well-being. The world preaches a culture of me first, me last, me always but the Way of God is contrary to the way of the world and has always been so. 

We know that You graciously make us members of Your Body, this is why when You appeared to Saul and said, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”  He asked, “Who are you, Lord?” And You replied, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. So closely do You identify Yourself with us that You consider anything good or evil done to any human being as having been to You, and today we are reminded that we will be called to account for our actions, good or bad, and will be judged strictly by You. We will either be blessed or cursed by how we have treated each other. 

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, while it is yet today, let me wake up from my slumber and begin anew to live as a disciple created to live with God forever. How I live today will determine where I will spend eternity. I have already wasted too much time, Lord, help me make a start today, and when You come in Your glory and separate the sheep from the goats You will place with the sheep at Your right hand and take me with You to Your Kingdom.

Jesus said to his disciples: ‘When the Son of Man comes in his glory, escorted by all the angels, then he will take his seat on his throne of glory. All the nations will be assembled before him and he will separate men one from another as the shepherd separates sheep from goats. He will place the sheep on his right hand and the goats on his left.
‘Then the King will say to those on his right hand, “Come, you whom my Father has blessed, take for your heritage the kingdom prepared for you since the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave me drink; I was a stranger and you made me welcome; naked and you clothed me, sick and you visited me, in prison and you came to see me.” Then the virtuous will say to him in reply, “Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you; or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and make you welcome; naked and clothe you; sick or in prison and go to see you?” And the King will answer, “I tell you solemnly, in so far as you did this to one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did it to me.”

1ST SUNDAY IN LENT - 2025

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

Man does not live on bread alone,

but on every word that comes from the mouth of God. MT 4:4

DEUTERONOMY 26:4-10

My Soul's Beloved,

While we are still in original sin, we wander as exiles in the wilderness and among the flesh-pots of Egypt. Our hearts are restless and our lives lack meaning and purpose. Even though we are children of the world and the world and all its pleasures cannot satisfy the deepest hungers of our soul. As slaves we are beasts of burden to the insatiable and voracious desires of the things that lack all that is good, true, and beautiful. We seek happiness in all the wrong places and find ourselves even more tightly bound in the excesses of our sinful desires. The greater our sins the deeper we find ourselves sucked into the mire of destruction, decay, and death.

Baptism washes away original sin. No sin is too great for its cleansing power to heal, to restore, to regenerate, and make of every soul a child of God and heir to His Kingdom. Through Baptism we are citizens of heaven and can rightfully call God, Abba. This Sacrament of Initiation into the Christian life opens the door to all the Sacraments of Life, Grace, and Healing. We are no longer wanderers and exiles by Your sisters and brothers. You make us members of Your Body and we receive life from Your Holy Spirit who descends in us and makes our body His temple.

In the life of the Church You founded on Peter and the Apostles, Beloved, we are led by the Shepherd to green pastures, and are fed on the Blood and Water that flows from Your pierced side. Thank You, Lord, for setting us free to worship and adore You, to give You thanks all our days, for the blessed assurance You have given us of living eternally with You in Heaven. In the safe haven of Your Church O Lord, the children of God find rest.

The Lord heard our voice and saw our misery, our toil and our oppression; and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with mighty hand and outstretched arm, with great terror, and with signs and wonders. He brought us here and gave us this land, a land where milk and honey flow. Here then I bring the first-fruits of the produce of the soil that you, the Lord, have given me.”

‘You must then lay them before the Lord your God, and bow down in the sight of the Lord your God.’


PSALM 90(91):1-2,10-15

Be with me, O Lord, in my distress.

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
and abides in the shade of the Almighty
says to the Lord: ‘My refuge,
my stronghold, my God in whom I trust!’

Upon you no evil shall fall,
no plague approach where you dwell.
For you has he commanded his angels,
to keep you in all your ways.

They shall bear you upon their hands
lest you strike your foot against a stone.
On the lion and the viper you will tread
and trample the young lion and the dragon.

His love he set on me, so I will rescue him;
protect him for he knows my name.
When he calls I shall answer: ‘I am with you,’
I will save him in distress and give him glory.

Be with me, O Lord, in my distress.

ROMANS 10:8-13

My Soul's Beloved,

We are so grateful to the Father for sending You, His beloved, first-born Son into the world not to condemn but to save. Baptism is the first step of initiation into the Christian life, we die to sin and receive life anew in You. From this moment on, Lord, we become disciples and must grow in our faith and strive to become like You in every way. You O Lord came to establish Your Church so all who enter her will be taught, fed, and nourished on the Word and the Sacraments. Both are necessary to navigate the pitfalls and snares set by the devil who roams through the world seeking to devour souls. 

Making our profession of faith is not a one-time event, we must profess it every day we are alive. What we profess to believe we must testify to and witness by example. We are children of God in a world that hates good and celebrates evil, and only by being the light of the world and the salt of the earth can we spread the Good News throughout the world and save it.

In this world You assure us that we will be hated, persecuted, imprisoned and even face death. The lot of the Christian disciple is suffering as it was with the Master and we must not shrink from it but embrace it as You did for there is no other way to enter the Kingdom of God but the way of the Cross, the way of suffering and death to self.

If your lips confess that Jesus is Lord and if you believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, then you will be saved. By believing from the heart you are made righteous; by confessing with your lips you are saved. When scripture says: those who believe in him will have no cause for shame, it makes no distinction between Jew and Greek: all belong to the same Lord who is rich enough, however many ask his help, for everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

LUKE 4:1-13

My Soul's Beloved,

We thank You for the wisdom granted to the writers of the Old and the New Testament, through these Sacred Texts God made known His plan of salvation for the world. The New is hidden in the Old and the Old in the light of the New reveals all that was hinted at and promised in the Old. On the road to Emmaus as well as on previous occasions when You were teaching and forming Your disciples before Your resurrection, You taught them the Scripture opening their minds to understand how every Covenant of God was fulfilled perfectly in and through You.

The forty years of exile of the Israelites in the desert, where they were tempted and purified, is mirrored in Your own 40 days in the wilderness after Your baptism in the Jordan. You teach us how to combat temptation using the power of the Word of God. We need to be familiar with Scripture. We should feed and feast on it. We ought to imbibe it until it becomes second nature to us and becomes our food and drink. Only then can we do battle against the world, the flesh and the devil and with the help of the power of the Holy Spirit gain victory. 

Help us, Lord, to take our faith seriously, only then can we grow in faith, hope, and love.

Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit through the wilderness, being tempted there by the devil for forty days. During that time he ate nothing and at the end he was hungry. 

Then the devil said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to turn into a loaf.’ But Jesus replied, ‘Scripture says: Man does not live on bread alone.’

Then leading him to a height, the devil showed him in a moment of time all the kingdoms of the world and said to him, ‘I will give you all this power and the glory of these kingdoms, for it has been committed to me and I give it to anyone I choose. Worship me, then, and it shall all be yours.’ But Jesus answered him, ‘Scripture says:
You must worship the Lord your God,
and serve him alone.’
Then he led him to Jerusalem and made him stand on the parapet of the Temple. ‘If you are the Son of God,’ he said to him ‘throw yourself down from here, for scripture says:
He will put his angels in charge of you
to guard you,
and again:
They will hold you up on their hands
in case you hurt your foot against a stone.’
But Jesus answered him, ‘It has been said:
You must not put the Lord your God to the test.’
Having exhausted all these ways of tempting him, the devil left him, to return at the appointed time.