20TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - 2025

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

The sheep that belong to me listen to my voice,
says the Lord,
I know them and they follow me. JN 10:27

JEREMIAH 38:4-6,8-10

My Soul's Beloved,

When we abdicate our authority, our rule, over those areas that are under our jurisdiction and give in to the clamor of the world, the flesh, and the devil, we hand over autonomy to that which will not rest until it has destroyed al,l and we are left destitute and ruined.

All too often, we see how evil rich and powerful people usurp power and make puppets of those who have allowed themselves to be coerced and bribed. No thought is given to the poor, the weak, the marginalised, those whom the powerful do not wish to see as equal to them before God. They sweep them aside like so much rubbish so they can grow their empires and increase their already obscene wealth. The weak fawn on them and flatter them, and those who cannot be bought, who will now bow down in the face of tyranny and abuse, who speak the truth regardless of the cost, as the prophet Jeremiah did, are made to pay dearly and sometimes even with their lives.

But we must never forget, Beloved, that while the good suffer, You are always in control and no harm will come to those who are Yours. However, if you do permit suffering it is because, from it, You can draw a far greater good.

The king’s leading men spoke to the king. ‘Let Jeremiah be put to death: he is unquestionably disheartening the remaining soldiers in the city, and all the people too, by talking like this. The fellow does not have the welfare of this people at heart so much as its ruin.’ ‘He is in your hands as you know,’ King Zedekiah answered ‘for the king is powerless against you.’ So they took Jeremiah and threw him into the well of Prince Malchiah in the Court of the Guard, letting him down with ropes. There was no water in the well, only mud, and into the mud Jeremiah sank.
Ebed-melech came out from the palace and spoke to the king. ‘My lord king,’ he said ‘these men have done a wicked thing by treating the prophet Jeremiah like this: they have thrown him into the well, where he will die.’ At this the king gave Ebed-melech the Cushite the following order: ‘Take three men with you from here and pull the prophet Jeremiah out of the well before he dies.’

PSALM 39(40):2-4,18

Lord, come to my aid!

I waited, I waited for the Lord
and he stooped down to me;
he heard my cry.

He drew me from the deadly pit,
from the miry clay.
He set my feet upon a rock
and made my footsteps firm.

He put a new song into my mouth,
praise of our God.
Many shall see and fear
and shall trust in the Lord.

As for me, wretched and poor,
the Lord thinks of me.
You are my rescuer, my help,
O God, do not delay.

Lord, come to my aid!

HEBREWS 12:1-4

My Soul's Beloved,

The reason we fail so often against concupiscence is because we put up such a poor, lethargic fight against the desires of our flesh. We give in to our baser nature with such great alacrity that we no longer possess the will to fight, overcome, and prevail. We have such a great cloud of witnesses, as St. Paul reminds us, who have gone before us, holy men and women who have modeled their lives on You, their Savior, on Mother Mary, St. Joseph, and so many more, and have lived lives of heroic virtue. 

Thank You, Lord, that every day is a new day. We need not be discouraged for having fallen, for we are so weak; the tragedy does not lie in having failed innumerable times, but in failing to rise up and try tirelessly over and over again. It is in the courageous struggles that we are most pleasing to You.

Today and every day, Lord, You provide all the graces and help necessary to live holy lives through the Sacraments You instituted. May we take full advantage of them and trust the Holy Spirit, whom You have given us as our Helper and Advocate, to do for us what we are unable to do for ourselves. Help us never to lose heart and give up, but to rise up each time we fall and lean not on our own strength, but on Yours.

With so many witnesses in a great cloud on every side of us, we too, then, should throw off everything that hinders us, especially the sin that clings so easily, and keep running steadily in the race we have started. Let us not lose sight of Jesus, who leads us in our faith and brings it to perfection: for the sake of the joy which was still in the future, he endured the cross, disregarding the shamefulness of it, and from now on has taken his place at the right of God’s throne. Think of the way he stood such opposition from sinners and then you will not give up for want of courage. In the fight against sin, you have not yet had to keep fighting to the point of death.

LUKE 12:49-53

My Soul's Beloved,

We belong to Your army. You have provided us with Your armor. So let us clothe ourselves in the garment of righteousness, be cleansed by Your Blood, strengthened with the Eucharist, and be filled with Your Holy Spirit daily. From the rising of the sun to its setting, You O Lord, are praised by all that lives on earth and in heaven. May our voices join with those of all creation and, daily, hourly, moment by moment, fight against those who seek to destroy Your Body, Your Temple, the Church. 

Grant us the grace not to lose heart when those we love so dearly deny You, betray You, and run after false religions and false gods. While our hearts are fearful that their souls may be damned forever, may we not lose hope, for You will surely hear our prayers as we beg and plead with You with sorrowful, broken hearts to grant them wisdom before it is too late. 

Jesus said to his disciples: ‘I have come to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were blazing already! There is a baptism I must still receive, and how great is my distress till it is over!
‘Do you suppose that I am here to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. For from now on a household of five will be divided: three against two and two against three; the father divided against the son, son against father, mother against daughter, daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law, daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.’

SATURDAY OF WEEK 19 IN ORDINARY TIME - 2025

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

Blessed are you, Father,
Lord of heaven and earth,
for revealing the mysteries of the kingdom
to mere children. MT 11:25

JOSHUA 24:14-29

My Soul's Beloved,

As Catholics, we are the most profoundly blessed people in all the earth. Sadly, not all recognize this singular gift of God given to so many of us who were born of Catholic parents. Baptized as infants we were brought into the Church just as You were brought to the Temple by Mother Mary and St. Joseph as the firstborn Son and presented to God. Yet, O Lord, how many are raised poorly in the beauty and Apostolic Tradition of the glorious faith that we have received most often because our parents were poorly catechized, and we, in turn, have been poorly catechized as well. How can earlier generations give us what they lacked, and how can we pass on what we lack? Yet, Lord, this cannot be an excuse for any of us. We are responsible for our own spiritual education, We are willing to spend great amounts of money to educate our children so they can succeed in the world but we fail to spend any time or resources on educating ourselves, learning about our faith, and growing spiritually strong in it so we can not only hand it down to our own children as well as make a strong defense against those who challenge us and our beliefs.

Faith is a choice. We cannot hide forever behind the excuse that we were ignorant, at some point in our lives, we have a solemn duty to remedy it. Just as Joshua required the people of God before they entered the promised land to declare themselves for or against God, so too are we called to renew our faith daily. Our faith must form all we do, the way we live, and who we are. This is not possible if we are ignorant of what God has done for us, the singular grace granted to us through no merit of ours to be born Catholic. Let us remember that we will be called to account when we come before You as judge when we die, and we will have to pay the penalty for having hidden the great talent given to us instead of recognizing its infinite value and multiplying it for God's glory.

Joshua said to all the people, ‘Fear the Lord and serve him perfectly and sincerely; put away the gods that your ancestors served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. But if you will not serve the Lord, choose today whom you wish to serve, whether the gods that your ancestors served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are now living. As for me and my House, we will serve the Lord.’

Then Joshua said to the people, ‘You cannot serve the Lord, because he is a holy God, he is a jealous God who will not forgive your transgressions or your sins. If you desert the Lord to follow alien gods he in turn will afflict and destroy you after the goodness he has shown you.’ The people answered Joshua, ‘No; it is the Lord we wish to serve.’ Then Joshua said to the people, ‘You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the Lord, to serve him.’ They answered, ‘We are witnesses.’ ‘Then cast away the alien gods among you and give your hearts to the Lord the God of Israel!’ The people answered Joshua, ‘It is the Lord our God we choose to serve; it is his voice that we will obey.’


PSALM 15(16):1-2,5,7-8,11

You are my inheritance, O Lord.

Preserve me, God, I take refuge in you.
I say to the Lord: ‘You are my God.’
O Lord, it is you who are my portion and cup;
it is you yourself who are my prize.

I will bless the Lord who gives me counsel,
who even at night directs my heart.
I keep the Lord ever in my sight:
since he is at my right hand, I shall stand firm.

You will show me the path of life,
the fullness of joy in your presence,
at your right hand happiness for ever.

You are my inheritance, O Lord.

MATTHEW 19:13-15

My Soul's Beloved,

My soul trembles with fear, for I know there are many parents, either one or both, who keep their children from coming to You, being grafted to Your Body, becoming members of the Church You founded on Peter, the Rock, and thus jeopardise the eternal inheritance of Your little ones.

Parents do this for many reasons, but mainly through a profound ignorance of what it means to become a child of God through the Sacrament of Baptism and heir to the Kingdom of Heaven. Such ignorance is not insurmountable if fathers and mothers who call themselves Catholics or Christians listened to the inner voice of their conscience, and as parents, understood the grave, great responsibility they have taken on in having children. They spend themselves and their resources on looking after their children's temporal needs while overlooking what will give them the fullness of life eternally in union with God in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Hear the prayers of all who plead with You with tears, inconsolable sorrow, and fear to touch the hearts of those parents who, either through deceit, ignorance, or indifference, deny their children the greatest gift they could ever give their children, the gift of faith, and withholding from them their rightful inheritance to become daughters and sons of the Living God.

People brought little children to Jesus, for him to lay his hands on them and say a prayer. The disciples turned them away, but Jesus said, ‘Let the little children alone, and do not stop them coming to me; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs.’ Then he laid his hands on them and went on his way.