Hebrews 12:4-7, 11-15, Psalm 103:12-14, 17-18, Mark 6:1-6

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

Hebrews 12:4-7, 11-15, Psalm 103:12-14, 17-18, Mark 6:1-6

Hebrews 12:4-7, 11-15

My Beloved, the same question put to me yesterday is repeated today. "Have you already shed your blood in the struggle against sin?" The answer is no my Lord. I only fight weakly against temptation and I give in very easily to self-indulgence.

If this is true of me and it is, then I must be prepared to be disciplined by God who is a loving Father.He desires that I walk in truth and because I have yielded my life to You and I have asked that my will be aligned to yours, I must be prepared to receive and accept all correction with a submissive and contrite heart.

By Beloved, the fruit of correction and discipline is peace which trains us in holiness.  We must not be discouraged but lift up our hands to the Lord in supplication to strengthen us against our fight with the forces of evil.  I must walk where sin does not lurk lest I be tempted beyond my ability to overcome and I stumble. Rather, may I be healed of every spiritual infirmity because I choose to walk  in the paths of peace that leads to holiness for without it I cannot hope to receive the beatific vision.

My Beloved, we were baptized into You through grace but we can lose this gift from God if we willfully choose to sell our soul for a life lacking in  virtue  and grace.

Psalm 103:12-14, 17-18

My Beloved, we know that God loved us so immensely that He sent You into the world to redeem us.  Our sins when we repent of them, He forgives and remembers them no more, no matter how grievous.

The Father loves us with the same intensity of love with which He loves you for He does not love by degree but completely. He has compassion on us for He knows that we are weak, prone to sin through the first sin we inherited from our parents. His kindness for us is ever present before Him in You who are seated at His right hand. To those who love You and fear to lose You He will show mercy to us and to all the generations that will follow.

Mark 6:1-6

My Beloved, small minded, mean spirited bigots will never have the generosity, the imagination, the faith to look up and grasp the vision of God. When our preconceived biased ideas are set in concrete and we refuse to take into account the proof that contradicts our false assumptions, we fall into the same trap that the people of Your hometown fell into. They asked all the wrong question and naturally came up with all the wrong answers and they were actually satisfied that they had managed to squeeze a square peg into the round holes of their spurious intellect.

They assumed they knew You from a few external facts - they knew Your Mother, the knew Joseph Your father a carpenter by trade, they knew Your relatives who were ordinary people still living among them lives the same ordinary lives that they did.  Despite admitting that they heard never heard Scripture preached and taught with such wisdom. They had heard of the many miracles You had worked everywhere You went yet they simply refused to accept that perhaps in their midst was one greater than any they or anyone else had ever known. They actually took offence  and perhaps saw You an upstart.

The evangelist tells us You were astounded at their stupidity,their hidebound prejudices and crassness Their lack of faith denied them the grace of being healed in body, soul and spirit. You prophesied then that You would be despised by Your own

Do I astound You sometimes my Beloved by my lack of faith? Do I sometimes resemble those people in Your hometown? For all those occasions my Beloved I beg pardon and ask for forgiveness Lord. I do believe help my unbelief.