Romans 9:1-5, Psalm 147:12-15, 19-20, Luke 14:1-6

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

Romans 9:1-5, Psalm 147:12-15, 19-20, Luke 14:1-6

Romans 9:1-5

My Beloved, would that we too had the great, overwhelming and crushing sorrow that St. Paul suffered because the people to whom he belonged, the people whom God chose, singled out from all the nations to reveal His awesome plan of salvation. From whom were chosen the prophets, to whom were given the law and to whom God made irrevocable covenants. He suffers because they have not accepted You as the Messiah, the Redeemer, the Savior of the world. Instead, they rejected You and put You to death stubbornly refusing to believe that You were the Christ.  We know so many people who have rejected You and cut You off from their lives – we ought to suffer just as St. Paul did and we must pray for them with sighs and groans and tears that You may bring them home someday. 

  

Psalm 147:12-15, 19-20

My Beloved, while every prophecy has been fulfilled through the nation, the race, the people You chose and despite the fact that they rejected You we have been the beneficiaries of their rejection for the Gospel has been preached to the ends of the earth and we have heard and we believe.

You fill our mouths with the finest wheat in the Holy Eucharist. We are filled with sweet honey from the Rock of our Salvation. We carry with us the mark of life received through our Baptism. Your Holy Spirit dwells in us and is our Guide, our Counselor, our Paraclete and our Friend. He leads and guides us. He inspires us to listen to You and to walk in the Way that You have shown us the way of Truth that leads to Life. Thank You my Beloved. Your Covenant is eternal and someday the people chosen by God will also acknowledge that You are the Son of God and the Savior of the world.

Luke 14:1-6

My Beloved, once again You confront the Pharisees many of whom followed the low rigorously, meticulously and scrupulously including all the additions which were added to it. They looked down with self righteous scorn on those who did not. You knew exactly how shallow they were and that they only followed the letter of the law while completely ignoring its spirit. When You questioned them they chose to be silent for they knew that their answer would show them up for what they truly were if they answered truthfully. They lacked compassion and would rather see someone suffer than break the Sabbath law. Time and time again You healed on the Sabbath and instead of seeing that only the power of God could make such healings possible they preferred to nitpick and harangue the people for coming to be healed on the Sabbath.  They showed more compassion to their livestock than they did to their fellow Jews.

Are we any different my Lord? We too prefer to go with the flow than to do what conscience dictates to be right because we prefer to follow the crowd and not rock the boat of common opinion. We would rather be silent than speak on the side of truth when that truth is unpalatable.

Give me a spirit of boldness and courage Lord as well as a spirit of gentleness and kindness.