Sunday

4 Kings 4:1-7
In those days, a certain woman cried to the Prophet Eliseus, saying, Your servant, my husband, is dead, and you know that your servant was one who feared God: and behold the creditor is come to take away my two sons to serve him. And Eliseus said to her, What will you have me to do for you? Tell me, what have you in your house? And she answered, I your handmaid have nothing in my house but a little oil, to anoint me. And he said to her, Go, borrow of all your neighbors empty vessels not a few. And go in, and shut your door, when you are within, and your sons; and pour out thereof into all those vessels: and when they are full take them away. So the woman went, and shut the door upon her, and upon her sons: they brought her the vessels, and she poured in. And when the vessels were full, and she said to her son, Bring me yet a vessel. And he answered, I have no more. And the oil stood. And she came, and told the man of God. And he said, Go, sell the oil, and pay your creditor; and you and your sons live off the rest.

OBSERVATION:  this is an Old Testament foreshadowing of the loaves and fishes in the New.

Prayer: Hail Mary, full of Grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners now and in the hour of our death.

Monday
Matt 18:15-22
At that time, Jesus said to His disciples: If your brother sin against you, go and show him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listen to you, you have won your brother. But if he do not listen to you, take with you one or two more so that on the word of two or three witnesses every word may be confirmed. And if he refuse to hear them, appeal to the Church, but if he refuse to hear even the Church, let him be to you as the heathen and the publican. Amen I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound also in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed also in heaven. I say to you further, that if two of you shall agree on earth about anything at all for which they ask, it shall be done for them by My Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together for My sake, there am I in the midst of them. Then Peter came up to Him and said, Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times? Jesus said to him, I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven.

OBSERVATION:  the seventy seven times means there is no end to the times we should forgive just as God does us.

Prayer:  O my God I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee, and I detest all my sins, because I dread the loss of heaven and the pains of hell, but most of all because they offend Thee, my God, who art all-good and worthy of all my love. I firmly resolve, with the help of Thy grace, to confess my sins, to do penance, and to amend my life.
*Act of Contrition

 

Tuesday
Ex 20:12-24
Thus says the Lord God: Honor your father and your mother, that you may have a long life in the land which the Lord, your God, is giving you. You shall not kill. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male or female slave, not his ox or ass, nor anything else that belongs to him. When the people witnessed the thunder and lightning, the trumpet blast and the mountain smoking, they all feared and trembled. So they took up a position much farther away and said to Moses, You speak to us, and we will listen; but let not the Lord speak to us, or we shall die. Moses answered the people, Do not be afraid, for God has come to you only to test you and put His fear upon you, lest you should sin. Still the people remained at a distance, while Moses approached the cloud where God was. The Lord told Moses, Thus shall you speak to the Israelites: You have seen for yourselves that I have spoken to you from heaven. Do not make anything to rank with Me; neither gods of silver nor gods of gold shall you make for yourselves. An altar of earth you shall make for Me, and upon it you shall sacrifice your holocausts and peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen, in whatever place I choose for the remembrance of My name.

OBSERVATION:  the 10 commandments to which Christ gave a deeper meaning (i.e.  not just physical adultery but lusting, adultery of the heart etc.)

Prayer:   Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God of Hosts, the whole earth is filled with Thy Glory.

 

Wednesday
Matt 15:1-20
At that time, the Scribes and Pharisees from Jerusalem came to Jesus, saying, Why do Your disciples transgress the tradition of the ancients? For they do not wash their hands when they take food. But He answered and said to them, And why do you transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition? For God said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘Let him who curses father or mother be put to death.’ But you say, ‘Whoever shall say to his father or mother, Any support you might have had from me is dedicated to God, does not have to honor his father or his mother.’ So you have made void the commandment of God by your tradition. Hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying, ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me; and in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrine the precepts of men.’

OBSERVATION:  the interpretations of how to practice the Law by the Rabbi’s became a law unto itself.

Prayer:   Christ with me, Christ before me,
Christ behind me, Christ in me,
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down,
Christ when I arise,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.
(St. Patrick’s Breastplate prayer excerpt)
 

Thursday
Matt 15:1-20   cont.

Then He called the crowd to Him, and said to them, Hear, and understand. What goes into the mouth does not defile a man; but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles a man. Then His disciples came up and said to Him, Do You know that the Pharisees have taken offense at hearing this saying? But He answered and said, Every plant that My heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up. Let them alone; they are blind guides of blind men. But if a blind man guide a blind man, both fall into a pit. But Peter spoke to Him, saying, Explain to us this parable. And He said, Are you also even yet without understanding? Do you not realize that whatever enters the mouth passes into the belly and is cast out into the drain? But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and it is they that defile a man. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, immorality, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things that defile a man; but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man.

OBSERVATION:   Christ eliminated the Old Testament food laws but also showed that the sin of the mouth is not food but the words said.

Prayer:  Soul of Christ, sanctify me, Body of Christ, save me Blood of Christ, inebriate me, Water from Christ’s side, wash me, Passion of Christ, strengthen me, O good Jesus, hear me, Within Thy wounds hide me, Suffer me not to be separated from Thee, From the malicious enemy defend me, In the hour of my death call me, And bid me come unto Thee, That I may praise Thee with Thy saints, and with Thy angels, Forever and ever, Amen.

Friday

Jer 7:1-7
In those days, the following message came to me from the Lord: Stand at the gate of the house of the Lord, and there proclaim this message: ‘Hear the word of the Lord, all you of Juda who enter these gates to worship the Lord! Thus says the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel: Reform your ways and your deeds, so that I may remain with you in this place. Put not your trust in the deceitful words: This is the temple of the Lord! The temple of the Lord! The temple of the Lord! Only if you thoroughly reform your ways and your deeds; if each of you deals justly with his neighbor; if you no longer oppress the resident alien, the orphan, and the widow; if you no longer shed innocent blood in this place, or follow strange gods to your own harm, will I remain with you in this place, in the land which I gave your fathers long ago and forever,’ says the Lord almighty.

OBSERVATION:  later Christ would say our body itself is the temple of the Holy Ghost.

Prayer:    O Come let us worship and fall down before Christ, O Son of God, Who didst rise from the dead, save us who chant unto Thee, Alleluia.

 

Saturday
Luke 4:38-44.
At that time, Jesus rose from the synagogue and entered Simon’s house. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was suffering from a great fever, and they besought Him for her. And standing over her He rebuked the fever, and it left her; and she rose at once and began to wait on them. Now when the sun was setting, all who had persons sick with various diseases brought them to Him. And He laid His hands upon each of them and cured them. And devils also came forth from many, crying out and saying, You are the Son of God. And He rebuked them, and did not permit them to speak, because they know that He was the Christ. Now when it was day, He went out and departed into a desert place. And the crowds were seeking after Him, and they came to Him, and tried to detain Him, that he might not depart from them. But He said to them, To the other towns also I must proclaim the kingdom of God, for this is why I have been sent. And He was preaching in the synagogues of Galilee.

OBSERVATION:  as the woman showed gratitude in action, so should we when Christ blesses us.

Prayer:  O come, let us worship God our King.
O come, let us worship and fall down before Christ our King and God.
O come, let us worship and fall down before Christ Himself, our King and God.