Amidst your sorrows and pain, when you are treated unjustly, in sickness, in distress, in the trials of living in this world, does God our Father care?
Yes, yes! YES! A resounding YES. How do we know? Today’s Gospel speaks to our hearts. “Oh but it is just words, lip service if you will.” Nay! I say be cautious with what you say, because this is the living Word of God. It is a love letter, a promise! His love for us is priceless, even if we should fall and die He is there to receive us. Every hair on our head is counted, meaning there is not a miniscule part of us that He has not fashioned intimately and cares for about us. He loves us in spite of our unworthiness. We are so precious and so loved by Him that He gave us His only begotten Son, so that we may live daily in His presence.
How then can we ever disown Him in the presence of others! If we do then while His word says He will disown us too, it is more that by our choice we have chosen to sever ourselves from His tender loving care. We have rejected Him by our unfaithfulness, our disbelief!
Let us His faithful then glorify Him with our praises, thanksgiving and worship. Proclaiming Him as our Lord of lords, King of kings; from the housetops, mountain tops in daylight and in the night. For we live in the light of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ’s resurrection. Amen
Saint Henry pray for us…
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First reading
Isaiah 6:1-8 ·
Isaiah’s lips cleansed with a burning coal
In the year of King Uzziah’s death I saw the Lord of Hosts seated on a high throne; his train filled the sanctuary; above him stood seraphs, each one with six wings: two to cover its face, two to cover its feet, and two for flying.
And they cried out to one another in this way,
‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts.
His glory fills the whole earth.’
The foundations of the threshold shook with the voice of the one who cried out, and the Temple was filled with smoke. I said:
‘What a wretched state I am in! I am lost,
for I am a man of unclean lips
and I live among a people of unclean lips,
and my eyes have looked at the King, the Lord of Hosts.’
Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding in his hand a live coal which he had taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. With this he touched my mouth and said:
‘See now, this has touched your lips,
your sin is taken away,
your iniquity is purged.’
Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying:
‘Whom shall I send? Who will be our messenger?’
I answered, ‘Here I am, send me.’
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Gospel
Matthew 10:24-33
Everything now hidden will be made clear
Jesus instructed the Twelve as follows: ‘The disciple is not superior to his teacher, nor the slave to his master. It is enough for the disciple that he should grow to be like his teacher, and the slave like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, what will they not say of his household?
‘Do not be afraid of them therefore. For everything that is now covered will be uncovered, and everything now hidden will be made clear. What I say to you in the dark, tell in the daylight; what you hear in whispers, proclaim from the housetops.
‘Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; fear him rather who can destroy both body and soul in hell. Can you not buy two sparrows for a penny? And yet not one falls to the ground without your Father knowing. Why, every hair on your head has been counted. So there is no need to be afraid; you are worth more than hundreds of sparrows.
‘So if anyone declares himself for me in the presence of men, I will declare myself for him in the presence of my Father in heaven. But the one who disowns me in the presence of men, I will disown in the presence of my Father in heaven.’
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