Fourth Monday of Easter

Athirst is my soul for the living God. As the hind longs for the running waters, so my soul longs for you, O God. Athirst is my soul for God, the living God. When shall I go and behold the face of God?

This Easter season is a constant reminder that our souls should be athirst for God. We should long to be with God in prayer, in communion, and through acts of charity and mercy. We should seek to behold the face of God through meditation on the mysteries of our faith, through visitation of our Lord at mass and in adoration, and through being good and faithful servants to His children. When given the choice between chasing after worldly things and heavenly ones, our first instinct should be to follow Christ. This requires each of us to cultivate a spirit of longing for God within us and then do everything in our power to seek God out in our daily lives.

Are our souls athirst for the living God? How can we use our longing to make better decisions in our lives? What can we do to prepare ourselves to go and behold the face of God?

O Lord, we athirst for you.

Amen.

Memorial of Saint Agatha, Virgin and Martyr

They will praise you, Lord, who long for you. I will fulfill my vows before those who fear him. The lowly shall eat their fill; they who seek the LORD shall praise him: “May your hearts be ever merry!”

If we aren’t longing for the Lord, then we don’t have our priorities straight in this world. We should be living in constant anticipation of God’s coming into our lives, especially through the sacraments. We should be preparing ourselves for the Second Coming and the Day of Judgment. We should be striving to become holy people full of faith, hope, and love. We should strive to keep the vows of our baptism and to eat our fill of the Blessed Sacrament. We should be seeking God in every way possible from the beginning of each day to the end of each night. We should praise God with every ounce of our being. We should have merry hearts because when we long for God, we can be confident in His longing for us, too.

Do we long for God as we should? How can we cultivate a life of anticipation focused on being with God now and forever? How can we participate in the sacraments more fully and longingly?

O Lord, may our hearts long for you and be ever merry.

Amen.