Category: Bible Reading & Meditation
“Crowd upon crowd in the valley of decision; for near is the day of the Lord in the valley of decision.” –Joel 4:14 In today’s first Mass reading, God invites the nations to gather in the valley of decision. He tells the nations, in effect: “Bring up your weapons of war; I want to see all your military might” (see Jl 4:9). The nations think they will be fighting; in reality, they are gathering to be judged. In the valley of decision, the angels apply the sickle to the harvest at the end of time. There is to be a...
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“Next it goes out and returns with seven other spirits far worse than itself, who enter in and dwell there. The result is that the last state of the man is worse than the first.” –Luke 11:26 “No man can serve two masters” (Mt 6:24); there’s only room for one. That’s what Jesus refers to in today’s Gospel passage. We cannot be double-minded (see Jas 3:9ff). It’s important to empty ourselves of ungodly things and desires, but once that emptying is done, there is a vacuum, a void. Something will fill that void — either godly desires or ungodly ones....
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“Father…” –Luke 11:2 In a conversation with God, Jonah “prayed” in anger: “And now, Lord, please take my life from me.’…But the Lord asked, ‘Have you reason to be angry?’ ” (Jon 4:2, 3-4). Part of Jonah’s prayer actually involved a direct back-and-forth conversation with God (Jon 4:4, 9-10). Yet an in-person conversation with God had less life-changing impact for Jonah than did spending three days in the belly of a fish (Jon 2:1ff). This demonstrates that something was lacking in Jonah’s prayer life. Cain and Solomon likewise had direct conversations with Almighty God (Gn 4:9ff; 1 Kgs 11:11). These...
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“The word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time.” –Jonah 3:1 After spending some time in the belly of a huge fish, Jonah changed his mind and obeyed the Lord (Jon 3:1-3). However, Jonah did not obey the Lord out of love. Jonah went reluctantly to Nineveh and was angry when 120,000 Ninevites repented and were spared destruction (see Jon 4:1). Are you doing the right thing for a less than best reason? For example, do you obey God only to avoid hell? This is a good reason to obey God. However, our love for God is the...
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“The Lord sent a large fish, that swallowed Jonah; and he remained in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.” –Jonah 2:1 The Lord is calling just as many people now to be priests, sisters, and brothers as ever. Yet the world is full of Jonahs, who jump a ship to Tarshish to run from God’s call (Jon 1:2-3). The Lord is calling for large families just as He has for millennia. However, parents are playing Jonah and usurping family planning from God, as if He doesn’t know what He’s doing. The Lord is calling for more...
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