Category: Bible Reading & Meditation

NOW IS THE TIME (SEE 2 COR 6:2)

“My Master is taking His time about coming.” –Luke 12:45 Each day is the time when Christ comes. Jesus teaches that instead of trying to know the time of His return or our death, we are to live each day, and indeed each moment, as though the Master could return. If we strive to live like that, we will be “confident and unafraid” (Is 12:2; see also Eph 3:12). The Lord is here — present at every Mass in the Holy Eucharist, present in His Word, His people, His creation. He is Emmanuel, God-with-us (Mt 1:23). When we serve the...

KNOCK, KNOCK

“Be like men awaiting their master’s return from a wedding, so that when he arrives and knocks, you will open for him without delay.” –Luke 12:36 Jesus says that when we knock, the door will be opened for us (Mt 7:7). God neither sleeps nor slumbers (Ps 121:4); He is always ready to answer our knocking. Scripture also reveals that Jesus knocks on our door. He says: “Here I stand, knocking at the door” (Rv 3:20). Will we open for Him without delay? (Lk 12:36) We are to make the most of the present opportunity (Eph 5:16). To do so,...

RICH IN CHRIST

“Teacher, tell my brother to give me my share of our inheritance.” –Luke 12:13 In the ancient world, receiving an inheritance was a make-or-break deal for the rest of one’s life. Not getting his share of the inheritance he was entitled to could have possibly doomed this man to poverty. Was Jesus insensitive to this man’s request to have his brother share the inheritance he had coming? It sounds that way. Yet Jesus has a heavenly perspective. He is trying to persuade people to focus on what does not fade away. He is concerned with higher things (see Col 3:2)....

AND ALL THE TRAPPINGS

“Then the Pharisees went off and began to plot how they might trap Jesus in speech.” —Matthew 22:15 The disciples of the Pharisees tried to trap Jesus by asking Him the question: “Is it lawful to pay tax to the emperor or not?” (Mt 22:17) If Jesus would answer: “Pay taxes to Rome,” He would lose His popularity with the masses of simple people who comprised the great majority of His followers. These simple folks were Jews who naturally opposed their conquerors and oppressors, the Romans. The Pharisees encouraged Jesus to disappoint His followers by reminding Him that He didn’t...

32 TIMES ALL EQUALS 100

God “has made [Jesus]…Head of the church, which is His body.” —Ephesians 1:22-23 As I write this, a speaker quoted a statistic that only thirty-two percent of registered Catholics in the USA attend Sunday Mass. Our Catholic Church is emaciated. Our spiritual arteries are blocked. Our lifeblood, that is, the Precious Blood of Jesus, is literally not circulating throughout the full body. Jesus cares deeply about any wounded area of His body. He would leave the ninety-nine in the “wasteland” to save the one missing (Lk 15:4). We are in the 32% going to Sunday Mass. The word Mass means...