Category: Bible Reading & Meditation

“I went to extremes.” —Galatians 1:13 Paul “went to extremes in persecuting the Church of God and tried to destroy it” (Gal 1:13). He had an “excess of zeal” (Gal 1:14), which means he was extremely extreme. He described himself “as an extreme case” (1 Tm 1:16). Paul was an extremist. Many of you reading this are also extremists. You may tend to go to extremes in eating, working, buying, worrying, fearing, drinking, watching TV or staring at your handheld electronic device. Although the current direction of your extremism may be a curse, it can become a blessing. If, like...

“A Samaritan who was journeying along came on him…” –Luke 10:33 In today’s first reading, St. Paul allows no compromise with the Gospel that he preached to the new Christians in Galatia. The pure, complete Gospel must be presented. No compromise is allowed; the gospel of Christ cannot be “watered down” in any way. Otherwise, that person deserves a curse; Paul even repeats it twice for emphasis (Gal 1:8-9). Yet, in today’s Gospel passage, Jesus presents two people who are pure doctrinally and one man who is not. The hero of Jesus’ parable is the one who is doctrinally impure,...

“The Stone Which the builders rejected has become the Keystone of the structure. It was the Lord Who did this, and we find it marvelous to behold.” –Matthew 21:42; Psalm 118:22 Think of the person whom you love the most. Possibly this is your spouse, mother, father, child, brother, sister, or friend. You love this person so much that you would even give up your life for him or her. Now imagine seeing this person, whom you love so much, being cruelly rejected. This would break your heart, and you would try to console the one you love by professing...

“The seventy-two returned in jubilation saying, ‘Master, even the demons are subject to us in Your name.’ ” –Luke 10:17 Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and praised His Father. He was so excited because His Father hid things from the learned and the clever and revealed these things to the merest children (Lk 10:21). The disciples had just returned, impressed because they could overcome demons in Jesus’ name. They had shot Satan right out of the sky and had “power to tread on snakes and scorpions and all the forces of the enemy” (Lk 10:18-19). This victory over Satan...

Job prayed that his words would be inscribed in a record (Jb 19:23). His prayer was answered when these words became part of the Bible. Job also prayed that his words would be cut in the rock forever with an iron chisel and with lead. His following words were even further immortalized through Handel’s Messiah. Job proclaimed: “I know that my Vindicator lives” (Jb 19:25), which is also translated: “I know that my Redeemer liveth.”