Category: Bible Reading & Meditation

“Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, sent word to Jeroboam, king of Israel: ‘Amos has conspired against you here within Israel; the country cannot endure all his words.’” –Amos 7:10 Are you defensive when corrected? If someone corrects you, do you make like a porcupine and stick out your quills? Is your first reaction to correction to justify yourself? It is natural to react to correction in this way. However, if we have been baptized into the Holy Trinity, we can live supernaturally. By our baptismal grace, we can react to correction with thanksgiving, humility, and growth in holiness. Being corrected...

“Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, sent word to Jeroboam, king of Israel: ‘Amos has conspired against you here within Israel; the country cannot endure all his words.’” –Amos 7:10 Are you defensive when corrected? If someone corrects you, do you make like a porcupine and stick out your quills? Is your first reaction to correction to justify yourself? It is natural to react to correction in this way. However, if we have been baptized into the Holy Trinity, we can live supernaturally. By our baptismal grace, we can react to correction with thanksgiving, humility, and growth in holiness. Being corrected...

“Hate evil and love good, and let justice prevail.” —Amos 5:15 “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil” (Is 5:20). The Lord wants us to “hate evil,” not to rename it by a more acceptable name (Am 5:15). The culture of death specializes in “spin” control, using smooth words to rename actions which are blatantly and objectively evil in the sight of God. Just because our society regards acts as acceptable and commonplace does not mean God no longer regards them as evil and wrong. Some examples of this are: • We have a legal right to...

“Indeed, the Lord God does nothing without revealing His plan to His servants, the prophets.” –Amos 3:7 Every good and bad thing that has ever happened God told us about ahead of time (Am 3:7). Yet we were surprised by world wars, the Third Reich, abortion, the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, and so many other catastrophes. We refused to listen to the prophets that the Father in His loving mercy sent “early and often” to warn us of evil (2 Chr 36:15). Usually prophets tell us to repent before it’s too late. Nonetheless, we refuse to return to Him,...

“Whoever loves father or mother, son or daughter, more than Me is not worthy of Me.” –Matthew 10:37 The Church proclaims “the supremacy of the bond with Christ” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1619). Our relationship with Jesus is in a class by itself. We are called to love Jesus much more than we love anyone else (see Mt 10:37). We must love Jesus so much that we lose our worldly lives, give our lives to Him, suffer in love for Him, take up our crosses daily in imitation of Him, and even die for Him (see Mt 10:37-38). Because...