Category: Bible Reading & Meditation

“He called His disciples over and told them: ‘I want you to observe that this poor widow contributed more than all the others who donated to the treasury.’ ” —Mark 12:43 Jesus accused the scribes of devouring the savings of widows and making a show of religion (Mk 12:40). Then He commended a widow for putting “all that she had to live on” into the collection box (Mk 12:44). Why did Jesus commend a widow for helping finance the scribes’ misuse of religion to advance themselves? In this Scripture passage, Jesus does not seem to focus on how the Temple...

“My heart stands in awe of Your word.” —Psalm 119:161 Presentation Ministries publishes One Bread, One Body for the purpose of opening up the Church’s daily Eucharistic Scripture readings to as many people as possible. We pray fervently that each teaching will touch your hearts deeply and bear great fruit in your lives, in the Church, and in God’s kingdom. Our guiding principle is to use a number of Scripture references and quotations on these pages, for “all Scripture is inspired of God and is useful for teaching” (2 Tm 3:16). The real power in any of these teachings comes...

“If we are unfaithful He will still remain faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.” –2 Timothy 2:13 Which of us can honestly claim that we have been perfectly faithful to all the Lord’s commands? We all fall short; we are all sinners in some way (see Rm 3:23). The Good News is that God remains faithful to us, despite our sins and failings. Faithfulness is at the core of God’s very self. God loves us unconditionally, even if we have completely turned our back on Him. “God is Love” (1 Jn 4:8, 16). Even should a mother forget her child...

“I remind you to stir into flame the gift of God…” –2 Timothy 1:6 In today’s Gospel passage, Jesus speaks of flame when He references the burning bush (Mk 12:26). Moses saw an angel of the Lord appear to him “in fire flaming out of a bush” (Ex 3:2). That experience stirred into flame a blazing fire for God in Moses’ heart. In our Baptism and Confirmation, we have been given gifts of the Spirit (Rm 12:6; Eph 4:8). Hundreds of millions of people on this earth have received incredible gifts from the Holy Spirit. Why then is the world...

“Whose head is this and whose inscription is it?” –Mark 12:16 The Pharisees and Herodians were able to identify the owner of the Roman coin because of what was stamped on it. The seal on the coin marked it as belonging to Caesar. When we were baptized into Christ, we too were stamped with an image, “sealed” with the Holy Spirit (Eph 1:13; 2 Cor 1:22). We were “formed anew in the image of [our] Creator” (Col 3:10), and now we “share the image of His Son,” Jesus (Rm 8:29). God marked us with His own seal to identify us...