Category: Bible Reading & Meditation

THIS IS THE LIFE

“This is the time of fulfillment. The reign of God is at hand! Reform your lives and believe in the gospel!” —Mark 1:15 The goal of the rest of our lives is to displace the culture of death with a civilization of love and life. This will probably be done not primarily by popes, presidents, judges, generals, or billionaires. Of course, the lives of prestigious people are important in God’s plan (see Rm 13:7). However, the Lord typically chooses to change the world through teenagers like Mary, carpenters like Joseph, toddlers like Samuel, weeping women like Hannah, loving husbands like...

THE END OF CHRISTMAS AND THE BEGINNING OF A NEW WORLD

“After Jesus was baptized, He came directly out of the water. Suddenly the sky opened and he saw the Spirit of God descend like a dove and hover over Him.” —Matthew 3:16 “Mary” Christmas on this last day of the Christmas season, the celebration of the Baptism of Jesus. The Lord is calling us to end Christmas by going back to Baptism, the beginning of our Christian life. Today is an ideal time to renew our baptismal promises by rejecting Satan, all his works, and all his promises and by believing ever more deeply in the Triune God. When we...

DECREASING RETURNS

“He must increase, while I must decrease.” —John 3:30 “A controversy about purification arose between John’s disciples and a certain Jew” (Jn 3:25), but John the Baptizer did not join in the dispute because he was committed to living so that Jesus would increase. St. John was losing his popularity to Jesus. When this was brought to his attention, John was completely joyful (Jn 3:29), for he wanted Jesus to increase. John was thrown into prison for stating the truth about the adultery of Herod and Herodias (Jn 3:24; see also Mk 6:17ff). However, John was not intimidated or manipulated,...

THE TESTIMONY-TEST

“The testimony is this: God gave us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.” —1 John 5:11 The purpose of life is to believe that Jesus is the Son of God and thereby receive eternal life (see Jn 20:31). The Holy Trinity has testified that Jesus is the Son of God. When Jesus emerged from the waters of His Baptism, God the Father testified that Jesus is His beloved Son (Mt 3:17). When Jesus shed His blood on the cross, the centurion testified: “Clearly this Man was the Son of God!” (Mk 15:39) “Jesus Christ it is Who...

DOES THE CHRISTMAS SPIRIT HAVE YOU?

“Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee.” —Luke 4:14 On Sunday, the last day of Christmas, our true Love, Jesus, will give us a deeper relationship with the Holy Spirit, the true Christmas Spirit. On Sunday, we will celebrate the Baptism of Jesus, when the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus in fulfillment of one of Isaiah’s prophecies (see Lk 4:18; Is 61:1). On that last day of Christmas, we will be given a renewal of our Baptisms and Confirmations. We will have a new Pentecost and a deeper life in the Spirit. We will end Christmas in...