Category: Bible Reading & Meditation

“Your God is in your midst, a victorious Warrior. He will exult with joy over you, He will renew you by His love; He will dance with shouts of joy for you as on a day of festival.” –Zephaniah 3:17, JB Zephaniah 3:17 can be translated as “God will dance over you with joy.” Another possible translation is “God rejoices over you with bodily movement.” Of course, “God is Spirit” (Jn 4:24) and not man. Yet Scripture at times describes God in human terms, which makes it easier for us to relate to Him. God loves His people like a...

“The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; hence, the holy Offspring to be born will be called Son of God.” –Luke 1:35 The Church encourages us to pray the “Angelus” on waking, at noon, and in the evening. Three times a day we pray and think about Jesus’ Incarnation. When we pray the rosary, we refer to the Incarnation fifty-three times — each time we pray the “Hail Mary.” We pray about the Incarnation when we pray the first joyful mystery of the rosary. The Holy Spirit has led the...

“So has the Lord done for me at a time when He has seen fit to take away my disgrace before others.” –Luke 1:25, RNAB In the Jewish culture at the time of the New Testament, to be childless was considered a “disgrace” (Lk 1:25, RNAB). What a difference from this present age! In the modern secular culture, it is often considered a blessing to be childless. A culture which condones killing closes itself to life and welcomes death. Accordingly, as He walked to His death, Jesus prophesied: “The days are coming when they will say, ‘Happy are the sterile,...

“God is with us…” –Matthew 1:23 In today’s Gospel passage, we read about the Incarnation, God becoming man in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Word became flesh (Jn 1:14), was born, and bore abundant fruit. “Blest is the Fruit of [Mary’s] womb,” Jesus (Lk 1:42). Each reception of Holy Communion bears a similarity to the Incarnation in that God enters a human body. This indwelling of the Lord is meant for our growth. The Body of Christ lives in us (see Jn 6:57). We are then stretched as this life of God begins to grow within us....

“A family record of Jesus Christ…” –Matthew 1:1 Today is the first day of the “Second Advent,” December 17-23. This period is akin to the Holy Week of Lent. For the first three weeks of Advent, the emphasis was on the Second Coming of Christ. Now we focus for a week on His first Christmas coming. Today’s Scripture readings focus particularly on establishing the kingly identity of Christ. The genealogy of Jesus establishes that He is descended directly from King David (Mt 1:6, 17). He is also descended from Judah, whose tribe is kingly in nature (Gn 49:9-10). He shall...