Category: Bible Reading & Meditation

“Your deed of hope will never be forgotten by those who tell of the might of God.” —Judith 13:19 When Adam and Eve committed the first sin, the result was three curses. The devil was cursed, and the Lord put enmity between us and him (Gn 3:15). Women were also cursed through the pains of childbearing (Gn 3:16). Men were cursed through manual labor (Gn 3:17). These three curses have been turned into blessings by Jesus. In Jesus, Mary reverses the curses. At Jesus’ Incarnation, the archangel Gabriel announced that Mary was blessed among women (Lk 1:28). Elizabeth was filled...

“Come to Me.” —Matthew 11:28 When Jesus came to us, we usually made His life burdensome. He carried the burden of our sins (Mt 8:17), and He carried the cross to pay for our sins (Jn 19:17; Catechism of the Catholic Church, 598). When Jesus came to us, we usually did not refresh Him. He was rejected (Jn 1:11), ridiculed (Mt 27:42), spurned (Jn 18:40), disbelieved (Mt 17:17), avoided (Is 53:3), mocked (Mk 15:19-20), and crucified (Jn 19:18). How wonderful that Jesus does not deal with us according to our sins and requite us according to our crimes! (Ps 103:10)...

“A voice says, ‘Cry out!’ I answer, ‘What shall I cry out?’ ” —Isaiah 40:6 When we think of Christmas preparations, we think of trees, cards, presents, cookies, and candles. However, the Bible speaks of a different kind of preparation. To prepare the way of the Lord, we must turn a desert wasteland into “a highway for our God” (Is 40:3). This means bulldozers, earthmovers, dynamite, a fleet of dump trucks, and the Army Corps of Engineers. It would take all that to lay low mountains and hills and use them as fill dirt for valleys (Is 40:4). It’s a...

“…a herald’s voice in the desert: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight His paths.’ ” —Matthew 3:3 The purpose of Advent is to prepare the way of the Lord, Who is coming to us in a new personal way this Christmas season. But there are different kinds and degrees of preparation. The Church teaches with John the Baptist that our preparation for Christ’s coming this Christmas needs to be very extensive. We even need a baptism of repentance, that is, to be immersed in repentance (see Mt 3:11). Our preparation for Christ this Christmas is comparable to a...

“The reign of God is at hand.” —Matthew 10:7 When the Messiah, the Christ, comes: “No more will you weep” (Is 30:19). Our prayers will be answered quickly (Is 30:19). The Lord will meet our needs (Is 30:20). The Lord, our Teacher, will give us practical direction for our lives (Is 30:20-21). We will prosper (see Is 30:23ff). We will live in a supernatural light (Is 30:26). The Lord will bind up our wounds and heal us (Is 30:26). Partly because these messianic promises do not seem fulfilled, conservative Jews believe that the Messiah, the Christ, has not yet come...