Category: Bible Reading & Meditation
“Hoping for what we cannot see means awaiting it with patient endurance.” —Romans 8:25 A lengthy waiting period can either make or break our hope. We can react by growing bitter and losing hope. “Hope deferred makes the heart sick” (Prv 13:12). For example, a man had been sick for thirty-eight years (Jn 5:5ff). Although he daily placed himself in a position of hope by the side of healing waters, he didn’t expect to be healed. When Jesus came to him, he had excuses instead of expectations (Jn 5:7). He built his life around going through the motions of hope,...
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“He called His disciples and selected twelve of them to be His apostles.” —Luke 6:13 Recently, a bishop was ordained by the Church. He later told people that he cried tears of joy as hands were imposed on him. He spoke of the awe he felt at realizing that the hands laid on his head traced an unbroken chain of succession all the way back to Jesus’ first calling of His apostles. The Lord renews the face of the Church (see Ps 104:30) through the apostles and their successors, the bishops. The Church is built upon “the foundation of the...
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“The prayer of the lowly pierces the clouds.” —Sirach 35:17 Clouds can be a sign of God’s presence or, figuratively speaking, a barrier preventing us from “getting through” to God. Clouds present no problem to the prayer of the lowly, for their prayer pierces the clouds. We can surmise that the prayer of many people is not “getting through” to God, for many people pray infrequently. If they were “getting through,” they probably would be encouraged to pray always (see Lk 18:1). Who wants to keep calling a phone number when you seldom “get through”? Many of us must not...
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“In answer, the man said, ‘Sir, leave it another year while I hoe around it and manure it; then perhaps it will bear fruit. If not, it shall be cut down.’ ” —Luke 13:8-9 The Lord has stated clearly that He expects us to bear fruit which is abundant (Jn 15:5) and lasting (Jn 15:16). He has given us all we need to bear the fruit of the Spirit, the fruit of holiness (see Gal 5:22-23), and the fruit of evangelization. If we are truly holy, we will evangelize effectively. The Lord is patient with us. He does not expect...
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“I see in my body’s members another law at war with the law of my mind; this makes me the prisoner of the law of sin in my members.” —Romans 7:23 There is a civil war going on inside us. We are compelled to do not the good we will to do but the evil we do not intend (Rm 7:19). We are even forced to wage war on our own souls when we satisfy our carnal desires (1 Pt 2:11). All human beings by nature cannot help but lose this interior war. We are thus prisoners of war (see...
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