Category: Bible Reading & Meditation

“Isn’t this the carpenter’s Son? Isn’t Mary known to be His mother and James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas His brothers? Aren’t His sisters our neighbors? Where did He get all this?” —Matthew 13:55-56 Jesus’ hometown folk rejected Him because they judged Him based on his relatives. People make the same mistake to the present day. Gandhi, for example, was very impressed by Jesus, but never became a Christian because he was unimpressed with Jesus’ relatives, that is, us, Jesus’ brothers and sisters. Many people say they quit the Church because of the hypocrites in it. They too reject Jesus because...

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant’s search for fine pearls. When he found one really valuable pearl, he went back and put up for sale all that he had and bought it.” —Matthew 13:45-46 St. Thomas Aquinas stated that Jesus taught us in the “Our Father” not only how to pray but also how to desire (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2763). He taught that the order, that is, the priority of our desires, should be the order of the petitions of the “Our Father.” Thus, our first desire should be for our Father’s name to be...

“As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him.” —Psalm 103:13 I was blessed to be born into a family with a compassionate, loving father. So it is natural for me to understand the love of God the Father from my own life experience. As my own father had compassion on me and my siblings, I can grasp to some extent the love of my heavenly Father (Ps 103:13). It is important for us fathers to love and have compassion on our children in a public way. It’s not just your...

“She had a sister named Mary, who seated herself at the Lord’s feet and listened to His words.” —Luke 10:39 Martha is a great saint because she accepted Jesus’ correction. Jesus corrected Martha not because she was too busy, anxious, or critical. Jesus corrected Martha because she was only a worker for the Lord and not a disciple of the Lord. A mere worker sets the agenda. A disciple sits at the feet of Jesus, prays each morning for the Lord to open his ear (Is 50:4), and then takes orders from his Lord. A worker can feel anxious and...

“Lord, teach us to pray.” —Luke 11:1 One of the most daring things we can do in life is to ask Jesus to teach us to pray. St. Augustine called prayer “the exercise of our desires.” St. Thomas Aquinas says in reference to the Lord’s Prayer, “In it we ask, not only for all the things we can rightly desire, but also in the sequence that they should be desired” (Catechism, 2763). Authentic prayer is about exercising, screening, and correcting our desires. Prayer concerns crucifying our “flesh with its passions and desires” (Gal 5:24). Prayer is laboring (see Gal 4:19)...