Category: Bible Reading & Meditation

“He prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation — and not for this nation only, but to gather into one all the dispersed children of God.” —John 11:51-52 The Lord promised He would gather His people from exile and “bring them back to their land” (Ez 37:21). This promise was definitively fulfilled when Jesus died on the cross “to gather into one all the dispersed children of God.” By being baptized into Jesus’ death and Resurrection, we are gathered into the one Body of Christ, the Church (1 Cor 12:13). However, when we sin seriously, we break our baptismal...

“All those who were my friends are on the watch for any misstep of mine.” —Jeremiah 20:10 It’s bad enough to be rejected, but it is even worse to be rejected by those who had accepted us. “If an enemy had reviled me, I could have borne it; if he who hates me had vaunted himself against me, I might have hidden from him. But you, my other self, my companion and bosom friend! You, whose comradeship I enjoyed; at whose side I walked in procession in the house of God!” (Ps 55:13-15) It is the very worst to be...

“Jesus answered them, ‘I solemnly declare it, before Abraham came to be, I AM.’ At that they picked up rocks to throw at Jesus.” —John 8:58-59 On the first day of the Easter season, in every Catholic Mass in the world, we will be specifically asked: “Do you believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord?” In other words, we will be challenged to profess our faith that Jesus is God. This is considered blasphemous to over one billion Muslims or Jews. They believe that to accept Jesus as God is to deny that there is only one God....

“Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, Who sent His angel to deliver the servants that trusted in Him; they disobeyed the royal command and yielded their bodies rather than serve or worship any god except their own God.” —Daniel 3:95 Like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, we must be able to look death right in the face and say: “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” (1 Cor 15:55), for “death is swallowed up” (1 Cor 15:54) in the victory of Jesus, “the Resurrection and the Life” (Jn 11:25). The Holy Spirit can...

“Moses accordingly made a bronze serpent and mounted it on a pole, and whenever anyone who had been bitten by a serpent looked at the bronze serpent, he recovered.” —Numbers 21:9 The Israelites had already been poisoned before being bitten by the saraph serpents. The poison of grumbling, rebellion, and discontent was flowing through their veins long before the poisonous venom of the serpent bites was introduced into their bloodstream. God’s merciful antidote to the poison of the serpent bites was to have Moses make a bronze serpent, mount it on a wooden pole, “and whenever anyone who had been...