Category: Bible Reading & Meditation

“Zechariah his father, filled with the Holy Spirit, uttered this prophecy.” –Luke 1:67 Zechariah had been unable to speak for nine months. He repented, obeyed God, and “snapped out of it,” as He was “filled with the Holy Spirit.” The Church is full of people like Zechariah. These people have prayed for years and are good people, but in some ways they are spiritually deaf, mute, blind, or paralyzed. Although they may be very active in their churches and doing a lot of good, something is holding them back from a full life in the Holy Spirit. On this Christmas...

“We have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” –Hebrews 10:10 At the Christmas liturgies, in hundreds of nations, billions of people will look at statues or pictures of the body of Baby Jesus. Moreover, hundreds of millions of people always carry with them crucifixes depicting the crucified body of Jesus. There is something awesome and mysterious about the body of Jesus. When the body of Jesus was just beginning to be formed shortly after Mary conceived Him, Mary took Jesus’ body “into the hill country to a town of Judah, where she...

“…even as He promised our fathers, promised Abraham and his descendants forever.” –Luke 1:55 Mary’s response to Elizabeth in the words of the Magnificat (Lk 1:46-55) shows her to be a woman completely grounded in God’s Word. Mary’s lifelong relationship with the Word of God reached its fulfillment when she became pregnant with Jesus, “the Word” (Jn 1:1). The mother of the Word Incarnate was so filled with the Word that Scripture flowed from her lips effortlessly. Nearly every line of her Magnificat echoes an Old Testament passage. Mary was undoubtedly familiar with Hannah’s canticle in today’s responsorial Psalm (1...

“He will be filled with the Holy Spirit from His mother’s womb.” –Luke 1:15 The Holy Spirit filled St. John the Baptist even while he was in the womb of his mother, Elizabeth. The Spirit stirred young Samson as he grew into manhood (Jgs 13:25). As a youth, “the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David” (1 Sm 16:13). Today’s Scriptures, and numerous other verses throughout the Bible, show that the Holy Spirit works powerfully through pre-born babies, infants, children, and youth. It’s no wonder, then, that Satan, his demons, and pawns have promoted and attempted to mandate the widespread...