Category: Bible Reading & Meditation

“May He strengthen you inwardly through the working of His Spirit.” –Ephesians 3:16 When the Holy Spirit came to us in Baptism, Confirmation, and other occasions, we received power (Acts 1:8). In fact, we were clothed from head to toe with power from on high (Lk 24:49). We can move mountains with only a tiny use of our power (Mt 17:20). There is nothing impossible for us in the power of Jesus (Mt 17:20). A problem for Christians is not that we need more power but that we need to open the eyes of our hearts to know “the immeasurable...

“When much has been given a man, much will be required of him. More will be asked of a man to whom more has been entrusted.” –Luke 12:48 Jesus makes it very clear in today’s Gospel reading that He expects His disciples to continue to bear ever-increasing fruit. “This sort of talk is hard to endure!” (Jn 6:60) Do we, as His disciples, find this divine expectation of “more” and “much” (Lk 12:48) to be “too much” for us? (Mk 6:3) “Does it shake your faith?” (Jn 6:61) Or does Jesus’ challenge prompt you to embrace His expectation of you,...

OUR LORD, OUR GOD! “But now in Christ Jesus…” –Ephesians 2:13 Almost everyone reading One Bread, One Body is a Gentile, that is, not Jewish. In the Bible, we Gentiles were described as: having “no part in Christ” (Eph 2:12), “excluded from the community of Israel” (Eph 2:12), “strangers to the covenant and its promise” (Eph 2:12), and “without hope and without God in the world” (Eph 2:12). “But now in Christ Jesus” (Eph 2:13), we Gentiles: “have been brought near through the blood of Christ” (Eph 2:13), have been reconciled to God “in one body through His cross” (Eph...

“There was a rich man.” –Luke 12:16 The man of today’s Gospel reading was a fool because he grew “rich for himself instead of growing rich in the sight of God” (Lk 12:21). God our Father is rich in mercy (Eph 2:4). He also possesses the great and unfathomable wealth of His grace (Eph 2:7; 3:8). As God the Father’s children, we inherit even now “the wealth of His glorious heritage to be distributed among the members of the Church” (Eph 1:18). God’s children are the richest people in the world, but not necessarily rich by worldly standards. We grow...