Category: Bible Reading & Meditation

“Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar.” –Matthew 1:3 Today begins the grand finale of Advent, a mini-Advent to especially prepare for the Christmas coming of Jesus Christ. For many people, life during this week is chaotic and jumbled. They hurry to buy, wrap, and ship gifts, attend holiday parties, and conclude Christmas preparations. Therefore, the Church this week celebrates a mini-Advent in the final eight days of Advent to call us to focus on preparing for Jesus. This mini-Advent starts every December 17th by reading the genealogy of Jesus. His genealogy shows that God...

“I will hear what God proclaims.” –Psalm 85:9 As we near Christmas, I believe the Spirit’s word to the churches is: “Shhh.” The Lord is putting His finger to His mouth and telling us to quiet down, to settle down, or we will miss Christ’s quiet, unassuming Christmas coming. He comes to us “like dew from above, like gentle rain” (Is 45:8). If we don’t have “silent nights,” we won’t have “holy nights.” If we don’t have quiet, we may not have Christmas. There may be no room for Him in our noisy inn (Lk 2:7). At this time of...

“This son said in reply, ‘No, I will not’; but afterward he regretted it and went.” –Matthew 21:30 Jesus is the Son of God. He always did what His Father requested. “Jesus Christ…was not alternately ‘yes’ and ‘no’; He was never anything but ‘yes’ ” (2 Cor 1:19). Mary was a daughter of God who said ‘Yes’ to God, and then lived out her ‘Yes’ every day of her life. St. Joseph said ‘Yes’ to God by agreeing to receive Mary as His wife and raise Jesus as his Foster-Son. St. Paul mirrored the son in Jesus’ parable who began...

“The utterance of one who…sees what the Almighty sees” –Numbers 24:4 Balaam was a professional “curser” hired by the enemies of Israel to curse the Israelites in the desert. In addition to being world-class at uttering curses upon nations, Balaam was world-class in arrogance as well. He boasted that he could see what Almighty God sees, yet on the trip to the desert, he couldn’t even see what his donkey saw! (see Nm 22:22-35) Those in authority at the time of Jesus considered themselves guardians of the truth and the law. In their arrogance, they considered the people lost and...

“Rejoice in the Lord always! I say it again. Rejoice!” –Philippians 4:4 Paul made one of the greatest proclamations in history when he commanded the Philippians: “Rejoice in the Lord always! I say it again. Rejoice!” On Paul’s initial mission to the Philippians, he and Silas were beaten, stripped, scourged, thrown in jail, and had their feet tied to a stake (Acts 16:22-24). Under these terrible conditions, Paul and Silas decided to rejoice and sing praises to the Lord (Acts 16:25). This joyful praise was catalytic. It was followed by an earthquake, which resulted in freedom from chains and prison...