Category: Bible Reading & Meditation

“My heavenly Father will treat you in exactly the same way unless each of you forgives his brother from his heart.” –Matthew 18:35 After Jesus fasted forty days, He came out of the desert “in the power of the Spirit” (Lk 4:14). After our Lenten fast, we too are to be moving in the power of the Spirit, in a new Pentecost. However, the flesh (our fallen nature with its selfish desires) will oppose the Spirit (Gal 5:17). Unforgiveness is the cause of many works of the flesh, such as “hostilities, bickering, jealousy, outbursts of rage, selfish rivalries, dissensions, factions,...

“He turned about in anger and left. But his servants came up and reasoned with him.” –2 Kings 5:12-13 Proud Naaman was surrounded by humble servants. His wife’s servant girl, a young Israelite whose country Naaman had raided, swallowed any national pride she may have held and pointed Naaman to the source of healing. At the house of the prophet Elisha, Naaman’s humble “servants came up and reasoned with him,” leading him to healing in the Jordan’s waters. Such humility was not an automatic response for a servant, as Elisha’s servant Gehazi tragically proved shortly after Naaman’s healing (see 2...

“In the temple precincts He came upon people engaged in selling oxen, sheep and doves, and others seated changing coins.” –John 2:14 As I write this, on a Sunday morning, we will soon celebrate Mass. The ushers are busily collecting money and lighting candles. Before Mass, there will be announcements. The first announcement will be about the $200 door prize for bingo this afternoon. During Mass, we will not preach because the bishop has a tape on the archdiocesan fund drive. After Mass, there will be two groups at the door. One will sell our monthly church lottery tickets. The...

“For years now I have slaved for you. I never disobeyed one of your orders, yet you never gave me so much as a kid goat.” –Luke 15:29 Have you been praying for years but haven’t received as much as a kid goat? Do you feel like a slave since for you Mass is primarily a Sunday obligation? Do you find yourself judging other Christians? Are you turned off by those charismatics who are always praising the Lord? If your answer to some of these questions is “Yes,” then you may be the older brother in the parable usually called...

“They took him and threw him into the cistern, which was empty and dry. Then they sat down to their meal.” –Genesis 37:24-25 The hardness of the human heart is fully portrayed in today’s readings. The brothers of Joseph moved quickly and easily from cold-blooded plotting of their brother’s death, to throwing him in the cistern to die, to sitting down to eat their dinner. It’s no different today, as an abortionist and his attendants can murder multiple babies in a day’s work, and then head out to a restaurant to enjoy their supper. Sadly, this even happens in the...