Category: Bible Reading & Meditation

“They will not follow a stranger; such a one they will flee, because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.” –John 10:5 Did you ever unknowingly put yourself in a situation which in retrospect was definitely not God’s will? Obviously you weren’t hearing the Lord. He must have warned you hundreds of times, but you must have missed it time after time. This seems to indicate that Jesus’ voice is strange to you. You’re in trouble. When you don’t hear Jesus, you don’t hear the Word (Jn 1:1) and the Truth (Jn 14:6). You don’t hear the only One Who...

“The disciples could not but be filled with joy and the Holy Spirit.” —Acts 13:52 What if the only thing you knew how to do was “to be filled with joy and the Holy Spirit”? After Sts. Paul and Barnabas were violently abused and thrown out of town, the disciples knew how to react in only one way — not with violence, fear, unforgiveness, or bitterness but “with joy and the Holy Spirit.” What if we were rejected, insulted, or falsely accused? We would probably know how to react with something other than joy. However, Jesus’ early disciples could be...

“Many of His disciples broke away.” —John 6:66 The beginning of the persecution of the Church caused many of the disciples to “go out” into the world (see Acts 8:1). This intense persecution was an opportunity to spread the Gospel (Acts 8:4). Unfortunately, in the Gospel passage for today’s Mass, other disciples also went out; they “broke away [from Jesus] and would not remain in His company any longer” (Jn 6:66). The hard words of the Lord were “too much for them” (Mk 6:3). St. Peter would not leave Jesus (Jn 6:68-69), but Peter also “went out,” going into the...

“Thereupon Jesus said to them: ‘Let Me solemnly assure you, if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.’ ” —John 6:53 Jesus promised He would give us His flesh to eat (Jn 6:51). This is very difficult to understand and even offensive, especially to Jews. Therefore, “the Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, ‘How can He give us His flesh to eat?’ ” (Jn 6:52) At this point, Jesus did not modify or explain His statement. Rather, He repeated it four times (Jn 6:53, 54, 55, 56)....

“Saul, for his part, concurred in the act of killing. That day saw the beginning of a great persecution of the Church.” –Acts 8:1 We can be witnessing for the risen Christ by preaching (Acts 2:14ff), healing (Acts 3:7), rejoicing (Acts 3:8; 8:8), worshiping (see Jn 20:28), suffering (Acts 5:40), and dying (Acts 7:60). We can also witness for the risen Christ by continuing to serve the Lord, especially during hard times. For example, “devout men buried Stephen, bewailing him loudly as they did so. After that, Saul began to harass the Church. He entered house after house, dragged men...