Category: Bible Reading & Meditation

“I could even wish to be separated from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen the Israelites.” –Romans 9:3-4 What causes you “great grief and constant pain”? (Rm 9:2) Paul’s grief and pain were due to the fact that not all the Jewish people had accepted Jesus as their Messiah, Lord, and God. Why would you make yourself a slave — even “the slave of all”? Some people make themselves slaves to alcohol, nicotine, other drugs, money, pornography, their businesses, fears, or anxieties. Paul decided to be “the slave of all so as to win over as many...

“You form a building which rises on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the Capstone.” –Ephesians 2:20 Jesus selected twelve Jewish men to be His apostles. One of these is St. Simon, who was specifically identified as a Zealot (Lk 6:15), perhaps to distinguish him from Simon Peter, the leader among the apostles. Scholars debate whether Simon was a terrorist involved in inciting riots against the Romans, or was instead a religious Jew zealously devoted to the law of Israel. Simon certainly was passionate. St. Simon could appreciate the zeal of Jesus. He was...

“The Spirit intercedes for the saints as God Himself wills.” –Romans 8:27 For more than twenty-six years, Pope St. John Paul II called us to great, growing, and intense prayer (The Redeemer of Man, 22). The Pope taught: “A great prayer for life is urgently needed, a prayer which will rise up throughout the world. Through special initiatives and in daily prayer, may an impassioned plea rise to God, the Creator and Lover of life, from every Christian community, from every group and association, from every family and from the heart of every believer. Jesus Himself has shown us by...

“Yes, we know that all creation groans and is in agony even until now.” –Romans 8:22 After the first sin was committed, a groan was heard for the first time. Adam groaned in his labors; Eve groaned in her labor pains (see Gn 3:16, 19). Both groaned when they saw the first dead body ever: the body of their son Abel, murdered by his brother Cain (Gn 4:8). This groaning grew increasingly worse until the whole world groaned (Rm 8:22). Eventually, there came a Man Who groaned like the rest of us, but also unlike the rest of us. His...

“If you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the spirit you put to death the evil deeds of the body, you will live.” –Romans 8:13 If we live according to the flesh, that is, according to our fallen human nature, we will die, that is, be damned in hell. It is therefore of supreme importance to be freed from the slavery of our fallen nature. We put to death the prideful, self-centered deeds of our fallen nature by the work of the Holy Spirit. Thus, we must be born again of water and Spirit (Jn...