Category: Bible Study

“Rend your hearts.” –Joel 2:13 Today, the Catholic Church marks our heads with an ashen cross. Ashes connote humility and death. Ashes are what is left over after something is burned. They are commonly associated with the residue of destruction and death (Est 4:3; Jb 2:8). We die to ourselves in the self-denial of Lent. The ashes of our desires are what remain after this death. After a forest fire, the forest floor is covered with ashes. The ashes are the residue of death and destruction. However, the ashes also are the beginning of new life for the forest. The...

“Jesus answered: ‘I give you My word, there is no one who has given up home, brothers or sisters, mother or father, children or property, for Me and for the gospel who will not receive in this present age a hundred times as many.’ ” –Mark 10:29-30 After having received the living waters of the Holy Spirit, we realize that our heavenly Father is a bountiful provider for His children. He gives us more than we can ever ask for or imagine (Eph 3:20). He supplies our “needs fully, in a way worthy of His magnificent riches in Christ Jesus”...

“Teacher, what must I do?” –Mark 10:17 The rich young man was what we call today a “can-do” individual. He was always doing something. First, he ran up to Jesus and knelt before Him. He then asked, “Good Teacher, what must I do to share in everlasting life?” (Mk 10:17) Jesus, recognizing the man’s mindset, accordingly, gave him a list of things to do: the commandments. The young man’s response was another action-oriented one: “I have kept all these. Check those off of my to-do list” (see Mk 10:20). Jesus continued to meet the man right where he was, saying,...

Jesus does not believe in divorce, and He never will (see Heb 13:8). In fact, Jesus hates divorce (Mal 2:16). Of course, this does not mean that He hates those who are divorced. The very reason He hates divorce is because He loves those who are divorced and did not want to see them hurt by divorce. The Church, as the Body of Christ, has always been true to Jesus, the Head of the Body, and has opposed divorce. In recent decades, some denominations, not in full communion with the Catholic Church, have ignored Jesus’ words forbidding divorce and second...