Category: Prayers

“Better for us to obey God than men! The God of our fathers has raised up Jesus.” —Acts 5:29 Jesus of Nazareth died for our salvation and rose from the dead. After He poured out the Holy Spirit, people began to realize His name was above every other name. At His name, every knee must bend and every tongue proclaim that Jesus is Lord (Phil 2:10-11). The Spirit inspired the apostles to teach about Jesus’ name and fill Jerusalem with it (Acts 5:28). Nonetheless, the authorities gave “strict orders not to teach” about Jesus’ name (Acts 5:28). The apostles defied...

“Go out now and take your place in the temple precincts and preach to the people all about this new life.” —Acts 5:20 The apostles were in prison, and then the angel of the Lord miraculously set them free (Acts 5:19). In addition to being set free of the physical chains that had bound them in jail, the apostles were also free of the chains of fear which had formerly kept them hidden in the upper room before receiving the Holy Spirit at Pentecost (see Jn 20:19; cf Acts 2:4). It would have been understandable if the apostles had fled...

“With power the apostles bore witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.” —Acts 4:33 Alleluia! Jesus is risen! We are His witnesses (see Acts 1:8). We will have credibility and power in proclaiming Jesus’ Resurrection if: We devote ourselves “to the apostles’ instruction and the communal life, to the breaking of bread and the prayers” (Acts 2:42). Our community is “of one heart and one mind” (Acts 4:32). There is no one needy among us, for those “who [own] property or houses” would sell them and donate the proceeds, and “lay them at the feet of the apostles to...

“Grant to Your servants, even as they speak Your words, complete assurance.” —Acts 4:29 On the ninth day of Easter, our true Love, Jesus (see 1 Jn 4:8, 16), gives us holy boldness, complete assurance, absolute confidence (Acts 4:29; Heb 10:22), “parrhesia, straightforward simplicity, filial trust, joyous assurance, humble boldness, the certainty of being loved” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2778). When we pray with this assurance and confidence, we are “filled with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 4:31). Will you accept the risen Jesus’ gift of what the Catechism quote above calls “humble boldness”? If you accept this gift, you...

“A week later, the disciples were once more in the room, and this time Thomas was with them. Despite the locked doors, Jesus came.” —John 20:26 The octave of the first Easter was disappointing and uneventful for the apostles. On the evening of the day of Jesus’ resurrection, Jesus sent His apostles to proclaim His Gospel (Jn 20:21), but eight days later they were still paralyzed by fear and behind locked doors (see Jn 20:26). Thomas, not present a week earlier, did not believe that Jesus was risen from the dead. Perhaps this is because Thomas saw no change in...