Category: Prayers

“There are in the end three things that last: faith, hope, and love, and the greatest of these is love.” –1 Corinthians 13:13 Without love we are nothing (1 Cor 13:2), and we gain nothing (1 Cor 13:3). “The man without love has known nothing of God, for God is Love” (1 Jn 4:8). Therefore, we all like to think of ourselves as loving. Yet are we actually loving? Signs of true love are: suffering patiently a long time for others (1 Cor 13:4 in the Greek), kindly bearing others’ burdens (1 Cor 13:4 in the Greek), forgiving others and...

“The body is one and has many members, but all the members, many though they are, are one body; and so it is with Christ.” –1 Corinthians 12:12 If you were on a football team, would you know what position you played? If you work in a company, do you know your job? If you are baptized, you are a member of the body of Christ (see 1 Cor 12:27). Do you know what part of the body you are? Are you an apostle, prophet, teacher, miracle worker, healer, assistant, administrator, one who speaks in tongues, or one who interprets...

“Do this in remembrance of Me.” –1 Corinthians 11:24 The early Church met in homes for the first several centuries of its existence. The liturgical form of the Mass was still evolving. Thus, the admonitions St. Paul mentions in today’s first reading may sound foreign to our ears (1 Cor 11:20-22). There was some fellowship and hospitality in the homes in addition to the Mass. Some people overindulged while others went hungry. Decades ago, I attended a retreat which illustrated the scenario mentioned in today’s first reading very nicely. The retreat closed with a common meal in which everyone ate...

“Whoever would preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will preserve it.” –Mark 8:35 Jesus’ first question to His disciples was not “Who do you say that I am?” (Mk 8:29) Jesus felt compelled to introduce the big question with another question: “Who do people say that I am?” (Mk 8:27) He intentionally set up the contrast between what others say and what we individually say. When we give our lives to Jesus, we make a personal, individual decision. The saying goes: “God has no grandchildren.” That means we are...

“Near the cross of Jesus there stood His mother.” –John 19:25 The cross, because it was an instrument for executing criminals, is naturally repulsive to us. Nevertheless, Jesus wants us near His cross. He even wants us to live our whole lives in the shadow of the cross by taking up our daily cross (Lk 9:23). He wants us to come to the point that we will boast of nothing but Jesus’ cross and sharing in it (see Gal 6:14). Jesus has given His mother Mary to all His disciples to help overcome our revulsion of the cross and to...