Category: Prayers

CLOSE IS NOT IN

“The reign of God is like a buried treasure which a man found in a field.” –Matthew 13:44 Just because we’re in the Lord’s dragnet doesn’t mean He will retain us at the end of the world (Mt 13:47ff). Just because we’re in the Lord’s field, it doesn’t mean we are God’s wheat. We may be weeds to be burned (Mt 13:40). Just because we go to church doesn’t mean we are automatically living in God’s kingdom. Doing Christian things and living in the midst of Christians doesn’t make us Christians (see Lk 13:26-27). We are Christians and followers of...

BLOOD REPLACEMENT

“This is the blood of the covenant which the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words of His.” –Exodus 24:8 Mass Readings: July 29 First: Exodus 24:3-8; Resp: Psalm 50:1-2,5-6,14-15;Gospel: John 11:19-27 Listen to the Mass Readings We have made a covenant of blood with God. Because life is in the blood (Lv 17:11), we have made a covenant of life with God. Our covenant with God is literally a matter of life and death. Because we have broken the covenant by our sins, we forfeit our lives and are doomed to destruction. Almost two thousand...

ROBBED BLIND

“The evil one approaches him to steal away what was sown in his mind.” –Matthew 13:19 Mass Readings: July 28 First: Exodus 20:1-17; Resp: Psalm 19:8-11; Gospel: Matthew 13:18-23 Listen to the Mass Readings How much of God’s Word have you heard over the years at home, in church and school, through reading and teaching? How much of God’s Word do you know and live? The difference in the answer to these two questions shows us how much the evil one has robbed us. Many of us have been exposed to God’s Word for years but have little to show...

THE MOST BLESSED

“To you has been given a knowledge of the mysteries of the reign of God, but it has not been given to the others.” –Matthew 13:11 Mass Readings: July 27 First: Exodus 19:1-2,9-11,16-20; Resp: Daniel 3:52-56; Gospel: Matthew 13:10-17 Listen to the Mass Readings Less than one-third of the people on earth have been baptized into the Church and have become children of God. If you are in that number, consider yourself very blest. Less than one-fifth of the world has received Holy Communion – even once. A smaller percentage of these people have the opportunity of going to Mass...

FARM WORK

“One day a farmer went out…” –Matthew 13:4 Mass Readings: July 26 First: Sirach 44:1,10-15; Resp: Psalm 132:11,13-14,17-18; Gospel: Matthew 13:16-17 Listen to the Mass Readings The kingdom of God is like breaking ground. The ground may be rock, a footpath (Mt 13:4), or just rocky (Mt 13:5). In our post-Christian, anti-Christian culture of death, groundbreaking is a major task. We can break open the hardest ground and hardest hearts by obeying the Lord. Often He calls us to pray and fast, prophesy, and suffer redemptively. These are principal ways in which the Lord lets us join in groundbreaking. The...