Category: Prayers

REST STOP

“Come to Me, all you who are weary and find life burdensome, and I will refresh you.” –Matthew 11:28 Mass Readings: July 20 First: Exodus 3:13-20; Resp: Psalm 105:1,5,8-9,24-27; Gospel: Matthew 11:28-30. Listen to the Mass Readings Imagine yourself coming to Jesus with this huge burden on your back. Jesus takes the burden off your shoulders (see Ps 81:7). Before you even can thank Him and walk away unburdened, He takes a humongous burden off of His back and puts it on yours. Now you’ve got more to carry than ever before. For some reason, however, His yoke is easy...

MOUNTAIN RANGE

“He came to Horeb, the mountain of God.” –Exodus 3:1 Mass Readings: July 19 First: Exodus 3:1-6,9-12; Resp: Psalm 103:1-4,6-7; Gospel: Matthew 11:25-27 Listen to the Mass Readings There are many mountains in life. For example, Mount Gerizim is the mountain of blessings for God’s obedient people, while Mount Ebal is the mountain of curses (Dt 27:12-13). Mount Sinai (Horeb) is the mountain of the commandments (Ex 19:2ff), and Mount Carmel is the mountain of restoring our covenant with God and overcoming idolatry and false prophets (1 Kgs 18:19ff). Ultimately, Jesus wants us to walk with Him to Mount Calvary,...

”I DO NOT NEED YOU” (1 Cor 12:21)

“There was a baby boy, crying!” –Exodus 2:6 Mass Readings: July 18 First: Exodus 2:1-15; Resp: Psalm 69:3,14,30-31,33-34; Gospel: Matthew 11:20-24 Listen to the Mass Readings When we support the elimination of babies by abortion and contraception, we say to these unwanted members of Jesus’ body, “I do not need you” (1 Cor 12:21). Can we even call ourselves Christians if we have so much disdain for Jesus’ Body that we don’t care if millions of members of His Body are murdered or never given a chance to exist? Can we call ourselves Christians if we have so little regard...

DEATH-DEFYING?

“Look how numerous and powerful the Israelite people are growing, more so than we ourselves! Come, let us deal shrewdly with them to stop their increase.” –Exodus 1:9-10 Pharaoh tried to decimate the chosen people by commanding “all his subjects, ‘Throw into the river every boy that is born to the Hebrews’ ” (Ex 1:22). Satan is trying to decimate the Christian people by commanding us to contracept and not have children or, if this fails, to kill our children through chemical and surgical abortions. If we obey Satan’s commands, we will perpetuate and extend our culture of death. But...

SOW THE WORD CONSTANTLY

“A farmer went out sowing.” –Matthew 13:4 Listen to the Mass Readings How often have you heard a Scripture passage twenty times and on the twenty-first time you hear it, the Holy Spirit makes the passage finally “jump off the page”? You receive a profound new insight into the meaning of the passage. The Word of God comes alive for you. The Holy Spirit does this work in us. The Spirit is also working the same way in the hearts of others. That’s why we must constantly sow the Word of God (Mt 13:4). The Word that we sow might...