Category: Prayers

“Drive out that slave and her son!” –Genesis 21:10 Mass Readings: July 5 First: Genesis 21:5,8-20;Resp: Psalm 34:7-13;Gospel: Matthew 8:28-34;Listen to the Mass Readings Today’s Reflection on the Mass http://www.mycatholic.com/reflections/God promised Abraham a son so that he would be the father of nations (Gn 15:4ff). However, Abraham and Sarah were getting very old, and God’s promise seemingly wasn’t coming to pass. So Sarah took control and gave Abraham her maid Hagar as a surrogate mother. “Hagar bore him Ishmael” (Gn 16:16). Years later, God’s perfect timing arrived, and Sarah conceived and bore Isaac. God “did for her as He had...

Jesus “got into the boat and his disciples followed Him.” –Matthew 8:23 Mass Readings: July 4 First: Isaiah 58:6-11; Resp: Psalm 107:2-9; Gospel: Matthew 25:31-46 Listen to the Mass Readings After the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus decided to take the disciples on a tour with Him. It was a healing, miracle, and deliverance tour. The disciples saw a leper cleansed, the centurion’s servant healed of paralysis, Peter’s mother-in-law healed of a fever, a storm stopped, two men delivered from demons, a paralytic cured, the daughter of Jairus raised from the dead, a woman having hemorrhaged for twelve years cured,...

“His answer was, ‘I will never believe it without probing the nailprints in His hands, without putting my finger in the nailmarks and my hand into His side.’ ” –John 20:25 Mass Readings: July 3 First: Ephesians 2:19-22; Resp: Psalm 117:1-2; Gospel: John 20:24-29 Listen to the Mass Readings It was unreasonable for Thomas to make his examination of Jesus’ wounds a prerequisite for believing in Jesus’ resurrection. No one, including Thomas, has the right to examine the wounds of Jesus or of anyone. Nevertheless, Jesus fulfilled Thomas’ unreasonable request. Jesus goes to extremes to love and save us. His...

“Are you not aware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?” –Romans 6:3 Mass Readings: July 2 First: 2 Kings 4:8-11,14-16; Resp: Psalm 89:2-3,16-19; Second: Romans 6:3-4,8-11; Gospel: Matthew 10:37-42 Listen to the Mass Readings Your Baptism was the greatest event of your life and the basis for all the other great events in your life. However, many Christians are not aware of the “radical newness” of their baptismal life and the “immense, extraordinary richness and responsibility” of baptism (Lay Members of Christ’s Faithful People, Pope St. John Paul II, 10, 61). When we...

“Let some water be brought, that you may bathe your feet, and then rest yourselves under the tree. Now that you have come this close to your servant, let me bring you a little food.” –Genesis 18:4-5 Abraham ran up to three strangers and begged them for the privilege of offering them hospitality. Unknowingly he offered hospitality to God and two angels. This prompted the writer of Hebrews to command us: “Do not neglect to show hospitality, for by that means some have entertained angels without knowing it” (Heb 13:2). Paul also commanded us to “be generous in offering hospitality”...