Category: Prayers

“We have come to know and to believe in the love God has for us.” –1 John 4:16 Mass Readings: June 23 First: Deuteronomy 7:6-11; Resp: Psalm 103:1-4,6-7,8,10;Second: 1 John 4:7-16; Gospel: Matthew 11:25-30 Listen to the Mass Readings On the day before the feast of the Sacred Heart, I visited a man in a hospital who was close to death. The doctors had called the family to the bedside of the dying man. At that point, the man rallied slightly and did not die. When I was talking to his wife, she said: “Father, I hope he dies tomorrow...

“My fear is that, just as the serpent seduced Eve by his cunning, your thoughts may be corrupted and you may fall away from your sincere and complete devotion to Christ.” –2 Corinthians 11:3 Mass Readings: June 22 First: 2 Corinthians 11:1-11;Resp: Psalm 111:1-4,7-8;Gospel: Matthew 6:7-15 Listen to the Mass Readings Most American Catholics who have registered in a parish are “fallen away” from fulfilling the obligation of attending Mass on every Sunday and Holy Day. Furthermore, how many are fallen away from meeting the standard that Paul enunciated? Paul was fearful that the “chaste virgin” church of Corinth would...

“Do not behave like the hypocrites.” –Matthew 6:5 Mass Readings: June 21 First: 2 Corinthians 9:6-11; Resp: Psalm 112:1-4,9; Gospel: Matthew 6:1-6,16-18 Listen to the Mass Readings The root of the word “hypocrite” means “play-acting.” Jesus teaches that discipleship can never involve play-acting; being a disciple of Christ means to live righteously from the heart. Disciples live to please the Lord God (see 1 Thes 2:4), not to obtain a reward for ourselves. The word “reward,” in this parable, means a limited repayment, which only satisfies the “actor.” The word “repayment,” as applied to God repaying an act of trusting,...

“In the midst of severe trial their overflowing joy and deep poverty have produced an abundant generosity.” –2 Corinthians 8:2 Mass Readings: June 20 First: 2 Corinthians 8:1-9;Resp: Psalm 146:2,5-9;Gospel: Matthew 5:43-48 Listen to the Mass Readings God gives. The Father and the Son constantly and eternally give Themselves to each Other, and Their Gift is the Holy Spirit. God constantly gives us His life with all its love and power. This is called grace. God gave His very self when He gave His Son to die on the cross for us. Jesus, God Himself, even continues to give His...

We are “sorrowful, though we are always rejoicing; poor, yet we enrich many. We seem to have nothing, yet everything is ours!” –2 Corinthians 6:10 Mass Readings: June 19 First: 2 Corinthians 6:1-10; Resp: Psalm 98:1-4; Gospel: Matthew 5:38-42 Listen to the Mass Readings When we were baptized, all heaven broke loose. We were begotten from above, born again (Jn 3:3, 5), and adopted as children of God. Our bodies were made temples of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 6:19). We became “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation” (1 Pt 2:9). The Holy Trinity came to live...