Category: Prayers

“The ancient ruins shall be rebuilt for your sake, and the foundations from ages past you shall raise up.” —Isaiah 58:12 When Levi decided to be a tax collector (see Lk 5:27), he separated himself from his people and his family. This perhaps showed that his family relationships were in ruins. But if his family relationships were not yet completely ruined, Levi proceeded to ruin them by becoming a tax collector, an accomplice of the Roman oppression and an enemy of the Jewish people. After Levi followed Jesus and received the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, this man whose house had...

“When the day comes that the Groom is taken away, then they will fast.” —Matthew 9:15 Jesus promised that after His Ascension His followers would fast. Consequently, throughout history Christians have fasted frequently, regularly, and joyfully. Pope St. John Paul II has even taught that prayer and fasting are the first and most effective weapons against the forces of evil (The Gospel of Life, 100; cf Mt 17:21, NAB). Fasting is a powerful privilege through which we can be in the forefront of the Lord’s great plan of salvation. The Lord has made fasting so important that the devil attempts...

“The Son of Man…must first endure many sufferings, be rejected by the elders, the high priests and the scribes, and be put to death, and then be raised up on the third day.” –Luke 9:22 Jesus describes a journey through the swamps of suffering, the cliffs of rejection, the valley of death, to the tomb of Resurrection. Then He asks who would be willing to follow Him on that journey. Whoever wishes to become His follower “must deny his very self, take up his cross each day,” and follow in Jesus’ steps (Lk 9:23). Our inner self is repelled by...

“Rend your hearts.” –Joel 2:13 Today, the Catholic Church marks our heads with an ashen cross. Ashes connote humility and death. Ashes are what is left over after something is burned. They are commonly associated with the residue of destruction and death (Est 4:3; Jb 2:8). We die to ourselves in the self-denial of Lent. The ashes of our desires are what remain after this death. After a forest fire, the forest floor is covered with ashes. The ashes are the residue of death and destruction. However, the ashes also are the beginning of new life for the forest. The...

“Jesus answered: ‘I give you My word, there is no one who has given up home, brothers or sisters, mother or father, children or property, for Me and for the gospel who will not receive in this present age a hundred times as many.’ ” –Mark 10:29-30 After having received the living waters of the Holy Spirit, we realize that our heavenly Father is a bountiful provider for His children. He gives us more than we can ever ask for or imagine (Eph 3:20). He supplies our “needs fully, in a way worthy of His magnificent riches in Christ Jesus”...