Category: Daily Prayer

“Look for the One Who comes after me. I am not worthy to unfasten the sandals on His feet.” –Acts 13:25 We celebrate the birthday of St. John the Baptizer for the same reason we celebrate the birthday of Mary. The significance of John the Baptizer, Mary, and each of us is due to our relationship with Jesus. We celebrate John’s birthday because it is halfway to the celebration of Jesus’ birthday. We celebrate our birthdays because we have been given new birth in Jesus. We celebrate John because he was chosen to prepare the way for Jesus (see Acts...

“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,...