Category: Daily Reflections

“That is the way it works with the man who grows rich for himself instead of growing rich in the sight of God.” —Luke 12:21 The Lord wants His children to be rich, not for themselves, but rich in what matters to Him. “You are well acquainted with the favor shown you by our Lord Jesus Christ: how for your sake He made Himself poor though He was rich, so that you might become rich by His poverty” (2 Cor 8:9). When we were baptized into Christ, we were baptized into His riches. Accordingly, the eyes of our hearts must...

“This fiftieth year you shall make sacred by proclaiming liberty in the land for all.” —Leviticus 25:10 We all must worship. If we don’t worship God, then we worship ourselves, and eventually demons. “What am I saying — that meat offered to an idol is really offered to that idol, or that an idol is a reality? No, I mean that the Gentiles sacrifice to demons and not to God, and I do not want you to become sharers with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and also the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the...

“Isn’t this the carpenter’s Son? Isn’t Mary known to be His mother and James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas His brothers? Aren’t His sisters our neighbors? Where did He get all this?” —Matthew 13:55-56 Jesus’ hometown folk rejected Him because they judged Him based on his relatives. People make the same mistake to the present day. Gandhi, for example, was very impressed by Jesus, but never became a Christian because he was unimpressed with Jesus’ relatives, that is, us, Jesus’ brothers and sisters. Many people say they quit the Church because of the hypocrites in it. They too reject Jesus because...

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant’s search for fine pearls. When he found one really valuable pearl, he went back and put up for sale all that he had and bought it.” —Matthew 13:45-46 St. Thomas Aquinas stated that Jesus taught us in the “Our Father” not only how to pray but also how to desire (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2763). He taught that the order, that is, the priority of our desires, should be the order of the petitions of the “Our Father.” Thus, our first desire should be for our Father’s name to be...

“As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him.” —Psalm 103:13 I was blessed to be born into a family with a compassionate, loving father. So it is natural for me to understand the love of God the Father from my own life experience. As my own father had compassion on me and my siblings, I can grasp to some extent the love of my heavenly Father (Ps 103:13). It is important for us fathers to love and have compassion on our children in a public way. It’s not just your...