Category: Daily Reflections

“We must undergo many trials if we are to enter the reign of God.” —Acts 14:22 Being beaten with stones to the point of death for your faith in Jesus is most definitely a trial and a hardship. Yet getting back up and twice going back into the same town which tried to kill you gives your witness for Jesus a credibility which no one can deny (Acts 14:20, 21). St. Paul’s tough love was encouraging beyond measure. What tough love Paul displayed in heading right back into town and then right back out on mission. When someone who has...

“Anyone who loves Me will be true to My word.” —John 14:23 We may think we love Jesus. So we look at a beautiful sunset, raise our voice to the heavens and say, “I love You, Jesus.” But then we proceed to spend the rest of the night in behavior which offends the mercy and holiness of God. If we want to love someone, it is best not to make assumptions, but to learn from the beloved how they wish to be loved. Would such behavior be the way Jesus wishes to be loved? It’s best to learn from Jesus...

“We must undergo many trials.” —Acts 14:22 At the close of the very first Christian missionary journey, Paul and Barnabas instructed their disciples: “We must undergo many trials if we are to enter into the reign of God” (Acts 14:22). Trials, in fact, many trials, are a given for a disciple, although Jesus gives a yoke that is easy and a burden that is light (Mt 11:30). Life is hard. This is not the Lord’s idea. He did not make original sin, “death or mourning, crying out or pain” (Rv 21:4; see Wis 1:13). He will eventually abolish all these...

“Believe Me.” —John 14:11 Did you know that the word “believe” is used eighty-two times in the Gospel of John? Indeed, the very purpose of John’s Gospel is that all who read it may “believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, so that through this” belief you may have eternal life in His name (Jn 20:31). When a book or passage of Scripture uses the same word that many times, the Lord wants us to get the message. In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus refers to believing in Him four times. If we believe in Jesus and prove...

“These are His witnesses now before the people.” —Acts 13:31 Throughout Acts of the Apostles, the Lord repeatedly commands us to be His witnesses (Acts 1:8; 2:32; 3:15; 10:39; 13:31). Now that we are more than halfway through the Easter season, it is appropriate to ask ourselves whether we have obeyed the Lord’s command to be His witnesses. Hopefully, we have done this throughout our Christian lives and even more intensely in this Easter season. If you were subpoenaed as a witness by a human court, would you obey? If not, you would face contempt of court charges. Each Christian...