Category: Daily Reflections

“Their heart is far from Me.” –Mark 7:6 The human heart is: tortuous, twisted, deceitful (Jer 17:9), beyond repair (Jer 17:9), in a state of psychological denial about its fallen condition (see Jer 7:8-9), the source of good and evil (see Lk 6:45; Mk 7:21), and far away from God (Mk 7:6), when we have the wrong priorities (Lk 12:34). If, by God’s grace and the various “stress tests” of life, we realize that we need new hearts (see Ez 36:26), we have nowhere to turn but to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. He will give us new hearts by...

“He called in his servants and handed his funds over to them according to each man’s abilities.” –Matthew 25:14 The servant who received one thousand silver pieces was condemned because he did not use what he had received to obtain more (Mt 25:26ff). By saying that he was afraid of his master, the servant tried to justify hiding the money rather than using it (Mt 25:25). Then he tried to justify his fear by claiming that his master was “a hard man”, who was so unreasonable as to reap where he did not sow (Mt 25:24). Nevertheless, the facts are...

“The message of the cross is complete absurdity to those who are headed for ruin, but to us who are experiencing salvation, it is the power of God.” –1 Corinthians 1:18 The Corinthian church lacked no spiritual gift (1 Cor 1:7). It could have been a powerhouse for God’s kingdom, but was instead bogged down with problems. The typical Corinthian Christian was as undeveloped as a spiritual baby (1 Cor 3:1). The Corinthians wasted much of their awesome potential because of their disunity. They broke into various factions (1 Cor 1:12). Paul called them to repentance, and thereby unity, by...

“Stay awake, therefore! You cannot know the day your Lord is coming.” –Matthew 24:42 In the Nicene Creed, we profess that Jesus “will come again in glory.” After the Consecration at Mass, we proclaim that “Christ will come again.” After praying the “Our Father” at Mass before receiving Communion, we pray and “wait in joyful hope for the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ.” “But who will endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears?” (Mal 3:2) They will be: those saved by Jesus (Rv 7:9-10), those faithful, farsighted servants working to feed others physically...

“John had told Herod, ‘It is not right for you to live with your brother’s wife.’ Herodias harbored a grudge against him for this and wanted to kill him.” –Mark 6:18-19 Many of us have accepted God’s grace to be sexually pure. Many have also told their Christian friends about the importance of having victory over sexual temptations. In talking with our Christian friends, we have probably decried the breakdown of sexual morality. Yet are we proclaiming the truth and freedom of sexual purity to the Herodiases and Herods of our time? This does not mean that we gossip about...