Category: Daily Reflections

EYE-OPENING REPENTANCE

“If the miracles worked in your midst had occurred in Tyre and Sidon, they would long ago have reformed in sackcloth and ashes.” –Luke 10:13 “If the miracles worked in [Capernaum] had taken place in Sodom, it would be standing today” (Mt 11:23). Sodom, Tyre, and Sidon were among the most wicked places of the Old Testament (see Gn 18-19; Ez 26-28). Yet Jesus declares that the people of these condemned cities would have reformed. The problem was that they had no one to bring to them a ministry of power evangelization, that is, preaching accompanied by miracles. The people...

I’M GLAD THEY’RE INVISIBLE

“You shall see the sky opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.” –John 1:51 St. Nathanael may have been able to see angels, but the Lord doesn’t choose to give this ability to most of us. One of the great things about archangels and angels is that they are invisible. Although we can see the effects of their actions, it is usually unclear what the angels are doing. For the most part, angels are a matter of faith, not sight (2 Cor 5:7). St. Michael has warred and continues to war against Satan...

LIGHT MY FIRE

“Lord, would You not have us call down fire from heaven to destroy them?” –Luke 9:54 Sts. James and John asked Jesus if they should pray for fire to come down from heaven to destroy an inhospitable Samaritan town. In this way, the two apostles were showing their faith in Jesus as the new Elijah (see Mal 3:23), for Elijah had repeatedly called down fire from heaven (see 2 Kgs 1:10, 12). Jesus rejected their proposal because His kingdom was a kingdom of mercy before justice (see Mt 18:23ff). He intended to convert His enemies, even the Samaritans (see Jn...

RIGHTEOUS AND REPENTANT

“Naked I came forth from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I go back again. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord!” ––Job 1:21 Many of us have said things disrespectful of God when our life hasn’t gone as planned. Contrast this attitude with “a blameless and upright man named Job, who feared God and avoided evil” (Jb 1:1). Most likely, “you have heard of the steadfastness of Job” (Jas 5:11). Even in view of all the suffering Satan heaped upon him, “Job did not sin, nor did he say anything...

A COMFORTABLE, ENJOYABLE DEATH-STYLE

“Woe to the complacent!” –Amos 6:1 A lifestyle focused on comfort, entertainment, and enjoyment leads to complacency, that is, a selfishness because of which we don’t care that much about other people’s lives and salvation (see Am 6:4-6). Complacency is only one of the side effects of a pleasure-seeking lifestyle. A self-centered lifestyle gradually causes a spiritual blindness and deafness through which we become so hardened that even someone risen from the dead would not be able to touch our hearts (Lk 16:31). Because we naturally want a lifestyle that is as comfortable as possible, we are doomed to be...