Category: Daily Reflections

SIN-CERELY

“All will be wiped clean for you.” –Luke 11:41 A Pharisee at whose home Jesus was dining was surprised Jesus didn’t wash His hands as part of His before-meal prayer. Jesus changed the subject from hand-washing to soul-washing, saying: “You Pharisees! You cleanse the outside of cup and dish, but within you are filled with rapaciousness and evil” (Lk 11:39). Once some people talked to Jesus about the front-page news. Pilate had killed several Galileans and eighteen people were killed by a falling tower in Siloam (Lk 13:4). Jesus again changed the conversation to His favorite subject: repentance from sin....

THE CALLED

“Greetings from Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart to proclaim the gospel of God.” –Romans 1:1 Paul, “called to be an apostle,” wrote to those who had “been called to belong to Jesus Christ” (Rm 1:6) and who had been “called to holiness, grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” (Rm 1:7). The New Testament Greek word for “church” is “ekklesia,” which literally means “called out.” Consequently, we, as members of Christ’s Church, must “live a life worthy” of our calling (Eph 4:1) in the “one hope...

THE LAST COMMANDMENT

“There is one thing more you must do.” –Mark 10:21 If we love Jesus, we will obey Him (Jn 15:10). Therefore, a life of love is “a life of obedience” (see 1 Pt 1:2). As our lives on earth come to their conclusion, we reach the point that there is one thing more we must do. This last command is: a “must” (Mk 10:21), hard (Mk 10:23, 24), humanly impossible (Mk 10:27), and often includes persecution (Mk 10:30). Because this is the devil’s last chance to rob and enslave us, he will do everything he can to make our obedience...

“DECIDE TODAY” (Jos 24:15)

“Crowd upon crowd in the valley of decision; for near is the day of the Lord in the valley of decision.” –Joel 4:14 Enduring the trials of life is called walking through “the valley of the shadow of death” (Ps 23:4, RSV-CE). Life can be a “valley of tears” (Hail, Holy Queen prayer). As difficult as these valleys are to endure, they are nothing compared to the test we will undergo in the “valley of decision” (Jl 4:14). In that valley, the “Valley of Jehoshaphat,” a name which means “Yahweh judges,” our eternal destiny will be decided by God on...

RADICAL AND FANATICAL

“Blow the trumpet in Zion, sound the alarm on My holy mountain!” –Joel 2:1 Imagine walking into church only to find your pastor prostrate before the altar, weeping and wailing in repentance for his sins and those of God’s people (Jl 1:13). “The wages of sin is death” (Rm 6:23). We are beginning to receive our wages. In fact, we are getting not only death but what the popes call a whole “culture of death.” We have even more reason to cry and repent than did the people of Joel’s time. We must not minimize or euphemize the deadly effects...