Category: Daily Reflections

“News of this eventually reached the ears of the church in Jerusalem, resulting in Barnabas’ being sent to Antioch.” –Acts 11:22 St. Barnabas “was a good man filled with the Holy Spirit and faith” (Acts 11:24). The Lord called him to live his faith in high-risk situations. We first hear of Barnabas (at that time named Joseph) selling his farm and laying the proceeds at the apostles’ feet (Acts 4:36-37). If you did such a thing, would you be taking a risk? What if the Church did not provide for you? What if you lost everything? Barnabas’ next great act...

“They will not follow a stranger; such a one they will flee, because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.” –John 10:5 Did you ever unknowingly put yourself in a situation which in retrospect was definitely not God’s will? Obviously you weren’t hearing the Lord. He must have warned you hundreds of times, but you must have missed it time after time. This seems to indicate that Jesus’ voice is strange to you. You’re in trouble. When you don’t hear Jesus, you don’t hear the Word (Jn 1:1) and the Truth (Jn 14:6). You don’t hear the only One Who...

“The disciples could not but be filled with joy and the Holy Spirit.” —Acts 13:52 What if the only thing you knew how to do was “to be filled with joy and the Holy Spirit”? After Sts. Paul and Barnabas were violently abused and thrown out of town, the disciples knew how to react in only one way — not with violence, fear, unforgiveness, or bitterness but “with joy and the Holy Spirit.” What if we were rejected, insulted, or falsely accused? We would probably know how to react with something other than joy. However, Jesus’ early disciples could be...

“Many of His disciples broke away.” —John 6:66 The beginning of the persecution of the Church caused many of the disciples to “go out” into the world (see Acts 8:1). This intense persecution was an opportunity to spread the Gospel (Acts 8:4). Unfortunately, in the Gospel passage for today’s Mass, other disciples also went out; they “broke away [from Jesus] and would not remain in His company any longer” (Jn 6:66). The hard words of the Lord were “too much for them” (Mk 6:3). St. Peter would not leave Jesus (Jn 6:68-69), but Peter also “went out,” going into the...

“Thereupon Jesus said to them: ‘Let Me solemnly assure you, if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.’ ” —John 6:53 Jesus promised He would give us His flesh to eat (Jn 6:51). This is very difficult to understand and even offensive, especially to Jews. Therefore, “the Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, ‘How can He give us His flesh to eat?’ ” (Jn 6:52) At this point, Jesus did not modify or explain His statement. Rather, He repeated it four times (Jn 6:53, 54, 55, 56)....