Category: Memory Verse

The Lord wants to love us freely. However, many of us are not open to the overflowing intimacy of God’s love. Our sins have made us afraid of love. We are afraid to be encompassed in the consuming fire of God’s love (Heb 12:29). Consequently, the Lord must heal our sinful defection (Hos 14:5) in order to freely communicate His love to us. God, Who is Love (1 Jn 4:16), clears away our sins, the obstacles we place in the way of His love, by: convicting us of our sins (Jn 16:8), activating our guilt as a warning sign of...

“They walked in the hardness of their evil hearts and turned their backs, not their faces, to Me.” –Jeremiah 7:24 Mass Readings: March 23 First: Isaiah 49:1-6;Resp: Psalm 71:1-6,15,17;Gospel: John 13:21-33,36-38 The prophet Jeremiah has described for us the physiology of sinners. In our sinful rebellion against the Lord, we harden our hearts, turn our backs to God, turn away our faces from God, and stiffen our necks (Jer 7:26). If we don’t repent, the parts of our bodies become even more distorted and perverted. For example, the sinners who martyred Stephen were “stung to the heart,” grinding their teeth,...

“Observe them carefully, for thus will you give evidence of your wisdom and intelligence to the nations.” –Deuteronomy 4:6 Mass Readings: March 22 First: Isaiah 42:1-7; Resp: Psalm 27:1-3,13-14; Gospel: John 12:1-11 Because of their disobedience, the Israelites wandered in the desert for forty years. They may have assumed they were obeying God, but Moses warned them that they were not obeying carefully enough (Dt 4:6). Jesus’ disciples probably thought they were obeying Him. However, Jesus proclaimed that He expected them to obey even the smallest part of a letter of the law (Mt 5:18; see also Ps 119:112). Then...

“Your ways, O Lord, make known to me; teach me Your paths.” –Psalm 25:4 . Mass Readings: March 21 First: Isaiah 50:4-7; Resp: Psalm 22:8-9,17-20,23-24; Second: Philippians 2:6-11;Gospel: Luke 22:14–23:56 God first taught His ways to His people by giving them His Ten Commandments (Ex 20:1ff). His people lost their way, so God “tried again” (Jer 18:4). He sent them prophets to teach them His ways, and promised to write His laws and ways upon their hearts (Jer 31:33). God’s people struggled to grasp His ways (Is 55:8). God’s next step was to send Jesus as a Teacher to teach...

“When Joseph awoke he did as the angel of the Lord had directed him and received her into his home as his wife.” –Matthew 1:24 Mass Readings: March 20 First: 2 Samuel 7:4-5,12-14,16; Resp: Psalm 89:2-5,27,29;Second: Romans 4:13,16-18,22; Gospel: Matthew 1:16,18-21,24 In 1870, “a difficult time in the Church’s history, Pope Pius IX, wishing to place her under the powerful patronage of the holy patriarch Joseph, declared him ‘Patron of the Catholic Church’ ” (Guardian of the Redeemer, Pope St. John Paul II, 28). In 1889, Pope Leo XIII explained further what the Holy Spirit was doing through Pope Pius...