Category: Verse for the day
“He called His disciples and selected twelve of them to be His apostles.” —Luke 6:13 Recently, a bishop was ordained by the Church. He later told people that he cried tears of joy as hands were imposed on him. He spoke of the awe he felt at realizing that the hands laid on his head traced an unbroken chain of succession all the way back to Jesus’ first calling of His apostles. The Lord renews the face of the Church (see Ps 104:30) through the apostles and their successors, the bishops. The Church is built upon “the foundation of the...
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“The prayer of the lowly pierces the clouds.” —Sirach 35:17 Clouds can be a sign of God’s presence or, figuratively speaking, a barrier preventing us from “getting through” to God. Clouds present no problem to the prayer of the lowly, for their prayer pierces the clouds. We can surmise that the prayer of many people is not “getting through” to God, for many people pray infrequently. If they were “getting through,” they probably would be encouraged to pray always (see Lk 18:1). Who wants to keep calling a phone number when you seldom “get through”? Many of us must not...
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“In answer, the man said, ‘Sir, leave it another year while I hoe around it and manure it; then perhaps it will bear fruit. If not, it shall be cut down.’ ” —Luke 13:8-9 The Lord has stated clearly that He expects us to bear fruit which is abundant (Jn 15:5) and lasting (Jn 15:16). He has given us all we need to bear the fruit of the Spirit, the fruit of holiness (see Gal 5:22-23), and the fruit of evangelization. If we are truly holy, we will evangelize effectively. The Lord is patient with us. He does not expect...
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“I see in my body’s members another law at war with the law of my mind; this makes me the prisoner of the law of sin in my members.” —Romans 7:23 There is a civil war going on inside us. We are compelled to do not the good we will to do but the evil we do not intend (Rm 7:19). We are even forced to wage war on our own souls when we satisfy our carnal desires (1 Pt 2:11). All human beings by nature cannot help but lose this interior war. We are thus prisoners of war (see...
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“Just as you formerly enslaved your bodies to impurity and licentiousness for their degradation, make them now the servants of justice for their sanctification.” —Romans 6:19 The bodies of those baptized into Jesus are temples of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 6:19). The Lord wants us to offer our bodies as living sacrifices to Him (Rm 12:1). The Lord commands us to make ourselves, including our bodies, His slaves (Rm 6:22). Then our bodies will be slaves to righteousness (Rm 6:19, RNAB). This will result in our sanctification. Otherwise, our bodies will be slaves to impurity and to lawlessness (Rm...
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