Category: Verse for the day

“Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, spoke up.” –Acts 4:8 At the first Christian Pentecost, “all were filled with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:4). After Peter and John were released from prison, the first Christian community gathered to pray, and “the place where they were gathered shook as they prayed. They were filled with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 4:31). Stephen, the first deacon and the first martyr, was “a man filled with faith and the Holy Spirit” (Acts 6:5). Barnabas “was a good man filled with the Holy Spirit and faith” (Acts 11:24). The Lord commands us: “Be filled with...

“Many came to believe in the Lord.” –Acts 9:42 Mass Readings: April 21 First: Acts 9:31-42; Resp: Psalm 116:12-17; Gospel: John 6:60-69 Listen to the Mass Readings We are saved by grace through faith (Eph 2:8). Therefore, we must have faith. Moreover, the Lord wants us to have great and growing faith (see Mt 15:27ff). Consequently, we should pray: Lord, “increase our faith” (Lk 17:5) and “I have faith; help my lack of faith” (Mk 9:24, NJB). Jesus so much wants our faith to grow that he challenges us and may even shake our faith (Jn 6:61). To deepen our...

“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. Mass Readings: April 20 First: Acts 9:1-20; Resp: Psalm 117:1-2; Gospel: John 6:52-59 Listen to the Mass Readings. When we receive Holy Communion, we eat the flesh and drink the blood of Jesus. This is a great mystery. Like the Jews of Jesus’ day, we cannot understand how He can “give us His flesh to eat” (Jn 6:52). Nevertheless, we believe Jesus’ revelation of the Eucharist because: The Lord has given...

“The Spirit said to Philip, ‘Go and catch up with that carriage.’ Philip ran ahead and heard the man reading the prophet Isaiah. He said to him, ‘Do you really grasp what you are reading?’ ‘How can I,’ the man replied, ‘unless someone explains it to me?’ ” –Acts 8:29-31 Mass Readings: April 19 First: Acts 8:26-40; Resp: Psalm 66:8-9,16-17,20;Gospel: John 6:44-51 Listen to the Mass Readings Before we recognize the risen Christ, we need our hearts to burn as the Scriptures are interpreted for us (Lk 24:32). Jesus interprets the Scriptures for us not only by calling us to...

“It is the will of Him Who sent Me that I should lose nothing of what He has given Me.” –John 6:39 Mass Readings: April 18 First: Acts 8:1-8; Resp: Psalm 66:1-7; Gospel: John 6:35-40 Listen to the Mass Readings Creation, the human body, and the Body of Christ, the Church, are ecological. They are composed of many parts which inter-relate in very intricate ways. Therefore, “if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members share its joy” (1 Cor 12:26). The Lord is constantly gracing the Church so that it...