Category: Verse for the day

“With their patience worn out by the journey, the people complained.” –Numbers 21:4-5 Mass Readings: March 20 First: Numbers 21:4-9;Resp: Psalm 102:2-3,16-21; Gospel: John 8:21-30 Listen to the Mass Readings God’s people complained about the manna He freely gave them daily for years. Although the Lord had freed the whole nation from slavery to Egypt, they complained against the Lord and Moses (Nm 21:5, 7). “In punishment the Lord sent among the people saraph serpents, which bit the people so that many of them died” (Nm 21:6). The Lord loves us too much to condone our selfish ungratefulness. We either...

“[Joseph] did as the angel of the Lord had directed him.” –Matthew 1:24 Mass Readings: March 19 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 Listen to the Mass Readings St. Joseph often found himself enmeshed in a series of unexpected circumstances. First, God became Lord of His marriage in a way no man could ever have imagined. Then, like a common refugee, Joseph was turned away from decent accommodations when he and Mary most needed them, at the moment of Jesus’ birth (Lk 2:7). Then, during a dark night, he had to flee from...

“I – once I am lifted up from earth – will draw all men to Myself.” –John 12:32 The Lord promised us a new covenant (Jer 31:31). Jesus called it the covenant in His blood (Mt 26:28). Jesus “became the Source of eternal salvation for all who obey Him” by learning “obedience from what He suffered” (Heb 5:9, 8). “Unless the grain of wheat falls to the earth and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat. But if it dies, it produces much fruit” (Jn 12:24). Once Jesus was lifted up on the cross, He began to draw all...

“Yet I, like a trusting lamb led to slaughter, had not realized that they were hatching plots against me.” –Jeremiah 11:19 Mass Readings: March 17 First: Jeremiah 11:18-20; Resp: Psalm 7:2-3,9-12; Gospel: John 7:40-53 Listen to the Mass Readings Two weeks from today is Holy Saturday and Easter Vigil. Spiritual warfare may well intensify as we near the time to renew our baptismal promises. This renewal is the culmination of Lent and the center of the year. Because of this renewal’s strategic importance, the devil rages as we prepare to reject him, all his works, and all his empty promises....

“Let us condemn him to a shameful death; for according to his own words, God will take care of him.” –Wisdom 2:20 If we want to live a godly life, we will be persecuted (2 Tm 3:12). We don’t know the severity of this persecution, but we do know the certainty of it. Although many non-Christians pride themselves on being tolerant, they will probably not tolerate Christians, for we are obnoxious to them (Wis 2:12). They think we are setting ourselves against their doings, reproaching them “for transgressions of the law,” charging them with violations of their training, and censuring...