Category: Verse for the day

“Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, Who sent His angel to deliver the servants that trusted in Him.” –Daniel 3:95 In eleven days, the Lord will call us to renew our baptismal promises. In every Catholic church in the world, at every Mass on Easter Sunday, the Lord will challenge us to answer “I do” to six questions. If God has His way, this will be the greatest act of faith we have ever made in our lives. Even if we have totally committed our lives to the Lord previously, He is not calling us to rerun...

“Because He spoke this way, many came to believe in Him.” –John 8:30 Jesus told people they would die in their sins unless they believed that He was God (Jn 8:24). Like the Israelites who were bitten by the saraph serpents, humanity is sentenced to death and damnation unless it looks at Jesus with faith (see Nm 21:8; Jn 3:14). People desperately need to know and love Jesus. Although the greatest need of every person is to believe in Jesus and although He commanded us to be His witnesses, many Christians don’t share their faith in Jesus with others. One...

“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.” ––Psalm 23:1 Many people reading this are Catholic. We tend to think of Bible passages in terms of a Sunday Mass. We focus on the first reading, which is generally from the Old Testament. Next, we think about the second reading. It’s often an exhortation from St. Paul. The Liturgy of the Word reaches its high point with the Gospel proclamation (see Mk 13:10). But there’s an important collection of verses tucked between the first and second readings. Do we give equal attention to the Psalm? It can be overlooked. Catholic...

“I have come to rate all as loss in the light of the surpassing knowledge of my Lord Jesus Christ.” —Philippians 3:8 Because of Paul’s “surpassing knowledge” of Jesus, he came to rate all as loss. Paul’s personal relationship with Jesus changed the “ratings” in his life. Things he used to rate high were reassessed as worthless and empty. All of us have a “surpassing knowledge.” Usually, our knowledge of and attraction to pleasure surpasses all else. For many people, even Christians, food, entertainment, TV programs, money, or lifestyle rate the highest. These surpass everything else. Eventually, we experience a...

“Then each went off to his own house.” —John 7:53 Zacchaeus encountered Jesus and opened his house to Him. That day, salvation came to his house (Lk 19:9). A royal official encountered the Lord, and Jesus promised to heal his son. “Jesus told him, ‘Return home’ ” (Jn 4:50). The royal official’s son was healed and his entire household “became believers” (Jn 4:53). A demon-possessed man met Jesus and was set free. He wanted to follow Jesus, but Jesus “told him instead: ‘Go home’ ” (Mk 5:19). The man told his family of the mercy of Jesus and all were...