Category: Verse for the day

“A highway will be there, called the holy way.” –Isaiah 35:8 Advent is like walking through a desert to escape from exile and return home. How will we survive walking hundreds of miles through the desert? “The desert and the parched land will exult; the steppe will rejoice and bloom” (Is 35:1). The Lord will “strengthen the hands that are feeble, make firm the knees that are weak” (Is 35:3). The Lord says “to those whose hearts are frightened: Be strong, fear not!” (Is 35:4) “Then will the eyes of the blind be opened, the ears of the deaf be...

“God will bring them back.” –Baruch 5:6 Imagine your children being “led away on foot” by your enemies (Bar 5:6). Imagine your son handcuffed and led off to prison. What if your children were exiled in a foreign land and you would probably never see them again? This is similar to what the Jewish people went through at the Babylonian exile. About forty years later, Yahweh performed one of His greatest miracles. He freed the Jewish exiles, and they returned home. The Church brings this to our attention because this Christmas the Lord wants to bring our children home to...

“The reign of God is at hand.” –Matthew 10:7 Isaiah prophesied that after the Messiah comes: “No more will you weep” (Is 30:19). “As soon as He (God) hears He will answer you” (Is 30:19). “The Lord will give you the bread you need and the water for which you thirst” (Is 30:20). “A voice shall sound in your ears: ‘This is the way; walk in it’ ” (Is 30:21). “He will give rain for the seed that you sow in the ground” (Is 30:23). “The wheat that the soil produces will be rich and abundant” (Is 30:23). “Upon every...

Jesus said: “None of those who cry out, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of God but only the one who does the will of My Father in heaven.” –Matthew 7:21 When we think of sinners, we think of atheists, agnostics, and those who scorn religion. These people are certainly sinners. Nevertheless, sinners also include religious people who cry out to God, “Lord, Lord,” but do not do His will (Mt 7:21). The first sinners, Adam and Eve, had a personal relationship with the Lord, for they walked with Him in the evening (see Gn 3:8). Cain, the first murderer,...