Tagged: Bible Reading & Meditation

CHOSEN ONES

“This man is the instrument I have chosen.” –Acts 9:15 Mass Readings: January 25 First: Acts 22:3-16; Resp: Psalm 117:1-2; Gospel: Mark 16:15-18 St. Paul was chosen to: “bring [God’s] name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel” (Acts 9:15), “suffer for [Jesus’] name” (Acts 9:16), recover his “sight and be filled with Holy Spirit” (Acts 9:17), be baptized into Jesus (Acts 9:18; Rm 6:3), “proclaim in the synagogues that Jesus was the Son of God” (Acts 9:20), silence his opponents “with his proofs that this Jesus was the Messiah” (Acts 9:22), know God’s “will,...

MYSTERY

“By this ‘will,’ we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” –Hebrews 10:10 Mass Readings: January 24 First: Hebrews 10:1-10; Resp: Psalm 40:2,4,7-8,10-11; Gospel: Mark 3:31-35 God has graciously revealed Himself to us through creation, history (especially the Exodus), the Jewish people, the Law, the prophets, Wisdom literature, the covenants, the priesthood, the Davidic dynasty, etc. Nevertheless, “in times past, God spoke in fragmentary and varied ways” (Heb 1:1). “In this, the final age, He has spoken to us through His Son” (Heb 1:2). Jesus is the eternal, incarnate, and final Word....

SIN-CERE

“Now He has appeared at the end of the ages to take away sins once for all by His sacrifice.” –Hebrews 9:26 Jesus’ “death has taken place for deliverance from transgressions” (Heb 9:15). “Christ was offered up once to take away the sins of many” (Heb 9:28). “You can depend on this as worthy of full acceptance: that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Tm 1:15). The essence of Jesus’ mission is to save sinners. Today, it has become unfashionable to talk about sin. We, who call ourselves believers, don’t want to put people on a...

DO-DROPS

“They immediately abandoned their nets and became His followers.” –Matthew 4:20 Jesus called Peter, Andrew, James, and John to follow Him and become fishers of men (Mt 4:19). We too are repeatedly appealing for workers for the harvest (see Mt 9:38). Some very busy people answer our appeals and thus become even busier, taking on more work and responsibilities. The sacrificial love of these very busy people is beautiful. Although Jesus does assign more work to the few existing workers (see Lk 12:48; Lk 19:17ff), He is constantly calling more and more people to become workers. Jesus plans to give...

“THE KILLING FIELDS”

Jesus “went up the mountain and summoned the men He Himself had decided on, who came and joined Him.” –Mark 3:13 Mass Readings: January 20 First: Hebrews 8:6-13; Resp: Psalm 85:8,10-14;Gospel: Mark 3:13-19 In the USA, in a few days will be the forty-fourth anniversary of the Supreme Court’s legalization of abortion. This decision legalized millions of serial killings. It is a gigantic step backward into the culture of death. It is a capitulation to Hitler and the Third Reich. Hitler lost World War II militarily, but his diabolical ideas reign supreme today in our culture of death. However, there...