Tagged: Bible Reading & Meditation

LIVE DAILY YOUR BAPTISM

“Jesus was baptized…” –Matthew 3:16 Mass Readings: January 9 First: Isaiah 42:1-4,6-7; Resp: Psalm 29:1-4,3,9-10; Second: Acts 10:34-38; Gospel: Matthew 3:13-17 Baptism forgives and erases our sins (Catechism, 403, 405). Jesus never sinned. So why did He submit to Baptism? “The baptism of Jesus is on His part the acceptance and inauguration of His mission as God’s suffering Servant. He allows Himself to be numbered among sinners” (Catechism, 536). In addition, the Father reaffirmed Jesus’ Sonship, which was important, since Satan was about to attack His status as God’s Son (Mt 4:3ff). In accepting Baptism, “already [Jesus] is anticipating the...

ONLY THE FOOLS ARE WISE

“We observed His star at its rising and have come to pay Him homage.” –Matthew 2:2 The wise men looked like fools. They traveled for months or even longer in following a star. How foolish to give “gold, frankincense, and myrrh” to a Baby! (Mt 2:11) How foolish and even strange to give myrrh, an anointing balm for the dead, to anyone except to someone about to die! The wise men looked foolish. This is the only way to be wise in a foolish world. Only fools for Christ are wise (see 1 Cor 3:18; 4:10). Therefore, to be wise,...

CHARGE IT

“What you have done is keep the choice wine until now.” –John 2:10 Mass Readings: January 7 First: 1 John 5:14-21; Resp: Psalm 149:1-6,9; Gospel: John 2:1-11 Most people put things off till the last minute, even Christmas. Jesus, the Reason for the season, desires to come into our lives and be our Lord, but we put Him off. Now we are in the last three days of the Christmas season. Jesus is coming on strong. It’s regrettable we’ve waited until the last minute, spending our Christmas missing out on relationship with Christ. Yet, because He is rich in mercy,...

POSSESSION

“The testimony is this: God gave us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. Whoever possesses the Son possesses life; whoever does not possess the Son of God does not possess life.” –1 John 5:11-12 Mass Readings: January 6 First: 1 John 5:5-13; Resp: Psalm 147:12-15,19-20; Gospel: Mark 1:7-11 St. John puts it very directly and bluntly. Jesus is Life (Jn 11:25; 14:6). If you want life, you need Jesus. “Whoever believes in the Son has life eternal” (Jn 3:36). John even tells us why he writes to us: that we may come to believe that Jesus is...

LOVE MEETS THE GREATEST NEED

“I ask you, how can God’s love survive in a man who has enough of this world’s goods yet closes his heart to his brother when he sees him in need?” –1 John 3:17 Mass Readings: January 5 First: 1 John 3:11-21; Resp: Psalm 100:1-5; Gospel: John 1:43-51 John points out the obvious connection between love and need. If we love someone, we will want to provide that person’s needs. Otherwise, our talk about love is mere lip service (Mt 15:8; Is 29:13) and not authentic (1 Jn 3:18). The greatest need of the human person is to know Jesus...