Tagged: Bible Study

“Who among you, if he has a hundred sheep and loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wasteland and follow the lost one until he finds it?” –Luke 15:4 One of the most beautiful – and disappointing – verses of the Bible is: “God is Love” (1 Jn 4:16). We all want to be loved, but we don’t necessarily value being loved by Someone Who by His nature loves everyone. We want to be loved exclusively, individually, and specially. If someone told you “I love you,” you would probably be impressed. If that same person repeated...

“You shall love the Lord your God with all…” –Mark 12:30 Think about your relationship with the person you love the most. It’s one thing to say: “I love you.” It’s quite another thing to put everything aside and demonstrate your love for them by devoting your full attention to them for a long period of time. Married couples are often so busy that they are relegated to sharing a quick “I love you” as they pass each other in the garage. Occasionally, one of the spouses may say: “Time out! Stop! Enough is enough. We’re canceling soccer and spending...

“When people rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage but live like angels in heaven.” —Mark 12:25 Once while attending a men’s retreat, the above passage was read for the Gospel during Mass. As the priest proclaimed that people do not marry in heaven, a man near me, who had been married nearly forty years, exclaimed, “Thank God!” Of course, this remark elicited a few chuckles among the nearby men. Tomorrow’s readings focus on the beauty of love and marriage, but today’s readings focus on death and marriage. An insult from his wife, who was...

“Mary set out, proceeding in haste into the hill country to a town of Judah, where she entered Zechariah’s house and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leapt in her womb. Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.” –Luke 1:39-41 About two weeks ago, the Lord gave you the Holy Spirit in a new Pentecost. Did you receive the gift of the Spirit? If so, you are acting as Mary did. You’re probably visiting people to share with them Jesus in you. As you do this, they too are filled with the Spirit. Pentecost is contagious. It...

“It was the Lord Who did it and we find it marvelous to behold.” –Mark 12:11 The owner of a vineyard sent slave after slave “to the tenants to obtain from them his share of produce from the vineyard” (Mk 12:2). “Some they beat; some they killed. He still had one to send – the son whom he loved. He sent him to them as a last resort, thinking, ‘They will have to respect my son’ ” (Mk 12:5-6). “Then they seized and killed him and dragged him outside the vineyard” (Mk 12:8). The owner of the vineyard seems astoundingly...