Tagged: Bible Study

“The worldly take more initiative than the other-worldly when it comes to dealing with their own kind.” –Luke 16:8 “Unless the Lord build the house, they labor in vain who build it. Unless the Lord guard the city, in vain does the guard keep vigil” (Ps 127:1). “It is the Lord’s blessing that brings wealth, and no effort can substitute for it” (Prv 10:22). No matter how hard we try, we cannot make the works of God happen. “It is God Who, in His good will toward you, begets in you any measure of desire or achievement” (Phil 2:13). Some...

“Both in life and in death we are the Lord’s.” –Romans 14:8 “While we live we are responsible to the Lord” (Rm 14:8). Jesus is “Lord of both the dead and the living” (Rm 14:9). To be saved, we must recognize “the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Pt 2:20), “believe in the Lord Jesus” (Acts 16:31), and confess with our “lips that Jesus is Lord” (Rm 10:9). However, we can deceive ourselves about being under the lordship of Jesus. Jesus said: “None of those who cry out, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of God but only the one...

“If any man comes to Me without hating his father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, yes and his own life too, he cannot be My disciple.” –Luke 14:26, JB It takes everything we’ve got to live the Christian life. If we don’t make our relationship with Jesus our “all in all” (see Lk 14:26), if we don’t take up His cross daily (Lk 14:27; 9:23), if we don’t renounce all our possessions (Lk 14:33), we will not have what it takes to build the tower (Lk 14:28), fight the war (Lk 14:31), or run the race of the Christian life...

“Force them to come in.” –Luke 14:23 Today’s Scripture passage in which Jesus commands His disciples to “force” people to enter His kingdom can be difficult to comprehend. Perhaps an example from my life might shed light on Jesus’ meaning. I was an intensely shy college student and found it beyond my ability to join in with other students in Catholic activities. I vividly recall after one Mass hearing several students talking excitedly about that night’s prayer gathering at the Newman Center. Their excitement stirred a longing in me to attend. I walked to the Center and was suddenly too...

“As gold in the furnace, He proved them.” –Wisdom 3:6 It is “a holy and pious thought” to pray for the dead (2 Mc 12:45). It is a good thing to do, but how good? Should praying for the dead be a footnote in our Christian life, or should it be a high priority? Those who move from purgatory to heaven due to our prayers obviously think it a high priority. Furthermore, our prayers for those in purgatory not only help them but help us to more greatly benefit from the prayers of the poor souls for us (Catechism, 958)....