Tagged: daily bread

“Be made perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.” –Matthew 5:48 Now I will show you the way of perfection (1 Cor 13:1). Jesus commands us to be made perfect. He then must necessarily make available to us the grace to be perfect. In fact, Jesus gives us the Holy Spirit. “The love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit Who has been given to us” (Rm 5:5). “God is love” (1 Jn 4:8), and we have been given God’s very own love. Love is the way of perfection (1 Cor 13:1), and God...

“As your fellow workers we beg you not to receive the grace of God in vain.” –2 Corinthians 6:1 Much of 2 Corinthians is devoted to St. Paul’s defense of his apostleship. Traveling evangelists demeaned Paul’s apostleship to build up their own ministries. This situation can still exist in churches today. Paul’s accusers were evangelists who accepted money for their services, a practice which Paul himself recommended at least once (1 Tm 5:17). Paul had a calling from God to preach “the gospel free of charge” (1 Cor 9:18) while working to support himself. As a result, Paul’s accusers saw...

“The lives of all of us are to be revealed before the tribunal of Christ so that each one may receive his recompense, good or bad, according to his life in the body.” –2 Corinthians 5:10 We are all awaiting trial. Jesus will judge us based on our faith expressed in action (see Mt 25:31ff). We will be judged according to our fruitfulness as His stewards (Mt 25:14ff). For instance, Jesus expects those who have been given five talents to produce five more (Mt 25:15). We are responsible to bear spiritual fruit – to lead many people to repentance, salvation,...

“His mother said to Him: ‘Son, why have You done this to us? You see that Your father and I have been searching for You in sorrow.’ ” –Luke 2:48 When Mary was a teenager, she said to the Lord: “Let it be done unto me” (Lk 1:38). At this, she became the mother of God and seemingly an adulteress expecting execution. Mary’s “it” meant “that.” Next, her “it” meant having her Baby in a stable (see Lk 2:7). Soon her “it” meant traveling with Joseph and the baby Jesus in the middle of the night to Egypt (see Mt...

“When they came to Jesus and saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs. One of the soldiers thrust a lance into His side, and immediately blood and water flowed out.” –John 19:33-34 Through our sins, we have partially caused Jesus’ crucifixion and death. After we committed this worst of all crimes, Jesus immediately gave us blood and water, flowing from His pierced side. The blood represents the Eucharist, Jesus’ body and blood. The water represents Baptism and eternal life. Thus, Jesus gave us the greatest gifts, Himself and eternal life, immediately after we participated in...