Tagged: daily bread

“The Lord is with me, like a mighty Champion: my persecutors will stumble, they will not triumph.” –Jeremiah 20:11 We are on the threshold of what may prove to be two of the most important weeks of our time on earth. In Holy Week, the Triduum, and the Easter octave, we will see Jesus do the works of His Father and come “to realize what it means that the Father is in” Jesus and Jesus in Him (Jn 10:38). In the next two weeks, many will come to believe in Jesus (Jn 10:42). However, the amazing graces of Holy Week,...

“Jesus answered them: ‘I solemnly declare it: before Abraham came to be, I AM.’ ” –John 8:58 Jesus is blunt. He does not beat around the bush. He is far from diplomatic. He called people “liars” (see Jn 8:55). Then He openly and clearly called Himself “God” by using the title “I AM,” the name God had given to identify Himself (Ex 3:14). It’s not surprising that people tried to stone Him and eventually succeeded in crucifying Him. Jesus ruffled a lot of feathers, overturned the money-changers’ tables in cleansing the Temple, and unabashedly called the Pharisees “blind guides,” “fools,”...

“A body You have prepared for Me.” –Hebrews 10:5 Jesus is the eternal God. Before His Incarnation, He was Spirit (see Jn 4:24) and therefore invisible. To experience through our senses the full glory of the all-holy God would certainly have been more than we could bear (see Ex 33:20). Therefore, we would more likely see only “the vision of the likeness of the glory of the Lord” (Ez 1:28). This caused Ezekiel to fall on his face (Ez 2:1). Such an experience of God’s presence – even several times removed – would probably knock us out or even kill...

“The days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant.” –Jeremiah 31:31 God, Who is Love (1 Jn 4:16), wants to love us in a permanent, faithful relationship, which is similar to marriage, only better. As married couples make a covenant with each other by exchanging marriage vows, so the Lord made covenants with Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, and all His chosen people. The problem with these covenants was that God’s people broke them all (Jer 31:32). Human beings seem incapable of keeping a covenant with God, incapable of loving God faithfully. Therefore, God promised to...

“No man ever spoke like that before.” –John 7:46 “The crowd was sharply divided over Him.” –John 7:43 The temple guards “forgot” to arrest Jesus, so impressed were they by His words. However, the Pharisees were unimpressed; they said the guards and the crowds that listened to Jesus had been taken in (Jn 7:46ff). This was not the first time Jesus received such contradictory reactions to His words. At His hometown of Nazareth, “they marveled at the appealing discourse which came from His lips” (Lk 4:22). Nevertheless, a few minutes later, “the whole audience in the synagogue was filled with...