Tagged: daily bread

“I give you My assurance, whatever you ask the Father, He will give you in My name.” –John 16:23 Today begins nine days of prayer, the Pentecost Novena, to ask God to prepare our hearts to receive the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. God pours out the Holy Spirit beyond measure and without ration (Jn 3:34; Eph 3:20). Nevertheless, we need to prepare our hearts. We don’t pray the Pentecost Novena because God needs persuading, but rather because we need docility to receive the Spirit. Jesus revealed that our heavenly Father won’t give us “a poisonous snake when...

“I tell you truly: you will weep and mourn.” –John 16:20 Tomorrow begins the Pentecost Novena, nine days of intense prayer to receive the Holy Spirit when He comes in a new way on Pentecost Sunday. The nine days of this Holy Spirit novena correspond closely to the nine months of a woman’s pregnancy. The baby dwells within the mother during the pregnancy. Similarly, the Holy Spirit dwells within us (1 Cor 3:16). As the baby grows within the mother’s womb, the mother undergoes dramatic changes. Everything in her lifestyle changes. She wears a completely different set of clothes. She...

“When they heard about the raising of the dead, some sneered.” –Acts 17:32 “With power the apostles bore witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great respect was paid to them all” (Acts 4:33). Paul, the least of the apostles (1 Cor 15:9), also witnessed with power for the risen Christ except when he preached at Athens. There, while a few believed, others sneered at Paul (Acts 17:32), called him a “magpie” (Acts 17:18), and refused to take him seriously. At Athens, Paul seemed to have lost his power, his anointing from the Spirit. Like Paul, we may...

” ‘Philip,’ Jesus replied, ‘after I have been with you all this time, you still do not know Me?’ ” –John 14:9 The apostle Philip lived, ate, drank, slept, and traveled with Jesus. After three years, Jesus had to conclude that Philip still did not know Him (Jn 14:9). After three similar years, the apostle Peter admitted this same fact. Peter looked at Jesus standing bound and accused from across the courtyard and said: “I do not even know the Man!” (Mt 26:74) While it is true that Peter spoke words of cowardice, it’s also important to realize that Peter...

“I have told you…” –John 16:1, 4 Jesus mentions twice in today’s Gospel reading that He told the apostles something in advance. First, Jesus warns them that He told them “all this” so that their faith may not be shaken under worldly pressure, and therefore they may not fall away (Jn 16:1). To what does “all this” refer? Jesus had just finished warning His apostles that worldly people would hate, harass, and disrespect them. Why? Jesus says it’s because they bear witness to Him and because they don’t belong to the worldly system which refuses to accept His lordship (Jn...