Tagged: daily bread

“The way of truth I have chosen.” –Psalm 119:30 Jesus, the Truth (Jn 14:6), stood for the truth. He paid for this stand with His life, as His opponents used deceit, lies, and intimidation of witnesses to condemn Him to death. St. Stephen stood for the truth. He paid for this stand with his life, as his opponents likewise used deceit, lies, and intimidation of witnesses to condemn him to death. The Catholic Church stands for the truth, regardless of whether or not the truth is “politically correct.” The Church proclaims the truths that Jesus is really present in the...

“The apostles for their part left the Sanhedrin full of joy that they had been judged worthy of ill-treatment for the sake of the Name.” –Acts 5:41 Peter went back into the fishing business and quit following Jesus (see Jn 21:3). He probably did this because of his long-standing problems with Jesus’ command to take up the cross. When Jesus had first mentioned the cross to His disciples, Peter had downplayed the whole thing. Then “Jesus turned on Peter and said, ‘Get out of My sight, you satan!’ ” (Mt 16:23) Peter had made plans to stay on the mountain...

“The number of disciples grew.” –Acts 6:1 In our American society, we want more, and we want it fast. We even super-size our fast food. The Lord also wants more, and He wants it fast. However, He wants not more material things or more pleasures. Rather, He wants more conversions. He wants us to be able to say: “The word of God continued to spread, while at the same time the number of the disciples in Jerusalem enormously increased. There were many priests among those who embraced the faith” (Acts 6:7). Moreover, the Lord wants this great harvest of evangelization...

“Better for us to obey God than men!” –Acts 5:29 The Holy Spirit is given to those that obey God (Acts 5:32). Additional movements of the Spirit are given to those who obey God in greater ways. The experience of Jesus’ disciples illustrates this principle. They obeyed Him by devoting themselves to constant prayer for nine days (Acts 1:14). Then they received the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Before they received the Spirit a second time (Acts 4:31), they obeyed the Lord to a much greater degree. “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ instruction and the communal life, to the breaking...