Tagged: Daily Promises

“May He strengthen you inwardly through the working of His Spirit.” –Ephesians 3:16 When the Holy Spirit came to us in Baptism, Confirmation, and other occasions, we received power (Acts 1:8). In fact, we were clothed from head to toe with power from on high (Lk 24:49). We can move mountains with only a tiny use of our power (Mt 17:20). There is nothing impossible for us in the power of Jesus (Mt 17:20). A problem for Christians is not that we need more power but that we need to open the eyes of our hearts to know “the immeasurable...

“When much has been given a man, much will be required of him. More will be asked of a man to whom more has been entrusted.” –Luke 12:48 Jesus makes it very clear in today’s Gospel reading that He expects His disciples to continue to bear ever-increasing fruit. “This sort of talk is hard to endure!” (Jn 6:60) Do we, as His disciples, find this divine expectation of “more” and “much” (Lk 12:48) to be “too much” for us? (Mk 6:3) “Does it shake your faith?” (Jn 6:61) Or does Jesus’ challenge prompt you to embrace His expectation of you,...

OUR LORD, OUR GOD! “But now in Christ Jesus…” –Ephesians 2:13 Almost everyone reading One Bread, One Body is a Gentile, that is, not Jewish. In the Bible, we Gentiles were described as: having “no part in Christ” (Eph 2:12), “excluded from the community of Israel” (Eph 2:12), “strangers to the covenant and its promise” (Eph 2:12), and “without hope and without God in the world” (Eph 2:12). “But now in Christ Jesus” (Eph 2:13), we Gentiles: “have been brought near through the blood of Christ” (Eph 2:13), have been reconciled to God “in one body through His cross” (Eph...

“There was a rich man.” –Luke 12:16 The man of today’s Gospel reading was a fool because he grew “rich for himself instead of growing rich in the sight of God” (Lk 12:21). God our Father is rich in mercy (Eph 2:4). He also possesses the great and unfathomable wealth of His grace (Eph 2:7; 3:8). As God the Father’s children, we inherit even now “the wealth of His glorious heritage to be distributed among the members of the Church” (Eph 1:18). God’s children are the richest people in the world, but not necessarily rich by worldly standards. We grow...

“The Lord was pleased to crush Him in infirmity.” –Isaiah 53:10 Isaiah prophesied that Jesus would be “pierced for our offenses, crushed for our sins” (Is 53:5). Jesus was crushed because “the Lord laid upon Him the guilt of us all” (Is 53:6). One person’s guilt can cause him or her to collapse (see Hos 14:2) or even be crushed. Imagine (if you can) all the weight of all the guilt of all sins of every person who has lived or will ever live. Imagine this weight pressing upon one person at one time. Then you can understand why “so...