Tagged: Daily Reflection

“Ask, and you will receive. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and it will be opened to you. For the one who asks, receives.” –Matthew 7:7-8 Some ingenuous Bible preachers and teachers have tried to expound on the differences between asking, seeking, and knocking. However, all three commands probably mean the same thing. Jesus is simply and repeatedly commanding us to ask, ask, and ask. Are we getting the message? If so, then why does Jesus keep repeating Himself? Most of us ask God for a thing or two. Yet it may be that He wants us to ask Him...

“Every man shall turn from his evil way.” –Jonah 3:8 The people of Nineveh, wicked as they were, made the connection between their sins and the destruction to come. These people frequently brutalized and butchered large numbers of people. They were pagans, spiritually dead, the least likely to repent. Yet the prophetic word pierced their hearts, and they repented. Jesus commended them for this (Lk 11:32). We fancy ourselves more sophisticated than the ancient Ninevites. We specialize in knowing connections, such as the connection between cholesterol and heart disease, drinking alcohol and liver disease, sanitation and the prevention of infection,...

“So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but shall do My will, achieving the end for which I sent it.” –Isaiah 55:11 God’s Word does not return void but achieves the end for which it is sent. Because God’s Word is always “living and effective” (Heb 4:12), it is “more precious than thousands of gold and silver pieces” (Ps 119:72). Therefore, we should read and share God’s Word daily (Acts 17:11), for ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ (Catechism, 133, St. Jerome). This Lent, may God’s Word find...

“I assure you, as often as you did it for one of My least brothers, you did it for Me.” –Matthew 25:40 The Lord says that you shall not “stand by idly when your neighbor’s life is at stake” (Lv 19:16). The Lord says: “I assure you, as often as you did or did not provide for the needs of the least of your brothers and sisters, you did or did not do it for Me” (see Mt 25:40, 45). The Lord expects us to recognize the Lazaruses at our doors (Lk 16:19ff) and “love in deed and in truth...

“He stayed in the wasteland forty days…He was with the wild beasts.” –Mark 1:13 Mark’s Gospel was written around 70 A.D., and is believed to have been written in Rome. At that time in Rome, it was not uncommon for Christians to be thrown into an arena with hungry wild beasts, such as lions and tigers, to be martyred by being devoured by them. Can you imagine how the early Christians of Rome must have been encouraged to hear that Jesus dwelt in safety among the wild beasts? (Mk 1:13) Jesus not only survived being in the presence of the...