Tagged: Daily Reflection

“Then, raising His eyes to His disciples, [Jesus] said: ‘Blest are you poor; the reign of God is yours.’ ” –Luke 6:20 Mass Readings: September 7 First: 1 Corinthians 7:25-31; Resp: Psalm 45:11-17; Gospel: Luke 6:20-26 Because “the Beatitudes are at the heart of Jesus’ preaching” (Catechism, 1716), they are extremely important and therefore are vehemently opposed by the devil. Because the Beatitudes are “paradoxical promises” (1717), which “confront us with decisive choices concerning earthly goods” (1728), we naturally resist living the Beatitudes. Because the world, the flesh, and the devil hate the Beatitudes, they put extreme pressure on us...

“Why, the very fact that you have lawsuits against one another is disastrous for you.” –1 Corinthians 6:7 Mass Readings: September 6 First: 1 Corinthians 6:1-11; Resp: Psalm 149:1-6,9; Gospel: Luke 6:12-19 The Lord reveals in the Bible that it is disastrous for Christians to sue Christians. This results in injuring and cheating those who may have injured and cheated us (1 Cor 6:8). Suing other Christians can make us unholy and deprive us from inheriting God’s kingdom, even though we have been “washed, consecrated, justified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our...

“God has put us apostles at the end of the line.” –1 Corinthians 4:9 Mass Readings: September 3 First: 1 Corinthians 4:6-15; Resp: Psalm 145:17-21;Gospel: Luke 6:1-5 Paul repeatedly published lists of the sufferings of Christians (see 2 Cor 6:4ff; 11:23ff). Paul described the apostles as “men doomed to die in the arena,” “a spectacle to the universe,” “fools on Christ’s account,” sneered at, “hungry and thirsty, poorly clad, roughly treated, wandering about homeless,” insulted, persecuted, and slandered (1 Cor 4:9-13). Paul stated that, in effect, Christians should expect to be treated as the world’s garbage; “that is the present...

“They will surely fast in those days.” –Luke 5:35 Mass Readings: September 2 First: 1 Corinthians 4:1-5; Resp: Psalm 37:3-6,27-28,39-40; Gospel: Luke 5:33-39 When we are baptized into the new life of Jesus and decide to live our Baptisms, “the old order has passed away; now all is new!” (2 Cor 5:17) Fasting, for example, becomes so new that the Lord uses our fasting to drive out the most entrenched demons (Mt 17:21, NAB), to initiate missionary outreaches (Acts 13:2-3), and to establish leaders for His Church (Acts 14:23). New Testament fasting is often frequent (see 2 Cor 11:27; 6:5)...

“I am a sinful man.” –Luke 5:8 Mass Readings: September 1 First: 1 Corinthians 3:18-23; Resp: Psalm 24:1-6; Gospel: Luke 5:1-11 After the miraculous catch of fish, “Simon Peter fell at the knees of Jesus saying, ‘Leave me, Lord. I am a sinful man’ ” (Lk 5:8). For Simon Peter, this was a flash of light in the midst of a life of self-deception. Peter was indeed a sinful man. He proved it by denying Christ three times (Lk 22:61) after boasting that he would die for Christ (Lk 22:33). Peter was a sinful man. Nonetheless, Christ chose him to...