Tagged: Daily Reflection

A CATECHISM ON FORGIVENESS

“How often must I forgive him?” –Matthew 18:21 Peter questioned Jesus: “How often must I forgive” my brother? Jesus answered: “seventy times seven times.” We must forgive all who have hurt us indefinitely times indefinitely (Mt 18:22). Other questions about forgiveness are the following: Question: Do I have the power to forgive? Answer: No, “to err is human; to forgive is divine.” Only God has the power to forgive. Q: Then how can I forgive? A: You can decide to accept God’s grace to forgive. This grace is always available. Q: How quickly must I forgive? A: Immediately. Otherwise, you...

CONSUMER OR CONSUMED?

“The man who loves his life loses it.” –John 12:25 St. Lawrence is the patron of bountiful giving. It is said that he gave the Church’s treasures to the poor. Lawrence sowed bountifully and cheerfully. Now he reaps the bountiful harvest of transformed lives even centuries after his death (see 2 Cor 9:6). Lawrence not only gave possessions to the Lord; he gave his life for Him by cheerfully suffering martyrdom by fire. He was like a grain of wheat which falls to the earth, dies, and produces much fruit (Jn 12:24). Lawrence’s life and death show that God wants...

THE LIVING BIBLE

“Eat this scroll, then go, speak to the house of Israel.” –Ezekiel 3:1 Before we can speak God’s Word in power, we must hear, accept, and digest His Word so completely that it becomes part of us. We must eat the scroll of God’s Word (Ez 3:2; Rv 10:9). Then we will become letters “written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh in the heart” (2 Cor 3:3). As we become walking tabernacles by receiving Holy Communion, so we become walking Bibles when we eat the...

TELL-A-VISION

“Such was the vision of the likeness of the glory of the Lord.” –Ezekiel 1:28 Ezekiel experienced an overwhelmingly awesome vision of the Lord. In this vision, God called Ezekiel to prophesy to the hardened, yet endangered Israelites. The king, Jehoiachin, was already in exile, and the people would soon suffer the same fate. In Ezekiel chapters 2 and 3, the Lord sends Ezekiel to speak His prophetic words of warning to “rebels…hard of face and obstinate of heart” who “will refuse to listen to” Ezekiel (Ez 2:3, 4; 3:7). God tells Ezekiel several times to not be afraid and...

AFRAID TO THINK?

“It has pleased your Father to give you the kingdom.” –Luke 12:32 Jesus has revealed to us that our future will be a terrible, just punishment forever or perfect love and happiness forever. This revelation is mind-boggling (to put it mildly). We have no experience of “forever,” and the possibility of everlasting punishment is overwhelming. Under these circumstances, many people “shut down,” “freeze up,” and become spiritually paralyzed. They try to forget about eternity, the very goal of this earthly life. Before Jesus revealed His final coming, Judgment Day, and the afterlife, He commanded us: “Do not live in fear,...