Tagged: Daily Reflection

“I put no value on my life if only I can finish my race and complete the service to which I have been assigned by the Lord Jesus.” –Acts 20:24 Jesus focused on finishing. In today’s Gospel, He tells His Father: “I have given You glory on earth by finishing the work You gave Me to do” (Jn 17:4). When Jesus faithfully completed His suffering on the cross, He took the occasion, despite His pain, to exclaim: “Now it is finished” (Jn 19:30). Finishing what He started was important to Jesus. St. Paul also focused on finishing, saying: “I give...

“We have not so much as heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” –Acts 19:2 Despite years of quality Catholic education, including receiving the sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation, I never gave much thought to the Holy Spirit. By God’s grace, I stumbled upon a Life in the Spirit seminar at the age of twenty-one. Scripture passages I had often heard but never grasped suddenly came alive as Catholic men and women shared their experiences of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit taught me through them and made everything new and alive (2 Cor 5:17). It was as if I...

As He blessed, He left them, and was taken up to heaven.” –Luke 24:51 Jesus ascended in “mid-blessing.” The apostles responded by “blessing God” (Lk 24:53, our transl). These are the final words of Luke’s Gospel. The last word for Luke is that the ascended Christ is blessing us for which we are blessing Him. “When He ascended on high, He…gave gifts to men” (Eph 4:8; see Ps 68:19) “that He might fill all men with His gifts” (Eph 4:10). When Jesus ascended, He fulfilled the prophecy: “From this day, I will bless!” (Hg 2:19) Therefore, “bless the Lord, O...

“When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him home and explained to him God’s new way in greater detail.” –Acts 18:26 Priscilla and Aquila were kicked out of Rome because they were Jews (Acts 18:2). They were victims of religious persecution and became refugees. Priscilla and Aquila were tentmakers (Acts 18:3), and they had a Christian community based at their home (Rm 16:5). This husband and wife were nobodies by the world’s standards. They were just two obscure people, oppressed by Rome’s political machine and ignored by the world. However, in God’s eyes and therefore in reality, Priscilla and...

“I give you My assurance, whatever you ask the Father, He will give you in My name.” –John 16:23 Today begins nine days of prayer, the Pentecost Novena, to ask God to prepare our hearts to receive the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. God pours out the Holy Spirit beyond measure and without ration (Jn 3:34; Eph 3:20). Nevertheless, we need to prepare our hearts. We don’t pray the Pentecost Novena because God needs persuading, but rather because we need docility to receive the Spirit. Jesus revealed that our heavenly Father won’t give us “a poisonous snake when...