Tagged: Daily Reflections

A REJECTION NOTICE

“All those who were my friends are on the watch for any misstep of mine.” —Jeremiah 20:10 It’s bad enough to be rejected, but it is even worse to be rejected by those who had accepted us. “If an enemy had reviled me, I could have borne it; if he who hates me had vaunted himself against me, I might have hidden from him. But you, my other self, my companion and bosom friend! You, whose comradeship I enjoyed; at whose side I walked in procession in the house of God!” (Ps 55:13-15) It is the very worst to be...

HIS DANGEROUS DIVINITY

“Jesus answered them, ‘I solemnly declare it, before Abraham came to be, I AM.’ At that they picked up rocks to throw at Jesus.” —John 8:58-59 On the first day of the Easter season, in every Catholic Mass in the world, we will be specifically asked: “Do you believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord?” In other words, we will be challenged to profess our faith that Jesus is God. This is considered blasphemous to over one billion Muslims or Jews. They believe that to accept Jesus as God is to deny that there is only one God....

DEATH-DEFYING

“Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, Who sent His angel to deliver the servants that trusted in Him; they disobeyed the royal command and yielded their bodies rather than serve or worship any god except their own God.” —Daniel 3:95 Like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, we must be able to look death right in the face and say: “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” (1 Cor 15:55), for “death is swallowed up” (1 Cor 15:54) in the victory of Jesus, “the Resurrection and the Life” (Jn 11:25). The Holy Spirit can...

BAD BLOOD

“Moses accordingly made a bronze serpent and mounted it on a pole, and whenever anyone who had been bitten by a serpent looked at the bronze serpent, he recovered.” —Numbers 21:9 The Israelites had already been poisoned before being bitten by the saraph serpents. The poison of grumbling, rebellion, and discontent was flowing through their veins long before the poisonous venom of the serpent bites was introduced into their bloodstream. God’s merciful antidote to the poison of the serpent bites was to have Moses make a bronze serpent, mount it on a wooden pole, “and whenever anyone who had been...

BATH AND BODY

“She decided to bathe.” —Daniel 13:15 Today’s first reading is more than a story of good triumphing over evil. It’s an Old Testazment preview of Baptism. When Susanna enters her bath (Dn 13:17-18), she is surrounded by the powers of evil, as represented by the two corrupt elders. Susanna is immersed in a dilemma of whether to save her life by yielding to evil or to cling to holiness and purity at the cost of her life (Dn 13:22). Susanna rises from her bath determined to trust in God, saying to the evil judges, “It is better for me to...