Tagged: Daily Reflections

“…but will not lift a finger to lighten them.” –Luke 11:46 Jesus does not show us our sins to condemn us, but to save us (Jn 3:17). He illuminates our sins to show us the damage they have caused, and also to show us how we cannot erase that damage by our own efforts. Only Jesus can pay that price (Is 26:18; Ps 49:8-9). We must allow Him to pay it. Jesus’ standards are even higher than those of the Pharisees and the scholars of the law (Mt 5:18). Jesus is most definitely not lax on sin; He takes sin...

“I am not ashamed of the gospel. It is the power of God leading everyone who believes in it to salvation.” –Romans 1:16 The Good News, the Gospel, is the power of God for the salvation of all who believe it (Rm 1:16). St. Jerome stated: “Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ” (Catechism, 133). Many today are ashamed of the gospel. So the gospel is banned from public schools, workplaces, politically correct environments, secular media, social media, and elsewhere. People are ashamed of the teaching of the gospel in regard to: sex as occurring only between one man...

“Through Him we have been favored with apostleship, that we may spread His name.” –Romans 1:5 Paul, “set apart to proclaim the gospel of God” (Rm 1:1), wrote to the Romans to prepare them to be a home-base for future evangelism in Spain (Rm 15:24, 28). Paul was always thinking of reaching more people for Christ. He would use a courtroom as a forum for preaching the Gospel (Acts 26:1ff). He even stopped to convert the jailer during a jailbreak (Acts 16:28ff). Paul repeatedly risked his life to preach the Gospel (2 Cor 11:23ff). He was single-hearted; evangelism was the...

“Jesus looked at him with love and told him, ‘There is one thing more you must do.’ ” –Mark 10:21 The Lord’s will is not only that we love Him but that we love Him with all our hearts, all our souls, all our strength, and all our minds (Lk 10:27). It is relatively easy to give ninety-five percent, even ninety-eight percent, of our lives to the Lord. However, the great decision and the fiercest battle is about giving that last percent or two of our lives to God. That last percent is our all, the “one thing” more we...

“Crowd upon crowd in the valley of decision; for near is the day of the Lord in the valley of decision.” –Joel 4:14 In today’s first Mass reading, God invites the nations to gather in the valley of decision. He tells the nations, in effect: “Bring up your weapons of war; I want to see all your military might” (see Jl 4:9). The nations think they will be fighting; in reality, they are gathering to be judged. In the valley of decision, the angels apply the sickle to the harvest at the end of time. There is to be a...