Tagged: message of the day

“You are my hope, O Lord.” —Psalm 71:5 Why does God permit abortions, racism, wars, natural catastrophes, and injustices? Why do some of the holiest people feel as if they have “toiled in vain, and for nothing, uselessly, spent” their strength? (Is 49:4) Why is life the way it is? Although life is a mystery, we can understand it better by understanding that God, the Creator of all life, is a God is Love (1 Jn 4:8, 16). The purpose of life created by Him is love. We are created and re-created to love Him with all our hearts, to...

“Many Jews were going over to Jesus and believing in Him on account of Lazarus.” —John 12:11 On the first day of the Easter season, the Lord through His Church will question us publicly to determine whether we believe in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. If each of us says “I do” to these questions, we will be making the greatest decision a human being can make. By this act of faith, we will completely submit our intellect and will to God (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 143). “Faith is first of all a...

“In His anguish He prayed with all the greater intensity, and His sweat became like drops of blood falling to the ground. Then He rose from prayer and came to His disciples.” —Luke 22:44-45 Jesus prayed always (see Lk 18:1). He even prayed while He was hanging on the cross and dying. He prayed: “Father, forgive them; they do not know what they are doing” (Lk 23:34). With His last breath, He prayed: “Father, into Your hands I commend My spirit” (Lk 23:46). These two prayers are related. To give ourselves totally to the Lord, we must forgive. When Jesus...

“He prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation — and not for this nation only, but to gather into one all the dispersed children of God.” —John 11:51-52 The Lord promised He would gather His people from exile and “bring them back to their land” (Ez 37:21). This promise was definitively fulfilled when Jesus died on the cross “to gather into one all the dispersed children of God.” By being baptized into Jesus’ death and Resurrection, we are gathered into the one Body of Christ, the Church (1 Cor 12:13). However, when we sin seriously, we break our baptismal...

“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...