Tagged: message of the day

“STOP, IN THE NAME OF LOVE”

“You shall love the Lord your God with all…” –Mark 12:30 Think about your relationship with the person you love the most. It’s one thing to say: “I love you.” It’s quite another thing to put everything aside and demonstrate your love for them by devoting your full attention to them for a long period of time. Married couples are often so busy that they are relegated to sharing a quick “I love you” as they pass each other in the garage. Occasionally, one of the spouses may say: “Time out! Stop! Enough is enough. We’re canceling soccer and spending...

I’M DYING TO BE MARRIED

“When people rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage but live like angels in heaven.” —Mark 12:25 Once while attending a men’s retreat, the above passage was read for the Gospel during Mass. As the priest proclaimed that people do not marry in heaven, a man near me, who had been married nearly forty years, exclaimed, “Thank God!” Of course, this remark elicited a few chuckles among the nearby men. Tomorrow’s readings focus on the beauty of love and marriage, but today’s readings focus on death and marriage. An insult from his wife, who was...

LATE, GREAT PENTECOSTS

“Mary set out, proceeding in haste into the hill country to a town of Judah, where she entered Zechariah’s house and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leapt in her womb. Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.” –Luke 1:39-41 About two weeks ago, the Lord gave you the Holy Spirit in a new Pentecost. Did you receive the gift of the Spirit? If so, you are acting as Mary did. You’re probably visiting people to share with them Jesus in you. As you do this, they too are filled with the Spirit. Pentecost is contagious. It...

LOVING YOUR CHILD’S MURDERERS

“It was the Lord Who did it and we find it marvelous to behold.” –Mark 12:11 The owner of a vineyard sent slave after slave “to the tenants to obtain from them his share of produce from the vineyard” (Mk 12:2). “Some they beat; some they killed. He still had one to send – the son whom he loved. He sent him to them as a last resort, thinking, ‘They will have to respect my son’ ” (Mk 12:5-6). “Then they seized and killed him and dragged him outside the vineyard” (Mk 12:8). The owner of the vineyard seems astoundingly...

“INTENSELY EUCHARISTIC”

“This is My body, which is for you.” –1 Corinthians 11:24 Jesus continues to say to each of us: “This is My body” and “This is My blood.” Jesus says: “My flesh is real food and My blood real drink” (Jn 6:55). When we receive Holy Communion, we receive the body and blood, soul and divinity of Jesus. Most of us reading this believe in the miracle of Jesus’ eucharistic presence. However, we may need to cry out to Jesus: “I believe. Help my lack of faith!” (Mk 9:24, our transl) How deeply do we believe in the Eucharist? How...