Tagged: message of the day
“Now is the acceptable time!” –2 Corinthians 6:2 Many of us long for the renewal of the Catholic Church. We hunger for the members of the Church to be set on fire, to abandon themselves to Jesus. We long for Masses to be full of people who are filled with the Holy Spirit (see Acts 2:4). The Lord’s answer to your longing is: “Repent and believe in the gospel. Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return.” I am sitting in a 6:30 AM Mass with several hundred people who have come to receive ashes at the...
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“Why do Your disciples not follow the tradition of our ancestors, but instead take food without purifying their hands?” –Mark 7:5 The Pharisees and experts in the Law were very concerned about purification. They scrupulously washed their hands, food, cups, jugs, and kettles (Mk 7:3-4). They were centuries ahead of modern science, which eventually discovered that antiseptic conditions prevent the spread of infection. Jesus agreed with the Jewish religious leaders on the importance of purification. However, He taught that the purification of hands, food, and utensils was not nearly as important as the purification of our relationships. Jesus brought up...
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“I have truly built You a princely house, a dwelling where You may abide forever.” –1 Kings 8:13 Solomon built the Temple which the Lord filled with a cloud of His glory (1 Kgs 8:10-11). We who have been baptized into Christ, however, are greater than Solomon (Mt 11:11). Our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 6:19) and the Holy Trinity lives within us. Many sick people touched the tassel of Jesus’ cloak and were healed (Mk 6:56). We, however, have actually received – and can daily receive – the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Jesus,...
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“If You say so, I will lower the nets.” –Luke 5:5 One of the most crucial decisions in life is to do what we don’t understand, just because God said so. This is walking by faith, not by sight (2 Cor 5:7). In this way, we let the Lord raise us above our human limitations. Children who refuse to do something just because their parents tell them to do it will seriously deprive themselves. It’s the same with us who are God’s children. We don’t know everything we need to know. We don’t know the future. We can’t read people’s...
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“He began to teach them at great length.” –Mark 6:34 Jesus is the Teacher. The people’s reaction to Jesus’ ministry was: “A completely new teaching in a spirit of authority!” (Mk 1:27) Jesus was and is always teaching. He taught even while hanging on the cross. When Mary Magdalene recognized Jesus risen from the dead, she exclaimed ” ‘Rabbouni!’ (meaning ‘Teacher’)” (Jn 20:16). On the afternoon of the day of His Resurrection, Jesus walked about seven miles with two of His disciples and “interpreted for them every passage of Scripture which referred to Him” (Lk 24:27). That evening, the risen...
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