Tagged: Prayer Intention

“How you have grown evil with age! Now have your past sins come to term.” –Daniel 13:52 There’s no fool like an old fool, and there’s no sinner like an old sinner. In an old sinner, sins are multiplied and developed, self-deception has become an art form, and the heart is not only hardened but almost fossilized. A case in point is the two old judges, who tried to commit adultery with Susanna and then lied to have her executed. These judges had: • let beauty seduce them (Dn 13:56), • subverted their consciences by lust (Dn 13:8-9, 56), •...

“I solemnly assure you, unless the grain of wheat falls to the earth and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat. But if it dies, it produces much fruit. The man who loves his life loses it, while the man who hates his life in this world preserves it to life eternal.” –John 12:24-25 During His public ministry, Jesus repeatedly spoke of His suffering and death. His disciples usually ignored these references to death. They probably rightly reasoned that, if their Master would die a painful death, they, His disciples, would die in a similar way. Naturally, they didn’t...

“Let me witness the vengeance You take on them.” –Jeremiah 11:20 The people to whom Jeremiah prophesied were treacherously planning to kill him (Jer 11:19). Jeremiah risked his neck to serve God, and he wanted God to back him up by taking vengeance on these enemies. In addition, Jeremiah wanted to see it personally. We Christians have enemies also. Unlike Jeremiah, we do get to witness the vengance God takes on them. We see: • Jesus destroying the devil’s works (1 Jn 3:8), • the pride of the powerful crushed as they gaze upon Jesus crucified (see Is 52:15), •...

“I will be a Father to Him, and He shall be a Son to Me.” -2 Samuel 7:14 Both the title of this teaching and the above Scripture refer to the Lord and not to St. Joseph. However, both are aptly applied to Joseph. Joseph’s entire identity derived from his unique relationship to Jesus as the foster-father of the Son of God. Most men find their identity in their own prowess rather than from their subordinate relationship to another person. Yet Joseph is identified in Scripture as “the husband of Mary” (Mt 1:16), perhaps the only man in the entire...

“Search the Scriptures.” –John 5:39 The Scriptures testify on Jesus’ behalf (Jn 5:39). If we believed Moses, that is, the first five books of the Bible, we would believe Jesus (Jn 5:46). If we don’t believe the Bible, how can we believe what Jesus said? (see Jn 5:47) If we don’t believe Moses and the prophets, that is, two major parts of the Bible, we will not be convinced of our need to repent, “even if one should rise from the dead” (Lk 16:31). St. Jerome’s words are true: “Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ” (Catechism, 133). On...