Tagged: Prayer Intention

“Jonah began…announcing, ‘Forty days more and Nineveh shall be destroyed,’ when the people of Nineveh believed God.” –Jonah 3:4-5 At Mass this morning, the gentleman seated directly in front of me paid no attention whatsoever to the homily. He was fidgeting in his seat, looking to the right and left as the pastor told several anecdotes related to today’s readings. Halfway through the homily, the pastor quoted from memory Jesus’ words in Matthew 25:35-45. At the very instant the pastor quoted the first word of the Scripture passage, this man’s head literally whipped around ninety degrees, and he stared intently...

Jesus “returned to the house with them and again the crowd assembled, making it impossible for them to get any food whatever.” –Mark 3:20 Jesus was and is a sign of contradiction (Lk 2:34). As the Prophet, He did and said things which were challenging, confrontational, even shocking. Although He “ruffled a few feathers,” people didn’t get too upset over these things. Yet when Jesus put Himself in such a crowded situation that it was impossible even to get food to Him, that did it. Jesus’ relatives “came to take charge of Him, saying, ‘He is out of His mind’...

“He named twelve as His companions whom He would send to preach the good news; they were likewise to have authority to expel demons.” –Mark 3:14-15 This week we are involved in a series of celebrations of those who suffered bloody martyrdoms for Jesus. Saints Fabian, Sebastian, Agnes, and Vincent followed in Jesus’ footsteps, choosing to be killed rather than kill. Today we also recall the most disastrous judicial decision in American history, the legalizing of abortion in the United States on January 22, 1973. At this moment, the Lord challenges us to choose life (Dt 30:19-20). However, to choose...

“Jesus has obtained a more excellent ministry now, just as He is Mediator of a better covenant, founded on better promises.” –Hebrews 8:6 Tomorrow marks the 48th anniversary of the tragic Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion in the U.S. On this day a law was enacted that turned our nation into a cemetery, that turned the wombs of mothers into the tombs of babies. However, we have hope. Jesus “is always able to save those who approach God through Him, since He forever lives to make intercession for them” (Heb 7:25). “The main point in what we are saying is...

“When the Pharisees went outside, they immediately began to plot with the Herodians how they might destroy Him.” –Mark 3:6 The Pharisees, Israel’s religious leaders, allied themselves with the Herodians, its political leaders, to destroy Jesus. Do we see the same thing today? Are there still Judases among Jesus’ disciples, who will sell Him for silver? Is Jesus still a threat to the religious establishment? He was delivered up to be crucified not so much by the pagan Romans as by the religious leaders. The antichrists have always been “Christian,” at least in name (1 Jn 2:18-19). Are parts of...