Tagged: Prayer Intention

“Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee.” –Luke 4:14 Jesus inaugurated His public ministry by proclaiming: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me” (Lk 4:18). In the Spirit, Jesus preached, prophesied, taught, healed, and delivered many people from the evil one. He called us, His followers, to do the same. He even promised that we would do greater works than He did (Jn 14:12). Many Christians in our secular humanistic culture doubt whether they can have such power in the Spirit. They don’t see great conversions, healings, and deliverances. Their experiences, or lack of experiences, seem...

“Then they opened their coffers and presented Him with gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.” —Matthew 2:11 For most of the world, today’s feast of Epiphany is the most important day of the Christmas season. It’s the day when many people exchange gifts and imitate the wise men who gave gifts to Jesus. Today the Lord is calling us to give Jesus the present of ourselves, to prostrate ourselves before Him and do Him homage (Mt 2:11). Like the wise men, we should express our giving of everything to Jesus by giving Him something — a gift that would represent...

“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” –Matthew 4:17 Jesus began His public ministry by preaching a message of repentance for the sake of entering into the kingdom of God. As basic as this message is, it must always sink deeply into our hearts, as if we are hearing it for the first time. What does “repent” mean? Certainly it means to confess our sins to the Lord and make a good Confession in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Repentance also involves a turning away from all that leads us away from the Lord, as well as a turning...

“No one who denies the Son has the Father, but whoever confesses the Son has the Father as well.” —1 John 2:23 When John the Baptist was asked: “Who are you?” (Jn 1:19), he identified himself according to his relationship to Christ (see Jn 1:23ff). We too are frequently questioned concerning our identity. People say or at least think: “Who do you think you are?” or “Who are you to tell me what to do?” Like John, we should identify ourselves according to our relationship to Christ. We should see ourselves first of all as “Christians,” disciples of the Lord...

“When the eighth day arrived for His circumcision, the name Jesus was given the Child, the name the angel had given Him before He was conceived.” —Luke 2:21 When we become Christians, we start out as babies, “infants in Christ” (1 Cor 3:1). Just as babies must be taught to talk, walk, eat, clothe themselves, etc., so also baby Christians must be taught to talk, walk, think, feel, and act like Christ. We don’t know how to live, or even to start the day or the year. We must be taught every little thing. The world has programmed us to...