Tagged: Prayer Intention

“By my own power I have done it, and by my wisdom, for I am shrewd.” –Isaiah 10:13 Assyria prided itself in accomplishing its mission to punish Israel for its pride. This is asking for trouble. So the Lord responded: “I will punish the utterance of the king of Assyria’s proud heart, and the boastfulness of his haughty eyes” (Is 10:12-13). Pride has an extreme power to blind us spiritually. We can even pride ourselves on punishing others’ pride. In the Western world, we live in a culture of death, that is, a culture of sin, for “the wages of...

“If the miracles worked in you had taken place in Tyre and Sidon, they would have reformed in sackcloth and ashes long ago.” –Matthew 11:21 “If the miracles worked in [Capernaum] had taken place in Sodom, it would be standing today” (Mt 11:23). Sodom, Tyre, and Sidon were among the most wicked places of the Old Testament (see Ez 26-28; Gn 18-19). Yet Jesus declares that the people of these condemned cities would have reformed. The problem was that they had no one to bring to them a ministry of power evangelization, that is, preaching accompanied by miracles. The people...

“But what was sown on good soil is the man who hears the message and takes it in. He it is who bears a yield of a hundred- or sixty- or thirtyfold.” —Matthew 13:23 We who read One Bread, One Body pray and study God’s written Word every day. We will be among the most spiritually fruitful people in the world, if we are good ground fully receptive to the seed of God’s Word. Jesus describes two kinds of good ground: good ground with or without thorns (Mt 13:22-23). Many Christians have received the seed of God’s Word and are...

“Woe is me, I am doomed! For I am a man of unclean lips, living among a people of unclean lips.” —Isaiah 6:5 Human beings, especially Christians, often have an identity crisis. We are much more than we realize ourselves to be. Jesus even felt compelled to assure His disciples that they were worth more than many sparrows (Mt 10:31). Jesus’ disciples must have been experiencing an identity crisis if they weren’t sure they were worth more than a few birds. To help us to realize our God-given baptismal identity, the Lord gives us callings. For example, Abraham, Moses, Samuel,...