Tagged: Prayer Intention

“Even now I find my joy in the suffering I endure for you. In my own flesh I fill up what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ for the sake of His body, the Church.” —Colossians 1:24 Before we become committed to the Lord, we naturally choose to live a life of maximum pleasure and minimum pain. Because true love often entails pain, the life of maximum pleasure and minimum pain amounts to a life of maximum selfishness and minimum love. If we repent, choose love, and totally commit our lives to the Lord, we choose a life of...

“Here is My Servant Whom I have chosen, My loved One in Whom I delight. I will endow Him with My Spirit.” —Matthew 12:18 Jesus has always been a “Sign of contradiction” (Lk 2:34, our transl). Some people respond to the contradiction by trying to destroy Him and His Church (see Mt 12:14-15), while others follow Him and are healed. Jesus is the greatest Healer of all times. However, He wants to be known not primarily as a healer but as crucified Love (see 1 Jn 4:8, 16). Jesus is the Lord of lords and the King of kings (see...

“Although Moses and Aaron performed these various wonders in Pharaoh’s presence, the Lord made Pharaoh obstinate, and he would not let the Israelites leave his land.” —Exodus 11:10 After hundreds of years of slavery and nine plagues, the Israelites were immediately freed from slavery by the last plague culminating in the Passover. The Passover was the grandest finale of God’s most awesome works to that point in time. The Mass is the new Passover (see Lk 22:15). At the end of Jesus’ astounding public ministry, just before He was arrested and crucified, Jesus had the Last Supper, the first Mass....

“If they ask me, ‘What is His name?’ what am I to tell them?” —Exodus 3:13 Moses asked God to reveal His name. Several hundred years after making Abraham the father of the nation of Israel, the Lord told His chosen people His name. God said that His name was “I AM WHO AM” (Ex 3:14). God called Himself the supreme, eternal Being Who is the Cause of all being. God’s name is extremely mysterious and holy. Well over a millennium later, Jesus, the Son of God, told us how to address God. We were no longer to think of...

“Moses decided, ‘I must go over to look at this remarkable sight.’ ” —Exodus 3:3 To become better, live better, pray better, and work better, we must know God better. To become better husbands, wives, parents, religious, or people, we must know God better. For example, Moses, to do better than be a shepherd, had to know God better in the burning bush (Ex 3:2ff). Isaiah (Is 6:1ff), Jeremiah (Jer 1:5ff), and Ezekiel (Ez 1:4ff) all had to know God better before they could fulfill their prophetic ministry. Paul had to know God better before he could become the great...