Tagged: Prayer Intention

“Go first to be reconciled.” –Matthew 5:24 Mass Readings: February 23 First: Ezekiel 18:21-28; Resp: Psalm 130:1-8; Gospel: Matthew 5:20-26 Listen to the Mass Readings In the Sermon on the Mount, the quintessence of the new covenant, Jesus expresses His divinity by superseding the old law in several ways. Jesus’ first such statement is: “You have heard the commandment imposed on your forefathers, ‘You shall not commit murder; every murderer shall be liable to judgment.’ What I say to you is: everyone who grows angry with his brother shall be liable to judgment” (Mt 5:21-22). Anger, angry words, and angry...

“I for My part declare to you, you are ‘Rock,’ and on this rock I will build My Church.” –Matthew 16:18 Mass Readings: February 22 First: 1 Peter 5:1-4; Resp: Psalm 23:1-6; Gospel: Matthew 16:13-19 Listen to the Mass Readings Jesus is the Carpenter (Mk 6:3). He probably built several chairs out of wood. Like any skilled carpenter, Jesus would have built His chairs to last. The chair would have a firm foundation to prevent toppling and give confidence to the one seated in the chair. Jesus is also “Head of the Church” (Eph 1:22). As Founder and Head of...

“You have a greater than Jonah here.” –Luke 11:32 Mass Readings: February 21 First: Jonah 3:1-10;Resp: Psalm 51:3-4,12-13,18-19;Gospel: Luke 11:29-32 Listen to the Mass Readings Jonah was a reluctant, begrudging prophet. He did not want to obey the Lord. Yet he didn’t want to be in the belly of a whale either. However, the wicked Ninevites did not repent with begrudging, complaining reluctance. Incredibly, “they proclaimed a fast and all of them, great and small, put on sackcloth” (Jon 3:5). They had sinned with abandon, and they repented with much greater abandon. The queen of the south “came from the...

“This is how you are to pray.” –Matthew 6:9 Mass Readings: February 20 First: Isaiah 55:10-11; Resp: Psalm 34:4-7,16-19; Gospel: Matthew 6:7-15 Listen to the Mass Readings Prayer is to communicate with the infinite, perfect, all-holy God, Who is Love (1 Jn 4:16). Therefore, prayer is one of the most important aspects of being a human being. Prayer is an awesome privilege and power. In prayer, we are necessarily “in way over our heads.” Because of this, “we do not know how to pray as we ought” (Rm 8:26). Thankfully, the Holy Spirit “helps us in our weakness” (Rm 8:26)....

“Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You?” –Matthew 25:37 When Jesus comes in glory on Judgment Day, He will judge us on whether we fed Him by feeding the least of His and our brothers and sisters (Mt 25:35, 42). Jesus is so concerned with feeding us that, when Peter told Jesus that he loved Him, Jesus said: “Feed My lambs” and “Feed My sheep” (Jn 21:15, 17). To feed us, Jesus even went to the unimaginable extreme of making Himself the Bread of Life (Jn 6:35) and feeding us with His own body and blood (Jn...