Tagged: Prayers in English

“Be imitators of me.” –Philippians 3:17 St. Paul’s statement to the Christians in Philippi to imitate him sounds a bit overconfident (Phil 3:17). He likewise told the Christians of Corinth: “Imitate me as I imitate Christ” (1 Cor 11:1). Yet St. Paul has a marvelous point. Faith is more often caught than taught. Mothers and fathers are clearly in such a position. Children naturally imitate their parents. Often we see children doing exactly as their parents do, both for good and for bad. Jesus realized that He was setting “an example” for His disciples (see 1 Pt 2:21). When He...

“Those things I used to consider gain I have now reappraised as loss in the light of Christ. I have come to rate all as loss in the light of the surpassing knowledge of my Lord Jesus Christ.” –Philippians 3:7-8 Philemon lost a slave named Onesimus (Phlm 11); when Onesimus ran away, it was a loss of an asset to Philemon. But then through the ministry of St. Paul, Philemon gained a brother in Christ (Phlm 16). Onesimus was lost as a slave and then was found as a brother (see Lk 15:32). We lose our lives for Christ and,...

“Chastised a little, they shall be greatly blessed, because God tried them and found them worthy of Himself. As gold in the furnace, He proved them, and as sacrificial offerings He took them to Himself.” –Wisdom 3:5-6 The Lord has made it clear through various Jewish traditions (see 2 Mc 12:43-44), the early Church (see Mt 12:32), and the Church Fathers that we should pray for those who have died. Because the Church prays for the dead at Mass each day, it is safe to say that the Holy Spirit leads us to pray daily for the dead. However, we...

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” –Matthew 5:8, RSV-CE Saints see God, for they are pure in heart. They are pure as Jesus is pure (1 Jn 3:3). “They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” (Rv 7:14). “They are pure and follow the Lamb wherever He goes” (Rv 14:4). Saints have been refined “like gold or like silver that they may offer due sacrifice to the Lord” (Mal 3:3). “By obedience to the truth,” saints “have purified” themselves “for a genuine love” of their brothers and sisters...

“When you have a reception, invite beggars and the crippled, the lame and the blind.” –Luke 14:13 The welfare system is not working. Thank God it’s keeping people alive. However, it’s not setting them free. It may even be enslaving and conditioning people in a generational cycle. The nuclear family is under attack. Thank God for marital faithfulness in a society of broken promises, broken families, and broken hearts. Yet the nuclear family is not thriving. It is struggling merely to survive. What if the nuclear family became an extended family — even a Christian community? What if welfare was...