Tagged: Prayers in English

“Blest are you, Simon son of Jonah! No mere man has revealed this to you, but My heavenly Father.” –Matthew 16:17 God the Father revealed to Simon that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of the living God (Mt 16:16). As with all divine revelations, this was a catalyst leading to Simon’s name being changed to Peter (Mt 16:18), Jesus building His Church on Peter (Mt 16:18), Peter being given the authority symbolized by the keys to the kingdom of heaven (Mt 16:19), and Jesus insisting on the cross as the essence of discipleship (Mt 16:24). Peter naturally did not...

“The field she entered to glean after the harvesters happened to be the section belonging to Boaz.” –Ruth 2:3 Mass Readings: August 26 First: Ruth 2:1-3,8-11; 4:13-17; Resp: Psalm 128:1-5; Gospel: Matthew 23:1-12 Listen to the Mass Readings Boaz was a redeemer. He redeemed Ruth from a present with only poverty and a future with only destitution and loneliness. “Boaz took Ruth” (Ru 4:13), entered into a contract to personally pay the price of her “redemption” (Ru 4:7), and brought her into “a future full of hope” as his wife (Jer 29:11). Finally, Boaz didn’t simply redeem Ruth and then...

“For wherever you go I will go, wherever you lodge I will lodge, your people shall be my people, and your God my God.” –Ruth 1:16 Mass Readings: August 25 First: Ruth 1:1,3-6,14-16,22; Resp: Psalm 146:5-10; Gospel: Matthew 22:34-40 Listen to the Mass Readings “There was a famine in the land” (Ru 1:1). Therefore, Naomi’s family moved to Moab in order to survive (Ru 1:1). Then, Naomi’s husband died (Ru 1:3). Next, her two sons died (Ru 1:5). Naomi was in such despair that she thought she should change her name to “Mara,” meaning “bitter” (Ru 1:20). When one rotten...

“I saw you.” –John 1:48, 50 Mass Readings: August 24 First: Revelation 21:9-14; Resp: Psalm 145:10-13,17-18; Gospel: John 1:45-51 Listen to the Mass Readings Nathanael (Bartholomew) had a negative attitude toward Jesus before he even met Him, simply because Jesus was from Nazareth (Jn 1:46). In contrast, Jesus had a positive attitude toward Nathanael even before Jesus met him. Jesus did not focus on Nathanael’s sins; He called Nathanael “a true Israelite” in whom there was no guile (Jn 1:47). Nathanael responded to Jesus’ affirmation of him by affirming Jesus as “the Son of God” and “the King of Israel”...

“Must I give up my….?” –Judges 9:9, 11, 13 Mass Readings: August 23 First: Judges 9:6-15; Resp: Psalm 21:2-7; Gospel: Matthew 20:1-16 Listen to the Mass Readings If the Lord calls us to leadership, we sacrifice our time to lead for Him. We also sacrifice what we could have done with all that extra time if we weren’t leading His people. A sacrifice involves freely giving up something for the Lord. What we get back from the Lord is not the object; the important thing is what we give to the Lord. God prefers sacrifices freely given from a generous,...