Tagged: Prayers in English

“In those days, in that time, I will raise up for David a just Shoot.” –Jeremiah 33:15 Happy New Year! Today we celebrate the first day of the new Church year and of Advent. Today, in a spiritual sense, we conceive new life and prepare to give birth to that life in the Christmas season. Advent is similar to pregnancy, in that we carry, protect, and nurture Christ’s new life within us (see Rm 6:4). We must take care not to do anything which might hurt the baby. Therefore, the Church warns us: “Be on guard lest your spirits become...

“His face blanched…” –Daniel 5:6 The fingers of human hands have written the words of God, that is, human authors wrote the books of the Bible. King Belshazzar trembled and was deeply shaken by watching the words of God being inexorably and relentlessly written upon the wall (Dn 5:6, 9). “There is no chaining the word of God!” (2 Tm 2:9) Perhaps the king ordered a servant to prevent that hand from writing. But such efforts, even if attempted, could not overcome the writing of the word God wanted to be communicated. The Word of God is living and effective...

“But the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.” —Daniel 2:35 We get the false impression that our governments, dynasties, and human institutions are invincible. We are impressed by military might and nuclear power. We think something that has lasted a few hundred years is impregnable (Ps 90:4). The Lord has released a rolling stone down the lane of human history, already bowling over the governmental, financial, and institutional pins of planet earth. Jesus is that Stone rejected by the builders (Ps 118:22; cf Mk 12:10). “That is the meaning of the stone...