Tagged: verse for the day

“Be stouthearted, and wait for the Lord.” –Psalm 27:14 If you have a weakness in your faith life, the pivotal events of Holy Week will serve to bring that flaw to the surface. Holy Week is like a refiner’s fire (Mal 3:2-3) that burns away impurities and melts down imperfections. It is a test of our faith, a trial by fire (1 Pt 1:6-7; Sir 2:5). The critical action in Holy Week is to turn to the Lord for aid, and not turn to anyone else. Judas Iscariot spent Holy Week with Jesus physically, but his heart and mind were...

“Once again the high priest interrogated Him: ‘Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?’ Then Jesus answered: ‘I AM.’ ” ––Mark 14:61-62 Jesus has entered Jerusalem. Our forty-day penitential journey nears completion. Lent ends when we begin the Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday evening. Ash Wednesday seems like only yesterday. Have we answered the Lord’s call to prayer, fasting and almsgiving? It’s not too late! Our procrastination keeps good company. The apostles were also often slow to catch on to the Lord’s revelations (see Jn 12:16). Don’t despair. Cling to the Church’s liturgical schedule...

“You have no understanding whatever! Can you not see that it is better for you to have one man die [for the people]?” –John 11:49-50 How do we transform what Pope St. John Paul II called a “culture of death” into a covenant of life-giving peace? (see Ez 37:26) We must prophesy over the dry bones of this culture and these bones will begin to rattle and come to life (Ez 37:4ff). The prophecy that changes the dead into the living is not just words; it is the ultimate prophecy of a self-sacrificing death for love. Paradoxically, death changes death...

“I hear the whisperings of many.” –Jeremiah 20:10 A week from today will be Good Friday. We almost cringe as we think of hearing the reading of Christ’s passion and death. How will we be able to endure venerating the cross by kissing His wounds? We naturally are upset when we recall the death of our older Brother and loving Savior. We are even more disturbed when we realize that, through our sins, we were part of the gang that murdered Him (see Catechism of the Catholic Church, 598). At first, the blood Jesus shed horrifies us; but when we...

“A body You have prepared for Me.” –Hebrews 10:5 The body of Jesus Christ became incarnate in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary. She conceived by the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit. Mary’s fully human nature was freely joined to the Holy Spirit’s divine nature. Thus the body of the Infant Jesus was perfectly formed and prepared for redeeming and saving fallen humanity. In the Mass, we celebrate the marriage of the Holy Spirit and Mary, as well as the Fruit of her womb, Jesus, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity. Jesus’ Body was prepared by the Spirit...