Tagged: verse for the day

“Between you and us there is fixed a great abyss…” –Luke 16:26 Mass Readings: March 1 First: Jeremiah 17:5-10; Resp: Psalm 1:1-4,6;Gospel: Luke 16:19-31 Listen to the Mass Readings Note that the rich man’s dialogue with Father Abraham shows that he knew Lazarus by name (see Lk 16:24). Twice the rich man (traditionally called ‘Dives’) asks Father Abraham to dispatch Lazarus to perform tasks that a servant boy would typically perform (Lk 16:24, 27). This indicates that Dives likely knew the poor man lying at his very door. The dogs paid more attention to Lazarus than did Dives. Possibly Dives...

“What is it you want?” –Matthew 20:21 Mass Readings: February 28 First: Jeremiah 18:18-20; Resp: Psalm 31:5-6,14-16; Gospel: Matthew 20:17-28 Listen to the Mass Readings Jeremiah wanted something from God that concerned an important religious matter. Jeremiah faithfully prophesied the hard message of repentance that God had charged him to deliver. The Israelites responded by deciding to kill Jeremiah, preferring false prophecy and lukewarm teaching from their favorite priests and prophets (Jer 18:18). Jeremiah was rightfully angry that his listeners preferred false teaching to God’s truth. This matched God’s desire. However, Jeremiah also wanted God to avenge him and punish...

“Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled, but whoever humbles himself shall be exalted.” –Matthew 23:12 Mass Readings: February 27 First: Isaiah 1:10,16-20; Resp: Psalm 50:8-9,16-17,21,23; Gospel: Matthew 23:1-12 Listen to the Mass Readings Jesus is gentle and humble of heart (Mt 11:29). He humbled Himself even to death on the cross (Phil 2:8). He commands us to learn humility from Him (Mt 11:29). This Lent, He calls us to break new ground in humility – to be more humble than we’ve ever been before. Grow in humility by: submitting to the authority of even hypocritical leaders (see Mt 23:3), admitting...

“Give, and it shall be given to you. Good measure pressed down, shaken together, running over, will they pour into the fold of your garment. For the measure you measure with will be measured back to you.” –Luke 6:38 Mass Readings: February 26 First: Daniel 9:4-10; Resp: Psalm 79:8-9,11,13; Gospel: Luke 6:36-38 Listen to the Mass Readings In Jesus’ time, most people worked the land as farmers. Modern farm mechanization didn’t exist. Recall that people wore ankle-length robes at the time. The method of sowing seeds in Jesus’ time was for each person to go to the seedpile, grab the...

“A cloud came, overshadowing them, and out of the cloud a voice: ‘This is My Son, My Beloved. Listen to Him.’ ” –Mark 9:7 “God is for us” (Rm 8:31). He “did not spare His own Son but handed Him over for the sake of us all” (Rm 8:32). After that, will He not “grant us all things besides?” (Rm 8:32) God couldn’t love us more. He loves us unconditionally, sacrificially, infinitely, perfectly, and eternally. Nevertheless, God does things and allows things in our lives which we can’t understand. Although this should make us question our powers of understanding, we...