Tagged: verse for the day

“The matter is clearer still if another priest is appointed according to the likeness of Melchizedek.” –Hebrews 7:15 Mass Readings: January 18 First: Hebrews 7:1-3,15-17; Resp: Psalm 110:1-4; Gospel: Mark 3:1-6 The Israelites were enslaved, defeated in war, starved to death, exiled, and oppressed. In their pain, they asked Yahweh how He would free them. They received the revelation that they would be saved by the priesthood. The Christians to whom the book of Hebrews was written were persecuted and martyred by the Roman government. They “endured mockery, scourging, even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, sawed in two, put...

“Like a sure and firm anchor, that hope extends beyond the veil through which Jesus, our Forerunner, has entered on our behalf.” –Hebrews 6:19-20 Mass Readings: January 17 First: Hebrews 6:10-20; Resp: Psalm 111:1-2,4-5,9-10; Gospel: Mark 2:23-28 On the annual Jewish Day of Atonement, the high priest entered into the presence of God in the Holy of Holies in the Temple to atone for the sins of the people. No one except the High Priest could enter “beyond the veil” which separated the Holy of Holies from the people, and even he could only enter that one day a year. The Ark...

“No one sews a patch of unshrunken cloth on an old cloak.” –Mark 2:21 Mass Readings: January 16 First: Hebrews 5:1-10; Resp: Psalm 110:1-4; Gospel: Mark 2:18-22 Our lives are sometimes pictured as a fabric. This fabric consists of family, marriage, children, friends, work, finances, social life, habits, entertainment, service, etc. When we give our lives to Jesus, He sews into our lives “a patch of unshrunken cloth” (Mk 2:21). As this patch shrinks, it stretches all the other parts of the fabric of our lives. Therefore, we need a new lifestyle in which we are willing to be stretched...

“Look! There is the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world!” –John 1:29 Mass Readings: January 15 First: Isaiah 49:3,5-6;Resp: Psalm 40:2,4,7-10;Second: 1 Corinthians 1:1-3;Gospel: John 1:29-34 God’s Servant was formed from the womb (Is 49:5). The Lord “knitted” us in our mothers’ wombs (see Ps 139:13). From our mothers’ wombs, the Lord gave us our names (see Is 49:1). The Lord is working with children in the womb both physically and spiritually. This means: We should pray for and with children in the womb. Pregnant mothers should receive Holy Communion, and their babies in the...

Jesus came for sinners, that all might have the opportunity to repent, believe in Him, be saved, and have life to the full, both now and for eternity. Pope Francis has said that the Eucharist is not a prize for the perfect but a medicine for sinners. Mass Readings: January 14 First: Hebrews 4:12-16; Resp: Psalm 19:8-10,15; Gospel: Mark 2:13-17 “For we do not have a High Priest Who is unable to sympathize with our weakness, but One Who was tempted in every way that we are, yet never sinned” (Heb 4:15). “Since He was Himself tested through what He...