Tagged: verse for the day

“There was no water in the cistern, only mud, and Jeremiah sank into the mud.” –Jeremiah 38:6 “No water, only mud” — is that a description of your life? Are you in a hole, sinking in the mud, starving to death spiritually? (see Jer 38:9) You need to add water to turn your mud into a mud puddle, and your mud puddle into a fountain of living waters (see Jn 4:14). Most of us have already received the life-giving waters of Baptism, but we should renew our baptismal promises. We have already done that on Easter Sunday, but maybe we...

“Children were brought to Him so that He could place His hands on them in prayer.” –Matthew 19:13 Jesus laid His hands on children and prayed for them. He holds children and the whole world in His hands. Jesus embraces us with His nail-scarred hands. Hands are for: praying, holding our spouses and children, embracing our brothers and sisters (see 1 Thes 5:26), disciplining children (see Prv 13:24), helping our neighbors, honoring (applauding) others, praising God (see Ps 134:2). Hands are not for expressing: anger, impurity, rejection. Our hands will be instruments of righteousness and not weapons for evil (Rm...

“I now say to you, whoever divorces his wife (lewd conduct is a separate case) and marries another commits adultery.” –Matthew 19:9 Jesus came into the world and freed all human beings from sin by His death on the cross. He destroyed the devil’s works (1 Jn 3:8) by rising from the dead. Jesus gave us all the capacity of becoming sharers in the divine nature (2 Pt 1:4). Jesus made us adopted sons and daughters of God. “This means that if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old order has passed away; now all is...

“My heavenly Father will treat you in exactly the same way unless each of you forgives his brother from his heart.” –Matthew 18:35 Jesus not only told Peter to forgive 70×7 times, but also implied that we would need to forgive more (Mt 18:22). Usually we don’t get hurt 70×7 times because we don’t let others have that many shots at us. After a few hurts, we, like turtles, put our heads back in our shells to prevent any additional wounding. When Jesus calls us to forgive 70×7 times, He calls us to expose ourselves to repeated hurts. “When a...

“He who sows sparingly will reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will reap bountifully.” –2 Corinthians 9:6 “In the measure you give you shall receive, and more besides” (Mk 4:24). The Lord promises that we will never out-give Him. If we give bountifully, we will harvest more than we sow and receive more than we give. Then we are to give generously again and receive even more, spiritually and materially. After a few rounds of giving and then receiving more, we have significantly greater spiritual and material resources than before our rounds of giving and receiving. This may not...