In today's Gospel passage, the apostles experience chilling waves at Jesus' comment that one of them would betray him. So, distressing to them was the announcement that it prompted each one to ask Jesus: "Surely it is not I, Lord?"
It is a great thing to see how the respectful event in today’s gospel set the stage for the Paschal Mystery and foreshowed the holy event of the Triduum when Jesus would dine with the disciples, die, and resurrect to give all believers "the right to become children of God."
Today's readings make me realize how lonely it can feel to be a good Christian in our world. When we decide to remain faithful to the Lord and be obedient to him, persecution and rejection await us; often, friends and people we know are those who make us feel lonely because we choose not to side with them or abide where they abide.
As today is the feast of the annunciation of the Lord, my prayer is that we all respond to our baptismal character and calling in Christ to continue to grow in grace just like Mary.
Jesus knew everything that the scriptures said concerning him, and he accepted it and followed it to guide his life. Three things stand out in the gospel passage for the day .
Being a sinner isn't the problem. The actual predicament is the failure to repent and confess our sins. When circumstances brought the woman, who was taken in adultery to stand before Jesus, she realized how easier to face God with our sins than we often imagine
Today's gospel details are incidental and inconsequential to our faith as Catholics; they are commentaries of people figuring out Jesus' identity, though they were witnessing the exceptional words and acts of love he brought to humankind.
The readings for today's Mass offer additional significance: they trace and link Joseph aback to David and forwardly to Jesus, making him the ultimate fulfillment of the patriarchs and the prophets' line.
Whether weak or strong in our faith, no one should take constant prayer to ask God to keep him or her in obedience to his commands for granted. And understand that no one is beyond the help of prayer, even as without it, life’s pride, anxiety, and preoccupations never become easier to control, it essential that we embrace it.
My mother is eighty-plus now, so I have noticed that I must call on my birthday to remind her like I did yesterday. Physical and emotional challenges of aging and concerns about ten children and several grandchildren are enough to cause her to forget.
Blessings, graces, and divine love equally flow to us from God's throne. They come as gifts to touch our lives and fulfil them. And we cannot possess enough of such gifts to say to ourselves, “I have enough! I don’t need them anymore” or “I can do everything by myself.” Can our lives truly be sustained without the aid of the gifts he offers?
The Lord said to us in the gospel: unless you people see signs and wonders, you will not believe. Jesus’ comment is an invitation to examine the basic assumption of our personal beliefs as Christians. John mentions Jesus’ awareness of the failure of his native folks to honor and receive him. The reason, as we learn elsewhere, is that they knew his family. Then there were people from Galilee and Cana who believed him because they had seen Jesus perform miracles.
Loving God is something we must strive for as Christians daily. God tells us in the Bible to love him above everything and not decline his love or render the love and praise due him to idols.
The prophet Jeremiah indicates two foundational principles on which rests God's endless desire to remain in a relationship with his people. Listen to God's voice and become his people, and he will be your God. Follow constantly his commands, and it shall be well with you.
Today's readings focus on God's commandments to teach us that it is not our hard work, long years of work, or meticulous planning of our lives that bring great, happy life; instead, it is the blessing we receive by carefully following of God’s perfect commandments. Understand that God's blessing comes to us from his love and goodness, but observing his laws extends it in a greater and more comfortable ways.
If you have had a good confession with a priest before, you undoubtedly have experienced the complete joy of reassurance and forgiveness. Forgiveness produces incredible confidence and trust in us, others, the Church, and God; it is a four-way relationship, for every sin we commit is an offense to ourselves, others, the Church, and God.
Faith and doubt are both common to us; they control our thinking and actions all the time as Christians. We all have reasons to acknowledge that faith works for us most of the time; we experience God's assistance and interventions in our daily lives. There are equal reasons for doubts; there are unanswered prayers and unexpected things that befall us.
Painful reasons can delay or stop us from reconciling with those we love as families and friends. However, no cause can emerge stronger and more healing as the decision to forgive and reconcile relationships.
Nothing helps Christians better than the habit of talking to God regularly through the Holy Spirit in our hearts and heads. It is a habit that can more often keep our thinking and doings right before God and others. Part of the reason is that we can’t trust the dialogue in our heads and hearts to be always correct and trustworthy without the help of the Holy Spirit.
Christian stewardship assumes that all resources are gifts to receive and share. Because everything we have is a gift from the creator, we must return them to him in worthy causes and sharing.