Daily Reflections
Jesus’ Stand on Good and Evil My dear friends, the Gospel today begins with two incidences of disasters that can challenge one’s faith and belief in God. This is because we normally have the wrong notion – as some of the Jews did at the time of Jesus – that…
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Today marks one of my favorite saints’ feast day, Pope Saint John Paul II. Four years ago, I had the opportunity to travel throughout Poland and follow the life of this great saint. By the end of the trip, I had heard one phrase most used to describe him, “he…
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Today’s psalm speaks of the person who delights in the law of the Lord and meditates on his law day and night. A good starting point to meditate on God’s law or word is lectio divina. But rather than concentrating on lectio, I would like to focus briefly on God’s…
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Sin promises liberation. For example, sexual liberation, with slogans like “Express yourself”; “If it feels good, do it”; and “Make love, not war.” Sin always extracts much more than it promises and fleetingly delivers, however. This reality is expressed in truisms, including “Moral absolutes substantiate themselves absolutely”; “God sometimes punishes…
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In the end, it all hinges on free will. In St. Paul’s marvelous letter, he reminds the Romans and us of that “happy fault” that caused sin to enter the world yet won for us so great a redeemer. And through the redeeming sacrifice of Jesus, the Christ, we are…
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St. Luke the evangelist can be particularly dear to us because he is the “evangelist of Our Lady.” Only from him did we get handed down to us the accounts of annunciation, visitation, the scenes of Christmas, and the presentation in the temple of Jesus. And we can say he…
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I always grin when I think about the Apostles getting snarky with one another, especially when James and John’s mom steps in to ask Jesus what His plans are for her boys (not as explicit in St. Mark’s version). We all have a propensity to want to know the future.…
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Acknowledgment is a common courteous behavior parents teach their children in their earliest years. Parents want their sons and daughters to acknowledge a person’s presence as well as gifts they have received. Acknowledgement is a way of saying that the person matters. In the beginning of today’s Gospel, Jesus is…
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It is essential to understand the Church’s teaching about faith to help us appreciate Abraham’s faith in God. He is credited as being righteous, as we heard in the first reading. Faith is a gift of God, a supernatural virtue infused by Him (CCC 153). The exercise of faith is…
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Paul bases his ministry on the belief that all human beings, of whatever race, are called to salvation through Jesus Christ. By contrast, today’s Gospel alludes to the murder of many prophets in Old Testament times. Old Testament terms often resonate in Paul’s writings. They include: the justice of God,…
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