they took palm branches and went out to meet him, and cried out: “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, [even] the king of Israel.” John 12:13 NABRE In the Gospel of John we read about Jesus entry into Jerusalem riding a donkey like a king. The crowd heard he was coming to Jerusalem and gave him a royal welcome entering the Holy City. The news that He raised Lazarus…
In peace I will lie down and fall asleep, for you alone, Lord, make me secure. Psalms 4:9 NABRE Psalm 4 is a nice psalm to have available to say before bed. It is a prayer that acknowledges God’s protection with confidence. It opens with a confident appeal from the psalmist to God, followed by verses that tell others to trust in the Lord and ends with the quoted verse; laying down to sleep, not…
For whatever was written previously was written for our instruction, that by endurance and by the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope. Romans 15:4 NABRE In this section of the letter to the community in Rome Paul is calling for unity and pointing to Christ as a witness for how to treat one another. Paul asks the community to look after one another, the strong should put up with the failings of the…
You who dwell in the shelter of the Most High, who abide in the shade of the Almighty, Psalms 91:1 NABRE This psalm proclaims there is refuge in the Lord. Asking God for protection and shelter is like having the most foolproof insurance policy possible. But the psalm goes on to say it is more than refuge, God actually provides rescue. The psalm speaks of God’s rescue from illness, from persecution by enemies, wild beasts…
I have told you this so that you might have peace in me. In the world you will have trouble, but take courage, I have conquered the world. John 16:33 NABRE In the section of the Gospel of John containing Chapter 16 Jesus is giving His disciples a farewell discourse. He is informing them about His future and what will come of them as well. He has informed them that when He goes they will…
He was spurned and avoided by men, a man of suffering, knowing pain, Like one from whom you turn your face, spurned, and we held him in no esteem. Isaiah 53:3 NABRE Isaiah 53 is part of several passages known as the Servant Song. It speaks about a suffering servant, proclaiming the value of suffering, in that the servant triumphs through humiliation and suffering. More than that the servant makes the pains and the suffering…
Recently I changed where I go to church. I spent the last almost thirty years of my life attending Ascension Roman Catholic Church in Boca Raton, Florida, and last year changed to become a member of Life.Church in Wellington, Florida. As a life long Roman Catholic, abortion was something I heard about at least bi-weekly, either from the homilist, or through the activities of the local Respect Life Group, or even through articles written in…
All Christians honor Mary as the Mother of God, (Theotokos – God-bearer.) She played a vital role in the incarnation of the God Man, Jesus. But the extent to which Roman Catholics are devoted to Mary goes further than most other Christian groups. It is unlikely you could find a Roman Catholic Church building without a statue that represents Mary in a pronounced or honorable place, with fresh flowers and perhaps even prayer candles situated…
Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. But early in the morning he arrived again in the temple area, and all the people started coming to him, and he sat down and taught them. Then the scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery and made her stand in the middle. They said to him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. Now in the law, Moses…
Jesus went across the Sea of Galilee (some call it Tiberias). A huge crowd followed him, attracted by the miracles they had seen him do among the sick. When he got to the other side, he climbed a hill and sat down, surrounded by his disciples. It was nearly time for the Feast of Passover, kept annually by the Jews. When Jesus looked out and saw that a large crowd had arrived, he said to…
Opening the Second Vatican Council Pope John XXIII made a remark that defined the nature of the entire council, “Throw open the windows of the church and let the fresh air of the spirit blow through.” It was a call for the church to recognize a need to engage with the modern world, to develop her desire to be a faith for all people and that the church define evangelization as a major reason for…
Soon after the release of the Pennsylvania Grand Jury report on the sexual abuse scandal Professor and Author Scott Walker Hahn posted on his Facebook page a caution about turning to a married priesthood in the Roman Catholic Church as a “simple solution to the problem of clerical scandal.” His point of view is further supported by the notion of a plethora of divorced Protestant pastors (Hahn’s post had the rate at 50% but he later…
This is the third week of a series we are calling, “righteousness from God.” By righteous we mean we are in right relationship with God. It is a human quality but it takes on a divine presence when we allow God to make us righteous. We commonly think of it as being moral, being right in all that constitutes a moral persona. To be righteous we are right, we have right conduct which is pleasing…
This is the second week of a new series we are calling, “righteousness from God.” By righteous we mean we are in right relationship with God. It is a human quality but it takes on a divine presence when we allow God to make us righteous. We commonly think of it as being moral, being right in all that constitutes a moral persona. To be righteous we are right, we have right conduct which is…
This is the first week of a new series we are calling, “righteousness from God.” It is also the beginning of the Lenten season for many traditional churches. Lent commemorates the forty days Jesus spent in the desert fasting and praying prior to the beginning of his public ministry. Churches use these same forty days (excluding Sundays) as the preparation time building up to the three days of the Passion and Resurrection of Jesus at…
This is the fourth and final week of our four week series we have called “Labor in the Lord.” We hear in the writing of Paul, that in the Lord our labor is never in vain. It may seem what we do for God does not accomplish anything, or we are not convincing people to become a disciple, or perhaps we think when we serve we are not making anything better. But when our labor…
This is the third week of our four week series we are calling “Labor in the Lord.” We hear in the writing of Paul, that in the Lord our Labor is never in vain. It may seem what we do for God does not accomplish anything, or we are not convincing people to become a disciple, or perhaps we think when we serve we are not making anything better. But when our labor is done…
This is the second week of our four week series we are calling “Labor in the Lord.” We hear in the writing of Paul, that in the Lord our Labor is never in vain. It may seem what we do for God is not accomplishing anything, or we are not convincing people to become a disciple, or perhaps we think when we serve we are not making anything better. But when our labor is done…
