Today’s Prayer and Reflection: If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love. (John 15:10) Lots of people would pay a fortune for the secret to the complete joy that Jesus promises in today’s Gospel reading. Shelves and shelves of self-help books in shops around the world are living proof of that. So […]
Continue ReadingToday’s Prayer and Reflection: I remain in you. (John 15:4) Throughout the Old Testament, we see times when God revealed himself to his people in a dramatic way. He dwelled in a tent (Exodus 27), a pillar of fire and a cloud (Exodus 13:21), and the Temple (1 Kings 6). There was no question that […]
Continue ReadingToday’s Prayer and Reflection: It is necessary for us to undergo many hardships to enter the Kingdom of God. (Acts 14:22) St. Paul must have made quite an impact when he spoke these words. He had just returned from traveling to Derbe, Lystra, and Pisidian Antioch, preaching the gospel as he went. But the Paul […]
Continue ReadingToday’s Prayer and Reflection: I am going to prepare a place for you. (John 14:2) A teenage girl who was the youngest of eight children had waited for years to have a room of her own. For her sixteenth birthday, her busy mom secretly sewed a beautiful comforter with matching curtains. When the girl arrived […]
Continue ReadingToday’s Prayer and Reflection: Whoever eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood remains in me and I in him. (John 6:56) The few moments before you receive Jesus in the Eucharist at Mass are a beautiful opportunity to turn your heart and thoughts toward the Lord. Have you ever tried, as you walk up to […]
Continue ReadingToday’s Prayer and Reflection: Philip . . . proclaimed Jesus to him. (Acts 8:34, 35) Who was this man who met up with an Ethiopian court official and then was mysteriously “snatched. . . away” (Acts 8:39)? Not to be confused with the apostle Philip, this Philip was one of the seven deacons appointed to […]
Continue ReadingToday’s Prayer and Reflection: There was great joy in that city. (Acts 8:8) You watched your friend Stephen being stoned to death. Now persecution has broken out in your city (Acts 8:1). You might even be the next person killed for believing in Jesus. So you leave Jerusalem, but you keep preaching the gospel—and many […]
Continue ReadingToday’s Prayer and Reflection: He gave them bread from heaven to eat. (John 6:31) These words, spoken by the people who had just witnessed Jesus miraculously multiply loaves and fish, contained a challenge in them. “What sign can you do?” they asked (John 6:30). Can you top Moses, who gave our ancestors manna from above? […]
Continue ReadingToday’s Prayer and Reflection: You are looking for me . . . because you ate the loaves. (John 6:26) The people don’t seem to be learning their lesson, do they? You would think that after witnessing the miracle of the loaves and fishes—and after joining in the miracle by eating—they would want to know more […]
Continue ReadingToday’s Prayer and Reflection: Have I been with you for so long a time and you still do not know me? (John 14:9) Philip didn’t see the whole picture. Even though he had spent several years with Jesus, he still didn’t understand who Jesus was. He didn’t grasp that when he looked at Jesus, he […]
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