“Strive to enter through the narrow door, for many, I tell you, will attempt to enter but will not be strong enough” (Lk 13:24). How can we become strong enough to do what is required for us to enter into the kingdom of heaven? Who is helping us to become stronger? Most of us have had a coach at some point in our lives. Coaches direct, advise, and encourage us. They help us train so…
“I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing!” (Lk 12:49). Jesus longs to see each one of us on fire with love for God and for each other. He doesn’t want to see just a little flicker of love. No, he wants to see our hearts blazing—full of warmth, energy, and light. Fire is usually destructive. It burns away almost everything in its path, leaving behind…
Today’s Scripture readings continue our theme from last week of keeping our eyes and hearts set on heaven. The first reading tells how the Jewish people in Egypt were prepared for their Exodus. They were to eat their Passover as those ready to leave their homes in Egypt and allow God to deliver them: “This is how you are to eat it: with your loins girt, sandals on your feet and your staff in hand,…
Have you ever wondered where your heart lives? Of course, your physical heart lives in your body. Your spiritual heart is the seat of your conscience, emotions, and desires. It’s deep within you, yet it can also be elsewhere. Our hearts can be overly focused on gaining money, power, and possessions, resulting in greed; on another person, resulting in obsession; in earthly pleasure, resulting in sin; or even on ourselves, resulting in selfishness. These are…
In today’s Gospel reading (Luke 11:1-13), Jesus exhorts us to persevere in prayer and trust in the infinite goodness of God: “And I tell you, ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened” (Lk 11:9-10). Prayer stretches our souls so that God…
Scripture tells us that St. Mary Magdalen had a special devotion to Christ’s precious feet. She wept over and anointed His feet in contrition for her sins. She humbly sat at His feet, listening to every word of His teaching. She stood courageously at the foot of His cross, bearing the weight of His passion. What a humble devotion, to worship at the feet of our Lord. “How beautiful are the feet upon the mountains…
St. Teresa of Calcutta (Mother Teresa) said, “If we have no peace, we have forgotten that we belong to each other.” When we welcome others in Christ’s name, even and especially people who are different from us, we’re fulfilling God’s greatest commandment to love God and love others (Lk 10: 27). When we love others, we are actually treating them as if they were Christ Himself. In the parable of the sheep and the goats…
“Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I shall say it again: rejoice!” (Phil 4:4). Over and over, Scripture exhorts us to rejoice in our Lord. The Psalms, especially, are full of calls to worship God, praise His holy name, and sing of His glory: “Let all the earth cry out to God with joy” (Ps 66: 1). Rejoicing is a joyful cry of the heart. When we worship—especially when we sing from our hearts at…
This week we will celebrate Independence Day—our day of liberty and freedom. Our political freedoms are protected by the Constitution. More importantly, our spiritual freedom is a free gift from God. Our political freedoms are based on this spiritual freedom. The Declaration of Independence states: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty…
The Blessed Sacrament—Jesus Himself—is “the source and summit of the Christian life” (CCC 1324). This means that, as Christians, our day-to-day living is both nourished and sustained by (the source) and directed toward being united with Jesus Christ (the summit), the Holy Eucharist. “The Gospel of God’s love…finds its highest expression in the Eucharist. In the Mass and in Eucharistic Adoration we meet the merciful love of God that passes through the Heart of Jesus…