It’s Valentine’s Day weekend, so let’s talk about true love! Jesus requires His disciples to be full of His truth and love. Our Responsorial Psalm this Sunday begins: “Blessed are they whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord” (Psalm 119:1). Our “Way,” Jesus, is indeed blameless. We are called to become like Him in all things. Jesus is “the way and the truth and the life” (John 14:6) and love…
“Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” – John 1:29 I greatly admire how St. John the Baptist recognized Jesus immediately upon encountering Him. Even when John was a babe in the womb he recognized the presence of Christ in Mary’s womb and responded boldly with joy. Elizabeth (John’s mother) proclaimed to Mary: “For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my…
“…so must the Son of Man be lifted up.” – John 3:14 What does it mean to exalt the cross of Christ? In one sense, it means that we lift it up in honor because it is a “sign of salvation” for us (Wisdom 16:6). We cherish it because it is the altar of Christ’s sacrifice of Himself for us (see Hebrews 10:11 and 13:10). It’s interesting to think about the action of lifting or…
You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself. – Luke 10:27 Have you ever prayed the Litany of Trust? It is a lovely but challenging prayer that can help open us up to God’s deliverance and love. It focuses on asking God to free us from things that hold us back from trusting Him.…
Peter was distressed that he [Jesus] had said to him a third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.” – John 21:17 “Do you love me?” It’s the question of every human heart. I believe it’s the deepest question we have in all our relationships. We subconsciously and silently ask it of our parents, friends,…
…the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. – Romans 5:5 God has a deep, mysterious secret. This makes my head spin, but He has shared it with us! Are you ready for it? HE IS LOVE. God doesn’t simply act in love. It’s not something He feels or does. It’s WHO He is. As St. John taught, “God is love” (1…
I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another. This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. – John 13:34-35 Jesus is very clear with us in our Gospel passage this Sunday: we are to love one another. How we love one another is a kind of litmus test for our identities as Christian…
Then [Jesus] said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe.” Thomas answered and said to him, “My Lord and my God!” -John 20:28 What a humble, loving, and merciful God we have! He meets our every need. St. Pope John Paul II taught that what humanity needs most is God’s merciful love: “There is nothing…
While he was still a long way off, his father caught sight of him, and was filled with compassion. He ran to his son, embraced him and kissed him. Luke 15:20 Are you as struck as I am by the love of the father in this Sunday’s Gospel reading, the Parable of the Prodigal Son, Luke 15:1-32? After the sinful son comes to his senses (Luke 15:17), he examines his conscience, prepares to confess his…
A good tree does not bear rotten fruit, nor does a rotten tree bear good fruit (Lk 6: 43). What is this “good fruit” that Jesus speaks of in our Gospel this Sunday? Fruits of the Holy Spirit are “perfections that the Holy Spirit forms in us as the first fruits of eternal glory…[they are]: ‘charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, generosity, gentleness, faithfulness, modesty, self-control, chastity’” (CCC 1832). These are most definitely “good fruits.”…