Category: Bible Study

“This is how you are to pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name.’ ” –Matthew 6:9 The writer of Sirach exclaimed: “How awesome are you, Elijah!” (Sir 48:4) Yet the awesome Elijah is only a creature of the totally awesome God. “Let us praise Him the more, since we cannot fathom Him, for greater is He than all His works; awful indeed is the Lord’s majesty, and wonderful is His power” (Sir 43:29-30). “To whom can you liken God? With what equal can you confront Him?” (Is 40:18) Jesus instructs us to address as “Father,” “Abba,” “Daddy,” this...

“Elisha answered, ‘May I receive a double portion of your spirit.’ ‘You have asked something that is not easy,’ [Elijah] replied.” –2 Kings 2:9-10 To receive a double portion of God’s Spirit, that is, to be filled with the Spirit, is a matter of leaving and staying. We must leave behind sin, selfishness, pride, ego, the world, the flesh, and the devil. In addition to leaving these evil things, we must leave behind good things. For instance, Elijah told Elisha to stay in Gilgal, Bethel, and Jericho (see 2 Kgs 2:1-6). It was good to stay in these places, or...

“My command to you is: love your enemies.” –Matthew 5:44 We worship a God Who loves enemies, Who does not avoid them but lays down His life for them. When we kneel before the cross, close by the Lord’s crucified feet, we hear His words, “Father, forgive them; they do not know what they are doing” (Lk 23:34). For while we were still His enemies, He died for us (see Rm 5:8). The Lord promised to set us free from the hands of our enemies (Lk 1:74) and to set a table before us in the sight of our foes...

“What I say to you is: offer no resistance to injury.” –Matthew 5:39 To punish and control those who have hurt us, we are inclined to retaliate. We feel that our retaliation will not be effective unless it inflicts worse damages than the original offense. However, this extra damage is unjust. Therefore, those who suffer it feel obligated to hurt us some more to even things up. To stop this escalating violence, the Lord taught us in the old covenant: “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth” (Mt 5:38; Lv 24:20). Jesus realized that, although the Old...

“I said, ‘I confess my faults to the Lord,’ and You took away the guilt of my sin.” –Psalm 32:5 Today’s psalm response is from one of the seven penitential psalms as listed in the footnotes of the New American Bible. The seven Penitential Psalms are psalms 6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130, and 143. I’ve often prayed passages from these psalms in times of repentance and penance and especially when preparing for Confession. Have you ever been so sorry for your sins that you can’t even find the words to express your sorrow to God? (see Ps 6:3-4) On...