Category: Verse for the day

WALKING THROUGH A MINED-FIELD

“The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.” –Psalm 23:1 Mass Readings: May 7 First: Acts 2:14,36-41; Resp: Psalm 23:1-6; Second: 1 Peter 2:20-25;Gospel: John 10:1-10 Listen to the Mass Readings Few of us have ever pastured, fleeced, or slaughtered a sheep. So we don’t have the experience to understand the image of the Good Shepherd. Nevertheless, many people are fascinated with this image. Perhaps they instinctively know the deep and compelling need of the human person to be shepherded. One of the main works of a shepherd is to guide the sheep. If we are on the road...

MAKE A RUN FOR IT

“There he found a man named Aeneas, a paralytic who had been bedridden for eight years. Peter said to him, ‘Aeneas, Jesus Christ cures you! Get up and make your bed.’ The man got up at once.” –Acts 9:33-34 Mass Readings: May 6 First: Acts 9:31-42; Resp: Psalm 116:12-17;Gospel: John 6:60-69 Listen to the Mass Readings The first healing by the newborn Church recorded in Acts of the Apostles was the healing of the man born lame (Acts 3:1ff). Later, Peter healed “Aeneas, a paralytic who had been bedridden for eight years” (Acts 9:33). Paul also healed a man lame...

WHATEVER IT TAKES

“The Lord said to him: ‘You must go! This man is the instrument I have chosen to bring My name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. I Myself shall indicate to him how much he will have to suffer for My name.’” –Acts 9:15-16 Mass Readings: May 5 First: Acts 9:1-20; Resp: Psalm 117:1-2; Gospel: John 6:52-59 Listen to the Mass Readings The Lord converted Saul of Tarsus by: grace (see Eph 2:8), the martyrdom of St. Stephen (Acts 7:60–8:1), the redemptive suffering of the early Church (Acts 8:1, 3; 9:4), the prayers of...

SECRETS TO KNOWING THE BIBLE

“He said to him, ‘Do you really grasp what you are reading?’ ‘How can I,’ the man replied, ‘unless someone explains it to me?’ ” –Acts 8:30-31 Mass Readings: May 4 First: Acts 8:26-40; Resp: Psalm 66:8-9,16-17,20; Gospel: John 6:44-51 Listen to the Mass Readings Some of you reading One Bread, One Body are much more intelligent that I am and know more about the Bible than I do. So why are you reading this? The Lord has arranged it that we need other people’s help to understand much of the Bible. For example, the Ethiopian eunuch, the “official in...

LISTEN TO THE CHOSEN ONES

“He was seen by James; then by all the apostles.” –1 Corinthians 15:7 Mass Readings: May 3 First: 1 Corinthians 15:1-8; Resp: Psalm 19:2-5; Gospel: John 14:6-14 Listen to the Mass Readings Jesus selected James, Philip, and the other apostles at the start of His public ministry (Mk 3:13ff). Jesus also selected the apostles to see Him after He had risen from the dead (1 Cor 15:5, 7). No one can ever replace the witness of the apostles as “the chosen witnesses of the Lord’s Resurrection” (Catechism, 860). Jesus told His apostles: “He who hears you, hears Me. He who...