(Rv.11:4-12; Ps.144:1,2,9-10; Lk.20:27-40) “After three and a half days, the breath of life which comes from God returned to them.” And these his two witnesses “went up in a cloud as their enemies looked on” “in sheer terror.” For it seemed they had “conquer[ed] and kill[ed]” the Lord’s prophets. Their corpses had lain “in the streets of the great city, which has the symbolic name ‘Sodom’ or ‘Egypt,’ where also their Lord was crucified.” Fire had “come out of the mouths of these witnesses to dev...
Nov 22, 2024•6 min
(Rv.10:8-11; Ps.119:14,24,72,103,111,131; Lk.19:45-48) “I gasp with open mouth in my yearning for your commands.” In our first reading, John is told to “take the open scroll from the hand of the angel” and to “eat it.” In his mouth “it tasted as sweet as honey.” And now he who has eaten of the blessed word of God “must prophesy,” must speak the words upon the scroll, despite the sour stomach, the persecutions, it will inevitably bring. In our gospel we hear that “the entire populace was listenin...
Nov 21, 2024•4 min
(Rv.5:1-10; Ps.149:1-6,9,Rv.5:10; Lk.19:41-44) “Do not weep. The Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has won the right by His victory to open the scroll with its seven seals.” “Jesus wept over” Jerusalem “because [she] failed to recognize the time of [her] visitation”; and so she will be destroyed, and so her enemies will “leave not a stone on a stone within” her walls. And John “wept bitterly because no one could be found to open or examine the scroll” “in the right hand of the One w...
Nov 20, 2024•5 min
(Rv.4:1-11; Ps.150:1-6,Rv.4:8; Lk.19:11-28) “O Lord our God, you are worthy to receive glory and honor and power.” “A man of noble birth went to a faraway country to become its king.” And of this faraway country and of its king, whom “everything that has breath” should praise, John has vision today. “Above me there was an open door to heaven”; and a “trumpetlike voice” called the great Evangelist, “Come up here and I will show you what must take place in time to come.” And so, “caught up in ecst...
Nov 19, 2024•5 min
(Rv.3:1-6,14-22; Ps.15:2-5,Rv.3:21; Lk.19:1-10) “Today salvation has come to this house.” To two of His houses, two of His seven churches, does the Lord speak today, calling them both to repentance, that they might know the salvation Zacchaeus has found. In no uncertain terms does the Lord call the churches in Sardis and Laodicea, chastising both dearly, telling the first: “I know the reputation you have of being alive, when in fact you are dead!” and the second (who think themselves “so rich an...
Nov 18, 2024•5 min
(Rv.1:1-4,2:1-5; Ps.1:1-4,6,Rv.2:7; Lk.18:35-43) “Jesus of Nazareth was passing by.” A blind man sat begging by the side of the road. “Hearing a crowd go by the man asked, ‘What is that?’” And he was told that “Jesus drew near,” that all he could possibly ask for was upon him – and so he begged with the greatest sincerity he could muster. And as the end of the Church year approaches, we hear from the Lord’s beloved “servant John” “the revelation God gave to Jesus Christ”; he “bears witness to th...
Nov 17, 2024•4 min
(3Jn.5-8; Ps.112:1-6; Lk.18:1-8) “When the Son of Man comes, will He find any faith on the earth?” So beset by weakness are we on this earth, brothers and sisters. So doubtful, so fearful… so seemingly without help, alone. And so our faith does falter, and so we do fall. And we wonder, “Where is God?” But the Son asks us today where we are. He emphasizes “the necessity of praying always and not losing heart.” Why should we think that God does not listen to us? If the corrupt judge can give justi...
Nov 15, 2024•5 min
(2Jn.4-9; Ps.119:1-2,10-11,17-18; Lk.17:26-37) “Anyone who remains rooted in the teaching possesses both the Father and the Son.” While “anyone who is so ‘progressive’ that he does not remain rooted in the teaching of Christ does not possess God.” Rather, he possesses but the emptiness of this earth. And what is this teaching so necessary for our salvation, for knowing and possessing the Lord our God? It is indicated clearly in John’s request of the Lady to whom he writes (whom we may take as th...
Nov 14, 2024•5 min
(Philm.7-20; Ps.146:7-10; Lk.17:20-25) “The reign of God is already in your midst.” Brothers and sisters, Jesus the Christ has come, He has “suffer[ed] much and be[en] rejected by the present age”… and He has risen. This is all you need to know. There is no need for “careful watching when the reign of God will come,” for it is not “a matter of reporting that it is ‘here’ or ‘there’” – it is among us today. And when it shall be fulfilled, you will never know. “Through you the hearts of God’s peop...
Nov 13, 2024•5 min
(Ti.3:1-7; Ps.23:1-6; Lk.17:11-19) “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!” Such is the cry of the ten lepers standing at a distance from the Lord. And such is the cry that wells up in all our hearts when we realize we must keep ourselves far from His company for the sin that festers like a disease in our souls. Desiring no longer to be outcasts from His love, we call out… and He answers. Do you think you are something different than these lepers? Do you think your status with God is somehow raised abo...
Nov 12, 2024•5 min
(Ti.2:1-8,11-14; Ps.37:3-4,18,23,27,29,39; Lk.17:7-10) “Live temperately, justly, and devoutly in this age.” Brothers and sisters, be “eager to do what is right” as servants of the Most High God. “Trust in the Lord and do good, that you may dwell in the land and enjoy security.” For “the Lord watches over the lives of the wholehearted; their inheritance lasts forever.” Paul gives instruction to all on how to live a godly life here on this earth. He “tell[s] the older men that they must be temper...
Nov 11, 2024•4 min
(Ti.1:1-9; Ps.24:1-6; Lk.17:1-6) “Who can ascend the mountain of the Lord? Or who may stand in His holy place?” “He whose hands are sinless, whose heart is clean, who desires not what is vain.” Of priests and holy men our readings speak, yes, but most especially of bishops, who are most entrusted with the Word of God, with the preaching of the Gospel of eternal life… and how silence in this regard leads but to condemnation. Paul sets the standard for the “servant of God.” He presents himself “as...
Nov 10, 2024•6 min
(Phil.3:17-4:1; Ps.122:1-5; Lk.16:1-8) “We have our citizenship in heaven.” Brothers and sisters, we are not among “those who are set upon the things of this world.” Always we must remember this. Though surrounded by worldly things, our hearts are not set upon them; rather, “we eagerly await the coming of our savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.” Our hearts are set upon heaven. Then what are we to do with “this lowly body of ours” as we long for the Lord to “remake it according to the pattern of His g...
Nov 07, 2024•6 min
(Phil.3:3-8; Ps.105:2-7; Lk.15:1-10) “I have come to rate all as loss in the light of the surpassing knowledge of my Lord Jesus Christ.” Paul tells us, “Those things I used to consider gain I have now reappraised as loss in the light of Christ.” The “legal observance” he grasped so tightly – having been “circumcised on the eighth day,” “a Hebrew of Hebrew origins,” himself a Pharisee – he now looses to the wind, desiring only to be among those “who worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Chris...
Nov 06, 2024•6 min
(Phil.2:12-18; Ps.27:1,4,13-14; Lk.14:25-33) “Work with anxious concern to achieve your salvation.” Strive we must always to attain the kingdom of God, setting our hearts on salvation alone, and trusting in the Lord all the while. “If one of you decides to build a tower, will he not first sit down and calculate the outlay?” And do you think the outlay for being a follower of Christ is any less important to consider? For what is required of the soul on the path to the kingdom is nothing less than...
Nov 05, 2024•5 min
(Phil.2:5-11; Ps.22:26-32; Lk.14:15-24) “The lowly shall eat their fill.” Yes, “happy is he who eats bread in the kingdom of God.” Indeed, he shall have his fill. But who shall partake of such grace? Who shall come to the feast when the Master calls? Brothers and sisters, our “attitude must be as Christ’s: though He was in the form of God, He did not deem equality with God something to be grasped at.” Rather, He made Himself lowly, as we are lowly. And now He is exalted; now He prepares the banq...
Nov 04, 2024•5 min
(Phil.2:1-4; Ps.131:1-3; Lk.14:12-14) “Let all parties think humbly of others as superior to themselves, each of you looking to others’ interests rather than his own.” The key to Christianity is to see others, even the blind and the lame and the crippled beggar, as superior to ourselves, and place ourselves at their service in love. As Christians we can never look down upon another individual; if our heart is proud and our “eyes haughty,” we are certainly set up for a fall, for the Lord who sees...
Nov 03, 2024•5 min
(Eph.6:10-20; Ps.144:1-2,9-10; Lk.13:31-35) “Today and tomorrow I cast out devils and perform cures, and on the third day my purpose is accomplished.” “Blessed be the Lord, my rock, who trains my hands for battle, my fingers for war,” King David sings, for the Lord is the “shield… who subdues peoples under [him]”; He is the “stronghold” by whom “victory” is his. The same image of battle is used by Paul as he encourages us, “Put on the armor of God so that you may be able to stand firm against th...
Oct 30, 2024•5 min
(Eph.6:1-9; Ps.145:10-14; Lk.13:22-30) “Do God’s will with your whole heart as slaves of Christ.” These words Paul addresses to the slaves of his time, instructing them to “obey [their] human masters with the reverence, the awe, and the sincerity [they] owe to Christ,” but they apply well to us all, who are in all things to serve the Lord. Always we should “give [our] service willingly, doing it for the Lord rather than men.” This is as “the narrow door” of which our Lord speaks; this is what wi...
Oct 29, 2024•5 min
(Eph.5:21-33; Ps.128:1-5; Lk.13:18-21) “To what shall I compare the reign of God?” Jesus Himself compares it to a mustard seed which grows so steadily into a “large shrub,” and to yeast which makes “the whole mass of dough” rise. And Paul tells us of the marriage union that it “refers to Christ and the Church.” These images should lead you, brother, to understand the glorious kingdom that is beyond all image. “The husband is head of the wife just as Christ is head of His body, the Church,” and h...
Oct 28, 2024•5 min
(Eph.4:7-16; Ps.122:1-5; Lk.13:1-9) “Each of us has received God’s favor in the measure in which Christ bestows it.” Paul reminds us today of Scripture: “When He ascended on high, He took a host of captives and gave gifts to men.” Christ Himself “descended into the lower regions of the earth,” coming to the place where we lowly humans dwell, and then “ascended into heaven, that He might fill all men with His gifts,” that those to whom He comes here on earth might know the riches of heaven to whi...
Oct 25, 2024•5 min
(Eph.4:1-6; Ps.24:1-6; Lk.12:54-59) “Make every effort to preserve the unity which has the Spirit as its origin and peace as its binding force.” Is this not what Jesus instructs the crowds in saying, “When you are going with your opponent to appear before a magistrate, try to settle with him on the way”? Do not both Paul and Jesus speak of the love we must have one for another, even for those who may seem our enemies? Again, in the House of God there is unity, there is peace. Among His children ...
Oct 24, 2024•5 min
(Eph.3:14-21; Ps.33:1-2,4-5,11-12,18-19; Lk.12:49-53) “Do you think I have come to establish peace on the earth?” Strong contrast we find in our readings today. Jesus speaks of the division He has come to bring by the fire of truth He lights on this earth – fire like a sword separating even the closest of family members one from another; whereas Paul speaks of “the breadth and the length and the height and the depth of Christ’s love” and the great oneness found in “the Father from whom every fam...
Oct 23, 2024•5 min
(Eph.3:2-12; Is.12:2-6; Lk.12:39-48) “When much has been given a man, much will be required of him.” Yes, “more will be asked of a man to whom more has been entrusted,” and today we see two of the men to whom the most has been entrusted. First, of course, is Peter, who queries the Lord and to whom the Lord addresses His question, “Who in your opinion is that faithful, farsighted steward whom the master will set over his servants to dispense their ration of grain in season?” knowing full well it ...
Oct 22, 2024•5 min
(Eph.2:12-22; Ps.85:9-14; Lk.12:35-38) “You who were once far off have been brought near through the blood of Christ.” We who “were excluded from the community of Israel,” who were not of His chosen people upon whom His Spirit rested and so were “without hope and without God in the world,” now are “fellow citizens of the saints and members of the household of God” by the great grace of the cross of Christ. Now, “in Him [we] are being built into this temple”; now all “have access in one Spirit to...
Oct 21, 2024•5 min
(Eph.2:1-10; Ps.100:2-5; Lk.12:13-21) “It is owing to His favor that salvation is yours through faith. This is not your own doing, it is God’s gift.” Brothers and sisters, salvation is no “reward for anything [we] have accomplished.” It is nothing we make by our own hands, but comes only by God’s “kindness to us in Christ Jesus.” “God is rich in mercy.” Here is the great truth; this is our great hope: “Because of His great love for us He brought us to life with Christ when we were dead in sin.” ...
Oct 20, 2024•5 min
(Eph.1:15-23; Ps.8:2-7; Lk.12:8-12) “Whoever acknowledges me before men – the Son of Man will acknowledge him before the angels of God.” We are only very small, less than a speck of dust in the eyes of God. Beholding His heavens, “the moon and the stars which [He] set in place,” should we not cry out to God with David in our psalm: “What is man that you should be mindful of him, or the son of man that you should care for him?” Truly we are but miserable creatures. And yet the Lord of all has dei...
Oct 18, 2024•5 min
(Eph.1:1-10; Ps.98:1-6; Lk.11:47-54) “It is in Christ and through His blood that we have been redeemed and our sins forgiven.” Oh, brothers and sisters, “so immeasurably generous is God’s favor to us.” He “has bestowed on us in Christ every spiritual blessing in the heavens!” In Christ we are chosen “to be holy and blameless in His sight, to be full of love… to be His adopted sons.” In our midst the Lord fulfills the plan “to be carried out in the fullness of time: namely, to bring all things in...
Oct 16, 2024•5 min
(Gal.5:18-25; Ps.1:1-4,6,Jn.8:12; Lk.11:42-46) “Since we live by the spirit, let us follow the spirit’s lead.” “Happy the man who follows not the counsel of the wicked nor walks in the way of sinners, nor sits in the company of the insolent”; these indeed follow not the spirit’s lead but the dictates of the flesh. And all their “licentiousness” and “drunkenness,” all their “hostilities” and “envy,” shall but lead to their doom. For “those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God!” ...
Oct 15, 2024•5 min
(Gal.5:1-6; Ps.119:41,43-45,47-48; Lk.11:37-41) “Any of you who seek your justification in the law have severed yourselves from Christ and fallen from God’s favor!” Brothers and sisters, “it is in the Spirit that we eagerly await the justification we hope for, and only faith can yield it.” The works prescribed under the testament of old have had their day and their time is passed. Circumcision, the central act of the law, along with the temple and its sacrifices, has been rendered useless. Physi...
Oct 14, 2024•5 min
