(Acts 5:27-33; Ps.34:2,7,9,17-20; Jn.3:31-36) “The One whom God has sent speaks the words of God; He does not ration His gift of the Spirit.” And thus it is that Peter and the apostles, sent by the Lord to speak His words, can boldly proclaim to the Sanhedrin’s chastisement for continuing “to teach about that name”: “Better for us to obey God than men!” In no way do they ration the Spirit as they testify that God “has raised up Jesus whom [they] put to death,” that it is “He whom God has exalted...
Apr 30, 2025•6 min
(Acts 5:17-26; Ps.34:2-9; Jn.3:16-21) “He who acts in truth comes into the light, to make clear that his deeds are done in God.” Jesus is “the light [that] came into the world,” and “happy the man who takes refuge in Him.” None shall fear anymore who love the Lord, for He shall answer all his cries. And newness of life shall be ours. The Sadducees, who do not believe in the resurrection of the dead, “arrested the apostles and threw them into public jail.” They attempt to hide the truth in darkne...
Apr 29, 2025•6 min
(Acts 4:32-37; Ps.93:1-2,5; Jn.3:7-15) “The community of believers were of one heart and one mind.” This oneness is itself of heaven, is itself the sign that they are “begotten of the Spirit.” And this oneness is reflected in a very real manner in the fact that “none of them ever claimed anything as his own; rather, everything was held in common.” This sharing of goods, of “lay[ing] them at the feet of the apostles to be distributed to everyone according to his need,” is but an earthly thing. It...
Apr 28, 2025•5 min
(Acts 4:23-31; Ps.2:1-9; Jn.3:1-8) “No one can see the rule of God unless he is begotten from above.” “Princes conspire together against the Lord and against His anointed,” we are told in our psalm as well as our first reading. But their rule shall be shattered “like an earthen dish” by the power of the Spirit and God’s anointed One, to whom He gives “the nations as an inheritance.” And in the Book of Acts we see the apostles begin to collect such inheritance “in the name of Jesus,” the “holy Se...
Apr 27, 2025•5 min
(Acts 4:13-21; Ps.118:1,14-21; Mk.16:9-15) “Go into the whole world and proclaim the good news to all creation.” How faithfully Peter and John accomplish the Lord’s command, and with what strength, so much so that our first reading tells us, “The priests and elders were amazed as they observed [their] self-assurance” – for these “were uneducated men of no standing.” “How can this be?” they must have queried inside. “Then they recognized these men as having been with Jesus.” And so the answer had...
Apr 25, 2025•6 min
(Acts 4:1-12; Ps.118:1-2,4,22-27; Jn.21:1-14) “Jesus is ‘the stone rejected by you the builders which has become the cornerstone.’” What Peter has proclaimed to the people, he now proclaims even more boldly to their leaders: “There is no other name in the whole world given to men by which we are to be saved.” Jesus, whom they crucified, is the Messiah. And the same quote Jesus offered the Pharisees after making it clear to them they would lose dominion over God’s vineyard – over His people, over...
Apr 24, 2025•7 min
(Acts 3:11-26; Ps.8:2,5-9; Lk.24:35-48) “In His name, penance for the remission of sins is to be preached to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.” And so Peter begins the preaching at the temple: “When God raised up His servant, He sent Him to you first to bless you by turning you from your evil ways,” he announces clearly to the Jews, those first to hear of the Savior, Jesus. And again he speaks boldly and repeatedly of their sin: “You disowned the Holy and Just One… You put to death the Author...
Apr 23, 2025•5 min
(Acts 3:1-10; Ps.105:1-9; Lk.24:13-35) “The Lord is risen! It is true!” And how it is proven this day! The two disciples find their “hearts burning inside” as He “explain[s] the Scriptures” to them on the road to Emmaus, and then they come “to know Him in the breaking of bread.” “The Eleven and the rest of the company” of disciples rejoice in Jerusalem because “He has appeared to Simon.” And the crippled beggar at the Beautiful Gate is pulled up by Peter “in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarean...
Apr 22, 2025•5 min
(Acts 2:36-41; Ps.33:4-5,18-20,22; Jn.20:11-18) “Let the whole house of Israel know beyond any doubt that God has made both Lord and Messiah this Jesus whom you crucified.” Brothers and sisters, we are all as Mary Magdalene who “stood weeping beside the tomb,” and like the Jews who were “deeply shaken” by the words of Peter. Though it is to the Chosen people “that the promise was made,” it extends “to all those still far off whom the Lord our God calls.” To all sinners, to all who ask His apostl...
Apr 21, 2025•5 min
(Acts 2:14,22-33; Ps.16:1-2,5,7-11; Mt.28:8-15) “You will not abandon my soul to the netherworld, nor will you suffer your faithful one to undergo corruption.” “It was impossible that death should keep its hold on Him.” And so “the paths of life” we now walk; “joy in [His] presence” is ours – “in confidence” we abide forever. For God has “raised Him up again,” this Jesus, our Lord. Let us be witnesses of His truth to the ends of the earth. Like Peter, our Holy Father, let us be faithful to the W...
Apr 20, 2025•5 min
(Is.50:4-9; Ps.69:8-10,21-22,31,33-34; Mt.26:14-25) “The Son of Man is departing, as Scripture says of Him.” Of Him in Scripture we read, “Morning after morning He opens my ear that I may hear; and I have not rebelled, have not turned back.” Even as death approaches, even as His betrayer goes forth (perhaps especially at this dark time), He sets His face “like flint” to confront those who oppose Him, those who would destroy Him. In His own voice He speaks to us in the first reading and the psalm...
Apr 15, 2025•5 min
(Is.49:1-6; Ps.71:1-6,15,17; Jn.13:21-33,36-38) “I am made glorious in the sight of the Lord, and my God is now my strength!” The Lord is with His servant, with Israel, with Jesus, the Son of David, the Son of Man, the Son of God: “From my mother’s womb you are my strength… O God, you have taught me from my youth.” And to this “sharp-edged sword” the Lord had concealed “in the shadow of His arm,” to this “polished arrow” He has hidden in His quiver, God says: “I will make you a light to the nati...
Apr 14, 2025•5 min
(Is.42:1-7; Ps.27:1-3,13-14; Jn.12:1-11) “I formed you, and set you as a covenant of the people, a light for the nations.” He has come “to open the eyes of the blind, to bring out prisoners from confinement, and from the dungeon, those who dwell in darkness.” “He establishes justice on the earth,” and this justice is His bringing light to our darkness. But He could not release us from the dungeon unless He Himself had entered the dungeon. How else could light penetrate the darkness? And so He no...
Apr 13, 2025•5 min
(Ez.37:21-28; Jer.31:10-13; Jn.11:45-57) “My sanctuary shall be set up among them forever.” Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s promise to “gather [His people] from all sides to bring them back to their land”; He is the “one prince for [us] all” by whom God makes complete the “everlasting covenant” with us: “I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” It is He “who make[s] Israel holy,” who makes us all one in Himself. And so, “no longer shall [we] defile [our]selves,” but we “shall live by...
Apr 11, 2025•5 min
(Jer.20:10-13; Ps.18:2-7; Jn.10:31-42) “He has rescued the life of the poor from the power of the wicked.” As Jeremiah’s persecutors surround him on every side but are “put to utter shame” when he calls out to the Lord, so as the Jews “again tried to arrest Him,” Jesus again “eluded their grasp.” And so when “the breakers of death surged around [us], the destroying floods overwhelmed [us]...” so when our sins seemed to have conquered our souls, the Lord came to save us. Evil is all around. Alway...
Apr 10, 2025•5 min
(Gn.17:3-9; Ps.105:4-9; Jn.8:51-59) “Before Abraham came to be, I AM.” Abraham is a great man, the blessed patriarch, to whom God made the promise: “I will maintain my covenant with you and your descendants after you throughout the ages as an everlasting pact, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.” So Abraham becomes “the father of a host of nations,” not just by lineage, but by faith in the promise God has given him and the keeping of the covenant with Him. Abraham is father...
Apr 09, 2025•5 min
(Dn.3:14-20,91-92,95; Dn.3:52-56; Jn.8:31-42) “The truth will set you free.” Sin binds. Like the cords with which “the strongest men in [Nebuchadnezzar’s] army bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego,” sin fetters our souls and casts us “into the white-hot furnace.” “Everyone who lives in sin is the slave of sin.” But for those like these three faithful servants who “will not… worship the golden statue that [the king of this world] set up,” there is freedom. For the Lord who is “praiseworthy and ex...
Apr 08, 2025•5 min
(Nm.21:4-9; Ps.102:2-3,16-21; Jn.8:21-30) “From heaven He beheld the earth, to hear the groaning of the prisoners, to release those doomed to die.” As the Lord has said to the Pharisees: “You belong to what is below; I belong to what is above.” And truly, how could we come to where He is unless He reached down to lead us there? The Israelites show just how much they are of this world below when they reject the food of the heavens in utter bitterness: “We are disgusted with this wretched food!” t...
Apr 07, 2025•4 min
(Dn.13:1-9,15-17,19-30,33-62; Ps.23:1-6; Jn.8:12-20) “Judgment of mine is valid because I am not alone. I have at my side the One who sent me, the Father.” “It is laid down in [the Mosaic] law that evidence given by two persons is valid.” Thus does the assembly condemn Susanna to death, because the two elders testify as one against her. But then “God stirred up the holy spirit of a young boy named Daniel,” and so we find a better pair of witnesses – the Spirit and Daniel – to refute the lies of ...
Apr 06, 2025•5 min
(Jer.11:18-20; Ps.7:2-3,9-12; Jn.7:40-53) “Let us destroy the tree in its vigor; let us cut him off from the land of the living, so that his name will be spoken no more.” With these words “they were hatching plots against” Jeremiah, and in the same way against Jesus. And so, “like a trusting Lamb led to slaughter,” “like the lion’s prey, to be torn to pieces, with no one to rescue” are they. But “the malice of the wicked [shall] come to an end.” “The upright of heart” are ever persecuted. Even N...
Apr 04, 2025•4 min
(Ws.2:1,12-22; Ps.34:17-21,23; Jn.7:1-2,10,25-30) “He calls blest the destiny of the just and boasts that God is His Father.” And for such He shall be persecuted; for such He shall be killed. For to the wicked “He is the censure of [their] thoughts; merely to see Him is a hardship” for those who stray from the Lord’s commands. And so, in vain attempt to spare themselves the just judgment of the Lord, in their jealousy they say to one another: “With revilement and torture let us put Him to the te...
Apr 03, 2025•5 min
(Ex.32:7-14; Ps.106:4,19-23; Jn.5:31-47) “If you believed Moses you would then believe me, for it was about me that he wrote.” As Moses wrote, so Jesus speaks. As Moses wrote, so Jesus is. The eternal life to which the Scriptures testify is now in our midst. The Word has come to life; the Law is now fulfilled. The “form [we] have never seen” now stands before us. The “voice [we] have never heard” now speaks to our ears. But do we “have His word abiding in our hearts”? Do we “believe the one [the...
Apr 02, 2025•5 min
(Is. 49:8-15; Ps.145:8-9,13-14,17-18; Jn.5:17-30) “Just as the Father possesses life in Himself, so He has granted it to the Son to have life in Himself.” Here the great mystery of the unity of Father and Son is revealed, and so also our salvation. God is life. The Father is the great I AM, He who will be what He will be and do what He will do – He who holds the world and all its wonders in His creating Hand. And Jesus is as He is. He shares absolutely in the Life that is the Father. “Speaking o...
Apr 01, 2025•5 min
(Ez.47:1-9,12; Ps.46:2-3,5-6,8-9; Jn.5:1-3,5-16) “There is a stream whose runlets gladden the city of God, the holy dwelling of the Most High.” Brothers and sisters, Jesus is our living water. In our first reading, Ezekial speaks of his heavenly vision of the river of God which runs from His holy temple. The water, which increases as it flows further from its source, eventually “empties into the sea, the salt waters, which it makes fresh.” Along both banks of the river are trees whose “leaves sh...
Mar 31, 2025•5 min
(Is.65:17-21; Ps.30:2,4-6,11-13; Jn.4:43-54) “You changed my mourning into dancing.” Here in the midst of Lent we find the purpose of all our suffering, the hope to which we all are called. “At nightfall, weeping enters in, but with the dawn, rejoicing.” And thus does this time of penance and fasting lead to the abundance found in Easter joy. For what is darkness but the world in which we dwell, and what is the dawn but the coming of Jesus to our hearts, the kingdom of heaven within us? And even...
Mar 30, 2025•6 min
(Hos.6:1-6; Ps.51:3-4,18-21,Hos.6:6; Lk.18:9-14) “As certain as the dawn is His coming, and His judgment shines forth like the light of day!” It is night. There is darkness. In this world of sin we are afflicted on account of our guilt, for our failures to love God. And so David cries out in our psalm, “Have mercy, O God, in your goodness”; and so the tax collector in our gospel “beat[s] his breast and say[s], ‘O God, be merciful to me, a sinner’”; and so with all the afflicted, in the words of ...
Mar 28, 20250
(Hos.14:2-10; Ps.81:6-11,14,17; Mk.12:28-34) “Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone!” “There is no other than He,” and so what should we do but “love the Lord [our] God with all [our] heart, with all [our] soul, with all [our] mind, and with all [our] strength”? What promise the Lord makes to us if only we would return to Him and love Him: “If only my people would hear me, and Israel walk in my ways, I would feed them with the best of wheat, and with honey from the rock I would fill the...
Mar 27, 20250
(Jer.7:23-28; Ps.95:1-2,6-9; Lk.11:14-23) “They walked in the hardness of their evil hearts and turned their backs, not their faces, to me.” The Lord calls His people to “listen to [His] voice,” to “walk in all [His] ways,” that they “may prosper.” But with whom is there obedience? How many harden their hearts against Him! Of the people of Jeremiah’s time the Lord says, “Faithfulness has disappeared; the word itself is banished from their speech.” They, as all, should “bow down in worship” and “...
Mar 26, 20250
(Dt.4:1,5-9; Ps.147:12-13,15-16,19-20; Mt.5:17-19) “What great nation has statutes and decrees that are as just as this whole law?” “He has proclaimed His word to Jacob, His statutes and ordinances to Israel.” The Lord in His grace “sends forth His command to the earth; swiftly runs His word!” And as the snow and the rain come down to nourish the land, to bring life to the earth, so His Word is food and life to all who listen to it. By His Word He “strengthen[s] the bars of [our] gates,” giving ...
Mar 25, 2025•6 min
(2Kgs.5:1-15; Ps.42:2-3,43:3-4; Lk.4:24-30) “There is no God in all the earth, except in Israel.” “There is a prophet in Israel,” brothers and sisters, and this prophet is God. Jesus Christ has come, salvation from the Jews. Do you recognize Him? Will you accept Him? It is only in “the waters of Israel” that we are made clean. As wonderful as may be the waters of our native land, it matters not, for it is these alone that are blessed; these alone will make our flesh again “like the flesh of a li...
Mar 23, 20250
