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November 14, 2018 Wednesday of the Thirty-second Week in Ordinary Time Reading 1 Ti 3:1-7 Beloved:Remind them to be under the control of magistrates and authorities,to be obedient, to be open to every good enterprise.They are to slander no one, to be peaceable, considerate,exercising all graciousness toward everyone.For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, deluded,slaves to various desires and pleasures,living in malice and envy,hateful ourselves and hating one another. But when the kindness and generous loveof God our savior appeared,not because of any righteous deeds we had donebut because of his mercy,he saved us through the bath of rebirthand...

"By faith Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen, in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his household, by which he condemned the world, and became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith" (Heb. 11:7). True faith works. When James said, "Faith without works is dead" (James 2:26), he stated a principle that's consistent throughout Scripture: True faith always produces righteous works. The people described in Hebrews 11 made their genuine faith known in the things they did. The same applies to us today. Paul said, "The grace of God has appeared,...

“Where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing” (James 3:16). False wisdom ruins lives. Renowned eighteenth-century theologian Jonathan Edwards said the following about the effect of the Fall on man: Sin, like some powerful astringent, contracted his soul to the very small dimensions of selfishness; and God was forsaken, and fellow-creatures forsaken, and man retired within himself, and became totally governed by narrow and selfish principles and feelings. Self-love became absolute master of his soul, and the more noble and spiritual principles of his being took wings and flew away. Edwards’s analysis certainly agrees with...

Progressive pundit Cenk Uygur argued recently the Bible is pro-abortion. The founder of The Young Turks — a far-left outlet — employed a passage from the Old Testament to make his case. Uygur, taking Numbers 5 out of context, claimed it’s “a fact” Scripture endorses abortion. “You’re wrong about your Bible,” he said, speaking to Christians. “You’ve been misled; you’ve been lied to. Your religious and political leaders have kept you in ignorance. The Bible is actually pro-abortion — that’s a fact.” Uygur went on to suggest abortion has never been a religious issue. “It was never about the Bible,”...

In a sense we are fortunate that we cannot see God. If for one second the veil were removed and we caught a brief glimpse of the face of God, we would perish instantly. His effulgence is so brilliant, His glory so dazzling, that in our present corrupted state we could not bear the sight of Him. He remains invisible both as a curse and as an act of protecting grace. As long as we remain infected by sin we are doomed to wander in His world sightless with respect to Him. We may be comforted by His Word and...

November 13, 2018 Memorial of Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini, Virgin Reading 1 Ti 2:1-8, 11-14 Beloved:You must say what is consistent with sound doctrine,namely, that older men should be temperate, dignified,self-controlled, sound in faith, love, and endurance.Similarly, older women should be reverent in their behavior,not slanderers, not addicted to drink, teaching what is good, so that they may train younger womento love their husbands and children,to be self-controlled, chaste, good homemakers,under the control of their husbands,so that the word of God may not be discredited. Urge the younger men, similarly, to control themselves,showing yourself as a model of good...

“Where there is no vision, the people perish” (Prov. 29:18, KJV). We hear this verse quoted frequently in order that we may be inspired and challenged to move with intensity toward a future goal. We applaud the leader who is a visionary, one who can paint a picture of a better future and show us the way to attain it. We are a goal-oriented society. We need a dream, a target to aim for if we are to get our adrenaline moving and our passions stirred. Every goal, every short-range vision must be measured against the supreme and final norm...

"He who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him" (Heb. 11:6). All who come to God in faith will receive the reward of eternal life. We've seen that without faith it's impossible to please God. And the first step in faith is believing that God exists. In addition, we must also believe that He answers our prayers—more specifically, that He redeems those who come to Him in faith. Scripture repeatedly tells us that God not only can be found, but also desires to be found. David said to...

“This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic” (James 3:15). True wisdom is from God; false wisdom is from the Devil. Wisdom that is bitterly jealous and self-centered is not “from above.” Such traits constitute a wisdom that doesn’t come from God, the source of true wisdom (cf. 1:5, 17). Human wisdom, rather than being from above, is “earthly” (3:15). It is limited to the sphere of time and space and marked by the curse of man’s own fallenness, which is characterized by pride and self-centeredness. Everything the world initiates in the way...

November 12, 2018 Memorial of Saint Josaphat, Bishop and Martyr Reading 1 Ti 1:1-9 Paul, a slave of God and Apostle of Jesus Christfor the sake of the faith of God's chosen onesand the recognition of religious truth,in the hope of eternal life that God, who does not lie, promised before time began,who indeed at the proper time revealed his wordin the proclamation with which I was entrustedby the command of God our savior,to Titus, my true child in our common faith:grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our savior. For this reason I left you...

1 For this Melchisedec, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him; 2 To whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all; first being by interpretation King of righteousness, and after that also King of Salem, which is, King of peace; 3 Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually. 4 Now consider how great this man was, unto whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the...

“If you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth” (James 3:14). Humility is the hallmark of a wise person. James says that if a person has a self-centered motive for life, he should stop arrogantly boasting. He should stop claiming to possess true wisdom. Why? Because he is lying “against the truth.” In verse 13 James indicates that if a person claims to have God’s wisdom, he must show it. If I see you are motivated by self-centeredness and pride, you ought to stop your arrogant boasting about...

"Without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is" (Hebrews 11:6). Nothing you do can please God apart from faith. Throughout history, people have tried everything imaginable to gain favor with God. Most turn to religion, but religion apart from Christ is merely a satanic counterfeit of the truth. Many trust in their own good works, not realizing that even their best efforts are offensive to God (Isa. 64:6; Phil. 3:8). And the more we try to justify ourselves, the more we offend God, because "by the works of the...

1 Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, 2 Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. 3 And this will we do, if God permit. 4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, 5 And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers...

November 11, 2018 Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time Reading 1 1 Kgs 17:10-16 In those days, Elijah the prophet went to Zarephath.As he arrived at the entrance of the city,a widow was gathering sticks there; he called out to her,"Please bring me a small cupful of water to drink." She left to get it, and he called out after her,"Please bring along a bit of bread." She answered, "As the LORD, your God, lives,I have nothing baked; there is only a handful of flour in my jarand a little oil in my jug. Just now I was collecting a...

"Enoch walked with God" (Genesis 5:24). Walking with God includes reconciliation, obedience from the heart, and ongoing faith. When Scripture speaks of walking with God, it's referring to one's manner of life. For example, Paul prayed that the Colossian believers (and us) would be filled with the knowledge of God's will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so they could walk (live) in a manner worthy of the Lord (Col. 1:9-10). To the Ephesians he said, "Walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind . . . [but] be imitators of God, as...

“If you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth” (James 3:14). A wise person lives for God and others, not for self. Having characterized spiritual wisdom in the preceding verse, James begins to analyze worldly wisdom in verse 14. Worldly wisdom is not of God. It has no relationship to Him, is not obedient to Him, and has no knowledge of His truth. What is the motive of someone who lives according to worldly wisdom? “Bitter jealousy and selfish ambition.” The Greek word translated “bitter” also means “harsh”...

November 10, 2018 Memorial of Saint Leo the Great, Pope and Doctor of the Church Reading 1 Phil 4:10-19 Brothers and sisters:I rejoice greatly in the Lordthat now at last you revived your concern for me.You were, of course, concerned about me but lacked an opportunity.Not that I say this because of need,for I have learned, in whatever situation I find myself,to be self-sufficient.I know indeed how to live in humble circumstances;I know also how to live with abundance.In every circumstance and in all thingsI have learned the secret of being well fed and of going hungry,of living in...

"By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death; and he was not found because God took him up; for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God" (Heb 11:5). When you walk by faith, you enjoy intimacy with God. Our second hero of faith is Enoch. Genesis 5:21-24 records that "Enoch lived sixty-five years, and became the father of Methuselah. Then Enoch walked with God three hundred years after he became the father of Methuselah, and he had other sons and daughters. So all the days of Enoch...

“Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?” (1 Corinthians 1:20). Knowing Christ makes the believer wiser than the world. Lawrence Toombs, in his 1955 article “O.T. Theology and the Wisdom Literature,” said, “Wisdom is to be found with God and nowhere else. And unless the quest for wisdom brings a man to his knees in awe and reverence, knowing his own helplessness to make himself wise, wisdom remains for him a closed book” (The Journal of Bible and Religion, 23:3 [July 1955], 195). It’s wonderful to have the book of God’s wisdom opened to us as believers....