“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.” (Matthew 5:3)
This is one of those Scripture passages that many people “know” (meaning, they’ve heard it before) but countless people fail to understand. My own parochial school teacher taught us that it simply meant God loves poor people “more.”
Ummm, to put it as charitably and bluntly as possible . . . no, that’s not what it means . . .
By giving us the Bread of Life, God is inviting us to partake in His heavenly life. Will you say “yes”?
Did you know that there’s a tug of war going on right now? It’s between your flesh and your soul. Because of sin, our spirits can sometimes become slaves to our bodies. When things are in right order, when our soul guides our flesh, that’s what elevates us to sainthood.
Every one of us occasionally has doubts about the existence of God, or we struggle with trusting in God. We can’t allow these attacks however, to form our judgement about the love of God. His love for us is infinite and He is always ready to fulfill us both physically and spiritually.
The Eucharist is the greatest gift we have received from our heavenly Father. This gift is even better than the miracle of Christ multiplying the loafs and fishes because it is not just bread, but God among us and within us. The Eucharist is a taste of heaven on earth.
Who we are is more important than what we do. Don’t ever forget to value people over the projects that they accomplish. This is especially important in regards to your priest. Make sure he knows you appreciate him for who he is, not just what he does.
I meet tens of thousands of people a year at different events. Most of them are Catholic Christians who want to start reading the Bible but don’t know where to start. So if you’ve ever wanted to go deeper into God’s Word but haven’t known how to approach it, allow me to suggest a few tips (so you can learn from my mistakes).
Like anything else, if you want to build something – in this case, your knowledge and love for the Scriptures – you don’t just grab a hammer and some nails and start pounding. To ensure that you don’t just jump in and then quit out of frustration or confusion, there are certain things you can do to be more successful.
We’ll attack this on three levels – the tools, the blueprint and the construction. By the end you’ll have ten total steps to help you build your bodily temple into a Biblical fortress, able to resist anything the devil can throw at you.
“You are not the sum of your sins, you are the sum of the Father’s love.” Pope John Paul II said this and the readings reflect it this week. When we give ourselves over to God, He will use us to do great things because He sees the potential in us when all we see is the brokenness.
We need Jesus.
Whether we like to admit it or not, we’re not capable of anything on our own. God wants to be there for us every day – to be our daily bread. This week as we celebrate our independence as a country, let’s also celebrate our dependence as Christians on the King of Kings.
Everyone wants to know why there is suffering in this world. Because of the cross, suffering takes on a whole new meaning; it is through suffering that we gain life.
God has a plan for your life. Do you believe that and trust in Him? It takes surrender and humility; and that’s how John the Baptist lived. He always wanted the things he did and said to point back to Christ. Can you say the same about your life?
