Holy Thursday is about much more than just the washing of feet. Tonight we commemorate the institution of the Eucharist, and the institution of the priesthood. While the Gospel reading is from John, in the second reading from 1 Corinthians 11, St. Paul recounts recounts the words of Jesus at the Last Supper. "This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me."
With those words, Jesus instituted the Eucharist and the priesthood. As He changed the bread and wine into His Body and Blood, He gave the Apostles, our first priests, the power and authority and ability to do what He had just done. Pray this night for our priests and for vocations to the priesthood. For without the priest, we have no Eucharist.
Father, we thank you for the gift of the Eucharist and the priesthood. Bless our priests and help other men hear the call to priesthood. Amen.
]]>On Wednesday of Holy Week, we think about Judas. Judas is a very enigmatic character in the Gospel story. Was he chosen from all time to be the betrayer of the Messiah? That doesn’t seem quite fair, does it? Or did Judas have a free will? Could he, at any point, have changed course and not given Jesus up? And at what point did he realize that things had spun wildly out of control? Did he ever regret his eternity-altering decision?
You and I probably have a lot more in common with Judas than we may like to acknowledge. We must always remember that he was one of the Twelve. Chosen and sent. And yet he turned on Jesus. Judas is often referred to as the Betrayer. In truth, I am the betrayer. As much as I hate to admit it, I'm very much like Judas. Thinking of Judas and my propensity to imitate him always reminds me of an old saying. It has been attributed to St. Alphonse or St. Philip Neri. I modify it for myself. “Be mindful of Gus today, Lord. He could turn on you at any time.”
Father, forgive us for those times when we turn on you. Help us to recognize our betrayals more quickly, and free us from all selfishness, the cause of our betrayal. Amen.
]]>Jesus knew that He was on His way to the cross. He says to Peter, “Where I am going, you cannot follow me now, though you will follow later.” Peter answers, “Master, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.” Then Jesus tells him that “the cock will not crow before you deny me three times.”
The beautiful thing about Peter is that he really believed that he could stand up to any test. You’ve got to admire his sincerity. Unfortunately, when the time came to deliver, he simply couldn’t. Sound familiar? Sure does to me. I often have the best of intentions. “I will lay down my life for you, Lord!” Oh, really? Then why, at the first little temptation or trial, do I fold up like a cheap card table? Even the best intentions don’t always translate to right action. Luckily, Peter got another shot. And he made the most of it. When we fold, Jesus is willing to give us another shot, too. Will we make the most of it?
Father, forgive us for our hubris, for our inflated egos. Keep us strong during moments of great trial. Amen.
]]>Today’s prophesy from Isaiah 42 gets right to the heart of Jesus. “A bruised reed he shall not break, and a smoldering wick he shall not quench.” Have you ever felt like that “bruised reed?” Life has a way of beating us up, doesn’t it? We are all the walking wounded. Jesus knows this. He knows all about your brokenness, your wounds. And He wants to heal them.
If you are that “bruised reed,” know that Jesus will never do anything to hurt you. If you are that “smoldering wick,” if your faith has been tested, even crushed or shattered, go to Jesus. Let Him heal you. Let him fix it. He wants nothing more than to make you whole again.
Father, we thank you for the gentle touch of Jesus. We bring to Him today all of our wounds, that He may heal them. Amen.
]]>There are some who don’t really care for today’s Mass. Too long, they say. Ugh…we have to stand for the entire reading of the Passion. My feet hurt. The readers are boring. Can’t they hurry; don’t they know there’s a game on TV?! Life is filled with little inconveniences, isn’t it? I wonder how inconvenient it may have seemed to Jesus when He was getting whipped and beaten to a bloody pulp. Or if he thought about how much His feet hurt while He was walking the Via Dolorosa. Or if He bothered to check his sundial every two minutes while He was hanging on the cross. Sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it?
This is a day for us to recall all that He suffered for us. Perhaps if we think of that glorious ride into Jerusalem and the rapidity with which the people turned against Him, we can put aside our petty inconveniences for just a moment. Maybe the fact that we will spend an extra 12 minutes at Mass might begin to pale in comparison to the sacrifice He bore for us. When your belly begins to grumble because your coffee and donut fix is a few minutes late, offer it up!
Father, we thank you for the sacrifice of Jesus for us. Help us to remember that all of our sacrifices are small in comparison. Give us the grace to unite all of our sacrifices with His. Amen.
]]>This reminds me of our call as Christians. We must imitate Christ. We must be willing to give up our lives for others. One dying for the many. I always find this to be most present in mothers. I saw it in my mom, I see it in my wife, and now in my daughter Emily. Moms really seem to have the notion of sacrifice down. They so often give up things for themselves so that their children won’t have to go without.
As a father, I think that this concept can be much easier to grasp when it comes to our families. We, as parents, may not find it so hard to die to self for our spouses or children. But how about for total strangers. Or, even better, how about for those who hurt us? Are we willing to die, figuratively or literally, for them? Jesus was.
Father, teach us about sacrifice. Give us the grace to be willing to die to ourselves for others, as we imitate your Son. Amen.
]]>"O LORD of hosts, you who test the just, who probe mind and heart, let me witness the vengeance you take on them, for to you I have entrusted my cause."
We can be very vengeful people, can't we? Even though we ourselves may not act out in revenge, I think we're often like Jeremiah and would very much like to see God enact vengeance on our foes. Crush 'em like a bug, Lord!! Because if God crushes them, we can still claim our moral high ground because we didn't do the deed, right? But isn't wishing that bad things will befall someone - even at the hand of God - wrong? I think so...
Father, forgive us for our vengeful spirit. As we pray for blessings on those we love, we also pray for blessings on those we need to love better. Amen.
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]]>Jesus here reveals His eternal being. Not only was He around before Abraham, in fact He created Abraham! And everyone and everything before and since. This passage gives us a glimpse into the nature of the Trinity.
Jesus is the Author of Life. Isn’t it amazing to think that, as Catholics, we get to actually take the Author of Life, the One who created us, into our very bodies in the blessed Eucharist? When you think about it, it’s truly mind blowing! Yet so many seem to be so nonchalant about it. We need to rekindle our own awe in what is truly happening - that we are receiving the One who created us into our own bodies.
Father, thank you for the gift of your Son, present to us in the Eucharist. May we long for Him today, and reflect on the immensity of this each time we receive. Amen.
]]>King Nebuchadnezzar had all the power in the world. He knew that he had the power of life and death. He decreed that anyone who did not bow down and worship the golden statue that he had made would pay the ultimate price for their insolence. But our three heroes would have no part of it. So the king threw them into the fiery furnace. God protected them, and they walked out of the fire.
Don’t we often feel as though we are walking through the fire? Life can be a real crucible. This is where Jesus’ words, “The truth will set you free,” come into play. We must always remember that the truth is a person: Jesus Christ. When we hold fast to the truth, we will be set free – even from the fire all around us.
Father, help us to always hold to the truth of Jesus, that we may not be consumed by the fires of life. Amen.
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]]>Did you know that not a word of Joseph’s is recorded in the Scriptures? But, many of Joseph’s actions are recorded. I think that this speaks volumes about the person of Joseph. He was certainly a devout and humble man that always did whatever God asked of him. And how special must he have been? After all, he was the one chosen from all time to care for the Messiah and his mother. He was the one who taught Jesus how to behave; taught him a trade and gave him a work ethic. He was the one tasked with protecting the child Jesus and Mary from people and forces that would come against them. He was the one who showed them what holy, masculine love truly was.
As a father, Joseph is especially precious to me. We fathers must work to pattern our fatherhood after blessed St. Joseph, who was surely the most perfect of earthly fathers. He let his actions speak for him. He always did God’s will, no matter how difficult, no matter what other people may have thought. He took a young virgin as his wife, spirited her and the child off to Egypt, then back to Nazareth to make a home for them, all the while dedicating his whole life to God. Dads, are we following the example of St. Joseph? Ask today for his intercession that we might be fathers more like him.
Father, we thank you for the gift and example of St. Joseph. We pray especially for fathers today. Help us to imitate the man that you chose to help raise your Son. Blessed St. Joseph, pray for us. Amen.
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]]>“Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.” Of course the elders, the scribes and the Pharisees all walked away, one by one. They knew that they had been punked. Of course, Jesus’ message was one of mercy. After they had all left, Jesus says to the woman, “Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on do not sin any more.”
We can be so quick to condemn. While I acknowledge that there is certainly evil in the world, I believe that most people are just doing their best to get by. This is not to say that sinning is alright. But I have found that just about everyone has some justification for their sins. Before we go throwing rocks, perhaps we should remember the actions of Jesus. Show mercy, and encourage our brethren to go and sin no more.
Father, teach us mercy. Help us to not be so quick to throw stones. Give us the grace to own up to our own actions, and to have mercy on others who share our struggles. Amen.
]]>Dying to produce fruit? At face value, it makes no sense. I mean, don’t we have to live and grow and flourish to produce fruit? Well, yes. But like a grain of wheat, there is a process that we must go through. And, as Christians, the first part of the process is dying. No, not physical death. That will be the beginning of another process. Jesus is talking about dying to self. About “killing off” our own selfish passions and desires and living for Christ, living for others.
Death is a very difficult thing. It is hard for us to let go of those we love. It can be equally as hard, if not sometimes harder, to let go of our selfishness. But let go we must. By ourselves, this is impossible. But as Jesus teaches us, with God all things are possible. Even willfully dying.
Father, we want to produce fruit for the Kingdom. Help us to die to ourselves, that we might serve you by serving our brothers and sisters here. Amen.
]]>"But you, O LORD of hosts, O just Judge, searcher of mind and heart, Let me witness the vengeance you take on them, for to you I have entrusted my cause!"
Sounds a lot like surrender, doesn't it? "To you I have entrusted my cause." Whatever your "cause" is, have you entrusted it to God? Have you entrusted everything to God? Because you should. We should entrust everything to God, and let the chips fall where they may. When they don't fall your way (by your perception, anyway), know that God has a plan and give it time to work out. In the end, it will.
Father, we entrust everything - our whole lives - to you today. Amen.
]]>I’d like us to reflect today on our Responsorial Psalm, Psalm 34. The response at Mass today is from verse 19, “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted.” Psalm 34 is a song of reassurance to those who trust in the Lord. “When the just cry out, the Lord hears them, and from all their distress he rescues them.” But all is not peaches and cream…”Many are the troubles of the just man, but out of them all the Lord delivers him.”
Have you ever had your heart broken? Many think of that phrase only in a romantic context. And chances are that we have all had our heart broken at one time or another. But we can be brokenhearted about many things. When a loved one is suffering, our hearts break. When our children go astray. We may have even had our hearts broken by a priest, a pastor or someone in the church. Those are often the times when God seems a million miles away. In actuality, that is when God is right there, ready to hold us, comfort us in our time of need. If your heart is broken, close your eyes and envision God giving you a big old God-hug. Go ahead and hug Him back; He likes that.
Father, we pray for those today with broken hearts. May they feel your closeness, feel your comfort, feel your intense love for them. Amen.
]]>Jesus didn’t need praise or approval from other people. In fact, quite the contrary. He said an awful lot of things that ticked off an awful lot of people. But it didn’t matter to Him. He knew He was doing the Father’s will. And that was His ultimate motivation.
I recently got an angry message from someone who was put off, in part, by the fact that I told my listeners, "I don't really care what you think of me." This person thought that was arrogant. I certainly didn't mean for it to come off that way, but perception is reality. I used to care A LOT about what others thought of me. But I find as I get older that that is less and less important to me. I want to care more about what God thinks of me, and how I am carrying out my mission.
Father, forgive us for those times when we turn our backs on you, just to win the approval of people. Show us today Your will, and give us the grace to accomplish it, regardless of what others think. Amen.
]]>In the Gospel reading from John 5, Jesus refers to God as “My Father.” This made the Jews want to kill Jesus all the more. He was equating Himself as equal with God. Jesus here begins to reveal the mystery of the Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Of course, His hearers could not understand. Two thousand years later we still cannot completely understand. It is a mystery. Yet Jesus said it; we must believe. Jesus ends today’s Gospel passage with this: “I cannot do anyting on my own…because I do not seek my own will but the will of the one who sent me.”
We see that to be true in every instant of Jesus’ life. He always sought the Father’s will. I think it begs the question: As disciples of Jesus, are we imitating Him in this area of our lives? Are we always seeking out the Father’s will? Or are there times and areas in our lives where we’re content to only seek out our will? Perhaps with our finances. Perhaps in living out our sexuality. Jesus gave us the Church to help us understand God’s will for humanity. So ask yourself today: Whose will are you seeking to accomplish today?
Father, show us those places in our lives where we are seeking out only our own will. Help us to consult you and seek out your will in every area of our lives. Amen.
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]]>Jesus sees a man at the pool of Bethesda. The people believed that these were healing waters. When the water was stirred up, people would be healed. This man, who had been ill for 38 years, could never make it into the water on time. So Jesus asks him, “Do you want to be well?” He then heals him, on a sabbath, no less. This is when the Jews began to persecute him, because he had done this on a sabbath.
“Do you want to be well?” This seems like a rhetorical question, doesn’t it? I mean, what is the guy going to say? “No, I like being sick. I’ll just stay like this. But thanks for asking!” As ridiculous as that may sound, I’m afraid that’s just what so many people reply to Jesus. Because when it comes to the sickness of sin, being made well would require a change of life, a change of heart, repentance. And, too often, we don’t want that. We fool ourselves into thinking that a life of sin really isn’t so bad. Besides, it’s much easier this way. So, thanks anyway, Jesus! I’ll just continue on with the way I’m going. That whole “living life to the full” thing is probably overrated anyway. How sad…
Father, give us the grace to recognize the fact that we are sick. Heal us of the sickness of sin. Through your Son, Jesus Christ, make us well. Amen.
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]]>Our Responsorial Psalm is from Psalm 30. Here is the response:
"I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me."
I encourage you to read all of it.
Through God's great mercy and the sacrifice of Christ, we have been rescued. That is certainly true on a corporate level, but I think of this at a very personal level. There was a time in my life when I was certainly on the path to hell - to eternal death. But Jesus reached into the mess of my life and rescued me from that path. Now my job is to stay on the path of holiness that He points me to daily.
Father, thank you for rescuing me! I praise your holy name! Amen.
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]]>St. John says, “the light came into the world, but people preferred darkness to light, because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come toward the light, so that his works might not be exposed. But whoever lives the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God.” How true, huh? Whenever we do underhanded things, we always want to keep them in the dark, hidden from view. Perhaps this is a good litmus test to check our works.
St. John loved to juxtapose darkness and light. We all have dark places within our hearts. But we also have the light of Christ. So each day we must choose. The darkness draws us. So does the light. We can choose to follow the darkness. But when we do, we will never be the people that God is calling us to be. Because He sent His Son, who is Light. And that Light beckons us to Him. Let us follow the Light, and leave behind the ways of darkness.
Father, you know that we too often follow the darkness. Draw us ever closer to your son, who is the Light. May His light shine forth from us. Amen.
]]>In our Gospel reading from Luke 18, Jesus tells a parable with two very interesting characters; one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. While praying in the temple, the Pharisee raises his voice and lifts up this boastful prayer, while the tax collector will not even raise his eyes to heaven, but prayed, “O God, be merciful to me a sinner.” Take a guess as to which one went away justified.
You see, the Pharisee was DOING all the right things; tithing, praying, fasting. But he had fallen into a deadly trap, indeed, the deadliest trap of pride. He began to think of himself as better than others just because of the things he was doing. An easy hole to fall into. He couldn’t even recognize his own sinfulness any more. The tax collector, on the other hand, realized his smallness. Pray that we can avoid the trap of pride.
Father, forgive us for the times that we fall into the sin of pride. Give us true humility. Amen.
]]>I'm a pretty good stumbler. In the course of my life, I've broken or badly sprained both of my ankles three times each. Unfortunately, I seem to be a pretty good stumbler on the spiritual path as well.
When we are "just" (acting in accord with God's will), the Lord's path is straight. That doesn't necessarily mean it's easy, but we see the way forward. Not so when we're stuck in sin. We're blinded by our sin, and so any little obstacle will cause us to stumble. Righteousness helps us open our eyes and gives us much clearer spiritual vision, so that we can stop our stumbling and get to where God wants us to go.
Father, help us to repent, to leave sin behind that we may see more clearly the path you have set out for us. Amen.
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]]>The first reading today from Jeremiah 7 takes a rather dire tone. God recounts the state of the people. It is not pretty. “But they obeyed not, nor did they pay heed. They walked in the hardness of their evil hearts and turned their backs, not their faces, to me. When you speak all these words to them, they will not listen to you either; when you call to them, they will not answer you. Faithfulness has disappeared; the word itself is banished from their speech.”
Faithfulness has disappeared. Could these same words of Jeremiah not have been written yesterday? Sometimes we can look around at the world and feel that same way, that faithfulness has disappeared. The devil is strong and seems to be influencing more hearts and minds than God is. We can be tempted to lose hope. We must never let that happen! As long as a seed of faith is alive in your heart, there is hope. When we allow God to grow our faithfulness, then we can begin the process of turning around the world. May our faithfulness grow today, and may we share our faith with others.
Father, our hope is in you. Help us to grow in faith and love today, that we may help faithfulness to reappear more and more. Amen.
]]>In the first reading from Deuteronomy 4, Moses teaches “the statutes and decrees as the Lord, my God, has commanded me…Observe them carefully…” Then in the Gospel reading from Matthew 5, Jesus says, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets.” He goes on to say that “whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do so will be called least in the Kingdom of heaven. But whoever obeys and teaches these commandments will be called greatest in the Kingdom of heaven.”
Rules are a part of life. Everything has rules – school, work, family, organizations – everything! Including religion. Many don’t want to acknowledge rules regarding the practice of the faith. Or perhaps it’s just that they don’t want to follow the rules; they don’t want to obey. Obedience is a difficult thing, especially when it challenges us, when it cuts against our nature. But obey we must. And we must teach others to obey. There will be a heavy price for disobedience. And an even heavier price for those who teach others to be disobedient. Let’s pray that God will give us the grace to obey and teach.
Father, you know how we dislike rules; we hate to be told what we should do. Give us the grace to accept and obey your laws, and to teach others to do so. Amen.
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]]>Hopefully you know Jesus’ response. “Not seven times but seventy-seven times.” (Some translations say seventy times seven times.) Of course, Jesus means that our forgiveness must be like that of God. It must know no bounds. We must forgive always. No matter how egregious the sin against us. No matter how many times the offense occurs. Forgive, forgive, forgive, forgive…we must never stop.
Many people think that forgiveness is an emotion. It is not. Forgiveness is an act of the will. We don’t have to FEEL like forgiving. We don’t even have to FEEL the forgiveness. And chances are very good that we won’t at first. Fresh wounds are the hardest ones to get past when it comes to offering forgiveness. And one other mistake people make is that they equate forgiving with forgetting. Forgetting is not really something that we can control. Don’t think that the two are the same. We MUST forgive, even when we can’t forget. And when we can’t forget, that means that we will have to forgive over and over and over and over again. Because if we don’t, neither will our Father forgive us.
Father, you know that forgiving is such a difficult thing for us, especially when we have been badly hurt. Give us the grace to forgive again and again, that you will do the same for us. Amen.
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]]>Then in our Gospel reading (Luke 4:24-30) Jesus brings up the fact that, during the time of Elisha, the only leper cleansed was Naaman the Syrian, an “outsider.” This ticked off the people in the synagogue, and they set out to kill Jesus. But “he passed through the midst of them and went away.”
What may have set the people off was Jesus intimating that God would bestow favor on someone who was “not one of us,” while forsaking His people. But Jesus was simply stating the facts. It reminds me of how, far too often, we think of Christianity as a “club.” And a very exclusive club at that. Unless someone is “one of us,” we don’t want to give them the time of day. To gain entrance to our little club, they have to dress the way we do, speak our language (Christanese and Catholicese) and, of course, think the way we do. If they don’t meet these requirements, then they remain “one of them.” How Jesus turned this notion on its head! It is not for us to say on whom God will bestow His favor. Last I checked, He even loves people who are “not one of us!” The question is….can we?
Father, we’re so sorry for those times that we try to make Your love exclusive of others. When we think you couldn’t possibly love someone who isn’t “one of us.” Help us to realize that Your love transcends everything, even our feeble little prejudices. Amen.
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]]>I want to concentrate today on the last two sentences in the Gospel reading. "But Jesus would not trust himself to them because he knew them all, and did not need anyone to testify about human nature. He himself understood it well."
Jesus, fully human and fully divine, created us. He certainly knows human nature. That's why God gave us the Ten Commandments. If you look at the Commandments, they kind of go against our nature. Our nature is to be selfish, lazy, seeking the path of least resistance. We have to fight against this to keep the Commandments. But here's the great part: God offers us all the strength and grace we need to do it!
Father, help us to fight against the baser parts of our nature and to follow and obey you always. Amen.
]]>The older brother bristles at the treatment of the younger brother. But the father says to him, “But now we must celebrate and rejoice, because your brother was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.”
It’s really pretty easy to get lost. The world has so many big and bright and shiny signs that all point us in the wrong direction. Confusion abounds. And sometimes we just have to “hit bottom” before we can begin to clear our heads and see the signs that point us back to God. This is a common theme in addiction recovery. You see, the prodigal son hit bottom. When it comes to sin, we need to do that as well. Only then can we begin on the glorious road home.
Father, you how easily we get lost. Open our eyes and our hearts, that we may find our way back to you today. Amen.
]]>Jesus tells a parable about a landowner with a vineyard that was tended by wicked tenants. When the landowner sends his son to get the produce, the tenants say, "Let us kill him." They wished only to look after their own selfish pursuits and keep the produce for themselves.
While the story was about the Pharisees, could it also pertain to us? You see, we are but tenants in this world, stewards whom God has charged with taking care of his kingdom. Are we being good tenants, willing to give the rightful landowner all that belongs to him? Or are we simply pursuing our own selfish goals, using all we are stewarding for ourselves? Only you can answer that question for yourself.
Father, may we be good tenants in this world you have given us, always willing to return everything to you, for it is all yours to begin with. Amen.
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]]>The rich man, who was in a place of torment, begged Abraham, in whose bosom Lazarus was, to send Lazarus back from the grave to warn his brothers about their impending doom. He says to Abraham, "If someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent." Abraham says they wouldn't be persuaded "even if someone should rise from the dead." This is obviously a reference to Jesus.
What do you think about this exchange? If you were visited by a ghost or a spirit from beyond the grave who told you you need to change your ways, would you? Perhaps. But there is something (someone) much greater than that, the One who has defeated death and risen from the grave. Yet, we so often ignore Him and His message. To our own peril, no doubt.
Father, help us to heed the message of the One you have sent - Jesus - and repent of our sins. Amen.
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]]>In the Gospel reading today from Matthew 20, the mother of James and John asks Jesus that “these two sons of mine sit, one at your right and the other at your left, in your kingdom.” (Interestingly, in Mark’s Gospel, the mother is missing from the story.) Jesus says to the two disciples, “You do not know what you are asking. Can you drink the chalice that I am going to drink?” How do these two readings relate to one another?
Jeremiah signed on to follow God’s call. He was mistreated, exiled and eventually killed. Most of the prophets found a similar fate. Jesus knew that His disciples would be subject to the same treatment that awaited Him. Thus the question (paraphrased here) “Do you really want to do this?” When we “sign on” to be disciples of Christ, we must know that persecution awaits. It goes with the territory. If you call yourself a Christian, this is what you’ve signed on for. So, knowing that, are you still in?
Father, give us the courage to persevere in our faith, even though we know that we will be persecuted. Help us to remember that, in the end, it all works out. Amen.
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