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Daily Readings from the USCCB“Amen, amen, I say to you, the Son cannot do anything on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing; for what he does, the Son will do also. For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything that he himself does, and he will show him greater works than these, so that you may be amazed.” John 5:19–20The most central and most glorious mystery of our faith is that of the Most Holy Trinity. God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are one God yet three distinct Persons. As divine “Persons,” each...

Daily Readings from the USCCBOne man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been ill for a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be well?” John 5:5–6Only those who have been crippled for many years could understand what this man endured in life. He was crippled and unable to walk for thirty-eight years. The pool he was laying next to was believed to have the power of healing. Therefore, many who were sick and crippled would sit by the pool and try to...

Daily Readings from the USCCBNow there was a royal official whose son was ill in Capernaum. When he heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea, he went to him and asked him to come down and heal his son, who was near death. Jesus said to him, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will not believe.” John 4:46–48Jesus did end up healing the royal official’s son. And when the royal official returned to discover his son healed, we are told that “he and his whole household came to believe.” Some came to believe in Jesus only...

Daily Readings from the USCCBTax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to listen to Jesus, but the Pharisees and scribes began to complain, saying, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” So to them Jesus addressed this parable. Luke 15:1–3This is good news! Our Lord “welcomes sinners and eats with them.” For that reason, there is room at His table for you! Sometimes it’s hard to admit that we are sinners. Of course we know in our minds that we are. But our pride can easily lead us to justify our sin, downplay it and conclude that we...

By Dr. John BergsmaThe readings for this upcoming Fourth Sunday of Lent open up to us a "whole new world," a different way of living, a form of life St. Paul calls "a new creation." The Fourth Sunday of Lent is known as "Laetare Sunday," from the Latin Introit of the Mass, "Laetare Jerusalem," "Rejoice, O Jerusalem" (Isaiah 66:10). This mid-point of Lent is traditionally a somewhat festive Sunday, to encourage the faithful to see "the light at the end of the tunnel," as more than half of the fasting and mortification of Lent is behind us. The use of...

Daily Readings from the USCCBJesus addressed this parable to those who were convinced of their own righteousness and despised everyone else. “Two people went up to the temple area to pray; one was a Pharisee and the other was a tax collector.” Luke 18:9–10This Scripture passage introduces the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector. They both go to the Temple to pray, but their prayers are very different from each other. The prayer of the Pharisee is very dishonest, whereas the prayer of the tax collector is exceptionally sincere and honest. Jesus concludes by saying that the tax...

Daily Readings from the USCCB“Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.” Mark 12:29–30Why would you choose anything less than to love the Lord your God with ALL your heart, with ALL your soul, with ALL your mind, and with ALL your strength? Why would you choose anything less? Of course, we do choose many other things to love in life, even though Jesus is clear with this commandment. The truth is that the...

Daily Readings from the USCCB“But if it is by the finger of God that I drive out demons, then the Kingdom of God has come upon you.” Luke 11:20The Kingdom of God can come upon us in a variety of ways. The line from today’s Gospel above comes in the middle of a story of Jesus casting out a demon from a man who was mute. Once the demon was cast out, the mute man began to speak, and all were amazed. And though some were amazed and grew in faith as a result, others turned their amazement into irrationality....

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Daily Readings from the USCCB“I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter will pass from the law, until all things have taken place.” Matthew 5:17–18The Old Law, the law from the Old Testament, prescribed various moral precepts, as well as ceremonial precepts for worship. Jesus makes it clear that He is not abolishing all that God taught through Moses and the Prophets. This is because the New Testament is the culmination and completion of the Old Testament....

Dr. William (Bill) Schnoebelen, a former 33rd-degree Freemason, reveals the darkest secrets of Freemasonry in this testimony interview. He shared his experiences and discusses everything from secret temple rituals and hidden ranks to the most shocking secret of all. Additionally, he shares how he and his wife uncovered a connection between Freemasonry and one of the world's largest churches. His testimony is one that you won’t want to miss as he may be the only person alive who has first-hand experience and is willing to talk about these things. Timestamps 0:00:00 - Trailer 0:01:17 - Descent into Darkness 0:11:40 -...

Daily Readings from the USCCBThe angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin’s name was Mary. And coming to her, he said, “Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you.” Luke 1:26–28Imagine if the Angel Gabriel, the glorious Archangel who stands before the Most Holy Trinity, were to come to you and announce to you that you were “full of grace” and that “The Lord is with you.” What an indescribable and awe-inspiring experience that would be!...

Daily Readings from the USCCBWhen the people in the synagogue heard this, they were all filled with fury. They rose up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town had been built, to hurl him down headlong. But he passed through the midst of them and went away. Luke 4:28–30One of the first places Jesus went to begin His public ministry was His own home town. After entering the Synagogue and reading from the Prophet Isaiah, Jesus proclaimed that the prophecy of Isaiah was now fulfilled in His very...

Daily Readings from the USCCB“‘For three years now I have come in search of fruit on this fig tree but have found none. So cut it down. Why should it exhaust the soil?’ He said to him in reply, ‘Sir, leave it for this year also, and I shall cultivate the ground around it and fertilize it; it may bear fruit in the future. If not you can cut it down.’” Luke 13:7–9Imagine for a moment that you were the owner of the orchard in which this fig tree was planted. After the gardener asked you to wait for one...

By Dr. John BergsmaIn this third week of our spiritual journey through Lent, the Scripture readings remind us of what we might call the “Moses stage” of salvation history, and also drive home the theme of repentance during this holy season. 1. Our First Reading is Exodus 3:1-8a, 13-1Moses was tending the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian. Leading the flock across the desert, he came to Horeb, the mountain of God. There an angel of the LORD appeared to Moses in fire flaming out of a bush. As he looked on, he was surprised to see...

Daily Readings from the USCCB“Look, all these years I served you and not once did I disobey your orders; yet you never gave me even a young goat to feast on with my friends. But when your son returns who swallowed up your property with prostitutes, for him you slaughter the fattened calf.” Luke 15:22–24This was the reaction of the faithful son in the Parable of the Prodigal Son. Recall that after squandering his inheritance, the Prodigal Son returns home humiliated and poor, asking his father if he will take him back and treat him as if he were a...

Daily Readings from the USCCB“Therefore, I say to you, the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that will produce its fruit.” Matthew 21:42Are you among those from whom the Kingdom of God will be taken away? Or among those to whom it will be given so as to produce good fruit? This is an important question to sincerely answer. The first grouping of people, those who will have the Kingdom of God taken away from them, are represented in this parable by the tenants of the vineyard. It is clear that one...

Daily Readings from the USCCBJesus said to the Pharisees: “There was a rich man who dressed in purple garments and fine linen and dined sumptuously each day. And lying at his door was a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who would gladly have eaten his fill of the scraps that fell from the rich man’s table. Dogs even used to come and lick his sores.” Luke 16:19–21One of the reasons this story is so powerful is because of the clear descriptive contrast between the rich man and Lazarus. The contrast is not only seen in the passage above,...

Harvard, Princeton, Yale, and many other universities were founded explicitly as Protestant Christian institutions, only to devolve over time into something else. So, in the latter half of the nineteenth century, Evangelical Protestants in America started again, creating a new generation of colleges and seminaries that they hoped would avoid the mistakes of their predecessors. But as the current controversy over Wheaton College attests, history seems to be repeating itself. And the problem reaches far beyond Wheaton. For 12 years I served as a professor at Seattle Pacific University (SPU). Founded by pious Free Methodists in the 1890s, the school...

Daily Readings from the USCCBWhen Joseph awoke, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took his wife into his home. Matthew 1:24What is it that made Saint Joseph so great? He wasn’t immaculately conceived as our Blessed Mother was. He was not divine like Jesus. But he was the head of the Holy Family, its guardian and its protector. He became the legal father of the Savior of the World and the spouse of the Mother of God. But Joseph is not great only because he was given such incredible privileges. First and foremost, he...