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In the sixteenth century, Martin Luther formulated the concept of the priesthood of all believers. Contrary to widespread misconceptions of this doctrine, Luther did not mean to reduce the supernatural concern of personal redemption to a core or essence of social concern. In reaction to the modernist-fundamentalist controversy, many evangelicals, zealous to retain the biblical concern for personal redemption, began to minimize or even reject the social agenda of the New Testament. Social concern and relief ministry became identified with liberalism. Ministry to the poor, the homeless, the hungry, and the imprisoned was often all-too-willingly surrendered to the state or...

August 20, 2018 Memorial of Saint Bernard, Abbot and Doctor of the Church Reading 1 Ez 24:15-23 The word of the LORD came to me: Son of man, by a sudden blowI am taking away from you the delight of your eyes,but do not mourn or weep or shed any tears.Groan in silence, make no lament for the dead,bind on your turban, put your sandals on your feet,do not cover your beard, and do not eat the customary bread.That evening my wife died,and the next morning I did as I had been commanded.Then the people asked me, "Will you...

1 For I would that ye knew what great conflict I have for you, and for them at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh; 2 That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ; 3 In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. 4 And this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words. 5 For though I be...

"[Love] does not seek its own" (1 Cor. 13:5). Love transforms selfish people into self-sacrificing people. From the time of Adam and Eve, replacing God with self has been at the root of all sin. Our first parents had only one restriction: "From the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you shall surely die" (Gen. 2:17). But Eve believed the serpent's lie that God was trying to keep her from realizing her full potential (Gen. 3:5). She ate the forbidden fruit, gave some to Adam,...

“‘Thine is the dominion, O Lord, and Thou dost exalt Thyself as head over all. Both riches and honor come from Thee, and Thou dost rule over all’” (1 Chronicles 29:11-12). Trust God, who controls everyone and everything. In Daniel 6, King Darius chose 120 princes to help him govern his kingdom. Over the princes he appointed three presidents, with Daniel being the first president. The princes and other two presidents were jealous of Daniel, so they devised a scheme against him. They told the king that he should make a law requiring every person to make his requests only...

August 19, 2018 Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time Reading 1 Prv 9:1-6 Wisdom has built her house,she has set up her seven columns;she has dressed her meat, mixed her wine,yes, she has spread her table.She has sent out her maidens; she callsfrom the heights out over the city:"Let whoever is simple turn in here;To the one who lacks understanding, she says,Come, eat of my food,and drink of the wine I have mixed!Forsake foolishness that you may live;advance in the way of understanding." Responsorial Psalm Ps 34:2-3, 4-5, 6-7 R. (9a) Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.I will...

August 18, 2018 Saturday of the Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time Reading 1 Ez 18:1-10, 13b, 30-32 The word of the LORD came to me:Son of man, what is the meaning of this proverbthat you recite in the land of Israel: "Fathers have eaten green grapes,thus their children's teeth are on edge"? As I live, says the Lord GOD:I swear that there shall no longer be anyone among youwho will repeat this proverb in Israel.For all lives are mine;the life of the father is like the life of the son, both are mine;only the one who sins shall die....

In Luke 12:49–57, Jesus told His disciples that He had not come to bring peace, but division. He told them that He was bringing a baptism of fire to the earth, warning the crowd to flee the wrath to come. This was the great moment of crisis in history. It was a time of urgency that swept the earth with the appearance of Jesus. Jesus’ coming to this planet in the fullness of time was a time of division, judgment, and separation. It was a time of personal choosing, when eternal destinies were at stake. Everyone who encountered Jesus had...

"Love does not brag" (1 Cor. 13:4). Love exalts others; pride exalts self. Most of us shy away from people who have an inflated view of themselves or place themselves at the center of every conversation. Yet perhaps you too struggle with the temptation to spend most of your conversations talking about yourself. Even if you would never openly brag about yourself, might you at times secretly resent others for not acknowledging your accomplishments? That's the subtlety of pride. Boasting always violates love because it seeks to exalt itself at the expense of others—to make itself look good while making...

“‘No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will hold to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon’” (Matthew 6:24). The believer is to serve God, not riches. When reading Matthew 6:24, many people say, “I believe that you can serve two masters. I work two jobs.” The reason they say that is they don’t understand the Greek word translated “serve.” It refers not to an employee in an 8-to-5 job but to a slave. A slave is one who is constantly and entirely devoted...

August 17, 2018 Friday of the Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time Reading 1 Ez 16:1-15, 60, 63 The word of the LORD came to me: Son of man, make known to Jerusalem her abominations.Thus says the Lord GOD to Jerusalem:By origin and birth you are of the land of Canaan;your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite.As for your birth, the day you were born your navel cord was not cut;you were neither washed with water nor anointed,nor were you rubbed with salt, nor swathed in swaddling clothes.No one looked on you with pity or compassionto do...

"Can you give me a Bible verse on infant baptism?" I often hear this from Catholics who want to explain the Church’s teaching on the subject to non-Catholics. Well, no and yes. No, because there is no Bible verse that says, "Baptize infants" (just as there is no Bible verse that says, "Do not baptize infants"). But, yes, I can give you a Bible verse on infant baptism if you understand that the Church’s teaching on this subject flows from the Church’s teachings on original sin and the sacrament of baptism. In this article, I will focus on explaining, from...

The broad question that the writer of Ecclesiastes seeks to answer is, “Is there any meaning to the time that I spend in this world?” We put on a man’s tombstone that he was born on a certain date and that he died on a certain date. Between these two poles of time we live our lives. The basic question is, “Does my life have meaning?” A common refrain echoed in Ecclesiastes is that there is futility, vanity, and “nothing new under the sun.” If our lives begin under the sun as a cosmic accident, a result of random collisions...

August 16, 2018 Thursday of the Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time Reading 1 Ez 12:1-12 The word of the LORD came to me: Son of man, you live in the midst of a rebellious house;they have eyes to see but do not see,and ears to hear but do not hear,for they are a rebellious house.Now, son of man, during the day while they are looking on,prepare your baggage as though for exile, and again while they are looking on,migrate from where you live to another place;perhaps they will see that they are a rebellious house.You shall bring out your...

"Love . . . is not jealous" (1 Cor. 13:4). Jealousy thrives in a climate of selfish ambition. Jealousy is an insidious sin that cries out, "I want what you have, and furthermore, I don't want you to have it." It replaces contentment with resentment and spawns a myriad of other sins. The Corinthians, in truth, were jealous of one another's spiritual gifts. First Corinthians 12:31 literally says, "You are earnestly desiring the showy gifts, but I show you a more excellent way." The word translated "earnestly desiring" is translated "jealous" in 1 Corinthians 13:4. It means "to boil" and...

“‘The lamp of the body is the eye; if therefore your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!’” (Matthew 6:22-23). Generous giving brings spiritual understanding. When people see, their body is filled with the light that comes in from the world their eyes perceive. But if their eye is dark (blind), there is no light and they perceive nothing. The eye is like a window—if a window...

SYDNEY, NSW — A Missouri nun who was caught trying to smuggle cocaine through the heels of her shoes at an Australian airport said her online boyfriend tricked her into doing it. Denise Woodrum, 51, was arrested last year after customs officers at Sydney Airport found two pounds of drugs in the high heels of the shoes she had packed, according to Newsweek. It was Hendrik Cornelius, a man Woodrum met online, who duped her into transporting the drugs, said Rebecca Neil, Woodrum’s attorney. "She went on this trip thinking she was bringing artifacts for him," her attorney said. Woodrum...

When Paul declared the mysterious and breathtaking promise that “all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose” (Rom. 8: 28), he was musing in teleology. He was dealing with the realm of the remote rather than the proximate. This suggests that the proximate must be judged in light of the remote. Our problem is this: We do not yet possess the full light of the remote. We are still looking in a dark mirror. We are not utterly devoid of light, though. We have enough light to know...

August 15, 2018 Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary - Mass during the Day Reading 1 Rv 11:19a; 12:1-6a, 10ab God's temple in heaven was opened,and the ark of his covenant could be seen in the temple. A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun,with the moon under her feet,and on her head a crown of twelve stars.She was with child and wailed aloud in pain as she labored to give birth.Then another sign appeared in the sky;it was a huge red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns,and on its...

1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timotheus our brother, 2 To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ which are at Colosse: Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 3 We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, 4 Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love which ye have to all the saints, 5 For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in...