Catholic Bible Study Made Simple

What do you say to Jesus when He, either directly or through His Church, tells you something you don’t want to hear? If you tell Him that this just can’t be the case, you are like Peter in the gospel. And Peter only a little while before had gotten the answer to Jesus’ question right. Even though Peter was reprimanded for telling Jesus that what He said couldn’t happen and Jesus rebuked him, Peter did not stop following Jesus. “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life; and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.” (John 6:68–69, RSV2CE)

The response that Jesus is looking for from us is to ask Him to open our ears and our hearts to what He has to say. And as James insists, that means that we must do what He tells us.

The Mass readings can be found here: Scripture Readings

The blog post can be found here: Blog Post

"There is no favouritism with God." (Romans 2:11, NJB) James tells us that favoritism and distinctions between believers is to be avoided. If God does show favoritism, it is for the vulnerable. And when He shows that favoritism, it is often done in a manner that confounds conventional wisdom.

We are called to open ourselves to God’s work in our lives. God wants to heal us of those things that make us less whole as human beings—whether that is our deafness, our bondages, our inability or unwillingness to follow Him.

“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I go to the Father.” (John 14:12, RSV2CE) This is not only a promise; it is also a challenge. Do you believe enough to take on this challenge from Jesus?

The Mass readings can be found here: Scripture Readings

The blog post can be found here: Blog Post

Jesus told us that if we love Him we will keep His word. (cf. Jn 14:23). In the first reading Moses tells the people that they should not add or subtract from what God told him to tell them. Human nature is such that we would prefer to craft God’s word to us to suit our desires. That is not submitting to the word that had been planted in us. And if we do not submit, we will be unable to bear the fruit that we have been created to bear.

The Mass readings can be found here: Scripture Readings

The blog post can be found here: Blog Post

These scriptures tell us it is time to make a decision as to whom we choose to follow—God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirt, or the world, the flesh, and the devil. The world can be the way we were taught to live, the way we lived in the past, or the world in which we live now. We are called to live either by fleshly standards or standards of the Spirit. We are called to stand up to and rejects the temptations of the Evil One.

It is easy to choose the path of least resistance, to choose to follow human logic, to yield to pre-conceived notions and the desire to satisfy our own desire. This is not the life to which we are called as followers of Jesus.

The Mass readings can be found here: Scripture Readings

The blog post can be found here: Blog Post

Mary models for us the life that Jesus calls us to live. She also models the reward that Jesus has in mind for us—eternal life with him. Mary’s assumption gives us hope that Jesus’ promise will be fulfilled for us.

Though Mary’s assumption is not recorded in scripture, it has been held as fact since early Church days. For an article on this, click this link: Assumption: History of Doctrine.

The reading from Revelation, as does the gospel, speaks of Mary as the mother of the Savior. Interestingly, the image in Revelation 12 is also seen many years later in the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe. For more information on this click here: Explanation of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Rejoice! If we live the life to which we have been called, we shall live with Him forever.

The Mass readings can be found here: Scripture Readings

The blog post can be found here: Blog Post

In our times, it is difficult to avoid the talking heads spouting human wisdom rather than wisdom that comes from God. These talking heads may be promoting secular or religious human wisdom. It is difficult to differentiate between truth, falsehood, half-truths, and opinion. It can be even more difficult to discern wisdom that comes from God; because, to our human minds, it is beyond our experience and therefore unbelievable.

Elijah had slain 450 prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel, but was afraid of Jezebel. Still, God provided for Him and sent him to Horeb so that He could give Elijah his next assignment.

The people who experienced the miracle of being fed physically could neither understand nor accept Jesus’ telling them that He would feed them spiritually.

Are we, as a people of God, much different from Elijah or the crowd who grumbled against Jesus? We can be with faith that looks beyond what we see with our eyes, hear with our ears, and comprehend with our minds. “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1, RSV2CE)

The Mass readings can be found here: Scripture Readings

The blog post can be found here: Blog Post

These readings a reminder of human nature since the fall. Whatever God gives us, we always want more. Deliverance from Egypt was not sufficient; the Israelites wanted the benefits of Egypt without the slavery. The people in the gospel reading wanted to eat as sumptuously as they did from the five loaves and the two fish. The reading from Ephesians reminds us that with the salvation that Jesus has brought, we are called to make changes in our lives and our expectations of life.

The Mass readings can be found here: Scripture Readings

The blog post can be found here: Blog Post

Many of our problems arise because we insist upon seeing things from a human perspective rather than from God’s perspective. When we do this, we see that we do not have enough—enough money, enough talent, enough time, enough grace, enough of whatever it is that we think that we need at that time. If we would stop worrying and allow God to be God, we might see that we not only have enough but more than enough.

The Mass readings can be found here: Scripture Readings

The blog post can be found here: Blog Post

These readings tell us that not everyone who appears in the role of shepherd is a good shepherd. Jesus alone is the ultimate Good Shepherd, and He is the one who will bring all the sheep back to His fold and minister to them in the way that they should be treated.

Most of us have some for whom we are shepherds. This is an occasion to examine ourselves honestly, and perhaps with the help of another, to determine where we model the Good Shepherd and where we do not.

Implied also is that each of us has been given one or more human shepherd. Just how well do we live out the directions of these shepherds and the Good Shepherd?

The Mass readings can be found here: Scripture Readings

The blog post can be found here: Blog Post

The reading from Ephesians speaks of six blessings that are ours because of Jesus’ death, resurrection, and the sending of the Holy Spirit. By nature of our baptism, we are all priest, prophet, and king; and we share the command to be Jesus’ witness that was given to the apostles. Sometimes performing that assignment we are successful like the apostles in the gospels. Sometimes we are rejected like Amos in the first reading. Regardless of the response or the outcome, our obeying Jesus’ commands are a necessary part of the life of the disciple.

The Mass readings can be found here: Scripture Readings

The blog post can be found here: Blog Post