Catholic Bible Study Made Simple

John the Baptist may seem like a minor character in God’s plan of salvation.  However, he is the first to recognize Jesus while He was in the womb. (cf. Lk 1:42) He is the first to point out Jesus as the Messiah to the future apostles. (cf. Jn 1:29) John is the fulfillment of the prophecy that is this week’s first reading. John’s role, his calling, was to point to Jesus that others might recognize Him. Each of us is called to be a John the Baptist for others; we are to point others to Jesus.

When we see ourselves as we are and Jesus as he is, we may despair not only of being a John the Baptist but also of achieving salvation. Do not despair. See these readings as an urging to make those course corrections in our lives so that in the end we may hear, ““Well done, good and trustworthy servant; you have shown you are trustworthy in small things; I will trust you with greater; come and join in your master’s happiness.” (Mt 25:21, NJB) This is God’s ultimate plan for you, and He will make it possible for you to be delivered from the kingdom of darkness and slavery into His wonderful light.

The Mass readings can be found here:

Scripture Readings for 12/06/2020

The blog post can be found here:

Blog Post for 12/06/2020

We are in a new liturgical year; yet the readings sound a lot like the ending of the old liturgical year, except that the gospel is from Mark rather than Matthew. The Church is wanting to prepare us not only for the commemoration of Jesus’ first coming but also for His second coming at the end of time, as well as our for our particular judgement at the end of our lives.

Jesus has left us, the members of the Church, to carry out His work till He returns. Are we diligent and prompt in doing the things that we are charged with doing? Think about the consequences if you are not.

The Mass readings can be found here:

Scripture Readings for 11/29/2020

The blog post can be found here:

Blog Post for 11/29/2020

David was the shepherd king of Israel. Jesus, the Messiah, is the Son of David. He is the promised king whose reign will last forever. As Son of David and fulfillment of the prophecies, He also is a Shepherd King, not just of the children of Abraham but of all those how have been blessed by Abraham’s Son from whom the blessing was to flow for all. “All nations on earth will bless themselves by your descendants, because you have obeyed my command.’” Gen 22:18 (NJB)

Each of us must determine what we can do to be counted among the sheep rather than the goats at the final judgement. This is not difficult. We need to do the will of the Father.

The Mass readings can be found here:

Scripture Readings for 11/22/2020

The blog post can be found here:

Blog Post for 11/22/2020

Are you willing to risk failure at attempting to accomplish something you believe God is asking you to do? Do you believe that He will give you enough time to accomplish it? Do you believe that He not only believes in you but also that He will provide all you need to exceed your expectations and to please Him?

If you say no to any of these, study these readings. You may not know how much time or what abilities you have, but God will not ask more of you than the capabilities that He has placed within you, and He will always give you sufficient time to accomplish His desires of you.

The Mass readings can be found here:

Scripture Readings for 11/15/2020

The blog post can be found here:

Blog Post for 11/15/2020

There is a great difference between being a wise-guy and being wise. The wise-guy does not take life seriously, whereas the wise person does. Being serious does not mean being dower; rather it means being focused on what is important and searching for truth—both temporal and eternal.

These readings call us to be wise in our search for eternal life. Eternal life is the destiny for which God created us. God gives us all the other things in our lives to assist us in achieving His end for us. Let us learn to use these things as God intends them to be used. Let us not be discouraged when we don’t see the progress toward wisdom and eternal life that we think should be. God’s timing is not our own. God never delays. God is always on time.

The Mass readings can be found here:

Scripture Readings for 11/08/2020

The blog post can be found here:

Blog Post for 11/08/2020

We may desire eternal life; we may even ask Jesus, as the rich young man did, what we need to do to possess eternal life; and we may press Jesus for something more that just following the formula. However, we may not like the answer that must leave all behind that inhibits our following Jesus without reservation—in short that we must become like Jesus. And this is extremely difficult unless we acknowledge that we are powerless to do this on our own and request that Jesus empower us with His Spirit to be able to live that kind of life.

The Mass readings can be found here:

Scripture Readings for 11/01/2020

The blog post can be found here:

Blog Post for 11/01/2020

Moses gave us the ten commandments that he received from God. The first three speak of having a right relationship with God, the other seven of having a right relationship with others. Jesus summarizes these two with the two great commandments of loving God and loving others; and He took verses from the Torah to do this summary.

Let us remember those two verses to live out the Spirit of the Law rather than being slaves to the letter of the Law as the Pharisees were. What Jesus calls us to is not the following of a set of instructions as we would to assemble a boxed shelf that we bought at a store. He calls us to a way of life

The Mass readings can be found here:

Scripture Readings for 10/25/2020

The blog post can be found here:

Blog Post for 10/25/2020

Perhaps we are amazed at God’s choices to achieve His plan. Sometimes He chooses a Cyrus, who unlike Pharaoh, was not only willing to allow God’s chosen people to return the land God had given them but also assisted them in the process of rebuilding. Other times He chooses someone like Caesar, who though he was a harsh taskmaster, created an empire in which Jesus’ disciples could preach the gospel to most of the known world.  Why, He even chooses us despite our sinfulness and powerlessness.

This requires what Paul speaks of in the second reading—faith, hope, and love: faith that God is who He says He is and knows what He is doing; hope, positive expectation that God will prevail in our best long-term interests; and love of God, ourselves, and others—even those others God may choose as His instruments that we may not see the wisdom of God’s choice.

The Mass readings can be found here:

Scripture Readings for 10/18/2020

The blog post can be found here:

Blog Post for 10/18/2020

One can listen to God, hear His invitation, and maybe even feel honored to be asked; but we find the invitation an unwanted interruption of our chosen regular lives. We fail to recognize that we are chosen for a reason.  We are part of God’s Plan A but force Him to go with Plan B. How sad for us that we miss the blessing He has in mind for us in order to satisfy some lesser selfish desire.

“[M]ake Yahweh your only joy and he will give you what your heart desires.” (Ps 37:4, JB) If we find our joy and completion in God, He will change our hearts to desire what he desires.

The Mass readings can be found here:

Scripture Readings for 10/11/2020

The blog post can be found here:

Blog Post for 10/11/2020

How do you feel about being a sharecropper for God? That is what God is offering in the gospel reading. If we accept His offer, we need to abide by His terms and conditions. Our rebellious natures may desire to renegotiate or to repudiate the terms. That will have a disastrous end for us.

Consider carefully what God is offering. He has prepared everything to enable us to succeed, and He is offering us a share of the reward. All He asks in return that we do our best in making for success and giving Him His share of the results and rewards.

The Mass readings can be found here:

Scripture Readings for 10/04/2020

The blog post can be found here:

Blog Post for 10/04/2020