“Indeed, the word of God is living and effective, sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating even between soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart.” Hebrews 4:12

Jesus went up to the feast secretly. Saint Augustine explains that this means that though Jesus was present, the full revelation of His divine identity was hidden from many.

Pride has power, power to reject reality, God himself.

God is always working!

Water also conveys newness—the waters of creation and recreation. Water covers the earth at the beginning and it brings about physical and spiritual cleansing. It makes things new again.

Christ crucified is God’s sign of Love for us. No matter what externally happens, we can trust that love.

o “When Christ came into our midst to redeem us, says a great theologian, he descended so low that after that no one would be able to fall without falling into him.”

Prayer in the name of Jesus is especially powerful against the Devil. “In my name,” Jesus said of His followers, “they shall cast out devils” (Mk 16:17).

Elisabeth Leseur († 1914) was a French laywoman whose atheist husband, upon reading her spiritual journal after her death, experienced a profound conversion and later became a Dominican priest.

The more God is cast off and forgotten, the more those who still live their faith will receive a gaze of tender love from God.