To live spiritually

1 Cor 3:1-9

And so, brothers, I was not able to talk to you as spiritual people; I had to talk to you as people still living by your natural inclinations, still infants in Christ; I fed you with milk and not solid food, for you were not yet able to take it – and even now, you are still not able to, for you are still living by your natural inclinations. As long as there are jealousy and rivalry among you, that surely means that you are still living by your natural inclinations and by merely human principles. While there is one that says, ‘I belong to Paul’ and another that says, ‘I belong to Apollos’ are you not being only too human? For what is Apollos and what is Paul? The servants through whom you came to believe, and each has only what the Lord has given him. I did the planting, Apollos did the watering, but God gave growth. 

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Resistance against evil

Lk 4:31-37

In those days, Jesus went down to Capernaum, a town in Galilee, and taught them on the Sabbath. And his teaching made a deep impression on them because his word carried authority. In the synagogue there was a man possessed by the spirit of an unclean devil, and he shouted at the top of his voice, ‘Ha! What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are: the Holy One of God.’ But Jesus rebuked it, saying, ‘Be quiet! Come out of him!’ And the devil, throwing the man into the middle, went out of him without hurting him at all. Read More

The Lord in Nazareth

NOTE: We have added the previous verses to today’s Gospel to better understand the context.

Lk 4:16-30

He came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day as he usually did. He stood up to read, and they handed him the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. Unrolling the scroll he found the place where it is written: The spirit of the Lord is on me, for he has anointed me to bring the good news to the afflicted. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives, sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim a year of favour from the Lord. Read More

THE INSTRUCTIONS OF THE LORD

“Blessed is the man whom thou dost chasten, O Lord,

and whom thou dost teach out of thy law” (Ps 94:12).

If we have entered into a friendship with our Father, we will not lack for instructions from Him, for our divine friend is at the same time our guide on the path of salvation. We could not expect the same from a human friend, and perhaps it would not even be appropriate. From our Heavenly Father, however, we receive this grace with certainty. Read More

GROW IN LOVE DAY BY DAY

“Man’s life must change for the better from day to day” (St. Augustine).

When we walk the spiritual path, each day becomes a challenge to grow in love, which, according to Saint Paul, is the greatest of all gifts (1 Cor 13:13). In his Letter to the Corinthians, the Apostle to the Gentiles never tires of praising love in the most glorious terms, concluding with the exhortation: “Make love your aim” (1 Cor 14:1). Read More

Accountable to God

Mt 25:14-30

At that time Jesus told his disciples this parable: “For it will be as when a man going on a journey called his servants and entrusted to them his property;  to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them; and he made five talents more. So also, he who had the two talents made two talents more. But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master’s money. Read More