Saint Michael the Archangel is one of the most well-known angels in the Bible. Saint Michael is mentioned by name five times in the Old and New Testaments. In the Book of Daniel, Saint Michael is described as a ‘great prince’ who protects the people of Israel. In the New Testament, Saint Michael is mentioned in the Book of Revelation, where he leads the battle against the dragon and his angels [ … ]
Palm Sunday | Passion And Crucifixion Of Jesus Christ | From The Gospel Of Saint Mark
Jesus has come to Jerusalem before, but previously he has not wanted to be recognized as the Messiah. Now he accepts the acclaim of the crowd and presents himself triumphantly. He chooses a fine young donkey to carry him, an honest beast of burden, and in so doing he recalls the prophecy of Zechariah 9:9, telling us that the Messiah will enter Jerusalem on a donkey [ … ]
Daily Bible Verses For Lent | The Sanhedrin Plot Christ’s Death | Jesus | Jewish Passover Preparations | Fear Of The Romans | Pharisees | Christian Faith | Audio KJV
Jesus has raised Lazarus from the dead. This is the seventh sign, or miracle, of John’s Gospel. We know more through this sign of our own resurrection. Jesus has power over death. Jesus is life and he gives us life [ … ]
Meditations On The Love Of Jesus Christ | The Book Of Revelation
At its core, the Book of Revelation is a message of hope and encouragement for persecuted Christians, who were living in a time of great uncertainty and suffering. Through a series of visions and prophetic messages, the book reassures believers that God is ultimately in control of history and that evil will ultimately be defeated [ … ]
Daily Bible Verses For Lent | An Attempt To Stone Jesus | Jewish Law And Blasphemy | God The Son
It is a tragedy that, as we approach Holy Week, the divisions between Jesus and his people the Jews become sharper, and what is more, that the Jews – a generic term in John’s Gospel for those Jewish people who have rejected Jesus Christ – seek to condemn Jesus in the name of God. By invoking the name of God, they are in fact rejecting Him. We see the Jews placing themselves in an impossible position. Nonetheless, Jesus patiently continues to reason with them, asking them to see and to believe [ … ]
Meditations On The Love Of Jesus Christ | Journeys Of Saint Paul | Corinthians & Acts | Christian Faith
Oh my Jesus, as I meditate on the courage and faithfulness of Paul and Barnabas on their first missionary journey, I am inspired to take risks for your sake. Give me the same boldness to proclaim your truth, even in the face of opposition. Help me to trust in your power and not my own, and to be willing to go wherever you lead me. Amen [ … ]
Daily Bible Verses For Lent | Before Abraham Was, I Am | Divinity Of Jesus | God The Son
The more we love God, the better we come to know him. Jesus continues to assert his knowledge of the Father, and too his eternal coexistence with the Father from before all time [ … ]
Meditations On The Love Of Jesus Christ | The Last Supper
As I meditate on the love of Jesus Christ, I am reminded of the institution of the Lord’s Supper and the profound love Jesus revealed in doing so. In the midst of his last meal with his disciples, Jesus took bread and wine, gave thanks, and gave them to his disciples, saying, ‘This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ (Luke 22:19, KJV)
Daily Bible Verses For Lent | Truth Will Set You Free | Jesus Teaches To The Jewish | Sin And God | Prayer, Faith
We are asked to consider the truth about ourselves and to consider the truth of freedom: what does it really mean for us to be free? [ … ]
A Prayer To Saint Anthony | Love Revealed | Meditations On The Love Of Jesus Christ
Help us to see ourselves as we truly are, Saint Anthony. Grant us the gift of self-awareness, that we may recognize our faults and weaknesses, and turn to God with contrite hearts. May we always remember that without God, we are nothing, and that all good things come from Him [ … ]
Daily Bible Verses For Lent | The Woman Taken In Adultery | He That Is Without Sin, Let Him First Cast A Stone
Jesus goes to the Mount of Olives on a number of occasions to pray. It is good for us now to witness Jesus praying. When we pray, we pray with Jesus and according to his example [ … ]
Meditations On The Love Of Jesus Christ In The Garden Of Gethsemane
In this moment, Jesus’ prayer is a beautiful example of submission to God’s will. Despite his agony, Jesus chose to surrender his own desires and accept God’s plan for his life. Jesus knew that this was the only way to bring salvation to the world. This act of selflessness is a testament to Jesus’ deep love for humanity [ … ]
Daily Bible Verses For Lent | Different Opinions About Jesus | Temple Authorities – Scribes, Pharisees | Jesus Christ
There are people now who choose to think of Jesus simply as an extraordinary man, a wise man and a performer of miracles, and not as our saviour the Son of God. There were and are those who think of Jesus as a great prophet, whose mission was to reject Jewish sectarianism, and insurrection, and unite the Jewish people, to enable them to survive the Roman occupation while being true to God, to maintain the Kingdom in their hearts despite the presence of the occupying pagan and Gentile power [ … ]
Daily Bible Verses For Lent | Jesus In Jerusalem | The Feast Of Tabernacles | Jesus And Temple Judaism | Jesus Is The Christ
John’s teaching of the journeys Jesus makes is more complete than the other Gospels. According to the other Gospels, Jesus travels only once to Jerusalem, when he goes to be crucified. According to John, Jesus travels at least two or three times to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover. This gives us the approximation of the duration of Jesus’ public life as being three years [ … ]
Saint Teresa Of Avila | Interior Castle | Seven Mansions | Prayer
Saint Teresa of Avila, also known as Saint Teresa of Jesus, was a Spanish mystic, writer, and reformer who lived in the 16th century. Born in Avila, Spain in 1515, Teresa was the daughter of a wealthy and prominent family. From an early age, she was deeply religious and felt a strong desire to dedicate her life to God [ … ]
Daily Bible Verses For Lent | Jesus Christ The Son Of God | Bearing Witness | Scripture, Signs And Miracles | Audio KJV | Faith
The Jews – often in the Gospel of John a generic term for those who reject Christ, or those who are so muddled, contentious and sectarian among themselves that they threaten the continuity of themselves in the Law – do not reject Jesus for any good reason. They do so rather because they cling to what precious little they have, within their prison walls, and so they deliberately blind themselves to the universal, and universalizing, truth which Christ brings. Jesus knows this. Nevertheless, through justice, he must give to the Jews this additional opportunity to listen to his teaching and recognize the truth of who he is. We may imagine that Jesus is truly desperate for the people of God to put aside their differences and truly be with God [ … ]
Daily Bible Verses For Lent | Authority Of The Son of God | God The Father / God The Son As One | Jesus Is God | Audio KJV | The Christ
Jesus explains certain aspects of the truth of his relationship with his Father. He explains that he is consubstantial with the Father. He is not created as we are; he is the Son; he has life in himself. On earth, Jesus is the mirror of the Father. It is through Christ that we may approach God. God the Father and God the Son share one being. The Father and the Son are equal [ … ]
Saint Paul | Early Life, Conversion and Ministry | Who Was Saint Paul? | Journey To Damascus
Saint Paul, whose birth name was Saul, was born in Tarsus in the first century. Saint Paul was a member of the Jewish diaspora, meaning that he grew up outside of Palestine, in a community of Jews living in the Roman Empire. This would be in the Hellenic lands, meaning that these were Greek-speaking areas, as such dating from the conquests of Alexander the Great. Saul’s parents were both devout Jews, and he was raised in a strict religious environment that emphasized obedience to the Jewish law and traditions [ … ]
Daily Bible Verses For Lent | Jesus Heals A Paralyzed Man | The Angel And Waters Of The Pool | Faith Healing | Sabbath
The Church Fathers teach that the pool by which the sick people wait is a symbol of baptism. It is striking to consider that, for the paralyzed man, there is healing to be found here, and too that the mode of healing at this pool is generally capricious and not available for all. We are made aware through this passage of the Bible that our healing through Jesus is for all [ … ]
Saint Augustine Of Hippo | Confession And Conversion In Christian Life | Love And Do What You Will
Saint Augustine’s conversion was not a sudden or easy process. He struggled with doubts and fears, and it was only after a profound spiritual experience that he finally submitted himself to Christ [ … ]
Saint Francis Of Assisi And The Canticle Of The Sun
Saint Francis’ life took a dramatic turn when he was taken prisoner during the war and fell ill. After his release, Saint Francis had a vision in which he heard a voice telling him to return to Assisi and devote himself to God. Saint Francis obeyed the voice, but struggled to find his place in life after his conversion [ … ]
Parousia | Second Coming Of Jesus Christ | Apocalypse / Revelation
Christian Art | Parousia | Second Coming | Lamb Of God, You Take Away The Sins Of The World Luke 17: 26-37 (Audio Bible KJV, Spoken Word) Early Christian thought [ … ]
Daily Bible Verses For Lent | The Synagogue In Nazareth | Christ Preaches Isaiah | Jesus And The Prophets | Audio KJV
Christ has come to Nazareth, where he was brought up, and on the Sabbath day has entered the synagogue. He has been given the book of Isaiah to read. The passage he chooses is this (Isaiah 61) [ … ]
Daily Bible Verses For Lent | Cleansing Of The Temple | Christ The New Temple Of God | Jesus And The Jewish Authorities
The Passover was the most important religious feast for the Jewish people. It was celebrated on the fourteenth day of the month of Nisan, a spring month whose date, according to our solar calendar, varies following the lunar cycle, just as Easter does. It was followed by the festival week of Azymes, an English word (derived from the Greek ἄζυμος) for unleavened bread in Biblical times [ … ]
Parable Of The Prodigal Son | Parables Of Jesus
The parable of the prodigal son is among the most famous of the parables which Jesus teaches us. Indeed the phrase ‘prodigal son’ is familiar to English speakers who might not tend to read the Bible very often if at all. In the parable of the prodigal son, the story Jesus tells is so homely and familiar to our lives, and to our most basic human and family instincts, that even without the deeper meanings as we interpret the parable, it would be powerfully moving to hear as a tale of estrangement and difficulty followed by forgiveness and reconciliation through love [ … ]
Daily Bible Verses For Lent | The Parable Of Lazarus And The Rich Man | Hell And Judgement | Christian Charity | Audio KJV
Jesus speaks in parables when he has something important to communicate. The meaning of a parable may seem obscure or in need of explanation. Jesus does give interpretations of the parables to his disciples. We are encouraged through the parables to see our world in new and perhaps unexpected ways. The parables encourage us to think more deeply about Jesus’ teaching. They are, above all, a challenge – even an anarchic challenge – to everything we think we know [ … ]
Daily Bible Verses For Lent | The Mother Of The Sons Of Zebedee | You Will Drink My Cup | Jesus Journeys To Jerusalem
As the disciples accompany Jesus on the way to Jerusalem, so we are asked to unite ourselves to Jesus in his passion and death, so that we may share in his resurrection and accompany Jesus in his glory as Holy Week culminates in Easter [ … ]
Daily Bible Verses For Lent | Judge Not And You Will Not Be Judged | Christian Faith | Forgiveness | Audio KJV | Jesus
We are called once more by Jesus to seek perfection as our acts of mercy imitate, insofar as we are able, the mercy of God. We are taught again of the inseparability of our relationship with each other in the body of Christ, in the brotherhood of man, and of our relationship with God [ … ]
Daily Bible Verses For Lent | Transfiguration Of Jesus | Son Of Man | Moses And Elijah | Law And Prophets | Elevated Faith
As they travel on the way to Jerusalem, Jesus throws his disciples into confusion by telling them about the suffering and death he must undergo. The disciples simply do not understand. For centuries, the Jews have awaited the coming of the Messiah, whom they envisaged as a glorious warrior king, not as one who would suffer and die the most ignominious of deaths, on a cross, of all things. A person condemned to die on a cross could not be the Messiah; rather, according to the Old Law, he had to be “cursed by God” (Deuteronomy 21: 22-23). The disciples cannot see the divine plan for our salvation, while the command for all who would be saved to ‘take up his cross and follow me’ must have seemed both strange and terrifying. To reassure his disciples, Jesus allows them to witness his glorious body through the transfiguration [ … ]
What Is The Holy Spirit? Who Is The Holy Spirit? | Protestant And Catholic Perspectives
The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Holy Trinity. The Holy Spirit is a person, not a force or energy. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states: ‘The Holy Spirit is a personal and uncreated Love, the source and giver of all holiness.’ (CCC 733) This means that the Holy Spirit is not a thing, but rather a divine person who is coequal with God the Father and Jesus Christ the Son [ … ]
Daily Bible Verses For Lent | Effectiveness Of Prayer | The Golden Rule | Christian Faith And Charity | Audio KJV | Love In Jesus
Our prayer must be true to God. It is natural to petition God for what we need. It would indeed be arrogant to ‘go it alone’ and not humbly to share with God our needs and to ask Him for help, as if He were not our Father and we His children and creation. We are called by Jesus to acknowledge that all we have, we have through God. And we are called to develop our conversation with God through a life of prayer [ … ]
Audio Bible KJV | King James Version | King James Audio Bible | Word Aloud New Testament | MP3 Download
The KJV Bible is a rich and beautiful text which might be considered intended to be read aloud. It is powerful poetry. It is of immense significance in the English literary and oral traditions. A variety of audio KJV is available, and each has a contribution to make [ … ]
Jesus Tempted In The Desert | Jesus Fasting 40 Days | Sin In The Bible And For Christians Today
Explore Jesus’ teachings on sin and temptation and as Christians resist temptation in the modern world. Learn from the Bible and religious authorities with quotations and insights [ … ]
Daily Bible Verses For Lent | The Calling Of Levi (Matthew) | A Feast For Sinners | Pharisees, Publicans, Jesus | Prayer, Faith | KJV
It was a sin for Levi to collect taxes for the occupying Roman power. His company would be anathema to the Jews. In calling Levi, in giving him a vocation, Jesus is calling a sinner to leave behind his former self to follow him [ … ]
Daily Bible Verses For Lent | Jesus Foretells His Death And Resurrection | Son Of Man | Messiah | Belief In Jesus | Audio KJV
Jesus orders his disciples to keep his true identity, as the Messiah, a secret. We might wonder why this should be. One answer to this is that many of the people of whom we read in the Bible were hoping for and expecting the coming of the Messiah, who would lead the Jewish people to freedom, and yet their expectation – of a new judge or great warrior king – was not in accord with Christ’s true purpose, namely to serve and to suffer and so to save [ … ]
Daily Bible Verses | Christian Renunciation | Faith In Jesus | What The Bible Says | Take Up Your Cross And Follow Me | Son Of Man
Jesus has told his disciples for the first time that he must go to Jerusalem to suffer and die. In today’s Gospel verses, Jesus calls the multitudes also, to tell everyone about what it means to follow Jesus, to live a Christian life. While the Passion draws closer, the sign of the crucifixion looming prominently over these verses, we are enjoined in our own lives to deny ourselves and to take up our cross to follow Jesus [ … ]
Daily Bible Verses | True Faith | Healing The Blind Man At Bethsaida | Miracles Of Jesus | Sin Forgiven | Christ’s Church
Mark has shown Jesus earlier (Mark 7: 32-33) using the sign of the laying on of hands as part of the miracle of healing. Normally when Jesus heals, the healing is instant. With the blind man at Bethsaida this is not the case. The healing is more gradual, passing through stages before being complete [ … ]
Mystery Of Jesus In The Garden Of Gethsemane | Reflections On The Heart Of Christian Faith | King James Audio Bible
In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus prays and struggles desperately with the weight of his coming Crucifixion. He sweats blood – he is in agony. Jesus enters into his Passion fully cognizant of the horror of it [ … ]