Theme of the Day: Come, Lord Jesus!—As King Why would the Church Year begin with a gospel reading that describes an event near the very end of Jesus’ life—his entry into Jerusalem at the start of Holy Week? Because the events of Palm Sunday serve as a perfect summary of the entire plan of salvation. […]

Theme of the Day: Scripture Produces Certainty For The Waiting Jesus promised, “I am coming soon” (Second Reading). But what does soon mean to the one who is the Alpha and Omega, the eternal God? We do not know. We want Christ to return quickly, because we know the Last Day will be a day […]

Theme of the Day: Judgment Produces Perseverance For The Suffering Our world is full of victims of abuse, violence, and oppression. In many cases, this evil goes unnoticed or unpunished. Injustice can drive victims in two possible directions. They can be filled with despair over the unfairness of the situation. Or they can be filled […]

Theme of the Day: Blessings Produce Joy For Those Who Seem Cursed We believe in “the holy Christian Church, the communion of saints.” All with saving faith in Jesus as their Savior are holy. (Saint comes from the Latin word sanctus which means holy.) God grants the status of saint to all believers. Since sainthood […]

Theme of the Day: Truth Produces Freedom We value freedom and strive to protect freedoms. But do we truly understand freedom? Freedom for many means doing what you want without control or coercion. Jesus helps us to understand true freedom: “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know […]

Theme of the Day: The Law Produces Total Dependence Last week we heard Jesus ask, “When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8). As we consider Jesus’ question, it might be easy to assume that any decrease in faith we observe in the world corresponds with an increase […]

Theme of the Day: Promises Produce Persistence In Prayer Disciples of Jesus need to learn how to pray. We need Jesus to teach us to ask for those things which our Father in heaven promises us. We need to pray for what he wants for us more than what we want from him. However, learning […]

Theme of the Day: Generosity Produces Gratitude Gratitude is the appreciation and thankfulness we feel when someone does something kind to us or for us. There are two key factors that influence the intensity of gratitude. First, there is the deservedness factor. Say you do a favor for your neighbor, picking up his mail when […]

Theme of the Day: Increased Faith Increases Duty; Increased Duty Increases Delight Look up “duty” in the dictionary. It’s defined as “something that one is expected or required to do.” Look up “duty” in a thesaurus. Some of its synonyms: chore, burden, obligation, work. “Duty” can carry some strong negative connotations. Now, consider this. In […]

Theme of the Day: What Seems To Help In Life Fails In Death; What Seems To Fail In Life Helps In Death Last week we learned the hard truth that money cannot bring true happiness and fulfillment. This week we see that as much as money lets us down in life, its ultimate failure to […]