Admittedly unworthy to have Jesus under his roof, a Roman military officer had faith enough to ask the Lord to cure his paralyzed servant from a distance. Crowds witnessed with amazement when Jesus healed people in their midst. Knowing that the spectacular could begin to overshadow the spiritual purpose of miracles, the Lord chose to go inside to quietly give sight to two blind men. Listening to Jesus’ words without putting them to use cannot get a person to heaven. For example, Jesus verbally taught the Twelve but also sent them to minister

When a poor widow donated a monetary pittance to the Temple treasury, the Lord remarked about its great worth as a meaningful sacrifice. Jesus foretold that the richly adorned Temple in Jerusalem would become rubble. Although He did not reveal the A.D. 70 date of city’s fall, He said that people would first have to contend with doomsaying impostors, persecutions, natural disasters, plagues, and frightening celestial occurrences. Despite all of that, they would know how to refute their persecutors. What signs do our everyday lives show of pers

Embarrassed or annoyed, people in a crowd told a blind beggar to stop shouting for Jesus. Receiving his sight, the man’s cries for pity turned to praising God. Zacchaeus, a tax collector, set pride aside and climbed a tree just to see the Lord, with unanticipated results. When Jesus saw merchants using a prayer area around the Temple as a marketplace, He drove them out. Servants in a parable received handsome rewards for profitably using money entrusted to them, making the point that God rewards people for good use of blessings. Some Sadducee

When the Apostles asked Jesus to increase their faith, our Lord said that faith as small as a mustard seed would allow them to do incredible things. Forgiveness works wonders, too! Jesus came for everyone and foretold that people will go about their everyday lives, serving well or not, until He comes again. When Pharisees asked when the Kingdom of God would come, the Lord advised them to look around. Thankfulness shows that we see in Creation reflections of God’s greatness. Do we try to remove smudges of complacency that keep us from mirrorin

All Souls’ Day invites us to look beyond people’s faults. No one can completely merit a place at the heavenly banquet, but God invites all of us. He leaves it up to us to come to Him or not. Invited to a large dinner party at the home of a Pharisee, Jesus recommended future guest lists of people unable to reciprocate. Generosity, endurance of hard times, and perseverance in prayer here on Earth get rewarded in heaven. Jesus said that anyone planning to build a tower would calculate the cost. When we make sacrifices, do we give thanks that G

When asked how many people would receive salvation, the Lord said that everyone should strive to enter heaven’s gate. Jesus healed a crippled woman, but a synagogue official bristled because the Lord could have waited until after the day of rest. At a Pharisee’s home on another Sabbath, the Lord asked if He could lawfully cure a man that day. No one answered, but Jesus healed him anyway. Sirach, an Old Testament sage, plainly said that God is not deaf. Do we stay close enough to the Lord to hear what He has to say to us or wait until we fee

In a parable, a widow pestered a judge until he gave her a just verdict. Likewise, God helps people who pray, although Jesus acknowledged that the Father’s timeline can challenge faith. Our Lord declined to arbitrate when a man’s brother refused to share an inheritance. Instead, Jesus told a story about a landowner who planned to build bigger barns, store a bountiful harvest, and then enjoy a life of leisure, never considering how he might use his blessings for a higher purpose. Jesus could return at any time. Meanwhile, faith helps us to d