1 May 2013
Bible Meditations & Prayers (by language)Monthly Bible Meditation (en)Matthew 11:28-30: A Burden that Lightens our LoadJesus said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)
In a sense, we are all weary and overburdened. In our depths lies hidden a poverty which, because it frightens us, oppresses us and drags us down. In the words of this passage, Christ welcomes us in our vulnerability and does not (...)
1 April 2013
Bible Meditations & Prayers (by language)Monthly Bible Meditation (en)Hebrews 5:7-10: Jesus, Son and BrotherDuring the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him and was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek. (Hebrews 5:7-10)
Our image of Jesus is not of a person who is anxious, but rather as (...)
1 March 2013
Bible Meditations & Prayers (by language)Monthly Bible Meditation (en)Revelation 21:1-6: A City Beautiful Like No OtherThen I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from (...)
1 February 2013
Bible Meditations & Prayers (by language)Monthly Bible Meditation (en)Psalm 91: Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most HighWhoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” Surely he will save you from the fowler’s snare and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that (...)
1 January 2013
Bible Meditations & Prayers (by language)Monthly Bible Meditation (en)Matthew 8:18-23: No Place to Lay his HeadWhen Jesus saw the crowd around him, he gave orders to cross to the other side of the lake. Then a teacher of the law came to him and said, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” Another disciple said to him, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” But Jesus told him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.” Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. (Matthew 8:18-23) (...)
1 December 2012
Bible Meditations & Prayers (by language)Monthly Bible Meditation (en)Acts 20:17-38: Entrusted to the WordFrom Miletus, Paul sent to Ephesus for the elders of the church. When they arrived, he said to them: “You know how I lived the whole time I was with you, from the first day I came into the province of Asia. I served the Lord with great humility and with tears and in the midst of severe testing by the plots of my Jewish opponents. You know that I have not hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful to you but have taught you publicly and from house to house. I have declared to both Jews and Greeks (...)
1 November 2012
Bible Meditations & Prayers (by language)Monthly Bible Meditation (en)Matthew 21:12-17: Violence of a PeacemakerJesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. “It is written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’” The blind and the lame came to him at the temple, and he healed them. But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting in the temple courts, “Hosanna to (...)
1 October 2012
Bible Meditations & Prayers (by language)Monthly Bible Meditation (en)Leviticus 19: Becoming Holy Because God Is HolyRead chapter 19 of the Book of Leviticus
“You shall be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy.” These words from the book of Leviticus are as powerful an invitation as we can find anywhere in the Bible. They are recorded here in order to echo far and wide. God asks Moses to tell them not to a select few but to the entire Israelite community.
But what is this holiness about? First, we note that verse 2 speaks of being holy not “as” God is holy, but “for” or “because” God is holy. The invitation to (...)
1 September 2012
Bible Meditations & Prayers (by language)Monthly Bible Meditation (en)Luke 4:14-30: Keeping Our Eyes on ChristJesus went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s (...)
1 August 2012
Bible Meditations & Prayers (by language)Monthly Bible Meditation (en)Isaiah 41:17-20: Dwelling in God’s GardenThe poor and needy search for water, but there is none; their tongues are parched with thirst. But I, the Lord, will answer them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them. I will make rivers flow on barren heights, and springs within the valleys. I will turn the desert into pools of water, and the parched ground into springs. I will put in the desert the cedar and the acacia, the myrtle and the olive. I will set junipers in the wasteland, the fir and the cypress together, so that people may see (...)