Browsing News Entries
Biblical Lost Alphabet Traced Back to Ancient Canaanite Civilization
Posted on 07/22/2024 06:00 AM (Catholic Online > theFeed)
Instruments for Good
Posted on 07/21/2024 20:00 PM (Our Daily Bread)
The criminal had been apprehended, and the detective asked the perpetrator why he had brazenly attacked someone with so many witnesses present. The response was startling. “I knew they wouldn’t do anything; people never do.” That comment pictures what is called “guilty knowledge”—choosing to ignore a crime even though you know it is being committed.
The apostle James addressed a similar kind of guilty knowledge, saying, “If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin” (James 4:17).
Through His great salvation of us, God has designed us to be agents of good in the world. Ephesians 2:10 affirms, “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” These good works aren’t the cause of our salvation but rather the result of our hearts being changed God’s Holy Spirit taking up residence in our lives. The Spirit even gives us spiritual gifts to equip us to accomplish those things for which God has recreated us (see 1 Corinthians 12:1–11).
As God’s workmanship, may we yield to His purposes and the empowering of His Spirit so that we can be His instruments for good in a world that desperately needs Him.
A Student's Prayer (by St. Thomas Aquinas): Prayer of the Day for Sunday, July 21, 2024
Posted on 07/21/2024 06:00 AM (Catholic Online > Prayer of the Day)
St. Lawrence of Brindisi: Saint of the Day for Sunday, July 21, 2024
Posted on 07/21/2024 06:00 AM (Catholic Online > Saint of the Day)
The Winning Goal
Posted on 07/20/2024 20:00 PM (Our Daily Bread)
On February 5, 2023, Christian Atsu kicked the winning goal for his football (soccer) team in a match in Turkey. A star international player, he learned to play the sport as a kid running barefoot in his home country of Ghana. Christian was a believer in Jesus: “Jesus is the best thing that ever happened in my life,” he said. Atsu posted Bible verses on social media, was outspoken about his faith, and put it into action by helping finance a school for orphans.
The day after his winning goal, a devastating earthquake shook the city of Antakya, once the biblical city of Antioch. Christian Atsu’s apartment building collapsed, and he went to be with his Savior.
Two thousand years ago, Antioch was the fountainhead of the early church: “The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch” (Acts 11:26). One apostle, Barnabas, said to be “a good man, full of the Holy Spirit” (v. 24), was instrumental in bringing people to Christ: “A great number of people believed and turned to the Lord” (v. 21).
We look to the life of Christian Atsu not to idolize him but to see in his example an opportunity. Whatever our circumstance in life, we don’t know when God will take us to be with Him. We do well to ask ourselves how we can be a Barnabas or a Christian Atsu in showing others the love of Christ. That, above all, is the winning goal.
Prayer to the Holy Spirit: Prayer of the Day for Saturday, July 20, 2024
Posted on 07/20/2024 06:00 AM (Catholic Online > Prayer of the Day)
St. Margaret of Antioch: Saint of the Day for Saturday, July 20, 2024
Posted on 07/20/2024 06:00 AM (Catholic Online > Saint of the Day)
Taking Responsibility for Words
Posted on 07/19/2024 20:00 PM (Our Daily Bread)
It’s almost unheard of for institutions to admit guilt after a tragedy. But one year after a seventeen-year-old student’s death by suicide, a prestigious school admitted it “fell tragically short” in protecting him. The student had been relentlessly bullied, and school leaders, despite knowing about the mistreatment, did little to protect him. The school has now committed to taking significant steps to combat bullying and better care for students’ mental health.
The devastation caused by bullying is a stark example of the power of words. In the book of Proverbs, we’re taught to never take the impact of words lightly, for “the tongue has the power of life and death” (Proverbs 18:21). What we say can either lift up or crush another. At its worst, cruel words can be a factor contributing to literal death.
How do we bring life with what we say? Scripture teaches that our words flow from either wisdom or foolishness (15:2). We find wisdom by drawing close to God, the source of wisdom’s life-giving power (3:13, 17-19).
We all have a responsibility—in words and actions—to take seriously the impact of words, and to care for and protect those wounded by what others have said. Words can kill, but compassionate words can also heal, becoming a “tree of life” (15:4) to those around us.
St. Arsenius the Great: Saint of the Day for Friday, July 19, 2024
Posted on 07/19/2024 06:00 AM (Catholic Online > Saint of the Day)
What are the Health Benefits of Grass-Fed Beef for Your Body and Mind?
Posted on 07/19/2024 06:00 AM (Catholic Online > theFeed)