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John 4:13-14

Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”

Encouraging Words

Water is so important to life. We are comprised of mostly water. We cannot live for very long without water. We are carried in the womb encased by water. We are baptized into the church in water. Does it not make sense for Jesus to proclaim that we must drink in of His life-giving water in order to receive eternal life? It is also a blessing to know that through Him, through the ingestion of His living water, that we too can become fountains of living water pouring out His blessings on those around us. Glory be to God!

John 3:36

He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.

Encouraging Words

We have seen in the verses leading up to this one that God has offered us the free gift of eternal life. It is a gift that cannot be earned and that we don’t deserve. What we do with that gift is very important. If we believe in the Son, that gift, then we will receive it and have everlasting life. If we reject it then we will see separation from God. Either way the gift remains real and given to all of us. Glory be to God!

John 3:30

He must increase, but I must decrease.

Personal Challenge

John the Baptist holds a very prominent place in the church. He was the forerunner of Christ. He proclaimed the eminent coming of our Lord. He is considered the last of the old covenant prophets pointing to the coming Messiah. And yet, he was a very humble man recognizing that once Christ had arrived, it was time for Him to fade into the background so that the God-Man that He had been proclaiming could increase. Isn’t this what we all should be doing? Letting Christ increase in our lives as we humbly decrease. Lord Jesus Christ, Son. of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

John 3:16-17

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

Encouraging Words

God is love! And as a loving God, the creator of all, He would not let His creation go unloved. Throughout the Old Testament and His covenant with the Jewish nation, He kept promising that His Son would come and create a new covenant with all nations. Jesus, God’s only begotten son, came in that love and became man so that we would not perish but have everlasting life. He fulfilled the condemnation of the law and ushered in a new era of salvation for all. Lord, have mercy! Lord, mercy! Lord, have mercy!

John 2:9-10

When the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom. And he said to him, “Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior. You have kept the good wine until now!”

Personal Challenge

One of the messages in this passage is about how we should do our works for God in such a way as to bring no attention to ourselves. Jesus performed His first public miracle at this wedding and made sure that the minimal number of people knew about it. He was not interested in having the spotlight focused on Him. His mother asked Him to do something and He did it without fanfare. We are to do the same. We are called to do His work, and to do it willingly and without attracting attention to ourselves so that we become prideful. Glory be to God!

John 1:12-13

But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

Encouraging Words

God has given the gift of salvation to all of mankind. It is a free gift for there is nothing that we can do to earn it. However, if we do not respond to this gift and believe in His name, then we are rejecting the free gift and all the benefits that go with it. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

Luke 24:32

And they said to one another, “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?”

Personal Challenge

Every week we have the opportunity to enter into the presence of God during the sharing of the Eucharist. Throughout the week we have the opportunity to be in the presence of God through our prayers and interactions with His creation. Does our heart burn within us during these times or has our Christian walk become so mundane, so covered over by rubrics and activities, that we fail to see God, even when we are in His presence? What can we do to become like those on the road to Emmaus and cherish the times that we see God in our lives? It is not God that has put the veil of darkness on our lives, it is us. Let us seek Him to remove it and walk with Him. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

Luke 23:34

Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.”

And they divided His garments and cast lots. And the people stood looking on.

Personal Challenge

Even to the very end, Jesus was showing love to others. He had been spit on, beaten, mocked, abused, insulted, even hated, and yet He asked the Father to forgive them. When we say that we want to be like Christ, this is part of what we must do to make it to that point. We must love our neighbor, our friends, our enemies, and those who strike us as Christ did. Lord Jesus Christ son of God have mercy on me, the sinner!

Luke 21:1-4

And He looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury, and He saw also a certain poor widow putting in two mites. So He said, “Truly I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all; for all these out of their abundance have put in offerings for God, but she out of her poverty put in all the livelihood that she had.”

Personal Challenge

What is a mite as mentioned here in this passage? It is a very small amount of money. It could be somewhat equivalent to a penny in today’s economy. So why is this story so important to Jesus? This widow lived in abject poverty. There was no refinement, no pension, no welfare. She was poor and most likely these 2 mites were all that she had. And yet, she willingly gave them to her God while all around her were the rich people giving their pocket change, yet going home to lush places, comfortable beds, and abundance of food and drink. She gave her all. They gave their leftovers. God wants us to be like this poor widow. He wants us to give our all, whether it be of our possessions or our time or most importantly from our hearts. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!