Tag: Apostle Paul
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Fourth Week of Lent, Year B 2023: Epistle Passage – The corrections Lent brings
“You were dead through the trespasses and sins in which you once lived, following the course of this world, following the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work among those who are disobedient. All of us once lived among them in the passions of our flesh, following the…
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Third Week of Lent, Year B 2023: Epistle Passage – Wisdom, and Wisdom, during Lent
“For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.” (I Corinthians 1:18 – 19) After reading a…
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Second Week of Lent, Year B 2023: Epistle Passage – During Lent considering our faith & hope
“For the promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the law but through the righteousness of faith.” (Romans 4:13) I am answered again, beloved reader, that adhering to law or morale code of humanity would not earn me a place walking with the Divine. “If…
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Ash Wednesday in Lent, Year B 2023: Old Testament, Epistle, Gospel, and Psalm Passages; A gentle narration
“Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound the alarm on my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the LORD is coming, it is near- a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness! Like blackness spread upon the mountains a great and powerful army…
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Transfiguration Sunday, Year B 2023: Epistle Passage – Transformation from non-belief to belief
“And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing.” (II Corinthians 4:3) Paul declares, in the verses before these, he is giving an open and truthful gospel. And if the message seems obscure, it is only so to those who refuse to believe. I am not convinced, though, that…
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Fifth Sunday After Epiphany, Year B 2023: Epistle Passage – The contrariness of teaching, preaching & ministering under the Divine
“If I proclaim the gospel, this gives me no ground for boasting, for an obligation is laid on me, and woe to me if I do not proclaim the gospel! For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward; but if not of my own will, I am entrusted with a…
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Fourth Sunday After Epiphany, Year B 2023: Epistle Passage – Concerning the falseness of idols
“Now concerning food sacrificed to idols: we know that “all of us possess knowledge.” Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. Anyone who claims to know something does not yet have the necessary knowledge; but anyone who loves God is known by him.” (I Corinthians 8:1 – 3) There is in this passage two messages…
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Third Sunday After Epiphany, Year B 2023: Epistle Passage – Remain Focused
“I mean, brothers and sisters, the appointed time has grown short; from now on, let even those who have wives be as though they had none, and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no…
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Second Sunday After Epiphany, Year B 2023: Epistle Passage – Being called to a more purified way of living
“All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are beneficial. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything. “Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food,” and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is meant not for fornication but for…
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Baptism of the Lord, Year B 2023: Epistle Passage – At the beginning of faith & spirituality
“While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul passed through the interior regions and came to Ephesus, where he found some disciples. He said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?” They replied, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” (Acts 19: 1 – 2) I am…
A Simple Desire 