Build on Rock - Sharing the faith in God's beloved Son, Jesus Christ

The Mother of Jesus (Luke 1)

September 20, 2023 / Michael Haverkamp

If you want to know Jesus, you need to know Mary. If you want to know the Son, you need to know His mother. Read chapter 1 of the Gospel according to Saint Luke here. Luke (like all of the evangelists) gives us only the essential information we need about

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The Gospel of Mercy

September 6, 2023 / Michael Haverkamp

Everyone should read the Gospel of Luke. Why should everyone read the Gospel of Luke? For starters, a strong case can be made that Jesus is the most significant person who ever lived. (Time magazine ranked him #1 among the most significant people in history, back in 2013. I cite

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The End of Families?

August 22, 2023 / Michael Haverkamp

I’ve been reading Peter Kreeft’s four-volume work, Socrates’ Children: The 100 Greatest Philosophers. It’s an interesting review of the history of philosophy, and while Kreeft is thoughtful about presenting each philosopher in their own words as much as possible, he is not shy about critiquing dangerous and self-contradictory ideas in

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Why God Hides

August 9, 2023 / Michael Haverkamp

Our guest blogger today is Blaise Pascal, the 17th Century French Catholic, philosopher, mathematician, scientist and all-around genius. He will be speaking on the subject of Why God Hides, or put another way, why He doesn’t reveal Himself plainly to all people so that no one could doubt His being.

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“In a world without God…”

July 26, 2023 / Michael Haverkamp

“In a world without God, everything is permitted.” Fyodor Dostoyevsky was a 19th Century Russian novelist, best known for Crime and Punishment. His final novel was The Brothers Karamazov, which tells the story of Fyodor Karamazov and his three sons, Dmitri, Ivan, and Alyosha. Fyodor is a thoroughly selfish man, a sensualist openly

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A Matter of Faith

July 12, 2023 / Michael Haverkamp

A few years ago I wrote a post entitled “Evidence for a Creator,” in which I argued that science demonstrates that the probability of our universe existing in its present form is astronomically small; and if the the odds of the universe “just happening” are exceptionally small, there is a

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Indulgences 101

June 20, 2023 / Michael Haverkamp

Q. What is an indulgence? A. “An indulgence is a remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven, which the faithful Christian who is duly disposed gains under certain prescribed conditions through the action of the Church which, as the minister of

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“With One Voice Glorify God” (Romans 15)

June 1, 2023 / Michael Haverkamp

We who are strong ought to put up with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves; let each of us please our neighbor for the good, for building up. For Christ did not please himself; but, as it is written, “The insults of those who insult you fall upon me.” For

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“Whatever is not from faith is sin” (Romans 14)

May 18, 2023 / Michael Haverkamp

Chapter 14 of Paul’s epistle to the Romans isn’t easy to understand. It’s not a passage that comes up frequently in the cycle of Church readings. What is Paul saying to his audience? And what is the Holy Spirit telling us today? Welcome anyone who is weak in faith, but not

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“Love is the fulfillment of the law” (Romans 13)

May 2, 2023 / Michael Haverkamp

Paul concludes chapter 13 of his letter to the Romans by making two points that are essential to a virtuous Christian life: Owe nothing to anyone, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery; you shall not

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“There is no authority except from God” (Romans 13)

April 18, 2023 / Michael Haverkamp

“Let every person be subordinate to the higher authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been established by God. Therefore, whoever resists authority opposes what God has appointed, and those who oppose it will bring judgment upon themselves.” (Romans 13:1) Paul discusses the proper

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The Most Painful Wound of Jesus

April 5, 2023 / Michael Haverkamp

Jesus told Saint Faustina Kowalska, “There is more merit to one hour of meditation on my sorrowful Passion than there is to a whole year of flagellation that draws blood. The contemplation of my painful wounds is of great profit to you, and it brings me great joy.” (Diary of

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A Living Sacrifice (Romans 12)

March 15, 2023 / Michael Haverkamp

While the principal theme of Saint Paul’s letter to the Romans is that we are saved from our sins through faith in Jesus Christ, Paul urges his audience to live out their faith. In chapters 12 through 14, he demonstrates how Christians ought to live as disciples of Jesus. These

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All Israel Will Be Saved (Romans 11)

February 28, 2023 / Michael Haverkamp

Hence I ask, did they [the Israelites] stumble so as to fall? Of course not! But through their transgression salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make them jealous. Now if their transgression is enrichment for the world, and if their diminished number is enrichment for the Gentiles, how

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He Has Mercy Upon Whom He Wills (Romans 9)

February 14, 2023 / Michael Haverkamp

The ninth chapter of Paul’s letter to the Romans is a challenging one. He begins by lamenting that his fellow Israelites have in the main rejected Christ, saying he has “great sorrow and constant anguish in his heart” (Romans 9:2). Yet Paul understands that God’s ways are mysterious and inscrutable

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Nothing can separate us (Romans 8)

January 31, 2023 / Michael Haverkamp

“We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28) Paul can pack a lot of punch and lot insight into one verse of his letters. He does it often in his letter to the Romans, not

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Led by the Spirit (Romans 8)

January 17, 2023 / Michael Haverkamp

Paul’s primary theme in Romans is that we are saved through faith in Jesus. Another major theme, implied by the first, is that to believe in Jesus is to take on a whole new way of life. Hence, now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

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Call on the Name of the Lord (Romans 6)

January 4, 2023 / Michael Haverkamp

If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved. For the scripture says, “No one

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The New Adam (Romans 5)

December 13, 2022 / Michael Haverkamp

For if by that one person’s [Adam] transgression the many died, how much more did the grace of God and the gracious gift of the one person Jesus Christ overflow for the many… where sin increased, grace overflowed all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might

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The Faith of Abraham (Romans 4)

November 30, 2022 / Michael Haverkamp

Some time afterward, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: Do not fear, Abram! I am your shield; I will make your reward very great. But Abram said, “Lord God, what can you give me, if I die childless and have only a servant of my household, Eliezer of

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