Category: Jesus of Nazareth

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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“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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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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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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Spiritual Needs

September 28, 2022 / Michael Haverkamp

At some stage of your education, you probably encountered Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Maslow depicted human needs as a pyramid, with our basic needs for food, shelter, safety and security as the base of the pyramid, our psychological needs for love, belonging and esteem in the middle, and our self-actualization

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The Holy Trinity

August 16, 2022 / Michael Haverkamp

I love learning new things about God, and I love that there are always new things to learn. Father Michael Gaitley’s book, The ‘One Thing’ Is Three: How the Holy Trinity Explains Everything, gave me some new insights into the mystery of the Holy Trinity, and in particular, a proof

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A Sign in the Heavens

June 7, 2022 / Michael Haverkamp

“But of that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.” (Matthew 24:36) We do not know the day and hour when the Lord will return. Nor, for that matter, do we know the day and hour when we will depart

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That They May All Be One: John 17

May 24, 2022 / Michael Haverkamp

On the eve of his Passion, what did the Son ask of the Father? “Give glory to your son.” Through following the will of His Heavenly Father to the end on the cross, Jesus gives glory to His Father, and receives glory through His Resurrection. The Father raises Him up

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John 17

May 10, 2022 / Michael Haverkamp

At this point in the discourse, Jesus no longer addresses his apostles. He prays to His Heavenly Father. In Luke’s gospel, the apostles ask Jesus to teach them to pray, and He teaches them the Our Father. But in this one chapter of John’s gospel, we are given the grace

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The Resurrection: Five Facts

April 16, 2022 / Michael Haverkamp

In The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus, scholars Gary Habermas and Michael Licona make a simple but elegant argument that Jesus truly rose from the dead. Their argument does not rely on acceptance of the divine inspiration of the Bible. Rather, their case rests upon five facts agreed to

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John 16: “I have conquered the world”

March 30, 2022 / Michael Haverkamp

“But now I am going to the one who sent me, and not one of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ But because I told you this, grief has filled your hearts. But I tell you the truth, it is better for you that I go. For if I do not go,

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Abide in My Love: John 15

March 15, 2022 / Michael Haverkamp

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower. He takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and every one that does he prunes so that it bears more fruit. You are already pruned because of the word that I spoke to you. Remain in me, as I

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A Prayer for Ukraine

March 1, 2022 / Michael Haverkamp

In 1934, Saint Faustina prayed for her native country of Poland. She recorded her prayer, and the response of our Lord, in her diary, entry 286. I trust Saint Faustina will not mind if we offer this prayer for Ukraine today: “Most merciful Jesus, I beseech you through the intercession

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John 14

February 16, 2022 / Michael Haverkamp

Jesus’ most famous discourse in the gospels is the Sermon on the Mount, found in St. Matthew’s gospel, chapters 5-7. It contains some of Jesus’ deepest moral teachings, as He tells us how we are to orient our hearts to love of God and our neighbor. The Last Supper Discourse,

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Receiving Communion

December 14, 2021 / Michael Haverkamp

Receiving Communion has been much in the news lately. This post will cover what the Church teaches about when the faithful should receive Communion, as well as the Scriptural basis for this teaching. In all honesty, I went to Catholic school for twelve years, and I don’t remember being taught

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