Category: Jesus of Nazareth

Blessed are the poor in spirit

April 28, 2020 / Michael Haverkamp

When the Israelites wandered the desert, God called Moses up Mount Sinai, and there he gave him the Law and Commandments to lead his people. When Jesus began his ministry, he went up the mountain, and called his disciples to him. In his Sermon on the Mount, he called on

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Mercy and Justice

April 14, 2020 / Michael Haverkamp

Saint John Paul II frequently discusses the relationship between justice and mercy in Dives in Misericordia. It can be difficult to understand how God can be perfectly just and rich in mercy at the same time. Justice and mercy appear to be exclusive concepts. But Saint John Paul says just

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Rich in Mercy

April 7, 2020 / Michael Haverkamp

“Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.” (Matthew 5:7) Mercy is one of the main themes of the Sermon on the Mount, and it was one of the main themes of the papacy of Saint John Paul II. He was instrumental in promoting the message of Divine

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Psalm 22: “In You our fathers trusted”

March 31, 2020 / Michael Haverkamp

“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Psalm 22:2, Mark 15:34, Matthew 27:46) No matter how many times we hear the accounts of Jesus’ Passion on Palm Sunday and Good Friday, there is something jarring, if not shocking, to hear the Lord cry out this lament from the

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Jesus, I trust in you

March 16, 2020 / Michael Haverkamp

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away

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Sin and mercy

February 4, 2020 / Michael Haverkamp

In reflecting on salvation, I would be remiss if I didn’t speak about mortal sin. For just as we are saved by our faith in the Lord Jesus, we can lose our friendship with Jesus by committing a mortal sin and failing to repent. Any sin demonstrates a lack of

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Are you saved?

January 21, 2020 / Michael Haverkamp

Are you saved? You may have been asked this question before. You may have thought about it. I hope you will. The consequences of our actions in this life resonate for eternity. For those who are Catholic like I am, you may be asking the related question, what does the

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Every perfect gift is from above

December 17, 2019 / Michael Haverkamp

“God looked at everything he had made, and he found it very good. Evening came, and morning followed – the sixth day.” (Genesis 1:31) “Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers: all good giving and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom

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Hope amidst suffering

November 12, 2019 / Michael Haverkamp

The problem of evil is one of the oldest in theology. Evil in this sense does not refer to sinfulness (at least not entirely), but to disease, natural disasters and the like which afflict the good and bad indifferently, with no apparent reason. The ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus, writing three

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Meaning of the Real Presence

October 29, 2019 / Michael Haverkamp

Our Lord Jesus, who with God the Father and through the Holy Spirit created the heavens and the earth, fashioned the universe of a billion trillion stars and breathed life into one hundred billion souls, comes down from Heaven daily, taking the appearance of bread and wine, so that he

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Miracles of the Real Presence

October 15, 2019 / Michael Haverkamp

As we have seen from Saint Paul’s Letter to the Corinthians, the Eucharist was celebrated from the Church’s earliest days, and it is clear from the writings of the Church Fathers that they believed in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. I will give two examples (you can

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The Bread of Life

October 1, 2019 / Michael Haverkamp

The first four Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary build up to the last and greatest one: the Institution of the Eucharist. As Jesus sanctifies the waters of our baptism, and as he turns water into wine at the wedding in Cana, he will now turn wine into his precious and

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The Transfiguration

September 17, 2019 / Michael Haverkamp

To understand the story of the Transfiguration, you have to know when it takes place. In all three synoptic gospels, the Transfiguration follows two critical events: First, Jesus asks his apostles who they say he is, and Peter proclaims that Jesus is “the Messiah, the Son of the living God”

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The Proclamation of the Kingdom of God

September 3, 2019 / Michael Haverkamp

The third Luminous Mystery, the Proclamation of the Kingdom, is the only mystery of the Rosary that does not deal with a discrete event in the life of Jesus or Mary. Rather, it calls our attention to the core message of the gospel: After John had been arrested, Jesus came

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The Wedding at Cana

August 6, 2019 / Michael Haverkamp

We live in a society that loves to create lists. We want to quantify, categorize and rank everything we can, even things that defy quantification. Some lists can lead to thoughtful debate, others devolve into mindless prattle. The Holy Spirit inspired Saint John Paul II to give us the Luminous

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The Baptism of the Lord

July 23, 2019 / Michael Haverkamp

Every good story has a beginning, a middle and an end. The Rosary is the story of our salvation, accomplished by Christ, as seen through the eyes of Mary. The traditional mysteries of the Rosary center around the three key events of salvation: the Incarnation, the Passion and the Resurrection.

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The Assumption and Coronation

June 18, 2019 / Michael Haverkamp

The Rosary is the life of Jesus, seen through the eyes of Mary. Thus the story begins with Mary’s Fiat, her saying yes to the will of God to become the mother of his Son, a necessary condition to our salvation. And the Rosary concludes with Mary, with the mysteries

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The Ascension

May 21, 2019 / Michael Haverkamp

Saint Luke gives us two accounts of Jesus’ Ascension, one at the end of his gospel, and one (more detailed) at the beginning of Acts. Let’s look at the gospel account first: “Then he led them out as far as Bethany, raised his hands, and blessed them. As he blessed

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The Resurrection

May 7, 2019 / Michael Haverkamp

The Resurrection of Jesus is fundamentally about hope. Hope that God can take even the greatest evil and use it for the greatest good. Hope that despair is always temporary. Hope that love must always triumph, because love is stronger than hate. The Church gives us the Sorrowful Mysteries of

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The Crucifixion

April 16, 2019 / Michael Haverkamp

Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered; and when he was made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him. (Hebrews 5:8-9) The anonymous author of the Letter to the Hebrews explains to his first century audience how Jesus is the

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