Category: Jesus of Nazareth

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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The Chosen

November 30, 2021 / Michael Haverkamp

The most watched crowd-funded show in internet history is about the life of Jesus. That’s pretty cool. Even better news is that the show is compelling and well-made. The show is called The Chosen. Show creator Dallas Jenkins and his team are planning seven seasons in all. Seasons One and

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God is love

June 22, 2021 / Michael Haverkamp

Beloved, let us love one another, because love is of God; everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God. Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love. (1 John 4:7-8) God is love. If we want to know what love is, and how we are

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The power of forgiveness

April 27, 2021 / Michael Haverkamp

Our parish priest shared a powerful story about God’s forgiveness recently that I had to share. The story concerns Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque, to whom Jesus revealed the devotion to his Sacred Heart. When Saint Margaret Mary shared Jesus’ message with her confessor, Saint Claude do la Colombiere, he was

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Jesus, I Surrender to You

April 13, 2021 / Michael Haverkamp

A friend shared a prayer with me, the Surrender Novena, that I had to share with you. This prayer was given to Servant of God Dolindo Ruotolo by Jesus. I found the Lord’s words in this prayer so profound and so comforting. About Father Dolindo. He was born in Naples

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