Daily Gospel Meditations - Saint John Society

The possibility of living for God as a new reality established by Christ - Fr. Lucas Laborde. Click here for today's readings.Has something new been enabled in your life, or in people around you, because of Christ's proclamation? What has the Lord provided for you through the presence of consecrated people in your life?

Why repentance is different from shame - Fr. Lucas Laborde. Click here for today's readings.Have you experienced the difference between shame and contrition? In what situations would Jesus challenge your pride, and invite you to have a truer view of the big picture? How would Jesus want you to express your love for him and for others?

God's case against fallen humanity - Fr. Lucas Laborde. Click here for today's readings.Have you been tempted to find fault with God's ways? Why do you think God may have emphasized one side of the coin or the other, in your own case? What was key for you to recognize his ways in your life?

Lessons from Mary at the foot of the cross - Fr. Lucas Laborde. Click here for today's readings.What do you learn by imagining the face of Mary, the soul of Mary at the foot of the cross? How can you be more deeply united with Christ, so that his joys and sorrows will be yours? Why does Jesus want you to receive Mary as your mother?

How to understand the cross - Fr. Lucas Laborde. Click here for today's readings.What does the Lord want to show you through the mystery of the cross? How could some trials become the occasion for God's light to be manifested? What crosses have resulted from your faithfulness to Christ?

Why forgiveness is essential - Fr. Lucas Laborde. Click here for today's readings.How is Jesus encouraging you to live out forgiveness in a more radical way? What have you learned by receiving forgiveness or by extending forgiveness to others?

Can we just classify people into these two categories? - Fr. Lucas Laborde. Click here for today's readings.In what aspects of your life do you see good fruits, stemming from the goodness of your heart? Have you seen the good movements of God's grace in you become solid after acting on them? What areas of your heart may need to be brought in greater alignment with the direction Jesus has given to your life?

What is spiritual blindness about? - Fr. Lucas Laborde. Click here for today's readings.What are some of your blind spots? How has Jesus helped you see more clearly in the past? What are some of the disciplines that help your vision remain unclouded?

Replicate the love you have received from God - Fr. Lucas Laborde. Click here for today's readings.When have you experienced God's love in your life? Have you ever witnessed this kind of love in others, or even received it from someone you treated like an enemy? What are the steps that Jesus would encourage you to take to imitate this higher love?

The significance of the beatitudes and woes - Fr. Lucas Laborde. Click here for today's readings.Where does your heart usually go? What are the things you think about the most? What does usually cause changes in your mood? What is it that you most admire in people who live by the beatitudes? What step could you take today to draw closer to that ideal?

What we can learn from Jesus' lineage - Fr. Lucas Laborde. Click here for today's readings.Can you imagine what Jesus would have said to some of these patriarchs and ancestors as they went through difficult times? What will the Lord say to you one day when you both look back at your current situation? What are the good things that Jesus wants you to draw from the trials, the dreams, the expectations of the present moment?

How to apply the law of the sabbath in today's context - Fr. Lucas Laborde. Click here for today's readings.If there is a capacity that Jesus would want to restore in you today, what would that be? What are the voices that Jesus would oppose, so that you can regain the balance you need? How can you recover the sense of purpose in what you do?

When are we supposed to correct others? - Fr. Lucas Laborde. Click here for today's readings.How is Jesus inviting you to be more aware of your responsibility over others? In what way can you exercise it? What have you learned from the correction or the encouragement of others? How has your prayer life grown by sharing it with others?

Does the sabbath have significance for a Catholic? - Fr. Lucas Laborde. Click here for today's readings.How are you honoring the Lord's day? How could you use it better? How should you set boundaries around the demands of work? How can Jesus' interpretation of the law help you, in the way He teaches us to balance things, and to see them in their right proportion?

Why didn't Jesus' disciples pray and fast as much as others? - Fr. Lucas Laborde. Click here for today's readings.What would it feel like to walk with Christ? In what ways do you imagine that that interaction with him would resemble prayer and fasting? In what ways would it be different? How would that ongoing interaction with Christ accomplish the fruits of prayer and fasting even more intensely than those disciplines?

The calling of Simon - Fr. Lucas Laborde. Click here for today's readings.How does this passage illumine your own encounter with Christ? Have you perceived in your own life how it is that knowledge of Christ and self-knowledge grow together? Have you seen the miraculous fruitfulness that takes place when you act at the Lord's command? What's the mission field Jesus has in mind for you?

How did Jesus manage his time? - Fr. Lucas Laborde. Click here for today's readings.How well are you balancing the different aspects of your life? Are there any destabilizing or intoxicating forces in your life, things that tend to take you off balance? What helps you regain your sense of purpose? How does Jesus' example help you in this regard?

Do demons have faith? - Fr. Lucas Laborde. Click here for today's readings.What calls your attention about Christ's authority? Have you experienced the power of Christ's authority in your own life, in how He has strengthened you or delivered you?

How could people of Nazareth reject Jesus? - Fr. Lucas Laborde. Click here for today's readings.How does that battle of competing interpretations play out in your own case? What are the human factors that explain who you are? And then, what are those aspects of your life that you have discovered through faith, and can only be accounted for as a result of God's power?

Why did Jesus rebuke Peter so sternly? - Fr. Lucas Laborde. Click here for today's readings.What impulses is Jesus asking you to discern? Why did the Lord encourage us to follow him on the path of the cross? What are the dangers of rejecting every cross? What indirect blessings have come to you on that path of self-denial?

On true greatness and freedom - Fr. Lucas Laborde. Click here for today's readings.What kind of ideal is Jesus presenting to you in the profile of this great prophet? Through this depiction of Herod's life, is there something the Lord wants you to steer away from?

Two opposite types of foolishness - Fr. Lucas Laborde. Click here for today's readings.What is lacking in your wisdom? Do you tend toward fideism, or toward naturalism? How is the Lord calling you to grow in prudence?

What does it take to lead others in the faith? - Fr. Lucas Laborde. Click here for today's readings.Do you sense you are accountable to the Lord and to others in the way you conduct yourself? Would you need to grow in the ways of faith, or in the ways of prudence? Who are the ones Jesus is asking you to watch over? How are you guiding them, and what is the proper food they need at this time?

The danger of mistaking the voices of society for conscience - Fr. Lucas Laborde. Click here for today's readings.Am I giving in to this temptation to some extent, caring too much for how people view me, while neglecting how I am walking before God? Is my admiration for the saints consistent with my openness to the voice of God directed to me by the saints and prophets in my own time?

The capacity to look into our spiritual blind spots - Fr. Lucas Laborde. Click here for today's readings.What aspect of Jesus' character do you find especially inspiring, as it stands in contrast with a hypocritical attitude? What is the Lord inviting you to work on?

The two-sided quality of personal traits - Fr. Lucas Laborde. Click here for today's readings.If you encountered Jesus today, what are those good qualities He would praise in you? What could be the flip-side of those good qualities? How would the Lord encourage you to use their good potential, and not their difficult side?

Simon Peter's profession of faith - Fr. Lucas Laborde. Click here for today's readings.What different types of salvation lie behind the diverging views of Jesus as the Son of God and Jesus as a human Messiah? What do you learn in this passage about your new identity in Christ? Why do you think Jesus decided to create the Church and make these promises concerning it?

What does it mean we are not supposed to call anyone “father”? - Fr. Lucas Laborde. Click here for today's readings.To what extent have good leaders been key in your own faith journey? Do you see situations in which you or others could be giving too much importance to those faith leaders, in a way that is not healthy or helpful? If you are responsible for others, are you exercising that responsibility in a spirit of humility and service?

Why was the question on the greatest commandment a test? - Fr. Lucas Laborde. Click here for today's readings. How central is friendship with God to your own life? How would you assess your love for people around you? And where does that love spring from?

The parable of the wedding guests - Fr. Lucas Laborde. Click here for today's readings.What are the obstacles people need to overcome to respond to God's call? What are some excuses that are used to justify our rebellion against God? How is Jesus asking you to respond?

The parable of the laborers of the last hour - Fr. Lucas Laborde. Click here for today's readings.What does Christ's invitation to work in his vineyard mean for you? Do you experience it as a blessing or as a burden? What is the true motivation for serving him that Jesus wants you to find?

The spiritual danger of possessions - Fr. Lucas Laborde. Click here for today's readings.Are there things you need to be more detached from? Think of situations in which being detached from material things has helped you grow spiritually. Have you experienced the grace of a higher love that helped you become more detached?

The calling of the rich young man - Fr. Lucas Laborde. Click here for today's readings.Has your faith in Christ helped you grow in your sense of orientation, morally speaking? What has helped you, or could help you, discover the commandments as a path of freedom? Have you ever encountered Jesus, or someone who reflected Jesus to you, in such manner that you discovered a deeper way to live the commandments?

Why was Jesus harsh with the Canaanite woman? - Fr. Lucas Laborde. Click here for today's readings.Have you seen the difference that purifying tests have made in your life? In what ways has the Lord tested your heart? What do you think He still wants to purify in you?

Mary's inner freedom - Fr. Lucas Laborde. Click here for today's readings.What do you find striking about Mary's words and actions in this gospel? What elements here lead you to think of Mary as someone who was ready for heaven, even as she walked this earth? What does the Lord want you to learn from her example?

Marriage as the gift of a higher love - Fr. Lucas Laborde. Click here for today's readings.Why did God decide to call humanity to such great and challenging vocation? Why is it a vocation? Why is it increasingly being perceived as something faith-related?

On forgiving daily annoyances - Fr. Lucas Laborde. Click here for today's readings.Have you experienced patient acceptance from God and from others? How are you reacting to the faults committed by those around you? What is the attitude Jesus would want you to develop in this regard?

How should we exercise fraternal correction? - Fr. Lucas Laborde. Click here for today's readings.Who am I responsible for? What am I doing for their spiritual well-being? Why has the Lord given the Church that authority? What did Jesus intend us to gain from it?

On spiritual infancy - Fr. Lucas Laborde. Click here for today's readings.What are the elements of a child's heart that Jesus wants you to keep or recover? What is the Lord teaching you about true greatness and humility? Are there things you need to take more seriously, and others you may need to take with a grain of salt?

The link between love and sacrifice - Fr. Lucas Laborde. Click here for today's readings.In what ways has the Lord led you to die to yourself in your faith journey? What fruit have you experienced as a result of those deaths? What is the fruitfulness you see in the lives of Christ and the saints, and how is that connected to their capacity for sacrifice?

Why did Jesus walk on the waters? - Fr. Lucas Laborde. Click here for today's readings.Does this miracle resonate with any particular moment in your life? What are the unstable waters Jesus wants you to dare walk through? What's the level of faith in his grace that Jesus wants you to attain?

How are we to understand Jesus' strong reaction against his generation? - Fr. Lucas Laborde. Click here for today's readings.Why do you think Jesus reacts so strongly in this gospel? I gave a few reasons, but you may reflect on this a bit more, and come to your own conclusions. How would your life look and feel different if you had a deeper faith?

Why does Jesus insist on the cross if He brings good news? - Fr. Lucas Laborde. Click here for today's readings.What do you need to deny in yourself, or the cross you need to take up, in order to follow Jesus more closely? What would you gain if you took up that cross?

Why did Jesus show his glory to the disciples? - Fr. Lucas Laborde. Click here for today's readings.What calls your attention about Christ's transfiguration? What are the most significant moments of light that you've had in recent times? What did the Lord want you to discover through them?

Why was Jesus so stern with the Canaanite woman? - Fr. Lucas Laborde. Click here for today's readings.Why do you think Jesus subjected the woman to this test? Has God tested your heart at times? What were the outcomes of those tests?

Misinterpretations of the Law - Fr. Lucas Laborde. Click here for today's readings.How can you tell when you are following a tradition that does not come from the Father? Are there distortions of the law that Jesus wants to guard you against? What are secondary elements that play a healthy role in protecting the essentials of your life in Christ?

Facing dangerous waters - Fr. Lucas Laborde. Click here for today's readings.Reflecting on your own life, has the Lord pushed you cross through dangerous waters at times? How was it like? Did you discover God's providence and grace, guiding you? How do you feel now about that experience?

The multiplication of the loaves - Fr. Lucas Laborde. Click here for today's readings.When did you realize that the Lord noticed your need? How did He provide for you? How did He awaken in you a deeper hunger? How is He inviting you to take advantage of the sustenance He is providing for you?

A spiritual reading of the Baptist's passion - Fr. Lucas Laborde. Click here for today's readings.Enter the soul of Herod in this meditation. Can you relate to the way in which he feels pressured to act in a way he doesn't want to act? How so? Have you experienced the freedom that Christ can give you? What is that freedom like?

Why did people in Nazareth reject Jesus? - Fr. Lucas Laborde. Click here for today's readings.Is the sin of envy keeping you from growing spiritually? Have you discovered this vertical element in your life and that of others: the action of the Holy Spirit? How has God assumed the natural qualities you have, while purifying them, and giving them a broader scope?

The parable of the net - Fr. Lucas Laborde. Click here for today's readings.Can you read situations familiar to you in this image of the net gathering fish of every kind? What elements or situations you find yourself in require vigilance and purification, because they are not compatible with life in Christ? Which are those elements that Jesus wants you to assume and redirect toward the Father's glory?