by Faith Central & Steve Welsh
“… Jesus … said … ‘Let the children come to Me; do not prevent them, for the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Amen, I say to you, whoever does not accept the Kingdom of God like a child will not enter it.’ …”
“… Jesus told them … from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. … they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, no human being must separate.’ … Jesus … said to [His Disciples] ‘Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her; and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.'”
“Jesus said to His Disciples: ‘Anyone who gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ, amen, I say to you, will surely not lose his reward. ‘Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were put around his neck and he were thrown into the sea. If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed than with two hands to go into Gehenna, into the unquenchable fire. …”
“John said to Jesus, ‘Teacher, we saw someone driving out demons in Your name, and we tried to prevent him because he does not follow us.’ Jesus replied, ‘Do not prevent him. There is no one who performs a mighty deed in My Name who can at the same time speak ill of Me. For whoever is not against us is for us.'”
“… Jesus enjoined them, ‘Watch out, guard against the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.’ …”
“… Pharisees came forward … to argue with Jesus, seeking from Him a Sign from Heaven to test Him. He sighed from the Depth of His Spirit and said, ‘Why does this generation seek a sign? Amen, I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation.’ … He left them, got into the boat again, and went off to the other shore.”
“Lord Jesus, send Your Spirit to help us to read the scriptures with the same mind that You read them to the disciples on the way to Emmaus. … Create silence in us so that we may listen to Your voice in creation and in the scriptures, in events and in people, above all in the poor and suffering. May Your word guide us so that we too, like the two disciples on the way to Emmaus, may experience the force of Your resurrection and witness to others that You are alive in our midst as source of fraternity, justice and peace. We ask this of You, Jesus, Son of Mary, who revealed the Father to us and sent us Your Spirit. Amen. …”
“Blessed are you who are poor, for the kingdom of God is yours. Blessed are you who are now hungry, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who are now weeping, for you will laugh. Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude and insult you, and denounce your name as evil on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice and leap for joy on that day! Behold, your reward will be great in heaven. For their ancestors treated the prophets in the same way. …”
“In those days when there again was a great crowd without anything to eat, Jesus summoned the disciples and said,
‘My heart is moved with pity for the crowd, because they have been with me now for three days
and have nothing to eat. If I send them away hungry to their homes, they will collapse on the way, and some of them have come a great distance.’ … taking the seven loaves He gave thanks, broke them, and gave them to His Disciples to distribute … They also had a few fish. He said the Blessing over them and ordered them distributed also. They ate and were satisfied. They picked up the fragments left over – seven baskets. There were about four thousand people. …”
“… He put His Finger into the man’s ears and, spitting, touched his tongue; then He looked up to Heaven and groaned, and said to him, ‘Ephphatha!’ (that is, ‘Be opened!’) And immediately the man’s ears were opened, his speech impediment was removed, and he spoke plainly. … They were exceedingly astonished and they said, ‘He has done all things well. He makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.'”