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The Love that Compels

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Daily Reflections

Daily Scripture, August 26, 2025

Scripture:

1 Thessalonians 2:1-8
Matthew 23:23-26

Reflection:

“You have searched me and you know me, Lord.” This is today’s psalm response.

I want to edit it. “You have searched me and you know me, Lord, and yet you still love me.” For good reason, many of us are terrified of allowing others to see the full truth of who we are. We have scars. We have disordered affections. We have petty desires. We have disappointments and insecurities. We believe that if others really knew us, they could not possibly love us. Yet that is exactly what Jesus Christ does. We are sinners, we are broken and flawed…yet we are loved.

We don’t often hear in the gospels about Jesus getting in the faces of others, but he let’s loose in today’s gospel: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You cleanse the outside of cup and dish, but inside they are full of plunder and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee, cleanse first the inside of the cup, so that the outside also may be clean.” The expression of faith begins within our hearts not in liturgical rubrics or pious devotions. Those cannot replace what is in our hearts, they should express what in our hearts.

All around us there are plenty of self-proclaiming Christians who are, in the words of my father, simply “crude.” He loved that word to describe behavior that was cruel and rude. It is jarring to hear some, wearing a gold cross around their necks, proceed to demean others with crude nicknames or calling them losers. Where is the connection between the inside and the outside? How does God’s love revealed in the Passion of Christ and proclaimed in the cross around my neck lead me to love others, even the sinner?

We are not spared from Jesus getting in our faces. Woe to you, politicians… Woe to you, church leaders… Woe to you… Woe to me, hypocrite. Cleanse first the inside so that our care for others may be clean. We are sinners yet loved. Broken yet redeemed. In that experience of being loved and redeemed, let us love and raise others up.

Robert Hotz is a consultant with American City Bureau, Inc. and was the Director of The Passion of Christ: The Love That Compels Campaign for Holy Cross Province.

Daily Scripture, August 16, 2025

Scripture: Joshua 24:14-29Matthew 19: 13-15 Reflection: Children were brought to Jesus that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples rebuked them, but Jesus said, “Let the » Continue Reading.

Daily Scripture, August 15, 2025

Solemnity of the Assumption of Mary Scripture: Revelation 11:19a; 12:1-6a, 10ab1 Corinthians 15:20-27Luke 1:39-56 Reflection: Today we celebrate one of the most special feasts of our Blessed Mother, the feast » Continue Reading.

Daily Scripture, August 14, 2025

Scripture: Joshua 3:7-10a, 11, 13-17Matthew 18:21-19:1 Reflection: Acting Like God the Father? Today’s Gospel finds Jesus saying his Father will punish us unless each of us forgives our brothers from » Continue Reading.

Daily Scripture, August 13, 2025

Scripture: Deuteronomy 34:1-12Matthew 18:15-20 Reflection: One of the reasons I enjoy breaking open the Word of God with my lay brothers and sisters is because I view religious life, the » Continue Reading.

Daily Scripture, August 12, 2025

Memorial of Saint Jane Frances de Chantal Scripture: Deuteronomy 31:1-8Matthew 18:1-5, 10, 12-14 Reflection: “Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter » Continue Reading.

Daily Scripture, August 11, 2025

Scripture: Deuteronomy 10:12-22Matthew 17:22-27 Reflection: Surprising Graces I remember walking down the first-floor corridor of the monastery one morning a few years ago, where the men who use wheelchairs have » Continue Reading.

Daily Scripture, August 10, 2025

Scripture: Wisdom 18:6-9Hebrews 11:1-2, 8-19Luke 12:32-48 Reflection: I’ve worked with thousands of grieving people. It’s not universal, yet the majority report seeing “signs” from their deceased loved ones. These take » Continue Reading.

Daily Scripture, August 9, 2025

Scripture: Deuteronomy 6:4-13Matthew 17:14-20 Reflection: A Little Faith is Like a Mustard Seed In this section of the gospel, Jesus journeys to Jerusalem, teaching those closest to him, his disciples. » Continue Reading.

Daily Scripture, August 8, 2025

Scripture: Deuteronomy 4:32-40Matthew 16:24-28 Reflection: What does Jesus mean when he says to his disciples – including us – “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up » Continue Reading.

Daily Scripture, August 7, 2025

Scripture: Numbers 20:1-13Matthew 16:13-23 Reflection: Then Peter took Jesus aside and began to rebuke him,‘God forbid, Lord!  No such thing shall ever happen to you.’He turned and said to Peter,‘Get » Continue Reading.

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