Daily Reflection with Aneel Aranha

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets. "Do unto others what you would have them do to you." If we — regardless of faith — can practice this one principle, the world would become a much better place than it is. We can extract many lessons from this simple statement, but we will look at just three of them. One: Treat others as you would have them treat you. Two: Put into something what you would have take out of it. Three: Don't

As the crowds increased, Jesus said, “This is a wicked generation. It asks for a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah. For as Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so also will the Son of Man be to this generation. The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with the people of this generation and condemn them, for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon’s wisdom; and now something greater than Solomon is here. The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and now something greater than Jonah is here. How about a little lesson in mathematics for something a little different today? A proof is a logical argument that tries to establish without any doubt that something is true. We generally use two forms of reasoning to arrive at a conclusion: inductive and deductive. I'm not gonna go heavy, so stay with me. Let's imagine that you have seen a hundred sheep, an

And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.  “This, then, is how you should pray:  “‘Our Father in heaven,  hallowed be your name, y our kingdom come,  your will be done,  on earth as it is in heaven.  Give us today our daily bread.  And forgive us our debts,  as we also have forgiven our debtors.  And lead us not into temptation,  but deliver us from the evil one.’  For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. Does God lead us into temptation? I doubt there is anyone who, at some point or another, has not wondered about this. Especially because in the prayer that our Lord taught us, there is a plea to God not to lead us into temptation. A couple of years ago, the Roman Catholic pontiff Pope Fran

These returned and reported it to the rest; but they did not believe them either.  Later Jesus appeared to the Eleven as they were eating; he rebuked them for their lack of faith and their stubborn refusal to believe those who had seen him after he had risen.  He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.”  After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was taken up into heaven and he sat at the right hand of God. Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it. In today's pass

At once the Spirit sent him out into the wilderness, and he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him.  After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!” In Mark's non-stop action gospel, he describes Jesus as being baptized by John in the Jordan. As he came out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Holy Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice was heard from heaven, saying, "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased." And then Mark writes that at once the Spirit sent him out into the wilderness, or as another translation has it, the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. There he was with wild animals. The question that instantly comes to mind is, "Why? Why would the Holy Spirit drive Jesus into the desert?&qu

After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. “Follow me,” Jesus said to him, and Levi got up, left everything and followed him.  Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”  Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” All around the world, churches are being sold off and converted into temples, stores, homes, and nightclubs. People are leaving the faith in droves, and for every person who comes to Christ, there are a thousand who go away. In churches across Europe — those that are still open, that is — it is common to find just a handful of people attending a Sunday service, and all of them are gre

Then John’s disciples came and asked him, “How is it that we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?” Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast. King Nebuchadnezzar, the ruler of the Ancient Babylonian Empire, once sent his army marching into Jerusalem. After securing a tremendous victory, the army returned to Babylon with many prisoners in tow, among whom was Daniel, a devout, God-fearing teenager. Soon after, Nebuchadnezzar instructed his ministers to select handsome, healthy, and intelligent young men from among the captives and bring them to the palace to teach them Babylonian culture and traditions so that they could be of use in his service. One of them was Daniel. Right off, Daniel faced a problem. Nebuchadnezzar had dictated that the new trainees were to be served the same food and wine that was served on the royal table. While this