Daily Gospel Meditations - Saint John Society

The need for ongoing conversion - Fr. Lucas Laborde. Click here for today’s readings. How is Jesus inviting you to work in your ongoing conversion? What may be causing you to be distracted and not notice your own spiritual condition? What are the fruits that the Lord would want to find in you? Have you had good gardeners to encourage you, or have you been prompted to be a good gardener for others?

The parable of the prodigal son - Fr. Lucas Laborde. Click here for today’s readings. What steps led you to come to your senses, and seek God? How was your own encounter with the Father’s mercy? How is the Lord inviting you to move from fear to love, from living like a slave, to living like a child in the house?

How could the stewards of the vineyard reject the Messiah? - Fr. Lucas Laborde. Click here for today’s readings. Is it a temptation for me to be territorial, to become possessive of some things, people, or tasks? Can I navigate the right balance between truly caring for those entrusted to me, without giving in to a controlling attitude? Has the Lord in some way been coming to me to ask for an acco...

What was the sin of the rich man? - Fr. Lucas Laborde. Click here for today’s readings. How does this story, the figure of this nameless man, his attitudes, his interactions, help you detect the roots of sin in your own heart? How does it help you detect the ways in which sin wants to work its way into your mind, justify itself, and become a hollow identity?

Why was Joseph left in his perplexity? - Fr. Lucas Laborde. Click here for today’s readings. Does this passage resonate with events in your own life? Have you seen spiritual growth take place through times of uncertainty, not having the whole roadmap in your hands? Have you seen how fidelity to the light you have at a given time is rewarded by God’s confirmation later on?

Temptations around religious authority - Fr. Lucas Laborde. Click here for today’s readings. Which of these perspectives better reflects your position? What is the Lord telling you through this reading? How is He encouraging you to consistency, humility, and trust?

Unpacking the golden rule - Fr. Lucas Laborde. Click here for today’s readings. In this meditation, observe these traits in Jesus himself: his generosity, his patience, his disposition to forgive. And then reflect: How is the Lord encouraging you to grow in these?

What is the significance of the transfiguration? - Fr. Lucas Laborde. Click here for today’s readings. What do you find inspiring in the way Jesus led the disciples? Have you been led by him in similar ways? What is the light that Jesus is inviting you to look at right now, so as to strengthen you? Where do you perceive most clearly his glory, his fidelity, the power of his grace, the beauty of hi...

What love of enemies can do - Fr. Lucas Laborde. Click here for today’s readings. What is the way in which Jesus wants you to love them? Have you received love from the Lord and from others when you feel you didn’t quite deserve it? Have you experienced first-hand the power that Christ’s love has to bring about personal transformations?

Why is Jesus so strict about anger? - Fr. Lucas Laborde. Click here for today’s readings. What are the things that may commonly trigger anger for you? How could you apply Jesus’ teaching to those situations?

The connection between life and prayer - Fr. Lucas Laborde. Click here for today’s readings. How much do you trust God’s goodness? How has He transformed your desires over time? What is the Lord inviting you to desire more eagerly?

Why did Jesus only offer the sign of Jonah? - Fr. Lucas Laborde. Click here for today’s readings. What are some of the signs that God has given you? In what way has the person of Jesus been a sign for you? Have you seen the example of people who have responded to God with a humble and generous faith, even when receiving simple signs?

The Lord’s Prayer - Fr. Lucas Laborde. Click here for today’s readings. Take each petition of the Our Father and expand on it. Or focus on one of its aspects, and see what the Lord inspires in you in that regard.

How works of mercy fit in the spiritual life - Fr. Lucas Laborde. Click here for today’s readings. In what ways is the Lord asking you to practice works of mercy? How has the practice of works of mercy enriched other aspects of your spiritual life? How is the Lord challenging you to grow, maybe from callousness to fear, or from fear to perfect love?

The meaning of Christ’s temptations in the desert - Fr. Lucas Laborde. Click here for today’s readings. Which of these roots of distrust and self-love could be lurking behind many of the temptations you experience? What spiritual step is the Father inviting you to take, so as to unmask the lies of the devil and trust him more deeply?

The unlikely conversion of Levi - Fr. Lucas Laborde. Click here for today’s readings. Can you imagine what those steps leading up to Matthew's conversion were like? Can you find any resemblance with other cases you know, or with your own journey? Finally, what does this sudden conversion of Matthew inspire in you?

Why were the disciples not supposed to fast when Christ was with them? - Fr. Lucas Laborde. Click here for today’s readings. Have there been times in which you experienced God’s closeness or felt naturally inspired to do good things? But then, have you also experienced times in which the good ideals and motivations you had for a time were eclipsed all of a sudden? Is there any particular area in w...

The contrast between spiritual and natural blessings - Fr. Lucas Laborde. Click here for today’s readings. Have you experienced the wisdom of this paradox, that in dying to yourself you find life? What leads you to trust Jesus, when He says something so radical and counterintuitive? Have you experienced the reverse of this: that in refusing to deny yourself, you didn’t find the abundance you were...

Walking before the Father’s gaze - Fr. Lucas Laborde. Click here for today’s readings. What is the Lord encouraging you to do in these three areas? What needs to change in you, so that you can walk before the Father’s gaze?

The rewards of those who venture things for Christ - Fr. Lucas Laborde. Click here for today’s readings. What things have you risked or given up to follow Christ? In what ways have you experienced that paradox of receiving from the Lord the true measure of those things you had given up to follow him?

The calling of the rich young man - Fr. Lucas Laborde. Click here for today’s readings. How has Jesus led to you ascend from grace to grace? What are things that come natural to you now, but would have been difficult at the beginning? Can you identify some step or trial that Christ has encouraged you to face, something you need or have the grace to tackle, even when it’s not a step for everyone?

The mouth speaks from the fullness of the heart - Fr. Lucas Laborde. Click here for today’s readings. Can you identify these three components in the person of Jesus, in the way He carried out his life on earth? To which aspect of moral life is Jesus directing your attention? Does He want you to work more keenly on one of them? Or, maybe, in the connection among them?

Why did Jesus want children to come to him? - Fr. Lucas Laborde. Click here for today’s readings. Is Jesus inviting you to review any guiding principles in your life regarding the importance of forming others and his insistence that young minds be allowed to approach him? What does it mean for you to have a childlike heart, and how is that different from being childish?

What did Jesus teach about divorce? - Fr. Lucas Laborde. Click here for today’s readings. What has it meant, in your case, to be challenged by Christ to believe you can aspire to a higher kind of love? What is the resistance you have found in your own hardness of heart? How has the Lord provided you with strength to overcome that resistance?

Protecting our relationship with God - Fr. Lucas Laborde. Click here for today’s readings. What are possible things you could do in attention to Christ? Could some words or actions of yours cause others to sin? Can you recall situations in which a challenging sacrifice was required to preserve your integrity or your faith? What helps you keep your distinctively Christian flavor?