Today's Gospel

The Most Famous Verse in the Bible

So we got here probably the most famous line or verse from the Gospels, John 3:16. You see people at ball games, people at football games, holding up signs, John 3:16, maybe a little less common today, but 20 years ago, very, very common. And it is probably the most talked about verse in non-Catholic Christian circles.

So what is the verse? "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life." In Protestant evangelical circles, people will talk about the idea or they will ask each other, have you been saved, or have you given your life over to Jesus? I think sometimes it's easy for us to dismiss that as, "Okay, that's not Catholic. That's not how we do things. That's not what we believe or entirely what we believe." And I think that that's helpful and not helpful because I think these are good things for us to ponder. I think it is good for us to ponder. Have we given our lives over to Jesus? And maybe we did at one point, and then maybe we've taken it back little by little by little because we do tend to do that. And maybe we need to give our lives over to Jesus again. I often say like listen for a word or a phrase or an idea that jumps out at you.

The word that jumped out at me today was just heaven. I don't think we spend anywhere near enough time talking about heaven. I don't think we spend anywhere near enough time thinking about heaven, reflecting on heaven, meditating on heaven. Whatever we think about, whatever we reflect upon, whatever we meditate upon, tends to increase in our lives, and we want heaven to increase in our lives. We want the heart, the mind, the soul of heaven to increase in our lives right now. And obviously, we want to live in the experience of heaven in eternity. But why don't we talk more about it? Why don't we think more about it? Everyone wants to go there, but nobody wants to go there yet. And everyone wants to go there, but I don't think we think enough about it. And if we don't think about it, then we won't align our lives, our choices, our actions with what it takes to experience heaven with God for eternity.

Let's think about heaven today. Let's meditate on heaven. Have a great day, and remember, Be Bold, Be Catholic.