Ordinary TimeYear A

Most Sacred Heart of Jesus

Friday, June 12, 2026

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First Reading

Deuteronomy 7:6-11

2 illustrations

The Couple Who Chose the Overlooked Child

In 2019, David and Maria Santos walked through a state-run orphanage in São Paulo, Brazil. Social workers guided them past rows of toddlers — the...

Deuteronomy 7:6-11Universal

Sermon Illustration

The Stockbroker Who Chose 669 Children

In the winter of 1938, a twenty-nine-year-old London stockbroker named Nicholas Winton canceled his skiing holiday and traveled instead to Prague. What he found in...

Deuteronomy 7:6-11

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Psalm

Psalm 103:1-4, 8, 10

6 illustrations

Movie Analogy

Top Gun Maverick: Mount Up with Wings Like Eagles (Isaiah 40:31)

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Second Reading

Matthew 11:25-30

110 illustrations

LensLines™

Matthew 11:2-11 — Pentecostal (classic)

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Universal

In Top Gun: Maverick, Pete Mitchell returns to teach young pilots what cannot be taught in simulators—instinct, courage, when to trust the machine and when to trust yourself. At 60, he still flies better than pilots half his age.

Isaiah 40:31Universalstrengthendurance

Historical

The Promise Before the Cure

On the evening of March 24, 1882, Dr. Robert Koch stood before the Berlin Physiological Society and made an announcement that would alter the course...

Psalm 103:2-3Universaldiscoveryperseverance

Historical

Where the Light Falls

In the final year of his life, Rembrandt van Rijn stood before a massive canvas in his modest Amsterdam studio — a far cry from...

Psalm 103:10-12Universalgraceforgiveness

Sermon Illustration

The Mother Who Never Stopped Praying

For nearly thirty years, Monica of Tagaste wept over her son. Augustine had abandoned the faith of his childhood, taken a mistress, fathered a child...

Psalm 103:1-4, 8, 10Universal

Historical

A Moldy Cantaloupe and the Healing of Millions

In the summer of 1943, a lab assistant named Mary Hunt walked into a Peoria, Illinois, fruit market and picked up a bruised cantaloupe covered...

Psalm 103:2-3Universalhealingprovidence

Contemporary

The Scar the World Forgot

On May 8, 1980, the Thirty-Third World Health Assembly declared in Geneva what no generation before had dared believe: smallpox — a disease that killed...

Psalm 103:2-3Universalhealingcooperation

Evelyn Wang can access infinite versions of herself across the multiverse—every choice she didn't make, every life she could have lived. At first it's overwhelming chaos. But she discovers the secret: in a universe where nothing matters, the only thing...

1 Corinthians 13:8Universallovemeaning

Movie Analogy

WALL-E: It Is Not Good to Be Alone (Genesis 2:18)

WALL-E is the last robot on Earth, compacting trash after humanity fled. He's developed something unexpected: a personality, curiosity, loneliness. He collects treasures from the garbage. He watches old musicals and dreams of holding hands. Then EVE arrives—sleek, modern, purposeful.

Genesis 2:18Universallonelinesslove

Movie Analogy

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood: Transformed by Love (Romans 12:2)

In A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, cynical journalist Lloyd Vogel is assigned to profile Mr. Rogers—and expects to expose him as fake. Instead, Rogers' relentless kindness exposes Lloyd's own wounds. Rogers doesn't argue; he listens, prays, models love. Lloyd is gradually transformed.

Romans 12:2Universaltransformationkindness

Movie Analogy

Room: Love in an Overwhelming World (1 John 4:18)

In Room, five-year-old Jack has spent his entire life in captivity—a small shed his mother calls "Room." When they escape into the real world, the world terrifies him. Everything is too big, too bright, too much. But his mother's love anchors him.

1 John 4:18Universalfearlove

Movie Analogy

Frozen: Perfect Love Casts Out Fear (1 John 4:18)

In Frozen, Elsa lives in terror of her own power. She isolates herself, hides her gift, nearly destroys her kingdom with fear-driven ice. Only Anna's sacrificial love—dying to save her sister—breaks the curse.

1 John 4:18Universalfearlove

Devotional

Quiet Time: Environmental Justice

Dear Heavenly Father, As I pause today to contemplate the urgency of Environmental Justice, I feel the echoes of Your love resonating through the words of 1 John 4:19: "We love because He first loved us." This truth challenges me...

1 John 4:19Traditional

View all 118 illustrations for 1 John 4:7-16 →

Matthew 11:2-11 3:1-11 expects God to act now—the Spirit empowers witness with holiness and power—today, not someday.

Matthew 11:2-11PentecostalJohn the BaptistProphecy Fulfilled

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