I was sixteen when I decided to take my faith in Jesus seriously. After experiencing the emptiness of my own sin and receiving God’s mercy through a powerful confession, I was baptized in the Holy Spirit while working as a summer camp counselor. In that moment, while I prayed for the Holy Spirit to stir up the gifts of my baptism and confirmation, I didn’t experience anything. But the next day, God’s love began to overtake me like a fire.

That summer, I developed a tangible hunger for both God and the things of God. For the first time in my life, I began reading the Bible every day, understanding it in a way I never had before. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, I began desiring God’s Word, and reading that Word changed me. Growing up, I had favorite readings and verses, but I hadn’t opened my Bible every day in prayer. Following that encounter with the Holy Spirit, I began reading the Scriptures every day, and I started seeing the person of Jesus on every page.

My heart began burning within me through the power of God’s Word, just like the apostles on the road to Emmaus (see Lk 24:32). Since then, I do not have a powerful, fire-burning experience every time I open the Bible, but I have experienced the Holy Spirit continuing to set my heart on fire with love for God as I encounter Him daily through the Scriptures. This is why I am so excited to host Burning Hearts.

The idea for the program was born out of my own experience of God drawing me into deeper love of Him through his Word. The Catechism beautifully describes the power of the Scriptures:

In Sacred Scripture, the Church constantly finds her nourishment and her strength, for she welcomes it not as a human word, “but as what it really is, the word of God.” “In the sacred books, the Father who is in heaven comes lovingly to meet his children, and talks with them.” (104)

I have found my nourishment and strength for life through Jesus in the Eucharist and the Word. As I remain committed to reading the Bible each day, the Holy Spirit more deeply reveals to me both the riches of Christ and my own identity. What God has for us in Jesus is incredible, and we discover its fullness through reading the Bible.

I invite you to join me on Burning Hearts every weekday, as together we open God’s Word and learn to hear his voice. Like the apostles on the road to Emmaus, I believe that Jesus wants to open the Scriptures to us each day, wherever we are on our journey with Him. And when He does, we will respond, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he . . . opened to us the scriptures?” (Lk 24:32)

Burning Hearts is available here. 

This article originally appeared in Renewal Ministries February 2025 newsletter.