REFLECTIONS In biblical times, aside from fields/farms, treasures were in the form of coins and jewels, and fine clothes and costly textiles. There was the perennial danger of losing them to robbers, fire, and insects. In view of Matthew’s context which concerns practices of piety (almsgiving,...
REFLECTIONS TODAY The only fast prescribed by the Torah of Moses was that of the Yom Kippur or the Day of Atonement (Lv 16:31). Regular fasting became common in later Judaism when pious Jews fasted twice a week out of devotion. Some occasionally fasted out of grief. However some fasted for a...
REFLECTIONS TODAY Against the popular Jewish understanding of love limited to one’s neighbor, that is, one’s fellow Israelite, Jesus extends the love-commandment to one’s enemies—one’s adversaries or outsiders. The sole motive is “that you may be children of your heavenly Father” (v...
REFLECTIONS TODAY What does “turning the other cheek” mean? Does Jesus bid his disciples to invite a second blow? When he himself was unjustly struck in the face, he reacted strongly against the striker (Jn 18:22-23). Like the sayings about tearing a right eye and cutting off a right hand (Mt...
REFLECTIONS TODAY Gospel • Mark 4:26-34 We might wonder why, in the parable of the Mustard Seed, Jesus calls the mustard seed (Greek sinapi) the “smallest” of seeds and the mature mustard plant the “largest” of plants in the garden, when there were smaller seeds and larger plants....
REFLECTIONS TODAY An oath is a guarantee to the truthfulness of one’s statement. In the court of law, a witness is made to swear to tell “the truth, and nothing but the truth.” Originally, the oath formula had the character of conditionally cursing oneself if the statement should prove false....
REFLECTIONS TODAY To be called “least” or “greatest” in the Kingdom of heaven does not suggest that there is a hierarchy in God’s Kingdom, or people are classified in the order of their “sanctity.” Like the Jewish teachers, Jesus uses the expressions “greatest” and...
REFLECTIONS TODAY In biblical times, as in our own, salt is seen as a necessity of life. It is used as a condiment to give taste to food and to preserve food from decay and corruption. It also has medicinal purposes: it was a custom to rub salt on a newborn child. Lastly, salt was associated with...
REFLECTIONS TODAY Today we start Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, the first and the most important of the five Great Discourses in the Gospel of Matthew. It begins with the Beatitudes, Jesus’ declaration of who truly are macarioi—happy or blessed—of human beings. The Beatitudes turn the usual...
REFLECTIONS TODAY Gospel • Mark 3:20-35 Jesus came home with his disciples. Again the crowd gathered, making it impossible for them even to eat. When his relatives heard of this they set out to seize him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.” The scribes who had come from Jerusalem said,...
REFLECTIONS TODAY As a biblical image, “heart” (Hebrew leb, Greek kardia) is the seat both of human emotion and of mind and will. The “immaculate heart” of Mary refers to her whole person and harks back to her “immaculate conception,” that special gift which is the fruit of her election...
REFLECTIONS TODAY Gospel • John 19:31-37 The brutal act of smashing the legs would be an act of mercy, for it hastened the death of the crucified man who could agonize for a much longer time. Since Jesus is evidently dead, his legs are spared. John presents Jesus here as the new Passover Lamb....
