REFLECTIONS TODAY Jesus invites his disciples to rest a while after they come back from their mission. They must be tired, yet they are happy to report of their accomplishments, in contrast to Jesus who failed in his hometown. Now they need to withdraw from the crowds to rest and reflect on...
REFLECTIONS TODAY After being rejected by his townmates in Nazareth, Jesus goes to the nearby villages to teach. He then calls the Twelve (Apostles). He sends them to exorcise evil spirits, to preach repentance, and to heal the sick. They will replicate what he has been doing in...
REFLECTIONS TODAY What a contrasting reception of Jesus! Whereas people in the mostly pagan Decapolis were “amazed” when Jesus drove “legion of demons” out of the possessed man (Mk 5:20), in his native Nazareth Jesus is “amazed” at people’s lack of faith. After all, Jesus looks...
REFLECTIONS TODAY First Reading • 2 Sm 18:9-10, 14b, 24-25a, 30—19:3 Absalom unexpectedly came up against David’s servants. He was mounted on a mule, and, as the mule passed under the branches of a large terebinth, his hair caught fast in the tree. He hung between heaven and earth while...
REFLECTIONS TODAY Jesus’ encounter with the demoniac happens in the territory of the Gerasenes, a Gentile region. Though the man possessed by the unclean spirit shows extraordinary strength that no man can subdue him, yet the demonic forces are no match for Jesus, who is the “stronger one.”...
REFLECTIONS TODAY Gospel • Mark 1:21-28 Then they came to Capernaum, and on the sabbath Jesus entered the synagogue and taught. The people were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes. In their synagogue was a man with an unclean...
Senator Imee Marcos prayed for the enlightenment of her brother, President Marcos during the Jesus is Lord Worldwide Prayer and Vision Casting 2024 in Norzagaray, Bulacan on Saturday, Jan. 27. (Photo from the Office of Senate Majority Leader Joel Villanueva) "Higit sa lahat, haplusin nawa...
REFLECTIONS TODAY Mark summarizes Jesus’ usual activity as going into the synagogues, preaching and driving out demons. He would remain outside in solitary places so people could come to him and be healed. No wonder, traveling with his disciples in the boat, Jesus, tired as he is, falls...
REFLECTIONS TODAY Today, we honor two of St. Paul’s collaborators: Sts. Timothy and Titus, his “true sons in the faith.” Of Timothy, Paul writes to the Philippians, “I have no one comparable to him for genuine interest in whatever concerns you. You know his worth, how as a child with a...
REFLECTIONS TODAY The Word of God bears or fails to bear fruit depending on the type of “soil” that receives it. The soil represents the disposition of people who hear the Word. There are the superficial people who are attentive to fads and fancies of life, and are swept away by mundane...
REFLECTIONS TODAY The scribes are so biased against Jesus that they attribute his power to drive out demons to his being in league with Beelzebul, the prince of demons. Jesus’ own family does not look kindly on some of his actuations, thinking that he is out of his mind. The “they” who say...
REFLECTIONS TODAY “If a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand” (v 25). This saying of Jesus is true in all human affairs and undertakings—social, political, economic, even religious. This is also true in the realm of the devil, and so to think of Jesus driving...
