REFLECTIONS TODAY “Leprosy” (Greek lepra) is loosely used for unspecified skin diseases (Lv 13) which were regarded not only as ailments of the body but also as forms of uncleanness which merited separation from the community and its socio-religious life (Lv 13:45-46). A leper was considered a...
REFLECTIONS TODAY Scriptures attest to the phenomenon of persons claiming to be prophets alongside the authentic prophets sent by God. The latter call them “false prophets.” Since they come in “sheep’s clothing,” acting like the real prophets, they are hard to distinguish. Some indicators...
REFLECTIONS TODAY Pearls are valuable, and it is absurd to throw them before an uncaring animal. The Kingdom of God, which comes in the person and message of Jesus, is “a pearl of great price” (Mt 13:46). Jesus’ words are too precious to waste on the deaf ears of people who manifest outright...
REFLECTIONS TODAY As the son of a priest, John is supposed to be trained in the Temple services. Instead, he grows up in the desert, far from the luxury in which the Jerusalem priestly aristocracy lives. By his dress, diet, and preaching, John presents himself more like a prophet than a priest. He...
REFLECTIONS TODAY The imagery of the birds does not suggest idleness or passivity. Birds, like humans, actively look for food. Unlike humans, however, birds do not worry about what they will have for the next meal. Birds can neither produce nor store food. It is God who looks after them. It is also...
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...
