REFLECTIONS TODAY Jesus is aware of his mission intended to the house of Israel. However, today’s Gospel presents Jesus as going to the region of Tyre and Sidon where a Canaanite woman asks him for the healing of her daughter who is tormented by a demon. The reaction of Jesus’ disciples is to...
REFLECTIONS TODAY Today’s Gospel narrates the feeding of the multitude. The disciples come to Jesus, suggesting that the crowds be dismissed so that they may look for their own provisions. Jesus tells the disciples not to send the people away. The disciples themselves must give people something...
REFLECTIONS TODAY First Reading • Ex 16:2-4, 12-15 The whole Israelite community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The Israelites said to them, “Would that we had died at the Lord’s hand in the land of Egypt, as we sat by our fleshpots and ate our fill of bread! But you had to lead us...
REFLECTIONS TODAY There are times when, out of excitement, we could be wrong in what we say and do. It would be worse when, after realizing the wrongness of the word we are about to say or the action we are about to do, we would still say or do it. Today’s Gospel tells of the beheading of...
REFLECTIONS TODAY The Gospel of Matthew is composed of five discourses. The third of these five is the Matthean parabolic discourse. Matthew 13 contains seven parables that describe the Kingdom of heaven. Today’s Gospel tells of the parable of the dragnet (sagēnē). Jesus narrates that the...
REFLECTIONS TODAY The way of life of the disciples is the way of life of Jesus himself. The life and death of Jesus are subsumed under the concept of service. Jesus did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for the many. This is what “drinking the chalice” means....
REFLECTIONS TODAY In the first-century Palestine, there were various practices of planting. One is described in the Gospel—that of plowing after sowing. In the process, some seed is lost because it has no good soil or is choked by thorns. But in the end, the harvest far compensates for the...
REFLECTIONS TODAY Doing the will of God is central to the Jewish and Christian faith. God does not want sacrifices (Hos 6:6) but an open and obedient attitude, which makes a person say, “Behold, I come to do your will, O God” (Heb 10:5-7; see Ps 40:9). Jesus himself has taught us to say,...
REFLECTIONS TODAY John dramatizes the encounter between the risen Jesus and Mary Magdalene. Even though Jesus stands plainly in sight, Mary does not recognize him. He asks her, “Whom are you looking for?” (v 15)—a question that probes discipleship (Jn 1:38-41, where the early disciples stay...
REFLECTIONS TODAY First Reading • Jer 23:1-6 Woe to the shepherds who mislead and scatter the flock of my pasture, says the Lord. Therefore, thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, against the shepherds who shepherd my people: You have scattered my sheep and driven them away. You have not cared...
REFLECTIONS TODAY In the world that seeks much publicity, including the use of misinformation and disinformation, Matthew has a lesson for us. He points out that Jesus seeks to avoid publicity in his care of the sick, unlike most miracle workers. Matthew also applies the Servant figure to Jesus by...
REFLECTIONS TODAY In their zeal to safeguard the Sabbath rest, the Jewish rabbis have forbidden the performance of 39 tasks, among which is reaping, here equated with picking of the heads of grain. Jesus defends the disciples by reminding the rabbis that David and his men, out of hunger, had...
