REFLECTIONS TODAY Fire is used in Scriptures to symbolize God’s judgment where the just are purified and the evil ones destroyed (Mal 3:2-5). As metal is refined of dross by fire, so people are tested as genuine by life’s ordeals. Here, Jesus states that the purpose of his coming is...
REFLECTIONS TODAY The prophet Zechariah was the son of the priest Jehoiada; he was ordered killed by King Joash of Judah for telling the people that because they have abandoned the Lord, the Lord has abandoned them. He was stoned “in the court of the house of the Lord” (2 Chr 24:21). King...
REFLECTIONS TODAY When Mary and his relatives come to speak to Jesus as he teaches the crowd, Jesus declares that his family is composed of “those who hear the word of God and act on it” (Lk 8:21). Jesus is not repudiating his mother and his family. But he emphatically declares that...
REFLECTIONS TODAY The apostle Matthew is believed to be the author of the first Gospel, although it is possible that another Matthew could have written it. His name means “gift of the Lord.” After healing a paralytic in Capernaum, Jesus calls Matthew to follow him. He responds...
REFLECTIONS TODAY Jesus converses with Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews, about things that are above, like the necessity of being born from above, which we refer to as baptism. Jesus knows what he is talking about, because he comes from above. The lifting up of Jesus, like that of the serpent in the...
REFLECTIONS TODAY Peter utters these words to Jesus after hearing him preach and after catching a lot of fish when he lowered down the net in obedience to him. Peter is overwhelmed by the experience. At first, he is not supposed to go fishing again, for it is daytime. Yet, when he gambles his...
REFLECTIONS TODAY Chapter 24 of Matthew’s Gospel is called the discourse on the “end times” since it deals with the coming of the new age (the eschaton) in its fullness, with events that will precede it, and with how the disciples are to conduct themselves while waiting for this event. Jesus...
REFLECTIONS TODAY One of the things that plague most communities is the inability to handle confrontation, disagreement, and the mutual accountability when it comes to sin. Community living is very much part of human existence. A Christian formed in the ways of Jesus acknowledges his responsibility...
REFLECTIONS TODAY Gospel • Matthew 14:22-36 [or 15:1-2, 10-14] Jesus made the disciples get into a boat and precede him to the other side of the sea, while he dismissed the crowds. After doing so, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When it was evening he was there alone....
REFLECTIONS TODAY Mark’s Gospel presents Herod as revering John to be a holy man. The Baptist’s execution is credited to Herodias’ own hatred and desire (6:19). In Matthew, however, the desire is Herod’s from the beginning. Herod Antipas received a quarter of his father’s (Herod the...
REFLECTIONS TODAY After hearing Jesus’ teachings, the crowds who came from all over the place are in admiring astonishment at him. In his hometown, however, the town’s folks could not believe that such powerful and gracious words come from an ordinary carpenter’s son who used to reside with...
REFLECTIONS TODAY Today’s Gospel reading is the seventh and last of the parables in Matthew’s 13th chapter. In his days, Jesus did not tell them one after the other as they are presented here. They are the work of the author’s editing, putting materials with a common theme into one place....
