REFLECTIONS TODAY The Pharisees believe that observance of the Law in minutest details means greater righteousness. The problem with this mindset is its inflexibility: no matter the proportion of the “transgression,” it is considered as a violation of the Law, with little or no regard of the...
REFLECTIONS TODAY Jesus’ statement comforts us when we have been fighting our battles without any moment of truce or rest. Life is a continuous struggle that can only easily turn us weary. Once we assume responsibility, we pour out ourselves until exhaustion. Such heavy burden of life is relieved...
REFLECTIONS TODAY It is said that we can never learn anything that we presume to know already. When we are so full of ourselves, we can never learn the way of wisdom and life that Jesus offers us. For this reason, God’s wisdom is hidden from the wise and the learned and given instead to the...
REFLECTIONS TODAY I had the chance to set foot in Chorazin during a visit to the Holy Land. There is a synagogue for the villagers’ worship, and there are some houses, but nothing of consequence has remained in this place. In Jesus’ time, the fishing towns of Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum...
REFLECTIONS TODAY Jesus’ statement that he has come to bring not peace but the sword is disconcerting, to say the least. After all, the angels sang of “peace on earth” (Lk 2:14) at his birth. But true peace is not the absence of conflict. Jesus becomes a sign that is contradicted because his...
REFLECTIONS TODAY Matthew 13:1-9 [or 13:1-23] Sowing the Word is an enterprise that God himself undertakes. But we have to provide the good soil for the seed to grow to maturity and bear fruit aplenty. How does this work in our life as Catholics? Besides reading the Bible, the Catholic is exposed...
REFLECTIONS TODAY Many non-Catholics object to Catholics calling the priest “Father” in line with what Jesus says in the Gospel, that no disciple is greater than his teacher. Elsewhere, Jesus declares, “Call no one on earth your father; you have but one Father in heaven (Mt 23:9). But St....
REFLECTIONS TODAY FIRST READING • Gn 46:1-7, 28-30 Israel set out with all that was his. When he arrived at Beer-sheba, he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. There God, speaking to Israel in a vision by night, called, “Jacob! Jacob!” He answered, “Here I am.” Then he said:...
REFLECTONS TODAY One powerful witness that I have seen is when I was a seminarian a priest took me along in a sick call. It was my first time to witness the rite of the Anointing of the Sick. When the priest was done, the relatives of the sick person thanked him, but not without offering him an...
REFLECTIONS TODAY In my younger days, when I read the Bible and would come across the expression “the Kingdom of heaven,” what came to my mind was a city within fortified walls, with grand buildings made of stones, along with a royal palace. A better understanding came with maturity: the...
REFLECTIONS TODAY This is the last of three sections on discipleship (Mt 8–9), dealing with the universality of the call, its radical demands (8:18-22), and newness (9:9-17). Jesus addresses his disciples about the urgency of the need for workers. In speaking of the abundant harvest (v 37), he is...
REFLECTIONS TODAY Such is the faith of the woman that she trusts that even touching the tassel of Jesus’ clothing can bring her healing. We learn from the story that God actually allows insignificant things to effect his wonders. Some people ridicule the faith of others who look to receiving...
