REFLECTIONS TODAY Today’s Gospel narrates the birth and the naming of John the Baptist. Both Elizabeth and Zechariah want their son to be named John despite the fact that there is no one in their family who is called by this name. When asked by their relatives, the dumb Zechariah writes on a...
REFLECTIONS TODAY The preaching of the Kingdom of God did not die with Jesus on the cross. Inspired and empowered by the risen Christ, it was continued by the Twelve apostles and other ministers of the Word. The followers of Jesus started as a small band of Jews in Jerusalem, but later expanded to...
REFLECTIONS TODAY When a man approaches Jesus to cure his son possessed by a demon because Jesus’ disciples could not drive the demon out, Jesus reproaches the “faithless and perverse generation.” To whom is the reproach addressed? It can be addressed to the unbelievers among the Jewish...
REFLECTIONS TODAY Jesus’ disciples ask him to send the woman away; she has nothing to do with them, nor they with her. In telling her that he is for “Israel only,” Jesus probably implies that she better go to the prophets of Baal, the Canaanite god, to petition Baal to cure her daughter....
REFLECTIONS TODAY When Moses comes down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the commandments, the Israelites noticed how radiant his face had become (Ex 34:30). Having had intimacy with God, the divine radiance is reflected on his face. The Israelites have then an experience of the...
REFLECTIONS TODAY The first collection of Jesus’ teaching in the Gospel of Matthew is called Sermon on the Mount because Jesus gives it on the mountain. The parables of the Kingdom, on the other hand, are taught by Jesus as he sits down by the sea while the crowd stand along the shore. The first...
REFLECTIONS TODAY At the theophany at Mount Horeb, the Lord appears to Moses in fire flaming out of the bush. He reveals himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Because of his covenant with Abraham, the Lord will deliver the children of Israel from the oppression of the Egyptians. He then...
REFLECTIONS TODAY Joseph, sold as a slave, then turned governor of Egypt, sends his brothers back to Canaan with food for their starving families. Later, he brings his father Jacob and Jacob’s entire family to Egypt and settles them in the pasture land of Goshen. The twelve sons of Jacob, the...
REFLECTIONS TODAY Wherever the Good News of Jesus was preached, it has met the same opposition as Jesus experienced. Yet, the Gospel today tells us that Jesus is stronger than any opposition. The demons possessing two Gadarene natives see their destruction as they meet Jesus: “Have you come here...
REFLECTIONS TODAY At times in the Bible, different types of skin problem—not necessarily Hansen’s disease—fall into the category of leprosy. Lepers lived solitary lives and, therefore, in loneliness. People avoided them because Jewish law forbade touching lepers (Lv 5:3). They were...
REFLECTIONS TODAY Jesus uses the images of a bad tree and wolves to warn his hearers of false prophets. Discernment is needed because false prophets may not be easily detected. A tree is judged by its fruit. The credibility of any teacher or preacher is tested through the quality and the...
REFLECTIONS TODAY In Matthew, the Our Father is part of the Sermon of the Mount, the opening verse of which states that the main listeners of Jesus are the disciples. In Luke, the Our Father is Jesus’ response to the disciples’ request that he teach them how to pray; it is the prayer of the...
