REFLECTIONS TODAY Our readings today contain two stories on envy and greed. In the First Reading, the 11 brothers were envious of Joseph being their father’s favorite and so threw him in a cistern and then sold him to the Midianite traders. This caused their father Jacob so much...
REFLECTIONS TODAY In telling us to call God “Abba,” the commonly used Jewish word for “father” or “Dad,” Jesus designates us as God’s children. And as we are his children, Jesus is our brother. The risen Jesus tells Mary Magdalene, “I am going to my Father and your...
REFLECTIONS TODAY The parable of the Last Judgment or the Judgment of the Nations tells us how we shall be judged personally once we pass on from this life or in the universal judgment at the glorious coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The criterion of judgment is not how we have attended to...
REFELCTIONS TODAY First Reading • Dt 26:4-10 Moses spoke to the people, saying: “The priest shall receive the basket from you and shall set it in front of the altar of the Lord, your God. Then you shall declare before the Lord, your God, ‘My father was a wandering Aramean who went down to...
REFLECTIONS TODAY In Jesus’ time, tax collectors were considered by the Jews as enemies of the people because they collaborated with their Roman conquerors. Tax collectors would also steal from their countrymen by secretly obtaining a percentage cut from the taxes they collected. They would...
REFLECTIONS TODAY Fasting is essentially giving up food for a period of time to focus one’s thought on God. In the Old Testament, it was often a way of expressing grief or a means of humbling one’s self before the Lord. In the New Testament, it was a means to grow closer to God through...
REFLECTIONS TODAY Today is Ash Wednesday. In receiving the ashes, we acknowledge that we are formed from the dust of the ground, and some day we will return to ashes. But we are precious in God’s eyes, given life and freedom, the same freedom given to angels. Using that freedom, our first...
REFLECTIONS TODAY 1 Peter 3:18 says that we now enjoy the salvation we have obtained from the suffering of Jesus on the cross through his Spirit that dwells in our hearts. This is not a reward that we will experience only in the future. We can now taste the peace, justice, and love...
REFLECTIONS TODAY The heart is the measure of true service. True honesty is having a heart that is willing to be taught. And who should be teaching us? Only Jesus! We are all his students, disciples who learn every day from the example he left behind—his words and deeds. But where...
REFLECTIONS TODAY First Reading • Sir 27:4-7 When a sieve is shaken, the husks appear; so do one’s faults when one speaks. As the test of what the potter molds is in the furnace, so in tribulation is the test of the just. The fruit of a tree shows the care it has had; so too does one’s...
REFLECTIONS TODAY Gospel • Mark 10:13-16 Our readings today speak of receiving God’s grace with an open heart. In the First Reading, receiving God’s command with an open heart is also like praying. In order for our prayers to be fruitful, we speak to God with our hearts and minds open to what...
REFLECTIONS TODAY In modern times, one of the traditional values under severest attack is the unitive and permanent character of marriage. One can hardly count by fingers countries where divorce has not yet been legalized. And marriage can be dissolved for flimsiest of reasons, often under the...
