REFLECTIONS TODAY Words do not come in abundance from Mary. Yes, she gave her Fiat to the angel Gabriel, agreeing to bear the Son of the Most High; she sang her Magnificat to the Lord for looking down at her lowliness; she voiced out her gentle “complaint” to the boy Jesus when he was “lost...
REFLECTIONS TODAY In Dalmanutha, the Pharisees argue with Jesus. They might have heard of his miracles as well as his teachings and lately his feeding of the 4,000 men, and yet they still demand another miracle which must be more spectacular. Jesus refuses to give in to their demand. They are not...
REFLECTIONS TODAY Gospel • Mark 2:1-12 In truth, God alone can forgive sins. A human being may forgive or excuse the sin of another, but something remains of that sin; the guilt still remains before God, it is not erased. Only God’s forgiveness removes the guilt. But Jesus, as the...
REFLECTIONS TODAY Jesus finds welcome and success in Capernaum. He cures the mother-in-law of Simon Peter and stays in Simon’s house where he ministers to the sick and those possessed by demons. Simon and Andrew and the other disciples certainly enjoy the “honor” of being close associates of...
REFLECTIONS TODAY Gospel • Matthew 2:1-12 The Gospel contrasts the attitudes of the Magi and King Herod. The Magi, wise men from the East, are led by their desire to find meaning behind the bright star they have seen from afar. They start their “journey of faith” with a mind seeking...
REFLECTIONS TODAY From John the Baptist’s testimony to Jesus in John’s Gospel, we are now presented with his testimony in Mark’s Gospel. The events surrounding Jesus’ birth reveal his divine origin. Mark does not have the infancy stories as prelude to Jesus’ public ministry. ...
REFLECTIONS TODAY Gospel • John 1:43-51 John’s Gospel is a series of marturía or “witnessing” to Jesus. When John the Baptist witnesses to Jesus as the “Lamb of God,” his two disciples leave him to follow Jesus. After Jesus finds Philip and calls him to follow him, Philip...
REFLECTIONS TODAY As Jesus comes to John the Baptist, John points him out as “the Lamb of God,” thereby setting the tone of Jesus’ mission to be like the lamb of the Passover (Ex 12:3), or the sacrificial lamb offered for the expiation of the sins of the people on the Day of Atonement or Yom...
REFLECTIONS TODAY When religious leaders send priests and Levites to ask John the Baptist who he really is, he clearly admits that he is not the Messiah, the Christ, the Anointed One of God. Neither is he the personification of Elijah who would someday return to prepare the way of the Lord (Mal...
REFLECTIONS TODAY At the beginning of the new year, the Church places us under the protection of Mary, Mother of God. In and through Mary, human participation in the divine plan of salvation is most tangible. Every mother, in a special way, participates in the birth, growth, and development of a...
REFLECTIONS TODAY Lk 2:22-40 [or 2:22, 39-40] When the days were completed for their purification according to the law of Moses, Joseph and Mary took Jesus up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord... Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. This man was righteous...
REFLECTIONS TODAY At the time of Jesus, Nazareth was a relatively isolated agricultural village north of Jezreel Valley. It is never mentioned in the Old Testament. No wonder, Nathanael from Cana expresses bewilderment when Philip tells him that they have found the one about whom Moses wrote in the...
