REFLECTIONS TODAY After being challenged in Gennesaret by the Pharisees and their scribes from Jerusalem, Jesus resumes teaching the crowd when he gets home in Capernaum. His topic is connected with the issue raised by his hostile visitors from Jerusalem. What defiles a person is not what he eats,...
REFLECTIONS TODAY Gospel • Mark 7:1-13 When the Pharisees with some scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus, they observed that some of his disciples ate their meals with unclean, that is, unwashed, hands. (For the Pharisees and, in fact, all Jews, do not eat without...
REFLECTIONS TODAY After feeding the 5,000 men and walking on the water to catch up with his disciples whom he sent ahead of him, Jesus becomes so popular. Upon disembarking in Gennesaret, southwest of Capernaum, Jesus starts preaching. People recognize him wherever he goes. They bring to him their...
BETTER DAYS The results of the 2022 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA)—the comparative survey conducted by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) on the academic performance, skills, and knowledge of 15-year-old students across countries—were...
REFLECTIONS TODAY Gospel • Mark 1:29-39 On leaving the synagogue Jesus entered the house of Simon and Andrew with James and John. Simon’s mother-in-law lay sick with a fever. They immediately told him about her. He approached, grasped her hand, and helped her up. Then the fever left her...
REFLECTIONS TODAY Jesus invites his disciples to rest a while after they come back from their mission. They must be tired, yet they are happy to report of their accomplishments, in contrast to Jesus who failed in his hometown. Now they need to withdraw from the crowds to rest and reflect on...
REFLECTIONS TODAY After being rejected by his townmates in Nazareth, Jesus goes to the nearby villages to teach. He then calls the Twelve (Apostles). He sends them to exorcise evil spirits, to preach repentance, and to heal the sick. They will replicate what he has been doing in...
REFLECTIONS TODAY What a contrasting reception of Jesus! Whereas people in the mostly pagan Decapolis were “amazed” when Jesus drove “legion of demons” out of the possessed man (Mk 5:20), in his native Nazareth Jesus is “amazed” at people’s lack of faith. After all, Jesus looks...
REFLECTIONS TODAY First Reading • 2 Sm 18:9-10, 14b, 24-25a, 30—19:3 Absalom unexpectedly came up against David’s servants. He was mounted on a mule, and, as the mule passed under the branches of a large terebinth, his hair caught fast in the tree. He hung between heaven and earth while...
REFLECTIONS TODAY Jesus’ encounter with the demoniac happens in the territory of the Gerasenes, a Gentile region. Though the man possessed by the unclean spirit shows extraordinary strength that no man can subdue him, yet the demonic forces are no match for Jesus, who is the “stronger one.”...
BETTER DAYS According to Department of Health (DOH) data, pulmonary-related illnesses were the first, fifth, seventh, and ninth top causes of morbidity in the Philippines in 2022. In fact, acute respiratory tract infections remained the top ailment reported by Filipinos from 2012 to 2022....
REFLECTIONS TODAY Gospel • Mark 1:21-28 Then they came to Capernaum, and on the sabbath Jesus entered the synagogue and taught. The people were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes. In their synagogue was a man with an unclean...
