REFLECTIONS TODAY Spiritual masters often repeat that humility is the mother of all virtues. It is only when we recognize our true diminutive stature before God that we realize our dependence on him. When we perceive ourselves as we are, as human beings made out of dust, we come to terms of our own...
REFLECTIONS TODAY Luke takes pains to recount that the important moments in Jesus’ life are preceded by prayer. In this episode, before he sets his face towards Jerusalem (9:51), Jesus talks to his Father in earnest, after which he makes some kind of evaluation of his ministry and asks his...
REFLECTIONS TODAY The enigma of Jesus continues to haunt people. This time it is Herod who is intrigued by Jesus, and in his curiosity he tries to “label him,” comparing him to John the Baptist or to one of the prophets of old. But is his desire to see and understand Jesus a sincere one? ...
REFLECTIONS TODAY The light of God’s word is a precious treasure which we need to share generously with others. Its influence in our lives must be made manifest through words of kindness, acts of care and concern for others. The more we listen to God’s word and apply it to our life situations,...
REFLECTIONS TODAY Jesus recognizes the difficulty of his disciples, their slowness in understanding. In the face of their obtuseness, Jesus continues to be a patient Teacher. Drawing close to them, he finds out why they cannot pay complete attention to his words. It is because they have other...
REFLECTIONS TODAY Matthew’s religious experience is the foundation of his vocation to discipleship. In this autobiographical episode, Matthew himself narrates how he meets Jesus, unexpectedly: in his work desk as a tax collector. Jesus calls him, and he follows immediately. But soon after, it is...
REFLECTIONS TODAY It is heartwarming how Luke mentions the women disciples as participants in Jesus’ proclamation of the Gospel, side by side with the Twelve. These women have the common characteristic of being “liberated” by Jesus from various suffering, empowering them now to be...
REFLECTIONS TODAY Sometimes in our desire to be found pure and sinless, we end up rejecting the shadow side of ourselves and of others. And we simply stop there. We fail to recognize the reality that freedom from sin has a further trajectory which is freedom for love, freedom to serve. The...
REFLECTIONS TODAY Reading through the context of Jesus’ saying, we can hear a note of near desperation as he shakes the stance of the scribes and Pharisees, his principal critics (Lk 7:29-30). They act like ambivalent, immature children in their attitude towards John the Baptist and Jesus. ...
REFLECTIONS TODAY Gospel • Luke 7:11-17 A biblical scholar once confessed how he searched the Gospels in trying hard to find a funeral sermon by Jesus. In the end, he gave up, saying he found none because at every instance, Jesus tried to “raise up the dead”! And so also in this Gospel...
REFLECTIONS TODAY Jesus manifests his surprise as the centurion, presumably a nonbeliever and a representative of the occupying forces in the land of Israel, confesses his faith in Jesus’ authority. Call it “faith in unlikely places,” but it is there present; Jesus acknowledges it and...
REFLECTIONS TODAY First Reading • Is 50:5-9a The Lord God opens my ear that I may hear; and I have not rebelled, have not turned back. I gave my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who plucked my beard; my face I did not shield from buffets and spitting. The Lord...
