REFLECTIONS TODAY Gospel • Mark 2:23-28 The Hebrew term shabbath means “to cease or to rest.” The Sabbath signifies the apex of God’s creation. God blessed and sanctified the seventh day and made it holy (Gn 2:2-3). For Israel—and for all mankind—it is a rest day to...
REFLECTIONS TODAY The Jewish rabbis, particularly the scribes and the Pharisees, would want to contain Jesus and his message in the ways of the Mosaic Law and their traditions. But doing so would be like containing the fresh and liberating spirit of Jesus’ teaching—the “new wine”—in the...
REFLECTIONS TODAY First Reading • 1 Sm 3:3b-10, 19 Samuel was sleeping in the temple of the Lord where the ark of God was. The Lord called to Samuel, who answered, “Here I am.” Samuel ran to Eli and said, “Here I am. You called me.” “I did not call you,” Eli said. “Go back to...
REFLECTIONS TODAY The call of the tax collector Levi (Matthew) highlights the mercy of God that turns sinners to righteous men and women. In fact, the most convincing proclaimers of God’s pardon and reconciliation are those people who have been emancipated from the stigma of sinfulness and given...
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 This expression comes from the Greek verb splagchinizomai, which literally means to be moved so deeply that one feels it in one’s entrails (entrails or bowels were thought to be the seat of love and pity). This means that Jesus feels in his “stomach” the pitiful...
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 Authority (Greek exousia) is the power or right to give orders, make decisions, and to influence the behavior of others. In matters of faith and morals, the scribes have the authority to teach and command the people, based on their knowledge of the Law and their dependence...
REFLECTIONS TODAY Matthew and Luke have infancy narratives to prepare for Jesus’ appearance to Israel as the preacher of the Good News of salvation. John, in turn, has the Prologue about the preexistent Logos (Word) who has become flesh in Jesus. Mark, instead, has Jesus being introduced by “a...
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...
