REFLECTIONS TODAY The Johannine tradition about the call of the first disciples is quite diverse from that of the Synoptic tradition. In the Synoptic Gospels, the first to follow Jesus are the four fishermen who are called as they ply their trade. In John, the first two disciples are former...
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...
REFLECTIONS TODAY Unlike Matthew who presents the Holy Family fleeing Bethlehem to escape the murderous design of King Herod, Luke presents a story different in content and tone— the peaceful presentation of the child Jesus in the Jerusalem Temple. Mary and Joseph are presented as a couple...
REFLECTIONS TODAY Herod was a bloody despot who ordered the killing of his own sons at a mere suspicion of wanting his throne. Emperor Caesar Augustus remarked that it was better to be Herod’s pigs [animals he would not touch because these were considered “unclean” by the Jews] than his own...
REFLECTIONS TODAY The Gospel reading tells the resurrection story involving Peter and the “disciple whom Jesus loved.” He “outruns” Peter not only in running to the tomb but also in believing that Jesus is alive. His intimacy with Jesus makes him receptive to the signs in the empty tomb....
REFLECTIONS TODAY The Gospel passage belongs to the “Missionary Discourse” of Jesus (Matthew 10). In the historical context of Jesus’ ministry, the disciples are sent (they become apostles—“those sent”) to the people of Israel. Opposition to their message comes from the religious...
REFLECTIONS TODAY Lk 2:1-14 In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that the whole world should be enrolled. This was the first enrollment, when Quirinius was governor of Syria. So all went to be enrolled, each to his own town. And Joseph too went up from Galilee from the town of...
REFLECTIONS TODAY Lk 1:26-38 The angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin’s name was Mary. And coming to her, he said, “Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you.” But she was...
