REFLECTIONS TODAY First Reading • Hb 1:2-3; 2:2-4 How long, O Lord? I cry for help but you do not listen! I cry out to you, “Violence!” but you do not intervene. Why do you let me see ruin; why must I look at misery? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and clamorous...
REFLECTIONS TODAY Our Gospel passage is composed of two parts. The first part narrates the return of the 72 followers of Jesus whom he sent in pairs (Lk 10:1-12). The second part tells of Jesus giving praise to the Father. We may compare the joy of the 72 with that of Jesus. On the one hand, the 72...
REFLECTIONS TODAY Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum are towns forming a triangle on the northeastern shore of the Sea of Galilee (Lake Tiberias). It is here that Jesus has been most active, and the miracles revealing his divine power are prominent here. Capernaum is given special mention, with...
REFLECTIONS TODAY At the start of his public ministry, Jesus called some people to follow him— fishermen like Simon and Andrew, James and John, and the tax collector Levi (Matthew). There was also Philip in the Gospel of John (1:43). Jesus would later say, “It was not you who chose me, but I...
REFLECTIONS TODAY The hostility of the Jews and the Samaritans lies deep in Israel’s history. Samaria was the capital of the northern kingdom of Israel which separated from the southern tribe after the death of Solomon. When the northern kingdom fell in 722 BC to the Assyrians, these sent most of...
REFLECTIONS TODAY The brothers James and John have hardly speaking lines in the Gospel, and these reveal that they are “without understanding” like the rest of the Twelve. They ask Jesus to grant that they may sit one at his right and the other at his left in Jesus’ glory, only to be told...
REFLECTIONS TODAY LUKE 16:19-31 Jesus said to the Pharisees: “There was a rich man who dressed in purple garments and fine linen and dined sumptuously each day. And lying at his door was a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who would gladly have eaten his fill of the scraps that fell...
REFLECTIONS TODAY The Gospel is Jesus’ second prediction of his passion. He declares, “The Son of Man is to be handed over to men.” The passive form is understood in the theological sense. It is a divine passive. Thus God’s action is referred to in an indirect way, typical of Hebrew...
REFLECTIONS TODAY When Herod the tetrarch heard about what was happening around Jesus’ ministry, he was perplexed and asked, “Who then is this ...?” (Lk 9:9). His initial fear that Jesus might be John the Baptist whom he had put to death is seconded by some people who are saying that “John...
REFLECTIONS TODAY The tetrarch Herod in today’s Gospel is Herod Antipas who was appointed by the Roman emperor Augustus to rule over Galilee and Perea at the death of his father Herod the Great. He divorced his first wife, the daughter of King Aretas of Nabatea, in favor of Herodias who had been...
REFLECTIONS TODAY In Galilee in Jesus’ time, the ruling elites (Herod Antipas and his cohorts) controlled fishing by the Sea of Tiberias. They sold fishing rights to the “brokers” (telonai, commonly translated as “publicans” or “tax collectors”) who, in turn, contracted with the...
REFLECTIONS TODAY In Scriptures, to “hear” (Hebrew shemah, Greek akouein) does not just mean to use one’s ear to perceive a message, but to pay attention that one may understand and obey. To “hear” and to “obey” go hand in hand, especially if what is communicated is the word of God or...
