REFLECTIONS TODAY As Jesus was hanging on the cross, we can imagine, on the one hand, the extreme pain that he went through, but, at the same time, also the great love he had for humanity whom, through his death, he would rescue from evil and sin definitively. The passion and death of Jesus should...
GOSPEL • John 13:1-15 Before the feast of Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to pass from this world to the Father. He loved his own in the world and he loved them to the end. The devil had already induced Judas, son of Simon the Iscariot, to hand him over. So, during supper, fully aware...
REFLECTIONS TODAY Can human life be valued monetarily? In civil law, we know that cases involving involuntary manslaughter (not murder) are settled in the end by paying a sum of money to the family of the victim. But, of course, nobody thinks such a sum of money is the value or worth of the...
REFLECTIONS TODAY Betrayal—many times it has been said—is one of the most painful of human experiences. This is because it necessarily involves people close to us or people we love. There is no betrayal involving enemies. It is like being bitten by the mouth you have been feeding. Despite what...
REFLECTIONS TODAY The words of Jesus, at first glance, may sound a bit indifferent towards the poor. It also seems to carry a hint of resignation: that poverty will always remain the lot of some people. But the context of this episode tells us it is not indifference towards, or desperation about,...
REFLECTIONS TODAY LUKE 22:14—23:56 ... When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him and the criminals there, one on his right, the other on his left. Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.” They divided his garments by casting lots. The people...
REFLECTIONS TODAY At first glance, the words of the high priest sound wise and therefore worthy of being followed. Perhaps there are circumstances when it may be the wisest thing to do. But a mother who had a newly-born baby in danger of death defied this “wisdom” from the relatives that she...
REFLECTIONS TODAY Jesus points another way by which those who have difficulty believing in him might accept him: his works or deeds. If they found him too familiar, too ordinary, not in accord with what is written about the awaited Messiah, then his works and deeds might convince them about his...
REFLECTIONS TODAY We call to mind Peter’s words to Jesus when Jesus asks his disciples, “Do you also want to leave?” Peter replies, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (Jn 6:67-68). When Jesus says that the person who keeps his word will never taste death, we...
REFLECTIONS TODAY Veritas liberabit vos (“The truth will set you free”). This is one of the most powerful and “liberating” sayings of Jesus. Truth (Greek alētheia) basically means that which is “being uncovered, unveiled, or not hidden.” And so, its opposite—“falsehood”—implies...
REFLECTIONS TODAY Jesus’ enemies could not go beyond the very human condition of Jesus despite his claims to be “sent from above.” They only associate “nobility” or “divinity” with something extraordinary, unfathomable, omnipotence — not familiarity, ordinariness, even poverty. For...
REFLECTIONS TODAY JOHN 8:1-11 Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. But early in the morning he arrived again in the temple area, and all the people started coming to him, and he sat down and taught them. Then the scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery and made her...
