REFLECTIONS TODAY Reflections today Is there a sin which God cannot forgive? If the scribes blasphemed against Jesus, how different is that from blaspheming the Holy Spirit? Many interpretations have been put forth for this passage in the Bible. The 1992 Catechism of the Catholic Church (n 1864)...
REFLECTIONS TODAY Reflections today Lk 1:1-4; 4:14-21 Since many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the events that have been fulfilled among us, just as those who were eyewitnesses from the beginning and ministers of the word have handed them down to us, I too have decided, after...
REFLECTIONS TODAY Reflections today In the Old Testament, particularly in the story of Gideon, God would purposely reduce the number of Israelite warriors to reveal HIS power, lest the Israelites say that their own power brought them victory (Jgs 7:2). The same is true of Jesus’ choice of the...
REFLECTIONS TODAY Reflections today The healings in Mark are statements of the Gospel’s Christology: they reveal the identity of Jesus as the Son of God. These accounts also reveal how, in the person of Jesus, the longing of humankind for healing has found its answer. Mark recounts a large number...
REFLECTIONS TODAY Reflections today The anger of Jesus is justified by the lack of compassion of the Pharisees. Jesus is grieved at the hardness of their hearts. For many people, an angry Jesus is unimaginable. Many people have known him only through his image as the loving One. Perhaps this is the...
The scene of the first disciples’ calling is quite poignant. For a fisherman whose main tool of the trade is the nets, leaving them is tantamount to leaving everything behind. What happened was not merely a change of livelihood; rather, their whole life has come to a complete change. They even...
LUKE 3:15-16, 21-22 15 The people were filled with expectation, and all were asking in their hearts whether John might be the Messiah. John answered them all, saying, “I am baptizing you with water, but one mightier than I is coming. I am not worthy to loosen the thongs of his sandals. He will...
REFLECTIONS TODAY “Adulting” is a term that recently millennials have used to describe their current predicament. They slowly discover how many tasks adults have to accomplish in order to survive life. They discover that they really are adults now, because they find themselves having to...
REFLECTIONS TODAY Reflections today Christian tradition could recount many cases of men and women fleeing their ordinary lives and withdrawing into the desert or lonely place in order to find God in solitude. They live lives centered on ascetic practices, penance, mortification, and prayer. The...
REFLECTIONS TODAY Which command in the Bible is the most repeated? This one: “Do not be afraid!” Jesus reassures the disciples terrified at a figure walking on the angry sea that it is he, not some ghost, and so they should not be afraid. We will be less doubtful and distressed in hardships...
REFLECTIONS TODAY Reflections today He gave orders to have them sit down in groups on the green grass Does the imagery of the green grass evoke something? Indeed, it does! We can surely recall Psalm 23, the first part of which describes how God, like a shepherd, pastures the sheep and leads it to...
REFLECTIONS TODAY Reflections today Ever since, light is a metaphor for hope, while darkness symbolizes evil. Jesus Christ is the personification of hope: a person wallowing in the darkness can only be saved by Christ. Today’s First Reading echoes the core of our creed: God, in his divine plan,...
