REFLECTIONS TODAY JOHN 2:13-25 Since the Passover of the Jews was near, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. He found in the temple area those who sold oxen, sheep, and doves, as well as the money changers seated there. He made a whip out of cords and drove them all out of the temple area, with the sheep...
REFLECTIONS TODAY When the younger son comes to his senses and decides to go home, he is facing not just the ire of his father and older brother but also rejection and even physical abuse from the village people. What the father does in receiving him is intended to protect him from harm. He runs to...
REFLECTIONS TODAY When Jesus tells the parable of the Vineyard to describe how his message has been received, the scribes and the Pharisees understand that that they are likened to the wicked tenants who kill the son and heir. And yet they continue to reject Jesus. The parable, however, contains a...
REFLECTIONS TODAY The Gospel parable underscores Jesus’ teaching on the proper use of wealth and sensitivity to the plight of a fellow human being. The contrast between the rich man (Dives) and the poor man Lazarus highlights the great divide between the two. Dives enjoys the comfort and...
REFLECTIONS TODAY Jesus and the Twelve are on their way to Jerusalem. For the third time, Jesus predicts his passion that will happen there, but the disciples are not paying attention, obsessed as they are with the thought that Jesus will declare his “kingdom” there, and that they will share...
REFLECTIONS TODAY In the First Reading, Daniel confesses that the calamity that befell Jerusalem in the hands of the Babylonians is due to the transgressions of the Jews. He turns to God who keeps his merciful covenant, asking for forgiveness. In turn, Jesus invites his disciples to imitate God’s...
REFLECTIONS TODAY MARK 9:2-10 Jesus took Peter, James, and John and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no fuller on earth could bleach them. Then Elijah appeared to them along with Moses, and they were...
REFLECTIONS TODAY In a tribal society, outsiders of the territory were considered potential enemies. This was a matter of survival. Often, the myopic interpretation of the Levitical injunction: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Lv 19:18) means to refer only to loving one’s own...
REFLECTIONS TODAY Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, was the scourge of the ancient Near East, and the ruthlessness of the Assyrians was a byword. The Assyrians destroyed the Northern Kingdom of Israel in 722 BC and deported its inhabitants to Nineveh. Because Nineveh is synonymous with evil, Jonah...
REFLECTIONS TODAY Simon Peter’s confession is used as Gospel reading for the feast of the Chair of St. Peter. While Peter is at times presented as sitting on a chair, while holding a key, the feast is not about a material chair (although a statue called Cathedra Petri is located in the apse of...
REFLECTIONS TODAY Since, in Jesus’ time, Israel was under the Roman power, Caesar and his “family” (agents, political kins) had an interest in everything. Caesar’s estates were overseen by the Roman prefects of Judea. The Roman emperor was the main beneficiary of the taxes as well as...
REFLECTIONS TODAY The disciples of John the Baptist are scandalized that while they and the Pharisees fast much, Jesus’ disciples do not. Jesus’ disciples certainly fast, but only on prescribed days. Some Jews, like the Pharisees, fast (on Mondays and Thursdays) as a sign of devotion and...
