REFLECTIONS TODAY The Feast of the Holy Innocents makes us aware of the continuing dangers that infants and children are facing in today’s world. While they are the most harmless of creatures, babies and small children are the object of crime and violence. The Son of God becomes a human being...
REFLECTIONS TODAY LUKE 2:22-40 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 and devout, awaiting the...
REFLECTIONS TODAY Jesus is very clear with his disciples that following him will not be easy; on the contrary, they will meet opposition and persecution. This is what he, the Master, will experience. Yet, he promises them every help, especially that of the Holy Spirit who will be their...
REFLECTIONS TODAY LUKE 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 Like its parallel, the Magnificat, Zechariah’s prayer of blessing (Benedictus) proclaims what God the Lord has done for his people, Israel. It is a summary of God’s saving interventions towards Israel, culminating in the giving of a “mighty Savior, born of the house of his...
REFLECTIONS TODAY We can all write our own Magnificat . It would be interesting to read how in various ways God intervenes in the lives of each one of us. To magnify God or to proclaim God’s greatness seems easy. Sadly, as we go through life achieving great things, reaping successes, and becoming...
REFLECTIONS TODAY The Gospel highlights the blessedness of Mary and Elizabeth, two channels of God’s graces. In the Bible, God is said to “visit” his people often. God is like a king who loves his people and visits them every so often to see how they are and to reassure them that he...
REFLECTIONS TODAY LUKE 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...
REFLECTIONS TODAY The Gospel presents the paradigm of divine graciousness on the one hand, and typical human questioning or resistance to the divine offer (at least at the beginning) on the other. The muting of Zechariah seems to be God’s pedagogical way of leading an initially unbelieving person...
Family histories are replete with dramas and surprises. My own siblings’ history towards marriage was no exception: each one had a particular “script” with twists and turns, yet ending more or less happily. The story of Joseph and Mary unto becoming a family shares the human element of...
REFLECTIONS TODAY A relative recently produced a bound genealogy of our clan, tracing family roots and branches as painstakingly as possible. It was very exciting to see and discover the extent to which the roots and branches have extended by now. In a sense, this family tree gave us a sense of...
REFLECTIONS TODAY Every now and then we hear of individuals claiming to be God’s “appointed son,” God’s “sent,” or God’s “anointed.” And many people believe them, especially if they promise “blessings”—abundance or solutions to their problems—because they are adept at...
