REFLECTIONS TODAY Gospel • Mark 4:26-34 We might wonder why, in the parable of the Mustard Seed, Jesus calls the mustard seed (Greek sinapi) the “smallest” of seeds and the mature mustard plant the “largest” of plants in the garden, when there were smaller seeds and larger plants....
REFLECTIONS TODAY An oath is a guarantee to the truthfulness of one’s statement. In the court of law, a witness is made to swear to tell “the truth, and nothing but the truth.” Originally, the oath formula had the character of conditionally cursing oneself if the statement should prove false....
REFLECTIONS TODAY The Bible uses different terms for sexual sins, the violation of the sixth commandment, “You shall not commit adultery.” There is adultery (moicheia) when a man has an illicit intercourse with a married or betrothed woman. The act between a man and unmarried woman is called...
REFLECTIONS TODAY To be called “least” or “greatest” in the Kingdom of heaven does not suggest that there is a hierarchy in God’s Kingdom, or people are classified in the order of their “sanctity.” Like the Jewish teachers, Jesus uses the expressions “greatest” and...
REFLECTIONS TODAY In biblical times, as in our own, salt is seen as a necessity of life. It is used as a condiment to give taste to food and to preserve food from decay and corruption. It also has medicinal purposes: it was a custom to rub salt on a newborn child. Lastly, salt was associated with...
REFLECTIONS TODAY Today we start Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, the first and the most important of the five Great Discourses in the Gospel of Matthew. It begins with the Beatitudes, Jesus’ declaration of who truly are macarioi—happy or blessed—of human beings. The Beatitudes turn the usual...
REFLECTIONS TODAY Gospel • Mark 3:20-35 Jesus came home with his disciples. Again the crowd gathered, making it impossible for them even to eat. When his relatives heard of this they set out to seize him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.” The scribes who had come from Jerusalem said,...
REFLECTIONS TODAY As a biblical image, “heart” (Hebrew leb, Greek kardia) is the seat both of human emotion and of mind and will. The “immaculate heart” of Mary refers to her whole person and harks back to her “immaculate conception,” that special gift which is the fruit of her election...
REFLECTIONS TODAY Following the Pharisees, the Herodians, and the Sadducees, it is now the turn of a scribe (Greek grammateus) to ask Jesus which is the first (greatest) of all the commandments. Jesus quotes the Shema Israel (“Hear, O Israel!”) from Deuteronomy 6:4 and joins to it the command...
REFLECTIONS TODAY Gospel • Mark 12:18-27 After the Pharisees and Herodians failed to ensnare Jesus with their question on paying taxes to Caesar, it is now the turn of the Sadducees to test him. The Sadducees—the priestly aristocracy during Jesus’ time—were, ironically, skeptics in...
REFLECTIONS TODAY While recognizing the legitimacy of civil authority, Jesus sets it in its proper place, that is, covering only a part of life, and insists on the basic and ultimate supremacy of God who governs the whole life. One’s duties toward God and civil authority, although distinct, are...
REFLECTIONS TODAY The parable of the Tenants reflects the social background of Galilee close to Jesus’ time, with landed estates belonging to absentee owners who were living abroad. This would allow the conduct of dispossessed land-hungry peasants who cultivated the land as tenant-farmers. The...
