Reflections

1st Reading: Amos 7:12-152nd Reading: Ephesians 1:3-14Gospel: Mark 6:7-13 St. Paul in our 2nd Reading this Sunday says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavens, as he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, to be…

One of the painful realities of life is rejection. It haunts us even after many years. Rejection leads us to think that we are not worth loving; we are good for nothing; and that we are not good enough for anything or anyone in this life. Our Gospel this Sunday talks about the rejection of…

When sickness strikes and death becomes more apparent, to whom do we turn to? This question is very real in our present situation where sickness and death are all that we could hear on the street sides, in the television, and in social media. Sickness and death are the worst enemies we battle with each…

1st Reading: Job 38:1, 8-112nd Reading: 2 Cor 5:14-17Gospel: Mk 4:35-41 We have so many fears in life and sometimes these fears make us paralyzed. We often overthink things when we don’t understand what is happening around us. Life may seem to be very hard for us and we resort to depressive thoughts or anxiety…

1st Reading: Ezekiel 17:22-24 2nd Reading: 2 Corinthians 5:6-10 Gospel: Mark 4:26-35 Reflection: We are now in 11th Sunday in Ordinary Time, we just finished the Easter Season and the different Solemnities of the Lord during the Ordinary Time namely, Trinity Sunday, Corpus Christi Sunday, and the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus last…

Acts 9:26-31; 1 Jn. 3:18-24Jn. 15:1-8.           In today’s short Gospel passage, the phrase “remain in me and I in him” is mentioned three times. This is the key word to the teaching on “INDWELLING”.           St. John begins by presenting Jesus as someone exterior of us, who cares for us and loves us; he…

Dt. 18:15-20; 1 Cor. 7:32-35; Mk. 1:21-28. Deuteronomy 18 gives us a very important prophecy concerning the Messiah who is to come. First of all he was to be a prophet sent by God and would speak the message from God. He was to be a kin of the Israelites, one of them who descended…

Is. 9:1-6; Eph. 1:3-6, 15-18; Mk. 10:13-16. A Jewish child was not considered mature until he reaches twelve years of age when he was given permission to read and study the Law or Torah. Before that age the child did not possess knowledge of the Law which rabbinic teaching held indispensable for salvation. It was…

Is 42:1-4, 6-7; Acts 10:34-38; Mt 3:13-17 The first thing that comes to mind when we consider this feast, is the question, “Why does Jesus have to be baptized?” Even John the Baptist asked that same question: “I ought to be baptized by you and yet you come to me?” The answer of Jesus was,…

Is 60:1-6; Eph 3:2-3a, 5-6; Mt 2:1-12. Epiphaneia means an act of appearing. Jesus appears to the non-Jews. At Christmas Jesus was revealed by angels to the shepherds who were Israelites. Angels were part of Jewish faith. Now Jesus appears to non-Jews, magi coming from the east guided by a star, because they were astrologers.…