A Glimpse of His Love

1st Tuesday of Lent Feast of Saint Conrad of Piacenza IN TODAY'S GOSPEL (Matthew 6:7-15) the Lord taught the crowd the right way to pray to the Father, the prayer Christians later named as the Lord's Prayer . He taught prayer as a child talking to his father. The first part of the prayer must be an expression of worship to the Father-- may your name be held holy (v.9)--and an affirmation of our commitment to follow His will in our lives-- your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven (v. 10). The second part consists of addressing our need for help to physically survive-- give us today our daily bread (v. 11)--to be forgiven for our transgressions-- And forgive us our debts, as we have forgiven those who are in debt to us (v. 12)--and to be spared from the temptation of the devil-- And do not put us to the test, but save us from the evil one (v. 13).   The center of this prayer that Jesus taught his disciples is the love of God and our fitting response to...

5th Tuesday in Ordinary Time Feast of Saint Marina IN TODAY'S GOSPEL (Mark 7:1-9), the Lord confronts the Pharisees and some scribes on the misguided observation of the tradition of the elders, the set of injunctions and practices that the rabbis added to the Law of Moses. The Jews had so forgotten the heart and spirit of the Law of Moses that the tradition of the rabbi came to be observed not for love but for the sake of it. In the process, they lost their freedom of mind and heart and got enslaved instead into it. In the process, they have forgotten that the tradition had turned into something beneficial for the sake of it, forgetting the place of God in it; worse, they even believed they did it for God. So the Lord reminded them using the words of Isaiah (29:13): "These people honors me only with lip-service, while their hearts are far from me. The worship they offer me is worthless, the doctrines they teach are only human regulations ." They have forgotten to tea...

5th Monday in the Ordinary Time Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes IN TODAY'S GOSPEL (Matthew 9:14-15) the disciples of John the Baptist sought understanding their confusion in watching the disciples of the Lord did not follow the usual Jewish fasting practice. Jesus told them that God does not need fasting but rejoicing-- "How can you expect wedding guests to mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them?"   If we really come to think of it, fasting and sacrifices had not been made for God's benefit but for our benefit. God does not need these; we do. Fasting and sacrifices strengthen our mind and body, and in the process strengthen our faith. But the God of love and mercy does not need either-- "What I want is mercy, not sacrifice" (v. 13; 12:7; Hosea 6:6).   Our God of love is also the God of Happiness and Rejoicing. Because God loves us with unconditional and faithful love, we have no reason to feel unloved. The only tears that love draws from our ...

4th Friday in the Ordinary Time TODAY'S GOSPEL (Mark 6:14-29) veers away from the ministerial account of Jesus and retells on a portion of the life of Herod and the beheading of Saint John the Baptist. Saint Mark tells on how Herodias, the concubine Herod and the wife of Herod's brother Philip, plotted to have John killed.   Of all Herod's faults, he was right in one thing: John was a holy person. Herod respected John. He knew John to be an upright and holy man and kept him safe (v. 20a). That respect was so strong that even Herodias could not plot to kill John openly. However, although life also involves respect for the beloved, respect is not love. A person can respect another without loving him. And Herod was a slave to his pride, vanity, and sexual impulses. When these vices started to demand commitment, Herod could not deny it even at the cost of killing the holy man John.   Herod still had the grace of insight into the heart of John. He knew John accurately...

4th Wednesday in the Ordinary Time Memorial of Saint Paul Miki and Companions, martyrs IN TODAY'S GOSPEL (Mark 6:1-20) the Lord encountered rejection from his own townmates-- "A prophet is despised only in his own country, among his relatives and in his own family" (v. 4)--simply because he has been one among them-- "Is he not the carpenter, the son of Mary and the brother of James and Joset and Judas and Simon... His sisters, too, are they not here among us?" So they took offense at him   (v. 3). And in an important moment in his ministerial life, he experienced the difference between the love of his Father and the love of men.   By nature, human "love" is selfish. People tend to behave with care on people that they like; not on those they don't. We believe that love is a privilege that you can give to or take from other people depending on how we like them or not. We tend to praise others' accomplishments in close relationship to th...

Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C, Year 1 IN TODAY'S GOSPEL (Mark 5:1-20), Jesus and the Twelve arrived at Gergasa ("Country of the Gerasenes") on the eastern side of the Sea of Galilee-- on the other side of the lake in the region of the Gerasenes  ( (v. 1). Here he encountered a demonically possessed person who lived in the tombs and attacks those who passed by. When the demoniac saw the Lord, he hastened to approach him, the possessing demons asking him that they not be "tortured" (v. 7). Saint Mark also identified the group of possessing demons as Mob (Christian Community Bible translation), or Legion  (in other translations). Knowing that staying in the man was not acceptable to Jesus,  Mob  requested to be transferred instead to a herd of pigs.   The Lord shows us a beautiful show of the disciplined and respectful characteristic of love. He showed respect for the needs of the demons while making it clear to them that...

Third Friday in the Ordinary Time, Cycle C, Year 1   TODAY'S GOSPEL (Mark 4:26-34), the Lord tells the gathering crowd two parables--the parable of the self-growing seed (another sower parable) and that of the mustard seed. He explains how it is in the Kingdom of God; how even little things count... little seeds grow on their own, and which can grow into so huge a tree, in fact,  becomes the largest of the plants in the garden and even grows branches so big that the birds of the sky can take shelter in its shade (v. 32). And the sower does not have to do anything to make the seeds grow; nay, he does not even have to understand how that happens. Each little seed plant will grow on its own nourished by a power that takes care of all things created, that loves all things created.   Portiuncula, the small portions... The Lord intimates to us that even little things we do matter; that even little things we do count. He does not call us to be great giants in soci...