Many of Jesus’ disciples who were listening said, “This saying is hard; who can accept it?” As a result of this, many of his disciples returned to their former way of life. Before we hastily dismiss these disciples of Jesus, we have to give them credit. First of all, they were paying enough attention to…
Month: August 2018
Memory – Mark Aloysius, SJ
John 6:60-69, 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time There is this urban legend which states that goldfish have a memory span of about three seconds. If one were forced to live in such a small glass bubble, perhaps amnesia might be the only means of coping. These days I wonder if our collective memory span would…
Avatar – Arnel Aquino, SJ
John 6:63-68, 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time I was watching a talk show the other night. The host did his usual stand-up comedy routine to open the show. He started out, making jokes about Trump and his addiction to Twitter. Then he joked about people who made the stupid mistake of posting pictures on Facebook…
Watching What We Eat
John 6:51-58, 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time My dear friends, if I were to ask you, which part of your body you use to eat, what would you say? To be honest, until quite recently, I would have considered this a stupid question. Which other part of my body can I eat with if not…
Hook, Line and Sinker – Johnny Go, SJ
John 6:51-58, 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time Last night someone who had gone to an anticipated Sunday Mass bumped into me and surprised me with his reaction. He said: “The Bread of Life?! Again?!” He’s right. This is the third Sunday that the Gospel reading has been about the Bread of Life–and what he doesn’t know yet…
God as Food – Vic Balthazar, SJ
John 6:41-51, 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time “I am the Bread of Life. Whoever comes to me will never hunger, whoever believes in me will never thirst!” The Gospel episode continues John’s series of “I am” discourses. “I am” as you know is the phrase that God used to name Godself before Moses. In a…
When the Baby Won’t Eat
John 6:41-51, 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time My dear friends, have you ever seen someone trying to coax a moody baby to eat? Perhaps you’ve done it yourself. It can be quite a challenge. The adult knows that the infant needs food to grow. But, for some reason, it refuses to eat. Maybe it’s sleepy,…
Communion – Arnel Aquino, SJ
John 6:41-51, 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time My maternal grandfather was an inveterate sabungero. Unlike our lola who went to mass daily, he went to church only on Christmas. The rest of the Sundays, “nagsisimba siya sa sabungan,” his own children joked. Kung sa bagay. In every sabungan (cockfight) was a man called “Kristo.” He…
The Itch We Cannot Scratch…
John 6:24-35, 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time My dear friends, have you ever had an itch that you just can’t seem to scratch? Do you know what it feels like? It can be quite frustrating. No matter how hard or how often I may drag my fingernails across that spot on my body, where I…
Hunger in a Time of Abundance – Johnny Go, SJ
John 6:24-35, 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time Our Gospel today is literally good news. Our Lord makes us an important promise: “Whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.” Jesus is not talking about physical hunger or physical thirst, obviously. Rather, he is referring to an existential hunger…
Signs – Arnel Aquino, SJ
John 6:24-35, 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time I saw something pleasantly strange in the first reading. “The Lord said to Moses,” the reading said, “’I will now rain down bread from heaven for you. Each day the people are to go out and gather their daily portion. In that way, I will test the Israelites…
Hunger – Jett Villarin, SJ
John 6:24-35, 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time “Sir, give us this bread always.” That’s what anyone would ask when told that another sort of manna, come down from heaven, would satisfy our hunger for good. For good. For always. For good sounds too good to be true. What is for always, what never goes away…
One Lost Sheep 