Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23, 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time I do not know what pure virgin coconut oil or olive oil is but just the sound of it makes me want to choose it over the non-virgin one. We do not want things adulterated with other so-called lesser ingredients. We prefer pure breeds to mongrels….
Author: ninangdeb
Pick and Choose – Joel Liwanag, SJ
John 6: 60-69, 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time Have you ever come across the term “cafeteria Catholic?” Patterned after the analogy of being in a cafeteria, where you get to pick and choose the food that you want to eat, cafeteria Catholics are those who simply pick and choose the Church teachings they want to…
What’s your Index? – Arnel Aquino, SJ
John 6:41-51; 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time In the first reading, we see a despondent Elijah. His mission to King Ahab and his equally weird wife, Jezebel, backfired. There was a killing spree afoot against prophets. So, Elijah ran for his life as his life ran out of fuel. Feeling like a failure, he just…
Who is Ignatius? – Danny Huang, SJ
Feast of St Ignatius de Loyola, 31st July 2024 There is an interesting article on the website of the British Province, Thinking Faith, which is entitled “My own personal Ignatius.” Ten persons–Jesuits, lay people, religious women–share who St. Ignatius is for them, what it is about Ignatius that inspires or touches them most. A former…
Bounty – Jett Villarin, SJ
John 6:1-15; 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time Is it not wondrous that from one seed alone you can get more seeds later? Is it not a miracle that this one seed can grow to become a plant which flowers into fruit that bears even more seeds? We can sort of explain away this biological miracle…
Trinity – Jett Villarin, SJ
Matthew 28:16-20, Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity We commonly think of an object as either here or there. It cannot be here and there and everywhere at the same time. In the quantum world of the very small however, things get weird. Surprisingly, a single particle (such as an electron) can bi-locate. It can…
Irrepressible – Arnel Aquino, SJ
John 20:19-23, Pentecost Sunday The New Testament Greek word for soul or spirit is pneuma. But that’s only the translation of the Old Testament Hebrew, ruah, breath or air or wind. Hence, when used of God, ruah & pneuma and mean breath of life, or an atmosphere or ethos of sacredness, or the unstoppable force…
Air – Jett Villarin, SJ
John 20:19-23; Pentecost Sunday The Jesuit poet Gerard Manley Hopkins once compared the Blessed Virgin to the air we breathe. Today, Pentecost, in celebration of the Holy Spirit coming into our lives, we will compare the Holy Spirit to the air that surrounds and sustains us. Like the atmosphere, the Holy Spirit helps us listen,…
Gone But Not Absent – Arnel Aquino, SJ
Mark 16:15-20, Feast of the Ascencion of the Lord Mom’s parents didn’t want her to move out when she and dad got married. Their house was large enough to fit us all, especially since mom’s siblings were migrating soon. And dad’s family was poor. I grew up in a very emotionally complex house, especially because…
Vine – Jett Villarin SJ
John 15:1-8, 5th Sunday of Easter I’ve always wondered about seedless grapes or seedless watermelons. I mean, they’re convenient and nice, but how do you keep them going? It must be by some biological magic that they keep showing up on our tables. I would think that seedless fruit are like celibates. They’re a dead…
Reason for Living – Arnel Aquino, SJ
John 10:11-18; 4th Sunday of Easter If mom and dad initiated me into Sunday mass, it was my Uncle Will who initiated me into spirituality. He was the kind of Catholic who constantly pursued deeper knowledge and wisdom in faith, prayer, and church life. So, he read inspirational books and saw spiritual directors like Frs…
Palms – Jett Villarin, SJ
Mark 14:1-39, Palm Sunday It was a head-turner. This scene of Jesus entering Jerusalem. The people were there for the big feast and they had heard that Jesus was coming. They had heard about Lazarus. They wanted to see Jesus. Even the Greeks who had come for the feast went to Philip, asking him, “Sir,…
One Lost Sheep 