Matthew 18:21–35, Tuesday of the 3rd Week of Lent Yesterday, I came upon a quote that I have read so many times in the past but one that continues to move me – “It’s madness to hate all rosesbecause you got scratched with one thorn,to give up all dreamsbecause one of them didn’t come true,to…
Author: ninangdeb
Sun – Jett Villarin, SJ
Mark 9:2-10, 2nd Sunday of Lent Eclipses used to be a dreadful thing. Ancient cultures saw omens in them, portending evil and tragedy. Imagining some dark monster eating the sun, they took fright. Now we know an eclipse is just the same moon we see at night, making its way during the day and crossing…
Approaching Lent – Kenzlee Ybanez, SJ
Mark 1:12-15, First Sunday of Lent As modern society faces migration, artificial intelligence, ideological-political fundamentalism, and climate change, can we still say that Lent is still relevant in a “post-truth era?” As humanity is challenged by the breakdown of relationships, social injustice, and poverty, can we still consider sacrifice and repentance as applicable, or are…
Why We Sacrifice for Lent – Arnel Aquino, SJ
This is a an annual repost of a bonus Lenten Special: My personal thoughts on taking on some measure of asceticism during Lent, Deb, is that all throughout the year, we protect ourselves from being vulnerable. And rightly so because we don’t wish to be made doormats by the forces of life. The downside of…
Sanitize – Arnel Aquino, SJ
Mark 1:40-45; 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time If Jesus was a devout Jew, an dhe was—why did he obey some rules but violated others? He observed feasts and fasts. He attended synagogue and taught there every day. He prayed a whole lot. And in today’s Gospel, he even told the leper to go to the…
Voice – Jett Villarin, SJ
Mark 1:21-28, Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time Are you afraid of God? Israel was. They were deathly afraid of God, afraid to hear his voice directly, afraid to see the “great fire” of his presence. They had had enough of these direct encounters and they somehow sensed that any more face-to-face meetings with the divinity…
Dependent – Arnel Aquino, SJ
Mark 10:-13-16; Feast of the Santo Niño As soon as dad turned 80, which was seven years ago, I’ve been flying home to Davao first thing every January to visit him and my family. Thank you, God, that dad is still with us. He’s relatively healthy. His blood chemistry is better than mine, kuya’s or…
FOMO – Jett Villarin, SJ
John 1:35-42; 2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time This little phone in our pockets reminds us that we are always on call. It need not always be a person that wants our attention. It can be news or pictures or short movies or whatever. It is hard to resist the buzz that signals a call. Hard…
Grow – Jett Villarin, SJ
Luke 2:22-40; Feast of the Holy Family The first 20 years of our life is the time of foundations and roots. We do not lay those foundations ourselves. We learn to eat and walk and talk from others. We are trained for toilet and manners and autonomy by someone else. This is the time we…
God naman – Arnel Aquino SJ
Christmas Day 2023 Could God have been entirely luminous, mystical, and otherworldly in his coming into our world? He could’ve, couldn’t he? I mean, he created everything from absolutely nothing. He unleashed plagues, parted the Red Sea, rained fire down from heaven to clobber King Ahab’s false gods. He sent for a flaming chariot that…
Immeasurable – Arnel Aquino, SJ
Matthew 1:18-25, Simbanggabi Alam n’yo po, lahat ng naging kakilala kong karpintero, tahimik. I can still name all of them: Manong Imo, who lived with us for a long time; Mang Rudy, when I was in the Novitiate, Mang Remy and Kuya Teodor, fantastic craftsmen in San Jose Seminary. And today, we have Kuya Loloy…
Grounded – Arnel Aquino, SJ
Mark 1:1-8. Second Sunday of Advent From 1968 to the 1990s, archaeologists dug up several purification pools around wherethe Temple of Jerusalem once stood. Mikvoth, they were called, the precursors of our holy waterfonts today. For the Jews, the Temple was the holiest place on earth. You didn’t just waltz into itlike you and I…
One Lost Sheep 