Matthew 16:21-27, 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time Riddle: the more you hold on to it, the more you drop it. The more you keep it, the more you lose it. Answer: life. That seems to be the gist of God’s word to us today. “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but…
Category: Author
What About God Are You Not Yet Ready For? – Francis Alvarez, SJ
Matthew 16:13-20, 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time “He strictly ordered his disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ” (Matthew 16:20). In our Gospel today, Simon Peter correctly identifies who Jesus is – he is the Messiah, the Son of the living God. But then Jesus forbids Simon Peter and the other disciples to…
Careful the Christ you Choose – Johnny Go, SJ
Matthew 16:13-20, 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time Here are two images that created some controversy a few years ago: The first, of course, is the poster for the movie “Da Vinci Code,” based on Dan Brown’s best-selling novel. The second is a fragment of a 1,700-year old papyrus that some scholars claim is the last…
Only Our Hearts can Answer – Willy Samson, SJ
Matthew 16:13-20, 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time In our Gospel reading today, Jesus suddenly asked the disciples two questions. The first one was easy, “Who do people say that I am?” And they answered with ease, “‘Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” But the second question…
Scraps of Love – Arnel Aquino, SJ
Matthew 22:34-40, Friday in the 20th Week of Ordinary Time As soon as the Uber driver knew that it was a seminarian who hopped into his car a few months ago, he started telling the Josefino his story. The Josefino told me the story from the Uber driver’s persona, so I’ll do the same with…
God is Fair – Willy Samson, SJ
Matthew 20:1-16, Wednesday of the 20th Week in Ordinary Time It’s Unfair! We cried out, “It’s not fair” when we are at the disadvantage. But we are silent when we enjoy all the blessings while others are not. Envy is one of the root of our unhappiness. Sometimes, we are unhappy not because we lack…
A Paradigm of Encounter – Mark Aloysius, SJ
Matthew 15:21-28, 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time Never in my life has the question of race featured so much in public discourse as it has in the last week. Aside from the usual racist rhetoric, which reveal deep currents of prejudice within our society, what has been worrying is the normalisation of hatred directed towards…
Behind – Arnel Aquino, SJ
Matthew 15:21-28, 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time Allow me to briefly explain tonight’s troubling Gospel. According to the commentaries, the Matthean community had two voices: the particularist and the universalist. The particularist voice in the community taught that Jesus came to the world to save first “the children of Israel”; so Jews first, then the…
Blessed to be Blessed – Willy Samson, SJ
Luke 1:39-56, Feast of the Assumption Today is the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. We come to her today with great desire to imitate her in following her Son Jesus. Let me give four points for consideration in our prayer today. ASSISTANCE. Our gospel begins with Mary running in haste to…
Who’s Testing Whom? – Arnel Aquino, SJ
Matthew 14:22-33, 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time Have you ever drowned? I actually drowned when I was in grade 4. Our dad had bought us new diving goggles for an upcoming beach trip. So, kuya and I decided to try them out at a neighbor’s swimming pool. It was the first time I had ever…
The Art of Walking on Water – Johnny Go, SJ
Matthew 14:22-33, 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time We’ve all heard that phrase “standing on solid ground.” Today’s Gospel is about anything but standing on solid ground. Do you remember ever feeling like you’ve run out of solid ground? One day you get out of bed, and for some reason, you feel completely unsure of your world, your life, and…
Fixer – Arnel Aquino, SJ
Matthew 17:1-9, The Transfiguration of our Lord We had a Himig Heswita concert in Tokyo over two weeks ago. Out of the six singers who were supposed to perform, only two made it. The other four didn’t get their visas on time. It wasn’t really their fault. Last May, our very well-meaning secretary volunteered to…
One Lost Sheep 