Mark 8:14-21B, Tuesday of Week 6 in Ordinary Time Don’t you find it interesting that into that ark Yahweh asked Noah to build, walked opposites. Not just opposite genders, mind you, but also opposites in purity and impurity. “Of every clean animal, take seven pairs; and of the unclean animals, one pair. Likewise, every clean…
Category: Evangelist: Mark
Summer – Jett Villarin, SJ
Mark 13:24-32, 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time Winter is coming. I know. The egrets are here again on campus. They are here for the warmth and the light, to escape the cold and dark of the north. Their visitation will only be for a few months. Come summer, they will be gone. Winter is coming….
Loving God with all Our Hearts and Minds – Manoling Francisco, SJ
Mark 12:28b-34, 31st Sunday in Ordinary Time The Shema, from the Hebrew word, “Hear”, is the fundamental Jewish prayer made up of three scriptural texts from the books of Deuteronomy (6:4–9, 11:13–21) and Numbers (15:37–41), which devout Jews recite upon rising in the morning and before retiring at night. The Shema is to the Jews…
Wisdom – Jett Villarin, SJ
Mark 10:17-30, 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Come to think of it, that question asked of Jesus by the rich man in the Gospel today is something I would ask our aspiring presidential candidates. In campaigns and political debates, people will ask our candidates what…
To Be Really Catholic – Arnel Aquino, SJ
Mark 9:38-48; 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time When we were kids, on the way to Mass, we would often drive past nice-looking churches. I’d ask, “Bakit ‘di tayo ‘jan magsimba? Ganda ng simbahan ‘o.” Then, my mom would say, “’Nay, hindi ‘yan Katoliko!” with a shudder! So, I grew up with the impression that non-Catholics…
Who – Jett Villarin, SJ
Mark 8:27-35, 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time Of all the questions that begin with what, where, when, who, why, and how, the most difficult are the why ones, the ones children learn to ask early on. Why should I eat my vegetables? Why do we have to stop playing? When I was six, I remember…
Your Heart Today – Arnel Aquino, SJ
Mark 6:30-34, 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time Please allow me to tell you about a memoir I read over my retreat last week, entitled, Fr. Joe: The Man Who Saved My Life, by Englishman Tony Hendra, a prize-winning satirist, famous in the US and the UK. He created the National Lampoon Magazine, wrote for comedy…
Prophet – Jett Villarin, SJ
Mark 6:1-6; 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time Part of my work with many others is to predict climate change. For more than two decades now, we’ve been telling people that the sky is indeed the limit, and that the sky is, well, falling. We do not relish this role of messenger. No one wants to…
No Bother – Arnel Aquino, SJ
Mark 5:21-43, 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time The late Fr Archie Intengan was always very busy. Fr Archie was never a man of half measures when it came to his responsibilities, especially in taking care of us. We have funny stories of how quirky Fr Archie could sometimes be, precisely because of his intensity and…
Prayer for the Pandemic – Jett Villarin SJ
Mark 4:35-41, 12th Sunday in Ordinary Time Lord of the waves and wind,Help us to listen to what you are telling us these days. Lead us to know what you are asking of us in this storm. You are inviting us to leave familiar shores while the waves are high. You are asking us to…
Palms – Fr Jett Villarin, SJ
Mark 11:1-10, Palm Sunday We begin Holy Week with yet another lockdown. And so this Palm Sunday is a bit dissonant. The high notes of our hosannas are hesitant. We wave palms in tentative jubilation. We are supposed to usher Jesus like a celebrity, attaching ourselves to him and his power. We sing, hosanna in…
Sundowning – Arnel Aquino, SJ
Mark 1:29-39, 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time When I was in graduate school, I said weekly masses in a nursing facility of the Daughters of Mary. One sister there was Sr Teresa, a registered nurse and a Pinay. It was from her that I first heard the term, “sundowning.” In one of my last days…
One Lost Sheep 