Matthew 5:1-12a, Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time I remember once being completely taken by an evangelical youth group that somehow made me feel and think that I was completely invincible. And because of that, albeit in the “name of Jesus” completely “happy.” After having received Jesus as my personal Lord and Savior, I was convinced…
Category: Evangelist
How do you imagine the Kingdom? – Francis Alvarez, SJ
Matthew 4:12-23, Third Sunday in Ordinary Time In our Gospel today, we hear Jesus preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17). The Greek word translated as “repent,” metanoeite, comes from meta (beyond) and nous (mind). Literally, metanoeitemeans “to go beyond the mind.” More elegantly, it can be rendered “to go…
Don’t Surrender – Willy Samson, SJ
Matthew 4:12-23, Third Sunday in Ordinary Time For many years, a giant ruled the Kingdom of Himosh. Every day, the giant went up to the hill and challenged the villagers; but no one dared to accept because of the giant’s enormous size. One day, a little boy accepted the challenge and started walking towards the giant. To everyone’s…
Ever Widening Circles – Mark Aloysius, SJ
John 1:29-34, Second Sunday in Ordinary Time I. When I was a young child, there was an animation called The Spiral Zone which I used to faithfully follow. In this animation, the bad guys would set up a generator from which an ever widening hemisphere enveloped the entire land, called the spiral zone. Within this…
Out of Fashion – Johnny Go, SJ
John 1:29-34 Humility seems to have gone out of fashion these days. Just look around and listen to all the talk around you. It seems to me that on any given day, brashness trumps humility. Somehow the louder you speak, the more confident you come across, the more blatantly you flaunt your power, the more…
To Protect and to Protest – Norlan Julia, SJ
Matthew 18:1-5, Feast of the Sto Niño The feast of Sto. Niño, is strictly speaking, a liturgical feast celebrated only in the Philippines. In other countries, there is no feast day assigned for Sto. Niño. Yet, where there are communities of Filipino anywhere in the world, the feast of Sto. Niño is celebrated with the…
Beyond the Child Jesus – Rudolf Horst, SJ
Matthew 18:1-5, Feast of the Sto Niño Even though the Christmas season ended last Sunday, we celebrate one more feast that is closely connected with Christmas: the feast of the Infant Jesus. We look at this child with tenderness. But the liturgy reminds us that this child is not just a baby. He is Jesus,…
Totally Dependent – Arnel Aquino, SJ
Matthew 18:1-5, Feast of the Sto Niño Like many of you, I flew home to Davao for a few days during the holidays to spend time with my dad. I hadn’t done that for a long time, to be with family for my birthday. My biggest thanks to God was that even as I turned…
One King and a Convoy of Tourists – Johnny Go, SJ
Matthew 2:1-12, Solemnity of the Epiphany Finding out that the three kings were neither three nor royalty was not quite as traumatic as that other life-changing discovery about Santa Claus. But to whomever thought of coming up with the three kings–what were you thinking? For years, we staged Nativity plays that religiously featured them with…
A Messy Christmas – Joel Liwanag, SJ
John 1:1-18, Solemnity of the Birth of our Lord As a way of preparing myself for Christmas, I once tried to contemplate the nativity scene following the prayer method proposed by St. Ignatius of Loyola in his Spiritual Exercises. Using the power of my imagination, I began by trying to feel the cool gentle breeze…
Magnify – Arnel Aquino, SJ
Luke 1:46-56, Monday of the 4th Week in Advent Napansin po ba ninyo na yung mga Joyful Mysteries na tinatawag, ‘pag sinuri nating mabuti, hindi naman sila gano’n ka-joyful. (Have you noticed that the Joyful Mysteries, upon closer inspection, are not really joyful?)At least not 100%. Annunciation? Mary must have been fully aware of the scandal…
Christ Born in Us – Rudolf Horst, SVD
Matthew 1:18-24, Fourth Sunday of Advent The Old Testament is full of prophecies. But what exactly do they all mean? Reading the Old Testament carefully, we discover that not all prophecies were fulfilled, that many prophecies were dreams of the prophet. But one fact is certain: The Old Testament tells the history of salvation…
One Lost Sheep 