Matthew 5:13-16, Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time My family had always lived with my maternal grandparents when I was growing up. Up to now, I still wonder if it was a Batangueño thing, but mamay and nanay—that’s how we call lolo & lola in Batangueño—they were always either angry or on a slow burn. It…
Category: Season
Stay Salty – Willy Samson, SJ
Matthew 5:13-16, Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time The Gospel today speaks of discipleship. As baptized Christians, we are called to become the salt of the earth and light of the world. But what’s in the salt and light that Jesus decided to use these things as metaphors of discipleship? Salt has many practical uses. It…
When the Good is Mixed Up with the Bad – Mark Aloysius, SJ
Matthew 5:13-16, Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time I. There is a scene in the biopic, Jackie, which I have been thinking about a lot since I last saw it. Jackie is desolate and disorientated after the assassination of JFK, and she speaks with a priest about the memories of her marriage. She speaks of the…
Light – Jett Villarin, SJ
Matthew 5:13-16, Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time “You are the light of the world. A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and then put it under a bushel basket; it is set on a lamp stand, where it gives light to all in the house. Just so, your…
Flavor of Christianity – Rudolf Horst, SVD
Matthew 5:13-16, Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time As a teen growing up in a Catholic family, living in one of the most Catholic areas of Germany, I never would have considered abandoning my faith. But I also never would have considered getting excited about it either. Why should I? Nobody else in my parish seemed…
Deepening Desires – Mark Aloysius, SJ
Matthew 5:1-12, Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time I. Anyone who is a parent, a teacher or has dealt with young children knows the strategy of deflection; a strategy that is used in order to avoid having to give an answer in the present moment. When a child is set upon something which you do not…
Poor in Spirit – Rudolf Horst, SVD
Matthew 5:1-12a, Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time The Sermon on the Mount and the Beatitudes challenge us all. When Jesus calls blessed the poor in spirit and those hungry for righteousness, he is also condemning the self-satisfaction that leads to sloth, a deadly disease that’s risen to epidemic proportions in the world. Jesus’ “Sermon on…
Whose Blessings – Johnny Go, SJ
Mark 34:35-41, Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time For me, it’s not easy to read the Beatitudes–not to mention to preach about it. Maybe it’s because in the Beatitudes, our Lord Jesus blesses the very people the world considers cursed. Consider his list: the poor in spirit the mourners the meek those who seek justice the…
Pondering the Beatitudes – RB Hizon, SJ
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…
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…
One Lost Sheep 