A caveat: This reflection does not guarantee warm and fuzzy feelings. To stress this warning, let me share with you this essay’s working title: “Are You Ready to Die?” In the first part of our Gospel today, we hear about “the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with the blood of their sacrifices.” Some scholars…
Category: Season: Lent
Prayer Beautifies – Bishop Ambo David
Luke 9:28b-36, Second Sunday of Lent This story of Jesus transfigured before his disciples is also in the Gospels of Mark and Matthew. But only Luke tells us that he was praying when it happened. In another passage, in chapter 11, Luke tells us the disciples were spying on him as he went into solitude…
A Dose of Astonishment – Johnny Go, SJ
Luke 9:28-36, Second Sunday of Lent It’s not every day during his earthly life that you see our Lord bathed in heavenly light. In fact, such displays of divinity are quite few and far between. Unless my memory fails me, this so-called Transfiguration of the Lord is probably the only recorded one aside from the…
Marked for Life – Fr Harold Parilla
Luke 4:1-13, First Sunday of Lent Welcome to our liturgical celebration of the first Sunday of Lent! As we very well know, this special season begins with Ash Wednesday, famous for its ritual of the imposition of ashes. What is the meaning of the ritual for us? I believe we can say that the imposition…
Triggers – Arnel Aquino, SJ
Luke 4:1-13, First Sunday of Lent In the past couple of months on different occasions, three friends of mine told me that they finally deactivated their Facebook accounts. The latest one was a priest-friend, a very eloquent and dynamic professor of theology at their seminary in the province. “I’ve finally taken myself out of Facebook,” he said. “When it’s the online bickering for and…
Work to Do – Arnel Aquino, SJ
Luke 6:1-6;16-18, Ash Wednesday In Loyola School of Theology, I teach a course called Introduction to Sacramental Theology. We recently finished our lesson on the Eucharist. But something’s still stuck in my head about the Last Supper, that last “Eucharistic celebration” Jesus had with his friends the night before he died. Did you notice that in the Last Supper, Jesus gave communion to Peter and…
My Private Room – Willy Samson, SJ
Matthew 6:1-6; 16-18, Ash Wednesday A confused disciple went to his master and begged for enlightenment. And the master said, “Go and sit in your room, and your room will teach you everything.” Today we officially begin the Season of Lent. For most of us, Lent is a time TO REMEMBER how Jesus, the Son…
Spots – Arnel Aquino, SJ
Luke 6:39-45, 8th Sunday in Ordinary Time I heard a sad story recently. This person’s mom in the province died a few months ago. But when the family approached the parish to arrange for her funeral mass, the parish said it was constrained from accepting her body into the church. The rule was if someone died without having been sacramentally married, mass would not be allowed for his/her mortal remains in the church. Mass could be celebrated wherever…
Seriously – John Foley, SJ
John 20:19-31, Divine Mercy Sunday Do you believe in the Resurrection of Our Lord from the dead?? This is a good question to ask, at least so St. Paul says, because if the answer is “no,” then “our faith is in vain” (1 Cor 15:14-19). But sometimes it is hard to know what the “resurrection”…
Certain – Arnel Aquino, SJ
John 20:19-31, Divine Mercy Sunday I’m sure you’ve seen Caravaggio’s painting entitled, L’incredulitá di San Tommaso, literally, The Incredulity of St. Thomas, or simply, the Doubting Thomas. Thomas is hunched over, his face awfully close to the Risen Christ’s naked chest. One-half of his forefinger is buried in the wound on Jesus’ side. Thomas is…
Darkness – Mark Aloysius, SJ
John 18:1-19:42, Good Friday In the novel Night, Elie Wiesel recounts his experiences of being in the concentration camps during World War II through the fictional character Eliezer, a pious Orthodox Jewish teenager. In a central event in the novel, Eliezer and the rest of the camp witness the hanging of a child, who dies…
Not All Pain is Gain – Joel Liwanag, SJ
Good Friday In English, there is a famous mantra that goes, “No pain, no gain.” If you want to succeed, you have to work hard. If you’re a student and you want to graduate with flying colors, you have to study well. If you’re an athlete and you want to win in competitions, you have…
One Lost Sheep 