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…
Category: Season: Ordinary Time
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…
Walking on Water and Sinking like a Stone – Ron Rolheiser, OMI
Matthew 14:22-33, 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time Faith isn’t something you ever simply achieve. It’s not something that you ever nail down as a fait accompli. Faith works this way: Some days you walk on water and other days you sink like a stone. Faith invariably gives way to doubt before it again recovers its…
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…
Only Jesus – Johnny Go, SJ
Matthew 17:1-9, The Transfiguration of Our Lord The Transfiguration of our Lord was–quite literally–“a brief shining moment.” It was that one fleeting moment when Jesus’ divinity–normally hidden during his earthly life–shone through, but only for one fleeting moment. One moment Jesus’ face was bright like the sun, and his clothes white as light as he…
White – Jett Villarin, SJ
Matthew 17:1-9, The Transfiguration of Our Lord Ever wonder what the color of God might be? Judging from the Gospel today, which tells the story of the transfiguration, it is probably “white as light.” “Jesus took Peter, James, and his brother, John, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured…
The Weeds in Us – Willy Samson, SJ
Matthew 13:36-43, Tuesday of the 17th Week in Ordinary Time Today, we begin a new month. It’s August! It’s good to stop again in prayer, bend our knees and ask God to bless our new month. =) May God bless us with his overflowing graces, and continue our ministry of blessing those in need. And…
Losing It – Johnny Go, SJ
Matthew 13:44-46, 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time We have two very similar mini-parables in today’s Gospel reading, and the one thing they have in common is that their characters both find something and lose something. In the first one, a person digs up a valuable treasure in some field, and what does he do? He…
Searching for the Right Fuel – Ron Rolheiser, OMI
Matthew 13:44-52, 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time Sometimes everything can seem right on the surface while, deep down, nothing is right at all. We see this, for example, in the famous parable in the gospels about the Prodigal Son and his older brother. By every outward appearance the Older Brother is doing everything right: He’s…
Pippin, the Jesuits and the Pearl of Great Price – Mark Lopez, SJ
Matthew 13:44-52, 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time One of the musicals I loved listening to as I was growing up was “Pippin.” This was about the quest of a young prince, son of King Charlemegne, to find the meaning of his life. (To be clear, I’m not yet THAT old. It’s just that this musical…
Why Let The Bad Mix With The Good? – Francis Alvarez, SJ
Matthew 13:24-43, 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time “…if you pull up the weeds you might uproot the wheat along with them. Let them grow together until harvest…” (Matthew 13:29-30). I read our Gospel today, and I remember the spicy surprise that met a Jesuit who transplanted sprigs of basil beside some sili. After a few weeks,…
Hopeful Imagining – Mark Aloysius, SJ
Matthew 13:24-30, 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time When I was a teenager, our English teacher wore a t-shirt that amused me immensely. On it was written the caption, the older I get, the better I was! I remember him using the t-shirt to both educate us about tenses and also about life. As time passes,…
One Lost Sheep 