Easter Sunday 2020 My dear friends – in the world of art (particularly, in the world of paintings), art experts would tell us that there are a lot of forgeries – a lot of imitations, mere copies of original, priceless masterpieces. Thus, in the international art market today, we can find so many fake masterpieces…
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How Do You Want To Die? – Francis Alvarez, SJ
In our Gospel today, rulers sneer and soldiers jeer at Jesus on the cross. They mock him, “Save yourself – if you are the chosen one, if you are the King of the Jews!” Right after reporting this, in what can be considered a brilliantly placed editorial comment, Luke highlights the detail of the inscription above Jesus: “This is the…
Do You Stand Apart From Or A Part Of? – Francis Alvarez, SJ
In our Gospel today, Jesus tells us, “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” This is not the first time Jesus says this in the Gospel of Luke. Almost two months ago, on September 1, we heard our Lord deliver the same message in Luke 14:11. The…
What Will You Do With Your Dishonest Wealth? – Francis Alvarez, SJ
In the parable Christ offers us today, a dishonest steward is praised. Is Jesus encouraging us to be dishonest also? But when our Lord is asked what must be done to inherit eternal life, one of the commandments he cites is “You shall not steal” (Luke 18:20). Moreover, to emphasize just how much effort we…
Why Is Faith Hard? – Francis Alvarez, SJ
In our Gospel today, someone asks Jesus, “Lord, will only a few people be saved?” Jesus answers, “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I tell you, will attempt to enter but will not be strong enough.” Why does the gate have to be narrow? If God’s arms are always wide open and…
How Can We Be More Connected? – Francis Alvarez, SJ
Luke 9:11b-17, Solemnity of Corpus Christi Today, the Feast of Corpus Christi, Catholics thank God for the gift of the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. We believe that in the consecrated bread and wine, Jesus is truly there. When we receive the Body of Christ, it is indeed Jesus we are receiving. This may conjure…
50 Days of Easter – Arnel Aquino, SJ
John 20:19-31, Divine Mercy Sunday How many days is the Advent season? 23 days. How many days is the Christmas Season? 12. What about the Lenten Season? 40 days. And Easter, which, by the way, many Catholics forget is a Season, too, like Advent, Christmas, and Lent? How long is Easter? 50 days! Easter is the longest…
Social Media Envy – Johnny Go, SJ
Luke 15:1-32; Fourth Sunday of Lent The 2017 McCann study called “Truth about the Youth” surveyed over 30,000 respondents all over the world, and found that one out of two young people today feel worse about themselves when they see the posts of their friends. This rising phenomenon has been called “social media envy.” In…
How Jesus Takes Away the Sin of the World – Ron Rolheiser, OMI
NOT A HOMILY BUT DEFINITELY WORTH SHARING We should be careful not to fall into a common misunderstanding about what this means. Because of certain biblical and doctrinal ways of expressing this, the impression can be given that Jesus’ suffering and death took away the sins of the world by somehow paying off a debt…
HAPPY 3rd ANNIVERSARY TO US!
We started this blog on March 12, 2016 and it’s been a wonderful journey so far! Our flock is getting bigger but our one and only Shepherd remains the same. Here’s to more great homilies!
Why We Sacrifice for Lent – Arnel Aquino, SJ
This is a an annual repost of a bonus Lenten Special. Just want to share what my SD sent me on understanding why we sacrifice during Lent : My personal thoughts on taking on some measure of asceticism during Lent, Deb, is that all throughout the year, we protect ourselves from being vulnerable. And rightly…
Consecrate – Arnel Aquino, SJ
Luke 3:15-16; 21-22, The Baptism of the Lord When you “consecrate” something, the idea is to take that something and set it apart from similar things because you would like it to serve a different purpose. To consecrate something is to make it, well, “special,” because now, the purpose it serves is, say, bigger or…
One Lost Sheep 