Daily Reflections
Lent is indeed a time of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, yet how easy it is to get caught up in these practices externally without thought to the internal preparation. In today’s first reading, Isaiah calls out the people for this: Lo, on your fast day, you carry out your own…
Read MoreDear brothers and sisters, “This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it” (Psalm 118:24). A Clarion Call In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus Christ tells us, “If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily…
Read MoreAsh Wednesday/ Valentine’s Day: As the New Year feel of January wears off and February brings us Ash Wednesday and Valentine’s Day, it is a time to reflect on how we think about love and its role in our lives. How can those who are celebrating look at their celebration…
Read MoreToday’s Gospel builds upon the miracle of Jesus feeding about 4,000 people with seven loaves and a few fish. At the end of this mission, Jesus and His disciples entered a boat and sailed to the other side of the river. Now, imagine being in this boat with Jesus, crossing…
Read MoreWho Was the Author of the Letter of James? Lokobos Mikros, more commonly known as James the Less, or James the Younger – an apostle and first bishop of Jerusalem wrote the Letter of James. He was also one of the brothers of the Lord, a fact that can be…
Read MoreWhat do miracles look like? Do they flash before us like a spectacle, visible to all who look? Or do they unfold in a more hidden and quiet manner? The miracles we encounter in the Gospels are most often acts of hidden transformation, evident only to those willing to see…
Read MoreHave a Blessed Day! [Readings: 1 kgs 11:29-32; 12:19; Mk 7:31-37]
Read MoreThe Gospel (Mark 7, 28-30) addresses obtaining a favor not on the assurance of one’s right or the law but instead on insistence. Today’s Gospel scene and the dialogue between Jesus and the Syrophoenician woman, whose daughter is possessed by an unclean spirit, have something spiritual and temporal to offer…
Read MoreBut what comes out of the man, that is what defiles him. From within the man, from his heart, […] All these evils come from within and they defile. Our Lord Jesus Christ presents to us today the truth that moral righteousness or wickedness does not come from an external…
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