Daily Reflections
Temptations To Sin When I returned to my religious community at the completion of my studies, I faced a lot of personal challenges. Being scholarly well-informed about the renewals and reforms that have taken place in Catholicism, and schooled in the intellectual movements of modernity and enlightenment, I became critical…
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The adverse effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on people’s lives and livelihoods have been enormous. Yet one of the positive takes from these long painful months is that it manifested the beauty of human kindness. We did not only experience the sadness of shutting down our livelihoods and being separated…
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In his closing words in the epistle to the Romans, Paul writes: “Give glory therefore to him through Jesus Christ for ever and ever. Amen.” The psalmist picks it up from here in the responsorial psalm and blesses the name of the Lord. He uses these beautiful words; “I will…
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Today’s gospel puzzled me for years, from the moment I first read it. It seems that Jesus is praising fraud. Unsatisfying Answers I asked fellow college students in a Bible study about it, but got unsatisfying answers. I heard homilies about it—one in particular, when the priest made an elaborate…
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It can feel at times that we live in a tyrannical kingdom. But, if I am to be honest with myself, I also encounter in more sobering moments, a fleeting epiphany, that the ruler and sole inhabitants of that kingdom are I, me, and myself. It reminds me of the…
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There can be a sense of loss that marks today’s memorial because we commemorate the departed. I want to assume that a good number of people have experienced the loss of a loved one and the experience is not an easy one to handle. I have wrestled with the reality…
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All Saints Day—November 1—is a unique opportunity to reflect on divine blessings for us in the communion of saints. The saints in heaven lived holy lives and died in the Lord. They motivate us to do the same. Some celebrations cater to our bodily and emotional needs. Some inspire confidence…
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Reading through the Gospel, we are not used to seeing Jesus commend the scribes and Pharisees. However, today we hear Jesus say to a Scribe that he is not far from the kingdom of God. The scribes and Pharisees debated much as to which is the most important of the…
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Taking time to reflect, we can see the damage pride has done in our lives. I imagine excessive pride reared its head when, as young children, we yelled, “Me first!” Phrases like, “I’m right, you’re wrong; Let me do it; What do you know?” easily echo in our memories. Popular…
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