Daily Reflections
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, have you ever felt like Zion, the desolate city crying out, “The Lord has forsaken me, the Lord has forsaken me.” (Isaiah 49:14)? Our hearts are sometimes weary, burdened by problems, trials; and doubts easily creep in like a relentless desert wind, gradually eroding…
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Allegorical Background: The pool of Bethesda, known for its five porticoes, was special in a unique way.Periodically, an angel stirred its waters, and it was known that the first person to enterthe waters would be healed of his affliction. As such, many crippled and infirm peoplesurrounded the pool awaiting the…
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When I was still in the minor seminary, there was a song I loved so much, and we used to sing it often at Mass during the Communion. The title of the song is “Come Down Lord.” It was written by the Medical Mission Sister, Miriam Therese Winter, and was…
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Growing up in a Hindu family, I went to the temple once or twice a year and was perplexed by the large idols I saw there. They loomed silently over the people like alien figures, expressionless and unfeeling. The silence I felt there was deafening. In stark contrast, the Cross…
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With a largesse of poetic license, the mathematician Edward Norton Lorenz presented the metaphorical example of a distant butterfly flapping its tiny wings, weeks earlier in Brazil, leading to the formation of a tornado, weeks later, in Texas. The Butterfly Effect has come to mean that in a complex system,…
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In the Gospel of today (Mark 12, 28b-34), one of the Scribes, namely, one of the most learned in the context of the Jewish law, approached Jesus and demanded an answer from him to the question: Which is the greatest commandment of the law? Jesus gave the best and shortest…
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Sts. Perpetua and Felicity are two of the saints honored to be named in the RomanCanon. This prayer, now commonly called Eucharistic Prayer I, used to be prayed atevery Mass and formed the heart of the entire liturgical act. It is so revered by theChurch that it has hardly changed…
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The precepts of the Lord are rooted in God’s undying love for His people. His intention with these precepts is to ensure the happiness of the people who He created in His own image and likeness. He created them and endowed them with freedom, which underscores the dignity of their…
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When I was in the parish, serving as parochial vicar, I used to go an hour before Mass to the Church, to be available for confessions. Once, a man I did not know came in and asked me if he could talk to me. He opened his heart to me,…
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Priest, Prophet and King: By our baptism we Christians are called to be priests, prophets, and kings. Whether we were baptized as unaware infants or as fully consenting adults, the priest’s words “Just as Jesus was anointed priest, prophet, and king, so may you live always as a member of…
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