Yesterday, the evangelist John told us in the Gospel: “So they picked up stones to throw at him; but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.” (Jn 8:59). Today, we read: “The Jews took up stones to stone Jesus… but he escaped from their hands.” (Jn 10: 31;…
Every story begins with an unspoken promise. Whether we realize it or not, when we take up any book, we enter into it with a confidence that the beginning will be fulfilled in the end. In the same vein, every story invites the reader into a very special relationship with…
I have played a few video games in my day. There is a certain mystery about why so many people, old and young, spend an inordinate amount of time on what certainly seems like an unproductive escape from reality. The name, Jane McGonigal, comes up if you research game theory.…
The readings of today (Numbers 21,4-9; John 8:21-30) put forward the image of the cross and its symbolic role for the restoration of human brokenness. The first reading is an excerpt of the journey of the Israelites from Egypt to the Promised Land. The Israelites, out of weariness from the…
Man naturally seeks the truth, but fallen man finds it difficult to know the truth. In philosophy, it is said that man only perceives the accidents, not the substance. In this context, ‘accidents’ means the physical properties of the thing we observe with our senses, e.g., the object’s color, height,…
In today’s second reading, we encounter St. Paul sharing the effects of his new life in Christ. Moments before, he shares the fact that he is a “Hebrew of Hebrew parentage, in observance of the law a Pharisee, in zeal I persecuted the church, in righteousness based on the law…
Preparing a retreat for a group of seminarians who were to be instituted as Lectors, I came across a text that struck me immensely. It is a poem attributed to St. Victorinus of Pettau, Bishop of the City of Poetovio (modern day Ptuj, in Slovenia) during the late third century…
Today’s readings are quite unified in their ideas that Christ’s teachings that He comes from the Father and has come to save the just and to heal the brokenhearted and be received by his believers, while those who are his enemies want to kill him. Yet His time has not…
In today’s Gospel, Jesus reveals the Father as the source of Christ’s own life. The mission of the Messiah is sweet and simple: reveal the face of the Father. Jesus says, “I cannot do anything on my own; I judge as I hear, and my judgment is just, because I…
I wish to reflect on two very interesting statements from today’s gospel passage: Jesus’ response to those trying to stop His mission and His response to them. In the Gospel of John, Jesus is confronted by the Jewish leaders who were upset that He was working on the Sabbath. To…