‘Reflection’ Archives
Jesus Is the Gate that Opens to Life
The Fourth Sunday of Easter is often called Good Shepherd Sunday; the Gospel readings of the three-year cycle are all taken from the tenth chapter of John which shows the figure of Jesus as a shepherd who tends his flock. In the pastoral setting of Israel, the symbol of the shepherd evokes guidance, comfort, protection. No wonder, God and the leaders of the people are spoken of as shepherds. But there are leaders and guides who are remiss in their duties and even victimize the flock; these [...]
Tacking and Homecoming
Tacking is a word which refers to the days of sailing ships. Linda and Roger Flavell, co-authors of the Dictionary of Idioms and Their Origins, describe this sailing maneuver in this way: When a sailing ship needs to heed into the wind it has to steer a zigzag course to make progress. This is known as tacking. A ship on the wrong tack will make no headway. The last chapter of Luke’s gospel, a poignant story close to the oral traditions, tells us about the journey of the two friends on the [...]
The Divine Mercy: Fruit of Lent and Easter
The Octave of Easter, or 8th Day of Easter, is how the liturgists of the Church officially refer to this Sunday. Simply stated, this day is the highpoint of Holy Week, the culmination of the solemn liturgies of Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday. Here, the liturgists simply follow what the venerable Fathers of the Church uphold. The great theologian St. Gregory of Nazianzen taught that this first Sunday after Easter is the “New Sunday”; for while Easter Sunday was the day of [...]
You Restored Our Life
I am writing this two days after our family brought my dad to his final resting place in the cemetery. My three brothers who live abroad together with their families had come home for the funeral. During the wake, we were reunited with numerous relatives and friends whose presence and condolences brought us great comfort. By the time you read this, the balikbayans are back to their adopted countries, hoping to resume their usual routine in life. The void that my Dad had left in the family [...]
Death as the Revelation of God’s Story
Anthony and Susan 90 and 96 years old respectively, have been married and staying together for 65 years. When I visited them one late afternoon, I found them watching television, as has been their routine for several years already. Nothing unusual about it, except that Anthony is blind and Susan is deaf who, strangely enough however, could still faintly hear her husband’s voice but not others’. Anthony dies an audio commentary on the TV program for the benefit of his wife; Susan, on the [...]
Death as the Revelation of God’s Story
The gospel readers may wonder why Martha, who elsewhere complained that Mary, her sister, was wasting her time talking to Jesus as she prepared dinner, changed disposition. She rushed out of the house to meet Jesus on the road, not waiting for the master to sit down and relax a bit. She talked and questioned Jesus about death and the sorrow that she and her family were passing through. Martha was not really “the representative of the active life” that people painted her to be; her questions [...]
How were your eyes opened?
A mother of two teenage boys became pregnant at the age of 47. She did not want another child. Somebody suggested that pregnancy was a high risk at her age, so she went to an abortion doctor. But right on the doctor’s table, she felt she could not go through with the abortion. When she gave birth to a child with Down syndrome, the woman was inconsolable. She kept telling herself, “It’s my fault! I didn’t want this baby. This is God’s punishment. God did this to my child because I [...]
Profound Thirst
Today’s Gospel, a deeply touching human interest story, describes the lively encounter of Jesus with the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well. Their conversation revolves around water, about the different senses of “living water” and how our thirst for God may be satisfied. This reading from John’s Gospel along with the First Reading from Exodus (both centered on life-giving water) form part of the Church’s catechesis for those who are preparing for baptism on Holy Saturday evening. [...]
Ascending the Mountain
For most people, a trek up a mountain represents a welcome respite from the frenetic pace of daily life. Climbing its steep slopes, one is liberated from nagging concerns and burdens to have much-needed peace of mind. At the top, the untouched beauty of creation becomes an overwhelming source of wonder and awe, and the stillness creates a disposition of introspection and prayer—a meeting with self and God. Throughout Scripture, the mountain has always been, in the words of Pope Benedict [...]
Cross makes our love real
WE are commanded to love. That’s the long and short of it. That’s because we have been created, first and last, out of love and for love. Thus, we can’t help but love, even if our loving is of the wrong kind. As image and likeness of God, and elevated to be children of his, meant to participate in his very own life and to reflect it in ours, we can’t help but live our whole life in love, since God himself, as St. John said, is love. “Deus caritas est.” That’s the ideal. The [...]
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