The contrast between Abraham and the Pharisees is striking and baffling. Abraham is misguided in thinking that God wanted human sacrifice. The Pharisees are orthodox in their theology that only God can forgive sin yet they are misguided in limiting God’s power. It is clear that even good intentions (on Abraham’s part) and
In the biblical stories about the two main apostles, we see what deep faith can achieve in the life of generous persons. Today we pray for our present Church, that all may play our part in the life of faith. We get a glimpse of each of them in prison for the faith, prepared for martyrdom if necessary, in bearing witness to the Gospel. Then we have the great declaration of faith, as a result of which Jesus gives a special role of faith-affirmer to Peter, “the Rock” to help sustain the faith of others.
In face of natural disasters, such as earthquake and volcanic eruptions at Sodom and Gomorrah or a fierce storm on the Lake of Galilee, God saves those who trust in him and those for whom others pray. By Abraham’s prayer Lot, his wife and two daughters are led to safety by an angel; the disciples in the boat are amazed at Jesus’ power over the wind and the waves. However, if people persist in sinful behaviour, unwilling to give up living off others’ inhuman working conditions, then prophets
The Genesis story shows Abraham bargaining with God to have the wicked cities spared. He begins at fifty, asking God to spare the cities if fifty innocent people can be found there. He speaks up again, pleading for their survival if forty-five innocent are found. The haggling continues and Abraham gradually pares the number down
The Liturgy of Corpus Christi invites those who gather for Mass on this Sunday to reflect on God’s care for the family of faith, especially through the gift of divine nourishment on our pilgrimage through life.
God’s people in the desert were fed by miraculous provision of food and drink. Our heavenly Father continues to feed us with the body and blood of his Son, as celebrated in this feast of Corpus Christi. He continues to nourish us spiritually by this wonderful gift of the Real Presence, food for our souls, so that as Jesus declared, “whoever eats me will live because of me.”
Long before he fulfilled Isaiah’s prophecy of the suffering servant by his death on the cross, Jesus had been living out the prophetic words by his daily responses to people. It seems he could not pass by a sick person, without being moved to compassion. The one asking for help might be a foreigner, even one of the despised Roman occupation
Laws are kept and laws are disregarded. When Jesus cured the man of some type of contagious skin disease , he reminded him, “See to it that you tell no one. Go and show yourself to the priest and offer the gift Moses preScribed. That should be the proof they need.” We can’t help wondering, couldn’t the priests get along without the
Abram and Sarah followed the custom of their time, when children were the surest way to secure human rights and dignity in one’s old age. After many years of marriage, they had no children, so in desperation, Sarah turned to the local custom that allowed a surrogate wife to bear her child. Yet once Hagar, the Egyptian maidservant, had conceived, she now scorned her mistress for being childless; and
When Jesus stated that a good tree is known by its good fruit, he was referring to the annual fruit harvest rather than to a single harvest, once for all time. At the same time he warned how some people could be misled, “Be on guard against false
Today’s texts manifest the age-old truth that success goes to the head, power corrupts and prosperity can make even good people greedy for more. It seems that in life we cope better with hopes than with their fulfillment. People who must work hard and pass through all the stages of developing a business, a farm, or a family
Abram’s call in Genesis 12 marks the beginning of Israel’s salvation history, the monumental moment when this rugged nomad was called to migrate to the land of promise and eventually become a sign of blessing for everyone on earth. But
We were created in the image of a profoundly personal God, who is by inmost nature trinitarian, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. We reflect God’s image at our best, when we are at our most creative, compassionate and charismatic. Today’s Scriptures present the gracious holiness of God (first reading), the centrality of love as God’s most precious gift (2nd reading), and the Father’s outpouring of grace upon our world, through the Son and the Spirit.
On Trinity Sunday, Christians are invited to reflect on the mystery of God: the One who creates, redeems and sanctifies, three persons, one God, without end.
About the reversal of values, Paul writes, “I must go on boasting, however useless it may be.” Even if he had visions and revelations of the Lord and was caught up to Paradise “to hear words which cannot be uttered,” he feels the foolishness of talking about it and says he will boast no more except about his weakness, which God helps
Today’s words from the Sermon on the Mount touch on a problem we instinctively feel about Paul’s boasting and the moral collapse which follows inflated ambition (*2). Jesus puts it bluntly: “Do not lay up for yourselves an earthly treasure. Moths and rust corrode… Instead, store up heavenly treasure…. If your vision is bad, you
Some people at Corinth must have accused Paul of merely “rattling” words – of being just a talker, not a doer. In their gossip they must have complained that he should manifest a more tolerant and patient attitude towards their faults. Yet Paul did not back down but stated his personal independence and his privilege of speaking openly
We must live for God rather than to be seen by others; act silently rather than ostentatiously. At the same time, we cannot do without the good example of others. There is a great value in remembering God’s deeds in the lives of his saints. If Moses and Joshua, Elijah and Elisha, or Jesus and Paul had performed all of their works in
Whenever we hear the gospel command to love our enemies and to pray for our persecutors, we think of Jesus’ own heroic example, praying for his executioners, as he hung on the cross (Luke 22:34). Paul, today, also pleads for generosity as he tells the church at Corinth about the evident kindness of the churches of Macedonia. He was now collecting alms from the Corinthians for the church at Jerusalem, coming to
The first readings convey a sense of helpless indignation. In Naboth (2*) we have an instance of a good and decent man, betrayed by his neighbours just to please the government (the royal pair). The tragedy begins in the greed of a king who always got what he wanted – like a spoiled child who never grew up. But why shouldn’t a
