WE are familiar with the Beatitudes. (cfr. Mt 5,1-12) At first glance, they appear to us as a crazy formulation of what would make us blessed. How can you be blessed if you are poor in spirit, if you mourn, if you are meek, insulted...
WE cannot deny that we too can somehow share the disbelief of the Jews when Christ declared himself as the “Bread of Life.” We can echo in ourselves their reaction: “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” (cfr. Jn 6,51-58) It is once...
WITH all the antagonistic questionings Christ received from some of the leading Jews, he instead offered some clarification about who really was. “How do the scribes claim that the Christ is the son of David?” he asked those around him. (Mk 12,35) And so, he himself...
CHRIST said it very clearly. When asked what the greatest commandment was, he simply said: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.” And without being asked what the...
THAT gospel episode, where some resurrection-deniers among the Jews tested Christ with a tricky question about the resurrection, gave Christ the chance to talk precisely about this truth of our Christian faith. (cfr. Mk 12,18-27) They approached him and posed the question about whose wife a...
WE should never dare to deceive God. In the gospel, there is a part where some leading Jews dared to trap Christ in his speech. (cfr. Mk 12,13-17) They asked if it was lawful to pay census tax to Caesar. Of course, Christ knew what was...
IN the gospel of St. Mark we are told about a parable (Mk 12,1-12) where a man planted a vineyard and leased it to tenant farmers. The servants whom he sent to collect his portion of the harvest were treated badly and some were even...
YES, what it reminds us of is that we need to reflect and channel the very Trinitarian life of God in our own life. That means that just as in God there are three persons who are perpetually engaged in perfect knowing and loving, we...
THE gospel of Friday of the 8th Week in Ordinary Time (cfr. Mk 11,11016) shows us Christ showing two apparently contrasting qualities of anger and mercy. When he got hungry and saw a fig tree that did not have any fruit, he got angry and...
THAT’S what the story of the blind man, Bartimaeus, teaches us. (cfr. Mk 10,46-52) As the gospel narrates, when he heard that Christ was passing by, he immediately called for Christ. In spite of being told by Christ’s disciples not to disturb Christ, he just...