Episodes
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Roman emperors were seen as divinities during the Roman times. They printed their faces on coins. So, in reply to whether he was for paying taxes to the Romans or not, Jesus asked to see denarius coin. He asks whose inscriptions and head appear on the coin. “Caesar's” Jesus tells them, “Give back to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God." He succeeded in getting Himself out of the trap His questioners prepared to catch Him in. So, we need to check ourselves how we give to God what is His. This means absolutely everything. What we can ever own is still His because He created them, and He keeps them in existence. They are His. Hence, Jesus condemns selfishness and covetousness.
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The Lord used parables to preach and teach His listeners. He employed stories to help in understanding certain concepts and practice of virtues. The ones listening could see themselves in these narratives, and thus they could learn more about themselves. When His enemies wanted to arrest Jesus, they plainly were guilty of being someone in the parable who wanted to murder the heir of the owner's vineyard and appropriate it to himself and his gang. But, instead of accepting this realization, they reacted against it and looked at Jesus as the culprit or the one at fault. He was only narrating a story. Their bad dispositions came to the surface. Isn't checking our attitudes helpful in becoming aware of our recklessness, pettiness, superficiality, and the evil in our hearts. Only with this awareness can the process of rectifying it be undertaken.
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Episodes manquant?
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Our Lord Jesus Christ, on the night before He was to be crucified, instituted the Holy Eucharist. He commanded us to do this in memory of Him. This is how we remember Him. The words of consecration are uttered by the priest in Holy Mass and the miracle of the Transubstantiation occurs, i.e., the bread and wine are converted to the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity. He wants us to eat His Body and drink His Blood, as nourishment. Thus, the salvation that He accomplished on Calvary is made available throughout history, availing every one of it. We need to praise God for this. We need to show our appreciation for this by attending Mass and receiving Holy Communion worthily.
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The religious authorities in the Temple of Jerusalem confront Jesus and demand from Him the authorization He has for preaching and teaching the people. They did not like this outsider. Anyhow, Jesus tries to help them face themselves by asking them first whether the baptism that St. John the Baptist had with the people was from heaven or only man-made. They did not think properly. Instead of reasoning out properly from the evidence at hand, they thought only like this. If we say it was from Heaven, then they could be asked by Jesus regarding the reason they did not believe him. If, on the other hand, they say it was only a product of man, then they feared being stoned by the people because everyone thought John's baptism originated from God. So they tell Jesus they did not know where John's baptism came from. Jesus told them that neither would He tell them where His authorization comes from.
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The Gospel narrates to us what happened when Mary visits her cousin Elizabeth. We are given words inspired by the Holy Spirit. First, we have the second part of the first part of the Hail Mary we usually recite. Then, we have the awesome prayer of Mary called the Magnificat. Here, we should appreciate Mary's humility.
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The Gospel today tells us about Bartimaeus, the blind man, who shouted asking for God's mercy from Jesus who was passing by. He persisted in calling out His Name and asking for His Mercy. Although the people surrounding him tried to hush him, he cried all the louder. Jesus was observing him, although He feigned not hearing him the first time he called him out. Finally, He asked for Bartimaeus to come to Him. He asked Jesus to give him his sight. Our Lord granted him that miracle by saying that his faith saved him. His faith could be seen in his behavior. He persisted in prayer. He left behind his cloak as he sprang up to approach our dear Savior. And he asked with faith. Let us imitate the faith of Bartimaeus.
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We have in the Gospel today the reply James and John gave to Jesus when He asked them whether they will be able to drink the cup that He was to drink. They said "We can!" Contained in that reply is a lot of faith in God's help and grace. The cup Jesus referred to was His Passion and Death. So, instead of backing down, these apostles made an act of faith by saying they could drink that cup too. Jesus asked them about this matter because they had asked to be seated, each of them, at either side of His throne in His Kingdom. They were asking a lot and Our Lord revealed to them what was required. Instead of backing off, they said "We can"! We should imitate them in making this act of faith.
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St. Peter posed this question to Our dear Lord Jesus after He had expressed to them the great difficulty so-called rich people will have in entering Heaven. We know that He referred to those who were attached to their things--from material wealth to their opinions and so forth--and were not willing to let go of them. Our Lord assured Peter and the rest of His followers--you and I--that He will give in this life the hundredfold and later, life everlasting. Not a bad deal, right?
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A rich man received this invitation from Jesus. But he turned it down. Apparently, he preferred his great wealth to the adventure God had in mind for him. This adventure would truly be extraordinary because it was one with Jesus Christ Himself, no less than the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity made flesh. So, he went away sad. If we are so desirous of being eternally happy, we should be ready to give up anything and everything to have Jesus and His promises in exchange.
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We celebrate today the highest mystery of our Catholic Faith, i.e., The Most Blessed Trinity. Our daily life as Catholics is dotted with different expressions of piety and reverence to the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Since there are three Persons, we need to deal with each of them. With the Father, as His children; with the Son, as our model; and the Holy Spirit as our Guide and sanctifier.
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We read today the revelation of two principles of Christianity, namely, the need to deal with all people observing their dignity as persons and as children of God, and that we need to become childlike to enter Heaven. First, we have to learn not to discriminate against anybody. We have to respect them for what they are in essence. They are children of God, or to put it another way, God gave up His Son to die on the Cross for every one of us human beings. This means that each of us is worth the Blood of Christ. Second, Jesus tells us our obligation to become like children to be worthy of Heaven. To be childlike is to be dependent on our parents, just as we need to be dependent on God our Father in Heaven: obligation to pray, abandon and trust in Him, etc.
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Jesus speaks about the indissolubility of marriage. Divorce and remarrying is adultery, even when there are good reasons for remarrying like one becoming young again with the new partner, or one believes in love again with the new partner, or whatever may be crafted as a justification for the next union. This divorcing and remarrying is contrary to the union God wants for Himself by nature and for His creatures of free will. Sin is the contrary of union between God and man. The devil's way is to dissolve and destroy such union with God and man with the others by getting them to commit some sin.
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Today, the Catholic Church celebrates the feast of Our Lord Jesus Christ the Eternal High Priest. He is the Priest because He sacrificed Himself in Calvary for our salvation and in obedience to His Father. In the Old Testament, priests sacrificed something to God. In the New Order, Jesus is both the Priest and the Victim, the one who offers sacrifice and the one who is offered in sacrifice. The Priest and the Victim are the same. Since we endeavor to imitate Christ as Priest we need to get used to adopting the attitude of having ourselves sacrificed for God's glory. In being faithful to our duties of state, we need to sacrifice ourselves always so that the others may live and have the advantage. This happens in the spirit of service of parents to raise their babies. Teacher efface themselves so that their students learn and reach higher heights than their teachers have achieved.
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Our Lord Jesus Christ replied this way in the title to the protest of John about wanting to stop someone who was casting out devils in Jesus' Name, but was not among Jesus' close followers. Any such person who works a miracle realistically could not speak evil of Jesus. We tend to create imaginary enemies. We need to be inclusive and open to others when they also serve God and His Church, even if they are not of our company.
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The Gospel of today tells us several things. First, Jesus spent more time, effort, and resources in training those who would speak and preach in His Name. How can we be good instruments of God's Word if we do not train ourselves more deeply. Then, Jesus reveals His coming Passion, Death and Resurrection. This is very much part of Jesus' life. Hence, we should not be shocked by the presence of the Cross everyday. If our lives as Christians takes it pattern from the ebb and flow of the various mysteries of the Rosary, we should observe the presence of the Sorrowful Mysteries. Then, we have the embarrassing discussion of Jesus' disciples about who among them was the greatest. Jesus put them in their place by underlining the importance of our calling as Christians to be of service to our brethren. The idea is not to aspire for power and authority but to desire power and authority in terms of being of more service to the others.
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The Church that Jesus founded was born yesterday Pentecost Sunday. But the Church as the Bride of Christ was born when Jesus died on the cross. To make sure Jesus had died, a soldier pierced his side with a lance. He withdrew that lance and out came blood and water. These two came to symbolize the two great sacraments that build the Church, namely, Baptism and the Holy Eucharist because of the water and blood, respectively. Mary is the Mother of the Church parallel to her being the Mother of Jesus. The Church is the mystical body of Christ.
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Pentecost means 50. In other words, fifty days after the resurrection of Jesus, the Holy Spirit descended upon the group of His followers in a bigger room adjacent to the cenacle they used for the Last Supper of Our Lord. As the scriptures narrate, the Holy Spirit descended on them under the appearance of tongues of fire. There was an antecedent strong wind that shook the dwelling. And they began to speak in tongues. Speaking in tongues meant that the listeners heard what they said in their native tongue. In Jerusalem, there were many pilgrims to celebrate the feast of the tabernacles and they hailed from all parts of the Roman empire. Hence, it was truly miraculous that these prosaic folks were understood in their native languages. Today, the Church celebrates her official birthday. She opened her doors for business, the business of getting to Heaven. So, they began to preach and administer the sacrament of Baptism. About three thousand joined the Church that day!
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Jesus is asked by Peter about what would happen to John, the youngest of the Apostles. Jesus had prophesied how Peter would die. Jesus tells Peter that he need not be concern about the future of John. He emphasized that Peter should simply follow Him. This shows us how we need to look at ourselves in front of God. We have been created as unique human beings. This means that there was never been someone like us since Adam and Eve. No one is like us today and never will there ever be another like us. Each of us is so unique in that way. Hence, there is no need for envy. God will demand from each of us an accounting of our deeds on earth when we die according to the unique circumstances of each one. It is unthinkable for God to be unjust.
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Jesus asks St. Peter whether he loved Him more than the others did. He replies in the affirmative. Jesus repeats this questions two more times, saddening Peter because He asked him this for the third time. While Peter always replies in the affirmative, Jesus tells Him to take care of His sheep since he was going to be occupying a governing position in the Church. This is what we need to do to prove our love for Jesus. We should take care of the souls who depend on us in any way.
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Jesus stresses the point of unity in His prayer to His Father. In fact, He assigns it so much importance that it signifies that the one possessing it is from God. Without it or lack of it would be a sure sign that God is not behind us wherever we may be. People need not believe us because we simply are at loggerheads with others in our church.
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