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Reflections of Family and Faith
"The family that prays together stays together." - Venerable Patrick Peyton
Gospel Reflection | Learn more about our faith | prayer
Last Saturday, during the Peyton Rosary Rally, Mr. Artie Boyle was the main speaker. He gave a very powerful testimony on how the power of prayer in his life healed him from two separate episodes of terminal cancer. He showed us that there comes a time when what you are left with is to pray as you have never prayed before. And in his case, the grace of God healed him from these two types of cancer. In today’s Gospel, Jesus presents us with a parable of a bothersome man who shows up in the middle of the night, imposing on his neighbor to give him bread for an unexpected guest. The story illustrates that even when the neighbor is reluctant to get up, he does so because of the man’s bold persistence to provide what is needed.
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Gospel Reflection | Jesus | Learn more about our faith
It is a question posed in today's gospel to Jesus by an expert in religious laws. Probably you have come across or heard people share about their encounters with everyday interventions; people who extend acts of kindness to strangers, like staying with an unhoused person in medical emergency until paramedics arrive, or people who open their home as foster parent for a child in crisis, churches or organizations that attend to or shield people from socially targeted groups who are in distress. We have fire fighters who risk their lives while pulling injured strangers from burning houses or cars. From the context of today’s gospel, we can probably say that those instances depict the essence of neighborliness. The parable of Good Samaritan takes us beyond the question “who is my neighbor?” to “What does it mean to be a neighbor” and definitely that is the question Jesus asked at the end of the parable,which of these three (Priest, Levite and Samaritan) proved himself a neighbor?”
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Gospel Reflection | Jesus | Learn more about our faith
Back in East Africa people in the village always tease Holy Cross members, that you took the vow of poverty, but it is we ourselves who live it and not you. Why? You are driving a car, and you seem not to lack anything. Of course, the vow of poverty is a voluntary promise made to God by members of religious orders to renounce the independent ownership of material goods and live simply in imitation of Jesus Christ. It involves sharing everything within the religious community. In that sense, we do share one car with three to four members. They have the wrong assumption.
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Gospel Reflection | Jesus | Learn more about our faith
One great researcher, Brene Brown, in her book, Daring Greatly, poses some questions that I do feel are relevant to our reflection today. She asks; “Are we surrounded by narcissists? Have we turned into a culture of self-absorbed, grandiose people who are only interested in power, success, beauty, and being special? Are we so entitled that we actually believe that we’re superior even when we’re not really contributing or achieving anything of value?" We can also ask ourselves, “Are we surprised to see the disciples of Jesus arguing about who is the greatest among them?" Many times, we do the same thing. The appetite for glory and greatness seems to be inbred in us. Some of us, if not all of us, have the ambition to be somebody whom others admire.
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Contemplative Prayer | Gospel Reflection | Jesus | Learn more about our faith
Saint John of the Cross taught in The Ascent of Mount Carmel that God speaks in eternal silence. To listen, the soul must practice true silence—quieting the mind, intellect, and emotional faculties so that we stop relying on noisy interior discourse. He also emphasized that the true value of a message is not in analyzing or processing it, but in “the way you live your life.” The message Jesus shares in today’s Gospel is that those who want to join His new family must be willing to hear and act on His Word.
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God's mercy | Learn more about our faith | Saint Matthew
In his work “The Rule,” Saint Augustine writes, “Strict adherence to religious rules cannot save a person without the prior intervention of divine mercy.” According to Saint Augustine, the law exposes human weakness, while mercy provides the healing grace required to fulfill it. He prioritized fraternal charity and love over blind rigidity, and championed mercy as God’s greatest attribute. Jesus Searches for Us Where We Are The gospel today affirms the same teaching when Jesus welcomes Matthew to be one of his disciples. In calling Matthew, a tax collector and assumed sinner, to follow him, Jesus values mercy more than strict religious rules. Matthew responds promptly and positively by leaving his booth, where he collected taxes, to join Jesus. He leaves his old life behind right away and follows Jesus. He even goes over and beyond to invite Jesus and his disciples to a dinner, where other tax collectors and social outcasts gather. To the dismay of the Scribes and Pharisees, Jesus also accepts the invitation; he joins in with all other people considered unfit by the religious leaders to celebrate a fellowship. By doing so, Jesus highlights the fact that his ministry reaches into the messy margins of society to provide transformation.
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