Scripture Reflections

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus. Today, we celebrate the 25th Sunday in ordinary time year A. Today's gospel is about the generosity of an employer who gives equal pay to workers. All workers were paid one denarius a day, even though they worked in different hours.

The Gospel on this 24th Sunday of Ordinary Time presents us with Jesus’ beautiful teaching on forgiveness and an encouragement for us to forgive one another, as God forgives all our wrongdoings.

When I was a seminarian, we had an evaluation system called “Fraternal Correction”. My classmates would write positive things about me and also things to be improved about me. And did the same for them.

As I walked through the heart of European cities Cologne, Brussels and Amsterdam, I saw so many gothic church buildings standing in the midst of high energy bustling crowds below.

This Sunday’s Gospel presents us with the scene of Jesus dialoguing with His disciples about Himself. The dialogue took place at a crucial moment. Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem to fulfil the plan of salvation for us.

One day, I was reading my Facebook page as I always do at certain times of the day and I saw this beautiful quote, “God doesn’t say NO to our prayers. God has three answers, either he says, YES, AT A LATER TIME, or I HAVE A BETTER IDEA.

It’s been really amazing to witness a million and half young people from all over the world gather in Lisbon, Portugal for World Youth Day 2023

Whenever I have the chance, I watch a movie every now and then. Sometimes there is something at the movies that catches my attention and if I have the time, I’ll go and watch it as my form of stress-reducing recreation.

Almost every time before the movie proper, there are film clips about what kind of movies are coming up in the next week or so. It’s like a sneak peek of what’s next. Not giving away everything but somehow enticing us to come back to the movie house because they have something nice to offer.

One of the most frustrating things for a farmer is to have weeds in the fields. They steal whatever nutrition is there for his grain.

My Dad used to eat papaya and one day he decided to throw the seeds onto our lot near our house. Then he was surprised when one day the seed that he had thrown grew and soon enough it was producing fruit and my mum had no need to buy papaya anymore. You can just imagine how fruitful that soil was.

As we gather on this 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time, the Word of God reminds us of the enduring invitation to find rest in the loving arms of our Heavenly Father.

In the 80s, there was a famous Protestant pastor in Manila named Ronald Remy. He was a very charismatic preacher. However, he made a stir one day when he declared publicly that he loved Jesus more than his wife.

Earlier this month the Church celebrated Corpus Christi, the Feast Day of the Body & Blood of Jesus.

In many Catholic houses, you will see a picture of the “Last Supper” and with it hopefully the names of the twelve apostles of Jesus.

Not long ago, we celebrated Easter. During the Easter season, we reflected on the story of the Risen Christ appearing to his disciples.

Page 5 of 46