The baby lying in the manger bears the name Jesus and is Mary’s Son. He calls us to hold dear all that we hear and...
A Vincentian reading of the Sunday readings
Contemplate the Baby Lying in the Manger
Jesus is the Savior, Messiah and Lord. To know and accept him, we first have to contemplate the baby lying in the...
Justify Those Who Are Not Wholly Just
Jesus is “God-with-us.” This name makes known that the one who alone is holy is with us who are not holy; he wants to...
Cries of Those Who Are Poor for Justice
Jesus is the help that comes from above. He is at once the unflagging prayer for the poor and the saving answer to their cries. Jesus tells his disciples the parable of the widow and the judge. He wants to teach them how they should pray to the one who hears the...
Thanks to God through Jesus Christ
Jesus it is who teaches us by word and by deed to give to God the right thanks that we owe him for the gifts we freely receive. The Samaritan, who sees that he is free of leprosy and goes back to give Jesus thanks, breaks the mold. For he is a foreigner that Jews...
Freely You Receive, Freely Give Also
Jesus has redeemed us by his blood. We do not pay, nor can we pay, for our redemption; we receive it freely. Faith is a divine gift (Rom 12, 3; Phil 1, 29; 2 Pt 1, 1). Those who believe only have it by God’s grace; they receive it freely. And it is safe to say that...
Crucible That Tests Our Hearts
Jesus is the only one that his disciples need to know and speak of. From the cross, he proclaims that those who are his go through the crucible. They thus get to be just like him. “The crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for gold, but the one that tests...
Cut off from Us All Self-Sufficiency
Jesus is “God-with-us.” And that is why disciples should not cut off God and their neighbor from their lives. The man whose life is one of luxury and show is very rich: stylish clothes, lavish banquets. He is cut off, for sure, from the beggar; the two are worlds...
Money That Is Not Deemed Righteous
Jesus teaches us to worship the Father in Spirit and truth. He also warns us that we cannot serve God and money. Jesus frets till he serves to the utmost and gives up his body and sheds his blood to save us. Those who trample on the poor, on the other hand, fret...
Bother Those of Strict Observance
Jesus shows us God who is rich in mercy. He welcomes sinners and eats with them. This does bother not a few folks. Maybe the Pharisees and the scribes think Jesus likes to bother them since they are the guardians of the law. For he stands up to them when they tell...
Followers of Jesus, Thinking, Wise
Jesus embodies what he teaches on being thoughtful and purposeful. He asks all his followers to be so, and thus the success of the cross will be theirs. Great crowds go with Jesus on the way to Jerusalem (see Lk 9, 51; 13, 22). He turns and tells them that to be his...
Lowliness, Simplicity, Truth and Freedom
Jesus is the poorest of the poor on whom God looks with favor due to the simplicity, lowliness and awe of him that they show. Does it bother Jesus that his fellow guests, leading Pharisees, and maybe the host, too, watch him closely? If he shows that it does, it may...
