Jesus used two similar parables to vividly depict faith’s beauty, similar to when the sun rises silently to create a golden background. He evokes treasures and pearls, beautiful and unusual terms in our relationship with God. It is the language of novels and pirates; in those adventures, we usually don’t find priests or liturgies, first…

Good and evil, good seed and bad weeds have taken root in my turf: My heart seems to be a battleground for the opposing forces of life and death. And from that reality, the Lord Jesus develops one of his most beautiful parables to guide me on my inner journey in God’s style. My first…

Out of the living voice of Jesus, we hear parables. Listening to them is like listening to the murmur of the spring, the initial, fresh, springing moment of the Gospel. The parables are not an afterthought or an exception but the highest, most brilliant, refined tip of Jesus’ language. He loved the lake, the wheat…

The Gospel records one of those sudden roadblocks that ignited Jesus’ words with wonder. The source of divine joy stemmed from the little ones, the children, the women, the simple of heart, and the poor because when God moves nimbly, they immediately get it. In the Bible, God’s economy of littleness supports those often overlooked.…

He who loses his life finds it. Play on words between losing and finding; an essential paradox found six times on Jesus’ lips. We understand that to lose is not letting life slip away or go astray but actively giving it away. As one does with a gift, with treasure spent drop by drop. I…

“Do not be afraid, fear no one, do not be frightened.” Jesus opposes fear three times this Sunday, but instead of proposing courage, he signals faith, as when the Master shocked his frail disciples one stormy night: “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?” (Mk. 4:40). We believe faith is the antidote…

Jesus asserts, “The harvest is abundant.” When we look at our world, it might seem that the fields of society are arid and the times bleak. In the opinion of many, much has to happen until the harvest, with tremendous efforts to mix seed and sweat, and still return empty-handed like Peter on the lake.…

“Remember the journey,” whispers the First Reading. Remember! For forgetfulness is the root of empty hearts. Remember the desert and the mountain, the wind of the trails, how our life journey has had so many hiccups, and then the strength that came down suddenly when you no longer expected it, just like manna in the…

The words we use to explain the Trinity have become so convoluted that we dread to explain it and trip over our tongue twisters. Jesus chooses to use words about the Trinity that are household names and titles of affection: “Father and Son” are names that embrace and support each other. Spirit is a name…

Pentecost was better known in Jewish times as Shavuot; on this feast, which occurred 50 days after Passover (coming out of Egypt), the people of Israel received the law in Sinai. Move the camera to the upper room in Jerusalem around one thousand years later: 50 days after Jesus was crucified on Passover, but now…