BREAKING THE WORD

The fourth commandment enjoins us to honour our parents and it even adds a promise; that we might live long in the land (Ex. 20:12). But the real problem is, what exactly is the content of this honour? What is a person supposed to do? My understanding is that there are three dimensions that constitute the idea of honour. The first content of honour has to do with the things one does to or for them. In Ex. 21:15 the Law reads: 15 "he who strikes his father or his mother shall surely be put to death”. The passage introduces a certain type of comportment that is expected of children with respect to their parents. This is expressed in varied ways. For instance in Lev. 19:32 it reads: "You shall rise up before the grayheaded, and honor the aged. This has to do with consideration of the elderly. It is this same idea which Sirach expands upon in Sir. 3:12-14. He mentions help, kindness and forbearance among the ways one should act towards parents. The second content of hono

Have you ever thought of the origin of the name Emmanuel? Of course, we easily remember that it is the name the angel revealed to Joseph when Mary was found to be with child (Mt 1:23). Joseph was wondering whether to take Mary, his betrothed, as a wife, or to divorce her. When the angel revealed to him God’s plan in a dream, he, being a just man, accepted God’s will and took Mary as his wife. But there is another account in the Isa 7:14. In this account, Ahaz the king of Judah was faced with an attack by his northern neighbors. He considered making an alliance with the Assyrians when the prophet Isaiah brought him a message from the Lord. The alliance was not necessary. God promised deliverance from his northern neighbors. The sign for this divine intervention would be that a virgin would conceive and bear a son and name him Emmanuel. Unfortunately, Ahaz did not heed the advice of the prophet. There is however, a third “Emmanuel story”, in the bible which people speak less oft

In this Sunday’s Gospel reading (Mt 11:2-11), Jesus says something rather astonishing about John the Baptist. He says, of all the children born of women, a greater than John the Baptist has never been seen. And yet, even John had his weaknesses; even John had moments of doubt. The very man who had seen the Spirit descend on Jesus, and had baptized him was no longer sure if he was the Christ. How could Jesus be the Christ in the face of so much evil; how could He be the Christ if he had left John in prison? Jesus sends a seven statement answer to John: The blind see The lame walk Lepers are cleansed The deaf hear The dead are raised Good news is preached to the poor Blessed is he who does not lose faith in him The seven statements suggest that Jesus’ work is perfect. He has not left anything undone. Just as God created the world in six days and blessed the seventh day, John is invited by Jesus not to lose faith in him. It is through faith in Jesus that the perfe

The passage of Isa. 11:1-10 is one of the most beautiful passages in the entire bible. The passage speaks about the coming of the Messiah with most idyllic language: 7  The cow and the bear will graze, their young will lie down together. The lion will eat hay like the ox.  8  The infant will play over the den of the adder; the baby will put his hand into the viper's lair.  9  No hurt, no harm will be done on all my holy mountain, for the country will be full of knowledge of Yahweh as the waters cover the sea. (Isa. 11:7-9 NJB) The scenes described are unmistakable. They are those of the garden of Eden, where there was no hurt and no harm. The Messiah is filled with knowledge (Isa. 11:2), the same gift that was lost through the misadventure of Adam and Eve. What then is the way of return to Eden? The way of return is the way of conversion. John the Baptist in the Gospel invites us to return to the wilderness. The wilderness symbolizes Sinai, the place where Israel as a nation