Loyola Reflections

"When Jesus saw their faith...." - Last March, when we were planning for the Loyola weekend retreat "I Call You Friend' (commemorating the friendship between Ignatius and Francis Xavier), Father Paul and I chose the story of Jesus' healing of the paralyzed man as the Gospel proclamation for our Friday evening prayer experience ...

“I sought the Lord, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears.”—Psalm 34:5 - Whenever we become discouraged about our own sins, we need only to look at Peter and Paul for encouragement and hope! Both men have great zeal for spreading the word of God. 

“Even the Wind and the Seas Obey Him!” - Today’s gospel from Matthew (8:23-27) has Jesus asleep in a boat with his apostles crossing the Sea of Galilee when a violent storm suddenly arises. As we all know well, they awake Jesus in a panic. He immediately calms the storm and rebukes His disciples for their lack of faith in Him.

"Solidarity" - For most of this week, we will hear the frank and ferocious words of the prophet Amos. He pulls no punches in indicting the injustices of Israel’s and our society. We may, in fact, be discouraged at seeing how similar are the injustices against the poor in our world and then.

"The Good Shepherd" - On this feast of the Sacred Heart the theme seems to definitely be that of Christ the Good Shepherd. All the Gospels speak of shepherds or sheep many times over. John especially speaks to this theme. There, Jesus himself states that, “I am the Good Shepherd. I know my own and they know me.”