Author: Paul Grimes

The Transfiguration of Jesus (Matthew 17:1-9) is theophany which means a revelation of His true identity. He is the New Moses but greater than Moses. He is the Beloved Son of God.  The transfiguration is the glimpse of His glory. It is the divine endorsement of His mission. He will experience eternal glory only through the Cross because the path …

The word Lent comes from the old English word, lencten, which means spring, the lengthening of daylight and hours. It comes from the Latin word, lente, which means to go slowly because haste makes waste. It is the past tense of the verb lend which means everything we have, is borrowed from God and what we borrowed we return to …

The Sermon on the Mount of Jesus (Matthew 5:17-37) is His vision of life in the Kingdom of Heaven. It includes His major teachings. It is the path of Christian perfection. Jesus said, “You must be perfect as your Father is perfect!” (Mt 5:48) The perfection of God is His love. Love is the fullness of the law. God is …

In the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:13-16), Jesus calls His disciples to be the salt of the earth. It is a metaphor to describe the role and demands of Christian discipleship. Salt adds flavor to food. It also preserves, transforms and sustains life. There was no refrigeration during that time of Jesus. Hence salt was precious and expensive in …

The Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:1-12) is the inaugural address of Jesus laying down His vision of life in the Kingdom of heaven. It begins with the Beatitudes which come from the Greek word, makarios, which means blessed, to be happy. Only God can make us truly blessed and happy. The key to achieve authentic happiness is Jesus. He …

Jesus fulfills the work of new creation and His work requires human collaboration. He is the perfect manifestation of God’s love, a sign par excellence of the invisible God. He is the fulfillment of the longing and yearning of the people of Israel and of the whole humanity. He comes to unite the whole world and to gather the lost …

The testimony of John the Baptist is to point Jesus to others and to reveal His ultimate purpose and mission which is to redeem the sinful humanity. He said, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29-34) Jesus is the Lamb of God because the animals sacrificed in the temple of Jerusalem did …

The feast of the Baptism of the Lord marks the end of the Christmas season and the beginning of the Ordinary Time. It is a great epiphany which is a manifestation of Jesus to the world as the Beloved Son of God totally committed to serve the saving plan of the Father. Jesus is manifested as the Savior of all …

Epiphany comes from the Greek word, epiphainein, which means showing, appearance, manifestation. The Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord reveals the divine nature of Jesus to the Gentiles and that is, to the whole world. It points to the universality of salvation because God wants all to be saved. It points also to the mission of the Church which …

During this Christmas season, the Incarnation of Jesus reveals that God became man so that man might become God. It is because man is created in the image and likeness of God. But that image is destroyed when man disobeyed God. Yet God did not give up on His people. He sent His Only Begotten Son, Jesus, to restore our …