Author: Paul Grimes

A scholar of the law tested Jesus by asking, “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest? (Matthew 22:36)” This was a tricky question because there was a long standing debate among the Jews as to which commandment had the supreme importance. In the Old Testament, there are 613 commandments: 248 refer to the positive laws and 365 are …

In Isaiah 45:1-6, the prophet called Cyrus, the king of Persia, as the anointed one, the Messiah which were titles used for David and especially for Jesus. Cyrus was not a Jew and did not know and acknowledge Yahweh, the God of Israel. He defeated the Babylonians and became the greatest benefactor of Israel by granting freedom to the Jews, …

The Parable of the Wedding Banquet and Garment points to the magnitude of God’s ofer of love to us (Mathew 22:1-14). Jesus uses exaggerated language and shocking words in the parable to reveal God’s extravagant, universal love and enormous generosity. The king invited the guests to the wedding banquet of his son. Yet they refused and ignored the invitaton. They …

As of this writing, there is an ongoing war in Israel. Let us pray for peace in the world especially in Israel because as what a survivor narrated, “The militants were shooting everyone. There was no mercy at all. Even children were executed.” The parable of the wicked tenants depicts how man can be an agent of violence and death …

The feast of the Holy Guardian Angels reveals God’s greatness and power. Angels are manifestation of God’s loving presence. Nothing is beyond God’s grace and redemption. Angels come from the Greek word, Angelos, which means envoys, intermediaries between God and man. They are messengers, guardians, protectors and teachers. The whole Bible is filled with reference to angels. They are agents …

The parable of the workers in the vineyard (Matthew 20:1-16) reveals God’s enormous and boundless generosity, infinite mercy and kindness beyond imagination. It is a lesson on grace because only God’s grace makes real love possible. It is a movement from fairness to justice and then to love. God has a special concern for the needy, the weak, the lost, …

Pope Francis said, “The words and gestures of the Lord touch our hearts: He takes the bread in His hands, pronounces the blessing, breaks it and offers it to the disciples, saying: Take; this is my body”. With great simplicity Jesus gives us the greatest sacrament in a humble gesture of giving and of sharing. At the culmination of His …

Pope Francis, in his homily, reminded Christians that the Lord, who is present in the Eucharist, takes each and everyone of us to heart, cares for us and satisfies our need for nourishment, companionship, consolation. He noted that “the Eucharist was like the destination of a journey along which Jesus had prefigured it through several signs, above all the multiplication …