P Y A GUMA

25/06/2025

Word Today
Matthew 7:15-20
06/25/25

The Gospel today says that true faith bears good fruit; we can be certain that when we trust in the Lord and follow him, there will be new life; there will be fruit. The opposite is also true: when we do not live by faith and do not respond according to God’s will, there is no life; there is bad fruit. These are lessons Jesus teaches in today’s Gospel.

Brothers and sisters, Jesus also warns us about another scenario. He describes such a person as a false prophet who comes in the guise of a sheep. A false prophet is a person whose hypocrisy and erroneous teachings mislead and cause confusion for others. Christians who give scandal or teach contrary to the Faith. “Scandal is an attitude or behavior that leads another to do evil.

Brothers and sisters, we must ask ourselves, Do I bear good fruit? What fruits am I known? Brothers and sisters, the key to genuine fruitfulness is God, not us. By our strength and will, it is impossible to bear good fruit, but faith reassures us that nothing is impossible for God (Lk 1:37). This assurance is explicit in today’s Gospel Acclamation: “Whoever remains in me will bear much fruit” (John 15:5).

Mama Mary, help us to cooperate with grace to bear good fruit.
Shalom!

24/06/2025

Word Today
Luke 1:57-66, 80
06/24/25

In the Liturgical Year, the Church celebrates the birth of only three people: Jesus, his mother Mary, and John the Baptist. Today we honor John, the story of whose miraculous birth is recounted in today’s Gospel.

Brothers and sisters, if the story of John’s birth and naming inspired wonder in all who heard it, it should have this effect on us as well. What looks to us like ordinary circumstances is the stage on which God is directing an extraordinary drama. When we are reminded of this truth that we are part of a great work of God. Like John, we too have been called from birth and named by God even before our parents thought to name us.

Brothers and sisters, the mystery of our life is directed toward our mission. Like John the Baptist, we are not worthy to unfasten the strap of the Lord’s sandals. Yet God has set us apart and called us to holiness, despite our weakness and sinfulness. The Lord is telling us to stop focusing only on ourselves and to trust in the One who has formed us as his servant from the womb and through all the circumstances of our lives. He wants to make us “a light to the nations, / the [ his] salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”

Mama Mary, open our hearts to see ourselves differently and to begin to see as God sees.
Shalom!

23/06/2025

23/06/2025

Word Today
Matthew 7:1-5
06/23/25

In the Gospel, Jesus is speaking to us about leaving a place that we habitually dwell in and moving in faith to a new place that he will show us. The place where we dwell interiorly is very often an attitude of harsh judgment of those around us. We judge this one as a fool, that one as lazy, the other as weak. This one drinks too much, that one is greedy, this one is a liar, that one is sexually immoral. We love to gossip about people’s perceived sins and failings.

Brothers and sisters, the common tendency of our fallen human nature is to make of the other’s sin or weakness an occasion to puff ourselves up with pride, and to use it as a way to divert attention from our sins. When we have a “wooden beam” in our eye and refuse to admit it, we feel justified in pointing out the splinters that we so confidently claim to identify in the eyes of others. We put ourselves in a different category from those sinners; we are above them, better than them. This is one way by which we seek to separate ourselves from our sinfulness.

Brothers and sisters, he gave his own Body and Blood in sacrifice as food to bring life and reconciliation to sinners. He did not minimize the deadliness of sin, but he never condemned sinners. Indeed, one of the judgments that the self-righteous made against him was, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them” (Lk 15:2).

Mama Mary, grant us the grace to be merciful toward others, for we do not know what is in their hearts.
Shalom!

22/06/2025

Word Today
Luke 9:11b-17
06/22/25

Today’s Gospel invites us to reflect on how, in the Eucharist, the Lord feeds us and gives us divine life to share with others. Jesus says to the Twelve, “Give them some food yourselves.” He says the same thing to us today, on this feast of Corpus Christi. Our natural reaction is to focus on the impossibility of it all. However, what we can do with five loaves and what Jesus can do with them are very different! With him, a little becomes an abundant feast. With God, all things are possible!

Brothers and sisters, when we have the blessed opportunity to receive the Eucharist, we receive the whole gift of Christ’s sacrifice. The Eucharist is our nourishment, our “daily bread,” the source of the grace we need to follow the Lord and to offer ourselves with him. We have eaten the Bread from Heaven, and we have been commissioned to give his life to others.

Brothers and sisters, Jesus, the true Bread from Heaven, has chosen to feed us with himself. Therefore, when we meet people in need, we do have a way to “give them some food ourselves.” We have been given the grace to share his life with others, that they too may know and love him. With grateful hearts, let us give to others what is most precious to us.

Mama Mary, Mother of the Eucharist, grant us the grace to share the life of Christ with others.

22/06/2025

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