Mystery of Mysteries

“Ultimate Reality 3.0”
A reflection on Matthew 11:27
Sunday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time (Year A)
©️2023 by Gloria M. Chang

All things have been handed over to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him.

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Restoration of the Heart

Russian icon, The Mystical Supper (early 14th century). Fresco in Vatopedi Monastery, Mt. Athos.

Thursday of the First Week in Ordinary Time (Year I)

Hebrews 3:7-14

Therefore, as the holy Spirit says: “Oh, that today you would hear his voice, ‘Harden not your hearts as at the rebellion in the day of testing in the desert, where your ancestors tested and tried me and saw my works for forty years.

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No Person is an Island

In times past, God spoke in partial and various ways to our ancestors through the prophets; in these last days, he spoke to us through a son, whom he made heir of all things and through whom he created the universe, who is the refulgence of his glory, the very imprint of his being, and who sustains all things by his mighty word.

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Job in the Gulags

Icon of Old Testament Patriarch Job, Northern Russia, late 17th century. 

26th Week in Ordinary Time, Friday (Year II)

Job 38:1, 12-21; 40:3-5

WHY? 

This infuriating question had Job and his friends entangled like a Gordian knot. Word after word and argument after argument submerged them deeper and deeper into the quicksand of “Why?”… Read the rest

Children of the Father

Mosaic of the Sermon on the Mount (Ravenna, Italy)

23rd Week in Ordinary Time, Thursday (Year II)

Luke 6:27-38

Jesus said to his disciples: “To you who hear I say, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you… Be merciful, just as also your Father is merciful.”Read the rest

Letting Go

Our Lady of Guadalupe

13th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

Matthew 10:37-42

Jesus said to his apostles: “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me.Read the rest

Jars of Clay

Icon of Elijah with the Widow and Her Son by an anonymous Russian icon painter (from the Tretyakov Gallery)

10th week in Ordinary Time, Tuesday (Year II)

1 Kings 17:7-16, Psalm 4, Matthew 5:13-16

“You are the light of the world”—a torch lit by the transfiguring Light of the Trinity.… Read the rest

The Way

Duccio, The Last Supper, Maestá altarpiece (1311)

Friday of the Fourth Week of Easter

John 14:1-6

Facing his impending death, Jesus comforted his disciples, saying, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God; have faith also in me.”… Read the rest

Whoever Sees Me

Christ Pantocrator, Mosaic from Hagia Sophia

Wednesday of the Fourth Week of Easter

John 12:44-50

Since the time humankind began philosophizing, we have wondered about the nature of ultimate reality. What is it? Earth, air, fire, water? Atoms? Matter? Mind? Spirit?… Read the rest