Homilies (Page 16)

“I am the Man” or Working out my Salvation Sirach 15:15-20; 1 Corinthians 2:6-10; Matthew 5:17-37 You probably remember where that came from—“I am the man”. Well, it came from the incident between Nathan and David, after David committed adultery with Uriah’s wife, Bathsheba (2 Samuel 11-12). The prophet Nathan confronted David with his sin telling him the story of a man with many sheep, who had a visitor but was unwilling to offer any of his many sheep to be killed and a meal made for his visitor; instead, he took his neighbor’s only sheep and slaughtered it for his guest. King David, onRead More →

Let your light shine! Isaiah 58:7-10; 1 Corinthians 2:1-5; Matthew 5:13-16 A hunter went hunting and came upon an eagle’s nest with eggs in it. He took the eggs home and mixed them with those of an incubating free range hen. The innocent hen hatched all her eggs, thinking she had only chicks. One day, while she was foraging with her chicks, one of them, an eaglet, asked her about those creatures flying up in the sky, and why shouldn’t he do the same. The hen said, those are birds, they can fly, we can’t. The eagle lived all its life thinking it was aRead More →

Beatitudes: Building the Kingdom of God on Earth Zephaniah 2:3; 3:12-13; 1 Corinthians 1:26-31; Matthew 5:1-12a In the age of democracy, three elements are indispensable for the building of the human polity: 1) party-politics, 2) manifestos, and 3) capitalism. Individuals join different political parties on the basis of their philosophies and convictions; worst case scenario, politicians join the winning party or the political party that guarantees thievery as part of its unwritten laws. From these political parties emerge beautiful and hopeful manifestos, even though delivering on those manifestos is a different question. Finally, the deification of money or capital is key to democracy. Beautiful slogans,Read More →

Recruitment Day: Being a Word-Fighter Isaiah 8:23-9:1-3; 1 Corinthians 1:10-13, 17; Matthew 4:12-23 Wildfires have come to be regular occurrences in our lives, whether they be the Australian experience, American reality or Canadian seasonal cases. These occurrences, in addition to house fires and arsonists’ ventures, make fire-fighting very important today. Homes and vehicles have fire-extinguishers and communities have fire-stations. The irony of all these fires is that they cannot extinguish themselves, human beings are always needed to fight fires of all kinds and propositions. Thanks to human solidarity, fires everywhere are attended to, even if that requires assistance from other countries and communes. Well, aRead More →

What is your SMELL? Isaiah 49:3, 5-6; 1 Corinthians 1:1-3; John 1:29-34 Maybe not so much for human beings, but “smell” plays a vital role in the animal kingdom: at least, it marks boundaries and territories, in addition to group identity. Little did I know that “smell” is also important for human beings and, today, I realize that it is vital for Christianity. As a young minor seminarian, I went for morning Mass with another seminary at a sisters’ convent chapel. As we stepped into the convent, it took barely seconds before the seminarian with me asked the sisters, whether his Mother was in thatRead More →

Baptism-of-the-Lord or Substitution Sunday Isaiah 42:1-4, 6-7; Acts 10:34-38; Matthew 3:13-17 In many sports that are played around the globe, there are many substitutes, other players with whom to replace the players on the pitch or arena. It is the contrary of putting all the eggs in one basket. Coaches have realized that things do go wrong – injuries, accidents, red cards, time out, infractions – and there comes the need for a substitute, replacement player. It so happens that substitute players go on to make a significant difference in a game — make the home-run, score the winning goal or the touch-down. You knowRead More →

Jesus Christ is the Reason for the New Year Numbers 6:22-27; Galatians 4:4-7; Luke 2:16-21 Do you sometimes wonder why the first of January inaugurates New Years, this time around, New Year, 2023? Why can’t we celebrate the year 2345 or 2222? Welcome to a Christian understanding of New Year: Christ is the reason for the New Year! We celebrate 2023, because we, Christians, take our reference point about time and eternity from Jesus Christ. When we say 2023 A.D., (In the year of the Lord – Anno Domini [A.D.]), two presuppositions undergird the celebration of New Year: the recognition of the God of TimeRead More →

Emmanuel: “God is with Us” Isaiah 7:10-14; Romans 1:1-7; Matthew 1:18-24 We hear it said at every liturgical celebration, especially at Mass, “The Lord be with you”. This wish/subjunctive and realistic statement precedes every sacerdotal/priestly blessing. The presence of God is the source of every benediction. This Sunday, “Emmanuel Sunday,” when we remind ourselves of the presence of God among us – “God is with us” – it is difficult not to remember Gideon. The first biblical recording of “the Lord is with you” goes back to an angel’s visit to Gideon (Judges 6:12). I am very sure that Gideon’s response to the angel isRead More →

The Key to Happiness: “Blessed is he who is not scandalized by me” (Matthew 11:6) Isaiah 35:1-6a, 10; James 5:7-10; Matthew 11:2-11 “Happiness” is not the absence of problems, but what we make of problems and troubles that surround us daily. You see, the power of problems and troubles come from our imagination of the negatives, that we have been abandoned, unloved and uncared for. “The joy of the Lord is your strength” (Nehemiah 8:10) was the statement of Nehemiah to those weeping in sorrow over the ruins of Jerusalem and its temple. They forgot about the joy that animated them from the good newsRead More →