Homilies (Page 20)

Safe Journey Joel 2:12-18; 2 Corinthians 5:20-6:2; Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18 Life is a journey that starts in maternal womb and ends in the womb of the earth, but with a guarantee of resurrection for the children of God. The journey of life takes two vehicles, the body and the spirit-soul. To keep the vehicle of the body going, we need to work and eat everyday. We study hard in schools to obtain degrees, and our degrees obtain jobs which require hard work in order to be paid salaries and all forms of remunerations. Neither money nor food comes easily; hard work is required to keepRead More →

 S-O-S Sunday! Sirach 27:4-7; 1 Corinthians 15:54-58; Luke 6:39-42 If ships in distress usually send out S-O-S (Save Our Ship) distress call, it is not a bad idea for Christians to send out Save-our-Souls distress call because the practice of Christianity is in distress and needs salvaging. The reality, though, is not the search for a rescue ship or a rescue holy Christian; on the contrary, sinful and weak Christians are the ones to redeem themselves alongside other bad Christians because no one is good but God alone! Three ironies go through each of the three readings of this Sunday and require close reading forRead More →

Children-of-God Sunday 1 Samuel 26:2, 7-9, 12-13, 22-23;  1 Corinthians 15:45-49; Luke 6:27-38. A name is important; at least, it refers to someone or something concrete. More so, when it is a  descriptive name, it reveals something hidden, some hope and potentials. David calls Saul the “Lord’s anointed”, in our first reading. The treatment David recommends and metes out to Saul takes into account Saul’s hidden name — “the Lord’s anointed”. The “hope” is that the Lord’s anointed will behave like the Lord himself. It was when Israel rejects God as their King, that Saul becomes King, to represent God — a visible King. TheRead More →

Morality Sunday/Freedom-of-Choice Sunday (Between a Blessing and a Curse)] Jeremiah 17:5-8; 1 Corinthians 15:12, 16-20; Luke 6:17, 20-26 The prophet Jeremiah paints a picture of a real human society in our first reading, because we experience the same reality even today, 2500 years later. He divides human beings into those who exude blessings and those who  exhibit curses. Today, we will say the society is divided between the good and the bad, good citizens and bad citizens, faithful friends and traitors, etc. This Sunday, God invites us to consider the ultimate repercussions of our behavior/morality: our morality defines us and not the information we haveRead More →

Sinners’ Sunday  Isaiah 6:1-2a, 3-8;  1 CThinthians 15:1-22; Luke 5:1-11 The tapestry of our fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year C, 2022, is woven by God with three interconnected threads: the thread of encounter, forgiveness and new ambassadorial identity. All three readings of this Sunday recount individuals’ encounter with God. Isaiah, in the first reading, encounters God in the Temple in Jerusalem. For Paul, in the second reading, the road to Damascus is the scene of his encounter with God. Today’s gospel makes the sea the location of Peter’s encounter with God. There are a thousand and one places to encounter God (at the Temple,Read More →

Be a Prophet! Jeremiah 1:4-5, 17-19; 1 Corinthians 12:31-13:13 Luke 4:21-30 From those who wish to hurl us down the heights, like Jesus, deliver us oh Lord! But is this a Christian prayer, seeking deliverance from our persecutors? How does a Christian survive the age of ISIL and Boko Haram? At least, nobody doubts that these are dangerous days for the Christian Faith, even among other Christians: just attempt telling your neighbors that their dress code is not Christian or that they need to go to church on Sunday; or, again, tell someone that bad people will go to hell of fires, etc. the icy-looks thatRead More →

Happiness Sunday Nehemiah 8:2-4a, 5-6, 8-10; 1 Corinthians 12:12-30; Luke 1:1-4; 14-21 This is good news at its peak, everywhere in the whole wide world – “Do not Weep! The Joy of the Lord is your strength” (Nehemiah 8:10). For many people are hurting religiously, spiritually, relationally, economically and politically. Religious fanatics have overrun the Middle-East, Africa, Europe, North America and a vast swathes of Asia. Suicide boomers – god’s army – are readily available marauding human societies unleashing death sentences wherever they can. Spiritual exploitation of the rich and the poor alike continues on a daily basis in the name of God and AllahRead More →

Ordinary Spirituality Sunday!  Isaiah 62:1-5, 1 Corinthians 12:4-11, John 2:1-11 Welcome to Ordinary Time, when nothing spectacular is celebrated but daily routines. But how easy is it to be ordinary, when we all crave for the extra-ordinary? We resist being like others, we insist on our differences! We quarrel about superior skin color, superior position, superior intelligence, superior citizenship and countries, etc. Yet, Jesus says to us: “Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). This statement immediately reminds us of our express ticket to Hell, because no one is perfect! However, the best remedy to the fear of Hell because of ourRead 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 know what, substitutesRead More →