Homilies (Page 24)

Immortality or Decision Making Sunday Wisdom 1:13-15; 2:23-24; 2 Corinthians 8:7, 9, 13-15; Mark 5:21-43 A woman lost her only child to death. She was weeping uncontrollably. She wouldn’t allow the corpse of her child to be buried. The only condition for burying her child was for both of them to be buried, she said. It took strong men to restrain her, while the body of her child was being buried. She broke free of the men restraining her and ran to the grave. Arriving at the grave, everyone expected her to jump into the grave to join the lifeless body of her child, butRead More →

Examination Sunday Job 38:1, 8-11; 2 Corinthians 5:14-17; Mark 4:35-41 Last Sunday, in the parable of the sower, the sower sowed his seed and went to bed, and God took care of his seed for him while he slept, and his seed yielded a pumper harvest. This Sunday, it is Jesus who slept — God slept — and there was commotion, threat of death and helplessness! Last Sunday, our readings were talking about trees, plants, seeds and farming; this Sunday, there is water everywhere — the sea that God gave limits to, in the first reading, and the sea on which the boat is strugglingRead More →

Confidence in God Sunday Ezekiel 17:22-24; 2 Corinthians 5:6-10; Mark 4:26-35 We are back to Ordinary Time of the Church, when our feasts are over with. But how are we to live our lives, as Christians, during Ordinary Time? The answer is simple: this Sunday is Confidence Sunday. Why Confidence Sunday? Well, we need to see God’s hands in our everyday activities. This period of Ordinary Time coincides with Spring or rainy season (in Africa). The rains water the earth, invite farmers to till the earth and plant the seed for harvest season. The trees that appeared dead few months ago are now green and fullRead More →

The Body and Blood of Jesus Sunday is Vaccination Sunday! Exodus 24:3-8; Hebrews 9:11-15; 14:12-16, 22-26 It cannot come at a better moment, the solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ, 2021. For more than one year, we have seen the ravages of covid-19, and many ask whether it is a punishment from God. We have all borne the brunt of the virus, directly or indirectly. Some of us are survivors of the Coronavirus, many others have either been in the forefront of caregiving to patients infected by it or have suffered the loss of a dear one. Our activities have been reduced, ourRead More →

Trinity Sunday is Testimony Sunday: The God that We have Experienced Deuteronomy 4:32-34, 39-40; Romans 8:14-17; Matthew 28:16-20 Today is testimony Sunday! When we recall and celebrate what God has done in our lives, we testify to his goodness to us. We count our blessings and acknowledge that we are beneficiaries of a lot of good things, which we frankly do not either merit or deserve. Like the proverbial blind men who touched different parts of an elephant and described the animal from the parts of the body they touched, as children of God, we have experienced God in varied ways, and we confess todayRead More →

Pentecost: Diversity is Strength!  Acts 2:1-11; Galatians 5:16-25; John 15:26-27; 16:12-15 How come some are more intelligent than others; better footballers than their friends; prettier than their siblings; stronger than their neighbors; better orators than their teachers? Everywhere we see difference, positive difference, there is the Holy Spirit, there is Pentecost. Every good quality we have comes from the Holy Spirit. When we see a distinctive difference, there goes the gift of the Holy Spirit to that person. Every gift comes from the Holy Spirit and for the service and building up of the human community. Every special gift that does not serve the goodRead More →

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Stop that Prayer, Become the Prayer itself!  Acts 1:15-26; 1 John 4:11-16; Jn 17:11b-19 This is Prayer Sunday, the Sunday between Ascension and Pentecost! Interestingly, it is not only human beings alone who pray, as it is evidently the case in the first reading of today, where the apostles pray and show us the importance of prayers in order to know the will of God, God’s choice in an election context; but, in today’s gospel, God also prays, through Jesus Christ his Son, the so-called Priestly Prayer of Jesus Christ – the prayer for oneness/unity. Earlier in his ministry, Jesus taught us how to pray,Read More →

Heaven is our Home, Jesus is our GPS Do not ask scientists about Heaven, because they do not know where to find it. Of all the places they have been able to locate, Heaven is not one of them. The closest they have come to Heaven is the statement, “Heaven doesn’t exist”. Come to think of it, how does science get its knowledge—by discovery! For instance, America didn’t exist, up until Christopher Columbus “discovered” it; River Niger didn’t exist before Mungo Park “discovered” it. My friends, beware of those who “discover things,” because they are yet to discover themselves! How can things only exist atRead More →