Homilies (Page 24)

Prayer Sunday: Turn your Murmurings into Prayers 1 Kings 19:4-8; Ephesians 4:30-5:2; John 6:41-51 More than once, God had turned murmurings into occasions to provide food for the murmurer. When the Israelites murmured in last week’s reading, God gave them bread and meat to eat (Manna). When Jonah murmured in Nineveh, he not only received shade over his head, he received consolation as well (Jonah 4). Today, the Prophet Elijah murmured and food was given him to eat. This connection between murmuring and the provision of food is also prominent in our gospel today. Jesus teaches the murmuring crowds about the importance of spiritual food,Read More →

Transfiguration or God Among Us Daniel 7:9-10, 13-14; 2 Peter 1:16-19; Mark 9:2-10 Every solemnity, liturgically speaking, celebrates an aspect of the Christian salvation mystery. For example, every Sunday is the celebration of the resurrection of the Lord. As Christians, every Sunday celebration reminds us that one we will be raised from the dead like Jesus rose from the dead. What mystery, then, do we celebrate on the solemnity of the Transfiguration? Let us begin with our first reading. Four figures are presented in it, Daniel, Son-of-Man, the Ancient-of-Days and the “myriads” of worshippers of the Ancient-of-Days. From the meaning of his name,  dan-i-el –Read More →

Home Coming Sunday Exodus 16:2-4, 12-15; Ephesians 4:17, 20-24; John 6:24-35 In North Atlantic, especially in August, with the children away from school and many parents and families on vacation/holiday, it is the season for traveling. Families journey to spend time together and away from regular routines. It is a period of bonding and sharing of quality time. It is a time to explore other climes, but with the intention to return home. Human life on earth too is characterized by journeys. There is the first journey from God, which we undertake at birth, and the second lap of the same journey begins at birthRead More →

Pilgrimage Sunday Exodus 16:2-4, 12-15; Ephesians 4:17, 20-24; John 6:24-35 Home, sweet home! Home is sweet, when you have one. Home is sweet, when it has the character of a home: loved ones, kindness, peace, serenity and fond memories. It was at Capernaum, his home village, that Jesus was rejected by his own people who disregarded the miracle he performed and trivialized his genealogy. Today, the setting is different! Jesus is important, he is a super-star with many people crowding around him and asking for food. How quickly the human mind changes from evil to good, especially when hunger is involved. How fertile and receptiveRead More →

 Generosity Sunday: Sharing is the Miracle we Need! 2 Kings 4:42-44; Ephesians 4:1-6; John 6:1-15 In our capitalistic world of today, the mentality is that of “I Before Others”. Today, the protectionism of rich countries is seen in this light – “I Before Others”. The West and China,  before others. The near extinction of the other, especially when the other has no capitalistic value, draws contemporary society into the culture of death, death of the other; it further leads to the collapse of the human community, and the indifference with which societal needs are treated. Around the world, we experience the deafening cry of nationsRead More →

Ambassador Sunday Jeremiah 23:1-6; Ephesians 2:13-18; Mark 6:30-34 Our generation is characterized by the refusal to envision a God who punishes. We always picture God as loving, forgiving and Compassionate. We understand these attributes of God because we have experienced love, forgiveness and compassion in our lives. We understand these emotions and we appreciate them. We deny that we often hate others, refuse them forgiveness and punish them for their wrong actions. In fact, we have criminal codes to punish wrongdoing. However, we always find reasons to wave aside the thoughts that God too can punish wrongs and sin. We imagine that by thinking thatRead More →

Stand-your-Ground or Audacity Sunday Amos 7:12-15; Ephesians 1:3-14; Mark 6:7-13 Very few Christians want to be recognized as such today. Among Christians, very few Catholics can stand in public places and among friends to so much as make the sign of the Cross or to pray publicly.  They are shy or lack conviction about their faith or they claim political correctness, that is, they don’t want to give any offense to anyone! As a matter of fact, “a coward dies a thousand times before his/her death”! This Sunday is “stand-your-ground” Sunday! “Stand-your-ground” is the law, in some countries, that emboldens someone that the law ofRead More →

Creativity Sunday Ezekiel 2:2-5; 2 Corinthians 12:7-10; Mark 6:1-6 This Sunday is creativity Sunday! While the prophets of Baal and Asherah were 850 (1 Kings 18:19), Elijah was the only prophet of Yahweh! As a matter of fact, we do not know his real name, except the name that tells us what he did and stood for: ELIJAH! Elijah’s creativity was to promote the worship of Yahweh. In a world overrun by Baal and his Asherah, a man stood up to proclaim El-i-Jah, that is, My-God-is-Yahweh! What a creativity, what an audacity, what a faith: 1 versus 850! At the end of the competition onRead More →

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 →