Homilies (Page 42)

When I am Like Mary Magdalene: Even Sinners have Rights Acts 10:34a, 37-43; Colossians 3:1-4; John 20:1-9 There is a huge consolation that comes from reading the gospel of today because of Christ’s resurrection. In Christ, and because of his death and resurrection, a new dawn of grace has arrived. This new dawn, according to the gospel, is “the first day of the week”. Christians have a new day, which is now known as Sunday. This “first day of the week” inaugurates the effects of Christ’s resurrection as the dispelling of the darkness of sin and death, and have given way to the light ofRead More →

You’re Never Strong, Unless you’re Weak: Working out Salvation in a Human Style, in Weakness and Fragility! Isaiah 50:4-7; Philippians 2:6-11; Mk 14:1-15:47 or 15:1-39 While Russia, United States of America and China revamp the armed-race, and Iran and North-Korea flex their muscles as show of maturity for admittance to the list of killer countries in the world, countries of the global South, already tyrannized by poverty to which they can’t find solution, yet these same countries are now infested with the violence of Islamic radicalism of no mean proportions which continues to wreck havoc in human communities, but Christians, on their part, celebrate aRead More →

Turn your Sin into Opportunity for salvation, Carry your Cross Jeremiah 31:31-34; Hebrews 5:7-9; John 12:20-33 When we look at the migratory route of humanity, it is always a movement away from places and countries of suffering, to wealthier countries, states, towns and villages. Suffering and pain hardly appeal to anyone. Easy life is more attractive than a hard life. A hard life is often associated with ill-luck, malediction or punishment. An easy life comes as a blessing, opportunity and love. What is sure is that human beings avoid inconveniences as much as possible, except the inconveniences they have created for themselves. For example, AdamRead More →

Be as Pro-Active about your salvation as your God is Pro-Active about it 2 Chronicles 36:14-16, 19-23; Ephesians 2:4-10; John 3:14-21 Nebuchadnezzar, a pagan ruler from Babylon, desecrated the Temple of God in Jerusalem, in 587 B.C, and led Israelites out to exile in Babylon. The Temple, where God dwelt alongside the copy of the Ten Commandments in the Tabernacle (1 Kings 8), was destroyed. The shame of this catastrophe was so great that Ezekiel depicts the departure of God from his Temple (Ezekiel 10) prior to the destruction of the Temple. This is to say that it was the Temple that was destroyed notRead More →

An Appointment with God, Are you Ready for Self-Donation? Exodus 20:1-17; 1 Corinthians 1:22-25; John 2:13-25 Women seem to be better than men, when it comes to appointments; not necessarily in keeping appointments, but in preparing for appointments. They always want to look good on their appointment day, they get the house cleaned up and out; if need be, they make their hair and wear their make up, and, of course, they make sure that there is food for their guest(s) or they take something along for their host, should the rendezvous be away from their home. A typical woman’s preparations for a rendezvous canRead More →

Abandoning the Valley of Despair and Ascending the Mountain of Encounter with God Genesis 22:1-2, 9a, 10-13, 15-18; Romans 8:31-34; Mark 9:2-10 How does one read Genesis 22 in the 21st century, the fact that a Father is asked to sacrifice his child, by slaughtering him like a sacrificial animal, and he accepted to do just that? Which child, in his right mind, would be bound hand and feet and destined for sacrifice and wouldn’t attempt to escape? Given the advancements in different spheres of knowledge today, will anyone in their right senses accept that any religion has the right to human sacrifice? Our societiesRead More →

Spiritual Combat and the Requisite Stamina Our First Sunday of Lent, 2018, presents us with a “Spiritual Combat and the Requisite Stamina” to be victorious. Mark’s gospel presents Jesus in the wilderness in the company of wild beasts and angels. One wonders how a desert, known for the absence of water and vegetation could be a place of refuge for wild beasts, how a desert could be chosen as the place where angels live or are present, and why would the setting of Jesus’ test or trial be there? In fact, the Holy Spirit leads Jesus into the desert in order for him to undergoRead More →

Isaiah 52:7-10; Hebrews 1:1-6; John 1:1-18 Rise up and Proclaim Peace and Joy: You are God’s messenger, who counts his blessings! One day, a man was sitting between two ladies in a taxi. The lady to his right was very beautiful, the one to his left not so beautiful. Each time the taxi driver negotiates a bend and this man tilts towards the beautiful lady to his right, he yells out: oh Lord, do not lead us into temptation; but when the taxi tilts him towards the not so beautiful lady, he cries: oh Lord, deliver us from evil! Christmas brings a good tiding –Read More →

You are What you Do: Jesus is Savior because He Saves! Isaiah 61:1-2a, 10-11; 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24; John 1:6-8, 19-28 There is an area of our lives where lying or lies telling is almost impossible – it is the area of human behavior: you are what you do, you are how you behave; the society has got names for different things people do, and for the different ways people behave. If you cultivate the land, you are a farmer or a gardener, etc. If you have a child as a man, you’re a father, and if you are a woman, you are a mother. IfRead More →