Homilies (Page 45)

Acts 2:1-11; 1 Corinthians 12:3b-7, 12-13; John 20:19-23 Times and Pentecost: The Continuous Intervention and Presence of the Holy Spirit in the World Why do we talk of 1900 or 2017 or 1960? Obviously time is the measure of human activities, and astronomical and galaxic movements help human beings to talk about times and seasons. This is not the case for a Christian. What is “time” for a Christian? “Time” is always in reference to Christ and the salvation he wrought for humanity. When a Christian talks of centuries and millennia, it is always in reference to the Christ event. Even within Scripture itself, timeRead More →

Acts 1:12-14; 1 Peter 4:13-16; John 17:1-11a Prayer: Making God Present and Active in the World Once upon a time, Jesus Christ physically walked down the streets of Palestine, visited friends and foes, loved, healed, and saved all through his death on the Cross of Calvary. Now, with the Ascension over with, the question is: Is God still with us? Through Vatican II (Sacrosanctum Concilium, 7), the Catholic Church teaches that Jesus is present in the Holy Eucharist, in the Presiding Priest at Mass, in the gathered Eucharistic assembly, in the Sacraments and in his Word. Today, our liturgical readings take up the idea ofRead More →

Acts 8:5-8, 14-17; 1 Peter 3:15-18; John 14:15-21 From Junk Food to Junk Life – Changing Course through the Holy Spirit In our world today, everything is up for sale and everything is up for grabs, including human lives, and it is fast grabbing the human soul too. The power that rules the world is money, not even religion is free from its shackles. To be on sale is to have a dollar sign attached to everything. In fact, everyone is a potential seller and buyer, it just depends on what commodity is in question. Better still, trade by barter is back – everything isRead More →

Acts 6:1-7; 1 Peter 2:4-9; John 14:1-12 He Disappears that I May Appear: The Era of Christianity Quite often, the meaning of Christianity is misunderstood. The surest guide to the meaning of Christianity is to return to the origins and originator of Christianity. This simply means that the meaning of Christianity is indissociably tied to its past in such a way that the past must be made present by every generation. Put differently, there is no past, if there must be Christianity. In this connection, to have a past is to dislocate the present from the past. Christianity is not a theory but actions andRead More →

Acts 2:14a, 36-41; 1 Peter 2:20b-25; John 10:1-10 Let us “Hear” the World, But “Listen” to Jesus Every human being, by default, has the sense of hearing, except for cases of deformity or hearing loss. Cases of deformity and hearing loss, sometimes, hearing-aids are very useful for such persons, otherwise, people of that category couldn’t be blamed for failing to hear what is said to them and around them. Interestingly, even persons with hearing deformity can listen – listening engages the other senses! “Hearing” is the ability to be aware of the noises around us. In fact, we now live in a noise polluted environmentRead More →

Acts 2:42-47; 1 Peter 1:3-9; John 20: 19-31 “First Day of the Week” “First” has the connotation of beginning and novelty. “Day” begins with the rising of the sun and the dissipation of darkness. To have the “first” and “day” together is to suggest that Jesus wants to direct our attention from the past to the present. The past which gave importance to Jewish Sabbath with its restrictions and limitations, ought to give up its place to something new and different, something that has a new meaning because of Jesus, a new definition of reality based on the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Interestingly, the bookRead More →

“He is not Here . . . He is Risen”: Are you Risen with Him? Testimony or witnessing is what others do for you and not what you do for yourself. Witnesses need truth and honesty in their character to be credible. Every witness needs litigation or a tribunal where to testify. The veracity of a witness’s testimony needs the cross examination and verification of a litigant, an expert and a judge. In short, the evidence evinced and adduced by a witness needs a court scenario with all its constituent assembly of lawyers, judges, experts, accused, accusers and jury/jurors for evaluation and admissibility. At theRead More →

“Crucify Him!” Isaiah 50:4-7; Philippians 2:6-11; Matthew 26:14-27:66 It suffices to be a Christian or live in a Moslem dominated country for the reality of death to be omnipresent. It used to be that life was loved and protected, not anymore because the Angels of death have multiplied in their millions. For those who escape religious violence, scientific violence eliminates them – abortion is one form of this killing. The rumors and reality of fratricidal wars, economic strangulations and ethnic cleansing make one smell death everywhere. It is no longer the name by which death goes that matters, but the degenerate situation of the humanRead More →

Ezekiel 37:12-14; Romans 8:8-11; John 11:1-42 I will Rise again, Despite my sins: God’s Grace is Available Always! Quite often, the knowledge of our faith does not help us to weather the storms of temptations and trials. For example, how often do we remember the meaning of “grace,” which we learnt in our Catechism classes – “Grace is the supernatural gift of God which makes us believe that God will do everything for our justification and salvation.” Today, all I hear is how “rapture” is fast approaching, how everybody is so bad that hell of fire is over crowded. Where is the power of God’sRead More →