Homilies (Page 49)

Not your Condemnation of yourself, but your Acquittal by God: You’re God’s Ambassador, behave like one! Our world today reels in sin and wallows in the darkness of unbelief. Thank goodness, it is not because there are so many bad people around, but simply because good people sit back and do nothing or not enough. How often does one hear, “we are all sinners”; “there is no good person left”; the world is in a terrible shape. The good news is that, these are all human judgments, not God’s. On the part of God, this is the message he has for us – “For GodRead More →

Jeremiah 38:4-6, 8-10; Hebrews 12:1-4; Luke 12:49-53 There is always salvation for those who wait on the Lord! In an age of political correctness, the desire to say just what people want to hear and not to offend others, does the truth still have a place in our polity and religious life? What is the role of faith and religion in a secularized and modernized world? These are serious questions to be asked, if religion, particularly Christianity, will be relevant to our contemporary world. In the so-called first-world, issues like abortion, euthanasia, same-sex union, gun control and eugenics are considered no-go-area, especially for religious interventionRead More →

Wisdom 18:6-9; Hebrews 11:1-2, 8-19;Luke 12:32-48 Prepare for Heaven while on Earth: Faith makes Heaven Real Knowledge and intelligence are generally associated with the human ability to conquer and dominate nature; they are mediums for the survival of the human specie on earth. But if our first reading comes from the book of wisdom, there is a stark distinction to be underscored between knowledge and wisdom. “Wisdom” is the secret of life, how life is to be lived, the meaning of life. This is the reason for the association of wisdom with experience, lived experience. So, what is wisdom and how do we acquire? OfRead More →

Jeremiah 31:31-34; Matthew 16:13-23 Here is God: In You and Me! Are you looking for God? Many looked for him before you, but they searched wrong places. Generation after generation longed and enquire into the nature and abode of God. They made statues and images, which they worshipped as gods; they travelled land and sea in search of victories and conquests, thinking that God is power and wealth; human beings invented potent medicines for immortality, thinking longevity is divinity; yes, even their bodies were mummified, as immortal-dead, since life itself eluded them and death dealt a mortal blow to their quest for God. Today, theRead More →

Jeremiah 31:1-7; Matthew 15:21-28 Sin is Exile from God: Love is Reversed Exile Having started the week (Sunday) with the reality of God, instead of “vanity of vanity,” seeing that miracles are the manifestations of God (Monday), yesterday (Tuesday) we saw God’s presence in every storm, today (Wednesday), we are going to reflect on how to stay close to God. This is the sole duty of every child of God, and the ardent desire of God for all his children. “Love” is the key to this closeness. Now, virtually every Christian knows John 3:16 by rote: “for God so loved the world that he gaveRead More →

Jeremiah 30:1-2, 12-15, 18-22; Matthew 14:22-36 Do not be Afraid: The Lord is in Every Storm to Still it! Last Sunday, the major theme for this week was hinted at: “I am more than Flesh and Blood: I have a Soul too.” We argued that, a true Christian does everything to save his/her soul and make heaven, instead of focusing on earthly possessions. We also made a case to the effect that life is not meaningless, that God gives meaning to life. Today, our readings present us with life crises and how to go about them. “If your life is down to nothing,” the sayingRead More →

Jeremiah 28:1-17; Matthew 14:13-21 The Visible reveals the Invisible: Jesus as God in the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fish Yesterday, we were told that “vanity of vanity, all is vanity.” Seriously? Is creation to no purpose and plan? We showed that God gives meaning to creation, provided that heaven and the immortality of the human soul are our preoccupations on earth. The major theme of yesterday, “God gives meaning to creation,” continues all through the week. Today, we are invited to reflect on how God reveals himself to us through created things, especially food. The origin of the dispute between the prophets Hananiah andRead More →

Ecclesiastes 1:2; 2:21-23; Colossians 3:1-5, 9-11; Luke 12:13-21 I am more than Flesh and Blood: I have a Soul too   “Vanity of vanity is vanity” explains itself as the questioning of the meaning of life; the enquiry into the motivations for all we do, when we go about our daily tasks and the reasons we do what we do. Hear what the preacher says: “For what profit comes to man from all the toil and anxiety of heart with which he has labored under the sun?” This message is still very relevant today, with the senseless killings and displacement, either internal or external, economicRead More →

Genesis 18:20-32; Colossians 2:12-14; Luke 11:1-13 I am the Condemned Sinner, Have Mercy Upon me, and Make me an Intercessor! Sodomy or homosexuality, it boils down to the same thing – Sodom and Gomorrah, symbol and reality of sin, not just of yesteryears but of today as well. The destruction which awaits every sinner, gay, straight and every sexual activities without God’s approval. But it is unthinkable that Sodom and Gomorrah was exclusiveness a gay town, at least Lot and his wife and daughters were there. It follows that there were births and marriages, and conventional families living their. In fact, Lot’s wife did notRead More →