S'up? (Page 10)

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 →

Covenant-of-Love Sunday: God’s Irrevocable Love Jeremiah 31:31-34; Hebrews 5:7-9; John 12:20-33 Those calling for the end of the world or the condemnation of sinners do not understand Christianity! Christianity is a covenant of love, an irrevocable love of God. No human being is either righteous enough to merit it nor too sinful to be excluded from it: it is a covenant of love that we continue to experience as forgiveness of sins! The good news is that no matter how human beings wish it, pray for it and attempt to wipe it out by their sins, the world will always elude their grasp  because “TheRead More →

New Year, 2024: Jesus Christ is the Reason for the New Year Numbers 6:22-27; Galatians 4:4-7; Luke 2:16-21 Do you sometimes wonder why the first of January inaugurates New Years, this time around, New Year, 2024? Why can’t we celebrate the year 2345 or 2222? Welcome to a Christian understanding of New Year: Christ is the reason for the New Year! We celebrate 2024 because we, Christians, take our reference point about time and eternity from Jesus Christ. When we say 2024 A.D., (In the year of the Lord – Anno Domini [A.D.]), two presuppositions undergird the celebration of New Year: the recognition of theRead More →

 Show Your Creativity, Touch a Life, Make a Crèche/Crib!  2 Samuel 7:1-5, 8b-12, 14a, 16; Romans 16:25-27; Luke 1:26-38 There was a Canadian couple living in Halifax with three children. Their children grew up to go to universities far from home: one in Vancouver, another in Calgary, and the third in Saskatoon. One Christmas, all the children, one after the other, called their parents to announce that they weren’t coming home for Christmas. A couple of days after the calls of the children, their father called them, one after the other, to announce to them in turns that he was divorcing their mother at Christmas,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 →

A God who Plans: Plan as He Plans Isaiah 40:1-5, 9-11; 2 Peter 3:8-14; Mark 1:1-8 “He who fails to plan, plans to fail,” goes the popular saying. In our contemporary capitalistic economies, planning is essential. Countries and companies that plan normally have better results than others. One area of planning is budgeting. Two areas of budgeting are essential for success in all kinds of planning: expected income and expenditure. It is true that the money built into a budget could be from borrowed money, anticipated earnings, or cash in hand. All the same, budgeting keeps one focused, resolute, and proactive, where budgeting is wellRead More →

All is Grace because of God! Isaiah 63:16b-17, 19b; 64:2-7; 1 Corinthians 1:3-9; Mark 13:33-37 Every single day, with the vicissitudes of light and darkness, dusk and dawn, change makes itself inevitable. The change that seems most perceptible to us is the ubiquity of sin, the inadequacies we notice in ourselves, and the world around us. We seek for the just and the ideal, we rather experience iniquity; we attempt to work for a better society, a better tomorrow, yet our actions contribute to the wrongs we see, and not the good we desire. In a nutshell, humanity is broken, and its ability to doRead More →

Christ the King or Destiny Sunday Ezekiel 34:11-12, 15-17; 1 Corinthians 15:20-26, 28; Matthew 25:31-46 In our first reading, God uses the imagery of a shepherd tending his sheep to talk about the nature of the care necessary for his human creatures. He lists some of the activities required: rescue from danger and the provision of feeding and housing for the sheep. It is after these requirements are met that the shepherd begins to heal the sick and bind the injured. God will do all these things because the human shepherds have failed in exactly those responsibilities: “The word of the Lord came to me:Read More →

Investment Sunday NOT Judgment Day Proverbs 31:10-13, 19-20, 30-31; 1 Thessalonians 5:1-6; Matthew 25:14-30. When we read today’s readings, especially the gospel, from the background of the liturgical year that draws to a close, the temptation is to focus on the four last things – death, judgment, heaven and hell. This approach, of itself, is laudable, but it smacks off fatalism. It is as if we stand before God’s judgment here and now, which is not the case. However, a new perspective to our liturgical readings becomes manifest when we ask why a “good woman” is being praised on a Sunday that draws our attentionRead More →

Communion Sunday Wisdom 6:12-16; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; Matthew 25:1-13 In the history of humanity, the American election is the most expensive, most protracted, and most watched. Events of the last American presidential election kept most Americans on their toes, watching anxiously for accuracy and validity of votes, searching for possible areas of litigation,  with conscientious reporting by journalists, spirited debates on air, in the streets and at homes around the election. Many Americans went from door to door to campaign for their political parties; the candidates themselves canvassed for votes by selling their manifestos. One has the sense of active participation by most Americans andRead More →