22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year B
From Religious Traditions to Religious Spirituality
Some of the recent, popular books in the study of religion include, Why God Won’t Go Away?, God is Back, and A New Religious America. What these books suggest is that secularism as a social phenomenon is on the decline. Perhaps human beings are growing out of their adolescent rebellion against God. On the other hand, what religious people will have to witness is the fast rise of a new type of ‘spirituality’ – a non-aligned spirituality. For instance, a recent cross-cultural study indicates that 40 per cent of American respondents and 20 per cent of German respondents describe themselves as ‘spiritual-but-not-religious.’ In other words, the current development seems to point out that, after all, secularism was not […]
Month: August 2021
Sermon for 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year B Homily
21st Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle B
You have the message of eternal life, and we believe! (Jn 6:69)
With today’s gospel reading we conclude the five weeks of reflection on the Bread of Life from John 6. This conclusion offers a mixed sense of reaction to whatever has preceded in Chapter 6. On the one hand, some disciples have found the saying of Jesus, “Whoever eats me will also draw life from me” (verse 57), very hard to accept. They say, “This is intolerable language. How could anyone accept it?” (verse 60). As a consequence, “many of his disciples left him and stopped going with him” (verse 66). On the other hand, this crisis offers Jesus an opportunity to test the commitment of the Twelve: “What about you, do you want to […]
Solemnity of Assumption of Mary – the Woman of Contemplation
Mary, the woman of contemplation
Today we celebrate a solemnity that commemorates one of the dogmas around the Blessed Virgin Mary, namely, the Assumption of Mary. Dogmas arise out of the Christian tradition. Even so, I would like to present an image of Mary that emerges from the gospels.
To me, Mary is a woman of contemplation. Particularly, as Luke describes her, Mary keeps the Word of God in her heart, she ponders about the events of her life, she wonders…
When she heard from the angel those powerful words: “The Lord is with you”, she was deeply disturbed by these words and “asked herself what this greeting could mean” (Lk 1:29)? When the shepherds came to see the baby lying in the manger, they reported what they had been told […]
Train the Trainer for Youth Ministry
Train the Trainer in Youth Ministry
DBYES, Nairobi, 2nd to 6th August 2021
“Train the Trainer in Youth Ministry” has been one of the flagship programmes of Don Bosco Youth Educational Services (DBYES, Nairobi) right from its beginning, in the year 2000. Frs Glenford Lowe, Tom Kunnel, Sebastian Kodalyil, and Joe Prabhu, supported by Fr Tony Fernandes, launched this programme, and replicated it in different ways across East Africa. Fr Sahaya G. Selvam, who learnt at the feet of these great giants of Salesian Youth Ministry in Eastern Africa, consolidated this initiative in the Scaffoldings Programme: Training Youth in Christian Life Skills. The manual of which was published by Paulines Africa in 2008.
In Tanzania, Chuo cha Maisha has been running since 2006 in Dar es Salaam Archdiocese and currently being […]
Sermon for 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year B Homily
19th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle B
“The bread … for the life of the world” (Jn 6:51)
Some years back, I was staying at the Salesian community in Florence, Italy, for a few weeks. Florence is known for its art and architecture. Following that great tradition, the Salesians in Florence have a beautiful modern fresco-type of a mural in the background of the sanctuary of their community chapel. Paintings are meant to be looked at; however, let me attempt to describe it to you so as to draw a point of reflection from it. At the centre of the mural is the actual tabernacle with the Holy Eucharist. To the right of the tabernacle is the image of Mary. She is seated on a parapet affectionately cuddling the baby Jesus. Her […]