Sermon for 8th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle C Homily

February 20, 2022February 26, 2022 selvam Year C

8th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle C
When it comes to conversion, it is I first!
In one of his daily sermons (on 19 May 2017), Pope Francis said, some people “use rigidness to cover weaknesses, sins, personality flaws, and they use rigidness to rank themselves above others.” The Pope suggested that people who are rigid about their faith tend to live double lives. On another occasion, the Pope said, concealed by rigidity there is always something else! That’s why Jesus uses the word ‘hypocrites!’ “They appear good because they follow the Law; but behind there is something that does not make them good. Either they’re bad, hypocrites or they are sick. They suffer!” he said.
In this context, someone recently drew my attention to the results of a research carried out by the Harvard B-School […]

Sermon for 7th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle C Homily

February 17, 2022February 18, 2022 selvam Year C

7th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle C
Christian Perfection is Compassion

Recently, I led a team of colleagues from our college on a benchmarking visit to another Catholic-led University. We were amazed at the way the university grounds were so clean. In our conversation with the Vice Chancellor, we asked him what the secret was. He spoke about the founding Vice Chancellor of that institution who would pick up pieces of rubbish, if any, as he walked up and down the corridors and the lawns. Eventually, everyone – staff and students – started to pick up the wrappers and pieces of paper around, and they also stopped throwing them around. By and by the university community got into a culture of cleanliness that is so impressive to this day. In the beginning days, the […]

Selvam’s Contribution to Positive Psychology Reviewed.

February 16, 2022April 9, 2022 selvam Articles/Chapters

{{unknown}}A recently published book by Springer, The International Handbook of Positive Psychology, has a chapter on Positive Psychology in Sub-Saharan Africa as part of the chapter, Selvam’s contribution to positive psychology has been extensively reviewed.
Wilson Fadiji, A., & Wissing, M. P. (2022). Positive Psychology in Sub-Saharan Africa. In The International Handbook of Positive Psychology (pp. 307-354). Springer, Cham.
https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-57354-6

Sermon for 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle C Homily

February 11, 2022February 12, 2022 selvam Year C

How Happy Are You… (Lk 6:17-26)
6th Sunday in Ordinary
A few years ago, on a Saturday in February I was travelling from Nairobi to Dar es Salaam. My companion on this 1000 kilometre journey was a priest. Both of us had sermons to preach the next day. At one point during the journey, the priest friend asked me, “Selvam, have you by chance looked up at the gospel text for tomorrow?” “Oh yes, it is the Beatitudes from Luke,” I said. And he seemed to be sure of himself as he said, “Oh… the Sermon on the Mount!” My immediate reply was, “No, not really! In fact, it is a sermon from the plains!”
Often when we look at Gospel texts we easily say: oh yes, I know it. For instance, […]

Sermon for 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year C Homily

February 4, 2022February 5, 2022 selvam Year C

I say, “Leave me, Lord!” God says, “Do not be afraid!” Lk 5
5th Sunday in ordinary time – year C
There is this musical called, ‘The Witness’ by Jimmy & Carol Owens. It is a musical which narrates the life and ministry of Jesus as witnessed by the apostle Peter. Early in the narration Peter sings:
Nothin’ ever happens here in Galilee,
You just follow in the footsteps of your family.
Be a fisherman like people say you’re meant to be,
Go down to the boat| Throw your net in the sea|
Take your turn at the car| Hoist the sail|
Mend the net| Clean the fish|
cut the bait|Ya da dum| Da da dee|
Oh| Nothin’ ever happens to me|
Then Jesus came and all of our lives were changed.
A few years back, in an attempt to define prayer, I said, “Prayer is becoming aware of who I am in […]