Eyes Fixed on Heaven and Feet Firm on the Earth
The Feast of the Ascension – Cycle C
Luke tells us in the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 1:3) that Jesus was seen in his risen form for forty days. After those forty days, Jesus was no more seen in his risen body. The feast of today marks this stage of transition in the story of incarnation and resurrection – that Jesus is not visible in his earthly body as such. Luke describes this “withdrawal” of Jesus (Lk 24:51) in terms of being “lifted up” (Acts 1:9). And Mark describes it in terms of “being taken up into heaven” (Mk 16:19). Hence, “the ascension” of the Lord! However, with our modern familiarity with rocket science, we shouldn’t be led to think of the feast […]
Month: May 2022
Keeping His Word – Homily for 6th Sunday Eastertide
Keeping the Word of God
On account of the influence of some contemporary trends in Christianity, which have moved away from understanding revelation as including Sacred Tradition, which have also moved from the encounter with God in Jesus at the celebration of the Eucharist, when some Christians hear the expression, “Word of God”, their immediate assumption is that ‘Word of God’ equals solely to the Bible.
When John 1:14 says, “And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us,” is it that Bible became flesh? Or when Jesus says, as in the gospel of today, “Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him” (Jn 14:23), is he only talking about the […]
Sermon for the 6th Sunday in Eastertide – Cycle C Homily
I am going away, and shall return
Have you ever felt that Jesus was absent in your life? Have you ever felt that God was far away?
Sometime back I was talking to a young friend of mine about this subject. She simply feels that Jesus is absent in her life right now. I suggested to her to write a letter to Jesus. So she decided to write an email to Jesus, copied to me. With her kind permission I share this with you. She writes:
Jesus,
Well….this is not a break up….but I wanted to tell you that I realize that I don’t love you [any more]. Don’t get me wrong. I adore your teaching, I love your spirituality. And that is what you are to me—a guru, a teacher, someone to look up to and admire. I admire my doctor for […]
5th Sunday of Easter Sermon – Cycle C Homily – Love One Another
5th Sunday in Eastertide – Year C
Love one another, just as I have loved you
From the Golden Rule to a Programme of Life
Many Diocesan Catechisms, after listing the Ten Commandments would immediately add, “And these can be summarised in two Commandments:
‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind’ (from Deuteronomy 6:5), and
‘You must love your neighbour as yourself’” (from Leviticus 19:18).
The official Catechism of the Catholic Church (1993) does not add this appendage, but it groups the Ten Commandments in two sections using the two quotations (from Deuteronomy and Leviticus) referring to the Love of God and the Love of Neighbour as titles for the two groups. For the purposes of teaching it is useful to […]
4th Sunday of Easter Sermon – Cycle C Homily: Good Shepherd Sunday
4th Sunday of Easter – Year C
I am known to the Shepherd (Jn 10:27-30)
With the increasing urban life, young people of today might think, oranges are just churned out of factories. The only fruits that they may be familiar with are: Apple products, Black-berries and Orange-mobile phone! And with new techniques of farming and animal husbandry, the image of the shepherd may become a by-gone figure.
Today, the 4th Sunday of Easter is celebrated as the Good Shepherd Sunday. We think of the ‘pastoral’ love of God, as we also pray for vocations to priesthood; priests are the ‘pastors’ of the church. Each year, for the gospel reading, we hear one part of John 10. This year, being Year C, we listen to the third part of that chapter. Today, Jesus says, “I know them and they know me; and […]