The Narrow Door
21th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Lk13:22-30)
When you were in school, did you prefer easy-going teachers to demanding ones? I have been in formal education for 24 years and I generally preferred the demanding teachers, because most often I found the easy-going ones not only shallow but very “stingy” with marks to maintain the class average because they wanted to please all students!
In the gospel reading of today, Luke presents Jesus as a demanding teacher. This portrayal of Jesus is very unlike Luke. For instance, Matthew uses the phrase “grinding of teeth” (NJB), or in other translations, “gnash their teeth” (RSV), five times in his Gospel, whereas Luke uses it only once. And that happens to be in the gospel text of today. Being consistent within the Gospel of Luke, what is the central orientation of the Word of […]
Author: selvam
Sermon for 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle C Homily
Disturb us, Lord
20th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Lk 12:49-53)
Jesus said to his disciples: ‘I have come to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were blazing already! When I read the gospel reading of today, a phrase kept coming back to me very spontaneously. It was the first line of a prayer that I had heard before. I googled and came across this poem-prayer, written by a famous British sailor of the 16th Century, Sir Francis Drake:
Disturb us, Lord, when
We are too pleased with ourselves,
When our dreams have come true
Because we dreamed too little,
When we arrived safely
Because we sailed too close to the shore.
Disturb us, Lord, when
With the abundance of things we possess
We have lost our thirst
For the waters of life;
Having fallen in love with life,
We have ceased to dream of eternity
And in our efforts to build a new […]
Sermon for 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle C Homily
Spiritual Capital: Treasures in Heaven
19th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Lk 12:32-48)
I am intrigued by what one of my former students does for a living. He predicts stock-markets. He appears on TV at breakfast shows forecasting trends in the market and advising investors. He trains people on how to make money sitting at their homes buying and selling shares. I watched a few of his TV-shows. It was all about how to get rich quickly and effortlessly! And his ideas sell.
In this climate of quick money, I asked myself how would people look at religion and spirituality. We are forced to speak a language of economics even in the context of faith: hence my reflection today is on “spiritual capital”. I am aware that this term is already in use in different circles. But the way I […]
Sermon for 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle C Homily
Ask, Seek, Knock
17th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Lk 11:1-13)
Let me begin with a story from Tony de Mello – shortened here:
The village priest was a holy man so each time the people were in trouble they had recourse to him. He would then withdraw to a special place in the forest and say a special prayer. God would always hear his prayer and the village would be helped.
When he died and the people were in trouble they had recourse lo his successor who was not a holy man but knew the secret of the special place in the forest and the special prayer. So he said. “Lord, you know I am not a holy man. But surely you are not going to hold that against my people? So listen to my prayer and come to our assistance.” And God […]
Sermon for 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle C Homily
Mary sat beside the Lord at his feet listening to him speak
16th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Lk 10:38-42)
One of the realities that we notice in urban life today, across the globe, is speed. Speed. Having spent my recent years in cities like London and Nairobi, I feel sucked into speed. I get into a car every morning and rush to work. Every evening I get back into the car and drive – either cursing the slow driver in front of me or being pushed from behind by a driver who is in a hurry. While in office, I read emails from people who want replies today! Others want a report immediately. Still others let you know of meetings and programmes just now. Meanwhile I want to multitask: producing an article for publication, preparing my lessons, answering phone calls, and […]