Your righteousness must go deeper (Mt 5:20)
The powerful invitation of the Sermon on the Mount, that we continue to listen to in the gospel reading of today, is to embrace the previous revelation of God and to be available to the God who is here and now. It is also an invitation to embrace the Law and to go beyond it. And to be part of the Kingdom of God, your righteousness has to be go beyond that of the scribes and Pharisees (Mt 5:20).
This is the time of New Dispensation. Righteousness is not legalism. The word ‘righteousness’ could be translated as justice, uprightness, virtue, perfection. Matthew is constantly proposing a new and deeper meaning of righteousness. It is not mere conformity to law, but a response to the plan of […]
Sunday Sermons
Sunday Sermons and Homilies
Sermon for 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year A Homily
5th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year A
You are the salt of the earth… and light of the World (Mt 5:13-14)
The sentences that we hear in the gospel reading of today immediately follow the Beatitudes. It is still part of the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus says, “You are the salt of the earth… you are the light of the World” (Mt 5:13-14). Maintaining the same tone of the Beatitude (Blessed are you…), the opening line of today’s gospel is a promise and an invitation: You are the salt of the earth…you are the light of the world, and you be the salt of the earth and light of the world. What does that mean?
Let me start with the easier part – at least in meaning if not in practice: You are the light of the […]
Sermon for 4th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year A Homily
4th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year A
Blessed are you…
In October 2000, I had the privilege of visiting the home village of the late Julius Nyerere, the father of the nation of Tanzania. We were visiting the grave of this great Catholic, now a Servant of God and whose process of beatification is still in progress. In this dusty little village – Butiama, not far from Lake Victoria – world’s great leaders had gathered a year earlier to lay to rest the remains of the first president of Tanzania. It was an awesome experience to note that an African president had spent his early days and the final days in this remote simple location: with no drive, no gates, no green lawn, no mansions. As I stood praying at his grave, […]
Sermon for 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year A Homily
3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year A
“At once, leaving the boat and their father, they followed him” (Mt 4:12-23)
The gospel text of today from Matthew narrates to us the beginning of the public ministry of Jesus in Capernaum. It was one of the principal towns around the lake of Galilee. It was on the trade route between the southern nations (that included even Egypt) and the northern lands of Syria and even Turkey. The Romans had established a customs office at Capernaum and a garrison managed by a centurion. Traders had to give a large rate of tax for unprocessed goods like grain and olives. Therefore, it is possible that besides the fishing industry Capernaum had a lot of processing units where grains were milled into flours and olives […]
Sermon for 2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year A Homily
2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year A
The Life Journey of John the Baptist (Jn 1:29-34)
In the liturgical calendar, we are back to the ordinary time. But in our gospel reading there is an attempt to make the liturgy of today special. Perhaps it is just to remind us that every Eucharistic celebration is special! As we are in Year A, we should have been listening to the Gospel of Matthew. But our gospel text for today came from the Gospel of John, as is the case every year on the 2nd Sunday in ordinary time. The liturgy of the 2nd Sunday invites us once again to focus on the figure of John the Baptist as if to bridge the season of Advent and Christmas with the rest of the year. What can we learn from John the Baptist? John invites us […]