3rd Sunday in Advent – Cycle C
Spirituality of the Essential
The message of John the Baptist in the gospel text of last Sunday (2nd Sunday in Advent – year C) was, “Prepare a way for the Lord…” (Lk 3:4). After hearing this message, we see in the gospel text of today people going to him and asking him, “What must we do” (Lk 3:10). How do we prepare for the coming of the messiah? His general message to everyone is ‘Charity’. His message to the tax collectors is, ‘Justice’. And to the soldiers, “Be content!” John the Baptist seems to be well aware of the situations of each group and quite down to earth in his proposals.
So I too went to John the Baptist. “What about me? What must I do?” I asked. He said, “Live simply. Live a spirituality of […]
Sunday Sermons
Sunday Sermons and Homilies
Advent Sermons: Homilies for the Four Sundays of Advent
Advent Sermons: Homilies for the Four Sundays of Advent
Right from the 4th Century Christians have had this special time of preparation towards Christmas, and they called it, adventus. In Latin, it simply means, ‘coming’. Like the season of Lent (before Easter) traditionally this season also was observed as a time of fasting and prayer (before Christmas). That is why, much like the season of Lent, you can see the priest wearing violet during liturgical celebrations, and in some part of the world even weddings are not officiated in church during this season.
The four Sundays of Advent revolve around similar themes: coming of Jesus and waiting. Click on the following links to access a variety of sermons for this season.
Coming of Jesus: Three possible Meanings
They confessed their Sins: Preparing to Welcome Jesus
Spirituality of Waiting
Waiting in Integration
Jesus Comes Here and Now
Spirituality of the […]
Sermon for the Feast of Christ the King – Homily
34th Sunday of the year
Jesus, the king of our hearts
For another sermon on the same theme: CLICK HERE
This is one of the feasts that I find difficult to understand. So I did some reading about the history of this feast, I was utterly shocked to note that this feast was introduced only in 1925 by Pope Pius XI. Interestingly, as the Pope points out in an encyclical (letter of the pope) that accompanied the event, the introduction of the feast was a warning against the totalitarian governments of the 20th century. It was a statement against the situation of Europe between the two World Wars.
In this light, I got a new impetus to prepare this sermon. As we know, though ‘kings and queens’ are mostly becoming titles of the past, or […]
Sermon for 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year B Homily
The Power of Suffering and Service
29th Sunday – Year B
Pleasure, Possessions and Power
We are created to be happy. Our pursuit of happiness revolves around, and often misled by, the three P-wants: Pleasure, Possession, and Power. Pleasure is the ability to enjoy positive mental and physical states. Possession is the endowment to have access to the fundamental needs of human beings. And power is the possibility to have agency over the environment and people around us. The 3 P’s may contribute to happiness, and at the same time, an exaggerated focus on them could leave us unhappy. This is our struggle: to balance our need and want for pleasure, possession and power.
The core content of the temptations of Jesus, in the Synoptic Gospels (Mt 4:1-11; Mk 1:12-13; Lk 4:1-11) and even […]
Sermon for 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year B Homily
Do not be possessed by possessions
28th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Here is a story from Tony de Mello:
When the sage reached the outskirts of the village and settled under a tree for the night, a villager came running up to him and said, “The stone! The stone! Give me the precious stone!” “What stone?” asked the sage. “Last night in a dream I was told that if I went to the outskirts of the village at dusk a sage would give me a stone that would make me rich forever.” The sage rummaged in his sack and, pulling out a stone, he said, “It is probably this one. I found it in the forest yesterday. Here, it’s yours if you want it.” The man gazed at the stone in […]