Love, Forgiveness, Salvation (Lk 7:36-50)
11th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Situating ourselves within the Gospel of Luke
During this liturgical year, our gospel readings come from the Gospel of Luke. The public ministry of Jesus in the Gospel of Luke begins in Chapter 4 (vv.14-30) with the proclamation of his mission statement using the words of prophet Isaiah, in the synagogue at Nazareth. “Good News to the Poor”, was his motto. Jesus seems to give a very broad meaning to the word ‘poor’. In Chapters 4 to 6 of Luke, Jesus has been curing the sick and the possessed, being kind to women (Lk 4:38-39), feeding the hungry (Lk 6:1-3), giving hope to the hopeless (Lk 6:17f) and forgiving sinners (Lk 5:20). Yes, sinners too lack something – forgiveness and salvation. (See Lk 7:22 for a concise summary). Meanwhile the Pharisees and the […]
Sunday Sermons
Sunday Sermons and Homilies
Sermon for 10th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle C Homily
Life to the Full (Lk 7:11-17)
10th Sunday in Ordinary Time
After the Season of Lent and the great festivities that followed we are now resuming the Ordinary Time of the Year. We resume from where we had left just before the Ash Wednesday, hence, this Sunday is the 10th Sunday in Cycle C. We will go on in this sequence, listening to the Gospel of Luke, until the Feast of Christ the King.
The first reading and the gospel text of today narrate to us two stories of raising young men from the dead – one by Prophet Elijah and the other by Jesus. There is a similarity between the two stories, namely, both the dead men were young sons of widows. But there are also dissimilarities between the stories. It is important to notice one basic difference that highlights the uniqueness […]
Sermon for 4th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year C Homily
Year of Mercy – Reflection for 4th Sunday in Ordinary Time (31 Jan 2016)
(Disclaimer: The following lines are product of pure imagination!)
Mr Pius is a good Christian.
He goes to church even on week days.
He reads the Bible very regularly.
He says all his long prayers very diligently –
even if often he would say them rather hurriedly.
He is an educated man, and he reads even the documents of the Church.
He is aware of the current debates that are going on in the Church.
He is in-charge of the formation of laity in his parish.
He has his positions clear:
The interpretation of the traditional teaching of the Church should not be watered down –
Not even in the name of mercy!
He believes that God is a just judge.
He will punish the wicked in time.
They will be […]
Year of Mercy – Reflection for 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time (24 Jan 2015)
For a previous reflection of mine on the gospel of text of today: <<CLICK HERE>>. What follows is as reflection on the gospel of today in the context of the Year of Mercy, which is also the Jubilee year.
The Jubilee Year
It is so meaningful that in this “Year of Mercy”, as we begin to listen to the Gospel of Luke during this Ordinary Time in the liturgical calendar of Year C, we hear Jesus proclaiming “a year of favour from the Lord” (Lk 4:19; Is 61:2).
The connotation to the Year of the Lord in Isaiah is inspired by what is found in the Book of Leviticus (25:10-17):
You will declare this fiftieth year to be sacred and proclaim the liberation of all the country’s inhabitants. You will keep this as a jubilee… […]
Sermon for the Feast of All Saints
The Saints Inspire, and we can Imitate them
All Saints Day (Nov 1, 2015)
Why Saints? Because they inspire us
In 2009, when the relics of St Thérèse of Lisieux were being taken around the UK, the euphoria of the people who went to pay homage took the sceptics by surprise. In the secular Britain, an estimated 290,000 people paid their respects to St Thérèse, in 20 churches. However, I must say, I heard the most cynical remarks about the relics only from my fellow priests. In any case, one of those nights I was called to help out with confessions at the Westminster Cathedral. As I sat at St George’s chapel, hearing the sincere confessions of some pilgrims, I watched the others file by the relics. But what touched me most was the crowds of people who sat at various positions in […]