The Good Boy and the Bad Boy
4th Sunday in Lent (Lk 15:1-3, 11-32)
Today is one of those days, when I feel, a homily might steal the gospel reading of its depth. The parable that we heard read is a much-quoted story and we are all too familiar with it. Perhaps I might just challenge that familiarity, so that the Word of God may become alive in us today.
Usually in stories and movies, there are three types of main characters: the hero and/or the heroin – the protagonist, around whom the story revolves; there is the anti-hero – the antagonist who creates a conflict which the hero attempts to resolve; and the supporting characters, who contribute to the events that lead up to the conflict and the resolution. There would also be the minor characters (like the servants), and ‘the […]
Author: selvam
Sermon for 3rd Sunday in Lent – Cycle C Homily
The God who offers me a second chance
3rd Sunday of Lent (Lk 13:1-9)
Is the God you believe in, a coach or a referee? What does a coach do, for instance, in the context of football? He trains his team before the match. He is there during the struggle of his team. He may not play the game, but he encourages, gives directions. He may shout at the players, but only for their own good. Generally, the coach is concerned with the quality of the game and how well individuals and the team have played it.
On the other hand, the referee expects you to know the rules of the game and just to obey. He is not concerned with the results of the game. For him, a good team is that which has obeyed the rules – blindly.
Do you feel your […]
Sermon for the 2nd Sunday in Lent – Cycle C Homily
Towards an experience of Jesus
For almost five years I was privileged to live at the foot of Kilimanjaro, the highest peak in Africa. Every morning we looked up with a great expectation if the snow-capped peak would show itself. When it did, my day would begin by spending a few minutes just admiring its grandeur. For the Chagga people of Tanzania, who live around Kilimanjaro, this once a volcanic crater is the abode of God: ‘Kilima cha Ruah’ – as they called it! Mountains are seen as locations of God-experience in many traditional cultures, and in many of the world religions. It is not by chance then that one of the classical works of St Johnof the Cross is called, The Ascent of Mount Carmel (1579); and more recently, Thomas Merton entitles his autobiography as, The Seven-Storey Mountain (1948).
The […]
Sermon for 1st Sunday in Lent – Year C Homily
The 3Ps: Pleasure, Possessions, Power!
1st Sunday in Lent – Cycle C
We say the Season of Lent lasts forty days, as the Latin word, ‘Quadragesima” suggests. When I was a young seminarian – sceptical as I was – I took the calendar and wanted to make sure for myself if there were indeed 40 days from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday. To my surprise, I found there are actually 47 days (including Easter). I had reasons to be sceptical, after all! So I had a question for the teacher of liturgy, who himself was taken by surprise. Later he came up with a meaningful explanation: even on Sundays in Lent, we celebrate the Resurrection of the Lord, as we do every Sunday; and hence they are not counted as days of fasting and penance. So Lent does have forty […]
Sermon for 7th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle C Homily
7th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle C
Christian Perfection is Compassion
Recently, I led a team of colleagues from our college on a benchmarking visit to another Catholic-led University. We were amazed at the way the university grounds were so clean. In our conversation with the Vice Chancellor, we asked him what the secret was. He spoke about the founding Vice Chancellor of that institution who would pick up pieces of rubbish, if any, as he walked up and down the corridors and the lawns. Eventually, everyone – staff and students – started to pick up the wrappers and pieces of paper around, and they also stopped throwing them around. By and by the university community got into a culture of cleanliness that is so impressive to this day. In the beginning days, […]