2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time Sermon – Year B Homily – Come and you will See

ComeAndSee-Graphic.001   2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle B
They went… and stay with him (Jn 1:35-42)
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What is the core of Christianity?  I asked myself this question after being a Christian for almost forty years.  Better late than never!
Is the core of Christianity, being good?  My mother always told me to be good.  “If you behave well, God will love you!” She said.  This was a way my mother convinced me – I convinced myself – to follow Christian morality. Is Christian morality, enshrined in the Ten Commandments, the core of Christianity?   At a particular stage in life I realized that Christianity is not merely a moral system.  Morality is only one aspect of it.  And, Christian morality is not based on just obeying rules, but […]

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Sermon for the Feast of the Holy Family

Feast of the Holy Family
They settled in a town called Nazareth (Mt 2:23)
One Christmas, I happened to go to two main churches for the day mass in Nairobi; I was surprised to find these churches that are usually very vibrant on other Sundays, empty during Christmas. What had happened, I asked a priest-friend.  Simply, people had travelled to their villages of origin (“up-country”, as they referred to Kenya) to celebrate Christmas with their extended families.  How interesting, I thought. 
Yes, Christmas is indeed a family feast.  Not only in Kenya, but all over the world, people come ‘home’ during Christmas.  
Therefore, even as we are in the Christmas Octave – eight days of celebration following Christmas – the Church invites us to pay attention to the family around the little Babe Jesus, the Holy […]

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Sermon for the 2nd Sunday in Advent – Year B Homily

second-week-of-advent-peace-candle-550x3592nd Sunday of Advent – Year B
John the Baptist: the one who knew his space
 One of the persons that the Liturgy of the Word during the season of Advent draws our attention to is John the Baptist.  Evangelist Mark  presents John the Baptist as a person who resisted the temptation to be more than himself (in fact all the Gospels): “In the course of his preaching John the Baptist said, ‘After me is coming someone who is more powerful than me, and I am not fit to kneel down and undo the strap of his sandals.  I have baptised you with water, but he will baptise you with the Holy Spirit.’ (Mk 1:7, 8). From the narrative of Mark, there are three qualities that stand out in John the Baptist: his simplicity, […]

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1st Sunday of Advent – Year B Homily: Integration

integrationWaiting for the Lord:  from rigidity and chaos to integration
1st Sunday of Advent – Year B
 In some of our institutions in Asia and Africa we have watchmen or security personnel. I am talking about the day-watchmen particularly those who mind the gates, not the night-watchmen, who are actually paid to sleep in our properties!  (The only night-watchman I have ever come across who we knew was not sleeping at night actually went mad after doing his job so conscientiously for three months.) In any case, I think, there are three types of watchmen – sorry for not being gender-sensitive here, since I have also come across security women these days!  There are the rigid ones; there are the chaotic ones; and then the integrated ones.  The rigid ones prefer to stand or […]

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Sermon for the Feast of Christ the King – 34th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year A Homily

Servant_LeadershipWhat is your preferred style of leadership?
 ‘Leadership’ is a much discussed topic today, not only in politics but also in the corporate world.  Management trainers at business schools discuss concepts such as Servant Leadership, Transformational Leadership, Visionary Leadership, and Shepherd Leadership. Most of these terminologies have their origins in Christian background.
On the other hand, some research findings have suggested that to be a CEO or an MD in some multinationals of the globe one has to be a heartless go-getter, almost bordering the behaviour of a psychopath.  They are merely profit-oriented, and care less for human beings.
The feast of today is an occasion to pause and reflect about our own leadership styles.   We may not be CEOs or top-brass politicians, but most of us might have a sort of charge over some […]

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