He taught them with authority (Mk 1:21-28)
4th Sunday in Ordinary time – Year B
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Varieties of Authority
I don’t know if you have watched those old black-and-white fast moving films from the time of the Second World War. Often they show Adolf Hitler addressing large crowds of people. Hitler always spoke with much authority. This has been caricatured by Charlie Chaplin in his The Great Dictator of 1940. Recently, I came upon the acceptance speech of Mother Teresa when she was awarded the Nobel Prize for peace in 1979. She too speaks with much authority. But she begins her speech with the prayer for peace attributed to St Francis of Assisi: “Lord, make me an instrument of your peace!”
So, it seems that there are different types of authority. There […]
Sunday Sermons
Sunday Sermons and Homilies
3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time Sermon – Year B Homily: Repent and Believe!
3rd Sunday in Ordinary time – Year B
Repent and Believe in the Good News
CLICK HERE for a reflection based on the Second Reading of Today.
Little Johnny was basically a good boy. But he had this problem with his temper. He had his bouts of anger that surprised everyone. His mother used to tell him, “Johnny, you are making it difficult for people to love you.”
So, on the New Year day, he made a resolution: “I am not going to get angry anymore.” He went to the back garden, piled together a heap of earth, put a cross over the heap, and wrote on the cross, RIP. His mother and sister were wondering what Johnny was trying to do. Johnny solemnly declared, “This is the grave of the old Johnny. Mum, today I am […]
2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time Sermon – Year B Homily – Come and you will See
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 […]
Sermon for Epiphany
Epiphany: God is made visible!
(Mt 2:1-12)
Watch a Video Reflection by Selvam on the Journey of the Magi: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2hI1Maf8-M
In most cultures, one of the games that children play is “hide and seek”, with many variants – tag, sardines, or hidey (in Scotland). There is a lot of fun in finding hidden objects and people! God seems to play ‘hide and seek’ with human beings.
Isaiah cries out, “Oh God of Israel, you are a God who lies hidden” (Is 45:15). And the Psalmist prays, “It is your face Oh Lord that I seek, hide not your face from me” (Ps 27:8b,9). This was the situation of the old dispensation. But suddenly there is a surprise in the history of salvation. God is made visible in the form of a little babe.
Today’s feast, my dear […]
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 […]