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 […]

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Sermon for 4th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year C Homily

Pope FrancisYear 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 condemned […]

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Year of Mercy – Reflection for 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time (24 Jan 2015)

1430808482743For 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… in […]

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Sermon for 4th Sunday in Eastertide – Cycle C Homily

4th Sunday of Easter – Year C
I am known to the Shepherd (Jn 10:27-30)
 With the increasing urban life, young people of today might think, oranges are just churned out of factories.  The only fruits that they may be familiar with are: Apple products, Black-berries and Orange-mobile phone! And with new techniques of farming and animal husbandry, the image of the shepherd may become a by-gone figure.
Today, the 4th Sunday of Easter is celebrated as the Good Shepherd Sunday.  We think of the ‘pastoral’ love of God, as we also pray for vocations to priesthood; priests are the ‘pastors’ of the church.  Each year, for the gospel reading, we hear one part of John 10. This year, being Year C, we listen to the third part of that chapter.  Today, Jesus says, “I know them and they know me; […]

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Sunday Readings

The readings of the Liturgy of the Word during Sunday liturgy in the Catholic Church (as also is the case in some mainline churches) is arranged in a three year cycle:
Cycle A: From the Gospel of Matthew
Cycle B: From the Gospel of Mark
Cycle C: From the Gospel of Luke
How to find the respective cycle for a given year?
Divide the year (eg.2011) by 3.  If the reminder is 1 then we follow the readings of Cycle A.  If the reminder is 2 then we use the readings of Cycle B. If the reminder is 0 (that is, it is divisible by 3) then Cycle C.
To get the reminder, there is a short-cut: add all the digits of the numerical year (2+0+1+1=4). Divide the value by 3 (4/3).
In 2011 we are following the Cycle A.  Next year (2012) will be Cycle B.  And 2013 will be cycle C.

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