Pastoral Supervision: Managing Psychosocial Challenges in Priestly Ministry
Selvam, S.G. (2022). Pastoral Supervision: Managing Psychosocial Challenges in Priestly Ministry. In S. Fernando, J. & Jeyaraj, (eds.) Care for the Priests (pp.21-34). Chennai: Don Bosco Publications.
Engagement in pastoral commitments involves intrapersonal and interpersonal experiences of psychosocial nature. These include: dynamics of euphoria and dysphoria following public engagements, emotional overload and affective enmeshment, transference and counter-transference, and power disparity. Priests, especially those young in ministry, might mistake these states for boredom, depression, temptations, and discouragement. Seminary formation does not prepare them adequately to handle these nuanced experiences. Without understanding what is happening to them, they might get into a downward spiral of addictions and unhealthy relationships. What could be a support system that they can rely on. The current chapter proposes pastoral supervision as an […]
Author: selvam
Sermon for 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year C Homily
28th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year C
He threw himself at the feet of Jesus and thanked him (Lk 17:11-19)
During the Ordinary Time of the year, for Sunday liturgy we normally listen to a particular Gospel. This year we are listening to the Gospel of Luke. The first reading is selected from the Old Testament in such a way as to correspond to the gospel text, while the 2nd reading from the Epistles follows its own sequence. Today, the first reading and the gospel text have extraordinary similarities. Both are stories about lepers being healed; in both stories there are expressions of gratitude; and both are about outsiders!
Let us begin by looking at some of the interesting details in the gospel text of today so as to appreciate the context of the story, and then we can reflect a little […]
Sermon for 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year C Homily
26th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Why Love?
(Luke 16:19-31: the parable of Lazarus and the rich man)
It is quite common in parts of East Africa for employees to be absent from work for the purposes of attending funerals. While in westernized African cities like Nairobi most funerals are scheduled on Saturdays these days, in smaller towns this is not possible for want of good mortuaries. But why a high rate of absenteeism from work due to funerals? For one thing, funerals are communal events and hence people would go for funerals of even mutual friends. However, once I asked one of our staff who was going to the third funeral in one month during her working hours: “Why do you have to go for almost every funeral in town?” Her answer was quite straightforward: “If I do not go for the […]
Sermon for 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year C Homily
Use money to win you friends
25th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Lk 16:1-16)
A clear message in the gospels: Renunciation
The gospel of this Sunday took a lot of effort to prepare a sermon on. For one, this is one of the repeated themes in the gospels:
In the Beatitudes, Jesus begins with a counter-cultural statement, “How blessed are you who are poor: the kingdom of God is yours” (Lk 6:20).
In his preaching, particularly in the Gospel of Luke, Jesus would often repeat: “Sell your possessions and give to those in need. Get yourselves purses that do not wear out, treasure that will not fail you, in heaven where no thief can reach it and no moth destroy it” (Lk 12:33).
In the parable of the rich man, God said, “Fool! This very night the demand will be made for your soul; and this hoard […]
Sermon for 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year C Homily
The Lost Son
24th Sunday in Ordinary Time (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. There would also be the minor characters (like the servants), and ‘the extras’.
The story of two boys
In the parable […]