Your righteousness must go deeper (Mt 5:20)
The powerful invitation of the Sermon on the Mount, that we continue to listen to in the gospel reading of today, is to embrace the previous revelation of God and to be available to the God who is here and now. It is also an invitation to embrace the Law and to go beyond it. And to be part of the Kingdom of God, your righteousness has to be go beyond that of the scribes and Pharisees (Mt 5:20).
This is the time of New Dispensation. Righteousness is not legalism. The word ‘righteousness’ could be translated as justice, uprightness, virtue, perfection. Matthew is constantly proposing a new and deeper meaning of righteousness. It is not mere conformity to law, but a response to the plan of […]
Author: selvam
Research on Secularisation Among Young Adults
African scholars have claimed that African peoples are “notoriously religious”. Is this still the case? Empirical literature on the subject is meagre. Therefore, the objective of this study was to examine the antecedents, triggers and response of secularisation and spirituality among lapsed-Christian young adults in Nairobi, Kenya, the participants were aged between 18 and 35, who were baptised but have abandoned Christian faith in favour of secularisation or non-affiliated spirituality. Qualitative data, from semi-structured in-depth interviews among the 14 participants, sampled through a snowball process, was recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analysed by the two authors. Eleven emerging themes were identified from 10 hours of data. The first two themes suggest that mixed faith backgrounds of parents and discordant relationship within the family act as antecedents in adopting a secular […]
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Habits make us. Habits also break us.
This book is about habits. It is a guide to getting rid of habits that break you and building habits that make you.
Habits that build you up and others around you goes to form your Character Virtue. Character Strengths are said to contribute to individual and collective wellebing.
In effect, this is not a book. It is a manual for a Christian pilgrimage towards inner freedom and wellbeing. It provides guidelines daily, for forty days.
There is something wonderful that is going to happen to you at the end of this pilgrimage. You are likely to have a renewed vision, restored motivation, and revitalized energy.
Walk one day at a time. Walk to inner freedom. Walk to the embrace of God.
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Sermon for 2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year A Homily
2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year A
The Life Journey of John the Baptist (Jn 1:29-34)
In the liturgical calendar, we are back to the ordinary time. But in our gospel reading there is an attempt to make the liturgy of today special. Perhaps it is just to remind us that every Eucharistic celebration is special! As we are in Year A, we should have been listening to the Gospel of Matthew. But our gospel text for today came from the Gospel of John, as is the case every year on the 2nd Sunday in ordinary time. The liturgy of the 2nd Sunday invites us once again to focus on the figure of John the Baptist as if to bridge the season of Advent and Christmas with the rest of the year. What can we learn from John the Baptist? John invites us […]
Sermon for 3rd Sunday in Advent – Year A Homily
Spirituality of Waiting
3rd Sunday in Advent – Cycle A
While still in London, one day, I had to travel across the city on a weekday during the morning rush hour to preside at a Eucharistic celebration. The internet estimated that my journey would take about an hour and a half, but I left a little bit late. As I sat anxiously on the London Tube (underground train) wishing to push that train to run faster, I began to have a look at the people who sat around me: a few were trying to catch up with their make up, some were catching up with their breakfast, others were catching up with the news, and still others either fidgeting with an electronic toy (like the mobile phone or ipad), or listening to music. And suddenly an insight came to me, as […]