4th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year A
Blessed are you…
In October 2000, I had the privilege of visiting the home village of the late Julius Nyerere, the father of the nation of Tanzania. We were visiting the grave of this great Catholic, now a Servant of God and whose process of beatification is still in progress. In this dusty little village – Butiama, not far from Lake Victoria – world’s great leaders had gathered a year earlier to lay to rest the remains of the first president of Tanzania. It was an awesome experience to note that an African president had spent his early days and the final days in this remote simple location: with no drive, no gates, no green lawn, no mansions. As I stood praying at his grave, […]
Author: selvam
Sermon for 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year A Homily
3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year A
“At once, leaving the boat and their father, they followed him” (Mt 4:12-23)
The gospel text of today from Matthew narrates to us the beginning of the public ministry of Jesus in Capernaum. It was one of the principal towns around the lake of Galilee. It was on the trade route between the southern nations (that included even Egypt) and the northern lands of Syria and even Turkey. The Romans had established a customs office at Capernaum and a garrison managed by a centurion. Traders had to give a large rate of tax for unprocessed goods like grain and olives. Therefore, it is possible that besides the fishing industry Capernaum had a lot of processing units where grains were milled into flours and olives pressed […]
Sermon for Baptism of the Lord
Baptism of the Lord:
Called to be Active Participants
As a priest while administering the sacrament of baptism to groups of infants, I have often noted with much curiosity the variety of infant-reaction to the ceremony of the baptism itself. There are basically three types of behaviour as infants react to, the priest, the water, the oil, the white cloth, the light, and the crowd itself that is around during the celebration of the sacrament of baptism:
There are the sharp-eyed infants, who watch every movement with keen curiosity. They are like the spectators at the tennis court, moving their head towards every stimulus. They are generally quiet but active. When the parents and god-parents are presented with the candle, for instance, these infants would also try to reach out and insist on […]
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 […]
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, […]