Church is a unity in diversity Solemnity of SS. Peter & Paul
This year, the solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul falls on this Sunday. This offers an opportunity to reflect on the theme of unity in the church.
Simon and Saul – these two great men, came from very different backgrounds.
Simon was a fisherman from Galilee. Many people naively think that he was a ‘poor’ fisherman. Uneducated? Perhaps he was! Poor in material sense? Not at all! Peter was not a poor fisherman. I come from a village of fishermen, and I know that, if a fisherman had a fishing vessel, nets, and hired servants he was not a poor fisherman. The synoptic Gospels are very clear in their description (Mk 1:16-20; Mt 4:18-22; Lk 5:1-11). Simon and his […]
Sunday Sermons
Sunday Sermons and Homilies
Feast of the Precious Body and Blood of Jesus
Eucharist: Mystery of Incarnation Enacted
Why did Jesus use bread and wine – mere objects of food – to institute the Eucharist? I offer two possible reflections on this mystery.
The enactment of the Mystery of Incarnation: In the gospel of today, in the discourse that follows the multiplication of loaves Jesus would say,
“I am the living bread that came down from heaven;
whoever eats this bread will live forever;
and the bread that I will give
is my flesh for the life of the world” (Jn 6:51).
As we know, this passage has clear allusion to the Eucharist. Earlier in the same passage Jesus compares the Eucharist to the manna that the people of Israel ate in the desert (Jn 6:49-50). Though Jesus says analogically, Eucharist is bread that came down from heaven we know that the Eucharist does not fall from the skies as manna […]
Sermon for the Feast of the Holy Trinity – Cycle C Homily
Feast of the Holy Trinity – Year C
Three Persons in One: The God of relationship
Social scientists these days are pointing out the increase of spirituality in the contemporary world, a spirituality that is not only distinct but often separate from institutional religion. According to one author, spirituality refers to individual and personal experiences that are related to “a search for meaning, for unity, for connectedness, for transcendence, and for the highest of human potential.” This spirituality may or may not include belief in a personal God. Some of the people, who follow this path of spirituality-outside-religion, consider ‘god’ in terms of an energy or a universal soul. What could be lacking in such a position is the belief in God who is a person!
The feast of today, once again reminds us […]
Sermon for the 6th Sunday in Eastertide – Cycle C Homily
I am going away, and shall return
Have you ever felt that Jesus was absent in your life? Have you ever felt that God was far away?
Saint Mother Teresa (1910-1997) felt like this for five decades. In 1937, for the first time, she writes to her former confessor back at home:
Do not think that my spiritual life is strewn with roses—that is the flower which I hardly ever find on my way. Quite the contrary, I have more often as my companion “darkness.” And when the night becomes very thick—and it seems to me as if I will end up in hell—then I simply offer myself to Jesus. If He wants me to go there—I am ready—but only under the condition that it really makes Him happy. I need much grace, much of Christ’s strength to persevere in trust, in […]
5th Sunday of Easter Sermon – Cycle C Homily – Love One Another
5th Sunday in Eastertide – Year C
Love one another, just as I have loved you
Allow me to begin on a political note. Politicians use the Scriptures and Catholic theology to support their arguments for political convenience. Therefore, it is also our duty, as pastors, to correct and offer more authentic interpretation of the Scriptures and theology.
Vice President of the United States JD Vance, on 30 January 2025, in an interview, referred to the concept of ordo amoris – misinterpreting St Augustine and St Thomas – in defending the foreign aid policies of the second Trump administration, saying, “We should love our family first, then our neighbors, then love our community, then our country, and only then consider the interests of the rest of the world.” The controversy led […]