5th Sunday of Easter – Year A
Service at Table and Service of the Word (Acts 6:1-7)
In the first reading of today we have an interesting story of conflict resolution in the early church. Earlier in the Acts of the Apostles we read (Acts 4:32-35): “The whole group of believers was united, heart and soul; no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, as everything they owned was held in common.”
Soon, this ideal communal life was threatened by selfishness of individuals and clannish mentality among groups (see Acts 5). In Chapter 6, as we heard in the first reading of today, we have a story of neglect of the minority group in the access to the resources of the community. Hebrews, of course, being the majority in the community in Jerusalem, and priding […]
Sunday Sermons
Sunday Sermons and Homilies
Sermon for 2nd Sunday of Easter – Homily
From a Communitarian faith to a Personal Experience of Jesus
Today, as we conclude the octave of Easter – eight day celebration of this great feast – the Gospel passage of today concludes the series of events that we heard read on the morning of Easter, eight days ago. John 20: 1-10 was the Gospel of the liturgy of the Easter morning. It narrated to us how Mary Magdalene went to the tomb, found it empty and came to tell the apostles. On hearing this Peter and the Beloved disciple ran to the tomb, they saw the empty tomb and the linen; and the Beloved Disciple believed in the resurrection. The following section of the gospel of John (20:11-18), the one about Jesus’ appearance to Mary Magdalene was read during liturgy on Tuesday. Today we heard read the remaining sections of […]
Sermon for 1st Sunday in Lent – Year A Homily
Temptations: The Journey through the Wilderness
We say that the Season of Lent lasts forty days, as the Latin word, ‘Quadragesima” suggests. When I was a young seminarian – sceptical as I was – I took the calendar and wanted to make sure for myself if there were indeed 40 days from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday. To my surprise, I found there are actually 47 days. I had reasons to be sceptical, after all! So I had a question for the teacher of liturgy, who, of course, was taken by surprise. Later he came up with a meaningful explanation: even on Sundays in Lent, we celebrate the Resurrection of the Lord, and hence they are not counted as days of fasting and penance. So Lent does have forty weekdays of fasting and penance!
‘Forty’ is symbolic of a generation, a […]
Sermon for 7th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year A Homily
“You must therefore be perfect just as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Mt 5:48
Dachau was the first Nazi concentration camp to be opened. It was basically a forced labour camp. Today it is open to the public. In this memorial site, there are different churches and a synagogue that have been built. What impressed me most during my visit to the memorial site was the Church of Reconciliation. The peculiarity of this church is that its structure/architecture has no right angles. The irregular shape is a symbolic protest against the orderly layout of the camp in which all the buildings are set in perfect array. As I was leaving the memorial site, I thought, an exaggerated sense of order could be a sign of neurosis. And it could be life-threatening.
In the gospel text of today, as Jesus continues his ‘Sermon […]
Sermon for 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year A Homily
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 […]