How real is your God?
When I was participating in a training in Spiritual Accompaniment (Spiritual Direction), during my supervision sessions, at the climax of the session my director was fond of asking the question: “What is your God like?” She would then challenge me to go even deeper as she would continue to ask: “What does God feel like for you? What does He smell like? What does He taste like? What does He look like? What does He sound like for you?”
Initially these questions seemed silly, and even difficult to answer. Eventually they opened up for me a whole new way of perceiving God. I do the same now with people who come to me for Spiritual Accompaniment, and I see them proceed from impossibility to enlightenment. These questions simply make […]
Sunday Sermons
Sunday Sermons and Homilies
Sermon for the Feast of Pentecost – Cycle A Homily
“Receive the Holy Spirit” (Jn 20:22)
In the recent years I have been travelling across continents and living in different cultural contexts. The question, “Where do you come from,” has become so difficult for me to answer. I am grateful to God for the variety of cross-cultural experiences that I have had, and I feel I am a citizen of the world. One thing that has made this possible, easy, and enjoyable, is the fact that I am a Christian, and a Catholic! Today we celebrate the birthday of this Church – the universal church. The liturgy of the Word on this day suggests the theme of unity of the Church. Our reflection focuses on three possible meanings of this feast.
The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of the Risen Lord: The evangelist Luke considers the event of the resurrection (Easter) and the […]
Sermon for Palm Sunday – Year A Homily
The King on a Donkey en route to Die
Today we begin the week of weeks in the liturgical calendar: the Holy Week. Today we begin the commemoration of the high points in the history of salvation: the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus – the Paschal Mystery. Today we accompany Jesus on his solemn entry into Jerusalem where he will suffer, die and rise again. And this day is a day of contradictions.
The King on a Donkey’s Back: Jesus is on his final journey to Jerusalem. It is going to be a solemn entry, almost as a King is about to enter to take possession of his capital. And the procession begins at the Mount of Olives – the mount that is be the stage for the ultimate Day of the Lord (according to Zechariah 14:3-4), the day of […]
Sermon for Cycle A – 2nd Sunday Homily
2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year A
Finding our space in the Universe:
The Life Journey of John the Baptist (Jn 1:29-34)
Christmastide is now over and retailers have special Sales. Because, retailers hate ordinary time. They try to make even ordinary time into something special. Hence the reduced prices!
In the liturgical calendar, we are back to the ordinary time. But even in our gospel reading there is an attempt to make the liturgy of today special too. 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 […]
Sermon for 12th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle C Homily
Who do you say I am?
Who am I? This is the question that we all start asking consciously right from the age of reason. But it has its beginnings perhaps even earlier, as infants when we are weaned and begin to walk, becoming independent and separate from the mother. This identity question becomes even more acute during adolescence at the threshold of becoming adults. I am not too sure what it could mean for the elderly. As I live through my 40’s I see certain serenity come over me as I ask myself: Who am I? The feeling about that question is unlike it was in my teens and twenties, and even in my thirties.
In answering the question of ‘who am I’ we rely on the help of others. Basically we define […]