Eyes Fixed on Heaven and Feet Firm on the Earth
The Feast of the Ascension – Cycle C
Luke tells us in the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 1:3) that Jesus was seen in his risen form for forty days. After those forty days, Jesus was no more seen in his risen body. The feast of today marks this stage of transition in the story of incarnation and resurrection – that Jesus is not visible in his earthly body as such. Luke describes this “withdrawal” of Jesus (Lk 24:51) in terms of being “lifted up” (Acts 1:9). And Mark describes it in terms of “being taken up into heaven” (Mk 16:19). Hence, “the ascension” of the Lord! However, with our modern familiarity with rocket science, we shouldn’t be led to think of the feast […]
Year C
Year C Sunday Sermons
Keeping His Word – Homily for 6th Sunday Eastertide
Keeping the Word of God
On account of the influence of some contemporary trends in Christianity, which have moved away from understanding revelation as including Sacred Tradition, which have also moved from the encounter with God in Jesus at the celebration of the Eucharist, when some Christians hear the expression, “Word of God”, their immediate assumption is that ‘Word of God’ equals solely to the Bible.
When John 1:14 says, “And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us,” is it that Bible became flesh? Or when Jesus says, as in the gospel of today, “Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him” (Jn 14:23), is he only talking about the […]
Sermon for 8th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle C Homily
8th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle C
When it comes to conversion, it is I first!
In one of his daily sermons (on 19 May 2017), Pope Francis said, some people “use rigidness to cover weaknesses, sins, personality flaws, and they use rigidness to rank themselves above others.” The Pope suggested that people who are rigid about their faith tend to live double lives. On another occasion, the Pope said, concealed by rigidity there is always something else! That’s why Jesus uses the word ‘hypocrites!’ “They appear good because they follow the Law; but behind there is something that does not make them good. Either they’re bad, hypocrites or they are sick. They suffer!” he said.
In this context, someone recently drew my attention to the results of a research carried out by the Harvard B-School […]
Sermon for 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle C Homily
How Happy Are You… (Lk 6:17-26)
6th Sunday in Ordinary
A few years ago, on a Saturday in February I was travelling from Nairobi to Dar es Salaam. My companion on this 1000 kilometre journey was a priest. Both of us had sermons to preach the next day. At one point during the journey, the priest friend asked me, “Selvam, have you by chance looked up at the gospel text for tomorrow?” “Oh yes, it is the Beatitudes from Luke,” I said. And he seemed to be sure of himself as he said, “Oh… the Sermon on the Mount!” My immediate reply was, “No, not really! In fact, it is a sermon from the plains!”
Often when we look at Gospel texts we easily say: oh yes, I know it. For instance, […]
Sermon for 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year C Homily
I say, “Leave me, Lord!” God says, “Do not be afraid!” Lk 5
5th Sunday in ordinary time – year C
There is this musical called, ‘The Witness’ by Jimmy & Carol Owens. It is a musical which narrates the life and ministry of Jesus as witnessed by the apostle Peter. Early in the narration Peter sings:
Nothin’ ever happens here in Galilee,
You just follow in the footsteps of your family.
Be a fisherman like people say you’re meant to be,
Go down to the boat| Throw your net in the sea|
Take your turn at the car| Hoist the sail|
Mend the net| Clean the fish|
cut the bait|Ya da dum| Da da dee|
Oh| Nothin’ ever happens to me|
Then Jesus came and all of our lives were changed.
A few years back, in an attempt to define prayer, I said, “Prayer is becoming aware of who I am in […]