“The kingdom of God will be taken from you”:
Protecting against Spiritual Redundancy
In the corporate world, often people are laid off from jobs in the name of ‘redundancy’ when the company wants to downsize its operations. Hence redundancy cannot be taken to be a statement on the ability of individuals. However, one needs to be smart enough to fight redundancy in the competitive world, for instance, by updating oneself. And what about the spiritual world? Are you protected against spiritual redundancy?
Three parables of the Vineyard. In chapters 20 and 21 of the Gospel of Mathew we come across three parables; and all the three use the image of the vineyard. These parables, which we have heard read in these three Sundays (25th to 27th Sunday), have a sequence of teachings of […]
Author: selvam
Das Kreuz. Zeichen für Liebe und Heilung. Eine Herausforderung
Fest Kreuzerhöhung – Num 21, 4-9; Phil 2, 6-11; Joh 3, 13-17
Das Fest Kreuzerhöhung wird in mehreren christlichen Kirchen gefeiert. Es erinnert an die angebliche Wiederfindung des ‘wahren Kreuzes Christi’ durch Kaiserin Helena im Jahre 326. Es kann Anlass sein, über das Geheimnis des Kreuzes zu meditieren. Das Kreuz – ‘für die Juden ein Ärgernis, für die Griechen eine Torheit’ (1Kor 1, 23) – ist das zentrale Symbol unseres christlichen Glaubens. Auf drei Bedeutungen möchte ich hinweisen.
Das Kreuz Zeichen der Liebe. ‘Gott hat die Welt so geliebt, dass er seinen einzigen Sohn hingegeben hat, damit jeder, der an ihn glaubt, nicht verloren geht und ewiges Leben hat’ (Joh 3, 16). So fasst der Evangeliumstext von heute das Geheimnis des Kreuzes in aller Kürze zusammen. Die Theologie hat auf zwei Weisen zu erklären versucht, warum Jesus freiwillig das Kreuz auf sich genommen […]
Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross
The Cross of Love, Healing and Challenge
Often the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross would fall on weekdays. This year it happensto fall on a Sunday, and because it is a Feast of the Lord it takes precedence over the Ordinary Sunday of the Year. It is a feast that is celebrated across the mainline churches, including the Orthodox, Lutheran and Anglican traditions. It commemorates the legend of the finding of the ‘true cross’ by St Helena in 326 AD, and the subsequent dedication of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in 335. In any case, the feast offers us an opportunity once again to contemplate the mystery of the cross. The cross – “a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles” (1Cor 1:23) – is the central symbol of our Christian faith. Let us focus on […]
Influence of the Family on How Youth Relate to God: A Systematic Review of Psychology Literature
Literature on the psychological correlates of individual’s god-image is abundant. They range from Freud’s conceptual claim that the image of God was an inherited parental image of the murdered primeval father, which can be activated by the individual’s experience of their father, to more contemporary examination of God-image drawn from the relationship between a child and the care-giver. Underpinning these claims is the undeniable role of the family in the formation of God-image and the way individuals relate to God. The present chapter reports the outcome of a Systematic Literature Review (SLR), which searched and selected 31 empirical reports from Academic Search Premier – a database of journal articles. Using a process of Qualitative Thematic Analysis, six themes were identified within the selected literature. On the basis […]
Sermon for 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year A Homily
But you, who do you say I am? (Mt 16:13-20)
In my mother tongue – Tamil, while speaking about great people, speakers and writers often refer to: “the Buddha, Jesus and Gandhi”. These three persons are mentioned as a matter of fact in the same breath. We Christians may feel proud that even non-Christians refer to Jesus as a great man. Looking at it at a deeper level, we may realise that this expression does not reflect our own experience of Jesus. Who is Jesus for you? Is he merely a great man? The gospel text of today once again invites us to reflect on this question. Let us explore three possible implications of this event described in the gospel narration of today, and in so […]