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 sure, these days many people are in similar situation, thanks to the opportunities that the contemporary world offers. 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! Catholicism stands for universality.
Today we celebrate the birthday of this Church – the universal church. We celebrate the presence of the Spirit in this believing community today, just as it was present among the community in Jerusalem. In some countries this day is […]
Year C
Year C Sunday Sermons
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 ourselves […]
Sermon for 11th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle C Homily
Love, Forgiveness, Salvation (Lk 7:36-50)
11th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Situating ourselves within the Gospel of Luke
During this liturgical year, our gospel readings come from the Gospel of Luke. The public ministry of Jesus in the Gospel of Luke begins in Chapter 4 (vv.14-30) with the proclamation of his mission statement using the words of prophet Isaiah, in the synagogue at Nazareth. “Good News to the Poor”, was his motto. Jesus seems to give a very broad meaning to the word ‘poor’. In Chapters 4 to 6 of Luke, Jesus has been curing the sick and the possessed, being kind to women (Lk 4:38-39), feeding the hungry (Lk 6:1-3), giving hope to the hopeless (Lk 6:17f) and forgiving sinners (Lk 5:20). Yes, sinners too lack something – forgiveness and salvation. (See Lk 7:22 for a concise summary). Meanwhile the Pharisees and […]
Sermon for 10th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle C Homily
Life to the Full (Lk 7:11-17)
10th Sunday in Ordinary Time
After the Season of Lent and the great festivities that followed we are now resuming the Ordinary Time of the Year. We resume from where we had left just before the Ash Wednesday, hence, this Sunday is the 10th Sunday in Cycle C. We will go on in this sequence, listening to the Gospel of Luke, until the Feast of Christ the King.
The first reading and the gospel text of today narrate to us two stories of raising young men from the dead – one by Prophet Elijah and the other by Jesus. There is a similarity between the two stories, namely, both the dead men were young sons of widows. But there are also dissimilarities between the stories. It is important to notice one basic difference that highlights the […]
Sermon for 4th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year C Homily
Year of Mercy – Reflection for 4th Sunday in Ordinary Time (31 Jan 2016)
(Disclaimer: The following lines are product of pure imagination!)
Mr Pius is a good Christian.
He goes to church even on week days.
He reads the Bible very regularly.
He says all his long prayers very diligently –
even if often he would say them rather hurriedly.
He is an educated man, and he reads even the documents of the Church.
He is aware of the current debates that are going on in the Church.
He is in-charge of the formation of laity in his parish.
He has his positions clear:
The interpretation of the traditional teaching of the Church should not be watered down –
Not even in the name of mercy!
He believes that God is a just judge.
He will punish the wicked in time.
They will be […]