Imagine that you live in ancient times and that you have a skin condition that is diagnosed as leprosy. That would be a disaster, where you would be condemned to live an existence where you are ostracised by your own community and loved ones in exclusion and misery. You are labelled as “unclean”, which will be a social stigma that you will carry [...]
As a Christian, how do I bring comfort and the Lord’s consolation to someone who is suffering? What answers can we provide to someone whose mother is dying in a hospice? Whose parents are undergoing a difficult divorce? Who is struggling to make ends meet because of a crippling financial debt? What do we say to someone who is grieving [...]
In today’s Gospel we look at how the four apostles seek our Lord’s help to heal St Peter’s mother-in-law of her fever. How often do we have the courage to bring our family, relatives, and friends to our Lord when they are wounded, lost, confused and in need of healing? Most of the time we try to counsel, rely on [...]
The first reading is a promise made by God to the Israelites of the coming of a prophet alike Moses. This prophet would be chosen from among their people and would speak with divine authority, relaying God's messages as it is significant in maintaining the relationship between God and the Israelites. It stresses the importance of compliance to this prophetic [...]
Today’s Gospel reveals the extraordinary and radical call from Jesus to follow Him. Simon and Andrew are the two who respond to the call in this passage, but their response is also an invitation to all of us to step out of the ordinary and into the extraordinary. This passage especially reveals two things: the immediate response of these Apostles, and [...]
The readings for the 2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B invite us to be attentive, hear God's calling, and respond. What is God’s calling? It is “God's initiative to bring people to Christ and to participate in his redemptive work in the world”. In the first reading, God calls young Samuel. God called him three times in the night. [...]
This Sunday, as the Christmas season draws to a close, the Church brings us the Feast of the Epiphany of the Lord. The word Epiphany means “to manifest” or “to reveal”. So what does the story of the Magi in their pilgrimage to seek Jesus reveal to us about our pilgrimage of faith? The Gospel tells the fascinating age-old story [...]
Are we listening? Are we seeing? Can we hear? Can we see? Are we able to hear the promptings of the Holy Spirit and see with our hearts as Simeon did? In Luke 2:27-32, Simeon was moved by the promptings of the Holy Spirit and went into the temple courts where he met Jesus. Holding Jesus, he could “see” [...]
We look at artistic renditions of Christmas with Christmas carolers singing with gusto, on a still winter night, as snow falls gently; families joyfully gathered together and saying Grace for the food with hearts brimming with thanksgiving and love; the Holy Family painted serenely beaming as they welcome the shepherds, the magi, and according to the carols, yes even the [...]
The first chapter of Matthew’s Gospel is dedicated to the Genealogy of Jesus: “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac was the father of Jacob, and…” (Matthew 1: 1-17) and if you are like me, but hopefully not, you would likely skip this [...]
