Posts

Homily 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B - 4th August 2024

  My dear friends today we celebrate the Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B. The readings today reflect on the importance of physical and spiritual bread in our lives. In the first reading taken from the book of Exodus, we read the narrative of the Israelites complaining against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, after which God provides quail and manna to them. Even though they are seen complaining against Moses and Aaron, they are, in fact complaining against God, accusing Him of bringing the whole community into the wilderness for annihilation by hunger, not liberation. God responds to the people’s murmuring with the promise that bread will be rained from Heaven. However, God wanted to see if the people would obey His instruction or not. Thus, He commanded the people to gather only as much as they needed each day without leaving any for the next day. The people, however, did not obey and gathered more than they required. There are a couple of lessons we learn from this na...
1 comment
Read more

Homily 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B I Homily 21 July 2024 Year B

  My dear friends today we celebrate the 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B. The readings today revolve around the theme of ‘shepherds and their sheep.’ The first reading taken from the post-exilic prophet Jeremiah, issues judgment to shepherds who did not uphold their duties to their flock. ‘Shepherd and sheep’ is a common metaphor from the ancient Near East referring to human kings and leaders as shepherds to the people who are the sheep. This imagery is appropriate since the duties and responsibilities of shepherds involved taking care of their sheep, feeding, protecting and guiding them just as a king or a leader is supposed to do. However, this wasn’t the case with the kings of Judah due to which they found themselves in exile, scattered among the nations. In the previous chapter, God condemned the three prior kings of Judah, who had governed unjustly and exploited their people. (Jer 22:1-30) The blame for the exile was placed squarely on the last few kings of Judah before th...
Post a Comment
Read more

Homily 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B I Homily 14 July 2024 Year B

Image
  “No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream.” These words, taken from Martin Luther King Junior's famous speech ‘I Have a Dream,’ have their origin in the writings of the prophet Amos from where the first reading of the 15 th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B is taken. In Biblical history, each prophet was chosen to deliver a special message at a special time. The pre-exilic prophet Amos, also known as the prophet of social justice, was from the southern kingdom of Judah but was sent to prophesy in the northern kingdom of Israel. So why was Amos, a simple shepherd and farmer sent to a foreign land? During the close to 40-year rule of Jeroboam II, the kingdom of Israel prospered with a booming economy which focused on exporting luxury items like olive oil and wine. The surplus wealth also made Israel a strong military force. However, as we see in our world today, the surplus wealth back then...
Post a Comment
Read more

Homily 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B I Homily 7 July 2024 Year B

Image
  My dear friends today we celebrate the Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B. The first reading taken from the prophet Ezekiel is set at the time of the exile when Nebuchadnezzar forced Jerusalem’s population into exile in Babylonia between 598 and 587 BC. The text describes Ezekiel’s commissioning – a divine call to speak on behalf of Yahweh through which the people were made aware of God’s continuous involvement in Israel’s life. Even when there seemed to be little hope for the Israelites in exile, a prophet was raised up and sent to speak to a stubborn and rebellious people. A rebellion against Yahweh that began almost immediately after they were freed from Egyptian slavery. However, the issue wasn’t only the sins of their ancestors, but their own sins. Not only were they physical descendants of their rebellious forefathers but also spiritual descendants. They stubbornly resisted following Yahweh and it was that stubbornness that resulted in their exile. However, there w...
Post a Comment
Read more

Homily 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B I Homily 30 June 2024 Year B

Image
  My dear friends today we celebrate the Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time year B. This week’s readings take us deeper into the subject of life and death. Death is perhaps the most common thing around us. It affects every living being be it human, animal, bird, or insect. However, our society today does not want to accept the reality of death. Just go around a supermarket and you will see shelves full of products designed to keep us young; anti-wrinkle creams, energy drinks, vitamin supplements – everything gives us a message that we can put off death for as long as we like. Quite often we play the blame game, blaming God for all that is happening in our lives, right from natural disasters to war, it's all God’s fault. Death raises the question about the meaning of human life. Is death merely the dissolution of the physical body or is it a larger reality? It is in this context that the first reading from the book of Wisdom of Solomon wants to give us the message that God’s creat...
Post a Comment
Read more

Homily 12th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B I 23 June 2024 I Homily 23 June 2024 Year B

Image
  My dear friends today we celebrate the Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B. The first reading taken from the book of Job presents before us a very puzzling narrative – God’s reply to Job. Job as we know was an upright and pious person, who loses everything as Satan tries to prove that Job’s piety has ulterior motives. In his lament, Job questions both the order of the cosmos and the existence of divine justice because he did not deserve any of the tragedies   he faced. The LORD responds by questioning Job’s knowledge of God’s mysteries and purposes. Though we find God being described as “a divine architect of the cosmos” in ancient literature, in the book of Job, Yahweh is imagined as a midwife, helping the sea to be born, quickly making clothes for it out of the clouds and swaddling it in the deep, beautiful colours of the night sky. While this image conveys that God has power over natural elements it also has a deeper significance. In ancient Near Eastern literature, ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Homily 11th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B I 16 June 2024 I Homily 16 June 2024 Year B

Image
  My dear friends today we celebrate the Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B. The first reading taken from the prophet Ezekiel is an allegory set at the time of the exile. The allegory in the preceding verses deals with the nation of Judah represented by the cedar tree and its rebellion against Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, by siding with Egypt, both of whom are represented by eagles. Amidst political and social turmoil, Ezekiel proclaimed God’s promise of salvation - God will take a clipping from a cedar tree and plant it in a safe place high on a mountain. There it will grow mightily , and birds will live in its branches. All the other trees in the surrounding field will know about this cedar and the God who planted it. This is a Messianic prophecy, which promises that the Messiah’s kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom. Though it will start small and insignificant, like a tender sprig, it will grow and bear branches, and birds of every sort will make their nest in i...
Post a Comment
Read more