Powerless in His Kingdom Wisd 2: 12, 17-20. James 3: 16- 4:3. Mark 9: 30-37. Mohamed Ali, the one-time heavy weight champion would often boast, \”I am the greatest!\”, and people believed he was. We may not openly claim to be the greatest in any particular field but deep down we like to feel that […]
Year B – Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time Read More »
The Superstar with the Scar “Anyone who loses his life…will save it” (Mk 8:35). The great orator Bishop Fulton Sheen in one of his many sermons makes a positive comment on the eagerness of Apostle Thomas wanting to put his fingers into the mark of the nails in the hands and feet of the Risen
Year B – Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time Read More »
“Look, your God is coming”: The Messiah is here! “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of Christianity.” May be you’ve heard this expression before. It was written by one of the Church Fathers, Tertullian (197 AD). This sentence does not sadistically justify the suffering of Christians. In fact, Tertullian uses this expression in
Year B – Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time Read More »
From Religious Traditions to Religious Spirituality Some of the recent, popular books in the study of religion include, Why God Won’t Go Away?, God is Back, and A New Religious America. What these books suggest is that secularism as a social phenomenon is on the decline. Perhaps human beings are growing out of their adolescent
Year B – Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time Read More »
You have the message of eternal life, and we believe! (Jn 6:69) With today’s gospel reading we conclude the five weeks of reflection on the Bread of Life from John 6. This conclusion offers a mixed sense of reaction to whatever has preceded in Chapter 6. On the one hand, some disciples have found the
Year B – Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time Read More »
THE ASSUMPTION OF MARY What is common in the Mass readings today is \”movement.\” In the first reading (Day Mass) we see a mother about to give birth: there is movement from the womb into the world. Another movement is the woman fleeing to the desert prepared by God for her. In the second reading
Year B – Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Read More »
“The bread … for the life of the world” (Jn 6:51) Some years back, I was staying at the Salesian community in Florence, Italy, for a few weeks. Florence is known for its art and architecture. Following that great tradition, the Salesians in Florence have a beautiful modern fresco-type of a mural in the background
Year B – Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Read More »
(Jn 6:24-35) Do you seek the bread that the Father gives, or do you seek the Father who gives you bread? <p style="text-align: justify"A few years ago a priest was back in India on his home-leave. And he met a gentleman who was a visitor to our home-parish. He had never been to school, he
Year B – Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Read More »
From Emptiness to Abundance (Jn 6:1-15) Which is the only miracle of Jesus (besides the healing of the blind man – with differences in detail!) that is narrated in all the four gospels with similar details? It is the miracle of feeding the five thousand from five loaves, which we hear in the gospel of
Year B – Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Read More »
“The apostles rejoined Jesus and told him all they had done and taught…” (Mk 6:30) Ministry to young people forms part of the identity of the religious order I belong to. Much of our formation as Salesians is carried out by means of hands-on experience. For instance, right from the phase of junior seminary up
Year B – Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Read More »