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Category: Ordinary Time

Feasts and Solemnities / Ordinary Time / Twelfth Week / Weekdays / Year II

“…AND HIS MOTHER KEPT ALL THESE THINGS IN HER HEART” (Luke 2:51)

⏰Saturday of the Twelfth Week of Ordinary Time 2 (25 June 2022 – Memorial of the Immaculate Heart of Mary) 📖Lam 2:2, 10-14, 18-19; Ps 74:1-2, 3-4, 5-7, 20-21 (R.v.19b); Luke 2:41-51 🎤”…AND HIS MOTHER KEPT ALL THESE THINGS IN HER HEART” (Luke 2:51) What is that seemingly hopeless situation you have found yourself in? Is it something that has defiled possible solutions? I’m sure it wouldn’t be worse than the conditions in which the Israelites found themselves while in exile as the book of the Lamentation shows. If the Lord could deliver them from such pain and misery, how...

Ordinary Time / Sundays / Year C

LOVE YOUR ENEMIES” (Luke 6:27)

Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C) 1 Sam 26:2, 7-9, 12-13, 22-23; Ps. 103:1-2, 3-4, 8 and 10, 12-13 (R.v.8a); 1 Cor 15:45-49; Luke 6:27-38″ LOVE YOUR ENEMIES” (Luke 6:27) Beloved in Christ, the liturgy of today challenges us to begin the change we need to see in others from ourselves. In the gospel reading, Jesus challenges us to love our enemies. As is typical of the Lucan Jesus (Jesus as the gospel of Luke presents him), this love is an action word; it is a verb. It is not just a profession that comes from the lips. That...

Ordinary Time / Third Week / Weekdays / Year II

AN IDLE MIND IS THE DEVIL’S WORKSHOP

⏰Friday of the Third Week in Ordinary Time Year 2 (28 January 2022 – Memorial of St. Thomas Aquinas) 📖2 Sam 11:1-4a, 5-10a, 13-17; Ps 51:3-4, 5-6ab, 6cd-7, 10-11 (R.v.3a); Mark 4:26-34 🎤AN IDLE MIND IS THE DEVIL’S WORKSHOP You see! Not only does the society abhor laziness or idleness, it is dangerous to our spiritual life. Can you not see what it did to David? The right thing was that David would lead the people to war as the king. Instead he stayed back at home whirling away in idleness. It was in that situation that the devil struck...

Ordinary Time / Third Week / Weekdays / Year II

“YOUR LIGHT MUST SHINE OUT BEFORE OTHERS” (Matt 5:16)

⏰Thursday of the Third Week in Ordinary Time Year 2 (28 January 2022) 📖2 Sam 7:18-19, 24-29; Ps 132:1-2, 3-5, 11, 12, 13-14 (R. Luke 1:32b); Mark 4:21-25 🎤”YOUR LIGHT MUST SHINE OUT BEFORE OTHERS” (Matt 5:16) Christianity is not a private religion but a relational one. Our lives as Christians have influence on others, positively or negatively. Remember that Jesus is the light of the world (John 8:12) and what we do as Christians is to try and follow him faithfully in order to become like him. Have we been able to become the light of the world too...

Ordinary Time / Second Week / Weekdays / Year II

“LOVE YOUR ENEMIES AND PRAY FOR THOSE WHO PERSECUTE YOU, SO THAT YOU MAY BE CHILDREN OF YOUR FATHER IN HEAVEN” (Matt 5:44-45)

⏰Saturday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time Year 2 (23 January 2022) 📖2 Sam 1:1-4, 11-12, 19, 23-27; Ps 80:2-3, 3-4, 5-7 (R.v.4b); Mark 3:20-21 🎤”LOVE YOUR ENEMIES AND PRAY FOR THOSE WHO PERSECUTE YOU, SO THAT YOU MAY BE CHILDREN OF YOUR FATHER IN HEAVEN” (Matt 5:44-45) Yesterday, we considered some of the attitudes of David that earned him the title of a man after God’s heart. His archenemy, Saul was placed in his hands, but instead of destroying him, he spared his life because he could see the divine in him despite his inclination to evil. Not...

Ordinary Time / Sundays / Year B

CALLED TO SERVE

⏰TWENTY-NINTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (YEAR B) 📖Isa 53:10-11; Ps 33:4-5, 18-19, 20 and 22 (R.v.22); Heb 4:14-16; Mark 10:35-45 🎤CALLED TO SERVE In our liturgy last Sunday, we were instructed on the need to be detached from the material things of this world in order to prepare a rich and better abode in heaven. Today, the call extends also to the way we embrace power and positions of authority. As members of Christ’s body, we are to imitate Christ in all things, and he is, above all things, a servant-leader who is ever ready to lay down his life...

Ordinary Time / Twentieth Week / Weekdays / Year I

“I HAVE OPENED MY MOUTH TO THE LORD, AND I CANNOT TAKE BACK MY VOW” (Judg 11:35)

⏰Thursday of the Twentieth Week of Ordinary Time 1 (19 August 2021) 📖Judg 11:29-39a; Ps 40:5, 7-8a, 8b-9, 10 (R.v.8a, 9a); Matt 22:1-14 🎤”I HAVE OPENED MY MOUTH TO THE LORD, AND I CANNOT TAKE BACK MY VOW” (Judg 11:35) Reading through Judg 11:29-39, something keeps me from being blinded by the fact that the actions of Jephthah in sacrificing his only daughter were borne of a pagan custom that was already condemned by God (cf. Lev 18:21; 20:2-5; Deut 12:31). Instead, the FAITHFULNESS OF JEPHTHAH TO FULFIL HIS VOWS TO THE LORD struck me. How often do we keep...

Eighteenth Week / Ordinary Time / Weekdays / Year I

“WHEREVER THERE IS JEALOUSY AND SELFISH AMBITION, YOU WILL ALSO FIND DISCORD AND ALL THAT IS EVIL” (Jam 3:16)

⏰Tuesday of the Eighteenth Week of Ordinary Time (03 August 2021) 📖Num 12:1-13; Ps 51:3-4, 5-6ab, 6cd-7, 12-13 (R.v.3a); Matt 14:22-36 🎤”WHEREVER THERE IS JEALOUSY AND SELFISH AMBITION, YOU WILL ALSO FIND DISCORD AND ALL THAT IS EVIL” (Jam 3:16) There is one Igbo adage which says, “Nwata kpachuo ibe ya na nke, asi na o kpara nke ya n’ajo ohia,” literally meaning that when a child fetches more firewood than his mates, they will allege that he fetched his from the evil forest. Why would that happen? ENVY AND JEALOUSY! They want to rubbish his integrity so that they...

Ordinary Time / Seventeenth Week / Weekdays / Year I

FOCUS ON THE KINGDOM FOR YOUR BLESSING

⏰Monday of the Seventeenth Week of Ordinary Time 1 (26 July 2021 – Memorial of Ss. Joachim and Anne) 📖Exod 32:15-24, 30-34; Ps 106:19-20, 21-22, 23 (R.v.1b); Matt 13:31-35 🎤FOCUS ON THE KINGDOM FOR YOUR BLESSING Beloved in Christ, things might be rough, slow and unstable at the beginning, but if you put your trust in the Lord and persevere to the end, you shall reap the fruit of abundance. In our journey of faith, our destination is the kingdom of God. The two parables that Jesus gave in Matt 13:31-35 speak of the kingdom as one one with a...

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Ordinary Time / Sundays / Year B

A PROPHET LIKE MOSES

⏰FIFTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (YEAR B) 📕Amos 7:12-15; Ps 85:9ab and 10, 11-12, 13-14 (R.v.8); Eph 1:3-14; Mark 6:7-13 Today, all the readings that we have in our liturgy give us one important message an invitation to share in the ministry of evangelization as God would want us to do and not as we would want it. Reflecting on this, the character of Moses as the ideal prophet in Israel comes to mind: 👉Moses was called by God; he did not call himself (cf. Exod 3); 👉He was selfless and an intercessor (cf. Exod 32:11-14); 👉He encouraged people to...