Category: Weekdays
“CUT OFF FROM ME, YOU CAN DO NOTHING” (John 15:5)
⏰Saturday of the Twenty-Ninth Week of Ordinary Time 2 (22 Oct. 2022 – Memorial of St. Pope John Paul II) 📖Eph 4:7-16; Ps 122:1-2, 3-4ab, 4cd-5 (R.v.1); Luke 13:1-9 🎤”CUT OFF FROM ME, YOU CAN DO NOTHING” (John 15:5) May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you. Amen. We can never get tired of talking about unity because it is the will of Christ that we may all be one (cf. John 17:21). St Paul, therefore, reminds the Ephesians that all the gifts and positions the...
WE ARE MERE SERVANTS (cf. Luke 17:10)
⏰Wednesday of the Twenty-Second Week of Ordinary Time 2 (31 August 2022) 📖1 Cor 3:1-9; Ps 33:12-13, 14-15, 20-21 (R.v.12b); Luke 4:38-44 🎤WE ARE MERE SERVANTS (cf. Luke 17:10) Congratulations as you made it to the end of this month, and warming up to embrace the new month. May this month end also bring to an end, all your worries and troubles so that the new month will usher in spiritual, economic and health renewal in your life. Amen. Who do people give praise to when you render service among them? Do you make it appear as if the strength...
DO NOT TREAT THE WORD OF GOD WITH CONTEMPT
⏰Friday of the Thirteenth Week of Ordinary Time 2 (01 July 2022) 📖Amos 7:4-6, 9-12; Ps 119:2, 10, 20, 30, 40, 131 (R. Matt 4:4); Matt 9:9-13 🎤DO NOT TREAT THE WORD OF GOD WITH CONTEMPT Beloved in Christ, it is once more a new month, the 7th in the order of months. According to Gen 2:2, “By the seventh day, the work God had done was completed, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work he had done.” I pray with you that in this 7th month of the year, the work of God may come...
“…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...
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...
“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...
“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...
“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...
“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...
