Theme: Sin by any other name is sin While defining the word name William Shakespeare said that whatever we call a rose, by any other name would smell sweet and whatever we call sin, by any other name would still be sin! In our contemporary society, we tend to minimize sin by calling it other names. There is a tendency to ignore evil and to behave as if sin is dead. The truth is that sin has not disappeared; it has simply changed its name. Much of sin is now called crime, immoral and illegal. Sins like murder, robbery, adultery…

Many of the questions that people ask in the gospels are worth pondering. In today’s gospel reading, we find one such question, ‘What will this child turn out to be?’ The question was people’s response to the unusual circumstances surrounding the birth of John the Baptist. His father, Zechariah, had insisted that his newborn child was to be called ‘John’, even though no one in the family ever had the name ‘John’. However, this was the name the angel Gabriel had given to the child who was to be born of Zechariah and Elizabeth when Gabriel appeared to Zechariah. Zechariah,…

I came across a saying of Saint Francis Xavier recently that caught my attention, “Be big in little things.” It is one of those sayings that invites reflection. One of the ways of hearing that saying is that we are to do the small, ordinary, tasks of life with a loving and generous heart. This was very much the spirituality of Saint Therese of Lisieux, her ‘little way’ as she referred to it. She died very young and lived most of her short life in a Carmelite convent. Yet, she did her tasks there with an extraordinary love for the…

Mt. 5:13-16 This morning’s gospel reading follows on immediately from the account of the beatitudes, which was yesterday’s gospel reading. Jesus is saying that those who live out the attitudes and values portrayed in the beatitudes are, in reality, salt of the earth and light of the world. The way of life to which Jesus calls us is with a view to the whole earth, to the whole world. Jesus always had the world in view when he called his first disciples, and when he calls us. He calls us to follow in his way, to live by his values…

 Once armed attackers surprised a family on their way home where a bullet hit a young boy as he slept in the back seat. A short time later he was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital. People were shocked and annoyed. But public outrage was soon replaced by wonder and admiration. The boy’s family arranged that all of their son’s vital organs be harvested and donated freely. As a result lives of eight terminal patients were healed as young vital organs replaced defective ones. This story reminds us of another death of a son whose dying brought life to many.…