A simple glance at the readings of today will enable us to identify a unifying theme which is ‘vocation’. Samuel was called by God serve and was aided to discern the authenticity of his vocation by Eli. Every Christian vocation is a personal invitation to come and see Christ. First reading: 1Samuel 3:3–10, 19 We read that: “Samuel grew up and the Lord was with him” 1 Samuel 3:19. This thumbnail portrait of Samuel represents the process and ideal of all vocations. To grow up as Samuel in the presence of God is a process of deliberate and decisive maturation,…
Homily for the Beheading of Saint John the Baptist
Mark 6:17-29 We may be familiar with the expression, ‘speaking truth to power’. It can often be a dangerous business. John the Baptist spoke God’s truth to the powerful Herod, telling him that it was against God’s law for him to marry his brother Philip’s wife, as he had done. For speaking this truth, John incurred the anger of Herod’s wife, Herodias, and her resentment towards John was a factor in John’s unjust persecution. However, the other factor in John’s execution was Herod’s own moral cowardness. The gospel reading says that Herod knew John to be a good and holy…
Homily for Tuesday, Twenty-First Week in Ordinary Time
2 Thess 2:1-3a, 14-17 Mt 23:23-26 There is a verse in one of the prophets of the Old Testament, the prophet Micah, which many people feel drawn to. ‘What is it that the Lord requires of you but to do justice, to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God?’ To do justice is to give people what is their due as human beings and as images of God. To love mercy is to show mercy to others in the sense of forgiving others and serving them in their need. To walk humbly with your God is to be…
SAINT OF THE DAY: POPE SAINT PIUS X
On June 2, 1835, Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto saw the light of earth at Riesi, Province of Treviso, in Venice; on August 20, 1914, he saw the light of heaven; and on May 29, 1954, he who had become the two hundred fifty-ninth pope was canonized, SAINT PIUS X. Two of the most outstanding accomplishments of this saintly Pope were the inauguration of the liturgical renewal and the restoration of frequent communion from childhood. He also waged an unwavering war against the heresy and evils of Modernism, gave great impetus to biblical studies, and brought about the codification of Canon Law.…
Homily for Friday, Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time
Ez 37:1-14 Mt 22:34-40 The question that is put to Jesus in this morning’s gospel reading – ‘Which is the greatest commandment of the Law?’ – was with a view to disconcerting him. Jesus was being put to the test. Yet, in spite of the questionable motivation behind the question, Jesus took the question seriously and gave his questioners and all of us an answer that is worth pondering. Although he was asked about the greatest commandment, Jesus’ answer put two commandments side by side. The first commandment was the core of the prayer recited by observant Jews several times…
Homily for Thursday, Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Ez 12:1-12 Mt 18:21–19:1 The parable Jesus speaks in today’s gospel reading has two clear messages. The first and most important message relates to God and the second relates to ourselves. The parable declares that God’s forgiveness is boundless. The first servant owed ten thousand talents, which is an astronomical sum of money. It is the kind of debt that could never be paid. We might think of the debt that some of the developing countries owe to the International Bank. The king in the parable simply canceled the debt in response to the pleading of his servant. He allowed…
