Reflection/Homily: Solemnity of Mary Mother of God

Reflection/Homily: Solemnity of Mary Mother of God

Theme: The Relevance of Mary’s Motherhood of God

In a particular kingdom, after the death of the king, the Prince had to choose a wife before his coronation as the next king. The Prince made it open for every young girl in the kingdom to exhibit her qualities and draw his attention. Several young girls started wearing sexy clothes to seduce the Prince but he was not moved.  Some began to wear wonderful hairstyles but the Prince was not moved. Others prepared delicious meals and presented them to the prince but he was not delighted. 

Every young girl made an attempt in several ways but the Prince was not moved. It was not because he was very difficult to be pleased but because they did not know exactly what he so desired of a woman more so of a wife. Only one woman had a perfect knowledge of this. This woman was like the rest of women in the kingdom, while some valued her, others despised her. She was very dear to the Prince because of her glaring personality, but no one dared to consult her or win the Prince’s heart through her.

Reflection/Homily: Christmas Day Mass 2013

Reflection/Homily: Christmas Day Mass 2013

Theme: The Restoration of Hope

In a certain kingdom, there was a very wealthy king. This king was known to be very generous, merciful and just. He never compromised anything for evil and always maintained his subjects were disciplined. He was comfortable but his only problem was that he had no heir to his throne. This caused him so much distress until he adopted a little boy who grew up as his son and became the heir to the throne. He provided everything possible to make life comfortable for the heir in the palace. The king made him little less than himself and gave him the freedom to do everything except to sit on the king’s throne until he was crowned king. He also ordered all his servants to obey the prince. 

One day while the king was asleep, some foreign visitors came to see the king and a servant suggested to the prince to appear as the king and attend to the visitors since he was the heir to the throne. The prince clothed himself as the king and attended to the visitors. When the king learnt of this, he was enraged and sent the son away. He lost the hope of inheriting the kingdom and became sick. As he roamed on the streets hopelessly, he was taken hostage by some enemies where he suffered severely. Learning of his miserable condition, the king took pity on him and sent his chief servant to bring to the son the good news of forgiveness, deliverance and restoration. Imagine the joy this son would have on seeing the messenger advance towards him with a message of hope. 

Reflection/Homily: Christmas Vigil Mass 2013

Reflection/Homily: Christmas Vigil Mass 2013

Theme: God Reveals Himself

This evening’s liturgy marks the beginning of the Christmas season. It is a season of joy and celebration. But more importantly, it is a period when God the Father reveals Himself in the Son through the power of the Holy Spirit. This season is about God’s revelation of Himself and to understand this concept of revelation well, it is pertinent that we go to the root of the word. 

The word “Revelation” is an Anglicized form of the Greek apokaluptein which can be divided into apo and kaluptein. The preposition apo means ‘far from’, ‘after’, ‘away from’ while the verb kaluptein means ‘to hide’, ‘to cover’,’to veil’. The verb apokaluptein could therefore mean ‘far from hiding’ or ‘away from covering’, etc, as much as you can add up the words. In the context of Christian revelation, the ad rem rendition is ‘far from hiding or covering’. That is to say that for God, revelation means ‘far from hiding or covering Himself, which implies revealing Himself. Revelation is a form of theophany, that is, God manifesting Himself.

MESSAGE OF POPE FRANCIS FOR WORLD MISSION DAY 2013

MESSAGE OF POPE FRANCIS FOR WORLD MISSION DAY 2013

Dear Brothers and Sisters, 

 This year, as we celebrate World Mission Day, the Year of Faith, which is an important opportunity to strengthen our friendship with the Lord and our journey as a Church that preaches the Gospel with courage, comes to an end. From this perspective, I would like to propose some reflections. 

 1. Faith is God’s precious gift, which opens our mind to know and love him. He wants to enter into relationship with us and allow us to participate in his own life in order to make our life more meaningful, better and more beautiful. God loves us! Faith, however, needs to be accepted, it needs our personal response, the courage to entrust ourselves to God, to live his love and be grateful for his infinite mercy. It is a gift, not reserved for a few but offered with generosity. Everyone should be able to experience the joy of being loved by God, the joy of salvation! It is a gift that one cannot keep to oneself, but it is to be shared. If we want to keep it only to ourselves, we will become isolated, sterile and sick Christians. The proclamation of the Gospel is part of being disciples of Christ and it is a constant commitment that animates the whole life of the Church. Missionary outreach is a clear sign of the maturity of an ecclesial community" (BENEDICT XVI, Verbum Domini, 95). Each community is "mature" when it professes faith, celebrates it with joy during the liturgy, lives charity, proclaims the Word of God endlessly, leaves one’s own to take it to the “peripheries”, especially to those who have not yet had the opportunity to know Christ. The strength of our faith, at a personal and community level, can be measured by the ability to communicate it to others, to spread and live it in charity, to witness to it before those we meet and those who share the path of life with us.