FR REMI HOMILIES/REFLECTIONS AND SERMONS

Do not be a bad influence to others-Memorial of St. Ignatius of Loyola-Homily for Monday of the 17th week in ordinary time  31st July 2023   After the successful exodus from Egypt, and having encamped at the foot of Mount Sinai, the mountain of the Lord. The next thing therefore was to seal the relationship God established with the Israelites, hence He summoned Moses  to go up the mountain and collect these written guides.    Unfortunately, before Moses could return from collecting The Law, the Israelites had already contravened the same Law, by convincing Aaron to mould for them a golden calf to worship as their god, simply because as they said; Moses was “delaying” at Mount Sinai. Aaron, in order not to offend them, obliged and asked the women to submit their jewelries, and they did. From those jewelries, Aaron fashioned for them a golden calf to whom they paid homage and served as their god.     Today, we read about the consequence of the actio...

The Best decision for Greatness-HOMILY FOR THE SEVENTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME YEAR A 30th July 2023 1Kings 3:5.7-12; Ps.119; Rom.8:28-30; Matthew 13:44-52  _O Lord, how I love your law_ (Ps.119:97a) The Best decision for Greatness The intentions of a man’s heart can only be judged from the choices he makes. From the decisions of a person, the personality of the person can be deciphered. The readings of today dwell on decision making. As free agents, we are familiar with making decisions; but we may not have carefully thought out the governing propensity of our decisions and this has often made us not to have a good grasp of the consequences of our actions. People continue to make decisions whose consequences they abhor with all their strength. They continue to make such decisions while expecting a different result. Since such expectation can never be met, they become frustrated, blame it on others or on God. So, the pertinent questions before us today are: what are your expect...

Do not be dismayed: Trust God still-HOMILY FOR SATURDAY OF THE SIXTEENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME YEAR I STS. MARTHA MARY AND LAZARUS) Exodus 24:3-8; Ps.50; John 11:19-27 Do not be dismayed: Trust God still Today we celebrate the memorial of Sts. Martha, Mary and Lazarus. Not much is said of them in the scripture. In today’s gospel, the faith of Martha and Mary was instrumental in the raising of their brother Lazarus back to life. First they believed that Jesus is able to heal the sick and so when Lazarus was sick, they sent message to Jesus for him to come heal his friend. The statement of Martha and Mary “Lord if you have been here my brother would not have died”, showed that Jesus was expected to have arrived earlier than he actually did. Truly, message was sent to Jesus when Lazarus was sick, for him to come and heal him. The obvious delay of Jesus did not upset Martha and Mary or make them hostile to Jesus for coming “late”. They could have welcomed Jesus with a countenance filled wi...

The Obedient shall be Fruitful-HOMILY FOR FRIDAY OF THE SIXTEENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME 28TH JULY 2023 Exodus 20:1-17; Ps.19; Matthew 13:18-23 We have all had experiences of Divine intervention in our lives and in the lives of those we know. But we may need to ponder if those experiences should simply die in the past and be overtaken by events. From the first reading of today, we realize that every experience of Divine intervention is God’s invitation to us to share in his life. Whatever God does for us is geared towards enabling us become more like Him. And so, in the first reading of today, the Lord first introduced himself as the Lord who miraculously brought the Israelites out of Egypt. This introduction was so necessary so that the Israelites will learn that their miraculous exit from Egypt was not an event to be forgotten with time. The miracle first speaks of God assuring love for them and it also indicates that they have some responsibilities towards this love. God therefore ga...

The Secrets of the kingdom of Heaven!-HOMILY FOR THURSDAY OF THE SIXTEENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME 27TH JULY 2023 Exodus 19:1-2.9-11.16-20b; Daniel 3; Matthew 13:10-17 The Secrets of the kingdom of Heaven! The will of God is that all men should be saved. But this will respects the freewill of every individual. God brings about the salvation of man through interaction/encounter. In the Incarnation, God fully and substantially encountered man in his existential condition. In the first reading of today, the Lord expressed this innate desire for the salvation of humanity through encounter. He said to Moses: “Behold, I am coming to you in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak, and may also believe you for ever”. Here, we find that the Lord wanted to be heard not only by Moses but also by the people. But the phrase: “and may also believe you forever”, suggests that the Lord does not intend to always speak to the people in this manner. Subsequently, He wants to speak to them thro...

Tenets of Parenting-HOMILY FOR WEDNESDAY OF THE SIXTEENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME, YEAR I (STS. JOACHIM AND ANNE 26TH JULY 2023 Ex.16:1-5.9-15; Ps.78; Matthew 13:1-9 Tenets of Parenting Today, we celebrate the memorial of Sts. Joachim and Anne, the parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Clearly no reference is made to them in the scripture. That does not mean that they are unimportant; rather it goes to show that everything is not in the Bible. The bible is not a historical book but an account of God’s gradual revelation of himself and man’s growing attempts to behold this revelation. However, Jesus says that it is from the fruits that a tree is known. We celebrate this couple for their obvious good work in training a child that God found worthy of being His mother. It is not the case that it was the training that they gave the Blessed Virgin Mary that qualified her to be the mother of God; rather, by bringing her up in uprightness, they  cooperated with the grace of God in her life. Th...

A Wounded Healer-HOMILY FOR TUESDAY OF THE SIXTEENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME (FEAST OF ST. JAMES 25TH JULY 2023 2Cor.4:7-15; Ps.125; Matthew 20:20-28 A Wounded Healer Every good thing comes from God. To maintain this consciousness in men, God continues to use weak but docile vessels to carry out his mission. Today we celebrate the feast of St. James the greater. His first encounter with Jesus was when Jesus called him and his brother to himself and they obeyed, leaving their father Zebedee and their fishing occupation. It was a movement from the known to the unknown (sacrifice of comfort), as it is typical of every call of God. In the gospel reading, the Mother of James and John brought the children and asked for privileged seats in the kingdom that Jesus was going to establish. Although Jesus does not exactly grant this request, James and John together with Peter were already close companions of Jesus as shown in the cure of Peter’s mother-in-law (Mark 1:29-31), the raising of Jairus’ d...