FR REMI HOMILIES/REFLECTIONS AND SERMONS

REFLECTION/HOMILY FOR TUESDAY OF THE 30TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME YEAR I 31ST OCTOBER 2023  Rom.8:18-25; Ps.126; Luke 13:18-21 The syntax for building God’s Kingdom The first petition contained in the Lord’s Prayer is “Thy Kingdom come”. Here we pray that God’s kingdom should be established on earth and in our midst. This prayer is important because we begin from this earth to experience heaven. The establishment of God’s kingdom on earth is possible by the grace of God and the cooperation of man. In the gospel reading of today, Jesus reveals how this kingdom of God is being established on earth: it grows from littleness to greatness – it is never magical or automatic. The principles that guides heaven is love and constant connectivity with God. To establish these principles on earth, we must be ready to start little and be consistent. To love in this world, we may have to begin with loving our family members, then we grow to include our neighbours, school/work colleagues and business as

REFLECTION/HOMILY FOR MONDAY OF THE 30TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME 30TH OCTOBER 2023 Rom.8:12-17; Ps.68; Luke 13:10-17 Remain in the “Synagogue” In the gospel reading of today, Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. As he was teaching, he noticed the presence of a woman who was suffering from a spirit of infirmity for eighteen years. We are not told that this woman walked up to Jesus to explain herself to him; neither are we told that she approached Jesus for healing. She simply came to the synagogue to worship God as is expected of all particularly on the Sabbath. What is striking about this woman is that she could still be law abiding even after suffering for eighteen years. One would have expected the woman to give up observing the law of Sabbath worship. She could have concluded that God is not in the synagogue; she could have given in to pressures to compromise her faith in one way or the other. Yet, this woman continued to observe the law. She still believed that

REFLECTION/HOMILY FOR THE 30TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME YEAR A 29TH OCTOBER 2023 Ex.22:21-27; Ps.18; 1Thess.1:5c-10; Matthew 22:34-40  _Let the hearts that seek the Lord rejoice_ (Ps.104:3) Take advantage of no one! The opening sentence of today’s first reading showed that the Lord himself was the speaker. From the content of the reading, we can easily decipher that the Lord was addressing the rich. The reading was a warning to the rich not to take advantage of the poor. The Lord warned that whoever oppresses the poor, in any way, will attract the wrath of God; particularly when the helpless poor cry to God for vengeance. If the Lord is speaking to the poor, then, given the present harsh economic situation of our country, the hunger and suffering in the land, we can easily excuse ourselves that the Lord is not speaking to us today. We can easily claim that we are the poor, on whose side God is. We may even want to further conclude that the Lord is clearly and directly speaking to those

REFLECTION/HOMILY FOR SATURDAY OF THE 29TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME. (SAINTS SIMON & JUDE) 28TH OCTOBER 2023 Eph.2:19-22; Ps.19; Luke 6:12-19 Faithfulness in Anonymity The gospel reading of today is Luke’s account of Jesus’ selection of his twelve apostles. It is only in Luke’s account that this selection was done after Jesus had spent some time in prayer. This variance from other gospels does not suggest a contradiction in presentation or that the account of the other synoptic gospels is less authentic; rather, it was the case that Luke had a special interest in highlighting the prayerfulness of Jesus. Other synoptic gospels had their focus too especially in relation to their audience. Today too, we celebrate the feast of two of the selected apostles: Simon and Jude. Interestingly not much is recorded about them. It is interesting because it is in this little record that so much can be said and learnt from them. God calls us to win souls for him but through different paths. Not all o

REFLECTION/HOMILY FOR FRIDAY OF THE 29TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME 27TH OCTOBER 2023 Rom.7:18-25a; Ps.119; Luke 12:54-59 Compassion for Sinners In the first reading of today, St. Paul cried out his inability to sometimes do the good he wants to do and his weakness in doing the evil he does not want to do. It is not too difficult to understand St. Paul because in one way or the other, we may have been in such situation too. Sometimes, it is when you have decided to give up a sinful habit that the temptation becomes fierce. Both good and bad actions are never without the will of man; if not, they will have no moral character. However, to overcome sin is not just a matter of the will alone but also of grace. To be holy is by the grace of God. Therefore, before you condemn someone who has done what you have not done yourself, first acknowledge that it is God’s grace that has been preserving you; and if you want to be more truthful to yourself, there may be some wrongs you have committed that t

REFLECTION/HOMILY FOR THURSDAY OF THE 29TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME 26TH OCTOBER 2023 Rom.6:19-23; Ps.1; Luke 12:49-53 The Wages of Sin is Death If you do not know the worth of something or someone, you will not be able to duly appreciate the value. One factor that largely contributed to the success of the transatlantic slave trade in Africa is the ignorant of the African as to the dignity of the human person. When the African man saw the beautiful things brought by the Europeans such as their wears, mirror, guns and so on, he was so fascinated that he counted it as nothing to give up his slaves to the white man. When he ran out of slaves, he went to capture freeborn and sold them out as slaves in return for what the white was offering him. If not for ignorance, he would have known that he was engaging in a self-destructive exercise. St. Paul tells us in the first reading of today that this is what happens to us each time we give in to sin. Every temptation is a lie. The lie told is that

REFLECTION/HOMILY FOR WEDNESDAY OF THE 29TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME 25TH OCTOBER 2023 Rom.6:12-18; Ps.124; Luke 12:39-48 Never Give up the Struggle It has become common to find people who defend and justify themselves in some wrongs they do. A man will drive wrongly on the road and still dare to raise his voice at another who attempts to correct him. This mentality has somehow been adopted in our moral life such that we sometimes create reasons why we cannot and will not drop some sinful habits. When we do this, we give ourselves the license to remain is such sins; a matter of self-deception. This was what St. Paul was referring to in the first reading when he spoke about sin reigning in our moral bodies. When we give up the struggle against sin, we allow sin to reign in us. Then, we become like the servant who was not found awake when his master returned in the gospel reading. Our beating will be severe because we knew quite well what the master’s will is but refuse to do it. We are God