FR REMI HOMILIES/REFLECTIONS AND SERMONS

SERMON/HOMILY FOR THURSDAY SECOND WEEK OF LENT 29TH FEBRUARY 2024 Jeremiah 17:5-10; Ps.1; Luke 16:19-31 Help according to your capacity In the first reading of today, the Lord speaking through Prophet Jeremiah, says that the man who puts his trust in man is cursed, while the man who puts his trust in God is truly blessed. The reason is that the help of man is limited and so cannot stand the test of time; but the help of God is unlimited and ever available. In the gospel reading, Jesus used the example of the Rich man and Lazarus to demonstrate this truth. The name of the rich man is not known only that he was wealthy. This is quite common. For example, when a man acquires a chieftaincy title, people no longer refer to him by his name but by “Chief”. If you ask after him using his name, people may refer you to his namesake in the neighbourhood. But then, this was not a problem. The rich man is not shown to be a sinner, a lawbreaker or one who is lackadaisical towards temple worship. His...

SERMON/HOMILY FOR WEDNESDAY SECOND WEEK OF LENT 28TH FEBRUARY 2024 Jeremiah 18:18-20; Ps.31; Matthew 20:17-28 Improved Perception While Jesus spoke of his impending passion and eventual victory, Salome, the mother of James and John did something quite usual. She understood Jesus to mean that he will establish a new kingdom, something that will come about after he has defeated those who persecute him. Salome wanted to ensure that her children will share in this future victory. This is quite expected. Tradition has it that Salome was a sister to the Blessed Virgin Mary, and so, an aunt to Jesus. James and John were Jesus’ cousin. Again, James and John together with Peter, formed the inner cycle of Jesus’ disciples. So, just as people meet their influential relatives for job opportunities, Salome was only reminding Jesus of the need to share his future glory with relatives. Again, since Jesus had no siblings, the cousins were closest to him by blood. It becomes easy to understand why the ...

SERMON/HOMILY FOR TUESDAY SECOND WEEK OF LENT 27TH FEBRUARY 2024 Isaiah 1:10, 16-20; Ps.50; Matthew 23:1-12 Leaders too are Pilgrims! It is our duty to help one another to make heaven. By so doing, we will be learning how to live in heaven while on earth. In heaven, we shall collaborate not compete. It is on this note that ensuring that our neigbhour obeys the commandment becomes our concern too. However, no matter how strong we may think we are in striving towards attaining eternal life, we should not forget that we are fellow pilgrims with the weak. We are not helping others to achieve what we have achieved already; we are rather helping others to join us in the race to heaven. In the gospel reading of today, it is obvious that the Scribes and the Pharisees did not understand this fact. Being custodians of the law, they melted it out to the people as if they were the lawgiver themselves. They forgot that the law applied to them too and that they too were pilgrims to heaven. The pride...

SERMON/HOMILY FOR MONDAY OF THE SECOND WEEK OF LENT 26TH FEBRUARY 2024 Daniel 9:4b-10; Ps.79; Luke 6:36-38 You will receive in the measure you give! Today, Jesus asked that we be merciful, judge not, condemn not and forgive. He went on to say that the extent to which we give these to others is the extent to which we shall also receive them. This means that what the Lord is asking us to give to others is something we ourselves are in need of. Again, when we consider the concepts of mercy, judgment, condemnation and forgiveness, they dwell on our reaction towards those who offend us or treat us badly. These concepts do not negate fraternal correction, instead they teach us how best to go about helping others grow out of their negative character. Every wrong doer is someone in need of help whether the person realizes it or not. To render this help, we need the wisdom of God. First, God hates sin but never the sinner. Being able to make this separation means that it is always God’s aim to ...

SERMON/HOMILY FOR THE SECOND SUNDAY OF LENT YEAR B 25TH FEBRUARY 2024 Gen.22:1-2, 9a, 10-13, 15-18; Ps.116; Rom.8:31b-34; Mark 9:2-34 “ _If God be for us, who can be against us?”_ (Rom.8:31b) Repentance to the fullest! In our reflection last Sunday, we realized that the devil is our enemy of spiritual progress, working hard to ensure that we do not embrace repentance in this season of lent. There are two ways the devil can go about this: by either discouraging us from repenting at all or preventing us from repenting to the full. The former happens to be the focus of the readings of today. The devil can watch us embark on the project of reconciling with God but still ensure that the reconciliation is never optimal. Repentance has a target, which is to love God with our whole minds, hearts, strength and everything we have. The goal of repentance is that God becomes the first in our lives for whom we are ready to let go of every other person or thing. The devil can allow you to repent but...

SERMON/HOMILY FOR SATURDAY OF THE FIRST WEEK OF LENT 24TH FEBRUARY 2024 Deut.26:16-19; Ps.119; Matt.5:43-48 What loving the enemy entails! Today, Jesus asked that we love our enemies. If you have never been deeply wronged especially by someone you trusted so much, you may not understand how difficult Jesus’ recommendation is. For one thing, it takes a lot for one to act contrary to nature. The natural thing to do was what Jesus first mentioned, namely: to love our friends and hate our enemies. Why will someone bring me pain and I react with love towards the person? Does loving my enemies mean that I should overlook what they did to me, keep my calm and smile at them still? Will loving my enemies not give them more moral to harm me or others in the future? If loving my enemies makes them to persist in their evil, am I not invariably responsible for their misdeeds since I never confronted them? Is silence no longer a way of sharing in the sins of others? The summary question is: what doe...

SERMON/HOMILY FOR FRIDAY OF THE FIRST WEEK OF LENT 23RD FEBRUARY 2024 Ezekiel 18:21-28; Ps.130; Matt.5:20-26 True love attracts true Blessings Every one stands the possibility of making heaven but one category of persons who cannot make heaven are those who cannot love. Heaven, being the dwelling place of God, is basically love. So those who lack the capacity to love, automatically become unfit for heaven. This inability to love is what is subtly referred to in today’s gospel reading as the righteousness of the Scribes and the Pharisees. They were people who neither understood nor practiced the law up to the point of positively impacting their environment. They merely practiced the law on the surface level. Jesus says that if we too do not practice Christianity up to the point of love, we are not practicing true Christianity. The truth is that it is not actually in the Church that we can test our level of love because most persons seem to be at their best behaviour in Church. In fact, ...