lokaalokaya

August 25 – Twenty First Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C : Enter through the narrow Gate

First Reading  Isaiah 66:18-21 Nations of every language shall come to see my glory.
Responsorial Psalm  Psalm 117:1-2 Praise the Lord, all you nations.
Second Reading  Hebrews 12:5-7,11-13 Whom the Lord loves, he disciplines.
Gospel ReadingLuke 13:22-30
 “The gate to perdition is the devil, through whom we enter into hell; the gate of life is Christ, through whom we enter into the kingdom of Heaven. The Devil is said to be a wide gate, not extended by the mightiness of his power, but made broad by the license of his unbridled pride. Christ said to be a strait Gate not with respect to smallness of power, but to His humility; for He whom the whole world contains not, shut Himself within the limits of the Virgin’s womb” (St. John Chrysostom).

August 18 : The Solemnity of the Assumption of Our Lady into Heaven – Crown of Glory

The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into Heaven at the end of her earthly life is a defined dogma of the Catholic Church. On November 1, 1950, Pope Pius XII, exercising papal infallibility, declared in "Munificentissimus Deus" that it is a dogma of the Church "that the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory." As a dogma, the Assumption is a required belief of all Catholics; anyone who publicly dissents from the dogma, Pope Pius declared, "has fallen away completely from the divine and Catholic Faith." The "Magnificat," which we find in Luke's Gospel, indicates that the praise of the Holy Virgin, the Mother of God, intimately united to Christ her son, regards the Church of all times and places. The evangelist's report of these words presupposes that the glorification of Mary was already present at that time and that he saw it as a duty and task of the Christian community for all generations. Mary's words tell us that it is a duty of the Church to recall Our Lady's greatness in faith. This solemnity is, then, an invitation to praise God and to look to Our Lady's greatness since we know who God is by gazing about the faces of those who are His.
 

August 11 - Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time: Being Faithful & Being Prepared

First Reading  Wisdom 18:6-9 The Hebrew people awaited the salvation of the just.
Responsorial Psalm  Psalm 33:1,12,18-22 Happy the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.
Second Reading  Hebrews 11:1-2,8-19 We will look for the city designed and built by God.
Gospel ReadingLuke 12:32-48
 
Today the Gospel speaks to us -as the first theme-  of the need to be prepared since our God is  a God who comes, a God who visits us. He can come to us in many ways. For example through the Sacraments, through the Word of God, through the Priest, through the Community gathered for worship, through the poor, the sick and the lowly, He could come and speak to us through our live events and experiences etc etc. Are we ready to welcome him in all these modes of his coming? The second theme for today speaks to us the need to be faithful at all times. Thus Mother Theresa of Calcutta would say : "God did not call us to be successful, but to be faithful." It is not what we do that matters at the end but how far we have been faithful to Him and His Gospel. Let us ask God for the grace to be prepared all the time to welcome Him and that we be faithful we He calls us. 
 

August 4 - Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time: The Fool’s Vanity

Trust in God - as the Rock of our salvation, as the Lord who made us His chosen people, as our shepherd and guide. This should be the mark of our following of Jesus. We can harden our hearts in ways more subtle but no less ruinous. We can put our trust in possessions, squabble over earthly inheritances, kid ourselves that what we have we deserve, store up treasures and think they’ll afford us security, rest. All this is “vanity of vanities,” a false and deadly way of living, as this week’s First Reading tells us. This is the greed that Jesus warns against in this week’s Gospel. The rich man’s anxiety and toil expose his lack of faith in God’s care and provision. That’s why Paul calls greed “idolatry” in the Epistle this week. Mistaking having for being, possession for existence, we forget that God is the giver of all that we have, we exalt the things we can make or buy over our Maker (see Romans 1:25). Jesus calls the rich man a “fool” - a word used in the Old Testament for someone who rebels against God or has forgotten Him (see Psalm 14:1). We should treasure most the new life we have been given in Christ and seek what is above, the promised inheritance of heaven. We have to see all things in the light of eternity, mindful that He who gives us the breath of life could at any moment - this night even - demand it back from us.
 

July 28 - Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time: Asked and Answered

First Reading  Genesis 18:20-32 Abraham pleads with God to save the innocent people of Sodom and Gomorrah.
Responsorial Psalm  Psalm 138:1-3,6-8 Lord, on the day I cried for help, you answered me.
Second Reading  Colossians 2:12-14 You were buried with Christ in Baptism and also raised with him.
Gospel ReadingLuke 11:1-13
 
Though we be “but dust and ashes,” we can presume to draw near and speak boldly to our Lord, as Abraham dares in this week’s First Reading. The mystery of prayer, as Jesus reveals to His disciples in this week’s Gospel, is the living relationship of beloved sons and daughters with their heavenly Father.  Our prayer is pure gift, made possible by the “good gift” of the Father - the Holy Spirit of His Son. It is the fruit of the New Covenant by which we are made children of God in Christ Jesus (see Galatians 4:6-7; Romans 8:15-16). Jesus teaches His disciples to persist in their prayer, as Abraham persisted in begging God’s mercy for the innocent of Sodom and Gomorrah. This intriguing story of Abraham interceding for Sodom is not really about a numbers game but about the significance of salvation for the righteous in a corrupt community. Authentic prayer opens us up to the action of God's Spirit, bringing us in line with God's desires, and making us into true disciples, obedient to Jesus and to the Father who has sent him. Prayer becomes one of the ways by which we follow Jesus in the Christian life.

July 21 - 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time: Serving God and Serving Neighbour

Last Sunday we were shown through the Parable of the Good Samaritan how important it is to serve our neighbour : "For I desire mercy, not sacrifice". And in today's Gospel Jesus completes that by showing how important it is to serve God and give Him our fullest attention by highlighting Mary who was at His feet. Martha stands for the service to the Neighbour while Mary stands for the service to God. Thus we need to be both Martha and Mary.

July 14 – Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time: What We Must Do

In today’s Gospel we are given the summary of Christian belief: Love God & Love Neighbour. This command is nothing remote or mysterious - it’s already written in our hearts, in the book of sacred Scripture: “You have only to carry it out,” Moses says in this week’s First Reading. Jesus tells His interrogator the same thing: “Do this and you will live.” -The scholar, however, wants to know where he can draw the line. That’s the motive behind his question: “Who is my neighbor?”. In his compassion, the Samaritan in Jesus’parable reveals the boundless mercy of God - who came down to us when we were fallen in sin, close to dead, unable to pick ourselves up. Like the Samaritan, He pays the price for us, heals the wounds of sin, pours out on us the oil and wine of the sacraments, entrusts us to the care of His Church, until He comes back for us. Because His love has known no limits, ours cannot either. We are to love as we have been loved, to do for others what He has done for us - joining all things together in His Body, the Church. This is the love that leads to eternal life, the love Jesus commands today of the scholar, and of each of us - “Go and do likewise.”

July 7 - Fourteenth Sunday in the Ordinary Time: I have a mission

First Reading   Isaiah 66:10-14c I will spread prosperity over Jerusalem like a river.
Responsorial Psalm   Psalm 123:1-4 Our eyes are fixed on the Lord.
Second Reading   Galatians 6:14-18 May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Gospel ReadingLuke 10:1-12,17-20
St. Luke is unique in recording a mission of the 72 in addition to a mission of the Twelve. God has given us life and brought us to this world for a definite purpose. We are given some definite service and a mission to fulfil. "Somehow I am necessary for His purposes" says John Henry Cardinal Newman. Have you realized the purpose for which God gave you life? Have you identified the mission entrusted to you? Are you doing something to accomplish that mission?

June 30 - Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time : Free to Follow

First Reading  1 Kings 19:16b,19-21 Elijah anoints Elisha as his successor.
Responsorial Psalm  Psalm 16:1-2,5,7-11 I set the Lord ever before me.
Second Reading  Galatians 5:1,13-18 Christ has set us free.
Gospel ReadingLuke 9:51-62
In todays Readings we are reminded that those who wish to Join Christ must be ready to disengage themselves from any earthly home, ready to disengage from past responsibilities and ready to disengage from past relationships. This simply means singular detachment from earthly matters. Jesus asks his disciples to put Him first even before the most demanding family ties. Can we do that?

June 23 - The Feast of Corpus Christi: the Living bread

First Reading Genesis 14:18-20 Melchizedek, king of Salem, blessed Abram.
Responsorial Psalm Psalm 110:1-4 You are a priest forever, in the line of Melchizedek.
Second Reading 1 Corinthians 11:23-26 As often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes.
Gospel ReadingLuke 9:11b-17
Today we celebrate the Feast of Corpus Christi, or the Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ. The Eucharist is true food and drink but at the same time it is very different from every other food and drink. The great difference lies in these words of Christ which St Augustine heard in prayer, “You will not change me into yourself as you would food of your flesh; but you will be changed into me.” We transform ordinary food into our own bodies but the food of the Eucharist transforms us into the body of Christ. Ludwig Feuerbach's statement that we become what we eat is never more true that in the Eucharistic experience.

June 16 - Holy Trinity Sunday: One God in Three persons

Holy Trinity Sunday, is celebrated a week after Pentecost Sunday in honour of the most fundamental of Christian beliefs—belief in the Holy Trinity. We can never fully understand the mystery of the Trinity, but we can sum it up in the following formula: God is three Persons in one Nature. The three Persons of God —Father, Son, and Holy Spirit— are all equally God, and They cannot be divided.

June 9 - PENTECOST SUNDAY

June 2 - SEVENTH SUNDAY OF EASTER

Mat 26 - SIXTH SUNDAY OF EASTER

May 19 - FIFTH SUNDAY OF EASTER

May 12 - Fourth Sunday of Easter: The Good Shepherd Sunday

 In the gospel reading Jesus identifies himself as the shepherd: “My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me”(John 10:27). Remember, each week we take Jesus inside us in the Eucharist and our greatest protection and shepherding comes from within. Take the time to listen to Jesus. Spend some quality time this week with Jesus. Just a few minutes to listen quietly or reflect on his words can change your day. That is how we are nourished. And that is how we can be judged.

May 5 - Third Sunday of Easter: To love like Jesus

Todays Gospel presents to us the scene of Peter's repentance as three times Jesus asks him to make a profession of love. Jesus then explains just what Peter's love and leadership will require, foretelling Peter;s death by crucifixion: "you will stretch out your hands". This is agape love, that is self-forgetting love. Mother Theresa of Calcutta speaks of 'loving till it hurts'. That is Christian love. Can we love this way? Can we love the way Jesus loved?

April 28 , Second Sunday of Easter: I believe

Each one of us must come to our own personal faith in Jesus. We can't believe just because our friends do. Their faith can help us and challenge us and strengthen us but it is not enough. We must arrive at our own personal faith in Jesus just as Thomas did in today's Gospel

April 21 - Easter Sunday: We are an Easter people

Easter means experiencing the power of Jesus changing a great tragedy in our lives into a glorious new beginning. Therefore let us experience Easter in our lives each time we fall and fail, each time we want to give up, each time we want to cry and give into frustration. Jesus Can change us, he can bring us new life again. Therefore can we dare to start afresh from Christ? That's the challenge of Easter.

April 19 - Good Friday: In the Cross is our Salvation.

As we look up to the cross today and contemplate Jesus dying to make the full payment for our sins, let us thank him, and let us promise him that our whole lives will be one unbroken song of thanksgiving to him who gave his life to make full payment for the immeasurable debt we owe to God. This will give us strength to carry our little crosses with love and faith