Tag: christianity
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Hungers of body and spirit – Homily for the Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A
Isaiah 55:1-3; Psalm 144; Romans 8:35-39; Matthew 14:13-21 The crowds in today’s gospel had nothing to eat, but our Lord knew they had another hunger apart from that of the stomach. They followed Jesus, listening to every word he spoke, and in none of the stories does it say that they were bothered about food…
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Giving Us Time to Grow – Homily for Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A
Wisdom 12:13, 16-19, Psalm 85, Romans 8:26-27, Matthew 13:24-43 History is replete with the attempt to separate the bad guys from the good guys. And sometimes the distinction and the separation are based on ambiguous criteria. As well, there were people in Jesus’ time who wanted him to separate the bad guys from the good…
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My yoke is easy, and my burden is light – Homily for the Fourteenth Sunday, Year A
Readings: Zechariah 9:9-10, Psalm 144, Romans 8:9,11-13, Matthew 11:25-30 There are times when certain words of Jesus can almost sound like a joke. Especially if you are going through a rough patch—or a completely devastating one. In the middle of the storm, it’s so easy to lose our peace and feel like we’re totally finished.…
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The God who is always with us… Homily for the 12th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A
Readings: Jer 20, 10-13; Ps 68; Rom 5, 12-15; Mt 10, 26-33 On this twelfth Sunday of ordinary time, we celebrate Christ, Our Lord, who is always with us. He continues to deliver us from all that threatens and makes life difficult. This includes persecution, sins, and death. In the first reading, God delivered the…
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Homily – The Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ – Corpus et Sanguis Christi
Holy Eucharist as the unique presence of God among us… Deut 8:2-3, 14-16; Ps 147; 1Cor 10:16-17; Jn 6:51-58 Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ, or ‘Corpus Christi’. The feast focuses on two aspects. Firstly, on the Holy Eucharist as the body and blood of Christ. Secondly, on the…
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Homily for Pentecost Sunday
The Holy Spirit: The Source of our best impulses Acts 2:1-11; Psalm 103; 1Cor 12, 3b-7, 12-13; John 20:19-23 Like we all know, Pentecost celebrates the dramatic fulfillment of the promise of Jesus: The Outpouring of the Holy Spirit – the Descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles. At the Last Supper, he promised…
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Homily for Palm Sunday, Year A
Finding Ourselves in the Passion Is 50: 4-7; Psalm 22; Phil 2:6-11; Matt 26:14-27:66 Today we begin the Most Holy Week. Palm Sunday ushers us into one of the most dramatic moments of the Christian year. We begin with celebration—palm branches waving, voices raised in hope—yet the liturgy quickly turns toward the stark narrative of Christ’s…
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Homily for the Fourth Sunday of Lent, Year A
Heal our blindness, Lord 1Sam 16:1. 6-13; Psalm 22; Eph 5:8-14; Jn 9:1-41 As an old and experienced judge who had studied how the first king (Saul) had failed, Samuel had his own ideas about whom God would choose. But God chose the most unlikely candidate, namely, David, the shepherd boy, the youngest son of Jesse. The…
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Homily for the Third Sunday of Lent, Year A
Christ, the Source of Living Water Exodus 17:3-7; Psalm 94; Romans 5:1-2, 5-8; John 4:5-42 To understand today’s readings and symbolism, we must first understand the liturgical meaning of these coming Sundays of Lent, that is, the 3rd, 4th and 5th. In the Early Church, the Church used the Lenten period to prepare the catechumens…
Fr. Valentine Umoh 