Years ago one Monday morning, I was just about to leave my parish after the morning Mass to go home to visit my folks. As I was about to get into my car to drive off, I noticed a car enter the compound of the church. A couple came out of the car and rushed towards me. They looked distressed and the wife said, "Father, I am Catholic and my husband is not. Our son, who is not baptised, was just involved in a serious road accident, and he is now at hospital. The doctors have told us that he has little chance of survival. Could you come and say a prayer for him please?" The husband interjected: "P ..read more

When we look at our identity, what comes to mind? Some think that identity means the name given to us. Others think that identity refers to our status or popularity. But what is our identity? Who are we really? We are, as the First Reading reminds us, “a kingdom of priests, a consecrated nation.” Such an identity may make us feel great or even proud. But the reality is that this identity is given to us not merely as an honour, or to “syiok sendiri” or a privilege. This identity is given to us with terms and conditions: it comes with responsibility and mission. In today’s Gospel, we are called ..read more

We sometimes come across persons who do things to attract attention, or to gain popularity, fame or recognition from others. For example, we may have come across certain persons who are quite nasty towards others, but when a priest or even a bishop asks them to carry out a task, they suddenly appear to be friendly or docile, and they seem to go out of the way to get the task done, especially in front of the priest or bishop, perhaps with the hope of gaining brownie points or to get on the good side of the priest or bishop. But when the priest or bishop is not present, they go back to their nas ..read more

In today's Gospel, we see an example of what happens to people who will not face the truth. They have to twist and wriggle and in some cases even tell lies in an attempt to save face, and in the end get themselves into an embarrassing position in which they have nothing to say or they end up saying even more silly things, or stupid things or nonsense. The person who will not face the truth has nothing but the prospect of a deeper involvement in a situation that renders him helpless and ineffective. The question that we perhaps may want to ponder is this: do we want to live peacefully and joyfu ..read more

In today's Gospel, Peter, James and John experienced the presence of God when they saw Jesus transfigured. They had never experienced their master in this way before. In the Gospel: "Then Peter spoke to Jesus: ‘Rabbi,’ he said ‘it is wonderful for us to be here; so let us make three tents, one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.’ But things did not quite work out that way. They were only being prepared for what is to come. With Jesus they descended the mountain to the valley below and on to the garden of Gethsemane and Calvary. On the mountain, they didn’t want to leave. In the Garden o ..read more

Faith is something of a mystery, since there are times what is happening is not natural or logical to us. For example, we sometimes come across certain persons who seem to be in a hopeless situation, such as an illness or taken a bad turn in life and seem heading towards doom. But such persons do not give up or give in to their predicament, and place their faith in God to be healed and change for the better. Then when all seems lost, such persons actually recover, or change and turn into a new leaf. In today's reading, we are reminded: "Only faith can guarantee the blessings that we hope for ..read more

“There is no more wine,” Mary says to her Son. It is neither a demand nor even a request. It is just a description of the situation at hand, which could turn out to be quite an embarrassing situation. She does not put Jesus in a spot. Nor does she pester Him to perform a miracle. She gives Jesus space to think and decide. She is very prudent, wise and considerate. Not only that, she knows her Son deep in her heart. Acting on her mother’s instinct at the first sign of Jesus’ willingness to deal with the situation, she immediately instructs the servants. “Do whatever he tells you,” and she does ..read more

We sometimes come across persons who seem to be good to us or treat us well, and some of such persons become our friends. We treat them as friends but do such persons really treat us as friends without any terms or conditions, or do they treat us as friends only when it benefits them or is convenient to them? Such friends are known as fair-weathered friends, who only become friends when times are good, and when times are not so good, they may abandon us, or even persecute or betray us. In today's reading, we come across examples of fair-weathered friends. Job’s friends had initially come to c ..read more

One of the realities of life we need to be aware of and prepared for is that human praise and admiration can be very fickle, and people who were once allies or friends could become rivals or enemies when the circumstances do not benefit them. At any time, we can gain and lose the praise and admiration we get from others, and if we depend only on such praise and admiration, we may find ourselves bitter and disappointed when things are not good for us. In today's Gospel, we are told: "At a time when everyone was full of admiration for all he did, Jesus said to his disciples, ‘For your part, you ..read more

Saying that we are Christians is easy, since mere words are easy and cheap, but how many of us are really follow Jesus' teachings and commandments faithfully and completely? There are some of us who may be Christians only in name, but we want to do our own thing and according to our own way. There are some of us who may claim to be Christians, but we follow only those teachings and commandments which are beneficial or convenient to us. How many of us are humble and willing to accept and follow Jesus' teachings and commandments in its entirety, even those teachings which are hard or challenging ..read more