Homilies & Sermons
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I'm starting this thread so that
1) we can share what was preached at Mass by various priests with one another, and
2) hopefully, typing the gist of the sermon out will help us remember the message better
We can start with last week's Masses or even memorable ones before that, and make it a practice every weekend.
P.S. Would there be any issues with adding the name of the priest though?
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Great to have this thread. Yup, it's good to type out what we remember. I have the problem of forgetting in a couple of days after attending the Mass
It should be ok to add the priest's name. It's just sermon, nothing sensitive.
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Ok, here's today's at Holy Spirit, with it being Corpus Christi and all...the Eucharist is the central point of our faith, and we shouldn't let other things like miracles, pilgrimages, etc distract us from that. And reverence for the body of Christ can't be over-emphasised.
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Honestly, I did not find anything inspiring to share from the homily at the church I attend. But I came across this site "Eucharist should make us attentive to the needs of the poor, Benedict XVI teaches".
Click on the above to read yourself. I think this is inspiring for all Catholics and remind us not to forget to love our neigbhours and do whatever we can to share and help the needy.
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Not much to add on to today's Gospel message of making Christ and the Word the foundation of our lives, and acting on it.
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The 3 readings of this week is very interesting especially the second reading. The simple word of St Paul has caused great debates among Christians with regards to the subject of salvation. On one extreme are those who believed that deeds are needed for salvation. On the other extreme are those who believed that all works are done by Jesus’s death and nothing else is needed to be done.
As Fr Ambrose Vaz explained during his homily, when St Paul said that no works by man can achieve salvation, he was targeting those who do not believe that Jesus has a part in their salvation. He was telling them that without Jesus, there is nothing that they can do that can lead them to salvation.
Salvation in Hebrew means victory. Jesus is in his resurrection is victorious over sin and death. He has purchased for us with his suffering and death our salvation. He is inviting everybody to join Him in victory. However, people must co-operate with Him in order to join Him in victory over sin and death. How?
In the first readings, Moses said that those who obeyed the commandments will receive blessings while those who don’t will be cursed.
In the second reading, I found a link that helps to explain what the position of our church. Pls click here http://www.newadvent.org/bible/rom003.htm
And in the Gospel reading, Jesus said tell us clearly that not all who call “Lord, Lord….” will enter into heaven but those who hear the words and act upon them.
In conclusion, Christians should be aware that in order to be saved, they need to have both faith and deeds. As James said in JAS2:14-16 faith is dead without deeds.
Remember that Jesus told us that the 2 most important commandments for us is to love God and our neighbour which can be found in MT 22:34-40.
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Today evening's Mass was conducted by Fr Mark from Malaysia. He told us an interesting story that I would like to share here.....
A priest from Penang attended a retreat in Mexico and received a standing ovation when he said he is from Penang, Malaysia. Of course he felt good but at the same time confused since he is the only one getting such attention.
Towards the end of the retreat, he finally knew the answer.......
Years before, at the same retreat, the retreat master asked for volunteers to do the various chores...At retreats, there is no ranks and files and the chores are shared.
When it came to washing the public toilets, there was no volunteer....as expected.
The retreat master asked 3 times for volunteer and at the third time, a hand went up...Bingo, someone has volunteered.
At the end of the retreat, the retreat master aske each and everyone to introduce themselves again.....when it came to the guy who volunteered for toilet washing, he stood up and said that he is Anthony from Malaysia....
The retreat maser asked him, Brother Anthony, can you tell us what you do? Anthony replied : "I am the Archbishop of Kuala Lumpur" !
Here we have a true leader who is here to serve....imagine teh Archbishop washing the toilet daily ?
In line with today's theme, what God wants is our service and not sacrifies...
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Today
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Thanks MLK. =)
Fr William Heng celebrated Mass yesterday at Holy Spirit. He mentioned that whilst many of us don't commit mortal sins, we don't do anything right either. When we rationalise some of the wrongdoings that we commit, or claim that we have are fine, we remain in the dark and are unable to see our own flaws.
We commit the sin of omitting God from our lives, asking what His will for us each day is, going beyond the circle of ourselves and our family, and living out the little bit of Him that exists in all of us. He has given us free will but we need to use it to choose Him. We need to slow ourselves down in spite of our schedules and deadlines to seek His will and to be less oblivious to the people around us.
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Nothing very much to share this week as the theme is on "Harvest is rich but labours are few" - The focus is on the need to have more priests. Homily include a testimony from a seminarian.
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Fr John Nguyen at Holy Spirit: From the moment we are baptised, and partake in the Eucharist, we are all priests, men and women alike. While the world deems us as failures because we're not rich or famous, in God's eyes, all we really need to do is to spread His word and do His will in our own modest ways, giving up our time and living as worthy examples of Christians.
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Fr William Goh proclaimed the Gospel and gave the homily today.
Nowadays priests have to wait for people to come to confession instead of the other way around. We don't recognise that we are sinners, and blame society and human nature for our "imperfections" as if we aren't a part of them. It's because we've lost the fear of God, a respect and reverence for a higher authority who is omnipotent.
"What is now hidden will be revealed," as Jesus said in the gospel. God's truth and the fear of God have been replaced by fear of the world and its own values. The world says that we are competing against one another and fighting against nature. As long as it feels good and everyone can come to a consensus, that is "truth", or so it claims.
We no longer want to hear about what is wrong with us; we want to hear only the good stuff, padding our egos but making us more and more arrogant as we think we are fully in control of our destinies. The world doesn't respect people who are "subservient", even if it is to God and faith. However, eventually our sins will come back to haunt us, ruin our lives and cause the degeneration of society. That is why we must stand up and continue to proclaim God's message "from the housetops", and use his laws as a moral compass. -
Today's solemnity of Ss Peter and Paul is a call to us to return to the pillars of our faith, meaning that we have to stop being the other kinds of RCs ("retired" and "relaxed" Catholics). Fr Gerard also explained the principle of consistency and having only men in the priesthood, but added that the Lord will not ask us if we were priests or bishops, but whether we lived holy lives, because all of us are called to sainthood.
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Fr Remi made a very good point regarding last Sunday bible reading:
"‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’
He replied, ‘No, if you pull up the weeds
you might uproot the wheat along with them.
Let them grow together until harvest;"
He says that both weeds and wheat exist in everyone of us, so we should not point finger.
It makes sense because the master says "you might uproot the wheat along with them"
If we are punished immediately on our evil deeds, we won't have chance to grow our good deeds.
And I believe the harvest time is when we die, when we can no longer live or continue our deeds.