HE TAUGHT THEM WITH AUTHORITY (Mk 1:21-28) Varieties of Authority I don’t know if you have watched those old black-and-white fast moving films from the time of the Second World War. Often they show Adolf Hitler addressing large crowds of people. Hitler always spoke with much authority. This has been caricatured by Charlie Chaplin in
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REPENT AND BELIEVE IN THE GOOD NEWS Little Johnny was basically a good boy. But he had this problem with his temper. He had his bouts of anger that surprised everyone. His mother used to tell him, “Johnny, you are making it difficult for people to love you.” So, on the New Year day, he
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YOUR BODY IS THE TEMPLE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT (1 Cor 6:19) If you were to take a stroll along a typical high street in a modern city, you would notice the exaggerated importance given to the care of the human body. One could have the same impression if they surveyed the shelves in a
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CALLED TO BE ACTIVE PARTICIPANTS As a priest while administering the sacrament of baptism to groups of infants, I have often noted with much curiosity the variety of infant-reaction to the ceremony of the baptism itself. There are basically three types of behavior as infants react to, the priest, the water, the oil, the white
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EPIPHANY: GOD IS MADE VISIBLE! (Mt 2:1-12) In most cultures, one of the games that children play is “hide and seek”, with many variants – tag, sardines, or hidey (in Scotland). There is a lot of fun in finding hidden objects and people! God seems to play ‘hide and seek’ with human beings. Isaiah cries
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“MAY THE LORD BLESS YOU” (Num 6:24) Today is a day of blessing. In this New Year, God has blessed us with another opportunity to grow in love, to come closer to Him, and to experience Him in the person of Jesus. Today is a day of blessing. We honour Mary – she who was
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Readings: Isaiah 62:11-12 Titus 3:4-7 Luke 2:15-20 “LET\’S GO! LET US GO TO BETHLEHEM…” There is a story told of a young man who sent his parents a microwave oven one Christmas. They were very excited that now they, too, could be a part of the instant generation. When the man\’s Dad unpacked the microwave
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Readings: 2 Samuel 7:1-5, 8b-12, 14a, 16 Romans 16:25-27 Luke 1:26-38 “BEHOLD, I AM THE HANDMAID OF THE LORD. MAY IT BE DONE TO ME ACCORDING TO YOUR WORD.” A Persian legend runs that a certain king needed a faithful servant, and two men were candidates for the office. He took both at fixed wages,
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Readings: Isaiah 61: 1-2, 10-11 1 Thessalonians 5: 16-24 John 1: 6-8, 19-28 CHRIST, THE SOURCE OF HAPPINESS All of us want to be happy and we keep trying to find happiness that seems to elude us. What is it that we believe would really make us happy? Deep down in our hearts we really
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JOHN THE BAPTIST:THE ONE WHO KNEW HIS SPACE One of the persons that the Liturgy of the Word during the season of Advent draws our attention to is John the Baptist. Evangelist Mark presents John the Baptist as a person who resisted the temptation to be more than himself (in fact all the Gospels): “In
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