Curated preaching illustrations and anecdotes from Fr. Tony Kadavil. NEW! Now with videos; Also includes Fr. Tony’s commentary, and Children illustrations/object sermons.
Advent is a time of waiting for Christ, allowing Jesus to be reborn in our lives. It is also a time for purifying our hearts by repentance and for renewing our lives by reflecting on and experiencing the several comings (advents) of Christ into our lives. Besides coming into our world through birth, Jesus comes into our lives as we live them through His Church, its Sacraments (especially the Eucharist), the Word of God, the worshipping community, as we die, and finally, in His Second Coming
This Thirty-Fourth and final Sunday in Ordinary Time ends the Church’s liturgical year and the Cycle B Sundays. For this culminating Feast of Christ the King, the readings describe the enthronement of the victorious Christ as King in Heaven in all His glory. The first reading, taken from the book of Daniel, tells of the mysterious Son of Man (with whom Jesus would later identify Himself), coming on the clouds, glorified by God, and given dominion that will last forever. The Refrain for today’s Responsorial Psalm (Ps 93), has us proclaim, “The Lord is King; He is robed in majesty,” celebrating the God of Israel as the King over all creation. In the second reading, taken from the Book of Revelation, the risen Christ comes amid the clouds as the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last of all things. In today’s Gospel, Jesus asserts before Pilate that He is a king and clarifies that that his kingdom “does not belong to this world.” He rules as King by serving others rather than by dominating them; His authority is rooted in Truth, not in physical force, and His Kingdom, the reign of God, is based on the Beatitudes.
Today’s selection from Daniel expresses well the Jewish understanding of the Kingship of God and that of the Promised Messiah.
The New Testament Book of Revelation has the same apocalyptic character as the Book of Daniel, although that element is not very evident in today’s short selection. Its readers were being persecuted, and the Lord God Who gave John this vision wanted to bolster their Faith. To the description of Jesus given here, we can apply what was said above about the Son of Man and His commission from the Ancient One.
Today’s Gospel presents the first part of the trial conducted by Pilate who questions Jesus about His Kingship. In the dialogue with Pilate, Jesus implies that Pilate does not understand the spiritual or transcendent nature of Jesus’ kingship (“My Kingdom does not belong to this world”). Jesus admits that He is a King but declares that His Kingdom is not of this world.
Advent gives us time to make this preparation — repenting of and confessing our sins, renewing our lives through prayer and penance, and sharing our blessings with others. In Advent, we also need to check for what needs to be put right in our lives, to see how we have failed, and to assess the ways in which we can do better. Let us accept the challenge of Alexander Pope this Advent season: “What does it profit me if Jesus is reborn in thousands of cribs all over the world and not reborn in my heart?”
The Church reminds us that we will each be asked to give an account of our lives before Christ the Judge, both at the moment of our death and at Jesus’ second coming. Today’s readings invite us to assess our lives every night during Advent and to make the necessary alterations in the light of the approaching Christmas celebration. Amid the tragedies that sometimes occur in our daily lives and the setbacks in spiritual life, we must raise our heads in hope and anticipation, knowing that the Lord is coming again.
CHOOSE ONE
#1: Who came up with this? A woman was in the mall doing her Christmas shopping. She was tired of walking through every aisle of every store to find just the right present. She was stressed out by the mounting debt on her credit card. She was tired of fighting the crowds and standing in lines for the registers. Her hands were full and when the elevator door opened, it was full. “Great!” she muttered and the occupants of the elevator, feeling her pain, graciously tightened ranks to allow a small space for her and her load. As the doors closed she blurted out, “I think whoever came up with this Christmas junk ought to be found, strung up, and shot!” A few others shook their heads or grunted in agreement. Then, from somewhere in the back of the elevator came a single voice that said, “Don’t worry. They already crucified Him.”
#2: Sign on a Church bulletin board: “Merry Christmas to our Christian friends. Happy Hanukkah to our Jewish friends. And to our atheist friends, good luck.”
#3: “We don’t have time for that!” Typical of last-minute Christmas shoppers, a mother was running furiously from store to store. Suddenly she became aware that the pudgy little hand of her three-year-old son was no longer clutched in hers. In panic she retraced her steps and found him standing with his little nose pressed flat against a frosty window. He was gazing at a manger scene. Hearing his mother’s near hysterical call, he turned and shouted with innocent glee: “Look Mommy! It’s Jesus – Baby Jesus in the hay!” With obvious indifference to his joy and wonder, she impatiently jerked him away saying, “We don’t have time for that!”
1) Waiting is no fun: A man was in a restaurant. A waiter was passing by. “Excuse me,” said the man, “but how long have you been working here?” “About a year,” replied the waiter. The man said wearily, “In that case it couldn’t have been you that took my order.” — Advent season reminds us that we celebrate the first coming of Jesus and we keep waiting for his second coming in glory. (Fr. Tony) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/) L/21
2) Would we keep arranging deckchairs on a sinking ship? On the night of April 15, 1912, the Titanic hit an iceberg in the North Atlantic and sank. Over 1,500 people lost their lives in one of the worst sea disasters in history. A few years ago a magazine recalled the great disaster and asked its readers this shocking, almost blasphemous, question: “If we’d been on the Titanic when it sank, would we have arranged the deckchairs?” At first we say to ourselves, “What a ridiculous question! No one in his right mind would ignore wailing sirens on a sinking ship and rearrange its deck chairs! No one with an ounce of sanity would ignore the shouts of drowning people and keep arranging deck chairs!” But as we continue to read the magazine, we see the reason for the strange question. And suddenly we ask ourselves, “Are we perhaps, rearranging the deckchairs on a sinking ship? — For example, are we so caught up with material things in life that we are giving a back seat to spiritual things? Are we so busy making a living that we are forgetting the purpose of life? Are we so taken up with life that we are forgetting why God gave us life?” (Mark Link in Sunday Liturgies). (Fr. Tony) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/) L/21
3) Waiting for the call of the Prime Minister: “Lord Reith, the founder of the BBC, says that he spent virtually the entire period of World War II by the telephone, waiting for Winston Churchill to call him. He never [called]. And think of all the [ordinary] people waiting today at the airport, at the bus depot, at the doctor’s, at the amusement park, at the bowling alley, at the post office, the ticket office, the unemployment office, the Social Security office. Society has become a vast waiting room.” — As Christians, we give a spiritual dimension to our waiting by waiting for Christ’s, the Messiah’s, second coming because much of the New Testament is devoted to the second coming of Christ. [Sherwood Wirt, in Freshness in the Spirit (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1978).] (Fr. Tony) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/) L/21
4) “No, I am not going to kick him off.” I like John Cooper, football coach for The Ohio State University team, for many reasons, but especially for this one. As he was being interviewed once about a player who was in trouble with the law, a reporter asked if Cooper was going to kick the player off the team. He said, “No, I am not going to kick him off, because if I kick him off I can’t help him. We are in the business of helping young people grow up, and you can’t do that by turning them away when they make a mistake.” –That is good news for those growing up, and that attitude is especially good news at Advent. (Fr. Tony) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/) L/21
5) The city had reached 284th Street, far exceeding their expectations! Be prepared for Christ’s coming. Be prepared if Jesus should come today; be prepared if Jesus should tarry another thousand years or more. Be prepared at any cost, for we simply do not know what tomorrow may bring. Nothing is more unpredictable than the future. If there is one lesson from history, it is that. I read recently that when the city fathers of the grand metropolis New York City planned for the future growth of their city, they laid out the streets and numbered them from the center outward. When they began, there were only six or seven streets. In their planning maps, they projected how large they thought the city might grow. Reaching beyond their wildest imagination, they drew streets on the map all the way out to 19th Street. They called it “Boundary Street” because they were sure that’s as large as New York City would become. At last count, the city had reached 284th Street far exceeding their expectations! (Rev. Adrian Dieleman, http://www.trinitycrc.org/sermons/eph3v20-21.html) — Be careful when you try to predict the future! Today’s experts turn out, sometimes,to be tomorrow’s fools. (Fr. Tony) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/) L/21
6) False messiahs: “The Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity” is a religious movement founded in South Korea in 1954 by the late Sun Myung Moon. It is more commonly known as the Unification Church. Since its inception, the Church has expanded to most nations of the world, with an uncertain number of members. But we don’t see many signs nowadays of the Moonies. Their founder Rev. Moon and his Unification Church have faded into the background. At one time he boasted considerable political support. He invested heavily in the elections of Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan. Rev. Moon built an empire by putting young people out on the streets selling flowers. Moon preached that a new messiah was soon to come. This new messiah was already on earth. He was a man born in Korea in the 20th century. Wonder who he could be? Surely not Moon himself! — In today’s Gospel, Jesus gives us the warning that false messiahs will be forever with us. (Fr. Tony) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/) L/21
7) Jesus’ admonition is to be faithful. Some of you remember the ancient epic poem by Homer called the Odyssey. It is the story of Odysseus who traveled the world pursuing many adventures. Meanwhile back home, his beautiful wife Penelope was being pursued by various suitors trying to take advantage of Odysseus’ twenty-year absence. In order to keep these suitors at bay, Penelope announced that when she finished weaving a shroud for her father-in-law, she would choose among these persistent suitors. There was something these suitors did not know, however. Each night Penelope undid the stitches that she put in during the daytime, and so she remained faithful to Odysseus until he returned. — That is our call to be faithful. While we wait for Christ’s return, we are his Body in the world, called to do his work. The Church has been serving the world in Christ’s Name for some two thousand years. Now is not the time to let up! (Fr. Tony) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/) L/21
8) The Poseidon Adventure: One of my favorite movies was The Poseidon Adventure from 1972. You might remember that a cruise ship was turned upside down by a big wave. Everything was turned upside down. Reality was turned “upside down.” The way out was up to the bottom and back to the front. The survivors had to go to the bottom of the boat, which was now the top, to get out. A whole group of people were not willing to follow the lead of the pastor to crawl up a Christmas tree to get out of the ballroom, to safety. He said: “Everybody is dead who was above us when the ship turned over. Now they’re underneath us. It’s up to us to get out of here.” The people who waited for help drowned, but those who were willing to risk, to have Faith eventually were saved — not all, but most. The pastor was indeed the Christ-figure for those people. They eventually trusted in him and were saved. — For us it is no different, “But not a hair of your head will perish.” Jesus says, “By your endurance you will gain your souls.” (Fr. Tony) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/) L/21
9)”It said, ‘Go drink a beer.’” Humorist Lewis Grizzard writes about a man in his hometown named Luther Gilroy. Luther claimed he was out plowing his field and saw a sign in the sky that said THE END IS NEAR. So Luther let his mule and his cow out of their pens, gave all his chickens away, and climbed on top of his house to await the end. When it didn’t come, he pouted and refused to come down off the roof. Finally, his wife called the deputy sheriff, who came over and said, “Luther, you idiot, I saw that same sign. It didn’t say, ‘The end is near.’ It said, ‘Go drink a beer.’ Now come down off that roof before you fall off and break your neck.” [Lewis Grizzard, Chili Dawgs Always Bark at Night (New York: Villard Books, 1989), p. 52.] — From Jesus’ day to the present, people have speculated about when the world would end. Over the centuries, people have made calculations and predictions, sold or given away all their belongings, and gathered at appointed places to wait for the end of the world and for Jesus to return. Obviously, the world has not yet come to an end, and Jesus has not returned. Still, we wait. We look around at the world in which we live, a world filled with violence and crime and racial tension. We read about child abuse, spouse abuse, drug and alcohol abuse, and we say, “Things just can’t keep on going the way they’re going.” Times of uncertainty and crisis trigger thoughts about the end of time. And people always want to know when. (Fr. Tony) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/) L/21
10) “Joy to the World!” Consider the story of one young man. He was often sick as a baby. He was always small, puny some would say. As a youth he was always frail and delicate. He was not able to play sports with the other boys his age. Eventually he entered the ministry. But his health was so fragile, he was unable to serve his growing congregation. Amazingly, he did not dwell on his troubles. In fact, his spirit soared. His only real complaint was the poor quality of the hymns of his day. He felt they did not convey hope and joy. Someone challenged him to write better ones. He did. He wrote over 600 hymns, most of them hymns of praise. When his health collapsed completely in 1748, he left one of the most remarkable collections of hymns the world has ever known. His name was Isaac Watts.– In a few weeks we will be singing one of his most famous hymns, “Joy to the World!” Isaac Watts discovered joy in his life because he knew that God would never desert him. He was able to live his life with all sorts of health problems, feeling close to God and Jesus. He had joy deep in his heart. (Fr. Tony) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/) L/21
11) The Light meant Redemption: King Alexander the Great of Macedonia, who in his day conquered land after land, used to observe a certain procedure. Whenever his army was encamped outside a heavily walled city or fortress, he would have a lighted lamp hung up where it was visible by day and night. He would then have the besieged inhabitants know that as long as the lantern kept burning, they had a chance to change their minds. But if the lantern was smashed and its light extinguished, then the city and all it contained would be mercilessly destroyed. And he kept his promise. If the lantern was smashed to pieces, all hope was gone. The Macedonians would storm the city, kill any person who could bear arms, and then ransack and destroy the city. The time of grace was over. – The lamp is still burning for us; this is a time for grace- but it will end! [Willi Hoffsuemmer; quoted by Fr. Botelho.] (Fr. Tony) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/) L/21
12) Are we coming or going? A man was running down the pier, heading for the ferryboat, afraid he was not going to make it. Here was a man of some status, a man who was concerned about his dignity. He wore pin-striped trousers, a black Morning Coat, carried a black umbrella in one hand and a black bowler hat in the other, with which he was waving at the ferry boat, and yelling at the boat to stop so that he could get on it. He ran all the way to the end of the pier, furiously jumped and landed safely on the deck of the boat. Very proud of himself, he straightened his tie, and recovered his dignity. It was then that he discovered that the boat was not going out; it was coming in! — Today is the first Sunday of Advent, and there is that kind of confusion about Advent and Christmas. Are we coming or going? Christmas is the celebration that Christ has come; Advent is the celebration that Christ is coming. Advent is preparation for Christmas. (Fr. Tony) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/) L/21
13) Smile please: A story is told of the photographer taking a picture. He says to the woman, “Smile pretty for the camera.” A moment later, “OK, madam, you can resume your usual face.” — Whether you and I will have a successful Advent these next four weeks will depend on the attitude or “face” we bring to it today. We must stay awake, as Jesus advises us in this Gospel and practice self-control. The Greek philosopher, Plato, who lived out his life several centuries before Christ, wrote, “The greatest victory in the world is the victory of self-conquest.” (Fr. James Gilhooley). (Fr. Tony) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/) L/21
14) Time expired: A dramatic picture appeared in a newspaper. It was a young man dead from a drug overdose in his cherry-red Corvette. The car was parked beside a parking meter that read “TIME EXPIRED.” — But so, too, is my clock expiring. So is yours. No wonder Jesus says today, “Stay awake.” An auto decal reads: “Jesus is coming back. Look busy.” Today’s Gospel affirms He will return for each of us. Were a scientist to warn us that an earthquake measuring 7.0 on the Richter scale was fast approaching, we would take every precaution imaginable. Yet, unhappily, the Master’s prediction that He shall return does not move us to make even incidental changes in our lives. But, given the on-target correctness of the prophecies of His first arrival told in Micah 5:2-6 and Isaiah 9: 6-7, one would think we would be smart enough to act accordingly. Should we decide not to do so, we can hardly fault the Early Warning System God has today put in place in Luke’s Gospel. “Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy…” (Fr. Tony) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/) L/21
15) Watch and Prepare: In the Royal Air Force Museum in Hendon, England, there is an exhibition of the memorabilia of Lord Dowding. He was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the RAF in 1936 to take on the challenge of expanding the RAF’s fighting force to meet the Nazi threat. Dowding had less than four years to prepare the RAF for the epic Battle of Britain, while at the same time helping France as much as possible. Lord Dowding’s accomplishment in getting the RAF ready is summed up on a plaque: “It has been given to few men so to employ so short a time that by their efforts they saved a civilization.” Lord Dowding’s vigilance and preparation while waiting for the Nazi attempt to invade Great Britain played a key role in England’s victory in the early 1940’s (Albert Cylwicki in His Word Resounds). — Vigilance and preparation while waiting are part of the theme of today’s Advent Gospel. (Fr. Tony) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/) L/21
16) Promise of Things to Come! It was about mid-November of 1979 in Dublin. One morning we woke to find that overnight a layer of fine dust had fallen. It was very noticeable. It covered cars, windows, clotheslines….. In some areas it was heavier than others. One man went out to look for his blue car, but so thick was the dust that he had difficulty finding it. The dust caused quite a sensation. People reacted immediately. What was it and where did it come from? Many were worried, fearing that it was caused by a fall-out of dangerous chemicals or radio-active materials. There was a deluge of phone calls to the police, to weather centers, and motoring organizations. Finally the explanation came: it was sand from the Sahara Desert! This came as a great relief. It was still a nuisance but was readily accepted because the Southerly winds that had brought it, also heralded the warmest November in fifteen years. — In today’s Gospel, after foretelling the endtime events we get such an assurance of his “second coming” from Jesus (Flor McCarthy, in Sunday and Holy Day Liturgies). (Fr. Tony) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/) L/21
17) The Watchman: There is an old Hasidic tale about Rabbi Naftali. It was the custom of the rich men of his city, whose homes were on the outskirts and sort of isolated, to hire men to watch over their property at night. Late one evening, as was his custom, Rabbi Naftali went out for a walk and met one such watchman walking back and forth. The Rabbi asked, “For whom do you work?” The guard told the rabbi who had hired him, and then the guard inquired, “And for whom do you work Rabbi?” The watchman’s words struck at the heart of the rabbi, who replied, “I am not sure whether I work for anyone or not.” The rabbi walked along with the watchman for some time in silence. Then he asked, “Will you come and work for me?” “Oh Rabbi, I should be honoured to be your servant,” said the watchman, “but what would be my duties?” Rabbi Naftali answered quietly, “To keep reminding me with that question.” — Like that rabbi, we need help if we are to remember for Whom we work and for what we live our lives. Advent helps us to ask that question of ourselves. “Watch and pray” are the watchwords, they remind us that God is in charge. (Anonymous; quoted by Fr. Botelho). (Fr. Tony) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/) L/21
18) Advent waiting: A blind man and I were standing in the middle of a throng of travelers at Port Mores by airport. “You just stand here.” I told him. I wanted to spare him the disturbance of being jostled about, so I left him in a protected corner. I then went my way to buy a ticket, post a letter, and check on the plane arrivals and departures. At one stage I turned around and looked back at him. He just stood there. People milled around him. A child stared at him. A porter drove his baggage cart around him. A newspaper boy could not understand why he did not even look at the paper. The blind man just stood there. The shuffling feet around him, the unknown voices and all the various noises of humans going and coming had no meaning for him. He just stood and waited for me to come back. He patiently waited, completely content that I would come back. There was no shadow of doubt on his face. Instead, there was an air of expectation about him: I would return and take him by the hand and we would go on. — That look of the blind man with closed eyelids standing there put in mind the Advent face of a Christian.
(Willi Hoffsuemmer; quoted by Fr. Botelho). (Fr. Tony) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/) L/21
19) O Henry’s story the “Last Leaf” brings out the significance of Hope. The story begins as Johnsy, near death from pneumonia, lies in bed waiting for the last leaf of an ivy vine on the brick wall she spies through her window to fall. She counted the falling of all leaves. Now only the last one is left. She is sure that she will die as the last leaf falls. The night witnessed torrential rain and powerful storm. In the morning Johnsy looked out of the window before breathing her last. But to her surprise she saw that the last leaf had survived the rain and wind. It stuck to the vine. She began to show signs of improvement, and recovered in a few days. An artist who lived below her apartment understood the thought of Johnsy. That night he had gone out with his set of brush and paint. The last leaf was the creation of Behrman. Outside Johnsy’s window were a ladder, a lantern still lighted “some scattered brushes, and a palette with green and yellow colors mixed on it . . . it was Behrman’s masterpiece–he painted it [a leaf] there the night that the last leaf fell.” — The sight of the last leaf rekindled the hope of Johnsy. And she survived. At the end of every sorrow there is some joy awaiting us.
St. Paul assures us: “… suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us” (Romans 3:3-5). (Fr. Bobby). (Fr. Tony) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/) L/21
20)”But with a good ship, you can always ride it out.” Dr. Norman Vincent Peale once told of encountering a hurricane while on a cruise in the Atlantic. After the captain managed to sail around the danger, he and Dr. Peale were visiting with one another. The captain said he had always lived by a simple philosophy namely that if the sea is smooth, it will get rough; and if it is rough, it will get smooth. He added something worth remembering: “But with a good ship,” the Captain said, “you can always ride it out.” — Our ship is our Faith in Christ. With a good ship, you can always ride it out. Life is unpredictable. God is with us. “But not a hair of your head will perish,” Jesus says, “By your endurance you will gain your souls” (Luke 21:18). (Fr. Tony) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/) L/21
21) “What time is it Mr. Wolf?” We played a game when I was a child. Perhaps you played it too. It worked best just at twilight. We would let the “wolf” hide somewhere, and then we would walk together as a group toward the “wolf”, unable to see him or where he was hidden, but knowing that he was there and that he was near. “What time is it, Mr. Wolf?” we would cry, and he would tell us the time, later the closer we got, until he cried out “Twelve o’clock midnight, hope to see a ghost tonight!” And then he would chase us and we would flee toward the goal and safety, trying not to be caught by the “wolf.” — That is also the point of the Gospel Lesson this morning. There is a day coming which will be unlike any other, for it will not be followed by any other. We don’t know when, exactly, but we know it grows ever closer. The end of the world, the final day of reckoning, the day of our salvation or the day of our doom, is coming. Jesus tells us how we should stand in readiness for that great and terrible day, always being alert to the signs of the times. (Rev. Robin Fish). (Fr. Tony) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/) L/21
22) Making Still Greater Progress: All the saints have been heroic. That is the definition of “Saint”. But God has had a harder time in making heroes out of some than others. They have had more “un-heroism.” Saints like Aloysius Gonzaga, for instance, became heroes so fast – such was that goodwill – that their flight for heaven seems to have been a snap. When Aloysius died aged only 23, his three confessors testified of this radiant young man that they honestly believed he had never committed a serious sin. On the other hand, St. Camillus DeLellis, born in 1500 (just a decade or so before Aloysius) had a far more twisted and rocky road to heaven. A soldier at seventeen, six foot two in his stocking feet, he developed a quarrelsome temper and a yen for gambling that was a real addiction. Once, for instance, he literally gambled away all he owned, losing even the shirt off his back. Add to this, he had a running sore that never cleared up and gave him a short fuse. Nevertheless, Camillus for all his violence really wanted to behave better. After trying in vain to enter a religious order or even get employment as a servant in a religious house, he was inspired to found an order of his own. It was an order of nursing brothers – very much needed in those days before there was a real nursing profession. Urged by St. Philip Neri, Camillus studied for the priesthood and was ordained (a belated vocation, he had to attend Latin class with giggling teen-age seminarians). Now this man dedicated his strengths and his weaknesses to serving the ailing and wounded. He taught his “Ministers of the Sick” to see in each patient, no matter how crotchety, Christ Himself.– Today, St. Camillus DeLellis is the Church’s official patron saint of nurses. That is because, as St. Paul puts it today, he had forged ahead despite his flaws, so as “to make still greater progress” (IThes 4:1. Today’s second reading). -Father Robert F. McNamara. (Fr. Tony) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/) L/21
23) The difference between waiting and watching: Some Navy men were returning from a long voyage on the seas and, as the boat approached shore, the men were all looking for their wives and girlfriends on the shore … eager to see them again! As the men looked over the crowd of women lined up, the air of excitement and expectancy grew. One man however was all alone as all the other men found their wives and girlfriends and they all embraced … his wife wasn’t there! Worried, he hurried home and found a light on in his house. As he entered he was relieved to see his wife, she quickly turned and said, “HONEY, I’VE BEEN WAITING FOR YOU!” His response showed his disappointment however: ‘The other men’s wives and girlfriends were watching for them!‘ — The difference between waiting and watching was only too clear! (Fr. Lakra).
24) Serve Christ in his many comings : Mother Teresa recognized and welcomed Christ in the needy, the hungry, the homeless, and the forgotten. Jesus’ words about serving His needs in God’s poor ones were seared into her soul. She was one of those rare figures that can shine a new light on Gospel teachings and actually live according to Jesus’ word and example. We can emulate her example. Mother Teresa was certain that prayer could be the powerhouse of our lives. Through prayer, she said, one could recognise Jesus in and among us. — Of course, we cannot force these moments; all we can do is to be prepared. One saint said that life should be lived in ‘attentive expectancy’, the way one waits for the phone, for one’s child, or spouse or the doctor to call. (Fr. Tony) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/) L/21 L/21
Meeting John Malkovich
Pentecost, C
Passing the Baton
Ascension of the Lord, C
Peace of Mind and Heart
6th Sunday of Easter, C
“I wouldn’t do that
for a million dollars”
5th Sunday of Easter, C
Whatever Happens, Don’t Let Go
4th Sunday of Easter, C
Do You Love Me?
3rd Sunday of Easter, C
Divine Mercy
2nd Sunday of Easter, C
The Butterfly and the Cocoon
Easter Sunday
Veronica Wipes Face of Jesus
6th Sunday of Lent, C
The Scarlet Letter
5th Sunday of Lent, C
Top post and page views are calculated from the previous 24-48 hours of stats. They take a while to change.
Top post and page views are calculated from the previous 24-48 hours of stats. They take a while to change.
