When I was studying nursing, we learnt two kinds of isolation for patients. The first kind of isolation is when a patient is set apart because they are so vulnerable to getting bugs from other people that they might get a lot sicker.
The first reading from the Prophet Jeremiah speaks of how Jeremiah was ill treated for doing God’s work. He is thrown in the well since he is accused of dampening the spirit of the soldiers and the people by speaking the truth.
The Gospel reading for this Sunday invites us to be ready and dressed for action. We remember the Gospel from last Sunday, where the rich man, seeing the bumper harvest he had, thinks of building bigger barns and store all the wealth to himself and doesn’t even give a second thought of sharing it with the other.
I have to admit that for quite some time I have not read many SVD publications. I feel I don’t find anything new. The familiar messages of multi/intercultural, international, dialogue(s), mission, ‘world is our parish’, ‘unity in diversity’… all sound too familiar from the novitiate days and almost slogan-like. It’s the same message, just under different packaging. Social justice and climate change! Oh yeah, great! Who would not stand up for such lofty ideas in this age of the globalisation, unless one is a bigot.
Like doubting Thomas, instead of taking ideas for granted, we must keep asking questions and re-examine what is passed on to us. Renew and revive!
When I was still a seminarian, I was in Surigao City, a city northeast of Mindanao Island in the Philippines and one day as I was walking around a corner a car nearly sideswiped me.
An atheist friend once said, “The Bible message is nice to read, but it is too beautiful to be true”. Of course, it is beautiful, who would say otherwise?
This Sunday’s Gospel reading is one of those passages of Scripture that is very hard to understand. Jesus seems to be contradicting himself.
Dear Friends,
Happy Easter! Christ is risen, he is risen indeed. Alleluia.
After our last two Easters where the communal celebration of this pinnacle of our faith life was severely limited due to COVID-19, what a joy it was to gather in numbers again to welcome the Risen Lord.
In my ministry, I have had a few families talk to me about their challenges, mostly with their children. Most often some parents come to me distraught and needing answers. Do I pretend to have the answers to their questions and challenges? No! However, being a priest I often try to let them understand their problems with their children from the biblical perspective, writes Fr Clement Baffoe SVD.
In this reflection, I would like to use two biblical illustrations that perhaps might help you as well think of your own family problems broadly? Do I intend to answer your questions? No! However, if at the end of this reflection you find some meaning or comfort, we will together raise our hands and say: thanks be to God.
One of the mid- 20th century’s most influential people was Helen Keller. Born in the USA on 27th June, 1880, she went blind and deaf as a young child due to an incurable disease.