In the Gospel according to St Luke, we listen to the voice of the one (John the Baptist) crying out in the wilderness and calling us to prepare the way of the Lord.

In Australia and New Zealand, we are  familiar with the presence of people on TV using sign language. When an important announcement is made, the speaker is accompanied by an interpreter who uses sign language to speak to the deaf audience.

For us who are living here in Australia, royalty is not far from our national consciousness. There’s hardly a week that we don’t have news about King Charles and the royal family.

The end of the world!!! Various people have anticipated it, various people have tried to predict when it will happen and so far, we’re still around to tell the story.

In the Gospel passage for this Sunday’s Mass, Jesus gives a clear warning against the very human tendency of seeking our own glory. In other words, parading around to be noticed or praised, looking for the best places to sit and going after the finest in any and every thing, is not the way of the follower of Christ.

‘The Lord is one, and love the Lord your God with all strength, mind, heart, and then love neighbours as oneself’’. Is God that narcissistic and jealous that He prioritises himself before other gods, and people?

Ever heard of a child throwing a tantrum inside a supermarket and just won’t stop until you buy that Cadbury chocolate bar that the child wants?

In sports, the dream of an athlete is to be the best, to be at the top, to be number one. Unfortunately, sometimes in the process, a good number might resort to various ways of doing it either legally or illegally.

The Gospel passage of this Sunday in fact speaks about an unnamed person’s encounter with Jesus and his profound question to Jesus about eternal life.

In recent years, marriage has been quite a hot topic in various sectors of society. At one end, there are advocates for “marriage equality” which means you can marry any person regardless of their gender.

Jesus’ teaching of putting a millstone around a person’s neck and throwing him into the sea; plucking out the eye, cutting off limbs if one sins is rather disturbing and puzzling for a good teacher like Jesus.

During his prime, Muhammad Ali, the heavyweight-boxing champion of the 60s and the 70s proclaimed one day, “I am the greatest! I am the greatest!” When he said this nobody tried to refute it, for during his time, he was indeed the greatest.

If I asked anybody if they love to experience pain, particularly physical pain, well I'd think you were a masochist if you would ever say yes. Well … believe it or not, pain is very necessary in life and, ironically, pain is life-saving.