Sunday Homilies with the Redemptorists

Fr Glenn's discernment on his own vocation calling involved an image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and a shock of his life. In his Vocation Sunday homily, he shared how he chose to answer God's calling, and encouraged others to pray over theirs. In today's second reading, we're told that we're all God's children. Therefore we are all called. All vocations are based on the lo...

To live the Easter life, we are all asked to change for the better. Transformation is required. For changes to take place, we need to be constantly conscious and mindful. We have to be spiritually in communion with the Lord. Even if we believe in Him, we need to continuously engage with the Risen Lord to change. We've got to be mindful of the person we believe and engage Him everyday, not just...

The greeting from Jesus to the disciples was, "Peace be with you." It's something we say at every Mass, but do we take the words of Jesus for granted? How many of us truly experience the inner peace that God has given to each of us at every Mass. When we receive the peace of the Lord, it should be more than just a passing greeting like "good morning." It's the greeting...

How do we connect our lives with the faith to believe that Jesus Christ suffered, died, and was resurrected? He is the light of our lives, but the light also gives us the faith to say, we can't run away suffering. The journey is long, but we must believe in the hope of the resurrection. Many of us don't live as Easter people. We live as Sunday people, where we attend Mass and forget about...

As we hold the palm in our hands, we need to ask ourselves, what does it symbolize? It's a sign of unity and identity. It's a sign that "I was there" -- the same way the hype over friendship bracelets unified fans at the recent Taylor Swift concerts. Unlike them, we are there with our palms to be a part of the welcoming party for Christ. When we hold this palm, it is a reminder a...

In the Gospel reading for the last Sunday of the Lenten season, Jesus compares his death and glorification to a wheat grain. As a grain of wheat, Jesus laid down his life to give life to all of us. The life that he brings through his death is a spiritual one filled with God's grace. When we look up at Jesus on the cross, we see a God who loves us with unconditional love. As his disciple, the c...

Do we come to church with the heart to worship God, or are we here out of obligation? Fr Simon related a recent occasion when a group of people prayed over him. It was a humbling experience that left him in tears. He was bursting with joy for days. Others who prayed over him told him later that they, too, felt the Spirit and were likewise driven to tears. That's what happens when we open our h...

The church symbolizes a place of worship where we intimately meet and converse with God. It's at the Eucharist where we receive and experience the true, living God. In the Gospel reading today, we see Jesus getting angry at the money changers at the temple. They represented the loss of the sacred, and people could not pray and worship. The beginning of the loss of sacred begins with small thin...

The emphasis in the readings is on the special relationship we have with our Father in heaven. So how do we relate to God the Father, the one we call Abba? In a perfect world, it should be a loving relationship. But like those with bad relationships with their parents due to disagreements or fall outs, many also relate to God the same way. Some are angry with God because we feel our prayers aren&#...

In today's Gospel, Jesus firmly said the time has come and the kingdom of God is close at hand. Repentance is more than just going for confession. It's to open our hearts to God's teachings. If we repent and follow Jesus, we will have the power to overcome temptation, and we will be saved. The Lenten season calls us to overcome our temptations by using the three pillars of Lent: prayer...

The Gospel focused on the leper, who asked Jesus to cure him. By touching the leper to heal him, Jesus made himself unclean. He took the place of the leper, once ostracized and deemed unclean, as the leper became clean again. In the same way, Jesus took the place of our sinfulness on the cross on behalf of all of us. The kingdom of God he built is one that's inclusive. Whatever we do, always r...

From Job, who didn't falter in his faith, to the psalmist, who tells us to not lose our faith, to St. Paul, who looks at Jesus with the willingness to share in his suffering, the common thread across all the readings is attitude -- faith attitude. That's vital for us and it's something that we need to build up and grow into. In the Gospel, we see Jesus as the divine healer, yet one who...

"What do you want from us, Jesus of Nazareth?" That was the question the man with the unclean spirit asked Jesus. That question continues to challenge us all. Very often, we only remember God when we need something from him. We also compartmentalize our lives where we block him from some parts of our lives. Today's question is an invitation that the whole of our life be offered to Go...

Jesus began his ministry with a sense of urgency in his call for conversion. That was a bold and courageous statement because he knew then that people were living in sinfulness. Even today, the message is still relevant because many remain in utter selfishness and sinfulness. But we can change God's mind and heart when we make an effort to get out of our sinful lives. It's not just the con...

The first reading today focuses on Samuel's reaction when God called him. Samuel eventually responded, "Speak, Lord, your servant is listening." What about us? We sometimes respond quite differently when we pray, which is more like: "Listen, Lord, your servant is speaking." We don't listen more often than we should! When God looks at people, God not only sees what they...

When the magi saw the star, they had to courage to follow it, to engage in the journey without knowing where it would lead them. In Bethlehem, God was manifested in the flesh of Christ to them, and through the magi, to all of the world. Where will we find God today? We'll find God when we share our lives with those who are abandoned. God is manifested to us through their stories and their expe...

As we face 2024, we are called to be like the shepherds. When they heard the news about Jesus, they rushed to Bethlehem even after a long day of hard work. As we begin the new year, we are asked to not just stand around and wait for things to happen. The shepherds are telling us, "Just go, be hopeful, be positive, do not waver." We are called to see not just with our eyes, but with our h...

The feast of the Holy Family reinforces God's love for family life and reminds us of the humanity of Jesus. The family is not called "holy" because they didn't have problems in their family life. It's because of the quality of their relationship. They obeyed God's commandments and put God at the centre of their family life. We are therefore called to take our cue from the...

Today, we are presented with a "sanitized" version of Christmas with images of a clean, beautiful stable complete with a nice crib from a department store - when the manger, in reality, held the hay that fed the cattle. There's no accident that this God, who decided to be with us, was born in a feeding station, to nourish our brokenness and to feed our hungry souls. God stepped out o...

On this special night of the Nativity, we are reminded once again that Jesus’s birthday has brought to this world a light that can conquer all darkness! We are also reminded that we are not mere spectators, we are all links in the big chain which is the mystery of the incarnation. Christmas is a call to action! As believers, we are challenged to bring the hope, peace, joy, and love of Jesus into t...

"Let it be done." Those were the words from Mary that started the journey to Christmas. The obedience simply was to surrender her own will so that God would make her an instrument for our salvation. Mary said "yes" even when she knew that her future would be uncertain - she trusted God, Like Mary, God wants to make use of us. HE wants us to share our gifts, our talents, and our...

Celebrate with joy like John the Baptist, who, despite challenging circumstances, found joy as a witness to the light of Jesus. Let us mirror his joy, recognizing that Jesus brings the free gift of joy unlike fleeting pleasure that comes at a cost. Rejoice and be glad as we await this Advent for the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ. -Sunday Homily by Fr. Clement Lee, C.Ss. R. (17 December 2023)

John proclaims the coming of the Savior, but how do we prepare for it? We can do so by readying our mind, heart, soul, and body, and by focusing on the Lord who is present among us. Advent is a time for us to cultivate an internal disposition for God to enter our lives. -Sunday Homily by Fr. Peter Wee, C.Ss. R. (10 December 2023)

Advent is the time we're waiting with hope and joy. As we anticipate the celebration of the birth our Savior, Advent is also an opportunity to "stay awake" for Jesus' second coming. The Gospel reminds us to make God central in our lives and what we do. It's a call to stay spiritually awake and not be trapped by earthly distractions. It's also a reminder to reach out to th...