Sunday Homilies with the Redemptorists

In The Iliad by Homer, Cassandra had the gift of prophecy, but no one heeded her warnings and eventually Troy succumbed to the Greeks. Similarly, prophet Amos was rejected and asked by Amaziah to leave and go back to Judah because he criticised the societal corruption and unjust practices in Northern Israel and even foretold their destruction; at a time when Israel was prosperous and powerful. Out...

Today's Gospel raises the question: Who is Jesus? He was rejected in his hometown of Nazareth where people saw him as a lowly carpenter, a kampong boy in spite of all the miracles he's performed. Fr Glenn related the story of a man he met in Lourdes. He had multiple vices including drugs, and during a visit to the shrine with his family, he felt an overwhelming sense of mercy and compassio...

Today's homily centres on the themes of earthly and eternal life, faith, and the inevitability of death. God's intention is for life. Earthly life is temporal while eternal life with God is everlasting. Fr Vincent Low acknowledges the certainty of death, sharing personal reflections and stories to highlight this reality. We are encouraged also to live in the present, to have faith in Chris...

This gospel passage is like a parable of our own lives. All of us are wandering in a fragile bark over life’s tempestuous sea. One moment all is calm, in the next instance we can be swarmed by winds and waves. In such frightening times, aren’t we like the disciples in the boat? We all encounter storms in our lives where we do not have control- they can be outside, like cyclones and typhoons or wit...

Coming from a family of green fingers, Fr. Terence initially struggled to grow anything himself. When he finally succeeded in growing some vegetables, it was a spiritual experience for him. He recognized the inherent rhythm of life, a rhythm that cannot be rushed but must be respected. This inspired him to ponder on the mystery of life: How can something so small as a seed transform into a thrivin...

Every action we do begins with an idea or thought, from choosing a career to doing household duties. Some thoughts are good, some evil. There is always this internal battle between good and evil in our hearts, like how Jesus fought against Satan's temptations. It is therefore important to discern right from wrong. But how do we follow our conscience and the Spirit of God to make better informe...

What is the true meaning behind the Solemnity of Corpus Christi? Often misunderstood as solely a celebration of Holy Communion, this solemnity is deeply rooted in the Passion of Christ. We explore the significance of service, as exemplified by Jesus washing the feet of His disciples, a humble act that teaches us to serve one another selflessly, even if we are leaders. Do we understand the profound...

The doctrine of the Holy Trinity is the key foundation of our Christian faith. On this solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, we celebrate one God in three distinct persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, each manifesting different roles but in communion with each other. When commissioning His disciples, Jesus instructs them to baptize new disciples "in the name of the Fat...

This Pentecost, we reflect on how we respond to the gift of the spirit, the spirit that gives us life. We are all members of the body of Christ, each with a different responsibility. We are all called to respond to the gift. We fail sometimes, but as long as we are aware we do not produce the fruits from time to time, that's enough. These are ideals, but we should still try to implore the gift...

Today we explore the profound miracle of life bestowed upon couples through the gift of procreation. Our creation in the likeness of God is also a testament to the power of love. As Christian parents, it is our sacred duty to nurture our children in faith, guided by God's love and His eternal presence in our lives. -Sunday Homily by Fr. Simon Tan, C.Ss. R. (12 May 2024)

The readings this weekend talked about God's love and how he sent his beloved son. Jesus calls us friends, not servants. He came for everyone. Jesus' love is enough to embrace even those who do not want him. Can our love be all embracing and boundless? When we love someone who's hurting us, it only means the heart is bigger than we can imagine. -Sunday Homily by Fr. Ino Cueto, C.Ss. R....

The life of St Paul teaches us that God's grace is sufficient. He encountered Jesus and everything changed. The power and grace of Jesus working through Paul brought about the growth of the church. Jesus is the true vine and we are his branches, and we draw life from him. So we must never give up on the grace of Jesus Christ. In the church, we must also remember that we're never alone. We&...

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...