There’s this story about the US Civil War when President Abraham Lincoln was being briefed by his generals on the state of the war. His generals said to him, “In order to win this war, we must destroy our enemies”. The president replied, “I agree fully. We must destroy our enemies to win the war”. Then he added, “Let us make them our friends”.

Over the past few Sundays, we have heard in the first readings a focused theme – that of ‘Hearing God’s Sacred Word’. On the Third Sunday, in the reading from the book of Nehemiah, we heard the prophet Ezra proclaiming God’s Word in the assembly of the people, after their return from exile.

In Jesus’ day, if  there were reality tv shows in which least popular contestants are voted-off, the chances are he would be the first to get the boot! At least that’s the impression one gets while reading this Sunday’s Gospel.

When Jesus began his ministry in Nazareth , he stood before a group of faithful people who had gathered in the synagogue there, and he quoted words that had been written by the prophet, Isaiah, centuries before: “The spirit of the Lord is on me, for he has anointed me to bring good news to the afflicted and broken hearted.” (Luke 4:18) 

There was a company, which was working in the forest and looking for a woodchopper. One day, two woodchoppers applied for the job. The manager said that they would only accept one. So he invited both of them to a test.

Each one of us, for sure, has stories or quotations from Holy Scripture that are very special. They may be linked to personal needs or simply to moments of personal enlightenment.

Fr Elmer Ibarra SVD may be serving in the middle of the Australian desert, but that remote location hasn’t stopped him being recently appointed as Coordinator of the Biblical Apostolate for the SVD Asia-Pacific Zone.

Fr Elmer, originally from the Philippines, is the Parish Priest of Santa Teresa in Central Australia and he is also the Biblical Coordinator for the SVD AUS Province.

To borrow again a story from my friend, Fr Bel San Luis, there was a very devout man who is in his house when there was a huge deluge in town.

Most of us when we were children may have tried to figure out what would happen if we put a seed in a glass of water.

There is some reassuring and challenging teaching presented to us in the readings of today’s liturgy!