Imagine you got the windfall of a lifetime. You’ve just won the top prize in lotto, which was worth millions of dollars. What would you do with this windfall? Invest in a business? Spend like there’s no tomorrow? Deposit it to bank? Or bury it under the ground with the hope that nobody will notice and live as if nothing happened?
The first reading on this Sunday, from the Old Testament Book of Wisdom, was written about 100 years before the birth of Christ. And the Word for today is intended to inspire in the reader a true love for wisdom.
On Monday, I had the opportunity to visit Palm Island, an Aboriginal community in Queensland. I was grateful to spend time with Fr Manh Le SVD and learn about his missionary life and ministry.
For those of us living in Australia or in New Zealand, if you take notice, you’ll see that on all of our coins, we see the image of King Charles III (or the late Queen Elizabeth II on older coins) - whoever is the ruling monarch in England. For us nowadays, we don’t really take a lot of notice of it.
The first reading, from the Prophet Isaiah, recounts how much the Lord loves us by providing good things for us. This is the God for whom we are looking. The challenge is really to look for God in our day to day lives.
We are celebrating today the 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time. We are invited to reflect on the themes of stewardship, responsibility, and accountability in our relationship with God.
One night, when I was about to go to bed, it was already 11:30pm. Suddenly, my phone rang. At first, I thought, “Maybe it is a scammer.” So I didn't want to answer. But then I thought, “Maybe it is from a nursing home or a hospital.” So I picked up.
I’d like to borrow a very good story from Miguel de Umanumo, a Spanish philosopher and novelist from the 20th century about the origin of hell. The setting was at the gates of heaven.
The Gospel on this 24th Sunday of Ordinary Time presents us with Jesus’ beautiful teaching on forgiveness and an encouragement for us to forgive one another, as God forgives all our wrongdoings.
When I was a seminarian, we had an evaluation system called “Fraternal Correction”. My classmates would write positive things about me and also things to be improved about me. And I did the same for them.
