Dear friends, we are in the First Sunday of Lent, and the liturgy of the day invites us to look forward to these forty days of grace and hold firm to our faith,

All three readings of this Sunday offer us an insightful view into what conversion means through the stories of three characters: Isaiah, Paul and Peter. 

When one is invited to a party there is the expectation of a good time to be had: 

The power of the Word of God is at the heart of the readings in today’s liturgy.

I’m unashamed to say that I’m a “Mama’s Boy”. Whenever I need something and I can’t get it from my dad, I always turn to my mum and without a doubt my dad gives in. 

Today we are celebrating the feast of the Baptism of our Lord. A feast that upholds the sacrament of Baptism in our own life and invites us to participate in Jesus’ own Baptism.

At the recent Christmas mass for children, I passed the statue of the baby Jesus among the children asking them to touch and feel it, then tell me their feeling about the newly born baby Jesus. One kid quickly shouted: “He is naked, he has no clothes on”.

The words that came to me after these three readings like a summation of their content were “tender care and respect”.

Christmas time is also a time for telling stories because a story has a way of getting inside us. We become like children who learn by stories. So I would like to tell you a special story:

“How many visitors will be coming for Christmas?” This is usually our first concern for Christmas Day. 

Dear friends in Christ Jesus, today we enter into another dimension of our joyful waiting in this Advent season. 

Taking a walk around town, we may observe that Christmas is already around the corner: Advertising decorations, shopping, sales, singing, parties... These activities already carry the Christmas theme, making us feel as if Christmas is already here, while for the Church, we just barely begin the second Sunday of Advent.

Fear is something most of us do not like to talk about, including myself. Anyway, I’ll do it.

It was a couple of weeks ago, that I ended up on an elephant tour in Thailand. My first uneasiness about this adventure was comforted after I knew that even seniors join these tours. The day came closer and so did the elephants.

“Isis beheads Christians!”, “Chaos in Paris”, “Bush fires engulfs houses”! Whenever we hear these headlines, it brings chills down our spines,

Jesus said, “Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice” (John 18:37).
That’s why, after working diligently throughout an entire night