Tag Archives: Pope

Jul 23 2011

Homily for 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A)

17th Sunday Homily (Year A)

A few months ago,  I read a news of a 13-year-old boy in Cebu Philippines who committed suicide for the reason that his mother did not buy him a laptop computer. Reading that  I felt so sad and upset. I didn’t blame anyone though, because I realized that it was not anyone’s fault. It’s a symptom however of our materialistic society. Many people think that material thing is all that is. Many believe that material things can really make us happy and contented. Not a few people think that money is all that we need because through it, we can get everything that we need or want.

But we know, we who are here today don’t really believe that material things are all that we need, do we? If we do, we would not have been here. We are here because we believe as our faith- experience tells us that there is more to our life than material things. We are here, I hope and pray, because we are looking for that treasure of the kingdom that would really guarantee us of eternal happiness, real contentment and complete satisfaction.

In our Gospel today Jesus tells us another set of parables about the kingdom of God-a priceless treasure, that once it is found, we would consider all other things as mere shadows. But what is this treasure? What is this kingdom of God?

It is the kingdom of love, of peace, of justice, of solidarity, of sharing, of making God as the centre of our life…The point in our gospel today, is for us to seek for this kingdom.  But where? Jesus said, the kingdom of God is among us now, is within us. So let’s look at our heart. What are our priorities? If we feel sad hearing the news of  starvation in Somalia, it’s the sign of the Kingdom of solidarity and of justice. If we feel sorry for that boy who took his own life because he couldn’t get a laptop, it’s a sign of the Kingdom that we want God to be focus of our life rather than things. And as we read the papers everyday, we are in some ways moved to reflect on  some of the events happening around us. But  reading or reflecting on these things are not enough. We have to do something. As I mentioned last week, each one of us is given a ‘seed’ of the kingdom. Let’s work from there. Let’s develop it, share it, make it bear fruit.

But to do it in our time, is quite a challenge. Because there is another kingdom that is in opposition to the Kingdom of God-the kingdom of Satan. Satan is real and he is working now, more than ever. He even seems to have succeeded in some ways. Sin becomes so rampant now, that as John Paul II observes, leading us to believe that doing ‘it’ is just normal and part of our ordinary human life. The late Pope said, because of this reality of sin pervading in the individuals and in the structures, we lose the sense the sin. We are experiencing the eclipse of sin.

But seeing us here today in this Eucharistic celebration is a sign of hope that still we seek for the Kingdom of God, that we want to promote the kingdom of God, that we want to defeat the forces of evil around us.

But what can we do? What do we do then?

Three things: First, more than ever, we need the wisdom of Solomon to help us discern the Kingdom of God from the kingdom of satan; to discern between good and evil;  between right and wrong; between truth and lie; between life and death. Let’s pray that God would grant us this same wisdom.

We need Jesus in defeating the evil forces us. He stood for the truth, no matter what happens, even if he was standing alone, even if it led him to his death. Let’s keep close to his side.

And finally we need to do something to help those people who are really in need, not only of our prayers which is the first thing, but also because we have the means and the ways to do this. We have Caritas, Red Cross, St Vinnies, Catholic Mission, etc. God gives us these ways and these means NOT to put burden on us, but to enable us to share in promoting the kingdom of God here on earth. Let’s seek first the Kingdom of God, and everything else will be provided.  Amen.

Jul 7 2011

A Chat with St Maria Goretti

A Chat with St Maria Goretti

Yesterday, we celebrate the memory of St Maria Goretti, a remarkable girl whose simple faith enabled her to gain the crown of being a virgin and a martyr. We are privileged to have her for a brief chat about her life and her faith.

JF: Thank you St Maria for this honour of chatting with you on this particular day for you and for the Church. Would you please tell us a bit about your life?

St Maria: Well, I was born in 1890 at Corinaldo, a small village, some thirty-miles from Ancona.  I was one of the five children of my parents Luigi Goretti and Assunta Carlini. My father raised us up by being a farm-labourer.

JF: And did you stay in that same village all your life?

St Maria: No, in 1896, the family moved to Colle Gianturo, near Galiano. But we didn’t stay there for long. We had to move to another place called Ferriere di Conca, close to Nettuno in the Roman Campagna.

JF: I assumed your father might have found work there, so you move?

St Maria: Not exactly, because once we got to our new place of residence, my  father was stricken with malaria and shortly later, he died.

JF: Oh I’m sorry to hear that.

St Maria: It was indeed a sorry situation for all of us. As a widow, my mum  had to take up his work to the best of her ability.

JF: I can sense that. I can surmise it must have been a very hard struggle for her.

St Maria: Certainly. Every small  coin and bit of food had to be looked at twice.

JF: Did you and the rest of your siblings help her to cope up in some ways?

St Maria: We did. In fact I kept on encouraging her to go on, cheering her up to keep up the faith and live.

JF: I  assumed by doing just that, your family had coped up quite well of  the loss of your father.

St Maria: To some extent yes. But for me, I had to overcome severe trials of faith in my time.

JF: For example, like what?

St Maria: One hot afternoon in July 1902, I was sitting at the top of the stairs in the cottage, mending a shirt, when a cart stopped outside and Alexander, our 18-year old neighbour came running up the stairs.

JF: What was he  up to?

St Maria: He seduced me to go to bed with him. But I refused to abide with his evil plan. Knowing that he couldn’t get me, he seized me, pulled me in the bedroom and shut the door behind him.

JF: Were you the only one in the house then? Did you try calling for help?

St Maria: I struggled and tried to call for help. But he strangled me, so my call for help could not really be heard well. But I indicated to him, as I gasped from his strangulation, that I would rather be killed than submit to his evil whims.

JF: Which he brutally did?

St Maria: Yes, he pulled my dress and started to strike me with his long dagger. I sank to the floor, as I continued pleading him to kill me rather than abusing me. I could still recall him plunging his dagger into my back and ran away.

JF: Had there been a witness for this terrible assault to you?

St Maria: That I could not be certain of. But I thought some people might have seen the crime. I could not remember there was an ambulance fetching me, but there must have been, since I woke up in the hospital.

JF: And did you think at that time that you would never really recover from what happened to you?

St Maria: I knew that I would never survive. What held me back was  that I was terribly worried of my mother’s welfare as she continued to raise my other siblings.

JF: But you did something remarkable there in the hospital there as well.

St Maria: Well,  I received with such joy and welcome the holy viaticum.

JF: And you also expressed your forgiveness to your murderer.

St Maria Goretti disclosed that she was really afraid of Alexander who had made some advancement to her prior to the incident. But she didn’t tell this to anyone, lest she could cause trouble with his family. Twenty-four hours after the assault, Maria Goretti died surrounded by her mother, the parish priest of Nettuno, a Spanish noblewoman and two nuns.

Her murderer Alexander was sentenced to 30 years  behind bars, and showed no regrets at all. But one night he dreamed that Maria Goretti appeared  gathering flowers and offering them to him. That changed him personally. He was released from prison after serving 27 years there. The first thing he did then was to go and seek Maria’s mother and asked for her forgiveness.

Pope Pius XII beatified here on April 27,1947.  The beatification ceremony was such a remarkable event since the Pope appeared on the balcony of St Peter’s later, accompanied by the then 82-year old Assunta Goretti [Maria’s mum], her two sisters and her brother. Three years after she was beatified, she was canonized as St of the Catholic Church by the same Pope, before the biggest crowd ever assembled for a canonization.

St Maria Goretti, Pray for us. 

May 2 2011

Which voice will the young people of the twenty-first century choose to follow? B. JP II

“Which voice will the young people of the twenty-first century choose to follow? To put your faith in Jesusmeans choosing to believe what HE says no matter how strange it may seem, and choosing to reject the claims of evil no matter how sensible or attractive they may seem.”

( BL. JPII- Globe and Mail- 25 March 2000)


Pope John Paul II the Great…was beatified by the Catholic Church on the First of May 2011 at St Peter’s Basilica. He is beatified to be invoked by the whole world for God‘s peace to reign in the world and in our hearts.