Exorcisms should not be taken lightly. We sometimes hear people claiming to be able to cast out evil spirits, but they may not necessarily be ready or able to do so. One needs to have a certain “authority” to be able to perform exorcisms. Sometimes, what we think is a manifestation of an evil spirit
In certain societies, a woman may be showered with lots of affection and gifts from her husband, but if she is unable to bear him a child, she may be looked down upon or ridiculed. Even though her husband may not be bothered about her condition and love her nonetheless, the ill-treatment by others around
Why was Jesus baptised if He had never sinned? Jesus never sinned and did not need baptism for the forgiveness of sin. However, Jesus chose to be baptised to unite himself and share fully in the expectations and hopes of all men and women. It is not humankind that goes to Him, but He goes
Some of us would have been in active ministry for quite a while. Throughout our ministry, we would have experienced joy, sadness, challenges, difficulties, etc. If we are to continuously work and do things for others, there may come a time where we may feel tired, fed up, or burned out. This is where we
For many of us, loving God seems easy. We do not actually see Him, we do not feel Him directly, and we experience His continuous care in one form or another, without us even having to ask at times. However, when it comes to loving our neighbour, that becomes a great hurdle for some. Our
In life, we face all sorts of challenges and obstacles. As time goes by, some of us may feel worn out, discouraged, anxious, afraid, etc. However, Jesus in today’s Gospel assures us: “Courage! It is I! Do not be afraid.” Jesus can help us as we struggle along in life and with Him as our
When we hear of some people loving others without any hidden agenda or condition, we call that unconditional love. However, we sometimes come across people loving others because it is beneficial to them, and such love would be advantageous to them in some way. What about us? What sort of love do we have and
Every once in a while we hear someone preaching something which seems to be about Christ. They appear to be gaining lots of followers and soon they have mega-churches or big buildings, property and land to be used for so called evangelisation. However, today’s reading warns us to be careful and not be easily influenced
Some of us like to follow stars. Some like to follow movie stars, singing stars, successful stars, wealthy stars; hoping perhaps that one day we would be like the stars we follow. The wise men in today’s Gospel were also after a star. However, this star is not just any ordinary star. This star is
Sin and God are incompatible. So if we sin, we are distancing ourselves from God. Sometimes we find it difficult to stay sinless, because of all sorts of temptations and attractions of the world. However, we have much opportunities to cleanse ourselves from sin by going for confession. The question is: have we been regular
