General. The Eucharist hurls us into the footsteps of the Lord Jesus who walked the foot-paths of the Holy Land doing good works to show that God’s time on earth was nigh. After hearing God’s Word, the Christian cannot do otherwise than doing good in his family and neighbourhood, accomplishing God’s will according to his state of life and calling.

Jonah There is always a time of warning before punishment or a hazard strikes. The problem is whether we recognize the signs of the time as such and amend our ways by doing penance and amending what might still be amended. Heeding God’s ways can be one manner of doing this and we achieve it by constant prayer.

Psalm 24. The Psalmist recognizes the Lord God as his Saviour and thus beseeches Him to show him the path to salvation. He is to abide by His teachings because these have always been a sure way to the goodness and the mercy which the Lord has shown.

Corinthians. More than any other month, January is a time for passing away. The Church subtly but realistically reminds us of this with the choice of various readings harping on the issue that time passes, that we shall be cut off from the cold dire ways of the world, and that it is not what we have accumulated by way of wealth that counts before God, but the abundance of spiritual treasures and good works we have done.

St Mark. During the Ordinary Sundays of this year the Church presents us with readings from the Gospel according to St Mark. Hence some repetition about the Call from last Sunday. The evangelist was close to St Peter, and so knows the Good Spell story well from Peter’s view-point. Time is up, in various ways, John the Baptist announces, and we can take this to refer both to our own health due to all kinds of physical excess caused by modernity (undue work mostly, done for further unnecessesary economic gain) and generally, the state of the environment, which is also caused by an economic motive of greed and comfort. In a way, this Gospel hurls us forward to Ash Wednesday, our next mile-stone during the Liturgical Year.

Homilies Index Page - Liturgy of the Hours - Home