by Fr Joseph Mafola

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In the first reading Moses says God’s law is within your own heart and it is easy to fulfil. We do not kill, we do not steal, and we do not bear false witness. All these are written in one’s heart. Everyone, young and old, learned or unlearned, rich or poor can fulfil God’s law. God gave us His commandments not for His own benefit but for ours; that is, out of love for us.

In the Gospel, a lawyer asked Jesus, “Master what must I do to inherit eternal life?” In his response Jesus’ answer is “what is written in the law. What do you read there?” The lawyer gave an answer quoting from both Deuteronomy and Leviticus; “you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength and with all your mind and your neighbour, as yourself.” Jesus concluded his parable by compelling the lawyer to draw the conclusion himself by asking him “which of the three, do you think proved himself a neighbour to the man who fell into the bandit’s hands”
Continue reading “Reflection for the 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year C” →

by Fr. Joseph Koterski, SJ

Pope’s prayer Intention: Let us pray that those who administer justice may work with integrity, and that the injustice which prevails in the world may not have the last word.

No society can live peacefully without the rule of law. In the attempt to restrain the abuses that have often prevailed in human history, we have developed forms of governance in which there is a division of powers. In such constitutional arrangements the separation of the executive branch, the legislative branch, and the judicial branch have proven truly helpful. Yet the temptation for those who hold authority even in these systems to usurp additional powers is ever with us. Without the rule of law there is inevitably violence against the weak. But there can be no rule of law without a recognition that there is an objective and transcendent standard of justice. And there can be no such transcendent standard of justice apart from God as the transcendent creator and sustainer of morality. Continue reading “July 2019: The Integrity of Justice” →

by Fr Joseph Mafola

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In today’s Gospel, Jesus sends seventy two disciples to go ahead of him in pairs to all the places He Himself was to visit. The seventy two came back rejoicing because even the devils submitted to them when they used Jesus’ name. The seventy two stand for us, the Christian community. We must be God’s messengers to everyone around us. The joy of the Christian life will increase within us to the extent to which we share our faith with others.

St Paul explains to us what it really means to be a Christian. He says to be a Christian means to have become altogether a new creature. On account of the life in the Spirit given to us in Baptism. A Christian maintains and increases the life in the Spirit within him/herself. To be a Christian means to belong to Christ. In his letter to the Galatians 6:17 St Paul says “the marks of my body are those of Jesus.”
Continue reading “Reflection for the 14th Sunday in Ordinary time – Year C” →