by Fr Ncamiso Vilakati

“You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows”

Being a social network ‘junkie’, I must admit, have come across this quotation in reference to the part of Psalm 23: “He anoints my head with oil”. Like many I have always thought it is a figurative language for God keeping the Psalmists healthy. But the author of the post put it like this: “Sheep can get their head caught in briers and die trying to get untangled. There are horrid little flies that like to torment sheep by laying eggs in their nostrils which turn into worms and drive the sheep to beat their head against a rock, sometimes to death. Their ears and eyes are also susceptible to tormenting insects. So, the shepherd anoints their whole head with oil. Then there is peace. That oil forms a barrier of protection against evil that tries to destroy the sheep.” Continue reading “Reflection on the 16th Sunday in Ordinary time-B” →

by Fr Ncamiso Vilakati

“Travel light with little or no provision”

At Diaconate ordination the Bishop asks a candidate if he is resolved to maintain and deepen a spirit of prayer appropriate to the life he chooses and, in keeping with what is required, to celebrate faithfully the Liturgy of the Hours for the Church and for the whole world. After he has answered YES to all that he has been asked, the Bishop presents him the Book of the Gospels and placing it in his hands saying: “Receive the Gospel of Christ, whose herald you now are. Believe what you read, teach what you believe, and practice what you teach”. This is a beginning of a journey where the ordained will be a collaborator of the Bishop in the conveyance of Word of God. It is advisable and wise of him to travel light with little or no provision at all but the Lord himself. Continue reading “Reflection on the 15th Sunday Ordinary time- B” →

by Fr Ncamiso Vilakati

“My grace is sufficient for you for power is made perfect in weakness” 2 Cor 12:9

On the 14^th October this year, Pope Francis will canonise two holy men. Blessed Pope Paul VI as well as Blessed Oscar Romero an Archbishop of San Salvador in El Salvador from Latin America. The latter was a controversial Bishop who had to face adversaries from his own people, especially the government. As a believer he knew that through his baptism, God’s grace was and is sufficient in pastoral ministry. Its no wonder on the 14^th August 1977 he is quoted as saying: “The prophet must be disturbing to society when society is not with God”. In some instances, found to be saying “Even when they call us mad, when they call us subversives and communists and all the epithets they put on us, we know we only preach the subversive witness of the Beatitudes, which have turned everything upside down”. Continue reading “Reflection on the 14th Sunday in Ordinary time B” →