Tag: Catholic Diocese of Manzini

By: Fr Christopher Maseko 

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Today’s Gospel presents the episode in which Jesus drove out the merchants from the temple of Jerusalem. He did this gesture by helping himself with a whip of cords and flipped the tables, saying” You shall not make my Father’s house a house of trade.” This decisive action carried out close to Passover, made a great impression on the crowd and aroused the hostility of the religious authorities. This action of Jesus was wholly different than His loving, gentle and kind previous actions. Perhaps, this has been our big question over the years. The temple has been the centre of spiritual power. The same time that believers are building temples to worship God, devil is trying to occupy them by religious people. The house of God is a house of prayer for all peoples. Unfortunately, the house of God had been changed into a den of thieves, and it was no longer a house of prayer.

Continue reading “Reflection on the Third Sunday of Lent – Year B” →

By: Fr. Peterson Mwangi IMC

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THEME: FAITH IN GOD

The three disciples were lucky to have been given an opportunity to accompany Jesus up the mountain and experience the glory of God but instead of learning in silence and being attentive to what Jesus wanted them to see/ hear, the whole transfiguration experience led Peter to speak and suggested the building of 3 booths where they would all reside. At that moment, a voice was heard from heaven saying, “This is my beloved son; listen to Him.” In this second Sunday of lent we are called to work on our listening skills; listening to the Son God and following His instructions without being distracted by what we have or the situations that we find ourselves in whether good or bad. We are lucky today to have been given Abraham in our first reading as an example of a faithful servant of God who not only listened but also followed the instructions given by God to the latter. He never tried to reason/argue with God, neither did he count the losses that he would incur after sacrificing his only begotten son but with faith, trust and understanding in God who provides, accepted to offer his son as a burnt sacrifice to God. This gesture pleased God who in turn promised Abraham countless blessings and spared the life of his son by providing a ram for sacrifice.

Continue reading “Reflection on the Second Sunday of Lent – Year B” →

by Fr. Peterson Mwangi IMC

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THEME: NEW LIFE IN CHRIST

In our daily conversations, we find ourselves talking about different spirits that reside in our bodies and in our dwellings. These spirits can either be benevolent like the spirit of truth, spirit of self giving, spirit of generosity, spirit of love and others or we can have malevolent spirits in us like the spirit of hate, spirit of laziness, spirit of stealing, spirit of stinginess, spirit of witchcraft and others. I may not know all the Spirits that resides in you or the other but as Christians we are sure of the Holy Spirit that we received in our baptism. This Spirit makes us children of God through the forgiveness of sins, directs our thoughts and actions as the faithful; He should always reside in our hearts in order to teach, guide, protect and accompany us in our daily Christian life and especially this period of lent.

Continue reading “Reflection on the First Sunday of Lent – Year B” →

By Fr. Peterson Mwangi IMC

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THEME: THE HEALING POWER OF JESUS

We will base our today’s reflection on the healing of the leper mentioned in today’s Gospel. Leprosy was a skin condition in the time of Jesus and also in the Old Testament as we see in the first reading; this sickness was thought to be contagious hence those who suffered from it were considered to be social outcasts who could not mingle freely with other people; in a more familiar term, they were isolated for as long as they were sick just as we are doing to Covid 19 patients today.

Continue reading “Reflection on the Sixth Sunday In Ordinary Time – Year B” →

By Fr. Peterson Mwangi IMC

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THEME: JESUS AND THE SUFFERING HUMANITY

It is very difficult to understand why we must suffer so much in this world and sometimes we can easily doubt the power and the presence of God in our lives due to the circumstances we find ourselves in; as we speak, there are many families all over the world whose family members have died due to Covid 19 pandemic, children have been left orphans, others are still suffering in hospitals, others have lost jobs and have no idea where their next meal will come from. Even Job in today’s first reading confirms with his own experience how hard it is for a man to survive in this world, he feels lonely and probably with little or no reason to wish for a another day or night. We end up with many questions like; Is God aware of all our sufferings? Does He care at all? Has He forsaken us? Is there any need to put our trust in Him or seek His help and guidance? The answers to these questions and many other questions in our minds and hearts can be found in today’s Gospel where Jesus is the main protagonist. Continue reading “FIFTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME – YEAR B” →

By Thokozani Mkhonta

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It is evident that false prophets were common in ancient Israel. They coexisted alongside God’s authentic prophets. The dilemma of an ordinary Israelite trying to discern God’s message from among a host of contrasting prophetic voices all purporting to be God’s genuine representatives and servants was difficult to escape. The promise of a future prophet raised by God from amongst the people to guide the people with clarity of God’s word as indicated in First Reading is significant. It indicates God’s desire not to allow his people to live through life without proper guidance. The unfortunate and undesirable eventuality of an innocent seeker of God’s word being led astray by a false prophet posing as God’s sincere servant could only be avoided by God through the raising of a prophet whom God will put His words in his mouth, and who shall speak to the people all that God commands him.

Continue reading “Reflection for Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time” →

by Thokozani Mkhonta

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One of the realities of life which is widely considered by many as unfortunate is the fact of not knowing one’s future. It is widely felt that as humans we are disadvantaged by the fact that we cannot entirely hold our future in our own hands. Failure is one of the most shattering experiences of life. We struggle to understand why must life be such that we must learn through failure that some things were not meant for us.

Yet, it remains an incontestable fact of life that what we do today significantly affects our future. We shape our future through our present actions. We are certain that God has put part of our future in our own on hands. This is a lesson we cannot afford to neglect. It is sad to realize the opportunities we failed to utilize in the past coming back to haunt us in the present. Much of the emotional burden we carry lies in the fact of knowing that some of the distressing experiences of our lives are a result of our own actions.

Continue reading “Reflection for the 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year B” →

by Thokozani Mkhonta (Seminarian)

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Today, the Gospel presents to us the earliest of encounters between Jesus and his first disciples. It recounts that Jesus was passing by when John the Baptizer declared to his disciples that the one who was passing by is the Lamb of God. Upon hearing this, John’s disciples immediately left and followed Jesus. One outstanding realization in this encounter is that it is John the Baptizer who declares Jesus’ identity to his disciples who appear to be clueless of such. As they walk after Jesus, Jesus turns and asks them what are they looking for. They express to Jesus that they want to see where he lives. Jesus invites them to come and see. It is striking to realize that the role played by John the Baptizer in this scene facilitated the first interaction between Jesus and his first disciples. It appears that the disciples might have remained oblivious to the presence of the Lamb of God amongst them should John the Baptizer have not enlightened them.

Continue reading “Reflection for the 2nd Sunday of Ordinary Time” →