Joseph Osho

  Jb 38:1, 12-21; 40:3-5 Lk 10:13-16 In today’s first reading, we continue with the story of Job. After going through so much tragedy and from the heart of the tempest, God speaks to Job. He kept his trust in the Lord. Job is the example of depression, suffering, but also of patience and steadfastness per excellence, as recounted even today.  We admire Job for being crushed but not destroyed. He had it bad all along and things in his life had gone down the drain. His family collapsed, his wealth disappeared, his health deteriorated and he cursed the day he was born because he could no longer feel nor see any purpose or meaning in life. However, despite all the depressing and excruciating experiences, he did not totally lose God but still mustered to keep a glimmer of hope alive in his God, and God never lost him either.  This was his ‘dark night of the soul,’ which according to St. John of the Cross is not just an endless cycle of spiritual crisis but ultimately a journey...

  Dan 7:9-10, 13-14 Jn 1:47-51 Do you believe that Angels do exist?  In his general audience of August 6th, 1986, Pope John Paul II noted that “the modern mentality does not see the importance of angels. Yet in the encounter with the world of angels, man comes to see his own being not only as body but also as spirit”. There are a lot of biblical quotations concerning angels but many today do not make reference to them. By their duty, angels are pure spirits who deliver God's message. The Hebrew word ‘malak”, used in the Old Testament, signifies more precisely ‘messenger”,and that they have specific functions in their intermediary in the relationships between God and man. In the Catholic faith there are the nine choir of angels beginning with the lowest to highest ranking; Angels, Archangels, Virtues, Powers, Principalities, Dominions, Thrones, Cherubim and Seraphim. In the Church we celebrate the archangels, Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael who are mentioned in both the Old and N...

  Job 9:1-12, 14-16 Luke 9:57-62 “No one who sets a hand to the plow and looks back to what was left behind is fit for the Kingdom of God.” In our gospel reading today we heard that as Jesus and his disciples were proceeding on their journey , and at the commitment to discipleship, someone responded .”Yes, Lord, I will follow you wherever you go.”  But Jesus reminds them and us that to follow him, to preach and teach in Jesus’ name is not all that easy!  The life of a follower of Christ has many rewards, but it also requires a great amount of self-sacrifice on our part.  Jesus calls us to give up all when we say ‘Yes’.! We live in a world that stresses individualism and focuses on the materialism but spiritual    detachment is a necessary step for following the Lord.   Having nice things and experiencing the ‘good life’ is nice at times, but it does not last. It’s not wrong to enjoy the finer things in life, except when those ‘things’ seem to become ou...

  Job 3:1-3, 11-17, 20-23 Luke 9:51-56 Today we celebrate the great Apostle of charity~St. Vincent de Paul, the patron of all charitable societies.In today's Gospel, when the Samaritans rejected Jesus because his eyes were set for Jerusalem, the brothers James and John were angry and requested that they might be permitted to call down fire from heaven above to burn them up but Christ rebuked them. His purpose is to save and not to condemn. To heal our wounds and not to break us down.  What a wonderful insight for us to being a people for others. St. Vincent also experienced hostility earlier he was captured and made a slave. After a miraculous escape through the intercession of the Blessed Mother, He was also accused falsely of stealing    in the place he was. He endured till death he end and shared in the sufferings of Christ  I continue today’s reflection with some facts about St. Vincent… St. Vincent went to Avignon and later to Rome to continue his stud...

  Job 1:6-22 LK 9:46-50 Do you want to be great in the eyes of the world or in the eyes of God?  In today’s gospel pericope , Christ tells His apostles how one can become great in the Kingdom of God. His clarity is unparallel! Firstly, He is not talking about the World but the Kingdom of God. As such, only Godly virtues are reckoned here and this would necessarily clash with the values of the world. Secondly, just as Christ though God, emptied Himself and became a servant for our sake (Philippians 2:7), so too the greatest in God’s Kingdom must empty himself and detach himself from all things and mentality to become childlike, embracing humility, simplicity, obedience, innocence and total dependence on God as a child depends entirely on its parents. Are these virtues found in you and are you living them up consistently?  Jesus realized the intention of their hearts and took a child and placed it by his side and said to them,’ Whoever receives this child in my name receive...

  Twenty Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C) Amos 6.1, 4-7;  Ps 145;  I Tim 6.11-16;  Lk 16.19-31 1. Today's gospel, often referred to as the parable of    "Dives and Lazarus", is well-known and popular.    For many people it has a clear and attractive message: the poor go to heaven, and the rich go to hell.    Nice and smooth ! Cool and simple!    And it would be foolish to deny that this element is there.    Our Lord clearly wanted to shake rich people out of any possible complacency.    We must also remember that it was a widely accepted Jewish belief that material prosperity in this world was a sign of God's approval.    If your business prospered, then clearly the Father of Israel was looking after you.    By contrast, Christ taught again and again that it was the dispositions of the heart, not external circumstances    or observances, that put us on the side of the an...