Joseph Osho

  DO NOT BE AFRAID JUST HAVE FAITH  Hebrews 12:1-4 Mark 5:21-43 TOUCHING LIVES  Today we celebrate a man who was said to have changed the world -St. John Bosco. He founded the Salesians the second-largest religious order in the world with over 140,000 priests across 130 countries in the world. He dedicate his life to prayer and charity towards youths who were roaming the streets looking for livelihood to make them know Christ.  John Bosco devoted himself to the care of the young, first of all by means of plays and tricks they got attracted then evening classes, to which hundreds came, and then by setting up a boarding house for apprentices, and then workshops for their training and education. Despite many difficulties, caused both by the anti-clerical civil authorities and by the opposition of some senior people within the Church, his enterprise grew, and by 1868 over 800 boys and young men were under his care. To ensure the continuation of his work, he founded a con...

  JESUS IS ALWAYS ON OUR PATH   Hebrews 11:32-40 Mark 5:1-20 Why will someone be kept in the tomb? In today’s gospel, we were told that the man in the tomb was possessed by many demons as a result he hurts people and himself because of the chains and fetters he was bounded with he snaps so often. Christ was never afraid to seek those who are possessed and deliver them from harm. We don't have to look too far to find where these demons are. A life trusting in Jesus can keep these demons at bay but life of sin and hatred can keep us under the bondage of evil. A musical artist once sang “some of us have demons...some of us have demons’ which one do you place as guide on your life? Are you afraid of the transformative effects of the healing power of Christ? Christ wants us to be free from the slavery of sin.  Today’s first reading is taken from the letter to the Hebrews we are given the heroes of faith; a certain group or individuals within a community sharing hope and surviv...

  IMITATE CHRIST AND YOU WILL BE BLESSED   Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A)   Zeph 2.3, 3.12-13;   I Cor 1.26-31;   Mt 5.1-12 Today’s readings offer us an important message that through the eternal wisdom of God, we can seek and find Him, our spiritual happiness. Today’s gospel, which is popularly known as the Sermon on the Mount, consists of a short but very concentrated passage of teaching by our Lord, coming in Matthew's gospel almost at the beginning of His public ministry. Great crowds were following Him, attracted by His message, by His authority and, of course, by His ability to cure the sick. This work that He was doing matched very closely what the Old Testament prophesies had said were signs of the Messiah and so there were also many attracted by that possibility.The Old Testament teaching has perennial value. It is the word of God.  Because it has divine authority it deserves total respect. Its moral laws and precepts are for the most part...

  YOUR FAITH CAN CALM THE STORMS OF YOUR LIFE   Hebrews 11:1-2,8-19 Mark 4:35-41 Three examples of faith are given to us in today liturgical celebration,  Abraham, Sarah and St Thomas Aquinas.    In the story of Abraham-our father in faith. We see a glimpse of faith’s journey as Abraham obeyed God to go to where God has directed him.  For Abraham and Sarah, life was a struggle as they sought to live out their married life, enduring the agony of childlessness no different from many childless couples of our time.  Throughout their lives, Abraham and Sarah had a deep faith and enduring love in the promises of the God who gave them life and who promised if they were faithful, they would reap the benefits of a long and prosperous life with countless descendants for all ages. This journey of faith also included leading a nation of people beset with worries and woes along with all sorts of issues and events, both sorrowful and joyous. We are the fulfillm...

  STEADY GROWTH WINS THE RACE Hebrews 10:32-39 Mark 4:26-34 Good growth takes place upwards and downwards at the same time. The roots takes the nutrients from the earth without anyone knowing it.    God sends down sunshine and rain to nourish it.  In today’s gospel parable, Christ talks about growth from seeds to harvest while in the second part, we talk about small and great(a mustard seed becoming a mustard tree). On earth, the seed of the kingdom of God is something very tiny to begin with, but it then grows to be a huge tree. Thus, we see how the small group of the initial disciples grew mightily in the early years of the Church and it continues to grow and spread from the acts of the Apostles right down the centuries to our present day. And it will continue to grow and spread until the end of time.   The inconsequential mustard seed becomes something fruitful and worthwhile. The question is am I growing spiritually? am I rooted in sincere fidelity and love ...

  WHAT DO WE NOTICE IN THE LIVES OF SAINTS TIMOTHY AND TITUS?   2 Timothy 1:1-8 Mark 4:21-25 In his public ministry, Christ our Lord dedicated himself to preaching God’s kingdom to the people. Using parables, Christ taught them that the kingdom of heaven is at hand. He encourages them to love as He loves them and to abide in him as children of the light. Like Jesus in the gospel story, St. Paul in his letters to Timothy and Titus, we need someone to call us to share our light with others. St. Paul—always on a mission to evangelize-often circled back to those nascent faith communities that often struggled as all human communities do. Very often he had to encourage the local leaders, like Timothy and Titus, to lead by setting themselves on a lampstand for their light to shine. The two secretaries Paul later became bishops. Timothy, the bishop of Ephesus, and Titus the bishop of Crete respectively.  Just like Jesus, St Paul, Sts. Timothy and Titus devoted themselves to the m...

  WHY DO WE CELEBRATE THE CONVERSION OF ST. PAUL?  Acts 22:3-16 Mark 16:15-18 We celebrate the dramatic story of conversion of St. Paul for it was the Eternal Light, Christ himself who took the initiative to convert Saul who at that time was the     greatest persecutor of the early Church. This is a reminder that God’s love and compassion is greater than our human weaknesses and sufferings. Saul hatred for christians was so bitter that he even testified to the stoning of one of the first christian martyr St. Stephen Saul became Paul through grace and double as the greatest missionary in the life of the Church and the greatest evangelist as evident through his in the New Testament.   That is based on this reason that the early Christian community kept on glorifying God hearing that the one who was once persecuting them is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy. He goes to a place to raise a Christian community and writes back to check on them. He wrote ...

  ARE YOU IN GOD’S FAMILY?   Hebrews 10:1-10 Mark 3:31-35 Today, we celebrate the feast of St Francis de Sales. He was a bishop who lived intimately with God.  Here is one of his famous spirituality, “ Half an hour’s meditation each day is essential, except when you are busy. Then a full hour is needed.”  Any deeper relationship demands time spent in mutual conversation and fellowship.   This a personal relationship with Christ is the source of great joy. In so many ways, God wants to have a close relationship with us. Jesus offers throughout the Gospels in different ways an invitation of intimacy with Himself!  He uses some of the closest human relationships of a mother or brother or sister to indicate how close He wants to be with us. Christ says, “No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.” John 15 ...

  A STRIKING CONTRADICTION Hebrews 9:15,24-28 Mark 3:22-30 The scribes in today's gospel accused Jesus of being possessed by -Beezebul-the prince of devils. They were supposed to acknowledge the wonders of God instead they fell into the sin of blasphemy. Light and darkness are not the same so Jesus points out the fallacy of their statements: “How can Satan drive out Satan?” And then, toward the end of our gospel reading, Jesus says, “Amen, I say to you, all sins and all blasphemies that people utter will be forgiven them. But whoever blasphemes against the holy Spirit will never have forgiveness but is guilty of an everlasting sin. We too can be tempted to look for justification for our condemnation of others instead of avoiding condemnation ourselves or caught up with the divisions among us, creating more dominion for darkness.   The first reading from the letter to the Hebrews tells us that Christ died once and for all. The power of Christ’s suffering banished the devil and ...