Joseph Osho

  HAVE FAITH IN GOD, YOUR MIRACLE IS ON THE WAY Genesis 17:1,9-10,15-22 Matthew 8:1-4 With the way the world is going, I think we all need miracles in our lives. sometimes, miracles help us to confirm our faith, or just to wake us up to the proof of the possibilities of God’s endless love and compassion for us. The faith of the leper in today‘s gospel is quite remarkable. Apart from the fact that he was despised, shunned, ignored, segregated, and feared in fact, he was nothing to those who walked past him; he was walking now breaking the rules by walking down the streets.  Place yourself on that street with the leper and Jesus. Can you feel the joy in the leper’s entire being as Jesus affirms that he will heal him? And the leper knowing that Jesus should have been tending the crowds, and not tending to the leper! Jesus went to him, answered him, and healed him. And now the leper can return to being a member of his community. Can you imagine the feeling of love and joy in the l...

  SOLEMNITY OF SAINTS PETER AND PAUL.     Acts 12:1-11 2 Timothy 4:6-8,17-18 Matthew 16:13-19 TWO GREAT LIVING PILLARS Today the Church celebrates her two great pillars-Sts. Peter -the Vicar of Christ and Paul-the Apostles to the Gentiles. Today, we celebrate two great men of the Church, Saints Peter and Paul. Two ordinary men, one a fisherman and the other a Pharisee and a tentmaker. Two ordinary men who recognized that God had called them to be something special than they thought themselves to be. Two ordinary men who dared to speak the truth that was spoken to them through Christ. They endured suffering through many hardships and trials for their words and actions and yet they kept on believing in the truth that dwelt in their hearts. The confidence which Christ placed in Peter as the foundation stone of the Church is remarkable when we remember that Peter three times denied his Master. The Son of God well knew into what frail hands He was placing the spiritual destiny...

  Saint Irenaeus, Bishop, Doctor, Martyr   Genesis 15:1-12,17-18 Matthew 7:15-20 BEWARE OF FALSE PROPHETS In Matthew 7:15, Jesus says, ‘Beware of false prophets’.  Saint Irenaeus, whose feast we celebrate today was no stranger to false prophets. As bishop of Lyons, France in the late second century, Irenaeus fought against the Gnostics of the time who could be viewed as “false prophets”.   The Gnostics claimed they had access to secret knowledge from Jesus that he imparted to only a few disciples.  Irenaeus was successful in exposing their claims as untrue, which helped confused Christians to disbelieve the heresy of Gnosticism. it seems we are surrounded in our times by many ‘false prophets’ who claim to have the only truth or the only way to believe or understand things.  Oftentimes it is hard to know what truth is or who to believe!  Our faith calls us to be aware of those who bear bad fruit.  Sometimes the soothsayers and false prophets c...

  CHOOSE THE RIGHT PATH Genesis 13:2,5-18 Matthew 7:6,12-14 In today’s first reading, Abram treated Lot with love and generosity whereas Lot did not treat Abram the same way. Lot was greedy, he wanted more space, more comfort in an easier territory , more pleasures. Rather than tell Abram to choose first, he decided to choose first even though he knew he was not the one given the promise and he was younger. Lot took a lot. He and his herdsmen took the broader way and settled close to Sodom, the land of sinners. Abram and Lot became distant relatives. In other words, The lust for the ‘Egypt’ in Lot’s heart was greater than the people responsible for his blessing.  Is your mind and heart dominated by self love and greed? Are you humble and responsible as a child of God? Are you dwelling in the territory of evil or darkness and you can’t find your way out?  In today’s gospel, Jesus says that we should try our best to enter through the narrow gate for the road that leads to p...

LEAVE TO REACH  Gen 12:1-9 Matt 7:1-5 Abram and Sarai in today’s reading are called in their old years to embark on a journey filled with uncertainty and unknowns. “The LORD said to Abram: ‘Go forth from the land of your kinsfolk and from your father’s house to a land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.’” All this at 75 years old, as scripture says. And he goes. He knows he must go. He becomes a migrant. Even though he did not know where he was going, how long it would take or what sort of welcome he would find there, Abram went without question because he believed and trusted in the Lord and knew that the Lord would look after him no matter what lay ahead.  Now let us think about all those today who are leaving the land of their kinsfolk in today’s massive migration of peoples. For whatever reason, they leave knowing the journey is dangerous and the destination uncertain. W...

  Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A) DO NOT BE AFRAID, THERE IS PEACE WITH CHRIST  Jer 20.10-13;  Rom 5.12-15;   Mt 10.26-33 How can we cast away all our fears when it seems to be a natural phenomenon that occurs to every individual? How would we not be so scared of traveling when there is no solid security to ward off killings and kidnappings? The world economy still scares nations with abject poverty? The world is full of suffering and pain; fears and anxieties? What should we do?  In the gospel for today’s mass, Our Lord speaks of hell.   Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; fear him rather who can destroy both body and soul in hell.  That one of whom Jesus speaks is the devil, Satan, the master of sin.  Nowadays, hell for some people seems somewhat out of fashion.  Belief in hell and a desire to avoid it has waxed and waned during Christian history.  Hell-fire preaching, designed to frighten us ...