Joseph Osho

  ST.ANDREW-APOSTLE Romans 10:9-18 Matthew 4:18-22 WHOM HAVE YOU SHARED THE GOSPEL WITH?  Today we celebrate the feast of St. Andrew and the end of November. All praise, honor, and glory to God Almighty who has led us through this year. In today's Gospel, Jesus called  -Peter, Andrew, James, and John to be disciples and fishers of men. That was a special privilege. These men met Jesus face to face, they heard his voice calling them directly and then left everything to follow Him. They trusted him, they felt his presence, they knew somehow that this was someone they needed to walk with, and throughout their lives, they would continue to follow Jesus.  Andrew, (brave) was a trustworthy disciple with happy feet, he was present when John the Baptist pointed to the Messiah, he followed him, and also introduced Simon to Jesus. He brought the unnamed young lad who gave him five loaves and two fish for the people to eat. John 6:8. And when Philip wanted to tell Jesus about c...

  ENDURE TILL THE END BY TAKING EVERY STEP WITH THE LORD  Daniel 5:1-6,13-14,16-17,23-28 Luke 21:12-19 In today’s first reading, King Belshazzar got carried away with the banquet. He was so caught up in his party that he lost his senses and decided to make use of the sacred vessels from the Temple for his own pleasure. The handwriting is already written on the wall and it had to take them to bring poor Daniel to interpret this inscription on the wall,; Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin. When someone decides to commit sacrilege, he has signed his death warrant. When worldly pleasure gets in the way of worshipping God, you have just enlisted yourself on death row. The Lord God created us to know Him, love Him, and serve Him. We were not made to cause violence but to serve humanity just has God has loved us in Christ.  In today’s Gospel Jesus reminds us that it is not easy being a disciple. Being a follower of Jesus Christ is the most difficult thing we will do in our journey thro...

  THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS AN EVERLASTING KINGDOM  Daniel 2:31-45 Luke 21:5-11 Christ is coming to judge the world and we must always be ready.  As some people were admiring the beauty and glamour of the Temple in Jerusalem, Jesus predicted the destruction of the Temple and they asked Him when will that be. He warns them about false prophecy, deception,     natural disasters and catastrophes that will befall the world. He also brings to their awareness that despite all that God has done for the people of Israel they have remained fruitless. Their conversion when Christ came into their midst should have been their response and appreciation. Accordingly, they have focused on other things such as false prophecy, misrepresentation of who the Messiah is, wrong ideas of law, and outward show of sacrifices and rituals instead of deep faith and constant relationship with God.   Scripture tells us that Haggai prophesies that the future glory of the Temple will be great...

  THE SPIRIT OF GENEROSITY Daniel 1:1-6,8-20 Luke 21:1-4 Today, we live in a world    that has conditioned many into the gross accumulating of wealthy and maternal possessions, The urge and appetite to earn more seems to be running in our blood veins like Oliver Twist. This has resulted into having more and more properties and get a higher rate of return in investments, whereas the needs of the poor are overlooked and not considered ramong the wealthy nations’ interests and priorities. Before speaking about the poor widow in today’s Gospel, for several times, Jesus had criticised the motivation behind the action of the scribes. He accused them of making public shows when praying in order to win people’s respect and admiration. “We would never behave like that, we might say that but can we be so sure?    Hmm! I suspect that most of us if we were to come into serious money gain, would want to show it off.  This materialistic climate strays us away from the sp...

  Our Lord Jesus Christ, Universal King (Year A)   Ezekiel 34.11-12, 15-17;   I Cor 15.20-26, 28;   Mt 25.31-46 JESUS CHRIST IS THE KING OF THE UNIVERSE AND THE SHEPHERD OF SOULS    The feast of Christ the King brings to a close the Church's liturgical calendar year. On this solemn occasion, we remind ourselves of the fact that Christ our Lord is the true King of the universe. He is the beginning and end of all life.  This feast was instituted by Pope Pius XI in 1925, as a response to the yeast of secularism and atheism. With the institution of the feast, our minds are drawn towards Christ the eternal judge who will judge the world with his justice and charity having the final things in life in the background; death, judgment, hell, or heaven.  At Christmas we shall celebrate His first coming among us as the infant king while today, the Church directs our gaze to His second coming, in majesty, at the end of time, and what that final appearance of ...

  GOD, YOU ARE MY HOPE  1 Maccabees 6:1-13 Luke 20:27-40 In today’s gospel, we see Jesus being questioned by the Sadducees (the Jewish religious sects that do not believe in the resurrection of the body or the existence of angels ). He clearly declares to them that God is not a God of the dead but of the living. In other words, when we physically die in this world part of us lives on forever that is, the soul . The Sadducees denied this because they had not fully accepted the teachings in the scriptures.  The analogy that was given of a woman with seven husbands reminds us of Sarah the wife of Tobias. We have Christ’s word for life after death and also the promise of eternal life to those who trust and believe in the promise He has made. Do you believe in Jesus’ promise? He wants us to share the Good News with others freely so that all who believe in Him will also be saved and enjoy peace that lasts forever. 

  Lord be the Master of my soul.  1 Macc. 4:36-37,52-59 Luke 19:45-48 Saints Andrew Dũng-Lạc and his Companions, Martyrs  After weeping for Jerusalem in yesterday’s gospel passage, Jesus went into Jerusalem and the Temple. He found the sellers of oxen and sheep and pigeons and the money changers at their business. He made a whip of cord, He turned their tables and cast them all out. This is a sign of his purpose; purification and sanctification. The purpose was to tell us that God takes our worship seriously. He did this because the money changers were not only dishonoring God’s house but more than that, they were also unjust to the people in their sales.  We are in a money-craving world and people can go beyond any limit whatsoever to acquire wealth. This includes; theft, fraud, magic, robbery, kidnapping, assassination, ritual killings, terrorism, etc.  All these evil ways are the ways that affect our worship and make us disobey the first commandment. In our s...

Opportunity comes but once. Therefore, make use of your opportunity as it comes. 1 Maccabees 2:15-29 Luke 19:41-44 Jerusalem was the city cherished by the Lord. Many times as written in history, the people of Jerusalem refuse to believe in God. In today’s gospel, seeing the multitudes of homes surrounding the Temple in Jerusalem, Jesus wept over Jerusalem. We all know that Jerusalem is the citadel of David built on Mount Zion but many of the rulers and inhabitants have not made for peace pride and unbelief have led them into ruin even to this day. They have refused to hear the warning and the call from God, they had rejected the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. Now they refuse to listen to Jesus who comes as their Messiah. Indeed an opportunity lost can lead to disappointment, setbacks, regrets, and oftentimes. disaster.  The tales of opportunities for the city of Jerusalem, the refusal of God’s word, and His prophets came to their climax in the time of Jesus, especially...