WinfieldKunda

Exodus 3:1-8.13-15 Today’s first reading depicts our God as a God who is concerned about our unfortunate situations. Through the example of Moses who was sent to redeem the Israelites from Pharaoh and his people, God is there to save us. Three key words are cardinal from this passage of the burning and the mission of Moses (Ex 3:1-11): The first world is God has seen 'our miseries'. These miseries are bondage situation in which one finds himself or herself. They can be physical, moral, spiritual or otherwise. They can also be personal or corporate miseries. The cause of these miseries varies from being caused by ourselves or coming from outside ourselves. In the eyes of God the cause doesn’t matter. What matters is that He has seen the miseries we are going through. The second word is that God has heard our 'cries'. The cries due to our miseries show vividly that we are at pains. It shows that we on our own are incapable of eliminating these miseries. Like a

We begin our first week of lent by reflecting on the meaning of temptation in our lives. Our life should always of being faithful even when we are tempted. The Gospel of Luke which we are reading in this year speaks about the three temptations of our Lord Jesus Christ. It narrates how Jesus was tempted against material needs, human power, and against asking God for an extraordinary sign of protection (Cf. Luke 4: 1-13). Temptation is an inducement to sin. It is a trial in which one has a free choice of being faithful or unfaithful to God and His commands. Temptation is not a sin certainly. It is just a situation of choice: “between the Eternal Good (God) and temporal good (in- ordinate love of self). The first temptation Christ experienced was that of hunger or against material needs. We want to have good clothes, money especially in this time of poverty. These temporal needs are important to our lives but they are not an end in themselves “ Human beings live not on br

  Coming from the catholic biblical school of thought, I have always believed and accepted that ‘Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture, though two different channels of revelation, are bound closely together, and communicate with one another. Together they transmit the fullness of revelation, and make up one single deposit  of the Word of God.’ By sacred tradition I mean creedal formulae, liturgies and dogmas be it oral or doctrinal that have always been transmitted through the teaching authority of the apostles and through their successors who in this regard are the bishops, and especially the bishop of Rome. However we face challenges from our non catholic or evangelical tradition which argues that whenever what is doctrinal or liturgical or even moral belief cannot be substantiated biblically simply imply that it cannot be part of the deposit of faith. ‘if it is not biblical or if I cannot find it in the scripture, I exclude from my belief. Secondly, we have other schools of thou

The time for Jesus Christ to be crucified is slowly approaching. Jesus knows that the end of his life here on earth is near. The Jewish leaders had already planned to do away with him; ‘it is better for one man to die for the people than for the entire nation to be perished and they were looking for an opportunity to arrest him’ (Jn 11:50, 53). Like any other human person, there has been a growing tension and anxiety in Jesus’ life.         The prophecy of Caiaphas the High Priest gives the right meaning of Jesus’ death (Cf. Jn 11:49-50) . Jesus Christ will die for the sake of the entire human salvation. The death of Jesus becomes the way through which people will be saved. This is prophecy as it was foretold a long time ago (Read Isaiah 54:13 – 53: 12). The time for Jesus to be crucified has come for him to bring about the birth of a new world. One only reaches the utmost fulfilment of ones’ life when one gives oneself up to death for love of ones brothers and sisters.   Like a gr

   We believe that we cannot merit salvation by our own actions. Salvation is not given to us because of our merits; it is a gratuitous gift from God the Father; so nobody can boast of the good they find in themselves, and no one should despise those who have not as yet opened up their hearts to God’s grace.   But how have we gained our salvation? It is through the love of God which is so great that he gave up His only Son (Jn 3:16). Jesus became lowly for our salvation and that through his dying on the cross humanity could be once again reconciled to God: “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life” (Jn 3:14). When Jesus spoke about the lifting up of the Son of Man (Jn 3:14; 8:28; 12:32, 34), he was referring to his own personal exaltation and the judgement of the world. Jesus saw his mission here on earth as the expression of God’s love for the world in spite of the world’s rebellion aga

Religion can at times become a formality. Prophets like Amos have always condemned formalism in worship (Cf. Am 5:21-27) At one time Jesus by quoting Isaiah told Jewish Religious leaders that: ‘this People honours me only with lip-service, while their hearts are far from me. Their reverence of me is worthless; the lessons they teach are nothing but human commandments’ (Mt 15: 8-9). Once religion becomes ‘a partial fulfilment’ as it were, it has lost its essence. ‘I go to church to spend some time with friends and associates. I go to church because I have been made to’. At times religion can be confused with civil society, politics as if it is there to advance political or social agenda. At other times religion can confused with economic interests. Nowadays the ‘get rich’ Gospel message is preached more often than the ‘Cross’, all in the name of ‘blessings’. However, Christianity hinges on the Gospel of the Cross as St. Paul tells us ‘we preach a crucified Christ: to the Jews an obs