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Palm Sunday – 13 April 2025 – Sermon by Br Daniel

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Scripture Readings:
Psalm 118:1-2,19-29
Luke 19:28-40

Liturgically it makes sense, I suppose, to have the Gospel reading as appointed for today; however, as the preacher for today, I have decided to add verses 41 and 42, to help my sermon.

So, Luke 19:41-42 reads as follows:

“As he came near and saw Jerusalem, he wept over it, saying, ‘If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.”

The Oxford Dictionary gives the definition of betrayal as the act of betraying somebody or the fact of being betrayed, or a sense or a feeling or an act of betrayal, by somebody, or ourselves. We will come back to this.

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Lent 1C – Sunday 9 March 2025 – Sermon by Br Daniel

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Who am I?

This seems to be one of the most consuming questions of the ages, especially of our age, where identity seems to be such a labile and questionable thing.

We live in an age where we are inundated with all kinds of self-help books that are guaranteed to help us find ourselves, our identities, until we don’t, and then just find ourselves even more lost. And I think this is probably one of the main lessons in today’s Gospel reading. Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, shows us who he is and who we are: beloved children of God. And, as importantly, that we are worthy of that love.

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The Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany – Sermon by Br Daniel

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Scripture Readings

I wasn’t going to prepare a sermon for today, because this was rather a different week and our Superior preached a wonderful sermon on love and discernment yesterday, taking care of the Corinthians reading. So, I was going to find a nice sermon online and just read it for today.

I wasn’t going to preach on being known and being consecrated by God before he formed us in the womb. How we are not to be afraid, because the Lord is with us to deliver us from those who might hurt us when we do our Good Lord’s bidding. I wasn’t going to preach on the incredible love which God confesses for us in this Jeremiah passage.

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The First Sunday after Christmas – Sermon by Br Daniel

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Scripture Readings

We tend to live our lives from one happening to the next. We all have diaries or reminders on our cell phones or laptops or tablets, or whatever electronics we use. We have lists of stuff to do. And once we have attended to the schedule, we delete it with satisfaction; job well-done. And so, it seems with Christmas: it was on the list and now it is done and deleted; job well-done. Thing is, John has a different understanding of Christmas. John invites us to contemplate a Christmas that fills us with hope and joy the whole year.

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Sunday 24 November 2024: Feast of Christ the King – Sermon by Br Daniel

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And so, the liturgical year ends with the celebration of Christ the King.

The Catholic Echo tells of the origin of the Feast of Christ the King as follows.

Since the first century A.D., Christians have acknowledged that Jesus is a king. However, it was only 99 years ago that the feast day of Christ the King was created and inserted into the annual church liturgy. 

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The Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost – Sermon by Br Daniel

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We find Jesus and his disciples in today’s Gospel reading not too long after John the Baptist’s disciples asked Jesus if he was really who he said he was, and John’s subsequent murder. This is also when Jesus teaches his disciples about the suffering that awaits him. Who knows what was going on in Jesus’ mind when he asks his disciples what the people are saying about him and who the disciples are saying he is? He must at least have been feeling fragile at this time.

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The Twelfth Sunday After Pentecost – Sermon by Br Daniel

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We do not seem to get away these days from Jesus and bread, and what it might mean. Last week Jesus told us: “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” Today Jesus tells us: “I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

Big stuff. Fearful stuff to ponder.

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Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost – Sermon by Br Daniel

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Br Daniel

Breyten Breytenbach, the well-known Afrikaans poet, painter, and anti-apartheid activist, wrote the following line in one of his poems: “Die liefde is ‘n aaklige woord wat op ‘n toiletmuur uitgekrap is.”  Loosely translated it says, “Love is a disgusting word that is scratched out on a toilet wall.”  Of course, he used a more colourful word for toilet, which starts with an s and ends in house.

After reading the Gospel passage for today, it seems one can also add that life is a disgusting word that is scratched out on a toilet wall. Especially when we look at the news and sees what is going on in the world.

And, as with every story and every atrocity and with every good thing, there are two sides at least to all of them, and not least with today’s parable.

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First Sunday in Lent – Sermon by Br Daniel

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Br Daniel
Br Daniel

We all have an identity.  Be it as someone’s brother, sister, mother, uncle, cousin. We all have some kind of relationship to someone.   It is tempting to think that our identity is very personal, and that we have even created our own.  I’m sure we’ve all have spells of “finding ourselves”.  Yet, despite all our efforts at finding ourselves, it turns out that our identity is firmly and unavoidably rooted in our relationships.  We cannot be a child without parents, we cannot be a friend without friends.  You get my point.

So pretty much everything we might say about ourselves involves other people, and sometimes even animals! And who we are ultimately evolves from our relationships with so many other people.  Above all, our identities are also rooted in our relationship with God, and especially being his beloved children.

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Sermon for Transfiguration Sunday by Br Daniel

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Gospel : Matthew 17:1-9

Br Daniel
Br Daniel

I absolutely believe in the power of a hug. There are few things that give as much immediate comfort as a sincere hug. And of course, there is the old saying that goes: “Seven hugs a day for good mental health.” And now we understand why there are so many problems during Covid: nobody may give hugs, anymore!

So, why do I talk about hugs?

Because, ‘Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them … and they were afraid … and Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Get up and do not be afraid.”‘

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