tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-64536545941264104322026-09-13T23:50:00.661+05:30 lorantalk "web ministry"My online diary of inspiration
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Fr. Lawrence K G Capuchinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12983099845834017319noreply@blogger.comBlogger1277125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453654594126410432.post-26992897606461436932026-09-11T08:27:11.226+05:302026-09-11T08:35:36.731+05:3024th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A) Sirach 27:30—28:7 (or 28:9); Romans 14:7-9; Matthew 18:21-35In Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, there is a tense courtroom scene. Antonio has borrowed money from Shylock and has failed to repay it. According to their agreement, Shylock now demands the terrible penalty written into the bond—a pound of Antonio’s flesh. Friends plead with him to show compassion, but Shylock insists Fr. Lawrence K G Capuchinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12983099845834017319noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453654594126410432.post-72925683889225658022026-09-04T08:22:43.751+05:302026-09-04T08:30:16.298+05:3023rd Sunday in Ordinary Time (A) Ezekiel 33:7-9, Psalm 95, Romans 13:8-10, and Matthew
18:15-20.
There is an old story about
two brothers who lived on neighbouring farms. For forty years they had worked
together, shared machinery, helped one another during harvest and eaten at the
same table. Then, over a small misunderstanding, they quarrelled. Angry words
were exchanged, pride entered, and for several weeks they stoppedFr. Lawrence K G Capuchinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12983099845834017319noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453654594126410432.post-6386180871760317702026-09-03T15:01:48.478+05:302026-09-03T15:03:25.778+05:30Retreat: Prayer Prayer is not merely one activity among many in the Christian life; it is the breathing of the soul. Just as the body cannot live without breathing, the Christian cannot remain spiritually alive without prayer. We may survive for some time without many things, but without God we cannot truly live. Prayer is our conversation with the One who created us, loves us, sustains us and never Fr. Lawrence K G Capuchinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12983099845834017319noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453654594126410432.post-84103471845661259372026-09-02T16:03:55.368+05:302026-09-03T13:56:55.314+05:30Retreat: Sacrament of Holy OrdersWhen we speak about the Sacrament of Holy Orders, we are speaking about one of the greatest gifts Jesus has given to His Church. We are not simply speaking about a profession, a career, or a respectable position in society. A priest is not merely a man who conducts religious ceremonies. He is a man who has been called, consecrated and sent by Jesus to serve God's people. Through his ministry, Fr. Lawrence K G Capuchinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12983099845834017319noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453654594126410432.post-20687199626407936812026-09-02T15:59:46.649+05:302026-09-03T13:58:35.588+05:30Retreat: Sacrament of Marriage There is an ancient Greek myth about the androgynous human being, told by Plato in his Symposium. According to the story, human beings were originally imagined as having two faces, four arms and four legs, and as being extraordinarily powerful. They became proud and even challenged the gods. Zeus, fearing their strength, divided them into two. From then on, each half longed for Fr. Lawrence K G Capuchinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12983099845834017319noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453654594126410432.post-72717044976530739992026-09-02T15:55:07.519+05:302026-09-03T14:00:40.935+05:30Retreat: Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick Once a young lady approached the parish priest and requested him to visit her home to give the last rites to her mother-in-law. When the priest reached home, he noticed that the person was not very sick and that she did not appear to be at the point of death.So he said to the young lady that he would pray for her. But the young lady insisted, “Father, please do the last rites.”The priest Fr. Lawrence K G Capuchinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12983099845834017319noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453654594126410432.post-38675439253684426102026-09-02T15:51:18.247+05:302026-09-03T14:02:28.551+05:30Retreat: Sacrament of Reconciliation One day a short man walked into the presence of King David. None of the guards dared to stop him. When he reached the presence of the king he said, “O King, I have to tell you a story and you should grant me time to listen to it.” He said, “There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor. The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle, but the poor man had Fr. Lawrence K G Capuchinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12983099845834017319noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453654594126410432.post-23662568803253968902026-09-02T15:47:05.090+05:302026-09-03T14:52:34.513+05:30Retreat: Sacrament of Eucharist One day, a man who doubted the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist told St. Anthony of Padua that he would believe that Christ was truly present in the Eucharist only if his mule bowed down before the Blessed Sacrament.They agreed that the test should take place in three days.The man deliberately starved his mule for the next three days. When the appointed time arrived, St. Anthony Fr. Lawrence K G Capuchinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12983099845834017319noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453654594126410432.post-24539136897826080452026-09-02T15:41:59.338+05:302026-09-03T14:51:31.248+05:30Retreat: Sacrament of ConfirmationThere is a story about an archbishop who was going to administer Confirmation in a school. The parish priest had carefully trained the children. They had memorized every response. On the great day everything proceeded beautifully. Then the archbishop was about to say, “The Lord be with you,” when suddenly the microphone stopped working. The archbishop, thinking that only the priest could hear himFr. Lawrence K G Capuchinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12983099845834017319noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453654594126410432.post-43740671815410531832026-09-02T15:26:29.141+05:302026-09-03T14:50:25.861+05:30Retreat: Sacrament of BaptismDear brothers and sisters, when we speak about Baptism, we are speaking about something much greater than a ceremony involving water, a white dress, a candle, a name and a photograph. Baptism is the beginning of a new life. It is the moment when we are welcomed into the family of God. It is the beginning of our Christian identity and the foundation upon which the rest of our Christian life is Fr. Lawrence K G Capuchinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12983099845834017319noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453654594126410432.post-84402338579628274982026-08-28T08:34:41.961+05:302026-08-28T08:39:35.827+05:3022nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (A) Jer. 20:7-9; Rom 12:1-2; Mt. 16:21-27There are moments in life when a person discovers that love is not merely a feeling but a decision to give oneself for another. A firefighter, Corey Comperatore, was attending a public gathering with his family in Pennsylvania in July 2024 when gunfire suddenly broke out. According to his family and Pennsylvania's governor, when the shooting began, he Fr. Lawrence K G Capuchinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12983099845834017319noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453654594126410432.post-10415038785931496962026-08-20T03:15:57.519+05:302026-08-20T03:22:09.768+05:3021st Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)Is. 22:15, 19-23; Rom. 11:33-36; Mt. 16:13-20There is a story about a man who spent years studying a famous person. He read his books, studied his speeches, learned about his childhood, knew the important events of his life and could explain his ideas better than many people who admired him. One day someone asked him, “You seem to know so much about this man. Did you ever meet him?” The man Fr. Lawrence K G Capuchinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12983099845834017319noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453654594126410432.post-46263639596243230552026-08-15T00:54:52.252+05:302026-08-15T01:30:10.481+05:3020th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A) Is. 56:1, 6-7; Rom. 11:13-15, 29-32; Mt. 15:21-28There is a beautiful story associated with George Müller, the nineteenth-century Christian known for caring for thousands of orphaned children in England. One morning, the children came to the dining room, but there was no food on the tables. The kitchen had no bread, and there was no money to buy any. Yet Müller asked the children to sit Fr. Lawrence K G Capuchinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12983099845834017319noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453654594126410432.post-36915907462545985572026-08-14T20:19:26.028+05:302026-08-14T20:24:58.353+05:30Independence Day Speech (Independence Day of India) Independence Day Speech (August 15 Independence Day of India)Respected dignitaries, teachers, dear students, and my dear friends,Today, as we celebrate the Independence Day of India, let us remember that the freedom we enjoy did not come to us easily. For centuries, foreign powers controlled our land, our resources, and, in many ways, the destiny of our people. Millions experienced poverty,Fr. Lawrence K G Capuchinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12983099845834017319noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453654594126410432.post-19665372253781634822026-08-14T12:39:13.435+05:302026-08-14T20:17:33.705+05:30The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (A)Rev. 11:19a, 12:1-6a, 10ab; 1 Cor. 15:20-26; Lk. 1:39-56Today we celebrate one of the most beautiful feasts of our Catholic faith—the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Church teaches that, when the course of her earthly life was completed, Mary was taken up body and soul into the glory of heaven. This doctrine was solemnly defined by Pope Pius XII on November 1, 1950, inFr. Lawrence K G Capuchinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12983099845834017319noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453654594126410432.post-40879984196713935512026-08-08T16:21:44.458+05:302026-08-08T17:08:30.196+05:3019th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A) 1 Kgs. 19:9, 11-13; Rom. 9:1-5; Mt. 14:22-33There is a remarkable story in the life of Corrie ten Boom that illustrates what extraordinary faith can look like when everything around a person seems to say, “There is no reason to trust.” During the Second World War, Corrie and her family in the Netherlands risked their lives by hiding Jewish people from the Nazis. Eventually, Corrie and her Fr. Lawrence K G Capuchinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12983099845834017319noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453654594126410432.post-10622850676962773482026-08-08T16:19:48.184+05:302026-08-09T05:22:43.979+05:30The Transfiguration of the Lord (A) Dan. 7:9-10, 13-14; 2 Pet. 1:16-19; Mt. 17:1-9Jesus takes Peter, James and John up a high mountain, and there, before their eyes, something extraordinary happens. His face shines like the sun, his clothes become dazzling white, Moses and Elijah appear, and then a bright cloud overshadows them. From the cloud comes the voice of God: “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; Fr. Lawrence K G Capuchinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12983099845834017319noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453654594126410432.post-11072830420930770762026-08-01T08:39:14.206+05:302026-08-01T08:44:11.843+05:3018th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A) Is. 55:1-3; Rom 8:35, 37-39; Mt. 14:13-21Compassion is sometimes found in the most unexpected places. A little-known story is told from the winter of 1982 during a terrible snowstorm in the United States. An elderly widow lived alone in a small house. Heavy snow blocked her door, and she had no food or medicine left. The roads were closed, and no one even knew that she was trapped inside. AFr. Lawrence K G Capuchinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12983099845834017319noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453654594126410432.post-84759322954609329442026-07-25T18:29:09.238+05:302026-07-25T18:35:36.213+05:3017th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A) 1 Kgs. 3:5-12; Rom. 8:28-30; Mt. 13:44-52The Gospel of today presents three short parables spoken by Jesus—the hidden treasure, the pearl of great price, and the dragnet. At first they seem like three separate stories, but in reality they are three chapters of one great message about the Kingdom of Heaven. The first parable tells us how the Kingdom is discovered, the second teaches us how Fr. Lawrence K G Capuchinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12983099845834017319noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453654594126410432.post-86682129294365735962026-07-17T07:48:46.763+05:302026-07-17T07:53:30.895+05:3016th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A) Wis. 12:13, 16-19; Rom. 8:26-27; Mt. 13:24-43Dear brothers and sisters In today's Gospel, Jesus gives us three beautiful parables that together reveal the mystery of the Kingdom of God. At first glance they seem to speak about farming and baking, but in reality, they speak about our lives, our families, our Church, and our eternal destiny. The parable of the wheat and the weeds teach Fr. Lawrence K G Capuchinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12983099845834017319noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453654594126410432.post-72948945060746121702026-07-11T10:15:00.824+05:302026-07-12T03:35:34.644+05:3015th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A) Is. 55:10-11; Rom. 8:18-23; Mt. 13:1-23The Gospel according to Matthew 13:1–9 presents one of the most powerful and practical parables ever spoken by Jesus. Jesus left the house and sat beside the sea. Soon, such a great crowd gathered around Him that He entered a boat and sat down while the people stood along the shore. The sea became His pulpit, the boat His platform, and the people His Fr. Lawrence K G Capuchinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12983099845834017319noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453654594126410432.post-15948684891159504522026-07-03T19:12:51.049+05:302026-07-04T21:23:06.654+05:3014 Sunday in Ordinary Time (A) Zech. 9:9-10; Rom: 8:9, 11-13; Mt. 11:25-30A touching way to enter today's Gospel is through a scene from Victor Hugo's masterpiece, Les Misérables. After spending nineteen years in prison, Jean Valjean leaves with a heart filled with bitterness. Society rejects him everywhere he goes. No inn welcomes him, no family trusts him, and every door seems closed. Finally, an elderly bishop opens Fr. Lawrence K G Capuchinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12983099845834017319noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453654594126410432.post-5534628225044727742026-06-27T14:13:21.973+05:302026-06-27T14:43:57.684+05:3013th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A) 2 Kgs. 4:8-12a, 14-16; Rom. 6:3-4, 8-11; Mt. 10:37-42Many years ago, during the Second World War, a remarkable incident took place in a small French village called Le Chambon-sur-Lignon. The village was led not by soldiers or politicians but by an ordinary Protestant pastor, André Trocmé. When the Nazi government ordered the villagers to hand over the Jews hiding among them, Pastor Trocmé Fr. Lawrence K G Capuchinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12983099845834017319noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453654594126410432.post-13917563521455455802026-06-20T14:07:55.956+05:302026-06-20T14:14:37.456+05:3012th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)Jer. 20:7, 10-13; Rom. 5:12-15; Mt. 10:26-33A young prince once asked an old wise man, “What is the greatest prison in the world?” The old man smiled and handed him a copy of John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress. As the prince read, he came across the journey of Christian, the pilgrim, who left the City of Destruction in search of the Celestial City. Along the way, Christian was mocked, Fr. Lawrence K G Capuchinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12983099845834017319noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453654594126410432.post-3901408148527263212026-06-13T15:00:13.556+05:302026-06-13T15:16:39.011+05:3011th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A) Exo. 19:1-6; Rom. 5:6-11; Mt. 9:36-10:8The Gospel today begins with one of the most moving sentences in the whole Bible: “When Jesus saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” Before Jesus sends the disciples, before He gives them authority, before He asks them to preach, He first looks at people with compassion. Fr. Lawrence K G Capuchinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12983099845834017319noreply@blogger.com