Fr Dominik Domagala, OMI, serves in Inchicore, Dublin. Studied Theology in Poznan (Poland) and currently is working on a Licentiate in Sacred Scripture. Author of the sermon-video-blog The Social Oblate. Send your questions to thesocialoblate@icloud.com
Every now and again, headlines speak of hope. A new breakthrough in cancer treatment. Promising advances in repairing spinal cord injuries. Each discovery greeted with relief, even a quiet joy. Humanity, it seems, continues to push back the boundaries of suffering. Any yet– even if every disease were cured, death would still remain. No medical…
Readings: * Acts 2:42-47 * 1 Peter 1:3-9 * John 20:19-31 The Sunday Gospel There are moments in the Gospel when everything quietly shifts—when the familiar world of the disciples is overturned by an event so decisive that it can no longer be ignored. The Resurrection of Jesus Christ is such a moment.…
Readings: Isaiah 50:4-7 Philippians 2:6-11 Matthew 26:14-27:66 The Sunday Gospel There is a small, almost unnoticed detail in the Gospels that may well be the key to understanding the whole of Holy Week. Before Jesus enters Jerusalem in triumph, before the palms are waved and the crowds cry Hosanna, there is Jericho. And in…
There are moments in life when we look, and yet we do not really see. Our eyes function perfectly, but something inside us is still blind. Only when something shifts within the heart do we begin to notice what was there all along. The readings of this Sunday speak precisely about such a miracle: the…
Genesis 12:1-4 2 Timothy 1:8-10 Matthew 17:1-9 There is always a certain tension between ideals and reality of life. Let us be honest about that. Only those who have flattened their ideals beyond recognition do not experience it. The rest of us live in that space between what we profess and what we manage…
Ecclesiasticus 15:16-21 1 Corinthians 2:6-10 Matthew 5:17-37 An enlightened Christian — one touched by the light of God’s wisdom — knows how to live. There is no need for constant excuses, no room for clever manoeuvring around God’s commandments. Such behaviour does not befit a disciple of Christ. The follower of Jesus is called to…
Zephaniah 2:3, 3:12-13 1 Corinthians 1:26-31 Matthew 5:1-12a Stand your ground.” That is one of the great commandments of the modern world. Be assertive. Be visible. Be successful. Make sure your voice is heard, your rights defended, your interests protected. Never let yourself be pushed around. Never be a doormat. Christianity, from its very…
* Isaiah 49:3,5-6 – *1 Corinthians 1:1-3 – * John 1:29-34 The Second Sunday in Ordinary Time, leads us along almost the same path as the previous Sunday. Once again, we return to the River Jordan and to the event of Jesus’ baptism. This time, however, we are no longer direct witnesses of the…
God’s eternal plan has been in place from the very beginning says Fr Dominik Domagala Ecclesiasticus 24:1-2, 8-12 Ephesians 1:3-6, 15-18 John 1:1-18 What is the central theme of this Sunday’s readings? It doesn’t strike us immediately, but once you look closely it becomes quite clear: each reading points us back to God’s eternal plan…
The Scriptures tell us that Christ is close at hand. Advent is the time to ask: what fruit does my life bear? says Fr Dominik Domagala Isaiah 11:1-10 Romans 15:4-9 Matthew 3:1-12 The message this Sunday is really quite serious: the Messiah is coming—and not in some distant, symbolic sense. No, Scripture tells us…