The Real me!

WORD 2day: Friday, 23rd week in Ordinary time

Septermber 12, 2025: 1 Timothy 1: 1-2, 12-14; Luke 6: 39-42

Humility is an essential part of holiness. Holiness never leads one to pride and anything that makes one proud is clearly indicative of being short of true holiness. That is why a holy person never gives into ego trips and anyone who feeds his or her own ego is still a long way from holiness. Humility and holiness have a great deal to do with each other. This points to two facts: firstly, that one should constantly look into oneself and be aware of the weaknesses to grow out of; secondly, that those who are truly concerned about each other's holiness, take care and responsibility to help each other out!

It is a plain fact that realising the areas in which one has to grow and taking steps towards that growth is an important part of maturing in one's life. The other fact which the Word points today is a bit more subtle and complicated: mutual corrections, typically Christian ways of growing up together in holiness. Humility plays a very big role here.

Humility is not an artificial debasement of oneself in any way. It is knowing my real self accepting it and being at home with it; at home with knowing my imperfections and continuously working on it. St Paul was mindful of his real self all the time. He never thought of hiding his dark past and was never bloating over the glorious state of his present relationship with Christ. In fact his relationship with Christ made him more aware of his real self.

In Christ, I get to know my real me, not just my past but also my call; not merely the splinters and planks in my eyes but even the blessings and splendour given unto me. Though I may be broken and fractured with imperfections, there is a glory that awaits me if only I am ready to constantly graft myself onto Christ - because that is where I find my true image. That is the real me!

Put on Christ; put on love!

WORD 2day: Thursday, 23rd week in Ordinary time

September 11, 2025: Colossians 3: 12-17; Luke 6: 27-38

If we do not say that the words are from the letter to the Colossians, one can easily misjudge those as some paraphrasing of a part from the Gospel and as words of Christ himself. Paul had so intensely taken in the spirit of Christ that his insistence of putting on Christ comes from his person much stronger than from his words. Love is presented as the crux of Christ's message. When Paul said, even elsewhere, to put on Christ, he practically meant putting on love. Love, understood not as childish sentiment of attachment and dependence, but a Christlike selfgiving.

Love is the sweetest of all teachings of Christ and it is the most difficult of all too, for it comes inbuilt with forgiveness; forbearance, kindness, gentleness, integrity and sacrifice. 'What is there in it for me?' - if someone were to ask that question, the answer would be a simple, 'nothing'. There is nothing in love that I intend to gain or get ; all that it really involves is giving and laying down. If I intend to receive anything, it is no love in reality! But the beauty of love is that, in giving, in losing, in laying down... I receive, a hundred fold.

Does that sound too unrealistic and demanding? The fact however is, if we believe being a Christian is to put on Christ, it can never happen except by putting on love!

Allowing God to work...

WORD 2day: Saturday, 22nd week in Ordinary time

September 6, 2025: Colossians 1: 21-23; Luke 6: 1-5

Transforming a person is not difficult for God - Paul today reminds the Colossians how they have been transformed by God, from foreigners and enemies to pure, holy and blameless people of God. Yes, transforming a person is not difficult at all for God, provided there is a will on the part of the person to be transformed. The flesh could be weak, but what is needed is the spirit that is willing as Jesus would instruct his disciples.

Jesus found it so hard to make the pharisees and the scribes understand the Good News that he brought with him. Not because they were unintelligent nor because they were not able to see what Jesus was trying to tell them, they were unwilling to see, they were refusing to change, they had decided not to transform themselves.

We have today the sacraments and various other helps to pull ourselves up, make ourselves over and transform ourselves constantly in spite of our weaknesses, but we fail. Not because we cannot, but only because we do not want to, we do not have the will to. When we allow God to work in our lives, continuously pulling ourselves up and resuming our journey with the Lord, the Lord will surely transform us. That is the beautiful word we have in the responsorial, let us say it with faith: I have God for my help.

The Capacity for God-vision

WORD 2day: Thursday, 22nd week in Ordinary time

September 4, 2025: Colossians 1:9-14; Luke 5: 1-11

Jesus demonstrates to the first disciples an extraordinary capacity of perceiving reality. We could refer to this capacity as God vision... that is the capacity to see beyond the apparent and the ability to perceive even what is not yet. This is seen in two levels in the Gospel today. One, Jesus seeing the catch of fish where it apparently wasn't and secondly, Jesus seeing the possibility of Peter and his companions with him becoming fishers of people. And the most interesting part of it all - Jesus promises them that he will develop in them the same capacity: the capacity for God-vision.

Today, we have the call to develop within us this capacity for God-vision. Each of us is invested with the power, by the indwelling Spirit, by the daily help of the Sacraments and the Word, with the assistance of the numerous Godly persons who are around and finally through events and happenings that speak to us of God and the evils of Godlessness. All that we need to do is, remain attentive and observe the signs and learn what God communicates.

When we really develop the sense of God-vision and remain open to cooperate, God brings out of us the best that we never can even imagine. And eventually this capacity for God-vision will enable us to enhance within us the capacity to look at the best in the other, even at a point where it is not apparently visible. St Paul had become infact an expert fisher of humans and we see him manifest that quality of God vision- he perceives in the people of Colossia a people who are called for great things and not merely new converts.

To be true disciples and apostles of the Lord, we need to grow in our capacity for God-vision, that will be a criterion and a sign of being truly persons of God.

Purposefulness and Urgency to Proclaim

WORD 2day : Wednesday, 22nd week in Ordinary time

September 3, 2025: Colossians 1:1-8; Luke 4: 38-44

Paul, Epaphras, Jesus...all seem to be on the move. With a sense of urgency and a feeling of detachment they seem to move on from one place to another with the task of proclamation filling their minds. The question today is about our sense of apostleship - the sense of 'being sent'. Our Holy Father keeps insisting on this dimension of Christian call - being a missionary Church, being missionary disciples and being missionary communities wherever we are!

The key element here in this missionary sense, or the sense of being sent, is Purposefulness and Urgency. Purposefulness which consists of clarity of one's purpose and meaning of life and Urgency which involves losing no time or attention in things that wont directly concern with the fundamental purpose one feels about one's life and mission. Are we filled with this urgency and purposefulness? Are we convinced about whatever the task is, that is given to us?

And by the way, what is that all important task: announcing the Lord, the goodness of the Lord, the salvation of the Lord - in short, proclamation of the Reign of God. Proclamation is not the work of a few, it belongs to each and every one who is baptised. It is not an added feather to our hats but an essential mark of being a Christian. Of course there is no one way of proclamation. Preaching is just one way; example, witness, convictions, values, compassion and limitless love are all ways of sharing that Word with the world.

0Added to the question - whether I am clear about my purposefulness and convinced of its urgency, there is another pertinent question that arises: what is my mode of proclamation? How effective our lives would become with these - purposefulness and urgency to proclaim!

BLESSED ARE THE HUMBLE

August 31, 2025: 22nd Sunday in Ordinary time

Ecclesiastes 3:19-21,30-31; Hebrew 12: 18-19, 22-24; Luke 14: 1,7-14

Humility is one lesson we learn so hard. Blessed are those who are humble by nature. The best of our qualities and talents would amount to nothing when we lack this one single virtue: Humility! The Word today invites us not only to be humble, but also to be with the humble and to be all for those who are humble, that we may be people of the Reign of God.

The Guru of the ashram was old and dying and he announced to his band of disciples: 'I wish to appoint the humblest of you all as the next Guru.' The bickering began among the disciples, each one trying to prove he is more humble than the other. There was one among them who stood still and away from all debating. The Guru seemed impressed. He thought to himself, 'that should be the right one to succeed me, perhaps!' and he called him over to himself and asked him: 'what about you? are you not interested in the contest?' The disciple replied, 'Oh you don't get it, how much ever they fight among themselves, they will never find anyone more humble than me!' The Guru was heart broken and he dismantled the whole ashram before he died! Spiritual Masters say, the moment you think you are humble, you cease to be so! How true it is!

Be Humble - that is the first message today. Being Humble is not putting up an appearance. It is not doing something to prove to others that I am humble. It is going about my duty with such sincerity and integrity that I may not be even noticed for the good that I do - but that does not disturb me at all.

At times there are people who make a big show of the so-called good that they do, and sometimes even of their own simplicity! Do you remember the posters of our politicians posing with a broom in their hands claiming to be simple and committed to cleanliness of the nation. Or similar ones where they pose with some poor people in their huts and gullies. They would have spent a fortune on those hoardings and advertisements! Let us remember - we have nothing to prove to anyone, not even to our own selves. All that I need to do is, be truthful, be real, be authentic. Humility is acceptance of truth.

Be with the Humble - identify people who are truly humble. Jesus had the special eye for the humble ones. Be it Mathew, or Zacchaeus, or Nathaniel, or the Centurion, or the Pharisee who asked him about the commandment of love... Jesus recognised the humble and sided with them. In another episode like today's, when Jesus was at dinner at Simon the Pharisee's, he was able to see through the sinfulness of the woman and identify her humble repentance. She was gifted with his empathy. Jesus sided always with the humble, not with the haughty.

If we are truly people of God, besides being humble ourselves, we would look out for the humble and stand by them. Just become aware of your tendency... among a group of new people whom you meet, who is it that you feel drawn to: the most brandishing among them or the quiet insecure of the band? Or when you deal with persons who depend on you, whom do you promote: the so-called talented and gifted or the rare ones who never get to reach the limelight? There is a statement about myself, in whom I choose to be with.

Be all for the Humble - being the voice of the voiceless, the stronghold for the weak. When we stand by the humble we stand with the Lord, because the Lord always stands by the humble. This is the third message that the Word offers us today. Be for the humble of heart, stand by them, empathise with them, support them and spread the spirit so that the Reign of God may be felt amidst us, here and now.

Today, we see reports of so many humble persons being taken for granted, exploited and drained of even the little that they have. We have truthful and integral individuals taken to task, punished and crushed by the demonic culture of corruption and greed. Those who fight for justice and truth are labelled rebels by the authority and derided as jobless by the public. What is our response as people of the Reign?

The Word today invites us to understand that the humble are blessed in the sight of the Lord. Those who are humble, those who are with the humble and those who are all for the humble, find favour in the light of the Reign of God - they are truly the people of the Reign

The call to be prophets

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

August 29, 2025 - Remembering the Martyrdom of John the Baptist
Jeremiah 1: 17-19; Mark 6: 17-29

The call to be prophets, like Jeremiah and John presented to us in the Word today - is not an elitist call that is reserved for a club of specially chosen specimen of people. No, it is a call that is addressed to every baptized child of God. But what is the world in general moving towards?

The world seems to be at home with a culture of sin today! Be it social or economic or political or cultural arena – there is a cloud of sinfulness that pervades and waits to consume everyone present. Religious and Spiritual realms, unfortunately, are no exceptions to this in any sense.

More treacherous than this situation, is the lack of sense of sin, that justifies sinfulness, sometimes without even the conscious assent of the persons involved. We have become so mindless of sin that certain of them do not even appear to be so... judging the other, discriminating the other in our minds, giving into our prejudices and not really giving a chance to the other and so on.

The question posed to us by the feast today is, which part we would rather play? The seducing forces that draw people to sin; or the wicked plotters who play the protagonists in spreading sinfulness; or the passive infected who continue to perpetrate sinfulness by their mere inaction; or the silent spectators who aid the spread more than do anything to stop it – all these groups are represented in the Gospel today. 

Among all these persons and examples, there is also John the Baptist, who dares to stand for truth and righteousness, even at the cost of his own life! That's responding to the call to be prophets!

Will there be love when the Master returns?

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

August 28, 2025: Celebrating St. Augustine
1 Thessalonians 3: 7-13; Matthew 24: 42-51

The Word today speaks of perseverance in faith, until the master comes. One sign that is provided as a sign of persevering faith is that of true and sustained love for each other. Paul prays that the Thessalonians grow in their love for each other and for the entire humanity. Jesus speaks of loving service to each other as the way to be prepared, alert and awake, when the Master comes.

The political crises between Israel-Iran, Russia-Ukraine, India-Pakistan, America and rest of the world, the tensions in various parts of the globe in varied forms, the recurring threats of terrorism in various parts, the pursuing persecutions and inhuman treatment of human persons in the name of caste and creed, dehumanisation of masses in the name of development, the negations of a vast majority of population who are poor and weak and at the mercy of the rich and the powerful, the institutionalisation of religions and ritualisation of faith - all these are totally not in keeping with the love that Jesus proposes as the touchstone of true faith.

Infact, the way things go, we should very seriously ask ourselves, 'will there be love left when the Master comes again?' But of what good is that question if we do not, on our part, do whatever we can, however little they may be, towards promoting true love? It would be a mistake if I tell myself, 'of what impact is it going to be that I love my neighbour in my limited circle where I am?' In loving the other, I become loving as a person, and by that I promote a whole culture, a lifestyle, a mode of living - that of love! And that is my responsibility, in my own way to promote the culture of love, thus keeping alive love until my Master returns in glory!

If at all we wish that love remains till our Master comes again, we need to transform ourselves and grow into radical agents of love wherever we are - isn't that a concrete call?

Augustine, the saint we celebrate today, believed in this, taught this and gave this as the most categorical test of all: the test of love. If you are a Christian, you love! Love and do what you wish, he would say! If love is true and God-like, there is no need of any other rule book or code of conduct. The situation in the world today is so painful and inhuman, because the rule of love is so neglected and disrespected.

Yesterday, we celebrated Monica, the mother of Augustine... the love of that mother made a saint of her son. Today, we have Augustine who understood the absolute value of love, in comparison to all the intellectual prowess and academic accomplishments that he could really boast of. He knew the right Christian mindset - that of love. Those who love are born of God and they have known God. Those do not love God, do not know God.

Is good, good enough?

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

August 27, 2025: Remembering St. Monica, the Saintly Mother

1 Thessalonians 2:9-13; Matthew 23: 27-32

When we say, 'he is good' or 'she is good'... how certain are we about the fact? It is our overall judgement about persons, looking at what we see, what we hear, what we observe... but no one can deny that there is more to reality than what we can apparently see or hear! How many times we trust someone as being good, and finally come to realise it was not actually true! Or how many other instances where we judged someone rashly from the looks, but ended up being humbled by their goodness and gentleness! So can we ever say someone is good?

Goodness - can we ever attribute it to anyone! Or can any of us really claim to be good absolutely? This is the question that the Word raises within us today. How good are you? Is your goodness, good enough? The Word questions, not whether we are good or whether we do good - but whether our goodness is really good?

At times we may appear or manifest ourselves to be good, to win favours, or establish a name or having hidden agenda to be achieved. At times we may strive to be good, just to make up for something that we have done wrong, which we alone would know - as a kind of atonement. At times we may do good, which may be good only in our judgement and there would be no one who really benefit out of it. Hence, the impeccable touchstone to goodness is God and God alone.

God who knows us through and through, who knows not only our speech and our acts but even our thoughts and our intentions, certainly knows how good we are! Hence the challenge we have is not to just be good, but to be good in the eyes of the Lord - that is intrinsic goodness - to be attentive to the Word of the Lord, accept it, live by it and be truly good, intrinsically good, after the heart of the Lord! 

That is exactly what Monica wanted of her son; she was not satisfied with his successful career and much less with his reckless life. She challenged him, until he changed; she held on to the Lord until the Lord gave her son the grace of conversion. Doing Good, Being Good, Inspiring Goodness... these are progressive ways of being Christ-ians today!

ENTERING THE NARROW DOOR

It is a demanding task!

August 24, 2025: 21st Sunday in Ordinary time
Isaiah 66: 18-21; Hebrews 12: 5-7,11-13; Luke 13: 22-30

The experience of standing in a queue, the tedium of entering the metal detector at places with extra vigilance or waiting for the token number at the bank… these are no rarities in our ordinary life. Jesus draws a simple example, one similar to these experiences.

The door to the Reign of God is narrow, not many take that door, though everyone is invited to enter the Reign. There are many other doors, which seem more comfortable, more spacious and more adorned and people prefer them, knowing least that they do not lead to the Reign of God, the greatest treasure in store for us! 

Entering the narrow door is a task quite demanding – the readings today point to three traits that are needed to be able to enter the Reign through the narrow door. As Jesus tells us in the Gospel, many try to enter but they cannot. 

To able to enter the door, one should be strong! Strive – says the Lord – Strive to enter – To strive means to struggle, to make all the efforts possible, to try real hard. One needs to be strong in mind, heart and soul to strive to enter the narrow door into the Reign. It is Spiritual strength we are dealing with here. Be Strong, but avoid Spiritual Obesity, warns the Lord. If you are obese, you cannot enter the narrow door – it’s obvious! 

Spiritual Obesity – Pride and Elitist mentality – which gives into self righteousness and judgmental attitude can never get us into the Reign of God. I am baptized, I am a born-again, I am a consecrated religious, I am a Sacred minister – nothing can get you in! From the east and the west, the north and the south everyone will enter and sit at the table in the Reign says the Lord. Mind you, there are no reservations here in. A bit of disciplining, as the second reading suggests, can get us in shape. 

To be able to enter the door, one should be in communion! The way is long, we reflected on that last week. Communion with each other and Communion with those who have managed to enter the door before us, can really make the task easy and enjoyable. Our forerunners are our example, our model and can even be our helpers – but finally, the one who has to enter is me! It is you! That is why we are warned today – Be in Communion but avoid Spiritual Infantilism. At times we make our faith so infantile that we think everything depends on the candles we light, the formulae we repeat, the food we give up and the coins we drop. These are means to strengthen our relationship with God – but they are not everything. 

What matters most is our personal life of commitment and integrity. You cannot enter the narrow door in groups… one by one you have to do it. That means you cannot ride on the goodness of the other, either the living or those gone before you! 

To be able to enter the door, one should be patient! The wait is long, for the door is narrow! Waiting on the Lord is a spiritual talent. To wait patiently, amidst failures and pressures, amidst temptations and struggles, amidst dark nights and heavy burdens, it is the only way one can be prepared and prompt when one’s time comes! There is a warning here too: Be Patient but avoid Spiritual Lethargy. In the name of patience I cannot procrastinate my commitment and postpone my conversion to a later moment. ‘Repent and Believe, for the Reign of God is near’ says the Lord. 

Being patient is not being busy with something else till my turn comes… but persevering, enduring and constantly working on myself that when my turn comes, I am in shape, prepared enough and fit to enter the narrow door that leads me to the behold the eternal glory of the Lord Almighty! 

I am the door, if anyone enters through me, he or she will be saved (Jn 10:9) declared the Lord elsewhere! Jesus is the door, the narrow door, the demanding door – He is compassionate, yes; but at the same time uncompromising. The choice is ours to choose the narrow door, make ourselves strong, united and patient, to endure our everyday life and make straight the path for our feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed (heb 12:13). The door is narrow but there is enough space to enter, if we are in ready and willing.

All, but not all…

One by one is the call… Let us enter the Narrow Door, one and all.