Do we know our real strength?

WORD 2day: Thursday, 1st week in Ordinary time

January 15, 2026 - 1 Samuel 4: 1-11; Mark 1: 4-45

When the Israelites rejoiced at the arrival of the Ark to their tents, the Philistines shivered and recognised that the Lord were amidst them! The Israelites themselves realised that their real strength was the Lord. You are my strength, my fortress, my rock of refuge - would exclaim the Psalmist later. 

People who looked at Jesus, saw this to be true in him too. If you wish to, you can cure me, said the man to Jesus, realising the source of grace and salvation is in the mighty will of God. God's will saves us, protects us and guides us. On our part, what we need to do is to allow ourselves to be guided, to be strengthened, to be fortified by the Lord. 

We need to rise from a style of life that is a mere damage-control, to a more proactive responsible living. When we realise the presence of God ever in our midst, we will live a life that is worthy of the Lord and the Lord's will; and that alone can keep us from becoming a mere laughing stock among the people! Yes, that is a danger.

If we really consider ourselves people of God, sons and daughters of God, generated by God, strengthened, fortified and protected by God, should not our daily life, our attitudes, our relationships, our outlook on events, reflect that fact? The challenge to us today is: that we live up to our call, our identity and our vocation - that of being sons and daughters of God. Is that not our real strength?

To do good - would that be enough?

WORD 2day: Wednesday, 1st week in Ordinary time

January 14, 2026 - 1 Samuel 3: 1-10,19-20; Mark 1: 29-39

Preaching, healing, casting the demons out - Jesus went around doing good! But he was personally conscious that doing good was not good enough, at least that it was not the absolute or the ultimate! When the disciples scout to find him and the people try to possess him for themselves, he insists that he needs to move on. Doing good was good; but more important for him, or the most important of everything was doing what God wanted of him. 

We get lost sometimes in the frenzy of doing good to as many as possible... not really bothering whether we are doing really what God wants of us! Obedience to Eli and service in the temple was something good... but God was calling Samuel for something higher: to listen to the Lord and speak the Lord's Word to the people! 

When doing good alone becomes our concern, a lot of problematic elements like the fame-game, the ego-trips and rat-races find their way easily in. If we are convinced of doing what God wants of us, we will surely find serenity even amidst the worst of situations. But for that, we need to learn to say: 'Speak Lord, for your servant is listening!'

The source of true authority

WORD 2day: Tuesday, 1st week in Ordinary time

January 13, 2026 - 1 Samuel 2:1,4-8; Mark 1:21-28

Eli is too fast to judge Hannah... what permits him to do that? Hannah points out to him that he need not be true merely because he is in authority... nor is it taken for granted that he is better because of that same fact. Eli was wrong and Hannah was there standing tall in her total fidelity to God who had mercy on her. 

Hannah immediately makes an impression on Eli's mind when she explains herself and her grief. He recognises immediately his mistake in judgement and blesses her with truly edifying words... a sign of a person of God. Just because he was the priest in the Temple, nothing warrants that he would always be right - that kind of a claim would be an abuse of authority! 

One way of thinking about authority is looking at one's own position of supremacy! But we know how that kind of an authority could be unstable to the core, as we as persons are neither permanent nor are we infallible. The source of real authority has to be more transcendental, absolute and infallible - is it so difficult to understand where that source could be?

In the Gospel the pharisees wonder about the authority of Jesus... they wonder from where it came! Ofcourse, it was from Jesus' total fidelity to the One who sent him. With that absolute fidelity and uncompromising surrender to the Lord,  Jesus could say anything and it would happen!

What is in store does not matter - just follow!

WORD 2day: Monday, 1st week in Ordinary time

January 12, 2026 - 1 Samuel 1: 1-8; Mark 1: 14-20

After a long while we are back to the Ordinary time and the very first message that the Word gives is so relevant: Just follow the Lord.

In our life's journey, that which can grant us an incredible serenity is the attitude of Following the Lord, without being worried too much about what is in store! We are still in the beginning of this year. After nearly 2 weeks of the new year, there could be in our minds still the plans with which we began the year, the goals we set for ourselves, and the projects we fixed for ourselves.

While thinking of projects that engage our days, it is normal that many things preoccupy our minds. Samuel's story that we begin to reflect on from today, affirms to us that God has a definitive plan for each of us; as the Lord would explain the same through Jeremiah (29:11): for I know the plans that I have for you. 

The secret lies in not permitting the grievances of our past to stunt our life and at the same time not permitting the anxieties of the future eating into our todays. Let us live our life, here and now, to the full, with total confidence that the Lord has a plan that will unfold in God's own time! 

All that we need to do is what Jesus tells us - FOLLOW HIM!!!

MADE PEOPLE OF THE SPIRIT

By the Word, water and fire

Solemnity of the Baptism of the Lord - January 11, 2026

Isaiah 42:1-4,6,7; Acts 10:34-38; Matthew 3: 13-17

We celebrate the Baptism of the Lord today. As John the Baptiser rightly points out in the Gospel today, there was no need for the Son of God to be baptised... but he chose to be baptised! It was a radical sign, bringing a specific purpose to that event. The purpose was to set us a challenge. Baptism is an act of the Spirit. As Peter observes in the Acts of the Apostles, it is the Spirit who acts at baptism and makes us what we are called to be. This act of the Spirit has a three fold challenge, as the Word presents to us this festive Sunday.

The first challenge - the Word: 

The Word made flesh whom we have been celebrating all these days is manifest once again today - explicitly by the words of the Spirit. The words that are heard is the call of the Spirit - that we may live to be declared the sons or daughters in whom the Almighty delights! That is the call entrusted to each of us in our Baptism, a challenge that we are reminded of today. 

The second challenge - Water: 

The Water in which the Lord immersed himself is an indication of our situation, into which Jesus immersed himself - the mystery of incarnation that we are reminded of once again, as we close this loving season of Advent and Christmas. We are challenged to immerse ourselves into the situations of people around us, becoming people who are redeemed by this incarnation. The every day sign of it would be our solidarity with those who are suffering and those who need someone to stand by them, instead of getting lost in our own personal concerns and self-centred whims.

The third challenge - Fire: 

The promise that the Lord will make us a light to the nations, challenges us to possess the fire of the Spirit, as Isaiah proposes. The fire that will consume all injustice, inhumanities and anti-Reign elements, paving the way for the Reign of God to be born here and now! Being the light of the nations... refers to light which is indeed, gentle and benign; but what it is fundamentally fire, the burning fire which lights up! We cannot forget that we can become lights, only when we burn. 

A final question we are inspired to pose ourselves today is - are we people of the Spirit? If so, we shall be rightly challenged by the Word, the Water and the Fire. Would the world hear about us said: behold my beloved child, in whom I rejoice!

Who should increase?

WORD 2day: Saturday after Epiphany

January 10, 2026 - 1 John 5:14-21 ; John 3: 22-30

I came across a poster highlighting the first reading of today which read: whatever we may ask, the Lord hears us! It is an assuring statement and a very strong affirmation but I am afraid it is not true to the WORD. Yes... there is a small but a crucial phrase that is left out in between. That is,  "if it is in accordance with His will" - that is where most of us falter.

We think, all that we ask has to be given. True faith would say, 'not necessarily'. Even when I don't seem to be receiving what I am praying for (prayer anyway is not merely asking), I can be calm and serene, for I trust in the will of God. This will happen only when I decrease and God increases in me. 

At times even in our prayer and good deeds we concentrate so much on what we do and what we achieve that there is no much place for God and God's will. It is so full of me, my success, my power and my accomplishment. John the Baptist seems to offer us a wonderful lesson,  inviting us to allow the Lord to increase, and making our own self, or our ego, decrease.

Even in our so called spiritual exercises, let us beware who really is increasing... me? or the Lord? 

Our life in the Son

WORD 2day: Friday after Epiphany

January 9, 2026 - 1 John 5: 513; Luke 5: 12-16

Anyone who believes in the Son has life... our life, our privileged Christian life, our life to which we are called, is in the Son. Elsewhere we read too, "And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent" (Jn 17:3). The basis of a blessed life is not our achievements nor our accomplishments, nor our hoardings or savings, but our relationship with God, the Source of that life! 

The question posed to us today is about how truly and sincerely are we connected to the Lord? Jesus is seen today drawing himself alone to pray... and it is reported every now and then by the Gospel writers. He knew the importance of being connected to the Lord... being connected to, makes us never lose the source of our life, our true, blessed and eternal life. 

Being connected to, is one thing; and a fall out of it is, being connected in the Lord. Being connected in, means that we are connected not only to God, but to each other, in the Lord. If being connected to is the source of life and its blessedness, being connected in the Lord is the way to sustain that life and remain in that life and its blessedness. This is what Jesus and his coming, teach us. 

Connecting to the Father and staying in touch with the Son is the work of the Spirit within. Connecting with the other in the Father, Son and the Spirit is the we get our life in the Son. We are chosen - not merely in water and blood, but in the Spirit above all... and in the Son. Our life in the Son is our life in the Spirit, according to the will of the Father.

We love, because God loves us...

WORD 2day: Thursday after Epiphany

January 8, 2026 - 1 John 4: 19- 5:4; Luke 4: 14-22

To love, is not an extraordinary quality! For a human person, especially for us sons and daughters of God who is love, love has to be our essential nature! The fundamental question is not whether I am ready to love or not; it is whether I am a Christian or not! If I am a 'Christ'ian, then love has to be my second nature. Where there is no love, there is no God... where there is no God, there is no Spiritual life! True spirituality is true love.

The correlation of two readings bring out to us an all important point: to love is a charism given by the Spirit to each of us; to love is a commitment on behalf of my neighbour. That difficulties and sacrifices are involved, is a matter of fact. But that in no way can take away the call that I have recieved: the call to love. 

Our call to love does not come from merely a commandment, but from an experience. We love because God loved us, God loves us and God will always love us! When we don't love the other, we not only hate them, but we conceal ourselves from the love of God, which flows freely towards you and me! I allow the love of God to fill me only in as much as I love the other - they are proportionate processes... one defines and determines the other. 

We are called to love because God loves us; we are able to love because God has always loved us. 

 

Love, the loaves and the waves!

WORD 2day: Wednesday after Epiphany

January 7, 2026 - 1 John 4: 11-18; Mark 6: 45-52

The Word in the Gospel today raises a strange question within us... what is the connection between the loaves and Jesus walking on the water? How is it that Mark says they were dumbfounded at seeing Jesus walk on the turbulent waters because they had not still seen what the miracle of the loaves meant. 

Feeding the hungry in the wilderness was a Messianic Sign; and what is it but a child's play for the Messiah to walk on the water or calm the sea! Walking on the waters too resembled the walking through the waters, yet another messianic sign. But for Jesus none of these signs mattered. If they did, he would have taught his disciples to walk on water and to multiply loaves.

What mattered to Jesus was only one and that is what he taught them. That is the mind of Christ that is so vividly pictured in John's words: one who loves, lives in God and God lives in him! 

Love alone matters, neither the loaves nor the waves!

God is Love! Who are we?

WORD 2day: Tuesday after Epiphany

January 6, 2026 - 1 John 4: 7-10; Mark 6: 34-44

The image of God among God's people was continuously evolving... in the beginning they thought God was a demanding task master, but later understood God was loving too; first they thought God was an angry God, but later they found that God was slow to anger, abounding in love; first they thought God was an uncompromising God but later they understood God was merciful too! The evolution finds its climax in Christ, who reveals God as absolutely compassionate, profusely loving, immensely forgiving and unconditionally accepting!

Knowing God to be such a person, is in a way a great news for us; but at the same time a big challenge. A great news because we are cared for and protected in that unbelievable love. A challenge because, if we are children of that God, we need to be defined by who God is. 

Our God is love; hence we are called to be children of love! From the way we understand God to be, or the way God reveals Godself to be, we are defined as to who and what we are! From the way we live our life, the world should be able to understand the kind of God we believe in. This is what is called the integrity of faith: the correlation between our faith and our living!

Now that Jesus in his compassion and in his mercy, has revealed God as love, let us ask ourselves... who are we?