Stay awake... in every sense!

WORD 2day: Saturday, Last day of the Ordinary time

November 29, 2025: Daniel 7: 5-27; Luke 21: 34-36

Stay awake!... shakes us up the Gospel today. And the first reading explains, why to! Let us begin with the latter part... that is, why to stay awake? Then we shall see what it means to stay awake!

Why to stay awake - because there is so much happening around me! There are those who are conniving and plotting against goodness and godliness; there are things happening that are fast ruining the little good that has been built up by traditions of ages; there could be impacts created within me wherein I, even without my knowledge, unwittingly giving into fear, psychosis and pessimism! I need to Stay Awake.

Staying awake is Seeing: seeing within me, around me and into others, that I am observant about the changes happening and am conscious about the effects of these changes on myself. Without really seeing, I cannot understand what is being communicated to me, by the Lord in and through time.

Staying awake is Syncing: syncing with the whole reality - with the Divine, with the cosmos, with the neighbours, with the entire humanity and all that is! We are not created as isolated beings, nor are we created above everything else! The Creator has given us a privilleged place within the creation, yes! But that is no license to destroy, nor an excuse for dominance; it is a role of care, concern and compassion! To the extent I am able to sync, I shall be godly, for our God is a God of communion!

Staying awake is Standing up: standing up against all the odds that are perpetrated by the godless with disdain - those who are heartless, merciless, senseless, shameless in siding with injustice and truthlessness! How can we stand up against them without staying awake; how can we call ourselves awake, if we really do not stand up againt anything that militates against truth, justice and love!

Let us strive to stay aware, stay awake... in every sense!

Never to pass away!

WORD 2day: Friday, last week in Ordinary time

November 28, 2025: Daniel 7: 2-14; Luke 21: 29-33

A pain reliever statement suggested by many in today's world is: 'this too will pass'. Specially these days facing the news about wars, terrosit activities and the political banterings, persons whether they believe it or not, whether they are convinced of it or not, atleast as a hopeful wish, keeps repeating that mantra: 'this too shall pass'! But, though it may seem contrary, a more stronger promise is the recurring theme of today's Word; it is a reference to something that is here, never to pass away... the Lord's Word, the Lord's Reign, the Lord's sovereignty.

Things may appear to be going totally out of sway, or nothing may seem to be really under the control of anything that is spiritual... but never lose heart, God is incharge; God is in control. There are people who make absolutising statements about the present social conditions of secularism, indvidualism, technocrazy and so on, as some people a couple of years ago made about the pandemic, saying, 'we shall never return to what was 'normal'; even if we return to normal, it shall be a 'new normal'! As children of God, however bad the readings of the times is, we cannot be too anxious... we cannot absolutise the enslaving powers!

The Word speaks to our hearts today: our Saviour knows us and to the the Lord's Reign there is no end. Be firm in faith. Hold on to the One who has formed you, One who has called you and One who loves you infinitely - the One whose Words will never pass away; the One whose Reign shall never pass away, the One whose Will shall never pass away... let our faith too never pass away!

With heads held high...

WORD 2day: Thursday, last week in Ordinary time

November 27, 2025: Daniel 6: 12-28; Luke 21: 20-28

Living with heads held high, is a deep imagery offered to us by the Word today. These days in India the film "Face of the Faceless" is doing its rounds... and there is so much effort to spread it across to the viewers. It is about Sr. Rani Maria - the humble convinced servant of the Reign who sacrificed her life, generating a faith experience for a whole lot of people around - be it her offender, her family and all others who witnessed the event and the process. 

More names like that - the great recently canonised Oscar Romero, a household name - Mother Teresa, much less known Mrs. Gladys Staines or another recent addition - Fr. Stan Swami... these names and the persons attached are "great" not for some kind of power they wielded or prominent posts they held, but for the endurance they had! The threats and violence and opposition that surrounded them never managed to swallow them in. Because they lived with their heads held high.

Daniel in the first reading today and Jesus himself from the Gospel, are offered as Biblical models for living with heads held high... never losing sight of that source, from where our help comes. Our help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth - those are familiar lines for us. Let it not remain a mere phrase, but a real conviction that come what may, I can stand tall, stand tall with my head held high. Because I do not depend on this world or even the best of my well wishers that I find here on earth! They are my sources of sustenance, in as much as the One who us ultimately concerned about me, has ordained this persons, circumstances and systems to be of assistance to me!

Yes, my help comes from the Lord, and from the Lord alone! Hence, even in the worst of my situations, I can never lose hope! Amidst all the struggles of our daily life, we can live with our heads held high!

The Writing on our wall...

WORD 2day: Wednesday, last week in Ordinary time

November 26, 2025: Daniel 5:1-6,13-14,16-17,23-28; Luke 21:12-19

"The writing on the wall" - the familiar phrase in English, has its origin in the first reading today. The meaning is very clear and that is precisely the message of the Word today. It is clear to all of us even as we choose things on a daily basis, to what consequences they will lead us.

When we commit some mistake, we are prone to say - 'I did it without knowing', at least in vernaculars exists such a formulation, don't they? But none of us can claim a total ignorance, while most of us do not want to really accept the fact that we do know the consequences of our choices; unfortunately we feign ignorance and desperately look for someone or something to blame it on. In all sincerity we know, what we sow, we reap.

Our choices of negative tendencies like manipulation, disrespect, abuse, violence and exploitation cannot but lead to situations of hopelessness, darkness and death - King Belshazzar is sadly made aware of it today by Daniel. It was too late to mend things. If we do not want to reach that extreme, we would do better to take guard right now! What are we really up to?

But there is yet another writing on the wall that is presented: Jesus says, if you choose to belong to me, if you choose to be called my disciples, if you choose to respond to my call, you will be derided, persecuted and even killed, but do not fear; in your endurance you would have won life, life in all its fullness, life in the very author of life, life everlasting! That is a frightening and challenging writing, but at the same time a consoling one, a promising one, a hope-filled one!

Let us stop, look intently and understand the writing on our wall... shall we?

Towards the Author of life...

WORD 2day: Tuesday, last week in Ordinary time

November 25, 2025: Daniel 2: 31-45; Luke 21: 5-11

Both in the book of Daniel and from the Gospel today, we see a prediction of destruction. The destruction and its prediction need not be seen as something totally unexpected. Already from the very constitution of the so called kingdoms that Daniel speaks of and from the types of people spoken of by Jesus, we see that destruction was inevitable and imminent - because of the choices that they had made.

Jesus makes it clear in the Gospel today that there is no point in running after predictions and signs, or after fortune tellers and soothsayers... at times even the so called evangelists and preachers behave like these cheap sensation creators. Speaking of spectacular signs, threatening with worrisome developments and staging incredulous events as a proof of their predictions... these are not strange sights anymore. Every religion has its own set of so-called godmen who are fake, and sadly quite a few from the Christian fold appear on that list.

There is something that we are called to observe and examine from even the minutest of happenings around us and within us. When we are attentive to these, the wider and larger reality, comes into picture with God's plan for universal salvation. We are called that we make clear cut choices that prevent us from destruction and ruin, and instead unite us with the Lord who alone is the author of life.

Choosing God in little things

WORD 2day: Monday, 34th week in Ordinary time

November 24, 2025: Daniel 1: 1-6,8-20; Luke 21:1-4

The world is used to a stereotype as to what is good and what is better; social standards of what makes one good and what makes the other better! The temptation to conform to that social stereotypes is very high and dangerously subtle. Many a time we fall into the trap, though the Word very often warns us, "Do not be conformed to this world" (Rom 12:2), because, "the Lord does not see, as the mortals see" (1 Sam 16:7).

That is why, the two tiny coins that the widow drops quietly into the treasury seem more valuable to Jesus than the bags and bags of wealth that the others dumped there. To be his disciples, "let the same mind be in you, as it was in Christ Jesus" (Phil 2:5) instructs St. Paul. We begin to read from today from the book of Daniel, every day increasingly reminding us of the imminent choices that we have to make for the Lord and not for the convention of the world.

Daniel was special because of this, that God's mind was in him, the wisdom of the Lord was in him, that made him shine to the rest of the world. He knew what to choose and what to let go. He knew what really mattered and what did not. He knew what it meant to be faithful to his Master, the Lord, the Almighty. Just like that old widow, who knew what really mattered in life - not that last two pennies that she had in her hand, but the never failing care of the Divine; not the favour of the self trumpetting people around, but the presence of the everloving God!

Maybe, I need to ask the Lord today, to give me that wisdom to see things as the Lord does, with the same mind that was in Christ Jesus and choose the right things and let go of those that are immaterial. Choosing the little that truly matters, will win me all that I need - the all, that is God!

JESUS CHRIST IS KING

...and I am His Ambassador!

Solemnity of Christ the King: November 23, 2025
2 Samuel 5: 1-3; Colossians 1: 12-20; Luke 23: 35-43

Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday, today and forever! 

Jesus Christ is the king - yesterday, today and forever! We celebrate the Kingship of Christ this Sunday - what a wisdom for the Church to invite the faithful to end the liturgical year with their King. And next Sunday we would begin a new liturgical year. Today, the readings invite us to reflect on the kingship that Christ holds and the way he exercises it! How many types of leaders we have - there are those that showcase themselves to be 'saviours' of human kind but make choices and alliances that promote nothing but their own interests, there are those who show themselves to be champions of rights and turn out to be no different from the oppressive ones when it comes to certain situations, there are those who are outspoken but at times totally unaware as to what they speak builds or breaks, and unfortunately there are a majority who care truly nothing about those whom they would rule or govern and specially those in need or those difficulties but fend for themselves and their own! How many.... and how many colours they change! We are presented today with Jesus, who remains the same yesterday, today and forever!

St. Paul summarises the entire feast that we celebrate today, in just three verses in the second reading - Col 1: 17,18,20.

CHRIST IS before all things, and in him all things hold together (Col 1:17). The first reading establishes the kingship of Jesus in the line of David - God makes David the king of Israel and promises that his line will never end. In fact, in God's mighty plan, the kingship seems eternal, without beginning or end, for God places David a king, to rule in God's name and for Israel it was always Yahweh, who was the King! When Jesus claimed, 'before Abraham ever was, I am' (Jn 8:58), they were unable to grasp it; let us not blame them, even we do not grasp it. Because, we human beings cannot think out of the categories of time and space. God is eternal, which means timeless! God has always been... and that is from where everything good comes.

Every leadership in Christian community therefore derives from God; it is an invitation, a commitment to act on behalf of God, at the service of God's people! Jesus Christ is King, Jesus Christ has been king from eternity, as the first-born of all creation, to him all glory and majesty! True Christian leadership is a participation in this ministry that Jesus carried out while he lived on earth: the ministry of love and service.

CHRIST LIVES in each of us, through him God is pleased to reconcile all things on earth or heaven (Col 1:20). The verse speaks to us of a future, of the universal harmony in the One Lord, One God, the new earth and new heaven where only Love will reign, that is, only God will reign, for God is love (1 Jn 4:8). Everything that moves towards harmony, peace, love, fellowship and universal brotherhood and sisterhood, resembles Christ. And anything that militates against these values of reconciliation, is against Christ.

Jesus Christ is King, Jesus will be forever the king. Everything, everyone is moving towards that union with God, in Christ our Lord. It fills us with a hope, despite all the tribulations we go through here and now. But it is not automatic, it all depends on the choices we make today. If we choose the Lord, we endear the Lord. On the contrary, if we choose the passing glories and fleeting pleasures of the moment, that is what we will have. As St.Paul instructs us elsewhere, if you sow to your own flesh, you will reap corruption from the flesh; but if you sow to the Spirit, you will reap eternal life from the Spirit (Gal 6:8).

CHRIST RULES as the head of the body, the church (Col 1:18). The Gospel presents us a strange sort of a King. Jesus is the one who rules...who rules from the Cross as his throne, who rules with the thorns as his crown, who rules not with the sceptre in his hands but with the marks of nail on his hands, who rules not with laws but with love, a love that abounds without any measure whatsoever.

The most important truth to reflect on today, is the fact that the ruler has appointed you and me as his ambassadors - the ruler is not understood, so will we be -not understood; the ruler is not welcome into the schools and public places and the moral arena in the world today, so will we be not welcome to voice our opinions for truth and for justice. But as his ambassador, what should I do? What am I ready to do?

Yes, Christ is King, but I am his ambassador, wherever I am... in my service of love, in my witness of faith, in my joy of hope, in my testimony of humility, in my commitment to truth and in my yearning for justice, I have to prove myself that I am the ambassador of that Eternal King. How worthy am I of the king whom I represent! How faithful and loyal am I to the King who has died for me, and who calls me to do the same! You are the people of God, Royal Priesthood says the Word, yes, that is what we are...we share the kingship with Christ - a kingship that consists in loving service to humanity and loving surrender to the Lord!

Long live my King! My concern today is that I become His ambassador, an ambassador evermore worthy of my King!

Belong to the Lord, here and now!

WORD 2day: Saturday, 33rd week in Ordinary time

November 22, 2025: 1 Maccabees 6:1-13; Luke 20: 27-40

I will rejoice in your saving help O Lord, we repeat in the responsorial psalm today! Take that in contrast to the lament we hear from the dying king in the first reading. After having done all the damage that he could, at his death bed he does realise his folly. Too late for anything to be done! We wonder how many of the dominant personalities today have to go through this... let us hope they do not wait for their death bed to realise their wickedness! One wonders whether today's evil heads would realise even on their death bed the damage they have caused to humanity!

Just a moment! Let us not be lost in judging that king in the first reading, or the evil bigheads of our times! The challenge is to each of us: are we able to say as the psalmist says, 'I will rejoice in your saving help O Lord'? That would require that we understand what that help is. The help actually is the grace of the Spirit, that helps us understand our foolishness, our worthless ego, our pointless anger, our heartless unforgiving attitude and similar marks of folly. We need to realise these in our daily life and in our ordinary relationships, beginning with the closest of our brothers and sisters!

In our empty pride and selfish scheming, we loitter into areas of evil that are totally ungodly! At times we go to the extent of forgetting our real call to be children of God. The Lord gives us chances, ample opportunities to realise our folly and return to our original dignity. There is no use waiting till our death bed and them praying for the mercies of the Lord. Our Lord is the God of the living, not of the dead! Let us belong to the Lord, while we live, not merely when we die - concretely, here and now!

Taking possession of His temple

WORD 2day: Friday, 33rd week in Ordinary Time

November 21, 2021: 1 Maccabees 4: 36-37,52-59; Luke 19: 45-48

In our living rooms or in the offices, we could have a normal experience of piling up unwanted things little by little and at a point of time we would decide to do away with all of them and get the room or office cleansed. And surprisingly at that time, all that we were hoarding up as probable "usables" would become worthy only of the trash bags! The Word today speaks of such an experience, reminding us of the need to belong to God.

In our own bodies and minds, in our daily living, we begin to accumulate things we consider important: our immediate pleasures, our addictive dependencies, our bloating ego, our unforgiving rancours, our tendencies to prove ourselves to the world, and so on. The Lord reminds us, the beginning of every new day is an opportunity for us to turn the tables over, to throw the trashes into cans, and renew ourselves into what we are - the dwelling places of God!

God wishes to take possession of God's temple cleansed and put in order. Let's open up our lives and allow God to enter God's abode. Let's resolve to rededicate ourselves to the glory of God. Let the Lord take possession of the Lord's temple!

Am I among the few_

WORD 2day: Thursday, 33rd week in Ordinary time

November 20, 2025: 1 Maccabees 2:15-29; Luke 19: 41-44

The very fact a few are mentioned among the Israelites who stood firm in their faith is an indication that a great number of them strayed away from it. It continued in Jesus' time too. Only a handful were ready and open enough to behold the unfolding of the promises of the Lord in and through the life of Jesus. And Jesus cries over the rest of the city. Not just the city at large, but his own close companions... did he not ask them, "are you going away from me too"?

The situation is no different today! There aren't too many who are totally convinced of what they believe and it is becoming more and more difficult to remain absolutely faithful to the truth not giving into any compromises. It is one thing to be unjust, arrogant and evil, and do what I feel like, considering or respecting no one. But it is completely another thing to deceive people with my apparent goodness! I put up an appearance to be the best of everyone put together; but only I know within me, how evil and how conniving I really am! How many compromises and how many facades!

That is why, the only one apart from God, who can say who I really am, is only myself! It is easy to find a fault on me and point a finger at me; it is also possible that no one finds anything wrong with me - both of these are not sufficient. The crucial question would be that I ask myself - do I belong to the majority who seem to be namesake followers? Or am I among the few?