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?   

Love, life and the Lord

WORD 2day: Monday after Epiphany

January 5, 2026 - 1 John 3:22 - 4:6; Matthew 4: 12-17, 23-25

Testing the spirits, apostle John speaks of in the first reading today! Today this is so important a task for us to do, for so many of our own children of God are drawn away by spirits that are so selfish and ungodly. 

How many times we have encountered faithful, vociferouslt complaining, 'I saw a video of a preacher of one of the denominations spreading calumny against the Holy Father and calling him names! How can he do that?' We can only smile at them and say, 'there were those who calumniated against Jesus himself, they killed John the Baptist and thwarted the first Christian community with the same calumny... so my dear brother or sister, why worry?'

However, the Word today gives us a special task: to test the spirits... and not to accept everything that seems to be showy. How do we test? There are three criteria that can be culled out from today's readings:
1. Love: Is what is told and done, done out of true, genuine and authentic love, or for selfish motives?
2. Life: Is what is spoken and what is initiated, life promoting, life enhancing and life giving?
3. Lord: Is what is being aimed at truly Lord oriented, or is it self oriented, or purse oriented, or kith and kin oriented?

Don't be deceived by flowery words and fiery speeches; don't be carried away with the show of crowd and technological cloud... be guided by the One True Spirit of the Lord: be firmly founded on Love, Life and the Lord.

CELEBRATING THE SELF REVEALING GOD

Seek, See and Shine

Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord - January 4, 2026

Isaiah 60: 1-6; Ephesians 3: 2-3,5-6; Matthew 2:1-12

The only possibility of knowing about God is through God's own self revelation! God is no simple object to be discovered or invented; God is a person whom we should get to know. Knowing God is possible only through the self revelation of God in history, in the Word, in our day to day experiences and in ways known only to God. 

Today we celebrate that one event, that one life, that one person - JESUS CHRIST, THE SON OF GOD, in whom God revealed Godself fully, completely, definitively and super abundantly! The revelation has been going on even before Christ, through prophets and judges (Heb 1:1), through chosen men and women. The revelation goes on even today in our everyday life, through the Word and the traditions, through day to day experiences, through holy men and women who have gone before us and those of our times. These revelations find their fullness in the Paschal Mystery, that is: the birth, life, suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus, the Son of God.

Epiphany is a celebration and a thanksgiving to the Self revealing God who deigned to reveal Godself in the person of  Jesus Christ, our Saviour. This feast of revelation reminds us of three realities of our faith:

SEEK... to know God: One has to seek, to know God; there should be a yearning within, in order to encounter God. The wise men from the east got wind of something special that was in store and they sought to know what it is. They were wise men, but they wanted to know more and more! 

Faith has to be deepened; there should be a yearning within us to grow more and more in our relationship with God. It is true that the fullness of revelation dwells in Christ, the Son of God...but I have to seek to personalise it, to encounter that revelation and relate to it in first person. I cannot rest with second hand experiences and age old narratives, I need to seek to experience this revelation of the Lord in first person, and truly behold it myself!

SEE... to find God: One has to see, to find God; God is always present with us, all that we need to do is see! 'Lift up your eyes round about, and see' says the first reading. The wise men found the star, they saw an invitation in it. They found the way and the saw a direction there. They found the baby, and they saw someone special that God was preparing there. 

We find so many around us... but we need to see the face of God in them: in our brothers and sisters; in those who are suffering and toiling; in those who are exploited and crushed; in those who are treated with disdain and burdened with pain; in those who wake up every morning not certain of the next; in those who have so many worries and concerns in life that they can never think of living the present moment! We need to see God, in the innocent love of a Child; in the tender touch of a mother; in the brimming eyes of a caring person; in the everyday miracles of life. Once we see God in these, we will surely find God concretely present in the Church, in the celebration of the sacraments and in our prayer moments. 

SHINE... to show God: One has to shine, to show God; we are called to become instruments of revelation ourselves. 'Arise! Shine!' calls the first reading. St. Paul speaks of how the Lord made him an instrument of revelation to the people! When we seek God and manage to see God, we begin to shine. That is why Isaiah says, "then you shall see and be radiant"...the very seeing makes us radiant, makes us shine! 

Our Faith is not something merely to be understood and believed, but it is to be lived and be shared. Revelation is at one and the same time a grace and a challenge. A Grace, because it is gratuitous and comes from God. A challenge because, once we get to see God, we have to shine; shine and announce God; shine and share God; shine and show God to the world, to all who are in darkness, sadness and gloom! Especially today, when the world is eager to celebrate anything that is not God and wants to do away with anything that is connected to God... if I believe in the Lord, I have to shine, I have to shine to show God to the world.

The Self revealing God invites us to SEEK, SEE and SHINE.
To accept the invitation is an act of FAITH; a beginning of a journey, a journey that lasts the whole lifetime - every day of which we are called to Seek the Lord, See the Lord and Shine for the Lord!

Resembling God

WORD 2day: 3rd January, 2026

1 John 2:29 - 3:6; John 1: 29-34

The Holy Spirit,  in the form of the dove testified on behalf of Jesus that he was the Son of God. We are made the children of God and the same Spirit testifies for us too. We would be identified as children of God if and only if we resemble God our Father and Mother. That is what John says in his epistle today: we resemble God and that is what we are expected to be in this world.

Resembling God in our being: would mean being loving beyond all expectations, being forgiving beyond all grievances, being welcoming beyond all petty differences and being generous, beyond all calculations.

Resembling God in our doing: wound mean having thoughts that God would have, saying words that God would give, doing things that God would rather do, in short, remaining with the lord- in every thought, word and deed.

Resembling God made easy: Christ had come to live amidst us to show us how we could resemble God in our lives. It is something that he did not just speak of but showed us in his person and life. Out choices and our values should begin to resemble those of Christ. It is a life long journey that our call as Christians proposes to us. Let us embark on that journey as firmly as possible.

Jesus has shared with us that name above all name that he was given by God - if we have to be worthy of that Holy name of His, let us resemble him. Let us resemble God!