Obedience or Rebellion?

WORD 2day: Tuesday, 19th week in Ordinary time

August 11, 2026: Ezekiel 2:8-3:4; Matthew 18:1-5, 10,12-14.

When a child places its trust in someone, be it father or mother, or a loved one, or a teacher or a friend, the child obeys without questions. That is what makes a child so vulnerable in front of those. That vulnerability makes the child so special and so valuable in the eyes of the Lord. Obedience, docility, humility, surrender - these are the dispositions that are expected of a child of God, in the presence of God. 

The first reading so figuratively presents through the experience of Ezekiel, the message that Lord gives to each of the Lord's sons and daughters: to be children, to obey and not to be rebellious, but to receive the Word of the Lord, take it in, savour it, understand it, live by it, and announce it to the world. It is not about taking in what you like and leaving out what you don't like - that is childishness! Instead, childlike-ness would be to take in what the Lord says, the Words of the Lord, without any question or rebellion! 

"Obey and you will not have sinned" says the famous monastic rule. And that is the strength of obedience. The first sin recorded in the Word of God is of rebellion, and the atonement for it was offered in Obedience, on the Cross! Should we hold on to the sentiment of rebellion, we shall be weak in our obedience. The sign of growth in obedience to the Lord is accepting what comes from the Lord without any question or second thought.

The Lord says love; the Word says forgive; the Saviour says believe; the Son of God says do not be afraid; the Spirit says abide in truth; the Triune God says make peace and live in harmony... are we ready to obey...or are we rebelling in our own way? The Word instructs us today, if you are to be called children of God: Obey and be not rebellious!

Sowing and Growing

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

August 10, 2026: Celebrating St. Lawrence, the Deacon-Martyr

2 Corinthians 9: 6-10; John 12: 24-26

Martyr St. Lawrence gives us the occasion to hear yet another time this classical lesson that the Lord wishes to give us: what you sow you reap; what you are, you grow to be! It is important here to notice that the crucial element is not what we do or what we become, but what we are! This is what St. Paul teaches: becoming a new person in Christ is to be so transformed in Christ and into Christ, that we come to be seen as Christ, as another Christ, as alter christus!

That is what the early Christians were - in their minds, in their hearts, in their thinking and in their acts... in every way they were like Christ, other christs, Christ-ians! Hearing that they put all their gold and silver in common as a Church, the Emperor Valerian wanted to get hold of that wealth in the treasury. He, who was killing every bishop, priest and elder in the Christian community, when it came to a humble deacon Lawrence's turn offered to let him live, if he showed where the treasury lay, where all the gold and silver was. When Lawrence asked for three days to gather all the gold and silver in one place, the greedy emperor was thrilled and excited. But three days later when he arrived at that placed indicated - he found all the poor, the sick, the crippled and the miserable gathered together. And Lawrence stood there and said: here is all the gold and silver that the Church possesses, the real treasure of the Church! The emperor was so infuriated that Lawrence was burnt alive to death that same day!

Listening to the Word, every Martyr gives us this same lesson: to die for Christ's sake. It does not mean only dying in the sense of losing one's life, but dying to oneself, dying to one's ego, dying to one's undue attachments, dying to one's fixed ideas, dying to one's weaknesses and fixations. That is martyrdom too... a martyrdom of a totally different nature, a martyrdom that is required of everyone. A martyrdom that has to be undertaken with a sense of gratitude and cheerfulness, in spite of the inconveniences it can cause.

What have we sown around us? What are we growing into? Let us become aware of our sensibilities and check if we are cheerful givers, who are ready to give up, in order to grow up!

Just a bit of faith

WORD 2day: Saturday, 18th week in Ordinary time

August 8, 2026: Habakkuk 1:12 - 2:4; Matthew 17:14-20

Righteous shall live by their faith! It is a famous verse, oft repeated, clearly a bumper sticker material. But what is the meaning of it... does it mean, that all those who say they have faith are righteous? or that those who live are all righteous, those who escape tragedies are all righteous, while others are not? What do we really mean when we repeat that verse over and over again? It will be clear only when we understand what we mean by those two words: faith and righteousness!

Righteousness...in simple words it is living the right life...doing the right thing! But, is that all? What is the right thing in the eyes of the Lord? How do we know it? It is simply whatever is the most loving thing to do at a point of time, that is right in the eyes of the Lord (love understood in the proper sense of the term, not some emotional feeling). So doing the right thing in the eyes of the Lord...not for the returns, not for the privileges but for its own sake. Being right for the sake of being right, that is being right in the eyes of the Lord.

Faith... if we have it we have everything; if we have everything but faith, there is  a lack that nothing else can complete. Because faith is our link, our network, our umbilical chord with God, our father and mother. If we lose it, we are lost! This is why Jesus expresses his displeasure in such plain terms to his disciples, when he found them lacking in this 'touch' with the Lord.

Now lets come back to those words...the righteous shall live by their faith! Prophet Habakkuk speaks of the great promises of the Lord and recommends the anxious awaiting hearts to faith and says, in faith the righteous ones shall see every word of the Lord come true! The delay that is involved in the designs of the Lord coming to pass, is a painful crisis to every expectant heart. We would be listed among the ranks of the righteous if we hold on in faith and have the patience of seeing the power of God shine through and until then, go about doing good, living a life that is right in the eyes of the Lord.

A bit of faith will make us strong, enduring, persevering, resilient, patient, persistent, serene, unassailable... yes, just a bit of faith, that is all it takes.

True blessedness in God

WORD 2day: Friday, 18th week in Ordinary time

August 7, 2026: Nahum 2:1-3, 3:1-3, 6,7; Matthew 16: 24-28

Today we hear the hope giving words of Nahum. But just a few days earlier we heard from Jeremiah a sharp criticism of the self proclaimed prophet Hananiah, saying the prophecies of prosperity can be accepted as such only after the things prophesied come to pass. However the words of Hananiah were soon  proved to be  mere search for popularity and general acceptance!

Nahum's promise of the restoration of God's people comes combined with a call to be prepared, alert and girded. Jesus takes that a step ahead to say: it takes a ready acceptance of the daily cross and a loving preparedness to walk in the ways of the Lord, to experience the true "blessedness" from God. Blessings from the Lord or in a more formal theological term, Grace from God - is not something that we can ever deserve. It is not as if, we become good and God gives us graces, or that we behave ourselves and God rewards us with grace! No...that is a very childish way of looking at things and a very naive concept of God and grace. Unfortunately, majority of us hold on to that. 

Grace is basically God's divine presence with us! That defines all... will that ever be revoked from us. Never. God loves us and God is present all the time with us. Therefore, the Grace of God is there, is there always, is there just for our taking. But the problem begins when we realise, we are not there to take it. We have made choices, we have used our powers, we have held on to things that are so opposed to God, that we have moved ourselves far far away from God, from God's presence, from God's grace! Now speaking of the blessings that we clamour for... prosperity, fame, popularity, joy, sense of fulfilment, peace and a sense of being loved... these are of course signs of God's blessings...but they cannot be our focus in our daily life, instructs Jesus. What we need to do is strive to stay with God, strive to live acceptable in the eyes of God, strive to remain in the presence of God, in the grace of God, and all the rest will follow. What matters thus is... the true "blessedness"  in the sight of God!

To burn till we are consumed!

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

August 6, 2026: The Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord
Daniel 7: 9-10, 13-14; (2 Peter 1: 16-19); Matthew 17: 1-9

"A lamp shining in a dark place until day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts" - a wonderful comparison that St. Peter presents to us, though the second reading is only optional for this day's liturgy (being a week day). That phrase would apply to our faith, our life of witness, our trust, our commitment to the Reign of God and every bit of our faith and its expression here and now, all leading us towards that eternal glory that awaits us as children of God(Jn 1:12), co-heirs with Christ(Rom 8:17), people meant for the future glory (Rom 8:18).

Our Christian life is rich and its richness will be lost if we lose the sense of mystery in understanding it. Mystery is not merely something that is unknown and incomprehensible, but it is something that is beyond all our rational calculations and empirical conditions; yet it is not totally alien from our experience; it is part of our lived experience, an experience we live on a daily basis, an experience that sustains our faith and offers meaning to our life.

The feast of Transfiguration is a symbol, a prefigurement and a surety of the glory that rests within us, as children of God. However, we are warned not to lose our grip on our daily living, on our concrete initiatives towards ushering in the Reign of God in the pretext of dreaming about a future that is glorious and splendid.

In practical terms, to be people transfigured is to live our lives with our eyes fixed on heaven and our feet planted firm on ground, to never lose the hope that the Lord offers in Himself and to never rest from our efforts to build the Reign of God here on earth.

Taking up that imagery of the lamp shining in the dark, today's feast is a call to burn until we are totally consumed, totally consumed for the sake of the mission that the Lord entrusts to us, totally consumed living our daily life to the full, totally consumed empowering every person to live their life to their full... totally consumed in the glory that we have treasured within us - the image and likeness of God and totally consumed in the glory we have promised to us - the Reign of God and God's glorious people.

The Spirituality of the Remnant and the Rest

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

August 5, 2026: Dedication of the Basilica of Mary Major - Our Lady of Snows
Jeremiah 31: 1-7; Matthew 15: 21-28

The theme of yesterday continues, the unending faithfulness and love of God. The Lord renews the covenant with the people in spite of their failures because the Lord had always loved them with an everlasting love. Today the Word warns us that those who will finally taste the fruits of God's faithfulness are the remnant and the rest of the people who come by and stick to the Lord.

The Remnant - these are those who choose to differ from the mainstream inspired by a genuine conviction and sincere effort to be integral. They are remnant because, they are the few who remain, who choose to remain, combating all the lures of the times and the wiles of the evil one, all for the sake of being with God.

The Rest are those who are least expected to be favoured in the eyes of the Lord. The world has its own criteria of judgement - the acceptable, the chosen, the privileged, the gifted, the special and so on; but the Lord has a totally different set of criteria... single minded dedication to the Lord, genuine love for God's people and authentic life after the mind of God.

A feast like today - the dedication of a Basilica from the 5th century... reminds us of our tradition that dates centuries and even millennia... but what does that matter if we do not today, here and now, within our hearts and in our own personal lives do no live by what the Lord wants: do not conform to the world; instead be transformed in Christ into new beings!

The grand basilica stands in reminder of the Reign of God which is mighty bigger and wider than this... waiting for everyone to enter and become sons and daughters. But unfortunately, those who will finally enter will be only the Remnant and the Rest!

Note: if you wish to listen to a very short history of this feast day, click the link:

https://www.franciscanmedia.org/dedication-of-saint-mary-major-basilica/

Growing conscious of God's faithfulness and love

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

August 4, 2026: Remembering St. John Marie Vianney, Cure of Ars
Jeremiah 30: 1-2, 12-15, 18-22; Matthew 15: 1-2, 10-14

"You shall be my people and I will be your God" - every time that we hear this statement... we need to be filled with an awe about the unfailing love of God. What does really matter what I do and what my merits are, in front of this boundless love of God? What do my so called great sacrifices and pious practices measure up to, in comparison to the immeasurable love of God? Hence a constant question that should be present in my mind always is this: how worthy is my faithfulness to God vis-a-vis the faithfulness of God towards me?

The only concern that should fill my mind is how to translate that awe into attitudes, attitudes of absolute gratefulness, total obedience and boundless humility towards God. If these attitudes develop in us, how peaceful we can grow to be! They would reduce to the minimum our tendency to judge others or consider others unbearable. How irritable we get and how fast we lose our patience with people. Between husbands and wives, between friends, between colleagues, between collaborators in the same team... how forbearing are we? How patient and non judgmental can we prove to be! That would be a reflection of how conscious we are of the unending love and unfailing acceptance of God.

John Maria Vianney whom we remember today, stands out in this character. He was not a great intellectual or an aristocratic legend who commanded respect instantly! He was a simple man, humble person but profound in his consciousness of God's faithfulness and love. It is with that quality that he brought the entire faith community around him, back to a filial relationship with God. How much we become people and persons of God depends much on how conscious we grow of God's faithfulness and love!

Note: For a few pictures taken at Ars where the Saint laboured...go to link:

https://www.facebook.com/antonychristy/media_set?set=a.2126828617388398&type=3

Real Prophets or Prophets for Profit?

 

 WORD 2day: Monday, 18th week in Ordinary time

August 3, 2026: Jeremiah 28:1-17; Matthew 14: 22-36

The Word today reminds us of our call to be a prophets... how far are we aware of the fact that each of us baptised in the Spirit is called to be a priest, a prophet and a prince (or princess)? Of course, knowing is one thing, and being convinced of it is another; but being it, much less said, is totally a different thing.

Today we have umpteen number of preachers, prophets and evangelists... all proclaiming from rooftops and laptops, day in and day out. Especially during these moments of crisis and lockdown... there are numerous of them, everywhere in every form! Let us beware dear friends, as the first reading points out, being a prophet is not speaking things that others would love to hear from us -like the myriad of fortune tellers, prediction prodigies, healer wheelers, and prosperity preachers today who do things to woo more and more  'customers'. Jeremiah warns Hananiah today in the first reading against his false sense of prophecy! And we read about the sad end of Hananiah. 

The Gospel has a symbolic message in the same lines. Jesus chides his disciples for their lack of faith, especially Peter. It might look a bit too demanding on Jesus' part to expect the disciples to remain unperturbed when they are almost sinking, and Peter to remain calm when he was almost drowning. But the point that the Master makes is that his disciples should be perturbed by nothing, absolutely nothing! 

"Let nothing disturb you", he would say to them often. In today's world so immersed in numerous kinds of concerns, with the crisis all around us, wouldn't it be truly prophetic to live a life so unperturbed! Not to be prophets for profit, but real prophets who live with a serenity that comes from knowing that 'it is the Lord' who is in charge. The Lord says that today: do not fear, It is I. 

The plight of a true prophet

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

August 1, 2026: Remembering St. Alphonsus Marie Ligouri
Jeremiah 26: 11-16, 24; Matthew 14: 1-12

Constant threat to life, drastic insecurities of life, total unacceptance from the rest of the so called normal people, pressures of helplessness...these form part of the usual plight of a prophet, not just in the days of Jeremiah and John the Baptist but even today. That explains why real prophets are a rare phenomenon. However, it is an undeniable and curious fact that the difference between a true prophet and a self-righteous egoist is very thin and dangerously subtle.

The first element that can demarcate the two is the FOCUS. When Jeremiah spoke to the people and the princes, he never looked for support or people who can come to his defence. His focus was determinantly on what God wanted him to say and nothing else.

The second element is DETACHMENT from the result. Though the message is definitely pointed towards a change, a result, the prophet is not excessively anxious about it. At times a self righteous person can be on a ego trip claiming credits and proving his point. A true prophet desists this tendency naturally.

The third element is absolute FEARLESSNESS. A fearlessness that makes them hard people to handle for the authorities and the hierarchy. But that fearlessness comes from their unwavering trust, confidence and hope in the never failing presence of the Lord!

Just yesterday we celebrated a prophetic founder, St. Ignatius and today we have another: St. Alphonsus Ligouri, the founder of the Redemptorist Congregation - a great theologian, lyricist (incidentally, those who know the famous Italian carol tu scendi dalle stelle, it was he who penned it), musician, pastor, writer and thinker. He was a true prophet too and he had to pay its price. As a bishop and as a founder-leader he was a demanding prophet. We cannot judge the internal matters of the Congregation he founded, but anyway, the fact was that he was expelled from very congregation he formed and he suffered this trauma in the last years of his life. However, his focus, his detachment and his fearless love for the Lord, kept him going.

Are we courageous enough to remain focused, and fearlessly attach ourselves to truth and the Truth? That will make us prophets, but are we ready to face the plight that awaits?

Doing it God's way

WORD 2day: Thursday, 17th week in Ordinary time

July 30, 2026: Jeremiah 18: 1-6; Matthew 13: 47-53

Have thine own way Lord,

have thine own way

Thou art the potter,

I am the clay

Mould me and make me,

after thy will

while I am waiting

yielded and still.

What a beautiful prayer it could be for us to make this day, inspired by the passage from Jeremiah... to accept the Lord as the potter, who makes me, moulds me and uses me to behold the glory of the Lord and share it to the world! If only this is always the case, that we are in the hands of the Lord and that we do just what the Lord wants us to do - the world will be a paradise, the Reign of God here and now. For is that not what we pray: May your will be done, here on earth, as it is in heaven!

In the parable that Jesus tells us today about the Reign of God, he brings out a fundamental element of either belonging to the Reign or not belonging to it. The angels will separate the good from the bad; the wicked from the righteous; the docile from the obstinate; the obedient from the rebellious; the discerning from the naive. Yes, the criterion is: doing the will of the Father, being clay in the hands of the Divine potter, not rebelling, not disobeying, not trying to act too smart!

Have you heard it said, that the anthem in heaven is, "I did it God's way"; while in hell it is, "I did it my way." The secret is here: doing it God's way! Living our life, God's way!