The Urgency of the Reign

WORD 2day: Friday, 31st week in Ordinary time

November 7, 2025: Romans 15: 14-21; Luke 16: 1-8

Jesus may be slightly intriguing in today's Gospel, as it seems as if he is justifying the shrewdness of the steward or approving of his lies. The point that Jesus is bringing forth is completely different. He wants us to realise how efficiently and time- consciously the evil doers proceed with their affairs, while those who are committed to the cause of the Reign, find themselves taking their own sweet time, hesitating, calculating, planning endlessly!

Isn't it true? Just think of the multinational corporates, the ideological lobbies and antidemocratic political forces which are dictating terms to the humanity at large today. Did they spring into existence, just overnight? Where were the so-called Reign thinkers and Reign persons all the time that these were brewing in the dark, to emerge so forceful and see the light of day! Certainly they were watching, warning each other, talking about it and reflecting on it al the time, but had not acted in such a way as to stop these forces of compromise. Even today, isn't the same happening? There are these forces of division, oppression, and antihuman politicisation, slowly gaining ground. We see it and what are we doing? In the name of creating support systems that can help on a difficult day, building defence faculties, devising and revising strategies, so on and so forth, are we failing to live up to the demands of the day?

St. Paul is given as our model today: a man with an urgency to make Christ known and with a compelling clarity as to what his task was: to take Christ to those who didnt know Christ. The Urgency of the Reign comes precisely from these three factors: Clarity of our task; Conviction that I have but a short time; and a Commitment unto death.

How strongly is imprinted on my mind, the urgency of the Reign of God? And how ready am I to respond to its demands here and now?

The Reign Persons

WORD 2day: Thursday, 31st week in Ordinary time 

November 6, 2025: Romans 14: 7-12 ; Luke 15: 1-10

Two attitudes, in contrast today, bring out the quality of a person who belongs to the Reign of God. The so called sinners and publicans were seeking to be in the company of Jesus while the pharisees were busy complaining that Jesus was eating with sinners and meeting with the outcasts. Jesus says he cared two hoots about what the pharisees thought, because Jesus' task was so clear cut and absolute for him: the Reign of God.

Reign of God is a mindset fundamentally. It is a mindset that gives priority to the Lord, a mentality that considers nothing more important that the will of God, a disposition of welcoming all that pertains to God and a lifestyle of celebrating every moment of life, every person around and every possibility of promoting love through genuine relationships. Although eating and drinking, and feasts and gatherings are an important part of the spirit of the Reign, they are not all, decries Jesus! Righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit (Rom 14:17)... that's the Reign of God.

Reign of God consists of our choices, daily and radical choices, wherever we are - choices such as, whose company we seek; what do we decry; what is that which disturbs us when we look at the society today or our own life today, and so on... these are the pertinent elements that will make us truly persons of the Reign!

Ready for the battle?

WORD 2day: Wednesday, 31st week in Ordinary time

November 5, 2025: Romans 13: 8-10; Luke 14: 25-33

Love... it's a term that is by far the most spoken of, not merely from a Christian perspective but that of the whole reality today. But that is no statement that guarantees the right usage of the term, because more often than not, it is misused and abused. A great percentage use it to mean a kind of feeling, a sentiment, an emotion that warms up one's heart.

Love is not all those.. love is a decision, a choice, a commitment that would demand so much from me that, I would find myself in a battle. Yes, responding to the call to love is like undertaking a whole expedition, against evil and hatred, for goodness and genuine fellowship. In choosing love, I am challenged to reject a whole lot of evil that is so widespread and prevalent around me today!

To accept to genuinely love, means being ready for any cost that I would have to pay. At times I may find myself alone, with the whole society against me. While everyone acts on the logic of give and take, tit for tat and an eye for an eye...I will have to declare that I love the one who has hurt me, I love the one who keeps offending me, I love the one who is the cause of so much suffering. That does not mean I approve of what he or she does...but the person, I cannot reject or hate! Oh, what a complicated choice it is! Love does not rejoice in evil; it rejects evil. But it never judges anyone or rejects anyone; it is patient and kind, forbearing and forgiving!

As a Christian every follower of Christ is obliged to take up this battle of love! And after having launched myself into this battle, if I turn back and find myself wanting, I will be considered unfit for the Reign. On a daily basis let us hearken to this call to love...which insists that we take a commitment every day which could be dangerously demanding. Am I truly ready for this battle?

From the Lord's Spread

WORD 2day: Tuesday, 31st week in Ordinary time

November 4, 2025: Romans 12:5-16; Luke 14: 15-24

Jesus has the table spread; where the saints of God are fed; he invites his chosen people come and dine!

The spread that Jesus has is joy, hope, love, sharing, caring, helping, encouragement, honour, respect, service, hospitality, empathy - all that we see in the first reading, from Paul's letter to the Romans (a profile of a perfect Christian from chapter 12). It's all right before us... at any moment to make a choice, a deliberate choice. When that choice is according to God's will, we can surely count on God's accompaniment through every rough patch of the terrain.

But we... we are too busy with our own choices, too busy setting ourselves up, towards selfishness, envy, pride, jealousy, insensitivity, avarice, competition, hatred, enmity... we choose not to pick from the spread that Jesus has - but later blame the Lord, complain against the Lord when things go wrong!

It takes courage to choose God, to say 'yes' to God's invitation and partake in God's banquet. Only when we dare do that we can meaningfully pray the verse from the responsorial today, "In you, O Lord, I have found my peace!"

From God, through God, and to God...

WORD 2day: Monday, 31st week in Ordinary time

November 3, 2025: Romans 11: 29-36; Luke 14: 12-14

Calculations of gain and loss, returns and rewards, condition an action and limit it to the evaluation of these considerations. Jesus, has not only taught us a consideration different from these, but lived it himself and challenges us to live by it, on our turn!

The consideration Jesus lived by was: what God wants of me here and now! Adopting that as my decisive criterion in life, requires of me two important attitudes:

The first reading speaks of the first of these two attitudes - it is, an immeasurable awe and absolute entrustment to the Wisdom of God. Doing the will of God is possible only when there is an invincible conviction that God's will is always good and favorable to my well being. Looking at God as a punishing God or a vindictive task master will never enable us to lovingly surrender to God's will.

The second attitude: placing others, especially the weak, the poor, the least and the last, the needy as a crucial focus of my perspective on life, and not looking at my own selfish and egoistic ends. How many times even the little good that I do for the needy, is so filled with my selfish motives, self glory and need for self satisfaction!

Only when these two attitudes become my own, can I worthily say as St. Paul says in the reading today: 'From God and through God and to God are all things. To God be glory for ever. Amen.'

It is all about Relationships!

ALL SOULS DAY

Sunday, November 2, 2025 

Yesterday we celebrated the memory of the saints... those among us who have gone before us all the way! They shine as they have reached the destiny prepared for them. They are the Triumphant Church, radiating the HOPE that Christ brought to humanity.

Today we keep the memory of those among us who have gone before us, but not yet all the way! They await the mercy of God, to join the band of those who share the glory of the Eternal Light. They are the Penitent Church, united with us in FAITH, the one faith in which we were all baptised, the one faith in which we have a duty to offer our prayers and suffrages.

Tomorrow onwards we are back to our daily living, as we make our way, amidst the struggles and temptations of the daily life. We are the Militant Church, fighting our way ahead on a daily basis, with LOVE - love for God who constantly accompanies us and love for brothers and sisters with which we accompany those who are around us.

It's all about relationship... we are One Church with the One Lord, with one baptism, one call and one destiny... all of us related to each other. Even the thought of death or of the dead, does not fill us with fear or anxiety, for we are all on the same journey at different stages of the course. 

The three tier Church is such a holistic view of our life on earth, that it renders every bit of our life and all its struggles so meaningful. It is within this framework of relationship that we think of those brothers and sisters of ours who have gone before us, signed with the same Holy Spirit, that they may receive the eternal reward they have always longed for. But that would be an incomplete exercise, if it does not challenge us to live our life with more hope and more love, here and now that our faith may throw its light on our concrete everyday.

We are all related! Let that be the message that the day offers us. Let us march on with love, with hope and with faith towards the eternal joy prepared for us.

BEING SAINTS

The ABC of Being Saints!

November 1, 2025: Solemnity of All Saints
Revelations 7: 2-4, 9-14; 1 John 3: 1-3; Matthew 5: 1-12

There is an ever loved and oft quoted anecdote about this sweet little boy who was taken to a traditional Cathedral for the first time by his mother. The boy was tremendously impressed with the splatter of colours on the floor due to the rays that shone through the stained glasses on the walls (remember those classic cathedrals, don't you... and they are becoming endangered specimen these days, with some of them converted to mosques and some others to public halls and themed restaurants!). Coming back to the boy, there for the first time, seeing all the splendour in glowing natural lights, he with his eyes wide open looked at those stained glasses and asked his mother...'mamma, what is this?' So used to his constant questions, the mother pointed to those stained glasses and replied in short, 'Oh... they are the saints!' The boy could not take his eyes or his mind off those pictures on the stained glass. That stuck to the boy's mind, not merely until he returned home but even further. And the next day at school when the catechism teacher asked, who are saints... he shouted out in excitement, "yes I know them." And when the teacher happily turned to him, he continued, "saints are those who let the light shine through them!"

I think that's the best definition for a saint by far. A saint is the one who lets the light, the light of the Lord, shine through him or her. The colours and the shades are exotic, but the light is from the Lord. The shapes and contours are all varied and impressive, but the source is one and the same, the light of the Lord! What a lovely image we have today, of all the saints standing in one choir, as one family, as one community of brothers and sisters, giving praises to the Lord! A grand day and a proportionately important reminder to each of us: you are called to be one of them, you are called to be a Saint!

The Word this day, read attentively, can provide us with a fundamental understanding of what it means to be a saint. They get us thinking, not only about all the saints we have out there, but also about the saint that we have to nourish and nurture within each of us. The Word furnishes us with an ABC of being saints, in our daily life, here and now!

A saint is one who ACKNOWLEDGES the supremacy of God, allowing God to take charge of one's life. This seems to be the most challenging task for human beings as centuries get past us. Human beings, as individual persons and as communities of persons, wish to become more and more autonomous, from everything and every one, even from God, considering God as someone who could infringe on our freedom, our decision making and our authority on our own lives. But all it takes is just a simple recollection of what has happened to humanity in history due to pride and self glory, to understand we are wrong to think of keeping God away from this world. We will be drastically failing.

The responsorial psalm today invites us to reflect on this absolute supremacy of God. Everything takes its existence from God. How can we ever think of doing away with the Master, as long as we hold on to what the Master has made and programmed and keeps sustaining? The first ever attitude that can bring us towards true sanctity, obviously, is acknowledgement of God's authority over everything, and specially, over my entire self. The more we acknowledge the primacy of God, the more grateful we become; the more grateful we become, the more holy we grow - that is the secret of being saints!

A saint is one who BELONGS totally to God, placing God at the centre of his or her life. Certainly, it does not suffice to acknowledge the authority of God over everything and over me, there is something more to it, when it comes to being saints. In simple terms, it is feeling close, feeling intimately connected, feeling totally grafted on to God - a bond which is like that which exists between a mother and a child, that connectedness that is not merely peripheral, but something that penetrates my very being! I am connected to my God, at the core of my being, at the depth of my soul, at the essence of my spirit, because it is from God I take my life, my image, my entire existence. I belong to God, totally.

In the second reading, John reminds us of who we are - we are children of God, that is what we are! Whether the world acknowledges or not, whether we acknowledge or not, the fact remains that we are children of God, and God will never renounce us, even if we do! God has loved us in to existence and loves us from all eternity. This love was manifest in the incarnation, when Christ came to show us whose image we bear, and to what image we should liken ourselves to. We belong to God who created us, the Lamb who has washed us and the Spirit who consecrates us into children of God, treasured possessions of God, images and likenesses of God, here on earth! The more we realise to whom we bleong, the more we understand who we really - that is the way of being saints!

A saint is one who COMMITS oneself to God's cause, to God's people, to God's will, on a daily basis! That we come from and belong to God, is truly a privilege, a great honour; but it is at the same time, a great challenge too, a call to commitment. As children of God, as people of God, as persons who acknowledge God and belong to God, we are called to manifest that in our daily life, in the ordinary choices we make and in every major decision we take! You will be criticised for it, calumniated against, painted as a threat, called names, jeered at, pictured as an outdated fool, useless misfit...yes! But can you give up? You just can not! There will be mighty forces lining up against you - the economic forces that tend to reduce everything to numbers and currencies, the political forces that are ready to do absolutely anything for the sake of power and position, the anti social forces that take joy and pride in disrupting peace of the people, the immoral forces that perpetrate corruption of everything including the souls of human persons...all these are mighty and they will stand against you! But can you give up? You just should not! Because you are from God, you belong to God and you are the Blessed of the Lord!

The Gospel outlines a way of life that is so surrealistic...that is indeed our roadmap to true holiness. Today, as Pope Francis repeats to us so very often, holiness does not consist in keeping ourselves aloof as refrigerated beings, we need to get down into the slush, get ourselves dirtied, fight our way, stand for the truth, march for justice, rise for the oppressed, reach out for the marginalised, voice out for the voiceless, live for peace, die for love and finally, shout for joy! We are blessed, we are blessed children of God, we are blessed family of the saints, we are blessed followers of the slain Lamb, we are blessed witnesses to God wherever we are! We are on our way to heaven, and we need to get our roadmap right. We need to be in their numbers - in that throng that is in eternal communion with the Lord. That is what we have been created for, that is for what we have been washed and made clean in the Blood, and that is what we are challenged towards in the Spirit - and that is the challenge of being saints!

Let us get this ABC of Being Saints, clear in our minds today... that we Acknowledge God, Belong to God and Commit ourselves to God's cause and we shall be counted in their numbers, in the number of All Saints!

What stops you from doing good?

WORD 2day: Friday, 30th week in Ordinary time

October 31, 2025: Romans 9: 1-5; Luke 14: 1-6

I would willingly be condemned if it helped by brother or sister, dares Paul. What if you criticise me for curing on the sabbath, I dont mind, as long as it liberates a son or a daughter of God, says Jesus in the Gospel. The message is loud and clear: doing good to the other cannot wait, much less, be stopped! In fact the passage and the episode for the readings today, can lead us to reflect on one important question in our Christian living: what can stop me from doing good to my brother or sister? Let us reflect on top-three blocks.

First is mindless self-centredness - because of which I fail to think beyond myself, my whims and fancies, my petty comforts and my comfort zones. I am unable to look around, look out or look up to anyone, learn anew and change my perspectives in order to reach out to the other. This is what St. Paul points out in the first reading today.

Second is infantile fearfulness - because of which, though I know what is right to be done, I fail to do it out of fear of criticism or fear of being ridiculed for the good I do. It may look too flimsy a reason, that is why it is infantile. But this is a very wide spread reason. Just imagine how many of us have this question before we do anything at all in our daily life: what will others think of me! Jesus challenges such a thinking in the episode we see in the Gospel today.

Third is obstinate wickedness - because of which, I choose deliberately what is against good; I choose to do harm, hurt, destroy, exploit, use or abuse, the other for reasons known only to me! What a wicked way of life it can be! Sadly, there are many in this mode of thinking and living, which causes so much evil in the world. Here is where a true Christian has to make a real difference today in the world.

Now the question to me is: what stops you and me from doing good to our brother and sisters?

Nothing can separate!

WORD 2day: Thursday, 30th week in Ordinary time

October 30, 2025: Romans 8: 31-39; Luke 13:31-35

Nothing can separate me from the love of Christ; no one can separate me from the love of God in Christ Jesus - the most energising words of St. Paul. Can things be clearer than this... just read those lines in the first reading once more - categorical, clear, convinced, charismatic and courageous!

St. Paul, the apostles and the first Christians learnt this from Jesus himself. If God is for me, who can be against me - that was the confidence of faith that defined the courageous choices that Jesus made. Neither Herod, nor Pilate, nor the high priests or the chief priests, nor the impending death, nor the rejection of the crowd - nothing mattered to him, because he knew that the One who sent him, loved him!

Look at the situation today: the anti-religious voices becoming louder, the anti-Christian forces becoming stronger, the anti-Church movements becoming fiercer by the day! Should that frighten us? What about so many millions who have left the Christian faith for either non-religious adherence or other diabolic choices, in the few decades past? Should that destabilise us? No. Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ.

However, there is one... there is one who can separate me from God's love - that is a warning for me today! There is only one who can separate me from God's love - Myself. There is only one thing that can separate me from the love of Christ - My ego! If I choose not to belong to God, if I choose to reject God's love, I separate myself from God.

How much God wishes to gather me into God's arms, but I rebel!!!

The Narrow door Challenge

WORD 2day: Wednesday, 30th week in Ordinary time

October 29, 2025: Romans 8: 26-30; Luke 13: 22-30

To say in the terms of the present day Social Network challenges thrown around by persons, Jesus is proposing a challenge today: something difficult and strange to us as his followers... the Narrow door Challenge. He says, 'strive to enter the narrow door'... not many do, because it is difficult and it is strange!

It is strange because, when there is a large, spacious door wide open, why choose something narrow? While there are multitudes and multitudes who are going through the broad door and cheerfully doing so, why would someone choose something that is narrow and desolate! The large, broad, wide open door... everyone knows where it leads. But deliberately they choose, due to weakness or wickedness - do I wish to be in that number?

It is difficult to enter the narrow door, because obviously it is narrow! There are strict conditions and requirements... but that is the way to security, that is the gate to salvation! Very few choose it over the other, but they who are considered strange will be the only ones in the privilleged presence of God, they who are considered losers will be the ones that will win eternal life, they who are considered loners and last, shall be the true sons and daughters of God, true brothers and sisters of Jesus and truly inspired people of the Spirit!

The Name Game

THE WORD AND THE SAINTS

October 28, 2025: Remembering Apostles Simon and Jude
Ephesians 2: 19-22; Luke 6: 12-16

We remember the apostles Simon the zealot and Jude son of James also called Jude Thadeus. These apostles have become relatively less known, they say, because of the confusion with their names. Simon was confused with Simon Peter and so lost his prominence. Judas was confused with Judas Iscariot and so became infamous. Curious, isn't it?

Reflecting on this curious fact from tradition, we can be inpsired by the wonderful piece of the opening prayer prescribed for the Eucharist on this feast day, which begins thus:

"O God, who by the blessed Apostles have brought us to acknowledge your name..."

The apostles were all about acknowledging God's name, not their own. Be it the instance where Peter and John at the Temple when people were looking at them astoundedly, or Paul and Barnabas trying to stop the people offering sacrifices to them, we see it very clear that the Apostles desisted limelight on themselves and always glorified the name of the Lord, the Lord who had called them and empowered them. Exactly so, Simon or Jude or any other apostle, they were all out to spread the Good News and give glory to God, building up the Body of Christ on earth: the People of God.

Building, is our work but we are very much part of the building itself. We are all building ourselves up together to give glory to the name of the Lord. Let's beware of the name game that is going rampant these days: divided among ourselves under so many names and calling names at each other, maligning each others' names and playing the dirty worldly name game among us - as believers from varied churches or denominations, as members within the One Catholic Church divided on varied bases! 

That is not very becoming of that One Name we have on earth by which we will be saved, the most sweet and glorious name of Jesus. The division in the Church is the greatest of all scandals against the Gospel. With that one Cornerstone, let us unite and give glory to God's mighty name!

Not slaves, but heirs!

WORD 2day : Monday, 30th week in Ordinary time

October 27, 2025: Romans 8: 12-17; Luke 13: 10-17

The point of discussion in the Word today is the difference between slaves and heirs, and their respective traits.

A slave is governed by fear, is ruled by law and bound to restrictions. A slave cannot think beyond oneself, or beyond gaining favours by pleasing the Master, or the one in command. A slave, even when he or she is doing everything for the other, is all the time self centered - wants to win the favour of someone, for oneself.

An heir is governed by freedom not fear, is guided by love and is empowered with spontaneity. The heir does not think about just oneself, but about the common good of the family, the rights and duties of the community, the welfare of the whole humanity into which he or she has been created and of the wellbeing of the whole creation unto which he or she is a caretaker. The heir does everything for the greater glory of the One who has made him or her heir of a great family, of a great heritage, of a lineage that comes directly from above! 

Freedom rules out restrictions, love transcends fear and spontaneity despises calculations. An heir never schemes, but lovingly surrenders! Jesus proves to be the rightful heir, experiencing God as the Abba and feeling the need to render every child of God, wholesome and fulfilled. Laws and regulations did not matter to him; threats and warnings looked despicable in his sight. 

The greatest of all good news is, Christ has given us the same Spirit that was in him, that in our spirit we may be convinced that we are rightful sons and daughters of the merciful God - that we can call God, Abba, our loving father and mother. Let us remember this day and praise the Lord for this revelation: we are heirs and not just slaves!

EMPTINESS - WHERE GOD ENCOUNTERS

Lack, Lifestyle or Liminality?

October 26, 2025 - 30th Sunday in the Ordinary time 
Ecclesiasticus 35:12-14,16-19; 2 Timothy 4:6-8,16-18; Luke 18: 9-14

You cannot fill a cup that is full ...

God is not partial, God knows no favourites - says the first reading but all the while speaking of a God who takes his stand by the poor, the widow and the orphans, the oppressed and the lowly. No, there is no paradox here, neither is there a partiality. It is natural that water flows where it is low. Isn't it true, that we can fill only that cup which is empty!

The Word today reminds us of the Spirituality of Emptiness! Emptiness, is not merely an absence of things. Emptiness is not merely a state of something not being there. If it were so, it is so easy to reach that state - all that you need to do is remove whatever is there! Instead, emptiness is a positive reality. Emptiness is where God encounters us!

Emptiness can be due to a lack! The first reading speaks to us of the oppressed, the widows and the orphans... persons who lacked, who lacked their rights, who lacked some one to lean on, who lacked people who cared. The economically poor, those who do not have anyone to call family, those who feel rejected, unaccepted, exploited or abused are people who lack something that is so necessary in life that without it, life becomes hard, meaningless and empty. At those trying moments, if only they raise their hearts a bit, they will realise God is so very close to them. God encounters us in that state... that is a condition!

A condition in which one knows that one lacks, when one knows that he or she is not complete, is when the person encounters God! In our inabilities, in our lacks when we turn to God, and accept God as the one who can fill me... God fills me! At times when we realise the lack - be it what it may, economic or healthwise or with regard to meaning of our life itself - the danger is we get lost in that emptiness, as if that is the end of everything. We forget that emptiness can help. It can help us feel the Lord close by, standing right beside us.

Emptiness can be a lifestyle! One can have things, one can possess goods, but still can decide to live in a state of emptiness, not giving into attachments and bonds that could cripple one's existence. People who have given up their inherited wealth, people who have turned their backs on what the world would look at as incredible prospects in life... we know quite a lot of them, don't we? God encounters them there, in that emptiness. That is not a condition, but a choice!

A Choice about which St. Paul speaks of in the second reading, how he had emptied himself for the sake of the Word, for the sake of the Lord, for the sake of the Lord's people. It is a lifestyle ... a mindset... the mindset of Christ: for he did not consider equality with God as something to be held on to,... but emptied himself (Phil 2: 5-7) - the lifestyle of Christ, the Son of God! As long as we seek our sufficiency and our meaning in things and worldly recognitions, we are with our hands full. The moment we choose to let go of them, willingly and purposefully, we would see real serenity emerge. Emptying oneself is a choice to allow God to fill you!

Emptiness is liminality! Liminality is a word that is used to mean, 'to stand at the threshold', a state of passage, a state where one has undergone a change from what one was, but has not yet become what one is yet to become! One is not complete yet, but he or she is well on the way to being complete. One is not anymore what he or she was - the old self. But one has not yet fully put on the new self either - but he or she is gradually growing into it - gradually, slowly but steadily, serenely with determination.

We could be reminded here, of the words that St. John writes, 'We are children of God, what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, because we will see him as he is' (1 Jn 3:2). When we empty ourselves, we are moving towards being complete. When we are too conscious of being so complete and perfect, we actually are closing ourselves in and we become dead. The more we empty ourselves, the more God fills us! It is not merely a false self humiliation, but a spiritual surrender of self emptying before the Lord, in which the Lord fills us, to the brim. And thus we will today go home justified, sanctified, filled with the Lord!

Let us pray:

O God, who alone is complete...

behold my emptiness, and make me ever conscious of it,

that I may be filled, filled by you,

to become complete, just as you are...

Bid me look at you...

so willing to empty yourself,

help me too, to be so ready

to empty myself for the others,

that I may be once again be filled by you, you who alone is complete! Amen

The Spiritual and the Unspiritual

WORD 2day: Saturday, 29th Week in Ordinary time

October 25, 2025: Romans 8: 1-11; Luke 13: 1-9

Not all those who suffer are people who deserve it and not all the good that we enjoy we deserve. What God gives, God gives without even counting whether or not I deserve it... but in the course of handling them I prove whether I had deserved it or not! It is simply in the choices I make, and the priorities I build that I show whether I deserved what God deigned to give me or not; that is whether I am by nature spiritual or unspiritual.

The Word invites us today to think of the distinction between Spiritual and Unspiritual we would make in our lives...

'Spiritual' is thinking of God and godly things; it is having a trace of God within me. As God does not think of good or bad, deserving or undeserving, but always the good of every child of God, so am I called to think of the good of everyone. Being 'spiritual' is fundamentally, putting the good of the other first vis-a-vis the good that can happen to me! It is counting the blessings from the Lord and acknowledging every bit of the Lord's doing in my life... and thus considering it my duty to do all the good that I can!

'Unspiritual,' would be thinking all the time of increasing gains and reducing pains; it is putting my pleasure before anything else, even in the smallest of things that I get to do for others. It would be constantly complaining against God for any small inconvenience that could come by and claiming absolute personal credits for any thing that turns out to be good in my life.

Now the question for me is: where do I belong - the Spiritual or the Unspiritual?

Pride - the urge to prove myself!

WORD 2day: Friday, 29th week in Ordinary time

October 24, 2025: Romans 7: 18-25; Luke 12: 54-59

Many a trouble today brews in the waters of wanting to prove oneself at all cost. The world, the society, teaches us from our earliest days in life, that one should prove oneself... how many wars have been fought in history due to this tendency! How many injustices and exploitations have been justified because of this urge, in individuals and collective mindsets... why, how many follies are being committed even today, in these days, as people and systems try to prove themselves right at any cost!

But this urge to prove oneself... does it not sound very similar to, or same as, living one's life to the full? While proving oneself is always a phenomenon in comparison with the other where the other becomes a threat or a competition or an element to be eliminated, living my life to the full is a serene acceptance of who I am, what my capacity is and living it to the most. Here the others are my companions, my co-passengers and my colleagues! There isn't much need for proving myself, infact proving myself would turn detrimental within this mode of living.

The Word instructs us on this attitude today, inviting us through St. Paul to understand the call to grow in humility - humility understood as knowing the reality of our own selves. There is no need to justify oneself before people, for God knows who we are: that is faith. However weak and wrong we could be, God accepts us as we are and walks us to salvation through Jesus Christ if only we are ready to surrender: that is hope. This is the crucial lesson that the world needs today, to look at truth, accept truth and walk in truth, admitting when one fails and deciding to move on ahead in righteousness. Pride would never allow that... with pride I would be worried only about proving myself! It would do good to no one, neither to me nor to the other!

At whose service?

WORD 2day: Thursday, 29th week in Ordinary time

October 23, 2025: Romans 6: 19-23; Luke 12: 49-53

Jesus speaks of a fire that he wanted to set ablaze - the fire of righteousness, the fire of integrity, the fire of sanctification! It is simply the capacity to burn for a cause, but the question is for what cause? Paul rephrases that question in his parlance - at whose service? At whose service am I?

We find in the society today, people who claim to be at the service of the Divine - so they claim; but whether they really are, is a question to be answered only by themselves and by the Divine. But there can be indications that either prove or disprove their claim: sincerity, integrity, sensitivity to the other, love and true care of the common home - these are the indications that can sustain the claim of anyone who claims that he or she is at the service of the Divine.

There are those in the so-called opposing camp - who say, they are definitely not at the service of the Divine. They declare themselves to be atheists and agnostics, rationalists and humanists! But sometimes, the experiences they are involved in, such as humanitarian concern, ecological consciousness, raising their voice for the voiceless and oppressed, going out of their way to stand for the truth and fight for justice, even where they have nothing to gain - these actions and dispositions prove, even against their will, that they are in fact at the service of the One, true Divine, the author of life and the source of fullness of life.

Now the question is those who are called to be at the service of the Divine - not the ones who claim to be nor the ones who profess not to be - but the ones who are specifically called to be, by baptism, by ongoing choices, numerous sacraments and occasions of grace! Yes... you and me... we are to ask that question to ourselves today: at whose service am I?

Fighting on the side of God

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

October 22, 2025: Remembering Pope St. John Paul II

Romans 6: 12-18; Luke 12: 39-48

Make every part of your body into a weapon fighting on the side of God - what a powerful spirituality that St. Paul proposes! Remembering Pope St. John Paul II, augurs well with this message, as he was someone who developed so beautifully the theology of the body! 

Returning to the Word today, fighting for God is a spirituality, a way of life, a mode of living our Christian call. How can I make that spirituality mine? There are three ways of life, or modes of operation, that would indicate that we are fighting on the side of God.

Firstly, that I am fighting on the side opposed to sin! My choices have to be absolute, deliberate and specific. There can be no compromises... I cannot take a neutral stand when it comes to choosing between sin and virtue, choosing between good and evil, choosing between truth and untruth, choosing between life and death! If I am for God, I have to be against sin, evil, untruth and the culture of death.

Secondly, that I am fighting! I need to fight, I cannot give up, nor lower my guard! I need to keep fighting, come what may. In my day to day life, I am a soldier of God. I need to fight ceaselessly. Even a moment of distraction or disengagement, can lead me to falter. Moments of temptation, moments of confusion, moments of delusion are bound to be there, but a soldier of God would never cease fighting.

Thirdly, I am fighting with God! When am I going to grow up? Yes, our help is in the name of the Lord, but can we go on all our life asking God to fight on our side, help us, strengthen us and so on? Is it not important that I grow in my faith, that is, grow in my relationship with the Lord to the extent that I am able to tell that Lord - Lord, I offer myself totally to you, you have given me life and you have given meaning in this life and I shall fight on your side! Your Kingdom come!

Pope John Paul II, in his long papacy of 26 years stood firmly on the side of God and God's people... fighting with God, for the Reign of God to be beheld here and now. He has been a great advocate for the fact that from those to whom God has given more, more will be expected... God has invested so much in us, should we not find ourselves, wherever we are, fighting on the side of God?

Forever ready and prepared!

WORD 2day: Tuesday, 29th week in Ordinary time

October 21, 2025: Romans 5: 12,15,17-21; Luke 12: 35-38

Death entered through sin; everyone in the human race has been subject to death because everyone has sinned - these words of the first reading set us thinking. It further excites our minds when it says, through one man's obedience and sacrifice we have been liberated from the reins of sin! There are three facts that we are called to reflect on and pay attention to:

Firstly, that there is a very strong connection between sin and death. Sin is death. Sin is choosing evil over God; it is rejecting God the source of life - hence sin is death. When we choose sin, we choose death. That is one of the prime reasons why Pope Emeritus warned us of the culture of death that is prevalent in today's world - people are fond of choosing sin, knowing well all its ill effects!

Secondly, the death that St. Paul refers to here is not the chronological expiry of life that every being on earth is subject to. He is refering to a death that is eternal damnation, an eternal loss of life. Therefore, what Jesus offers us, that is eternal life, can be offered only by him and by the One who sent him. Jesus in his life, death and resurrection, has made this eternal life possible for us: the choice is ours now!

Thirdly, the choices is an everyday experience. It is not some kind of licence that we can get at the end of our life, or at a point when we think it is convenient. It is a matter of daily life, in every thing that we are involved in, in our priorities and in our day to day decisions, we have to make a choice, an absolute choice for righteousness and truth, for justice and love - then we shall inherit the Reign of God.

When we are clear about our choices every moment of our life, we need not worry when the world will end or when my end would come - I am forever ready and prepared!

Rich in God's sight

WORD 2day: Monday, 29th week in Ordinary time

October 20, 2025: Romans 4:20-25; Luke 12:13-21

Storing up treasures for oneself versus being rich in God's sight - is the contrast that the Gospel presents us today! Being rich by the standards of the world, or at least having more than just enough, seems to be the driving force for a big majority in the present day context. At times one is dumbstruck looking at how one has wealth as much much as a whole village and another at the very same time, has not enough to be assured of the next meal. This is no strange fact today's world - that is how is the world is, they say without shame or shock!

Storing up wealth, however, is not easy - work, fatigue, stress, competition, strain, pain, sacrifice, fight, strife... it involves all these and more. Being rich in God's sight - consists of just one thing, one single thing - to remain still in God's presence! Through darkness and cloud, through storm and turbulence, 'be still and know that I am God' (Ps 46:10). 

Abraham, through all moments of probable doubt and hopelessness, "grew strong in faith as he gave glory to God" says the letter to the Romans. That was reckoned to him as righteousness! Through our daily work and responsibilities, concerns and discouragements, struggles and temptations, let us learn to 'be still' and 'grow strong in faith'! 

As we go about out daily duties and demanding responsibilities, let us remember that we are upto these tasks because God has willed it so. If that is truly the case, God shall give us the grace to see ourselves through them too. Let us be ever convinced that God is capable of doing what God has promised - that will make us rich and blessed in the sight of God. 

WITH HANDS RAISED UNTO THE LORD

Missionaries of Hope among all peoples!

Mission Sunday: 29th Sunday in Ordinary time - October 19, 2025

Exodus 17:8-13; 2 Timothy 3:14 - 4:2; Luke 18:1-8

Work as if everything depended on you; Pray as if nothing depended on you, goes the popular saying. Today we have a wonderful image to place before us, as we go about our daily life. Moses on the hill overlooking the battle, with hands raised unto the Lord! The battle belongs to the Lord... all that we need to do is keep still, the Lord will fight for us says the book of Exodus (14:14).

We are called to live our life with our hands raised unto the Lord!

Living with hands raised unto the Lord is a gesture that means to abandon everything into the hands of God. It is a total personal abandonment to the Lord, that the Lord may guide us and that the Lord may fight the battle for us! Many grow weary of struggles and temptations in life... when Moses' hands were raised, Israel won!

The book of Proverbs tells us, 'the horse is made ready for the battle; but the victory belongs to the Lord!'(Prov. 21:31). When we learn to abandon ourselves in the hands of God, we will see the wonders that can happen. The more we stick on to ourselves as the source of energy and victory, the more we could get stressed, depressed and discouraged. These instances are today, becoming more and more as human mind in its pride thinks of any dependence as below dignity, even the dependence on God! Is not interdependence among fellow beings and total dependence on God, that would make us truly human!

Living with hands raised unto the Lord is to reach out to the Lord with all our heart. It is like the antenna that stretches to connect, to receive and to communicate. That is in short, 'prayer' - to connect, to receive and to communicate. How many times we rattle off prayers, with the formula we have memorised from time immemorial! Even the so-called spontaneous prayers, how many times it is like the warning from the Lord: heaping up empty words and phrases! Do we really pray, or say prayers?

Let us pay attention to the term that seems common in today's readings: pray without ceasing tells Jesus presenting to us the image of the widow; proclaim in season and out of season instructs St. Paul; and the first reading presents to us Moses unwilling to grow weary of having his hands raised unto to the Lord. A two fold call here: first, not to grow weary... like the widow to go on in trust, with our hands raised unto the Lord; second, when a brother or sister seems to grow weary, to rush to their side like Aaron and Hur and to be with them and to raise our hands in unison unto the Lord. A praying person builds a praying community of brothers and sisters, genuinely concerned about each other!

Living with the hands raised unto the Lord is to be filled with hope in the Lord; to live as Missionaries of hope among all peoples - as the message of the Holy Father for this Mission Sunday invites us. Like it happened to the widow, it may look like you might never get justice. Like it happened to the Israelites, it might look like you are losing the battle. Things may continuously go wrong, people might endlessly misunderstand you, nothing might seem to be going the way you wished it would..."But as for you, continue, in what you have learned and firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it"...from Jesus himself who hoped in the One who sent him, from our Blessed mother who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken by the Lord! 

In the battle of our daily living, every day of our life, every moment of our day, let us resolve to live with our hands raised unto to the Lord in a holy abandonment, in a loving union and in an unfailing hope... so that when Our Lord and Saviour comes he will still find faith here amidst us!

Faith and what follows...

WORD 2day: Friday, 28th week in Ordinary time

October 17, 2025: Romans 4: 1-8; Luke 12: 1-7

Faith is a gift, a gratuitous gift from God! My part is to grow in it. The more I grow in it, the more I realise how undeserving I am of it. Abraham was granted this gift and he grew tremendously worthy of it. Paul was granted this gift and he fought a brave fight to become worthy of it. 

Jesus accuses those who throw those pearls of faith to the swines of their ego and self centered thinking. If I have received this gift of faith, should I not be grateful for it and mindful enough to keep growing in it. Can I be boasting about it and mindlessly acting contrary to it? Jesus is warning us about something that would not look apparently like an aberration of faith, but in fact leads us gradually away from what true faith is all about - 'the yeast' of the Pharisees, that Jesus mentions in the Gospel today.

Taking my faith to be a reason for my pride, judging everyone else who does not partake of it; calling names at people who have a faith different from mine merely because of the difference and treating them with despite; making faith a means to make my living instead of making it my life and journeying genuinely towards my eternal life...these are somethings that I need to be on the guard about! 

Let us remind ourselves every day: faith is the greatest of gifts given to me, and I need to grow in it every day, every moment.

One God and the Bloodshed!

WORD 2day: Thursday, 28th week in Ordinary time
October 16, 2025: Romans 3: 21-30; Luke 11: 47-54

There is only one God... so finishes the first reading of today! We beleive in One God! Belief in one God seems to be a disturbing fact for many who think it is a point of contention - that those who believe in One God, have a point to prove against those who believe in a God different from theirs. But is this so? The Word today gives us a totally different perspective of belief in One God.

First of all, this perspective is more catholic than divisive! Believing in One God is a catholic perspective... not the technical term refering to the Catholic Church - but the literal meaning of the term 'catholic' which means 'all-embracing'. Believing in one God, challenges me to embrace everyone who is around me, because I firmly believe my God invites me to love all, because every one is created by the only God that I beleive in. I cannot look at a person as divided from me, however different his or her faith could be.

Secondly, this perspective makes me believe in universal brotherhood and sisterhood... as every one is my brother or sister, given to me by my God to love and share my life with. I cannot find in the other a rival or an alien or a stranger, much less an enemy!

Thirdly, laws and regulations, legalities and formalities, red tapism and border controversies, cannot stop me from being merciful and loving to the other. Believing in one God means I believe in the same God who is sovereign over all, the same God who loves all, the same God who cares for all.

And therefore, due to any reason, worst of it being the reason of faith or religion, if I cause or condone the bloodshed of a brother or sister of mine, I shall be the worst of hypocrites here on earth and the least in the Reign of that One, Supreme, loving God whom I believe in.

Righteousness, Self-righteousness and Judgements

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

October 15, 2025: Remember St. Teresa of Avila

Romans 2: 1-11, Luke 11: 42-46

Let us begins with an interesting episode narrated about the saint of the day - St. Teresa of Avila, who was fond of identifying herself as Sr. Teresa of Jesus. One day when she was about to climb the stairs within her convent, she found a small little boy playing on the steps. The boy asked her: "who are you?" She answered, "I am Sr. Teresa of Jesus. And who are you?" The boy retorted, "I am Jesus of Sr. Teresa" and disappeared! Yes, the Lord loves each of us in a unique and specific manner. But the Word today, has a different message to give: 

God has no favourites, says the first reading and Jesus demonstrates that in the Gospel. Neither in being close and accompanying, nor in providing a sense of righteousness (corrections and directions), does God differentiate between persons. The differences arise only in the way we receive or not, what the Lord wishes to communicate to us. In none of these are we judged by God - we are judged by our own judgements! Judge not and you shall not be judged said Jesus. And we hear today, Paul saying its corollary: judge and you shall be judged too, with the same measure and rigour!

Jesus spared no one - whether it was the pharisees or the lawyers or the chief priests or Herod or Pilate - everyone got their share! As much as Jesus was compassionate with the sinners, the publicans and the samaritans, he was stern with the Pharisees and the Saducees - was it a bias? Certainly no! They were in no way judgements passed on those people, but they were an appeal to their conscience to change their ways towards righteousness. It was done with concern for their salvation.

Understanding the discourse between the religious bigwigs of his time and Jesus, we see there were two things involved: Righteousness that Jesus insisted so much upon; and the Self-righteousness that Jesus detested in them! The thin line between Righteousness and Self righteousness has to be trodden with diligent care.

Judgements arise from self righteousness, where I consider myself one-up and sit on the tribunal looking down on others. While righteousness makes one just and loving, non-judgemental and compassionate, humble and impartial, and above all, lovable! It is God's righteousness that makes God the most lovable of all persons we can think of. And the love that we have for God, challenges us to grow towards that same Righteousness, from our tendency to self-righteousness.

The Light of Integrity

WORD 2day: Tuesday, 28th Week in Ordinary time

October 14, 2025: Romans 1: 16-25; Luke 11: 37-41

The terminology used by Paul today sounds very practical, warning us that there are no excuses one can give for not recognising the hand of God in and through the immensity of the reality around. And added to that, when it comes to me and God, I don't need to have proofs and justifications and evidences that I believe in God or not. Because God knows the innermost thoughts of mine and I need not be bothered about my presentations and formulations. This is the fundamental element of what we call 'integrity'... Having the least discrepancy between my inner self and my external behaviour, between my convictions and what I engage myself in on a daily basis, between what really matters for me and what I present myself as to others!

Jesus uses simple terms for that in the Gospel - inside and outside! Let both be clean he says... I can have no excuses when it comes to my inner self, for I stand convicted before God who knows the innermost thoughts. The question which is more important - inside or outside, is a psuedo question! Jesus says when your inside is pure and holy, automatically your outisde begins to glow, like a light lit on the hilltop.

The many saints that we celebrate as our examples and intercessors, were people like us, but they were incomparable in their integrity. They were ready to give of their whole self to God - not just part time and not just a stage show or a dramatic performance. When I do all that I do, with true consciousness and sincere acceptance of why I do it, I am on the first step towards integrity. I need to constantly purify myself towards that integrity that will reveal God's image within me.

In spite of the beasts of this world, the attractions and the pressures that surround me, help me Lord to grow in my personal integrity!

The call and the reminders...

WORD 2day: Monday, 28th Week in Ordinary time

October 13, 2025: Romans 1: 1-7; Luke 11: 29-32

The first reading today speaks to us about our call to belong to Christ, our call to be holy and our obedience of faith. At times we forget this fundamental call as we live our daily life and all its responsibilities, getting lost in programmes and daily chores. We get so used to our life as Christians or as Religious, that it doesnt make any concrete difference in us! Gradually we lose track of our fundamental call, and go after things that matter nothing to our salvation, some of them even detrimental to it. We become so callous to our failures and disorientation that we do not even realise we are going farther and farther away from our destined goal: our sanctification.

One thing we are aware is that we can never justify our act, our choices or our priorities when they go against this call that we have received. First of all because we are given reminders after reminders, through persons, situations, events and experiences. Secondly because the Lord comes to us in person to remind us that we belong to God, that we have a whole life journey to make with  God on our side.

The Gospel offers us models by way of the people of Nineveh and Queen of Sheba, people who were so attentive to these signs and reminders that they instantly picked up the message that God was giving them. They recognised the voice of the Lord and Word that was brought to them, took the utmost effort to respond to their specific call.

That is the reminder given to me today: to know how much have I grown in responding to the call that the Lord has given me personally, the call to belong to Christ, the call to be holy, the call to my personal sanctification!

THE GREAT ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE

The touchstone of sanctity

October 12, 2025: 28th Sunday in Ordinary time
2 Kings 5: 14-17; 2 Timothy 2: 8-13; Luke 17: 11-19

Spiritual life is made of a set of attitudes that make up who we are! The touchstone of an authentically spiritual person lies in the virtue that the Word of God speaks to us of today: the great attitude of Gratitude... gratitude for every goodness that one experiences, gratitude to the Source of all that one has and one is - God! "What do you have that you did not receive?" asks St. Paul in his letter to the Corinthians (1 Cor 4:7).

Gratitude is born of a Humble Recognition of God! Namaan was asked to dip in river Jordan and he felt offended because his pride ruled his will. But when he listens to that word from the Man of God, humbling himself for that moment, he recognised the presence of the Mighty God. It is only when I am humble, I recognise God and that recognition of God makes me more humble!

Gratitude is expressed in Grateful Submission to God! An authentic outcome of immense gratitude is total submission to God for the marvels that God has done to us. We see the man in the Gospel, just one out of the ten of them - "he fell on his face at Jesus' feet, giving him thanks" (v.16). What happened to the rest? Either they did not realise they were healed or they did not realise that the healing was a gift! This Samaritan heart realised the gratuitous miracle and recognised the hand of God - and the result was, a grateful submission at the feet of Jesus.

Gratitude leads to a Faithful Perseverance in God's ways! "Rise and go your way, your faith has made you well" (v.19) says Jesus, commissioning him to be an apostle to the World. That is the commission we receive every time we experience the grace of God in our personal lives - to go into the world and share the word of God, 'that the word of God may not be fettered' (cf. 2 Tim 2:9). It is the gratitude for the goodness that we have experienced in the Lord that makes us persevere, amidst all troubles and trials we might face. Our perseverance is not so much because we are faithful to the Lord, as because the Lord is faithful to us, reminds St. Paul in the second reading (2 Tim 2:13).

A grateful heart is a humble heart and a humble person will ever be a faithful person and faithfulness gives one the courage and strength to persevere. Learning to look at our daily life and recognise the miracles that happen in abundance; putting up with daily crosses with the image of the Crucified Saviour in our hearts; placing ourselves each day at the feet of Jesus to be sent into the world as messengers of his loving Word - that is growing into Spiritual Persons. Let us heed the call of the Word today, to increase our sense of gratitude and grow into authentic spiritual persons!

Catch up with the Reign

WORD 2day: Friday, 27th week in Ordinary time

October 10, 2025: Joel 1:13-15,2:1-2; Luke 11: 15-26

The easiest way to get rid of someone from the world is to demonise that person! This is what the Political Super Powers today keep trying. If they feel the need to eliminate someone, they feel like demolishing another nation or they feel like doing away with a movement, the easiest way they follow is, to demonise them - call them names like evil, violent, terrorists, outlaws, rebels and so on - and get the whole world look at them as being a personification of evil. Then what remains is to get rid of the so-called evil!

This happens in all walks of life. Why do you think the fundamentalist pentecostal groups keep calling the Apostolic Catholic Church names and comparing it to the Antichrist? The sad thing is, even within our Catholic community of faith, there are those who care about nothing but their puritan rules and rigour, and hardly about true faith and real God-experience, who at times start such demonising acts, creating schismatic sentiments within the Church, opposing the Holy Father or finding fault in whatever is proposed towards more meaningful living of the Church. This is unfortunately an experience so often visited in the recent past.

The Lord warns us today: you will be lagging behind, while the Kingdom of God would have overtaken you. Catch up with the Reign. Revelation is progressive, everyday the Lord keeps revealing to us, the way to get closer and closer to the Lord. Everything that happens, all the situations of humanity are but signs of God's revelation and a call to get closer to the Reign, by becoming more and more like the Merciful Father, like the Observant Son and like the Illumining Spirit. If we lose track of it, we shall certainly lag behind.

It is necessary today, to open our ears, eyes and our hearts, and understand what is going on around us in the light of the Wisdom of the Lord. That alone shall enable us to catch up with the Reign!

Prayers, Questions and Answers

WORD 2day: Wednesday, 27th week in Ordinary time

October 8, 2025 - Jonah 4: 1-11; Luke 11: 1-4

At times persons, when they are faced with problems, difficulties and enormous burdens, they tend to throw numerous questions at the Lord - for they know they have no one else to question about what is happening in their life. But later when things settle down, they thinking of all that and feel bad, saying 'I am so ashamed of myself. I asked the Lord so many questions when I went through those troubles!" But should it be the case? Truly speaking, "it need not be! and it should not be!" There is nothing to be confused about, here! The idea here seems perfectly fitting as a reflection on the Word today.

Can I question the Lord? Is that prayerful at all?

What else could be more prayerful? It is not wrong to ask questions to the Lord. But it is important to wait for the answer. What would be a mistake is, that we ask questions and move away from the Lord, abandon the Lord, quit the presence of the Lord. That is the problem most of us give in to.

Ask whatever question you want to, because the Lord is your Father and Mother who loves you above all. But after asking the question, remain there till the Lord answers you, as the Lord answered Jonah today. The answer will come, now, later, much later, God alone knows when, but it will come. Because God answers prayers, that is, God answers the question your raise in prayer! God will surely answer...wait!

Praying can very well be asking questions, but only when you are determined to get an answer from the Lord, whatever time it takes! For God's is the kingdom, God's is the power, God's is the glory for evermore!