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!

Lepanto, Loretto and our Life

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

October 7, 2025: Celebrating the Queen of the Holy Rosary
Acts 1: 12-14; Luke 1: 26-38

The feast of our Blessed Mother of the Holy Rosary reminds us of the battle of Lepanto 1571! The Christians were at war defending themselves against the Ottoman Empire. They were at sea, as we know, it was a naval battle and the Rosary brought them the desired victory. At the recommendation of the Pope, the Church began to celebrate Our Blessed Mother as Our Lady of Victories. It was then that Pope Pius V added that invocation - "Mary Help of Christians", to the litany of Loretto (that which we pray normally). Truly Mary was a great help for them at sea!

Every Christian and every one of us, is at sea on a daily basis, with our concerns and temptations battling against us. Today this naval battle can be won not with bullets but with beads, the beads of the Most Holy Rosary. It is a powerful weapon that we have with us to defend ourselves from our enemy and attack every negative force to overcome evil. It is the sign of our Blessed Mother's presence with us and that presence is an assurance of a much greater presence, that of the Lord!

As Mary was there in the upper room with the disciples praying, she is there every time we invoke her through the Holy Rosary. And every time we pray this powerful prayer, she strengthens us to say, just as she did, a whole hearted 'yes' to the will of God. 

As Pope St. John Paul II would often remind us, the Rosary is infact a compendium of the Gospels, a summary of the Paschal Mystery! The Rosary is a weapon that guards us from our foe malign. It is a vehicle that commutes us closer to God the Father. It is a fragrant garland that unites us with our Blessed Mother, thus sanctifying us into children more and more worthy of her divine Son, our Lord and Master.

Love alone is the answer

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

October 6, 2025 - Jonah 1:1 - 2:1, 11; Luke 10: 25-37

Humanity has so many questions - why are the evil people thriving; why are the innocent suffering; why are there exploitations in the world; who is cause of the misery of the poor; why is there so much of violence and killing; what makes people turn against each other... how many questions we face in our daily life and in today's world. Yes, humanity has all these questions, but the Word declares today: Love alone is the answer!

People may turn evil, but they were created out of love and they are called to live with that love, in joy and fulfillment. When they make mistakes, it begins to affect the other, finally there will be a time when it comes back to them. Self centered exploitation of the other is a deprivation of love. Violence and killings are but inevitable consequences of these. We just celebrated a few days ago, St. Francis of Assisi who inspires us to love not just other human persons, but a person who loved every 'other'... the nature-other, the cosmic-other, the 'other' in all sense! That love alone can answer all the problems of today's world.

If Love is felt to be present around, if Love is felt in each one's heart, if Love is found to animate every relationship, if true Love of God governs the whole world, misery, violence, killing, poverty, suffering, injustice, exploitation and every shade of sadness and grief will be wiped out. Will it happen ever? When that happens, we shall know that the Reign of God is amidst us. 

The Reign cannot be experienced except through love, through a Love that pervades everyone towards wishing the good of every one else, of every other being! Let us understand, remember and remind each other today: to every single problem on earth, Love alone is the answer!

GROWING IN FAITH

Lord, Increase our Faith!

27th Sunday in Ordinary time: October 5, 2025

Habakkuk 1:2-3, 2:2-4; 2 Timothy 2: 6-8,13-14; Luke 17: 5-10

It is a familiar story said of the old lady who heard the gospel passage of today and challenged the young parish priest of its practicality! And they agreed she would pray for the tree outside her window to move a bit away after a novena. Nine prayerful days passed and on the 9th day asked the parish priest, 'so what about the tree?' The lady said with a wry smile, 'I knew from day one, nothing would happen! The tree stands right there.'

The Word of God this Sunday, invites us to grow in faith! "Increase our faith", pray the disciples. We would do good to make it our prayer too, asking the Lord to increase our faith. But what is faith? "Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen" explains the epistle to the Hebrews(Heb 11:1). Where does this assurance and this conviction come from? From a relationship, a rapport on which our whole life is based and thus even things not seen and things hoped for, do not ever seem an impossibility. That is why our tradition defines faith as our personal response to a self-revealing God. Lumen Fidei the encyclical that came out in the year of faith (2012-2013), explains faith as our response to the Word which engages us personally (n.8).

At times we look at faith as a set of truths to be accepted and believed in - whether we understand or not, whether we are convinced or not, whether we have a possibility to prove it to others or experience it for ourselves...at times in the name of religion we are ready to judge those who seek to question these, even if it were to understand them better! But have we shown that readiness in deepening our own relationship with God, our experience of the Divine who accompanies us every moment of our lives. Yes, faith being a relationship, is matter of daily experience and not just of extraordinary moments. It is easier for us, to look within ourselves and identify when this faith runs short, than to see it when it is there!

Today's readings give us three indications of the lack of faith... in order to educate us towards growing in faith.

One of the familiar indications of lack of faith is Pessimism. The world today is flooded with pessimism - words like crisis, conflict, melt-down, inflation, decadence, terrorism, fundamentalism, authoritarianism, fascism are most commonly heard terms these days. The first reading too presents a situation similar to today's -Violence, destruction, troubles, strife, contention -but it ends with that assurance: 'the righteous shall live by faith!' (Hab 2:4). Growing in faith is to fight against any pessimism creeping into our thoughts, our spirit and our outlook.

The second indication that the readings point to, is Panic. 'God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline' (2 Tim 1:7). Where there is faith there will be power, if faith is a love relationship with God, there can be no fear, 'for there is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear' (1 Jn 4:18). When I begin to fear a situation or a person or a consequence, it is an indication that my faith needs nurturing.

The third indication is the reason for both the preceding ones. It is Pride. The perfect contrast to faith is human pride! If faith is surrender, pride inspires resistance. If faith is to relate, pride creates rebellion. If faith aids perseverance, pride instigates me to quit. Both pessimism and panic are in a way fruits of pride within. Humility is a fruit of faith; it is a realisation of who oneself is - a humble servant of God, with all the capabilities and limitations, working one's way towards building up the Reign of God here and now. It is Lumen Fidei again which beautifully states, 'Faith is God's gift, which calls for humility and courage to trust and to entrust' (n.14).

Pessimism, Panic and Pride - are contrary to faith! Pessimism creates despair, panic destroys peace and pride makes me inhuman. May my prayer, 'Increase my faith' be accompanied by my personal efforts to trust, love and surrender myself unconditionally to the One who loves me so unconditionally!

Lord, increase our faith! Amen.

Learning to Unlearn

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

October 2, 2025: Celebrating the Guardian Angel
Exodus 23: 20-23; Matthew 18: 1-5,10

'From Knowledge to Ignorance' is a famous title of one of the Spiritual thinkers of India. It may sound a bit odd but there is deep truth in the perspective and that is the message of the Word and the feast today - learning to unlearn. We run the risk of getting too used to the great things that God keeps doing for us. At times, due to some setbacks that we could possibly experience in our life, or due to some troublesome moments or irreplaceable losses, we might tend to forget all that has gone by so well and so many things that are still in store, within the grandeur of the plan of God. After all, what are we but simple and foolish mortal beings!

The Feast of the Guardian Angels is an invitation to learn, to learn to unlearn, to learn to constantly learn every moment of our lives, and experience the accompaniment of the Lord in a concrete manner. Every moment of our lives, we are being watched over and protected in love. We believe in an accompanying God, a God who has promised, never to leave our side and to be with us till the end of this world.

We lack the Wisdom to understand the plans of God in all its details but with the little that we are capable of, we pretend to be masters of everything! It is important that we realise our limitedness inspite of our great acomplishments, that we acknowledge the wisdom in God's plan in spite of our nothingness. If our eyes are truly open to what is happening around, if our ears are genuinely open the Words that come from above, if our hearts are absolutely open to the promptings of the Lord, then we would open our lives to the Lord and we grasp the eternal sense according to the mind of God.

We would learn to see God present with us unceasingly, only if have the open mind of a Child, without prejudices and reservations, without judgements and pretensions. The Gospel instructs us against taking anyone for granted - because no one is alone! Every one is accompanied, by none less than our God. We celebrate today the accompanying God; In order that we grow to be more and more perceptive to the presence of God with us and feel the accompanying God concretely on our life journey, we need to constantly learn to unlearn our mental blocks and prejudiced ideas. The Word teaches us everyday, let us resolve to learn from the Word and unlearn all futile thoughts.