PRESENCE, PEACE & BLESSING

Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God - World Peace Day - New Year Day

January 1, 2026: Numbers 6:22-27; Galatians 4:4-7; Luke 2: 16-21

It is a fresh start, a new year, a treasure of 365 days!

It is a Gift, a gift in all ways: precious, beautiful, wrapped and presented. First of all, it would be too rude not to receive it as a gift. Secondly, it is wrapped...and it is important that we receive it with a sense of wonder, surprise and gratitude. Trying to know everything, in the name of predictions and presumptions, would strip it of its wonder! To approach it with a wry and dry mentality will make it devoid of its surprise. Let us approach it with gratitude and a sense of childlike curiosity, prepared to receive the gift on daily basis, one day at a time!

The greatest gift we can have, that with which we begin every new year, is the loving presence of God! The babe in the manger is a the highest gift that we can have. The Emmanuel, God with us, is the most precious gift that we can behold. That the Lord is with us fills us with hope: that whatever it be as the year unfolds day by day, we would never be alone facing it. We have the Lord with us, all the time, every day and every moment.

The gift of the new born Saviour is what we celebrate today: Mary, the Mother of God! The Mother of God is a gift, a reminder and a challenge to us. The Mother of God, is a gift: God gives her to us as a protector, a guide, a refuge as we begin this new year, with all its surprises. The Mother of God, is the reminder of the Word made flesh, the Lord who has cast away all distance and difference and become one like us, just to show us how much God loves us. The Mother of God is a challenge, a challenge to give, to give endlessly. She gave herself, when the Angel approached her! She gave the world the Son of God, born of a woman, when the fullness of time came. She gave that child to the Lord, offered him in the temple and offered him to the Father's work! She gave her young son, for the sake of the salvation of the world. She gave up everything and gave everything! She stands as a challenge for us today, to give, to give and never to count!

The gift of an year! This year, which is given into our hands today, as a gift hamper, will be filled with peace if we live it in the way that the Lord wants us to; after the example of our Blessed Mother. She said that yes, and she said that for her whole life, not knowing what it meant and where it will lead her. All that she was assured was, the Lord was with her. We are assured too that the Lord's presence will go with us, that the Lord's countenance with shine on us. Let us begin with hope and that will give us peace.

The gift of peace! Peace be with you - that is the message that the Holy Father gives us on this 59th World day of Peace... he wishes the world a peace that is "unarmed and disarming". Pope Leo in his message reflects: "Goodness is disarming. Perhaps this is why God became a child. The mystery of the Incarnation, which reaches its deepest descent even to the realm of the dead, begins in the womb of a young mother and is revealed in the manger in Bethlehem. “Peace on earth,” sing the angels, announcing the presence of a defenseless God" -  there lies the key to peace. Not in threatening the other with economic or emotional sanctions... but in being defenceless in our choice for good, for the good of the other, and the for the good of all. The choice has to me personal, absolute and sincere! We have a whole year to practice this choice, haven't we?

May the Lord bless you and keep you!

May the Lord let his face shine upon you, and be gracious to you!

May the Lord look upon you kindly and give you peace!

May your New year 2026 be filled with God's presence, peace and every blessing!

Sing to the Lord a NEW song!

WORD 2day: December 31, 2025

7th day in Christmas Octave - 1 John 2: 18-21; John 1: 1-18.

Oh what a day to sing a new song! When everyone thinks of something that is ending, the Word calls us today to sing a new song! Not that the liturgy does not take note of the last day... it does! The first reading indeed, speaks of the last days and the things that pertain to the last day! But the responsorial invites us to sing a new song!

That is truly a Christ-ian spirit! To sing a new song when every one thinks everything is coming to its end, for our hope has no end. It is a beginning for us... a new beginning, in the Lord, in whom we have "received grace upon grace" (John 1:16). Interesting to listen to the Gospel, which begins, 'In the beginning there was Word.' It is indeed a moment of faith.

Today is a day to thank the Lord for everything, for everything that we have walked through this year. Some, we may label 'good', and others we may label 'bad'... but invariably everything has happened with the knowledge of God and there is nothing more blessed than to offer everything up into the hands of God this day, as we await an all new grace from God's hands... a new year that begins at the end of this day.

With all the increasing hate-mongering and violence-inducing events around, it could be that the uppermost feeling today is one of a painful sigh or a yearning cry, but let us not let that happen. Let us not give into any kind of hopelessness today. Let us not allow ourselves to be surrounded by some fearful darkening recall of disturbing experiences from the year that is just passing us by.

Let us decide and choose to prepare ourselves in thanksgiving, to receive an all new grace from God's hands, a grace of 365 days - a brand new 2026!

One who does the will of God, lives forever

WORD 2day: December 30, 2025

6th day in the Christmas Octave - 1John 2: 12-17; Luke 2: 36-40

The feast of the Holy Family has just gone by, but the theme lingers on in today's liturgy - the first reading addressed to various categories of persons in the family, the psalm inviting the families to offer themselves to the Lord and the Gospel referring to the holy family at the temple, to offer the first born to the Lord! The cue to the message is prophetess Anna and the last verse of the first reading which says, "one who does the will of God, lives for ever" (1 Jn 2:17).

What does a family do to you? It helps you grow, grow physically, emotionally, relationally, in short, into whole human persons!

In the family, we are all called to 'grow and become strong', and to be filled with wisdom... wisdom which tells us what is God's will for us; what is acceptable and what is not, in the eyes of the Lord! What is that which helps us stay with God's will and what is that which takes us away from it.

There is yet another growth that has to be underlined: our growth in faith. Faith is not acquired once for all; every day we grow, we grow to the full into persons that God wants us to be. We have no excuse, because God's favour is upon us all as chosen children of God; if I do not grow and become strong in faith, it is me who is to be blamed, is it not?

The key to all these is perceiving, knowing and following God's will, which is simply deciding and desiring to do what would please God and God alone. That difficulties would crop when we do so, yes, it is true. But the one who does the will of God, shall live forever!

Secrets laid bare

WORD 2day: 29th December, 2025

5th day in the Christmas Octave - 1 John 2: 3-11; Luke 2: 22-35

One of the key elements of an authentic spirituality should be to lay bare all secrets. Jesus was doing exactly that, and that is one reason the pharisees and the Scribes could not put up with him.

The way Jesus did it, was by making the criteria cut and dry. He stood far from multiplying requirements and rituals. He simplified the commandments and kept to the basics. He brought everything down to one commandment and this laid everything bare. No amount of beating around the bush would matter anymore... do you love or not - that's the plain question! 

That was indeed, the only question which had to be answered and John so plainly brings it out in today's first reading. He explains lack of love as the lack of light - as darkness! It is simple according to John too... one cannot show oneself as "spiritual", as someone who loves God, except through the love for one's brothers and sisters. Love is the light that has come into the world, according to John; accepting it or not depends on each of us. 

Let your love be genuine (Rom 12): St. Paul too understood this key, the key to being Christlike!

LESSONS FROM THE HOLY FAMILY

To individuals, families and the communities!

December 28, 2025: Solemnity of the Holy Family
Ecclesiasticus 3: 2-6,12-14; Colossians 3: 12-21; Matthew 2:13-15, 19-23

Increasing number of Homes for the Aged, Orphanages, Day care centres and Night shelters for the kids on the streets, alarming rate of divorces and split families, the ridiculous family feuds and meaningless stand offs among the relatives within a family... these are no strange scenes today in a Christian Community! And much more, these are vivid testaments of a collapsing Christian faith.

Christian faith is a faith of a Community, from the earliest times known it is experienced, lived and shared in a community; and the basic unit of the community is the family. That is the reason for using the beautiful term, 'domestic church' referring to the family. It is there, that the Church grows from a seed to a seedling and then to an orchard of God's love. The Solemnity today, intends to rekindle in us our respect for families, our commitment to living our faith in our families and as families to become the nuclei of God's love that can give birth to a whole new world, a world of love, peace, joy and fellowship.

The Holy Family of Nazareth presents to us a wonderful project towards this dream:

To the Families: BE GOD CENTERED! The first reading invites us to reflect on the fact that a Christian Family is constituted by God. It is not merely the man and the woman who come together to make the family, but it is the Lord who brings them together. The second reading affirms the same in the words of St. Paul, who elsewhere points out that marriage should lead to mutual sanctification of the partners (1 Cor 7:14). As long as God is the centre of a family, the family will remain united, bonded in the love of God.

God was at the centre, in the Holy Family... God commanded, the family carried out. They listened to God, obeyed God and took directions from God. There were difficult commands to carry out, but they carried out. There were terrible issues involved, they stuck together. There were challenges to face, they did it all without losing their serenity. All because they had God, right at the centre of their family...they listened to God and took directions from God! Do we as a family, listen to God and take directions from God?

To the Individuals: BE FAMILY CENTERED! The individualistic and materialistic tendencies of the society at large, have begun to affect the individual families drastically. Individuals within a family, far from thinking of the well being of the other, have begun to calculate the gain they have from the rest of the family and stoop to dirty levels of hurting the other for one's own good!

The Good of the Family was the uppermost criterion in the Holy Family... Mary did not mind the running around, be it when she was still carrying or after the delivery; Joseph did not mind taking up the burdens of transferring them every time; all that was in their mind was the Good of the Family and Jesus was no exception as Luke says in his Gospel, "he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them' (Lk 2:51). Do we as individuals, place the good of the others in the family before my own interests?

To the Churches: BE COMMUNION CENTERED! The Local Churches, that is the parishes, are essentially God's Family of families. In the wise and eternal plan of our loving Lord, the Universal Church in the world is the communion of Churches in various nations, namely the dioceses; the Diocesan church is the communion of the local parish churches; the Parish church has to be the communion of the domestic churches, that is the Family! All of us united in the name of the Father, Son and the Spirit, who invite us to form one, big, universal family of loving hearts - that family which is called the REIGN OF GOD.

The Holy Family did everything with just one objective in mind: that God's will be done. Mary said that to Angel Gabriel: Let it be done unto me according to your will, and ever since she did nothing but obey the Lord with thanks, praise and reflection in her heart. Joseph carried out every command that was given to him without speaking a word of doubt or objection - all for the will of God to be done. Do we as part of a parish church or a faith community, do our part to grow in our communion with each other, towards forming one, big, God's family - the Reign of God? 

This year we shall be missing out on the feast of the Holy Innocents, but they are certainly and succintly presented to us by the background of the Gospel when we read shuttling of the Haly between Egypt and Bethlehem. Let us take to heart the lessons from the Holy Family today...and as families be God centered, as individuals be Family centered and as a Parish be Communion centered.

Joy - the sign of Christian life and ministry

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

December 27, 2025: Remembering St. John, the Evangelist
1 John 1:1-14; John 20: 2-8

The Christmas joy continues, even as we commemorate St.John the Evangelist today. "The Joy of the Gospel fills the hearts and lives of all who encounter Jesus," says the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, no. 1. Though the Gospel today draws our attention to the scene of the resurrection, the message is more focused on the all important encounter with Christ that redefines one's life. When a person encounters Christ in all earnestness, there is a choice, a categorical choice for Christ and Christ's mission!

As St. Paul affirms that it is no merit that an apostle proclaims the Word, but woe to him if he does not (1 Cor 9:16), today we see John explaining that in the first reading: I am called to announce Christ, not merely because others will benefit from it; but primarily that my joy may be complete (1 Jn 1:4). That is the Christmas joy too, the joy of beholding the revelation of God's love and sharing it with the other.

For a Christ-ian, a joy-filled proclamation of Christ is the only way to live his or her life - joyfully proclaiming Christ in every word, every action and every choice that is made, at every moment of one's daily life. 

The Reign Dream

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

December 26, 2025: St. Stephen, the first Martyr

Acts 6: 8-10, 7: 54-59; Matthew 10: 17-22

Persecutions and Martyrdom have never been alien to Christian Faith. St. Stephen is the first Biblical evidence to it. Continuing in the line of the prophets and persons of God who have been treated at will by the world in the Old Testament, we see Jesus and most of his disciples facing the same end in the New Testament.

Religious fanaticism and the consequent discrimination and communalism is dangerously being justified these days as patriotism and conservatism! Be it the secularistic values that is spread globally, or the anti-secular system that is being forced into the fabric of tolerance and conviviality in great enviable traditions, the hate speeches and hidden agenda... these are signs of anti-Reign elements in the world today.

St. Stephen knew what it meant to suffer for the Reign and die for Christ; it meant suffering for the things that really matter; it meant standing for true beliefs and convictions that can elevate your spirit to the heavens open and the angels coming down!

It was Stephen who also imitated his Master literally: While Jesus prayed for those who crucified him and offered his spirit into the hands of his loving Father, Stephen prayed for those who stoned him and surrendered his spirit into Jesus' hands. What an example for us to emulate! Not only praying what Stephen prayed but seeing what he saw: the open heavens - that is open hearts, high ideals, profound humanity, in short, the Reign dream!

Buono e Santo Natale a tutti!

 

Merry Christmas to all

 

CHRISTMAS NOVENA - Day 9: O Morning Star!

24th December: O Morning Star...

The 7 O-Antiphons are over with yesterday...
but the Novena ends today...with the rising of the Morning Star!

O Morning Star, Radiance of eternal light
Sun of Justice, come and enlighten those who live in darkness
and in the Shadow of death.

Morning Star, actually is the star that is seen in the east shining bright just before the dawn! It is considered the imminent sign of the morning that is already rising.

The Lord is not just near...but the Lord is here!!!
We celebrate the Rising Star, the Morning Star that announces the break of day!
The Lord comes to rule in our hearts, not just in the world...
Let us prepare ourselves..for the Lord is here

The Reign - God's abode here and now!

THE WORD IN ADVENT

Fourth Wednesday in Advent - December 24, 2025

2 Samuel 7: 1-5,8-12,14,16; Luke 1: 67-79

The Reign, which is the hope of the trustful pilgrims, can be demonstrated in varied ways. It is true that we have to work for it, strain our way to make its presence felt... but we would be terribly mistaken to think that it is our doing! That is the mistake that David does, as we see in the Word today. 

When David resolves to build an abode for God, God retorts: are you going to build a house for me? I shall build a house for you, says the Lord. The first message of the Word today is - that God makes a house... God forms us into a people, gives us an identity and commissions us with our lives which are challenged to become a sign and sacramente of God's presence wherever we are.

The Lord, not only builds a house for us God's children, but deigns to make God's own home amidst us. Emmanuel... whom we have prepared to behold and we are all set to receive in few hours from now... is absolutely God with us. In Jesus' vicinity to us, we see God making home with us and becoming part of our being and our experience.

The Lord comes to visit us, making a home with us amply signifies that. The Lord does not only come to visit us, but to stay with us, stay in us and stay in every experience that makes up our lives. The Lord abides here and now, in the present, at every moment and at every instance of our lives. Hence Reign, is not something we arrive at... it is something we abide in, and something that will allow God to abide here and now, amidst us, within us and with us. 

Emmanuel, God is with us; and the Reign is where God is, where God abides... here and now.    

CHRISTMAS NOVENA - Day 8: O Emmanuel

23rd December: O Emmanuel

O Emmanuel, our king and our lawgiver,
the hope of the nations and their Saviour:
Come and save us, O Lord our God.

Based on the famous prophecy of Isaiah 7:14, the title Emmanuel is the key to the mystery of incarnation. The presence of God with the people was the greatest of the promises that they could experience. Be it with Abraham or with Moses or with Joshua or with the people who were walking in the desert, one of the prominent promises that God gave was to be with them! Christ comes as the fulfilment and the most complete expression as that promise: as God among us.

The symbol is the virgin with the child in the manger. It is not just any child, but the promised salvation of the God of the universe, the king who has come to meet his subjects to make them co-heirs to his throne. The manger is a lovely symbol that unites the heaven and the earth, the Divine and the human!

The presence of the Lord is salvific; one who has experienced it cannot remain silent - he or she has to go out and share it, make every one else experience that presence! This is the crux of evangelisation: it is not proselytisation, not sheep stealing and increasing the numbers within a fold. It is sharing that salvific presence that one has experienced, from the Lord. The first call is to experience the God-with-us, the presence of the Lord with us, and the call that follows is to share that presence with those around - that is salvation.

The prayer is to the Lord our God to save us by God's saving presence... in simple words it is a beseeching to stay with us, to live with us. to sanctify us, to make us worthy of God and of God's great big family.

The Reign - an attentive beholding!

THE WORD IN ADVENT

Fourth Tuesday in Advent - December 23, 2025

Malachi 3: 1-4, 23-24; Luke 1: 57-66

We are in the last step of preparation towards the commemoration of the great Incarnation moment! Just as our 24 day long preparation towards this feast this year, the original incarnation event had its preparation too, only that it was a bit longer, longer by let us say a few centuries... yes, there was a patient and compassionate preparation on the part of God... preparing God's people generation after generation to behold that peak moment of revelation. 

The preparation, which Malachi compares to the skillful precision of a silversmith, was so patient that some were not strong enough to wait; it was so compassionate that it did not leave out even those who did not have the strength. Yes, the Lord prepared with everyone in embrace; no one is  left out of that compassion. 

The preparation of God was so attentive - no one, no detail was left unattended, just as a silversmith cannot afford to take his or her eyes off the precious metal that is being worked on. God had the divine eyes fixed on each of us, with love and understanding, preparing each of us. We see that in the Gospel today...how every one was being prepared - John the new born, his parents, those around - everyone; the whole creation is gearing up to behold the coming of the One, the One Saviour, the Son of God. 

For us, the pilgrims of hope, for whom the hope is the Reign, the Reign is being prepared with attention, patience and compassion... just as the Lord who is preparing it with attention, we are called to behold it with attention. There could be experiences and responses that can make us lose the attention and focus on other matters that may not be proportionately important or urgent! The Word calls our attention today, towards an attentive beholding of the Reign. 

Inversion - the Reign-version

THE WORD IN ADVENT

Fourth Monday in Advent - December 22, 2025

1 Samuel 1: 24-28; Luke 1: 46-56

We are in the last days of preparation towards the great event of Christmas, the commemoration of the Incarnational moment. The incarnation is in fact an inversion, an inversion willed by God. The Word presents to us the significance of this inversion as Reign-version! 

The Reign, the hope of the pilgrims, is in fact, a logic of inversion: the poor empowered, the lowly raised, the weak strengthened, the hungry filled... the Reign is the inversion of the popular world order, the so-called normal of the world, the common logic approved - all for the sake of establishing the sovereignty of God. 

This inversion is the fruit of the Lord's promise - we see this expressed in the first reading with Hannah's song, that great song expressing the praises of the Lord, lovingly and gratefully adapted my our Blessed Mother in her magnificat. 

The inversion is the sign of Lord's supremacy - the last word is of the Lord. There could be people and the whole society holding up a system, but what really matters is what God has willed. When the system and the Divine will do not coincide, there is always a conflict that humanity experiences and a crisis it has to handle. 

The inversion is the Lord's marvelous ways -  the incredible ways of the Lord, the inconceivable grandeur of God's plan, the mystery of God's design is the real structure of the Reign. The Reign is not just an extension of what we think is good or better... but it is an inversion, it is a total and absolute shift of excellence proper to God's ways!

The Root of Jesse... is a symbol of radicality of God's promise... which is certain to come true. It may delay, but shall not delay anymore... it shall certainly come alive in the Word becoming flesh.

CHRISTMAS NOVENA - Day 7: O King of Nations

22nd December: O King of Nations

O King of the nations, and their desire,
the cornerstone making both one:
Come and save the human race,
which you fashioned from clay.

Based on Isaiah 9:6, 2:4 and 28:16, the King of the nations is a yearning of the people of Israel. They wanted Yahweh to be their king always, even when they had a human king ruling them. That is why they did not give in to the Emperor worship that was so widespread in the dominant cultures of their times. God is the king, forever and over all!

The Symbol is the crown, and some times even the sceptre, that signifies the central place that God has in our personal and universal history; and the authority that rests solely with God. Remember the feast we celebrate just before beginning the advent, that is on the last Sunday of the Ordinary time - that is the adaptation of the same theology of Israel, into the Christian way of life.

Today power is misused for manipulation and arriving at hidden agenda; power which is given to certain persons for the sake of furthering the care of humanity is used to destroy the very humanity. Who is to be blamed? Those who manipulate it? Yes, of course. But what about those who let them do it? those who keep silent when it is done? If it is true that we have accepted God as our King, Christ as our King, it means we have accepted Truth, Justice, Love and Peace. Anything that, or anyone who goes against these, just cannot be sided with - it would be a wrong allegiance, a slavery!

The prayer is to save the human kind, from slaveries of sin and death to the freedom of the children of God, for that is what we are, children created in the image and likeness of God. It is to grow in this identity and dignity that the coming of the Lord invites us.

KEEP CALM AND ENTER THE REIGN

Listen, Liken and Live...

Fourth Sunday in Advent - December 21, 2025

Isaiah 7:10-14;  Romans 1: 1-17; Matthew 1:18-24

We are on the fourth Sunday of Advent already, and the great event of Christmas is just around the corner! It fills us with a child-like excitement and that is pure and holy joy... may it fill our days and our hearts. However, it should fill us also with an anxiety - not about the loads of work and errands that rest yet pending... but about how prepared are we internally and spiritually. How has these three weeks that we have come by, served the purpose of preparing ourselve towards receiving once again the great message of Incarnation? Having raised that initial question, let us look at the wonderful message that the Word has to offer us today!

We have read and reflected on the readings of today, be it the first or the Gospel, over and over gains these days! Because that is the message in the air... that the coming of the Lord, the great prophesied, pre-announced, long-awaited coming of the Lord is at hand. As pilgrims of the Reign... we have been preparing for the coming of the Lord as the coming of the Reign... what do we really do, as the Reign draws close at hand? Keep Calm, says the Word... Keep Calm and Enter the Reign!

Yes, what is expected of us is not a clamorous running hither and tither, in the name of getting ready to receive the Lord or the Reign... in fact, both are already amidst us. What we need to do is, keep calm and recognise them. Keep calm and enter the Reign, gradually, peacefully, serenely but determinedly. This message is given to us by the instrumentality of two wonderful personages in the Readings today - David and Joseph!

The name of David is heard in all the three readings today... David becomes a key figure whenever we enter the season of advent, and whenever we speak of the kingship of Christ or the coming of his Reign. Apart from so many things that David was known for... one of his personality traits that stands out is the way he faced crises: be it his personal crisis of fall from grace and return to God's favour, or the threat in his young age when Saul was after his life, or the entire episode of coup d'etat organised against his by his own son Absalom. They were intense moments of uncertainty and terror, but David never lost his heart or his mind. He was firm and recollected, even on the run. The reason: he stood on the promises of the Lord. And the Lord, remained faithful to the promises right unto the end!

Joseph, the son of David - that is how the Angel addresses him, is prepared today for the upcoming great event. Mary, we saw right at the beginning of the advent, was prepared already and here, Joseph is made ready too! Only thing that remains is, the entry of the King, the baby-king! The Joseph-David connection is not merely a name-sake, or a genetic connection. It is about the personalities. Joseph, just like David, handled crises with ease, peace and trust. Be it the moment when he found out that Mary was with a child in her womb, or when he had to scout around with an any-time ready to deliver pregnant wife on a mule, or when there was a rumour that the king was out to kill his new born baby boy...Joseph handled it all with a calm that was incredible. The reason: he stood on the promises of the Lord - the virgin shall conceive and bear and son, and you shall name him Emmanuel.

The promise was not so much about the 'virgin who shall conceive a son', as about 'Emmanuel'. Yes, the real promise is the second part... Emmanuel - God is with us! God is with us, so we can face any situation. That is what St. Paul declares in the second reading offering "peace and grace" in the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of God and a descendant of David. Here is the King, here is the Reign... all that we need to do is keep calm and enter that Reign, in grace and peace. 

The time is ripe. We are called now to calm down, silence our minds and our hearts and become aware of the preciousness of this moment. The Lord is close. The Lord is here. The Lord is with us - Emmanuel. In these last three days, calmly, peacefully, gently, can we behold the Lord, behold the Reign and realise the presence and the promise come true!

How do we do it? First, let us listen to the Lord! Isaiah says that with firmness in the first reading: Listen, house of David... do not try the patience of God. God continues to speak to us, communicate with us and reveal Godself to us...can we just stop our fretting, and Listen?!

Secondly, we are called to liken ourselves to God... to the son of God who comes to reveal to us the way we can live the Reign, make it present and manifest it to the world around us.  St. Paul reminds us of this fact in the first reading. He says, we are "called to belong to Jesus Christ" (v. 6); we are "called to be saints" (v. 7a)... in short we are called to grow up in his image, in the image that he revealed to us, the Imago Dei.

Thirdly, we are called to live for God. That is the concrete way of making the Reign come, that is the only way of entering the Reign. Just as David and Joseph did in their lives, becoming stupendous instruments in the hands of God, towards bringing God's Son into the world, so are we called to become instruments in bringing the Reign of God into the world. 

Hence, getting closer and closer to the great commemoration of the Incarnation event, the liturgy today gives us a strong, challenging message: Keep calm, and enter the Reign.

CHRISTMAS NOVENA - Day 6: O Rising dawn

21st December: O Rising dawn

O Morning Star,
Splendour of light eternal and sun of righteousness:
Come and enlighten those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death.

Based on Isaiah 9:2 and Isaiah 60:1-2, the title in Latin O Oriens, actually means literally O Rising Sun or Dawn, but for poetic sense translated as Morning Star, refers to the power of God's light to lead us from ignorance to knowledge and from mere knowledge to enlightenment.

The Symbol is the Rising Sun, which dispels the darkness of the night and wakes the light of the morning, inviting all to life and activity. The coming of the Lord for us is a wake up call, an invitation to live as people of the light and not of darkness!

Today we see people disputing with each other, clamouring to be right in contrast to another, remain divided among themselves because of their allegiance to someone or some ideology - are they really certain where lies the real truth? Even within the Church today we see people polarising themselves, unnecessarily for the sake of some ideologies and philosophies - Apostle Paul warned us long back - do not be deceived by all these ideologies and philosophies, cling on to Christ and Christ alone is the enlightenment of God, who can clarify the real truths of our life.

The prayer is for enlightenment, that in these times of confusion and crisis, confounding choices and staggering philosophies, we might remain always in the light of faith, that not only helps us see the Lord, but see with the eyes of the Lord (Lumen Fidei).

CHRISTMAS NOVENA - Day 5: O Key of David

20th December: O Key of David

O Key of David and sceptre of the House of Israel;
you open and no one can shut;
you shut and no one can open:
Come and lead the prisoners from the prison house,
those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death.

Based on Isaiah 22:22, Isaiah 9:7 and Isaiah 42:7, the reference is to the sovereignty of God's Reign. That the throne shall have no end is a Messianic prophecy that, God will be established the Lord of history! Liberation of the oppressed and the fullness of life of all, is the sign of the Reign.

The symbol is the key to signify the authority that the Lord has, in creating, changing and structuring the whole history. It also signifies the perfect control that God has over time and space, life and being, but all these understood not in terms of domination but a love that creates and sustains.

Evil is real! Let us not deceive ourselves thinking it is imaginary, no it is real and the evil one is prowling round like a roaring lion, looking for someone to eat. This is not a matter to be worried about, as long as we commit ourselves to the One key, which alone can open or close time, space or history - the Lord! Liberation, we think has to come from afar. But it is already given to us by the Lord, we just need to choose it! When we choose the key to liberation, we choose liberation!

The prayer is for liberation... to be led towards fullness of life that is the experience of the Reign on earth. It is also a commitment to work towards, to contribute one's might and mite, to choose with all our heart and our strength, the Lord, the key to fullness, towards establishing the Reign here and now!

The Reign - constant presence of God

THE WORD IN ADVENT

Third Saturday in Advent - December 20, 2025

Judges 13: 2-7, 24-25; Luke 1: 26-38

 

Like the light that shines all over and enters every corner, does God fill this creation and especially our lives. 'Emmanuel' is the best self-definition and natural description that God can have. And what we are about celebrate in a few days, is the highest of the manifestations of Godself to humanity - and a manifestation in the most understandable terms - God becoming human, God with us, and God as one of us. 

The promise and the fulfilment - that is what we reflect today in the Word. The Reign is about the promises of the Lord, we have reflected that more that a few times this season of Advent. The promise of God's closeness to us - I shall be with you, I shall never forsake you, my hand shall not leave you... these promises are realised, not just in history, but everyday today affirms the Word.

God does not say, call upon me and I shall come... for the Lord is all the time with us. This is the reason the prophets tell us: when the poor man cries, the Lord hears; when you call upong the Lord, the Lord answers... for the Lord is right there beside us. The feast of Christmas that we are preparing ourselves towards, is a fulfilment of that promise reminding us that the presence of the Lord is a constant in our lives. 

Hence, the Reign that we wish for is not something that has to enter from somewhere! It is right amidst us as Jesus reminded us... because it is practically the presence of God with us. Being there all the time with us, to wish the Reign comes is to wish that each one realises the presence of it and regard that presence making a difference in our daily lives. 

CHRISTMAS NOVENA - Day 4: O Root of Jesse

19th December: O Root of Jesse

O Root of Jesse, standing as a sign among the peoples;
before you kings will shut their mouths,
to you the nations will make their prayer:
Come and deliver us, and delay no longer.

Based on Isaiah 11:1, Isaiah 11:10, the title Root of Jesse, refers to the promise of the Lord to raise the Messiah from the line of David (the son of Jesse). It is a promise of deliverance that the Lord gives the people of Israel, and to everyone who believes in the Lord.

The Symbol is that of the shoot flowering... signalling the hope that the Lord offers in times when everything seems dark and dead. Look at the exodus event, the miracles in the desert, the water from the rock, the guidance by day and night - everyone of these was a sign of God's promises being fulfilled. The final fulfillment and the pinnacle of everything was - Incarnation, that which we are preparing to celebrate.

Promises of the Lord will never fail... it may look like it, but things will change. There may be enemies plotting around, there may be situations that go out of control and there may be evil all around me - I will give up and compromise when I think there is no hope. But when here is hope, when I stand on the promises of the Lord, I will never give up!

The prayer today is to reinforce that HOPE...that we may always look forward to the deliverance that the Lord can offer! Note that the readings of the liturgy too relate to the same sense of hope in the Lord who accomplishes marvels for us! Never let anyone rob you of your hope, reminds our Holy Father.

The Reign - Promise of New things!

THE WORD  IN ADVENT

Third Friday in Advent - December 19, 2025

Judges 13: 2, 7, 24-25; Luke 1: 5-25

Today the Word presents to us two promises made... both of which amount to a categorical sense of the Reign! The are promises of the Reign... promises of new things that God is doing for each of us. 

First of all they are promises of dignity - be it Samson's mother or Elizabeth the mother of John the Baptist, they were subject to disregard and despise in the society for no fault of theirs. Their very dignity was at stake due to what they were not able to accomplish - an undue expectation justified by the society... the promise they receive amounts to clear them from that cloud of objectification, offering them a sense of dignity before the world. This is typically a Reign-promise.

Secondly, it shines out as a promise of fullness - regardless of what the society labelled them or pressurised them with, there would have been a sense of incompleteness within them, an aspiration that they could not realise, although "normally" they should have been able to. A sense of incompetence, or a sense of being less-fortunate would have tormented them. The promise that comes today, offers them the hope of fullness, a sense of accomplishment. We see another characteristic of a Reign-promise - offering the possibility of fullness, a sense of fulfilment. 

Thirdly, the promise grants them a new identity: from a woman not even named in the passage, she is raised to an identity of the mother of Samson, a great Judge over Israel; from a title of being a barren woman, Elizabeth becomes the mother of the one who was called "the greatest of all born of women". A Reign-promise changes one's identity, enhances it and takes it a totally new plane. 

The Reign is a promise in itself - offering each of us, especially those who are in an earnest seeking, a sense of dignity, a sense of fullness, a new identity, the identity of being new creations. Yes, the Reign is in itself a promise to humanity, a promise to each of us - a promise of new things!

CHRISTMAS NOVENA - Day 3 : O Adonai

Day 3 - December 18: O Adonai...

O Adonai, and leader of the house of Israel
who appeared to Moses in the fire of the burning bush
and gave him the law on Sinai:
Come and redeem us with an outstretched arm.

Based on Isaiah 11:45 and Isaiah 33:22, the title Adonai, refers to the Lordship of Yahweh, that the people of Israel always stressed on. From a generic universal history that yesterday's "Wisdom" reminded us of, today's "Adonai" comes down to the particular experience of Exodus, the watershed of the Spirituality of the people of Israel.

The Symbols are burning bush, to remind the experience when Moses surrendered to Yahweh and the stone tablets of the commandments, the symbol of Israel's surrender to Yahweh. What is stressed is the Lordship of Yahweh, which is the key to the God-experience of the Israel and our faith-experience today.

The Lord of Israel, our God is Supreme over all beings of the earth or the heavens, the Lord of history and the Lord of the future. This is nothing that God would insist on holding on to, because God stands to gain nothing whether we accept or reject God's losrdship; it is we who stand to gain or lose! When we accept the Lordship of the Creator, we find meaning, significance and purpose in everything that happens in our life; when we do not surrender, every bit of what happens can become a concern and a cause for sadness and dissatisfaction. Hence the call is to Surrender, to the lordship of the Lord.

The prayer today is that of a SURRENDER... into the redeeming power of God, to be led by the Lord's hands always - from darkness to light, from folly to wisdom, from death to life!

Branches of justice...all for the Reign!

THE WORD IN ADVENT

Third Thursday in Advent - December 18, 2025

Jeremiah 23: 5-8; Matthew 1: 18-24

Getting closer to the great event of Christmas, the Word introduces  us to the person of Joseph - the son of David, the heir of David chosen for the coming of the Son of God, the just man chosen for the rise of the branch of justice from David. 

The name of David repeats itself in the Word today - and we know the significance of that person in the history of Israel... apart from Moses whom God called a "friend", David is the only person that God expressed a sense of belonging calling him "my servant" (see 1 Kings 11). Because, in spite of his weaknesses and fragility, David's filial attachment to God never diminished from the beginning till the end. That is why he shines as the epitome of God's promises.

The virtue of justice is referred to constantly today - not in the sense of justice and injustice but in the sense of being virtuous. Here it means being attached to God, choosing God above all, and doing everything from the perspective of God, the summum bonum. Virtuosity hence is godliness, that is being mindful of God and being led by God in all.

Joseph is brought to light against this background - that of David and that of justice. Joseph, the son of David, just man: just man because he was totally by the side of God. What God wanted he carried out, not counting the trouble nor seeking his comfort or convenience. He knew he was on the right, when he was on the side of God. 

As pilgrims of hope, with the Reign as our hope, we are called too - to choose the Reign, to stand by the Reign and dedicate our life and mission, all for the Reign.  

WISDOM - the Promise of the Reign

THE WORD IN ADVENT

Third Wednesday in Advent - December 17, 2025

Genesis 49: 2, 8-10; Matthew 1: 1-17

The joy of the Reign consists in the unfailing promise of God, the eternal faithfulness of God - the Sacrament of this promise is the Wisdom that comes as a fulfilment of the promise to the generations... Jesus Christ who comes in our midst, as one among us, born in the lineage of the humans to save the entire humanity, beyond any lineage or generation! 

Wisdom of the Most High, who comes to teach us the way of truth is the eternal promise of God. The Reign is this promise made concrete... it may look utopian or too ideal to be true, but it is the test of truth that we have; the proof of our faith; the exercise of our hope. It is the promise of God, that God will never leave or abandon us, especially when the times get rough or tough. 

The Genealogy presented in the Gospel passage today, leaves us wondering whether it can really be true - the continuity that is observed here. But that is not the message! The message is - what is happening is the fulfilment of the word of the Lord, the Wisdom that alone can save humanity was promised at the beginning and it is here, very close to us, right amidst us. 

The moment we accept the sovereignty of Wisdom, and acknowledge the presence at work amidst us, we shall experience the joy of the Reign... the salvific experience of the God with us. Wisdom is the way of truth, and we are given with the possibility of accessing it - that is already a great sign of hope, a great promise of the Reign. 

CHRISTMAS NOVENA - Day 2 : O Wisdom!

Day 2 - December 17: O Sapientia...

O Wisdom, coming forth from the mouth of the Most High

reaching from one end to the other,
mightily and sweetly ordering all things:
Come and teach us the way of prudence.

Based on Isaiah 11:2-3 and Isaiah 28:29... the antiphon recalls the most popular attribute given to the Spirit of the Lord and the Word of God which is seen active in creation and order of the universe. It is this Word, who becomes flesh to dwell among us (John 1:14).

The Symbol used is often...the eye within the triangle, which symbolises the Omniscient God...the Wisdom of God. The Jewish or the Davidic lampstand (with 7 sticks) is used to refer to the Wisdom of God which has accompanied the people of God right from the origins of history!

Wisdom, we know is slightly different from knowledge and could be even considered a level higher, because even a person who lack the so-called knowledge may possess the finest wisdom, while a person with all possible knowledge may prove miserably unwise! Wisdom would be that capacity to not just know, but to use what we know at the right moment in the apt manner. In our daily decision-making it amounts to actually, prudence!

The Prayer today is for PRUDENCE... to be guided always by the Lord, the Lord who dwells among us.

CHRISTMAS NOVENA - a tradition so lovely

Day 1: December 16

Novena...'O' Antiphons...Oh what a Tradition we have!!! 

Naturally the last days of the Christmas preparation are a great excitement...

The Church has a beautiful tradition of
the Novena in preparation of this wonderful festival of LOVE...

And within this novena...
leaving out the first day and the last day...
there are 7 verses from the prophecies from the Old Testament (Isaiah)
which announce the coming of the Lord's Messiah...they are named "O" Antiphons.
each of these antiphons, so meaningful and beautiful...

We pray them as Antiphons before the Gospel at the Eucharist these days...
those who pray the daily prayer of the Church (Breviary) pray it in the evening
with the hymn of our blessed mother, the Magnificat.

16th of December begins the Novena...
on this day, the antiphon, though not an O Antiphon...
sets the tone for the next 9 days...

WE BEGIN A SPECIAL SEASON OF WAITING FOR AN IMMINENT COMING OF THE LORD

The Choice for the Reign: Internal and Integral

THE WORD IN ADVENT

Third Tuesday in Advent - December 16, 2025

Zephaniah 3: 1-2,9-13; Matthew 21: 28-32

The Joy of the Reign is a choice to be made, the Word told us yesterday. Today, the reflection continues to establish and impress on our minds that this choice has to be necessarily internal and integral! Internal, because no amount of external appearance can manage to delude God to conviction; Integral, because a choice one makes has to remain coherent with his or her entire life! 

Zephaniah speaks about the famous inversive logic of God - the haughty shall be no more, the humble shall find their voice, the remnants of Israel shall begin to shine and the suffering servant shall rise in glory. It is an apt manifestation of the presence of God - for in that presence, there are no rich and the poor, the oppressed and the oppressors, the powerful and the simple... they are all reconciled in Christ - in the Reign. 

However, that requires a choice, a choice made for God... and that choice as we have already said, has to be internal and integral. It cannot be a choice out of force, fear or some sort of luring with the fortune. It comes from an internal choice, that does not care about what others think or say, how they judge or what they comment. It does not even count whether there will be a blessing as a consequence of my choice. The Choice has to be drastically internal, personal guided by a sense of clarity and dare. 

The choice thus made, has to be integral, because it cannot be conditional or provisional, nor can it be  partial. It cannot be changed when conditions change nor can it be true for some parts and not applicable for the others. The choice has to affect my entire life. I cannot go by convenience, comfort or compliance. It has to be a convinced, radical choice which I am prepared to carry out come what may. That is the reason Jesus declared, one who puts his hand to the plough but turns back, cannot inherit the Reign of God.                                                   

The Joy of the Reign: a Choice against the Ego

THE WORD IN ADVENT

Third Monday in Advent - December 15, 2025

Numbers 24: 2-7,15-17a; Matthew 21: 23-27

Balaam praises the Lord for what he sees, while not all really see what he saw! That is being a prophet... prophets are those who are gifted to see beyond. They are able to see something that we do not see, because they choose to see. They choose to see what the Lord wants them to see, not merely what they are able to or what they wish to see! A star from Jacob and sceptre from Israel... is the sign from the Spirit of what the Lord was doing for God's people. 

The joy of the Reign to which we are called this week, comes not from just situations that change or settings that favour - but from a definitive choice; a personal choice to accept and acknowledge the Divine, as we were instructed by the Word on Sunday. Most of the times the block to the joy that God wishes to grant us is - we ourselves, our selves, our self! 

We see that explicated in the Gospel today - the scribes and the pharisees come asking Jesus about his authority. They are not worried about the rightness or wrongness of his works, the rationality of his behaviour, the truth or not in his teachings... they are worried about his authority. They were feeling threatened, their authority at stake. They saw Jesus overturning the so-called order that they had created in their own authority... in fact that overturning order was the recognition of the order of God, the authority of God. 

To choose God over one's own Ego; to choose what God wills and not one's own wish; to obey God's command and not one's own whims and fancies; to choose the Divine plan in spite of the difficulties involved and inconveniences foreseen... that is choosing the joy of the Reign. It is ascribed as the joy of the Reign, because it has to be differentiated from the popular understanding of joy which is doing what I like and the way I like. The joy of the Reign, instead, is a choice against the God... the choice for God's ruling.  

REJOICE AND BE THE REIGN

Accept, Acknowledge and Announce

Gaudete Sunday - December 14, 2025

Isaiah 35: 1-6a, 10; James 5: 7-10; Matthew 11: 2-11

We reach the third Sunday of Advent, and we know the special significance of it. While the first Sunday invited us to 'stay awake for the Reign,' and the second Sunday called us to 'dare to behold the Reign,' the third Sunday deepens the call, and bids us to "Rejoice and Be the Reign"! It is a necessary growth process to shift from looking for the Reign out there, to Being the Reign, or growing to be the Reign. It takes a mighty commitment, but before that it requires that we joyfully accept the Reign and acknowledge its presence; thus our life shall become a joyful proclamation of the Reign that we behold and that we are!

To Accept the Reign is to see the signs and attribute them to the Lord's doing. It requires optimisn and hope to look at what is around and accept it as our context... while we see what dominates is a negativity, lamentation, blame game, self centredness and dissipation. The Lord declares - happy is the one who is not scandalised to accept me as the Lord and Saviour - that is where the Reign begins. To look around and pick up from the numerous possibilities, the possibility that is inspired by faith, that is, those which are inspired by presence of God and our rapport with God. 

To Acknowledge the Reign is to accept that the Reign has come, and to see the Reign already at work. The Reign is not a finished reality that would come into our world! That would be a faulty idea, when it comes to the mind of Jesus - the Reign is amidst you; the Reign is you. That is what Jesus would say. Get up, pick up your mat and walk; your faith has made you whole; go, show yourself to the priests... these were his statements, where he underlines the 'already and not yet' that his revelation stood for. The Reign is already here, and that which is not yet fully here, because I need to grow into it. The call and the challenge is therefore to become the Reign, to be the Reign. But how do we do it?

By our transforming love for the other... making the voiceless speak, making the weak strong, making the faint hearted pick up courage, making the insensitive feel the other, making the indifferent warm up their hearts... in short, by filling this world with the joy of love, the amoris laetitia! Filling this world with joy, would require that I possess that joy and that is why the prophet today cries out: rejoice! Paul in his letter to the Philipians would resound it: again I say, rejoice! Rejoice always, without ceasing because the Lord is with us and he come once again to be with us. We are people of the Reign and the Reign cannot be made present here on earth, except through us. When we are filled with that joy and we grow to be the Reign, we become the proclamations of the Reign.

To Announce the Reign - that was the mission of Christ, and that is the mission that Christ has left us too. To announce is not merely by words, we know. It is the announcement through the very persons we are, our ideals, our priorities, our values, our life, our choices, our entire being. Hence the call to BE the Reign... of course, it is a process, a process of growth, a process of self-transformation, a process of bulding up humanity, a process of spreading love and the joy of loving! The world stands in need of this love today, in need of genuine love that centres on the other, the others, the Other - that is the key to understand the Reign! 

As pilgrims of hope, reccognizant that as pilgrims our hope is the Reign, we are invited to accept and acknowledge the Reign, becoming the Reign ourselves and announcing it to the world with joy and with love!

The Zeal for the Reign

THE WORD IN ADVENT

Second Saturday in Advent - December 13, 2025

Ecclesiasticus 48: 1-4,9-12; Matthew 17: 10-13

Prophet Elijah rose like a fire, like the flaring torch... introduces the first reading today, opening a discussion on Elijah and John the Baptist in particular and on prophets in general. 

The fire of Elijah was the fire that could save us from the wrath of the fire of God according to the Ecclesiasticus... the message is: Elijah is harsh with us, so that we could save ourselves from something that could more harsh - the anger of God on injustice and inhumanities. That is the reflection to be made. Of course there is a big question here at bay, whether we should speak of the wrath of God...but let us rest it, for not losing our focus. The focus is the fire of Elijah that is for our salvation, for our wholeness, for our ultimate destiny - for the Reign. 

The fire of John the Baptist which is compared to that of Elijah is the last minute preparation for the coming of the Saviour... the moment of truth, as it were. An advent message in its core, the call is the prepare ourselves to meet the Saviour any time...and that meeting if it has to be the experience of the Reign, we need to be fired with the zeal of Elijah or John, they who burnt for the Reign. 

Be it they or prophets in general, they were all for God and God's message. They counted nothing more important than carry out the task given to them, announcing the message entrusted to them, inaugurating what we reflect today as the Reign of God here on earth. That is the call of Jesus - towards which John wants to prepare the humanity. 

Hence the concluding reflection for this week - to dare to behold the Reign is to be fired with the zeal for the Reign...if we are not fired by it, how impossible it is for us to behold the Reign, understand it, interpret it and decipher it where it is already making its inroads. Just as even the disciples who did not recognise the Elijah in John, we may fail to recognise the Reign in Jesus, or the world may find it hard to recognise the Reign in our lives... the key is this - that we be fired with the zeal for the Reign! 

Reign willed by God

THE WORD IN ADVENT

Second Friday in Advent - December 12, 2025

Isaiah 48: 17-19; Matthew 11: 16-19

Daring to behold the Reign is all about protagonism on behalf of the Reign, that is taking responsibility for it and making it present wherever we are. However, such a task runs into a danger when someone, in the name of protagonism, makes it a personal project, according to his or her own whims and fancies!

Just imagine some great political leaders today who in the name of making their country or society great, have recourse to policies that are highly personal and arbitrary - wanting to promote one's own causes, interests and popularity; much worse, to the detriment of the others and to the destabilisation of a wholesome future. Can this be justified? That is exactly what Jesus explains with that parable of the children playing in the market place - who are worried about nothing more than what they wish and desire, for themselves and from others. 

As psychology would have it, one of the marks of maturity in a person is the capacity to distance oneself from one's own subjective feelings and finding the space for the other. Spirituality would add to the other, an Other! For us in Christian parlance, it is opening ourselves to the Will of God... Reign in fact is the Will of God being done - on earth as in heaven. Is that not what Jesus taught us?

The Lord speaks to us through Isaiah today, assuring us that it is not all together impossible to know what God wants of us - because, the Lord himself teaches us, the Lord himself leads us in that way, the Lord shows us by so many different ways and means what we need to do and what we need to choose, to do the will of God. Reign of God is the will of God executed with readiness and joy... indeed, it is fullness of our lives, the radical living of what God wants of us and that fullness is truly the Reign that God has willed for all, and for each of us.