Obstinacy of Human Selfishness

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

August 13, 2026: Ezekiel 12: 1-12; Matthew 18:21 - 19:1

The Rebellious people have eyes to see but do not see; they have ears to hear but do not hear. How good, loving, forgiving, merciful and bountiful God is to me - I am so aware of it right until the time that I myself have to be good, loving, forgiving and generous with those around me! I begin to count, calculate, justify, judge, grudge and grumble when I have to give or forgive or show mercy or be loving. I have the eyes to see God's goodness but I lack the vision to see that I need to be good too. I have the ears to hear the merciful whisperings of the Divine but I don't have the ears to hear the pleading for mercy in the eyes of my brother and sister! What is this but an awful obstinacy of human selfishness?

The Obstinacy of Human Selfishness does not allow me to share with the others whatever God has given me; it blocks even the natural consciousness and awareness of the extent to which I have received. In comparison to the amount of love that God has showered on us, where does the level of love that I show to others stand? In comparison to the sins and the wickedness that God has forgiven in me, where do the simple faults committed by my brother or my sister stand? 

The Obstinacy of Human Selfishness fills me so much with my own self, my ego, that I am not able to see anything beyond me and mine; I am not able to hear anything beyond my own wants and whinings; I am not able to occupy myself with anything beyond my own greed and desire; I am not able to even consider anyone other than myself important or worthy of consideration. Just give it a serious thought - is it not from here all the problems of today arise... be it in the family, or in the society or in the world at large? 

What mark do I bear?

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

August 12, 2026: Ezekiel 9: 1-7, 10, 18-22; Matthew 18: 15-20

Do you remember to have seen this symbol? This is the Arabic character 'nun' as the starting letter of nazarani a derogatory term

used by the ISIS and other anti Christian forces, to refer to the Christians,
as follower of Christ (who was called the Nazarene)

Some years back this was so familiar all over the media... during the time when the Christians in Iraq were targeted and persecuted. They were being butchered for the mere reason that they were Christians...and how were they identified and indicated to each other by those who were targeting them? This symbol or sign was drawn or spray painted on the doors of the houses of Christians, to tell the plunderers and soldiers that those houses are accessible at will. The Christians were made to live in constant fear and anxiety. Similar things happened even during the Nazi targeting of the Jews and other historical contexts.

In the first reading today we see in the vision of Ezekiel, the angels were given a symbol on the forehead of people, by which they are spared! That is a manifestation of mercy by God! Jesus too gives a mark by which we will be known as people of God...the mark of loving forgiveness. "By this they will know that you are my disciples: if you have love for one another" (Jn 13:35). 

In the Gospel today, Jesus explains what this 'having love for one another' is. It is to forgive, to care for each other and above all to pray together, with one heart and mind. This is the mark that Jesus expects of us, as our identity, as a sign that saves us! It is not those who call him 'Lord Lord' who would be saved but those who do the will of the Father (Mt 7:21), Jesus would say. The sign that can save us is our life of daily forgiveness and undying love.

"If they arrested you today for being a Christian, will they find enough evidence for that when they prosecute you?" - that is a very strong question indeed for us to reflect today! What are the marks that I bear in my daily life to tell myself and the world, that I am a disciple of Christ?