Listening... to others and to the Other

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

October 6, 2026: Galatians 1: 13-24; Luke 10: 38-42

The Word today insists on the need to listen, to begin with the need to listen to God. The credit that has to be given to Saul, in his turning into Paul is fundamentally his readiness to listen to God. If he were as stubborn as he always were, he would not have heard the Lord's voice from his horse! He himself reiterates his capacity to listen to God, by narrating his initial journey in the Lord, preparing himself to be an apostle: that was to a major part, an attentive listening to the Lord and to all that the Lord wanted to reveal in and through others.

Mary at Bethany, is yet another icon of listening to God. She knew where the life giving source was: "to whom shall we go Lord, while you have the words of eternal life" were the words of Peter to the Word made flesh. Mary knew this in the core of her heart...and she chose the better part.

Today we are called to discover the life giving Spirit in the Word that comes across to us on a daily basis. What strikes us in Paul's narration of his Christ experience is his readiness to perceive Christ in spite of his totally opposed prior experience. That was possible because of his capacity to Listen. Mary was considered wiser than her sister Martha in her choice because she chose to listen to the Lord in spite of all the excitement involved, in having the Lord around at home.

The Lord, directly as it happened on the horse to Saul and at home to Mary of Bethany, and indirectly as Paul was directed to submit himself to Ananias and later to the Apostles, speaks to us today. To those who are attentive and prepared, God communicates directly in their hearts and from the Scriptures and to those who are ready and willing to listen to their brothers and sisters, through varied sources of God's communication. 

The task that is given to us is to grow in our capacity to listen - listening to the others and to the Other who constantly communicates unto us.

Get the Gospel right!

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

October 05, 2026: Galatians 1:6-12; Luke 10: 25-37

Can there be more than one Good News? That is the key question that the Word responds to today - there can be varied good news from all quarters and varied directions, but ultimately the Good News is one! And it is in relation to that One Good News, to that ONE GOSPEL, that every other good news has to be tested, and found right or not. In a context of pluralism today, this is a key concern: getting the Gospel right!

We recently celebrated the memory of the birth of a great person Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, called the Mahatma of India, who firmly believed and advocated that truth from the Rig Veda: let noble thoughts come to us from all directions! That is a much needed attitude for a world situation like that of the present. Fratelli Tutti, the encyclical that Pope Francis, inspired by St. Francis of Assisi whom we celebrated just yesterday, insisted on that too - 'a love that transcends the barriers of geography and distance' (Fratelli Tutti, no.1).

But can that dissipate our focus and make us eclectics collecting from everywhere and putting them all into one boiling pot and go with a false claim such as, 'everything is one and the same'? That is what we need to be careful about, warns Paul. You cannot equate everything...of course, let noble thoughts come from all direction - but you need ascertain that they are noble, truly noble; indeed, transcending geographies and distances is important, but you need to ascertain it is for true love! That is the essence of Paul's warning - to be clear about the absolute criteria, because the Gospel is ONE, and it is love and compassion!

Jesus speaks of it in the Gospel with such clarity. It is not justified merely because a priest and a levite did it. It cannot be disregarded merely because an ordinary samaritan chose this way to respond! Look for the right Good news, the right Gospel, the ONE absolute criterion for being people of God: the right elements that account for the right Gospel are love of God and love of one's neighbours. When BOTH of these are not compromised for any thing else, however good or desirable they seem to be, then we are well on our way to the Reign of God. It is a sign that you have got the Gospel right!