How do you know that you have listened to the Voice of God_

Listening to the right voice

THE WORD IN LENT 2026 - FIRST WEEK TUESDAY

February 24 - Isaiah 55: 10-11; Matthew 6: 7-15

Listening to the right voice, is the call that we reflect upon this week, and we discussed the way to listen to the Voice of God, the right voice to be listened to. Today the Word wishes us to focus on how we can say that we have listened to the voice of God? By the fruits that we bear!

Isaiah makes it clear that the Word of God (the Voice), when it reaches out to someone, does not leave without touching that person in some way. The effects shall certainly be seen - we have examples of persons who encountered Christ, the Word made flesh, in the Gospels, who lives were changed forever; and not just that, there are scores and scores of others in history too who have been touched by that Word and have been left totally re-created! 

In the Gospel Jesus gives us the model of all prayers, teaching us to pray that God's will be done on earth, as it is done in heaven - but how can it be done on eath, unless we dedicate ourselves to do it or dispose ourselves towards getting it down. This is the point that Jesus wants to make...that when we truly allow the Voice of God to descend into our hearts, we will see the effects of it - the doing of the will of God, on earth as in heaven.

At times in the season of lent we look at our lenten discipline as a means to achieve great feats and demonstrate immense strength, but the lent is indeed the means to listen to the voice and how do we know that we have listened to the Voice of God really... by the fruits we bear, that is our actions, the outcomes, our acts, our prayer - these are the only signs we have to tell ourselves and tell the world that we have listened to the Voice of God. Let the world see your life and give glory to God!

How do you listen to the Voice of God?

Listening to the Right Voice

THE WORD IN LENT 2026 - FIRST WEEK MONDAY

February 23 – Leviticus 19: 1-2, 11-18; Matthew 25: 31-46   

Listening to the right voice, is the task proposed this week and the Word this Sunday outlined to us that only right voice to be listened to is the Voice of God. Or else, we shall be deceived by the voice of the serpent or ruined by the negative voice of death. But the question is how do we listen to the voice of God? The Word answers that today: by listening to the voice of the other!

Listening to the voice of the other means to stop talking first – that is the first level! We have so much to say, so much to publicise, so much to trumpet around – all about ourselves. My wishes, my desires, my sufferings, my difficulties, my sacrifices, my hard work, my successes, my praises and my glories… we have to stop this whining and drowning in the flood of self-love that the culture proposes today – and lent is simply a training lab for it.

Listening to the voice of the other means first of all hearing the other… a second level. How can we think of listening unless we are first of all,  ready to hear. The book of Leviticus invites us to hear the other before slandering, or passing a judgement, or hating, or deciding to avenge him or her. It is important that we place ourselves in the shoes of the other – the less fortunate, the exploited, the weak, the vulnerable, the helpless other. But why should we do it? Because the Lord does, and we are people of that God.

Listening to the voice of the other means empathising with the other. It means something when we hear out someone sharing about themselves, but it means totally something else to understand what some feels, when someone shares! It is altogether another level to sense, intuit and understand what one is going through even without the person saying it out in words – that requires a listening from the heart! This is how we are called to listen, because that is how God listens!

When the words from Leviticus says, be holy because the Lord your God is holy – what is meant is that we love as the Lord loves, in deeds and not just in words, that we listen as the Lord listens, from the heart not merely by the ears! By listening like the Lord, we listen to the Lord; by empathising with the other like the Lord, that we become like the Lord – be ye holy as thy Lord God is holy! 

LISTENING... TO THE RIGHT VOICE!

The voice of the serpent? the voice of death? or the Voice of God?

THE WORD IN LENT 2026 – FIRST SUNDAY IN LENT

February 22 – Genesis 2:7-9, 3:1-7; Romans 5: 12-19; Matthew 4: 1-11

We have begun this Lent with the two-word orientation of our Holy Father – Listening and Fasting. The Word this Sunday and that of the next, invite us to ponder on the first term – listening! Listening, we know, is the most fundamental disposition for our Spiritual life and our growth in it.

Let us begin with a metaphor, from our daily life experience… listening to a radio, a FM: nowadays it is has gone to advanced levels of spotifies and podcasts… although analogously even they can be considered, the classical functioning of a radio is an ideal metaphor to understand. When we switch on a radio, it is not automatic that it plays. It has to be tuned to a particular frequency, in order to hear or listen to a particular content. And as we tune, we keep passing by so many other frequencies that play too…probably what we have chosen not to hear. This one of the primitive experiences of channel surfing, which later applied to satellite TVs and then to the internet and so on. One experience while radio surfing could be that we stumble upon a frequency where something interesting, attractive or capturing draws our attention. Either we get stuck to that stumble and forget the original destination, or we are two minds whether to follow on to where we were originally destined or to continue listening to this new voice stumbled upon!

That metaphor can help us understand many a phenomenon we experience in the world today – there are myriad voices that clamorously claim our attention every day. So much so, on our project to Listen, the crucial question that emerges would be: listen, yes, but to which voice? This is the first plane of reflection that Lent this year invites us to: are we listening to the right voice?

The voice of the serpent: One of the many voices that we have to beware of is that of the evil one; the enemy who constantly speaks to us, shouts into our ears, nags our hearts, fills our minds with information – most of the times false, fake and foul. Just as we see in the first reading of this Sunday, where the first parents are deceived by the voice of the serpent, so do we run the risk of being hijacked by the enemy, who is “prowling round like a roaring lion” as would explain St. Peter in his letter.

The danger that subsists in the of the voice of enemy is its overlay; it is so superimposed that it looks good, sweet, acceptable, real, caring, practical and functional. But it takes the Holy Spirit to understand that it only looks so… and it is truly not so! The first parents were deceived… they thought it was care, it was concern, it was an intention to help that the serpent expressed. They failed to notice that the evil one was merely attempting to pit them against their loving Creator, making them suspect the “Will of God” for them.

In our personal and social experience too, we hear a lot of voices – such that whisper: ‘after all you can do this’, ‘who is really going to know about it’, ‘who said this is not good’, ‘what if you can do it and still get away with it’… and so on. How late is it going to be, before we realise that those are the voices of the evil one, voices of the enemy, voices of the serpent who wants us to remain as far away from our Creator as possible, hidden from the absolute Truth and Goodness.

The voice of death: Another set of voices to be careful about is that which comes from the principle of death, death which is the most powerful instrument within the domain of the evil one! Death in itself is not evil… of course it is not. But when it is handled by the evil one, it becomes a treacherous instrument of fear, of meaninglessness, and above all of negativity.

There is so much negativity spread all over in today’s world. If we are not careful we would listen to those voices that speak from the negative corners of darkness and succumb to death. St. Paul warns us of it in the second reading today, speaking to the Romans. He speaks of the death that reigns over people, instead of allowing our Saviour to reign over us. When fear rules over us, when ego determines everything that we do, when insensitivity blinds our perspectives… we are in the reign of death. This is what Pope Benedict XIV often warned us of – the culture of death that prevails in the world of today.

The culture of death makes us look at every one else as an object to be used, competition to be won over, a disturbance to be avoided, a foe to be curbed, a danger to be terminated… that is negativity. At all levels we see this at work in the society: persons who look at their own siblings and family members that way, sections of people looking at “other” sections of persons that way, nations looking at other nations, and the whole world looking at “some” in that manner… if we are not careful we will fall for these voices, saying they are after all true and factual.

The Voice of God: We have to really train ourselves to single out the Voice of God from the cacophonic noises that the world is house to. That is a Lenten task – because it is an exercise of spiritual discipline, a an of surrender to the Spirit, who alone can help us do that. Jesus in the desert, does exactly that – surrenders himself to the Spirit of the Lord and arms himself with the Word of God, in order to win over the misleading voices that tempted him and listen to that One Voice of God: this is my beloved Son!

The Voice of God is liberating – it liberates me from egoism, from competitions and from pride of proving myself. The Voice of God is life-giving – it makes me look at possibilities and not problems, positivities and not pitfalls, persons and not threats! The Voice of God is lifting – it lifts my spirit and does not make me feel like I am a failure, lifts my attention from the material needs to the transcendental truths, lifts my priorities from self-centred satisfactions to a holistic and integral fulfilment.

The Voice of God is the Word of God, which is the lamp to our feet, the light on our way, the guide to our steps. It guides us through life and death, towards a life that is eternal – the Words of eternal life!

Conversion: Together renewing our lives in the Lord

Lent as a Time of Conversion

THE WORD IN LENT 2026 – SATURDAY AFTER ASH WEDNESDAY

February 21 – Isaiah 58: 9-14; Luke 5: 27-32   

Lent as a time of conversion – proposing that leitmotif for this season, the Holy Father reflects on three key movements we are called to. The first two, listening and fasting, the Word called us to reflect on, the past two days. Today the Word inspires us on the third term – together.

We see the Saviour coming in search of the sick, the sinners, the needy and the broken. Jesus declares that unequivocally – I have not come to call the virtuous, but the sinners to repentance; he presents himself as the breach-mender, the Restorer of the ruins, that Isaiah speaks of in the first reading. The season of lent is here to bring us together, to walk together, to progress together, to grow together mindful of this call that the Lord has open for us: Follow me!

If we wish to say “yes” to that call, we need to ensure these three dispositions within us – that of mending our ways, that of lending our hands, and that of tending towards the life, a life to the full.

To follow the Lord is to mend our ways – an ample period of 6 weeks is right here before us to launch ourselves on this mission. We can certainly at the end of this spiritual exercise find ourselves at least a few yards closer to being truly God’s delight.

To follow the Lord is to lend our hands – to our brothers and sisters in need; to free the yoke of those who feel trapped, to feed those who hunger for acceptance, affection and compassion, to relieve those who feel oppressed by the inhuman conditions that are justified by the cultures of today – that is the way we can become commensals in the Reign of the Lord.

To follow the Lord is to tend towards life – it is to see life, to give life, to promote life and not prejudices and condemnations. We are not called to sit on judgement of the others, as to who is going to hell and who not, instead we are called to make our way to the Lord, towards that Absolute Life, by living our lives to the full, and making of our lives a sacred offering to the Lord.

True lent is when we come to appreciate the absolute value and significance of the life that God has gifted us, and enhance and enrich it towards making it reflect the fullness of God – that is salvation, and that is the paschal mystery

Conversion: Fasting that opens us to see God

Lent as a Time of Conversion

THE WORD IN LENT 2026 - FRIDAY AFTER ASH WEDNESDAY

February 20 – Isaiah 58: 1-9; Matthew 9: 14-15 

Lent as a time of conversion - that is our project this Lent proposed by our Holy Father. Yesterday we reflected upon this conversion in terms of listening, listening enough to know what God wants of us. Today we are called to reflect in terms of fasting… that is the second term that Pope Leo presents to us – listening and fasting.

The obvious question is, what kind of a fasting are we speaking about here? Certainly, we are not out to destroy the traditional value and spiritual merit that lies in fasting from food and beverage, or abstinence from meat and other goodies of life. What we are up to here, is what Isaiah intends to do in the first reading today, what Jesus wishes to do in the Gospel passage today – perspectivise the fasting we undertake.

Fasting is not deprivation: First and foremost, fasting should not be centred around an argument of “deprivation” – I deprive myself of something: the breakfast, meat, another meal or things of that sort. If so, at the centre of it all I find myself who is deprived of all these! That is going to blind me further to so many points of focus that Lent wishes to offer me.

Fasting is an opening to see: Fasting is not centred around me, but it opens my mind, my heart, my eyes and my life to the other – in more than one way – making me feel the pinch of not having something, making me look at the need of the other, making me aware of what I have always been blessed to have, making me look at those for whom what I leave out is not an option at all, making me sense in some way the struggles and sufferings of the other. More than being deprivation, it becomes a setting aside. Setting aside things, that I could share with others; setting aside my own feelings, that I may listen to the other; setting aside myself, so that I can make space for the other.

Fasting is an opening to see God: If fasting does not lead to me see God present with me, that fasting has not spiritual meaning - it is merely dieting or disciplining! As Jesus says, when I feel the need to get in touch with the Divine, I feel the need for fasting; fasting gets me back into communion with the Lord. In getting me see the other and the need of the other, fasting makes me see God and what God wants to communicate to me.

This is the perspective that Pope Leo offers too – he calls for a fasting from harmful words. He says: this lent be kind and watch your words; disarm your language and avoid hard words and rash judgements; fast from slander and from speaking ill of others! That is indeed a fasting that opens us to see God, God who is in others, and God who is with us and within us

Conversion: Listening enough to Choose God

Lent as a Time of Conversion

THE WORD IN LENT 2026 - THURSDAY AFTER ASH WEDNESDAY

February 19 - Deuteronomy 30: 15-20; Luke 9: 22-25 

Lent as a time of conversion - that is a fundamental perspective that guides us on our ongoing journey of faith. It is not that this is the first time we celebrate a season of lent, not is it going to end with this season; we are familiar to this atmosphere, at times we even look forward to it. It is indeed a beautiful season, a season that lets us get in touch with our real inner selves, with humility and truth. But we have to beware of a tendency that can lead us to complacency and compromise...warns the Word today.  

How do we understand conversion - that is where the key lies. Conversion is choosing God... says Moses today in the book of Deuteronomy. We have before us the possibilities, the choices, the alternatives - some of them lucrative, successful, glittering and glimmering; others not so attractive, difficult, demanding, boring, at times even discouraging. But on what basis do we choose? What is attractive or what is right? That which is lucrative or the one which is just? The ones which are sensational and splashy or that which is sincere? Death or life? The evil or God?

How can we choose what we ought to? We need to see... the light that shines from the Lord makes us see what to choose. We need to hear... the voice that comes from the Lord helps us orient ourselves towards the right. We need to listen... listen enough to choose God, and God  alone - that is true conversion. 

At times we choose that which goes against what God wants of us - worse still, we choose so and we believe we have after all made the right choice. Other unfortunate times, we choose what we ought not to, and we do our best to justify the choice we made, in spite of knowing that we made a mistake in that choice. Here, it is not only that we do not see, we do not want to see! It is not only that we do not hear, we just do not want to listen... Listening to the Lord, leads us to conversion; in fact, conversion is listening enough to choose God above all. 

Listening and Fasting

Lent as a Time of Conversion 

THE WORD IN LENT 2026 - ASH WEDNESDAY

February 18 - Joel 2: 12-18; 2 Corinthians 5:20 - 6:2; Matthew 6: 1-6, 16-18

We begin the holy season of Lent for this year - a Time of Conversion, as Pope Leo describes it for us this year. In his message for this Lent Holy Father reflects on the theme, Listening and Fasting. The opening theme itself is striking... where is the connection between listening and fasting? It is a simple and clear call for us to remember that all our fasting (spiritual exercises of penance) should come from listening (experience of prayer). When these two are separated from each other, we fall into empty ritualism or meaningless legalism.

Secondly, we see that the Holy Father intends to highlight for us three inner movements of our being - the journey of our spirit: first movement indicated by the world listening, a second movement of fasting and the third movement of doing all these, together. This can be termed as interior movement, exterior movement and communal movement. We shall deepen our reflection on these terms, all through this season, with the help of the Word that would inspire us in this light. 

A third reflection proper to today, would be as the Word points out today - our lenten practices will become effectively a time of conversion, when they are Sincere, Spiritual and Secret.

Let our lenten practices be sincere, that is coming straight from our hearts - not from our calculations, scheming ways or our capacity to project an image to others. As Prophet Joel instructs us today, it has to be from the heart, breaking the heart and transforming the heart, thus making us new persons little by little during these days.

Let our lenten practices be Spiritual, that is inspired by the Spirit who brings us into communion with the Lord who bids us to celebrated this profound time of coversion. As St. Paul reminds us, the ultimate aim of all that we do, big or small, internal or external, material or spiritual, has to be greater communion with the Loving Mercy that surrounds us, the God who has called us to renewal and reformation. 

Let our lenten practices be secret, that is known only to us and to God our Father and Mother who sees everything in secret... that we may not go by merely external signs but focus on the internal meaning of those, that we may not seek the approval or appreciation of those around us but feel assured and strengthen by the Presence so intimate to us, growing every day mindful of and grateful for that accompanying Presence. 

Let us begin this time of conversion... a time not just an event, and that of conversion and not merely a commemoration. The call is clear - we begin a journey today, gradually and constantly striving to get closer and closer to God, to be transformed by Love. Happy Lent. 

Do you still not understand?!

WORD 2day: Tuesday, 6th week in Ordinary time

February 17, 2026 - 1 James 1: 12-18; Mark 8: 14-21

How agitated Jesus gets today with his disciples! Jesus expects them to rise above the ordinary or the normal. As Jesus warned us this Sunday: if our perfection does not surpass those that of the scribes and the pharisees, that is if we do not rise above the 'usual' way the world looks at reality, we will not be considered fit for the Reign of God! 

The so-called normal attitudes of the world, the value systems propagated as "normal" by the world, the life style of the so-called successful that stands counter to what the Gospel teaches... these are the temptations that we have today! Of course, they do not come from God, reiterates St. James. 

Our desires, temptations, sin and resultant death: this is the cycle that Jesus wants us to understand, resist, surpass, and triumph over. None of us can ever say after an act of unrighteousness, that we were not at all aware of its nature! Let us not deceive ourselves! 

We know what we are surrounded by, we know what we go through on a daily basis and we know what is appreciable and what is not worthy of our call to be children of God. Inspite of all the graces that we have obtained and the gratuitous gifts that we have received from the Lord, if we still insist on giving up on our call to commitment and righteous living, we will soon hear that question addressed to us by Jesus: do you still not understand?

The Lord our Rock

WORD 2day: Monday, 6th week in Ordinary time

February 16, 2026 - James 1: 1-11; Mark 8: 11-13

During his life and ministry, Jesus was convinced that he had nothing to prove, to no one! He was what he was - the Son of God, the Word Incarnate. He spoke what he believed and lived what he spoke. That gave him an authority that the Pharisees and the Scribes could never understand. It came from his holistic self-understanding, an understanding in terms of the ONE who had sent him: "For I and the Father are one", he declared (Jn 10:30). 

Many a time we identify ourselves with the riches we have, the social status we enjoy, the titles and the offices we hold, the adulation from others and the image that others have of us. We are concerned and fixated on achievements and social images we create of ourselves. But these are like the drooping flowers and the fading beauty, reminds St. James. 

Our identity has to rest on that one thing that never changes - the truth that we are sons and daughters of the One God, that we are created in the image and the likeness of that One God who has loved us into existence. When we get this fact imprinted clearly on our hearts... no trial or doubt, no suffering or shock will ever affect our perseverance (Jas 1:4). 

Let our life be founded on that unshakable foundation, the Lord, our Rock!

FEB 14 - A REFLECTION

Saints Cyril, Methodius and Valentine - The Call to be in Love!

The Word reaching a people is not a simple happening or a non characteristic event - it is a definitive self revelation of God being extended to that part of humanity! Those who are involved become blessed instruments in the hands of the Lord, according to the heart of the Lord. They become the most beautiful feet on earth, carrying the most life-giving of all things in the world - the Word of the Lord.  

However, there are more than a few elements that have to come together if this blessed experience has to be realised. Looking at it as a basic communication, there is the Sender who has to will it and there has to be the receiver who is prepared to receive it; there has to be a medium which will carry it, amidst all the noise that will surround to disturb it; and above all and at the heart of it all rests the message that is being communicated, which has to be conceived and represented in its utmost originality! 

It is in this context that the saints whom we celebrate today come into consideration. Be it Saints Cyril and Methodius, or any other Apostle for that matter who is called and sent, there is the medium being chosen by the Lord! The effectiveness of this medium is determined by the fact of how much the medium is taken up with the message; how much the medium knows and treasures the message; how much the medium has interiorised the message - and this is what we call - being in love, which translates as the medium becoming the message! 

Celebrating also the popular feast of the patron of those in love - St. Valentine, today the question we are inspired to ask ourselves is this: how much in love am I with the message, as a medium! The reason we need to ask this question is crucially this: because the call to be an apostle, is a call to be in love! 

ASCOLTARE E DIGIUNARE

La Quaresima - il tempo di conversione

Messaggio del Santo Padre Leone XIV per la Quaresima 2026

QUARESIMA 2026 - PAPA LEONE XIV

LISTENING & FASTING

Lent - a time of Conversion

Message of Pope Leo XIV for Lent 2026 

LENTEN MESSAGE 2026 - POPE LEO XIV

LAW: LOVE & ABIDE by the WORD

Faith is a choice, a choice to obey

February 15, 2026: 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Sirach 15: 16-21; 1 Corinthians 2: 6-10; Matthew 5: 17-37

Choice is the central theme running through the readings today! And there is another dominant theme that qualifies this choice - that is LAW. Law for the people of Israel was the way ordained by the Lord. Law was for them the guarantee of remaining people of God; it was their part of executing the covenant that the Lord made with them: I shall be your God and you shall be my people! To speak or act against the law was for them a serious and punishable offence. There is a discussion on two other themes- "maturity" and "wisdom" in the second reading from St.Paul. Combining all these, Jesus in the Gospel presents to us a mature and wise attitude towards LAW. He invites us to Choose LAW... that is to choose to Love and Abide by the Word.

Faith is a Choice...

Faith is not a blind leap, it is a conscious Choice! As the very first encyclical that Pope Francis gave us, Lumen Fidei (n.3) affirms, faith cannot be associated with darkness, instead faith is a light that enlightens one to choose, to choose believe in God, to choose to see God alive in one's life. 

The first reading presents to us the same perspective today, we have the choice between water and fire, between good and evil, between true joy and fleeting pleasures, between the right and the convenient, between conviction and compromise, between life and death! The choice is ours! We cannot ride on the shoulders of tradition and custom, and justify our acts and habits. We have to grow up! Our maturity has to be seen in the wisdom we possess. It is God who gives us this wisdom, as St.Paul reminds us. Jesus embodies that wisdom and presents the same to us in his words: I have come not to abolish the law, but bring it to its fulfillment.

A Choice beyond the Law...

Jesus declares that his disciples should make a choice not against the law but beyond the law! He gives a new meaning to law, and presents the way to go beyond, to transcend a mere slavish legalism and reach the heights of saintly perfection, through love and compassion. The words of Jesus, "You have heard that it was said,...but I say to you", heard repeatedly in the Gospel today presents Jesus as the New Moses, and describes the community of disciples as the New People of God! "See I am making all things new," declares Jesus by this (Rev. 21:5). The new law...today how do we understand that new law, the law beyond the law... L - to Love, A - to Abide, and W - the Word. To love the Word and Abide by it...is the new law that Jesus gives. 

The Word presents to us a guarantee to sanctity. To know the Word, to reflect on it and understand it, to love it and strive to abide by it, is the sure way to be real children of God, worthy people of God. Our life does not comprise merely of avoiding evil, it is much more profound and meaningful. It is to live, to love, to relate, to do good, to mature, to be happy, to make others happy and thus together as a community of God's children, to renew the world and fill it with joy.

To Obey the Law...

Jesus teaches the people today not to go against the law but to understand what it really means to obey the law. For Him, to obey the law was not to obey the word of the law but to obey the Lord of the law! It was so for the people of Israel; they obeyed the law as an act of obedience to YHWH. But when the Lord of the law was with them, and they did not realise it. The Word lived and moved among them, but they did not comprehend it. The danger for us too is the same: that we may be by definition the best of Christians - missing no Sunday Mass, regular with reading the Bible and reciting the prayers, strict with our fasting and abstinence, visiting as many pilgrim shrines as possible - but let us beware, we may be missing the point. These are good but not good enough - the Word instructs us: Love and Abide by the Word... to love the Word, and to live by it; not being merely hearers of the Word but doers(Jam 1:22); to say YES to the Word and mean it, to face all the consequences of that Yes and live through it. 

Our YES to the Word has to be our choice, our choice to go beyond the Law and obey the Lord of the law, to live and fill the earth with love and compassion; to challenge the present standards of the world towards a new world, new heaven and new earth!

Divided lives and Devilish intents

WORD 2day: Saturday, 5th week in Ordinary time 

February 14, 2026 - 1 Kings 12: 26-32, 13: 33-34; Mark 8: 1-10

For the people of Israel there was no difference between their political life and their religious life. For them everything was just one - an integral mode of living as people of God, forever the people of the Covenant: 'I shall be your God and you shall be my people'. But at a certain point, as we read in the first reading today, the misery befalls them - Politics and Religion part their ways. 

Something that happens further makes things worse: using religion for political ends or politics for religious reasons. It becomes almost an unjust alliance, and remains so even to this day! That could be history... but the alarming fact is that it can happen in our personal lives too: the division between our religious life and our civil life, and worse still if we use one for the manipulation of the other. 

Jesus is totally against this division and considers it always an hypocrisy. One cannot call oneself a shepherd and still remain untouched by the miseries of the people. We see how sensitive he was, and how he taught that to his disciples. One cannot call oneself a 'Christ-ian' and live a life that is totally insensitive towards others. One cannot call oneself a child of God and look down on his brother or sister, or much worse ill-treat, exploit or oppress them. If one does that, he or she is giving into idolatry, claiming to belong to Christ but divided within oneself, externally professing Christ but totally against Christ at the level of the inner self.

Pride, Rebellion and Hearing God's voice...

WORD 2day: Friday, 5th week in Ordinary time

February 13, 2026 - 1 Kings 11: 29-32, 12:19; Mark 7: 31-37

The readings today speak of two kingdoms... one that was ending and the other which was rising. Prophet Ahijah instructs Jeroboam about the role that he has to play in the fall of David's kingdom. And in the Gospel we see the people who rejoice at the coming of the Kingdom (Reign) of God: "the deaf hear and the mute speak" they exclaim - that phrase was symbolic and indicative of the Reign of God to the people of Israel. 

The message is obvious - it is an invitation to turn away from a tendency of human pride and rebellion and place the absolute dominion always in the hands of God. Right from the beginning (explained by the stories of Adam and Eve, the tower of Babel and so on), the ruin of humankind has been due to human pride; that has always been, indeed, the entry point of sin into humanity has been rebellion. 

It is in that rebellion and pride that we make gods for ourselves - making gods of our own ego, of our successes, of our plans and projects, of our prospects and the social ladders, of our attachments and cravings. At times, only when drastic things happen we realise our folly! Unfortunately that realisation too is short-lived... just round the corner we begin to accumulate weight on our heads... going around with haughty heads and stiff necks!

The Lord says to us today: I am the Lord you God, hear my voice! We would repeat that in the responsorial... let it remind us of what Jesus wants to do to us. "Be opened" he says, not only to our ears, but to our hearts that we would listen to God's voice. Because it would do so much good to us, if we make it our habit to hear the Lord's voice and live by it everyday.

Saints who surprise God!

WORD 2day: Thursday, 5th week in Ordinary time

February 12, 2026 - 1 Kings 11: 4-13; Mark 7: 24-30

The most dangerous character of sin is, it takes over "little by little," that all too soon we find it too late for an escape! Solomon, seemed to be the sign of God's glory in the early days of his kingship (just yesterday we reflected on it, as to how international his fame had become), but soon finds himself at a point of no return, because he had given away his heart "little by little" to ways that took him away from God! 

We know sin can be, in very simple words, understood as a rebellion against God... a lack of surrender into God's hands. If so, then the remedy would be: a childlike surrender into the hands of God; following God unreservedly as did David (1Kgs 11:6); a faith that becomes a humble surrender to God's Will, like the Syrophoenician woman that we see in the Gospel today. 

This simple woman we encounter, becomes the prototype of the numerous saints who manage to surprise God... they surprised God by their total, absolute, unprecedented surrender... like St.Paul, or the early martyrs, or the later saints like John Maria Vianney, or Maxmillian Kolbe, or great models like Bishop Oscar Romero, Sr. Rani Maria... the list goes on, and the challenge is that we add our names to that list. 

Let our surrender to the Lord be so total, that in God's pleasant surprise miracles begin to abound. Yes, we are called as God's beloved children, to surprise our loving God, by our surrender... that will be the real meaning of growing in holiness.

Living at the core of our beings...

WORD 2day: Wednesday, 5th week in Ordinary time

February 11, 2026 - 1 Kings 10:1-10; Mark 7: 14-23

"That they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father", said Jesus to us last Sunday (Matthew 5:16). Today we see Solomon exemplifying this claim to honour. We read that the Queen of Sheba, looking at the wisdom and splendour of Solomon, said "Blessed be the Lord your God!"(v.9). 

Let us reflect a little on this experience. What actually matters is not what is seen merely on the outward appearance, for we cannot put up a show all our life. Just imagine, if we have to create an image of ourselves just for the sake of the others and live up to it all our life - how tiresome and fatiguing it can be! 

At some point or the other, to someone or the other, the truth will be known and that will be the ruin of everything. Instead, Jesus invites us to an authentic living that is built from within, from those which comes out from within - our thoughts, our attitudes, our priorities, the words and thoughts we entertain, the feelings and impulses we give into, the kind of persons we identify ourselves with, the sort of people for whom our hearts are moved, the readiness with which we go out of ourselves in true love and selfless compassion. 

Let us pay attention to our interiority. The core of our self defines who we are, and at that level of our being, we cannot deceive ourselves! Let our hearts enshrine the presence of the Lord and let that presence illumine every bit of our life.

External Expressions and Internal Dispositions

WORD 2day: Tuesday, 5th week in Ordinary time

February 10, 2026 - 1 Kings 8: 22-23,27-30; Mark 7: 1-13

Still keeping with the theme of yesterday, the first reading presents to us Solomon who brings to light the relationship that lies between the absolute importance of the temple and the folly of limiting God's presence to the temple. They are two elements of a devotion that is matured, worthy of being called an adult faith. 

Jesus speaks of the same too, but from a different perspective. He brings out a contrast between an external expression and an internal disposition: here we are not looking at mutually exclusive choices to be made but a mature balance to be achieved. 

External expressions without deep internal dispositions will turn into mere ritualism and legalism; while mere internal dispositions without right external expression will lead to a cold individualism which is totally 'unchristian'! Very shortly we shall be stepping into the season of Lent - a noted time for expressions of piety and spiritual manifestations. We run the risk of turning all these into empty practices, if they are not really accompanied by a transformed internal disposition of humility, hospitality and holiness.

Let our internal disposition be challenged and transformed on a daily basis towards a continuous maturity that leads to a meaningful living of our faith.

Can God's presence be felt?

WORD 2day: Monday, 5th week in Ordinary time

February 9, 2026 - 1 Kings 8: 1-7, 9-13; Mark 6: 53-56

The Ark comes to the Temple; and Jesus comes to his people - where does the link lie here? Obviously, it lies in the fact that the people of God are the true temples of God! Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?, asks St. Paul (1 Cor 3:16). Specially the needy and the poor, the sick and the suffering, the lonely and the unloved... they are the temples where we can encounter God face to face. 

Jesus does not depreciate the importance of the Temple when he said: a day will come when you will worship the Lord in Spirit and in Truth (Cf. Jn 4:23,24). He invites us to look at a new perspective. Building churches are important but it is more important to build the Church, that is the people of God. 

Celebrating the feasts and solemnities are important, but it is more important to celebrate persons and ensure humanity, happiness and wholeness to every person. What would we have gained if we spent tons of money on a well organised festivity, if we had not touched even one needy person, or made happy one grieving heart, or given joy to one drooping spirit? 

Wherever Jesus went, people went and God's presence was felt; wherever the apostles went, people went and God's presence was felt (compare with Acts 5:12-15); wherever we Christ-ians go, God's presence should be felt! Wherever we go, is God's presence being felt?

THE LIGHT OF FAITH

Be illumined! Illumine!

February 8, 2026: 5th Sunday in Ordinary time
Isaiah 58: 7-10; 1 Corinthians 2: 1-5; Matthew 5: 13-16

"The Light of Faith: this is how the Church's tradition speaks of the great gift brought by Jesus": so begins the encyclical Lumen Fidei, issued by Pope Francis in 2014. Light is an image very often presented in relation to faith, the faithful and the life of a faithful. It is an explicit call by the Lord right from the Old Testament times that the people of God have to be light to the nations (Is 42:6). With Christ's call today to be light of the world, it becomes an inevitable criterion to be identified as Christ's disciple or not!

Faith as Light: The first reading reminds us of a Zen story that we would have heard, of the Master who asked his disciples: When do you think it is dawn? The disciples attempted various responses, like - when we see the difference between a tree and a pillar; when we can identify a black thread from a white, and so on. The Master, discontent with everything, finally said: it is dawn, when you look into the eyes of the one next to you and see your brother or your sister!

The first reading tells us exactly that... when you accept the gift of faith from the Lord, your eyes are opened that you can see into the eyes of those around you and see your brothers and sisters; in their suffering and in their pains, you can feel your heart weeping and your eyes welling. We are reflecting today on the theme of LIGHT... the light that illumines us, the light that makes us see the real meaning of life and the true sense of being human. What can do that task better than our faith - Faith, is the light that illumines us, a light that directs our journey of life, a light that opens our minds to see clear and live upright. It is the Light we are offered by the Lord, as a gift!

The Faithful as Light: Once we accept that gift, the gift of faith from the Lord, we as faithful, we become the Light! Receiving the light, we become the Light. The Lord sets us as the light to the nations, the light to the world, the light on the lamp stand, the city on the hilltop! Our faith does not rest on human wisdom, or logical reason, or scientific thinking, or systematic and mind blowing theologies! Our faith is primarily founded on the power of God, reminds St. Paul in the second reading today.

Illumined by the Light, we become the light! Jesus declared, "I am the light of the World" (Jn 8:12); but did not stop with that. He challenges us today in the Gospel, "You are the light of the World." Every person of faith is called to be a light that is set on the lamp stand, to spread the light to the entire house, to illumine those around him or her. But it is important that we remember always that the source of our light, is the Light which illumines us all, the Light eternal of which we are rays, the eternal fire of which we are sparks.

The life of the faithful as Light: Being the light...what could that mean? It involves two important elements: One, everyone sees you; and two, one is able to see because of you! Theologians and Pastoral thinkers always raise a pertinent question, what would be the most apt mode today, of proclaiming the Good News to those who have not heard it. The answer is as simple as it is tough: "by living my everyday life!" One may wonder, but where is the proclamation here - actually, it is in the very living!

Our life cannot have two shades - personal and public, sacred and profane, spiritual and secular... If I am a Christian - I should be seen! That is the first dimension of being light - my life has to be lived in its integrity. When the light can be seen, then one can see, because of the light. When my life can be seen by the other as an open book, the other can draw an inspiration to live by, and that is proclamation; that is evangelisation; that is illumining! It is through my life, my words, my actions and everyday choices that I become a light to the other; "if you bestow your bread on the hungry and satisfy the afflicted; then light shall rise for you in the darkness!" and thus one will become the light in darkness to the upright.

Let us keep this light burning in our hearts whole day today, and our everyday. To evaluate our daily life and see, if we really possess the Light of Faith, if we really live our life in a manner as to become light to those around me! Let the Eternal Light of Lord fill our hearts to be illumined and to illumine!