BEING SAINTS

The ABC of Being Saints!

November 1, 2025: Solemnity of All Saints
Revelations 7: 2-4, 9-14; 1 John 3: 1-3; Matthew 5: 1-12

There is an ever loved and oft quoted anecdote about this sweet little boy who was taken to a traditional Cathedral for the first time by his mother. The boy was tremendously impressed with the splatter of colours on the floor due to the rays that shone through the stained glasses on the walls (remember those classic cathedrals, don't you... and they are becoming endangered specimen these days, with some of them converted to mosques and some others to public halls and themed restaurants!). Coming back to the boy, there for the first time, seeing all the splendour in glowing natural lights, he with his eyes wide open looked at those stained glasses and asked his mother...'mamma, what is this?' So used to his constant questions, the mother pointed to those stained glasses and replied in short, 'Oh... they are the saints!' The boy could not take his eyes or his mind off those pictures on the stained glass. That stuck to the boy's mind, not merely until he returned home but even further. And the next day at school when the catechism teacher asked, who are saints... he shouted out in excitement, "yes I know them." And when the teacher happily turned to him, he continued, "saints are those who let the light shine through them!"

I think that's the best definition for a saint by far. A saint is the one who lets the light, the light of the Lord, shine through him or her. The colours and the shades are exotic, but the light is from the Lord. The shapes and contours are all varied and impressive, but the source is one and the same, the light of the Lord! What a lovely image we have today, of all the saints standing in one choir, as one family, as one community of brothers and sisters, giving praises to the Lord! A grand day and a proportionately important reminder to each of us: you are called to be one of them, you are called to be a Saint!

The Word this day, read attentively, can provide us with a fundamental understanding of what it means to be a saint. They get us thinking, not only about all the saints we have out there, but also about the saint that we have to nourish and nurture within each of us. The Word furnishes us with an ABC of being saints, in our daily life, here and now!

A saint is one who ACKNOWLEDGES the supremacy of God, allowing God to take charge of one's life. This seems to be the most challenging task for human beings as centuries get past us. Human beings, as individual persons and as communities of persons, wish to become more and more autonomous, from everything and every one, even from God, considering God as someone who could infringe on our freedom, our decision making and our authority on our own lives. But all it takes is just a simple recollection of what has happened to humanity in history due to pride and self glory, to understand we are wrong to think of keeping God away from this world. We will be drastically failing.

The responsorial psalm today invites us to reflect on this absolute supremacy of God. Everything takes its existence from God. How can we ever think of doing away with the Master, as long as we hold on to what the Master has made and programmed and keeps sustaining? The first ever attitude that can bring us towards true sanctity, obviously, is acknowledgement of God's authority over everything, and specially, over my entire self. The more we acknowledge the primacy of God, the more grateful we become; the more grateful we become, the more holy we grow - that is the secret of being saints!

A saint is one who BELONGS totally to God, placing God at the centre of his or her life. Certainly, it does not suffice to acknowledge the authority of God over everything and over me, there is something more to it, when it comes to being saints. In simple terms, it is feeling close, feeling intimately connected, feeling totally grafted on to God - a bond which is like that which exists between a mother and a child, that connectedness that is not merely peripheral, but something that penetrates my very being! I am connected to my God, at the core of my being, at the depth of my soul, at the essence of my spirit, because it is from God I take my life, my image, my entire existence. I belong to God, totally.

In the second reading, John reminds us of who we are - we are children of God, that is what we are! Whether the world acknowledges or not, whether we acknowledge or not, the fact remains that we are children of God, and God will never renounce us, even if we do! God has loved us in to existence and loves us from all eternity. This love was manifest in the incarnation, when Christ came to show us whose image we bear, and to what image we should liken ourselves to. We belong to God who created us, the Lamb who has washed us and the Spirit who consecrates us into children of God, treasured possessions of God, images and likenesses of God, here on earth! The more we realise to whom we bleong, the more we understand who we really - that is the way of being saints!

A saint is one who COMMITS oneself to God's cause, to God's people, to God's will, on a daily basis! That we come from and belong to God, is truly a privilege, a great honour; but it is at the same time, a great challenge too, a call to commitment. As children of God, as people of God, as persons who acknowledge God and belong to God, we are called to manifest that in our daily life, in the ordinary choices we make and in every major decision we take! You will be criticised for it, calumniated against, painted as a threat, called names, jeered at, pictured as an outdated fool, useless misfit...yes! But can you give up? You just can not! There will be mighty forces lining up against you - the economic forces that tend to reduce everything to numbers and currencies, the political forces that are ready to do absolutely anything for the sake of power and position, the anti social forces that take joy and pride in disrupting peace of the people, the immoral forces that perpetrate corruption of everything including the souls of human persons...all these are mighty and they will stand against you! But can you give up? You just should not! Because you are from God, you belong to God and you are the Blessed of the Lord!

The Gospel outlines a way of life that is so surrealistic...that is indeed our roadmap to true holiness. Today, as Pope Francis repeats to us so very often, holiness does not consist in keeping ourselves aloof as refrigerated beings, we need to get down into the slush, get ourselves dirtied, fight our way, stand for the truth, march for justice, rise for the oppressed, reach out for the marginalised, voice out for the voiceless, live for peace, die for love and finally, shout for joy! We are blessed, we are blessed children of God, we are blessed family of the saints, we are blessed followers of the slain Lamb, we are blessed witnesses to God wherever we are! We are on our way to heaven, and we need to get our roadmap right. We need to be in their numbers - in that throng that is in eternal communion with the Lord. That is what we have been created for, that is for what we have been washed and made clean in the Blood, and that is what we are challenged towards in the Spirit - and that is the challenge of being saints!

Let us get this ABC of Being Saints, clear in our minds today... that we Acknowledge God, Belong to God and Commit ourselves to God's cause and we shall be counted in their numbers, in the number of All Saints!

What stops you from doing good?

WORD 2day: Friday, 30th week in Ordinary time

October 31, 2025: Romans 9: 1-5; Luke 14: 1-6

I would willingly be condemned if it helped by brother or sister, dares Paul. What if you criticise me for curing on the sabbath, I dont mind, as long as it liberates a son or a daughter of God, says Jesus in the Gospel. The message is loud and clear: doing good to the other cannot wait, much less, be stopped! In fact the passage and the episode for the readings today, can lead us to reflect on one important question in our Christian living: what can stop me from doing good to my brother or sister? Let us reflect on top-three blocks.

First is mindless self-centredness - because of which I fail to think beyond myself, my whims and fancies, my petty comforts and my comfort zones. I am unable to look around, look out or look up to anyone, learn anew and change my perspectives in order to reach out to the other. This is what St. Paul points out in the first reading today.

Second is infantile fearfulness - because of which, though I know what is right to be done, I fail to do it out of fear of criticism or fear of being ridiculed for the good I do. It may look too flimsy a reason, that is why it is infantile. But this is a very wide spread reason. Just imagine how many of us have this question before we do anything at all in our daily life: what will others think of me! Jesus challenges such a thinking in the episode we see in the Gospel today.

Third is obstinate wickedness - because of which, I choose deliberately what is against good; I choose to do harm, hurt, destroy, exploit, use or abuse, the other for reasons known only to me! What a wicked way of life it can be! Sadly, there are many in this mode of thinking and living, which causes so much evil in the world. Here is where a true Christian has to make a real difference today in the world.

Now the question to me is: what stops you and me from doing good to our brother and sisters?

Nothing can separate!

WORD 2day: Thursday, 30th week in Ordinary time

October 30, 2025: Romans 8: 31-39; Luke 13:31-35

Nothing can separate me from the love of Christ; no one can separate me from the love of God in Christ Jesus - the most energising words of St. Paul. Can things be clearer than this... just read those lines in the first reading once more - categorical, clear, convinced, charismatic and courageous!

St. Paul, the apostles and the first Christians learnt this from Jesus himself. If God is for me, who can be against me - that was the confidence of faith that defined the courageous choices that Jesus made. Neither Herod, nor Pilate, nor the high priests or the chief priests, nor the impending death, nor the rejection of the crowd - nothing mattered to him, because he knew that the One who sent him, loved him!

Look at the situation today: the anti-religious voices becoming louder, the anti-Christian forces becoming stronger, the anti-Church movements becoming fiercer by the day! Should that frighten us? What about so many millions who have left the Christian faith for either non-religious adherence or other diabolic choices, in the few decades past? Should that destabilise us? No. Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ.

However, there is one... there is one who can separate me from God's love - that is a warning for me today! There is only one who can separate me from God's love - Myself. There is only one thing that can separate me from the love of Christ - My ego! If I choose not to belong to God, if I choose to reject God's love, I separate myself from God.

How much God wishes to gather me into God's arms, but I rebel!!!

The Narrow door Challenge

WORD 2day: Wednesday, 30th week in Ordinary time

October 29, 2025: Romans 8: 26-30; Luke 13: 22-30

To say in the terms of the present day Social Network challenges thrown around by persons, Jesus is proposing a challenge today: something difficult and strange to us as his followers... the Narrow door Challenge. He says, 'strive to enter the narrow door'... not many do, because it is difficult and it is strange!

It is strange because, when there is a large, spacious door wide open, why choose something narrow? While there are multitudes and multitudes who are going through the broad door and cheerfully doing so, why would someone choose something that is narrow and desolate! The large, broad, wide open door... everyone knows where it leads. But deliberately they choose, due to weakness or wickedness - do I wish to be in that number?

It is difficult to enter the narrow door, because obviously it is narrow! There are strict conditions and requirements... but that is the way to security, that is the gate to salvation! Very few choose it over the other, but they who are considered strange will be the only ones in the privilleged presence of God, they who are considered losers will be the ones that will win eternal life, they who are considered loners and last, shall be the true sons and daughters of God, true brothers and sisters of Jesus and truly inspired people of the Spirit!

The Name Game

THE WORD AND THE SAINTS

October 28, 2025: Remembering Apostles Simon and Jude
Ephesians 2: 19-22; Luke 6: 12-16

We remember the apostles Simon the zealot and Jude son of James also called Jude Thadeus. These apostles have become relatively less known, they say, because of the confusion with their names. Simon was confused with Simon Peter and so lost his prominence. Judas was confused with Judas Iscariot and so became infamous. Curious, isn't it?

Reflecting on this curious fact from tradition, we can be inpsired by the wonderful piece of the opening prayer prescribed for the Eucharist on this feast day, which begins thus:

"O God, who by the blessed Apostles have brought us to acknowledge your name..."

The apostles were all about acknowledging God's name, not their own. Be it the instance where Peter and John at the Temple when people were looking at them astoundedly, or Paul and Barnabas trying to stop the people offering sacrifices to them, we see it very clear that the Apostles desisted limelight on themselves and always glorified the name of the Lord, the Lord who had called them and empowered them. Exactly so, Simon or Jude or any other apostle, they were all out to spread the Good News and give glory to God, building up the Body of Christ on earth: the People of God.

Building, is our work but we are very much part of the building itself. We are all building ourselves up together to give glory to the name of the Lord. Let's beware of the name game that is going rampant these days: divided among ourselves under so many names and calling names at each other, maligning each others' names and playing the dirty worldly name game among us - as believers from varied churches or denominations, as members within the One Catholic Church divided on varied bases! 

That is not very becoming of that One Name we have on earth by which we will be saved, the most sweet and glorious name of Jesus. The division in the Church is the greatest of all scandals against the Gospel. With that one Cornerstone, let us unite and give glory to God's mighty name!

Not slaves, but heirs!

WORD 2day : Monday, 30th week in Ordinary time

October 27, 2025: Romans 8: 12-17; Luke 13: 10-17

The point of discussion in the Word today is the difference between slaves and heirs, and their respective traits.

A slave is governed by fear, is ruled by law and bound to restrictions. A slave cannot think beyond oneself, or beyond gaining favours by pleasing the Master, or the one in command. A slave, even when he or she is doing everything for the other, is all the time self centered - wants to win the favour of someone, for oneself.

An heir is governed by freedom not fear, is guided by love and is empowered with spontaneity. The heir does not think about just oneself, but about the common good of the family, the rights and duties of the community, the welfare of the whole humanity into which he or she has been created and of the wellbeing of the whole creation unto which he or she is a caretaker. The heir does everything for the greater glory of the One who has made him or her heir of a great family, of a great heritage, of a lineage that comes directly from above! 

Freedom rules out restrictions, love transcends fear and spontaneity despises calculations. An heir never schemes, but lovingly surrenders! Jesus proves to be the rightful heir, experiencing God as the Abba and feeling the need to render every child of God, wholesome and fulfilled. Laws and regulations did not matter to him; threats and warnings looked despicable in his sight. 

The greatest of all good news is, Christ has given us the same Spirit that was in him, that in our spirit we may be convinced that we are rightful sons and daughters of the merciful God - that we can call God, Abba, our loving father and mother. Let us remember this day and praise the Lord for this revelation: we are heirs and not just slaves!

EMPTINESS - WHERE GOD ENCOUNTERS

Lack, Lifestyle or Liminality?

October 26, 2025 - 30th Sunday in the Ordinary time 
Ecclesiasticus 35:12-14,16-19; 2 Timothy 4:6-8,16-18; Luke 18: 9-14

You cannot fill a cup that is full ...

God is not partial, God knows no favourites - says the first reading but all the while speaking of a God who takes his stand by the poor, the widow and the orphans, the oppressed and the lowly. No, there is no paradox here, neither is there a partiality. It is natural that water flows where it is low. Isn't it true, that we can fill only that cup which is empty!

The Word today reminds us of the Spirituality of Emptiness! Emptiness, is not merely an absence of things. Emptiness is not merely a state of something not being there. If it were so, it is so easy to reach that state - all that you need to do is remove whatever is there! Instead, emptiness is a positive reality. Emptiness is where God encounters us!

Emptiness can be due to a lack! The first reading speaks to us of the oppressed, the widows and the orphans... persons who lacked, who lacked their rights, who lacked some one to lean on, who lacked people who cared. The economically poor, those who do not have anyone to call family, those who feel rejected, unaccepted, exploited or abused are people who lack something that is so necessary in life that without it, life becomes hard, meaningless and empty. At those trying moments, if only they raise their hearts a bit, they will realise God is so very close to them. God encounters us in that state... that is a condition!

A condition in which one knows that one lacks, when one knows that he or she is not complete, is when the person encounters God! In our inabilities, in our lacks when we turn to God, and accept God as the one who can fill me... God fills me! At times when we realise the lack - be it what it may, economic or healthwise or with regard to meaning of our life itself - the danger is we get lost in that emptiness, as if that is the end of everything. We forget that emptiness can help. It can help us feel the Lord close by, standing right beside us.

Emptiness can be a lifestyle! One can have things, one can possess goods, but still can decide to live in a state of emptiness, not giving into attachments and bonds that could cripple one's existence. People who have given up their inherited wealth, people who have turned their backs on what the world would look at as incredible prospects in life... we know quite a lot of them, don't we? God encounters them there, in that emptiness. That is not a condition, but a choice!

A Choice about which St. Paul speaks of in the second reading, how he had emptied himself for the sake of the Word, for the sake of the Lord, for the sake of the Lord's people. It is a lifestyle ... a mindset... the mindset of Christ: for he did not consider equality with God as something to be held on to,... but emptied himself (Phil 2: 5-7) - the lifestyle of Christ, the Son of God! As long as we seek our sufficiency and our meaning in things and worldly recognitions, we are with our hands full. The moment we choose to let go of them, willingly and purposefully, we would see real serenity emerge. Emptying oneself is a choice to allow God to fill you!

Emptiness is liminality! Liminality is a word that is used to mean, 'to stand at the threshold', a state of passage, a state where one has undergone a change from what one was, but has not yet become what one is yet to become! One is not complete yet, but he or she is well on the way to being complete. One is not anymore what he or she was - the old self. But one has not yet fully put on the new self either - but he or she is gradually growing into it - gradually, slowly but steadily, serenely with determination.

We could be reminded here, of the words that St. John writes, 'We are children of God, what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, because we will see him as he is' (1 Jn 3:2). When we empty ourselves, we are moving towards being complete. When we are too conscious of being so complete and perfect, we actually are closing ourselves in and we become dead. The more we empty ourselves, the more God fills us! It is not merely a false self humiliation, but a spiritual surrender of self emptying before the Lord, in which the Lord fills us, to the brim. And thus we will today go home justified, sanctified, filled with the Lord!

Let us pray:

O God, who alone is complete...

behold my emptiness, and make me ever conscious of it,

that I may be filled, filled by you,

to become complete, just as you are...

Bid me look at you...

so willing to empty yourself,

help me too, to be so ready

to empty myself for the others,

that I may be once again be filled by you, you who alone is complete! Amen

The Spiritual and the Unspiritual

WORD 2day: Saturday, 29th Week in Ordinary time

October 25, 2025: Romans 8: 1-11; Luke 13: 1-9

Not all those who suffer are people who deserve it and not all the good that we enjoy we deserve. What God gives, God gives without even counting whether or not I deserve it... but in the course of handling them I prove whether I had deserved it or not! It is simply in the choices I make, and the priorities I build that I show whether I deserved what God deigned to give me or not; that is whether I am by nature spiritual or unspiritual.

The Word invites us today to think of the distinction between Spiritual and Unspiritual we would make in our lives...

'Spiritual' is thinking of God and godly things; it is having a trace of God within me. As God does not think of good or bad, deserving or undeserving, but always the good of every child of God, so am I called to think of the good of everyone. Being 'spiritual' is fundamentally, putting the good of the other first vis-a-vis the good that can happen to me! It is counting the blessings from the Lord and acknowledging every bit of the Lord's doing in my life... and thus considering it my duty to do all the good that I can!

'Unspiritual,' would be thinking all the time of increasing gains and reducing pains; it is putting my pleasure before anything else, even in the smallest of things that I get to do for others. It would be constantly complaining against God for any small inconvenience that could come by and claiming absolute personal credits for any thing that turns out to be good in my life.

Now the question for me is: where do I belong - the Spiritual or the Unspiritual?

Pride - the urge to prove myself!

WORD 2day: Friday, 29th week in Ordinary time

October 24, 2025: Romans 7: 18-25; Luke 12: 54-59

Many a trouble today brews in the waters of wanting to prove oneself at all cost. The world, the society, teaches us from our earliest days in life, that one should prove oneself... how many wars have been fought in history due to this tendency! How many injustices and exploitations have been justified because of this urge, in individuals and collective mindsets... why, how many follies are being committed even today, in these days, as people and systems try to prove themselves right at any cost!

But this urge to prove oneself... does it not sound very similar to, or same as, living one's life to the full? While proving oneself is always a phenomenon in comparison with the other where the other becomes a threat or a competition or an element to be eliminated, living my life to the full is a serene acceptance of who I am, what my capacity is and living it to the most. Here the others are my companions, my co-passengers and my colleagues! There isn't much need for proving myself, infact proving myself would turn detrimental within this mode of living.

The Word instructs us on this attitude today, inviting us through St. Paul to understand the call to grow in humility - humility understood as knowing the reality of our own selves. There is no need to justify oneself before people, for God knows who we are: that is faith. However weak and wrong we could be, God accepts us as we are and walks us to salvation through Jesus Christ if only we are ready to surrender: that is hope. This is the crucial lesson that the world needs today, to look at truth, accept truth and walk in truth, admitting when one fails and deciding to move on ahead in righteousness. Pride would never allow that... with pride I would be worried only about proving myself! It would do good to no one, neither to me nor to the other!

At whose service?

WORD 2day: Thursday, 29th week in Ordinary time

October 23, 2025: Romans 6: 19-23; Luke 12: 49-53

Jesus speaks of a fire that he wanted to set ablaze - the fire of righteousness, the fire of integrity, the fire of sanctification! It is simply the capacity to burn for a cause, but the question is for what cause? Paul rephrases that question in his parlance - at whose service? At whose service am I?

We find in the society today, people who claim to be at the service of the Divine - so they claim; but whether they really are, is a question to be answered only by themselves and by the Divine. But there can be indications that either prove or disprove their claim: sincerity, integrity, sensitivity to the other, love and true care of the common home - these are the indications that can sustain the claim of anyone who claims that he or she is at the service of the Divine.

There are those in the so-called opposing camp - who say, they are definitely not at the service of the Divine. They declare themselves to be atheists and agnostics, rationalists and humanists! But sometimes, the experiences they are involved in, such as humanitarian concern, ecological consciousness, raising their voice for the voiceless and oppressed, going out of their way to stand for the truth and fight for justice, even where they have nothing to gain - these actions and dispositions prove, even against their will, that they are in fact at the service of the One, true Divine, the author of life and the source of fullness of life.

Now the question is those who are called to be at the service of the Divine - not the ones who claim to be nor the ones who profess not to be - but the ones who are specifically called to be, by baptism, by ongoing choices, numerous sacraments and occasions of grace! Yes... you and me... we are to ask that question to ourselves today: at whose service am I?