BLESSED ARE THE HUMBLE

August 31, 2025: 22nd Sunday in Ordinary time

Ecclesiastes 3:19-21,30-31; Hebrew 12: 18-19, 22-24; Luke 14: 1,7-14

Humility is one lesson we learn so hard. Blessed are those who are humble by nature. The best of our qualities and talents would amount to nothing when we lack this one single virtue: Humility! The Word today invites us not only to be humble, but also to be with the humble and to be all for those who are humble, that we may be people of the Reign of God.

The Guru of the ashram was old and dying and he announced to his band of disciples: 'I wish to appoint the humblest of you all as the next Guru.' The bickering began among the disciples, each one trying to prove he is more humble than the other. There was one among them who stood still and away from all debating. The Guru seemed impressed. He thought to himself, 'that should be the right one to succeed me, perhaps!' and he called him over to himself and asked him: 'what about you? are you not interested in the contest?' The disciple replied, 'Oh you don't get it, how much ever they fight among themselves, they will never find anyone more humble than me!' The Guru was heart broken and he dismantled the whole ashram before he died! Spiritual Masters say, the moment you think you are humble, you cease to be so! How true it is!

Be Humble - that is the first message today. Being Humble is not putting up an appearance. It is not doing something to prove to others that I am humble. It is going about my duty with such sincerity and integrity that I may not be even noticed for the good that I do - but that does not disturb me at all.

At times there are people who make a big show of the so-called good that they do, and sometimes even of their own simplicity! Do you remember the posters of our politicians posing with a broom in their hands claiming to be simple and committed to cleanliness of the nation. Or similar ones where they pose with some poor people in their huts and gullies. They would have spent a fortune on those hoardings and advertisements! Let us remember - we have nothing to prove to anyone, not even to our own selves. All that I need to do is, be truthful, be real, be authentic. Humility is acceptance of truth.

Be with the Humble - identify people who are truly humble. Jesus had the special eye for the humble ones. Be it Mathew, or Zacchaeus, or Nathaniel, or the Centurion, or the Pharisee who asked him about the commandment of love... Jesus recognised the humble and sided with them. In another episode like today's, when Jesus was at dinner at Simon the Pharisee's, he was able to see through the sinfulness of the woman and identify her humble repentance. She was gifted with his empathy. Jesus sided always with the humble, not with the haughty.

If we are truly people of God, besides being humble ourselves, we would look out for the humble and stand by them. Just become aware of your tendency... among a group of new people whom you meet, who is it that you feel drawn to: the most brandishing among them or the quiet insecure of the band? Or when you deal with persons who depend on you, whom do you promote: the so-called talented and gifted or the rare ones who never get to reach the limelight? There is a statement about myself, in whom I choose to be with.

Be all for the Humble - being the voice of the voiceless, the stronghold for the weak. When we stand by the humble we stand with the Lord, because the Lord always stands by the humble. This is the third message that the Word offers us today. Be for the humble of heart, stand by them, empathise with them, support them and spread the spirit so that the Reign of God may be felt amidst us, here and now.

Today, we see reports of so many humble persons being taken for granted, exploited and drained of even the little that they have. We have truthful and integral individuals taken to task, punished and crushed by the demonic culture of corruption and greed. Those who fight for justice and truth are labelled rebels by the authority and derided as jobless by the public. What is our response as people of the Reign?

The Word today invites us to understand that the humble are blessed in the sight of the Lord. Those who are humble, those who are with the humble and those who are all for the humble, find favour in the light of the Reign of God - they are truly the people of the Reign

The call to be prophets

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

August 29, 2025 - Remembering the Martyrdom of John the Baptist
Jeremiah 1: 17-19; Mark 6: 17-29

The call to be prophets, like Jeremiah and John presented to us in the Word today - is not an elitist call that is reserved for a club of specially chosen specimen of people. No, it is a call that is addressed to every baptized child of God. But what is the world in general moving towards?

The world seems to be at home with a culture of sin today! Be it social or economic or political or cultural arena – there is a cloud of sinfulness that pervades and waits to consume everyone present. Religious and Spiritual realms, unfortunately, are no exceptions to this in any sense.

More treacherous than this situation, is the lack of sense of sin, that justifies sinfulness, sometimes without even the conscious assent of the persons involved. We have become so mindless of sin that certain of them do not even appear to be so... judging the other, discriminating the other in our minds, giving into our prejudices and not really giving a chance to the other and so on.

The question posed to us by the feast today is, which part we would rather play? The seducing forces that draw people to sin; or the wicked plotters who play the protagonists in spreading sinfulness; or the passive infected who continue to perpetrate sinfulness by their mere inaction; or the silent spectators who aid the spread more than do anything to stop it – all these groups are represented in the Gospel today. 

Among all these persons and examples, there is also John the Baptist, who dares to stand for truth and righteousness, even at the cost of his own life! That's responding to the call to be prophets!

Will there be love when the Master returns?

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

August 28, 2025: Celebrating St. Augustine
1 Thessalonians 3: 7-13; Matthew 24: 42-51

The Word today speaks of perseverance in faith, until the master comes. One sign that is provided as a sign of persevering faith is that of true and sustained love for each other. Paul prays that the Thessalonians grow in their love for each other and for the entire humanity. Jesus speaks of loving service to each other as the way to be prepared, alert and awake, when the Master comes.

The political crises between Israel-Iran, Russia-Ukraine, India-Pakistan, America and rest of the world, the tensions in various parts of the globe in varied forms, the recurring threats of terrorism in various parts, the pursuing persecutions and inhuman treatment of human persons in the name of caste and creed, dehumanisation of masses in the name of development, the negations of a vast majority of population who are poor and weak and at the mercy of the rich and the powerful, the institutionalisation of religions and ritualisation of faith - all these are totally not in keeping with the love that Jesus proposes as the touchstone of true faith.

Infact, the way things go, we should very seriously ask ourselves, 'will there be love left when the Master comes again?' But of what good is that question if we do not, on our part, do whatever we can, however little they may be, towards promoting true love? It would be a mistake if I tell myself, 'of what impact is it going to be that I love my neighbour in my limited circle where I am?' In loving the other, I become loving as a person, and by that I promote a whole culture, a lifestyle, a mode of living - that of love! And that is my responsibility, in my own way to promote the culture of love, thus keeping alive love until my Master returns in glory!

If at all we wish that love remains till our Master comes again, we need to transform ourselves and grow into radical agents of love wherever we are - isn't that a concrete call?

Augustine, the saint we celebrate today, believed in this, taught this and gave this as the most categorical test of all: the test of love. If you are a Christian, you love! Love and do what you wish, he would say! If love is true and God-like, there is no need of any other rule book or code of conduct. The situation in the world today is so painful and inhuman, because the rule of love is so neglected and disrespected.

Yesterday, we celebrated Monica, the mother of Augustine... the love of that mother made a saint of her son. Today, we have Augustine who understood the absolute value of love, in comparison to all the intellectual prowess and academic accomplishments that he could really boast of. He knew the right Christian mindset - that of love. Those who love are born of God and they have known God. Those do not love God, do not know God.

Is good, good enough?

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

August 27, 2025: Remembering St. Monica, the Saintly Mother

1 Thessalonians 2:9-13; Matthew 23: 27-32

When we say, 'he is good' or 'she is good'... how certain are we about the fact? It is our overall judgement about persons, looking at what we see, what we hear, what we observe... but no one can deny that there is more to reality than what we can apparently see or hear! How many times we trust someone as being good, and finally come to realise it was not actually true! Or how many other instances where we judged someone rashly from the looks, but ended up being humbled by their goodness and gentleness! So can we ever say someone is good?

Goodness - can we ever attribute it to anyone! Or can any of us really claim to be good absolutely? This is the question that the Word raises within us today. How good are you? Is your goodness, good enough? The Word questions, not whether we are good or whether we do good - but whether our goodness is really good?

At times we may appear or manifest ourselves to be good, to win favours, or establish a name or having hidden agenda to be achieved. At times we may strive to be good, just to make up for something that we have done wrong, which we alone would know - as a kind of atonement. At times we may do good, which may be good only in our judgement and there would be no one who really benefit out of it. Hence, the impeccable touchstone to goodness is God and God alone.

God who knows us through and through, who knows not only our speech and our acts but even our thoughts and our intentions, certainly knows how good we are! Hence the challenge we have is not to just be good, but to be good in the eyes of the Lord - that is intrinsic goodness - to be attentive to the Word of the Lord, accept it, live by it and be truly good, intrinsically good, after the heart of the Lord! 

That is exactly what Monica wanted of her son; she was not satisfied with his successful career and much less with his reckless life. She challenged him, until he changed; she held on to the Lord until the Lord gave her son the grace of conversion. Doing Good, Being Good, Inspiring Goodness... these are progressive ways of being Christ-ians today!

ENTERING THE NARROW DOOR

It is a demanding task!

August 24, 2025: 21st Sunday in Ordinary time
Isaiah 66: 18-21; Hebrews 12: 5-7,11-13; Luke 13: 22-30

The experience of standing in a queue, the tedium of entering the metal detector at places with extra vigilance or waiting for the token number at the bank… these are no rarities in our ordinary life. Jesus draws a simple example, one similar to these experiences.

The door to the Reign of God is narrow, not many take that door, though everyone is invited to enter the Reign. There are many other doors, which seem more comfortable, more spacious and more adorned and people prefer them, knowing least that they do not lead to the Reign of God, the greatest treasure in store for us! 

Entering the narrow door is a task quite demanding – the readings today point to three traits that are needed to be able to enter the Reign through the narrow door. As Jesus tells us in the Gospel, many try to enter but they cannot. 

To able to enter the door, one should be strong! Strive – says the Lord – Strive to enter – To strive means to struggle, to make all the efforts possible, to try real hard. One needs to be strong in mind, heart and soul to strive to enter the narrow door into the Reign. It is Spiritual strength we are dealing with here. Be Strong, but avoid Spiritual Obesity, warns the Lord. If you are obese, you cannot enter the narrow door – it’s obvious! 

Spiritual Obesity – Pride and Elitist mentality – which gives into self righteousness and judgmental attitude can never get us into the Reign of God. I am baptized, I am a born-again, I am a consecrated religious, I am a Sacred minister – nothing can get you in! From the east and the west, the north and the south everyone will enter and sit at the table in the Reign says the Lord. Mind you, there are no reservations here in. A bit of disciplining, as the second reading suggests, can get us in shape. 

To be able to enter the door, one should be in communion! The way is long, we reflected on that last week. Communion with each other and Communion with those who have managed to enter the door before us, can really make the task easy and enjoyable. Our forerunners are our example, our model and can even be our helpers – but finally, the one who has to enter is me! It is you! That is why we are warned today – Be in Communion but avoid Spiritual Infantilism. At times we make our faith so infantile that we think everything depends on the candles we light, the formulae we repeat, the food we give up and the coins we drop. These are means to strengthen our relationship with God – but they are not everything. 

What matters most is our personal life of commitment and integrity. You cannot enter the narrow door in groups… one by one you have to do it. That means you cannot ride on the goodness of the other, either the living or those gone before you! 

To be able to enter the door, one should be patient! The wait is long, for the door is narrow! Waiting on the Lord is a spiritual talent. To wait patiently, amidst failures and pressures, amidst temptations and struggles, amidst dark nights and heavy burdens, it is the only way one can be prepared and prompt when one’s time comes! There is a warning here too: Be Patient but avoid Spiritual Lethargy. In the name of patience I cannot procrastinate my commitment and postpone my conversion to a later moment. ‘Repent and Believe, for the Reign of God is near’ says the Lord. 

Being patient is not being busy with something else till my turn comes… but persevering, enduring and constantly working on myself that when my turn comes, I am in shape, prepared enough and fit to enter the narrow door that leads me to the behold the eternal glory of the Lord Almighty! 

I am the door, if anyone enters through me, he or she will be saved (Jn 10:9) declared the Lord elsewhere! Jesus is the door, the narrow door, the demanding door – He is compassionate, yes; but at the same time uncompromising. The choice is ours to choose the narrow door, make ourselves strong, united and patient, to endure our everyday life and make straight the path for our feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed (heb 12:13). The door is narrow but there is enough space to enter, if we are in ready and willing.

All, but not all…

One by one is the call… Let us enter the Narrow Door, one and all.

Understanding Goodness

WORD 2day: Saturday, 20th week in Ordinary time

August 23, 2025: Ruth 2: 1-3,8-11, 4:13-17; Mt 23: 1-12

Goodness is Godliness. These days are marked by various acts of political tension and violence in Iran, Israel, Venezuela etc. with forces that are trying to fish in these troubled waters. There are also accounts of violence in certain parts of India - with so many polarisations within the local population leading to unrest! There are those who claim to help or to bring back peace! But who is true and who is good? The Word reflected from this background raises a fundamental question - how do we understand goodness?

Is goodness the external appearance of a person sporting conventionally respected images - as a god-man, or a social worker, or a poor-lover, or a cause-believer...these externals do not suffice. And not all are deceived by it, of course some are!

Is goodness all about the deeds and functions? People who wish to create a public image that they are good, try to buy up people by their good deeds and heroism. But is that enough sign of true goodness? Hidden behind the good deeds and acts of people there are agendas and schemes that no one even guesses.

Goodness is all about the basic nature in a person, that is not even seen by the others. Then of what use is it, one could ask. It is nothing to prove to anyone, it is just being good at the core of one's being. That will never change, even if the situation around and the persons around change, for the worse or for the better.

Keeping these in mind, can I really judge who is good and who is not? Indeed, no one can. I can only say whether I am good or not. But it is so important to ask that question: Am I really Good?

Few who are worthy of the Banquet

WORD 2day: Thursday, 20th week in Ordinary time

August 21, 2025: Judges 11: 29-39; Matthew 22: 1-14

We have today in the first reading a strange, and from the standards of today, even ridiculous event - Jephthah sacrificing his only daughter in fulfilment of his vows to the Lord. One can be reminded of another event when Abraham took his son to the mountain to sacrifice, my be also wondering why the Lord did not stop this time, with this girl at stake! Whatever be the explanation, the key to understand the message from the liturgy of the Word today, is in the responsorial psalm.

Here I am Lord, I come to do your will. There are two elements of doing the will of God that is brought forth for our reflection - one, that it is not that easy to do the will of God, it requires the utmost sacrifices; secondly, just doing the minimum will not get you anywhere with respect to doing God's will, you have to go all the way, there are no short cuts!

At times, when you tell the Lord, 'here Lord, I am ready to do your will', you will have to sacrifice things that you may consider very dear to you - your dreams, your career, your so-called happiness, your family at times, your legitimate pleasures, your longing for a comfortable or atleast a peaceful life - you have to sacrifice the very things that the world may propose as targets to be achieved in life! Are you ready?

Once you say you are ready, you have to be absolutely ready! No compromises with God...it is not that you will do something and find a convenient reason to leave out something else, you will choose something and safely avoid something else that God wants of you! When you say a yes, it has to be a complete yes! If not, you will know it very well, and it will haunt you from within until you stand in the presence of that just Judge!

A bit alarming, isn't it? That is why many are called, but few are chosen. And of these few, even fewer persevere till the end, a very few go all the way, very few really grow to be worthy of the banquet of the Lord. Are we among that count?

The Lord who approaches

WORD 2day: Wednesday, 20th week in Ordinary time

August 20, 2025: Judges 9: 6-15; Matthew 20: 1-16

There is something that is common to the two readings of today, and that is the clue to the message that is offered us by the Word today. The first reading narrates a parable of trees approaching various trees to rule over them. Jesus narrates a parable in the Gospel, about the land owner who approaches people at various moments of the day for work. The key to understand the Word is here: the Lord who approaches.

In various ways the Lord approaches us - what a marvel and what a privilege that we are approached by the Almighty. It is not that the Lord cannot do without me, but the Lord chooses not to do without me. The Lord invites me to be on the Lord's side. The Lord approaches me to be at Lord's business.

Three dispositions that I should necessarily have to respond to the Lord who approaches me:

Listening, to the Lord's call and heeding to the Lord's directions, not despising the message nor the means through which the Lord shares that message with me. The Lord approaches me in varied ways and I need to be truly open minded to listen to the call;

Obedience, to carry out the wishes of the Lord despite the difficulties and delusions. Obedience is not doing something whether I like it or not, but whole heartedly doing something whether it is easy or difficult, simply for the reason that it is what God wants me to do, there and then.

Selflessness, to do whatever I can for the purpose of the Reign and for the people of God, without expecting anything as a recompense, never comparing the good times of the others with mine and doing everything for the other, for the society and for the God who wills them all.

The Lord who approaches me is a very strong affirmation that I am wonderful and awesome in the eyes of the Lord - would I live up to it today?

To understand how God sees...

WORD 2day: Tuesday, 20th week in Ordinary time

August 19, 2025: Judges 6: 11-24; Matthew 19: 23-30

The Lord's choices are curious, infact, strange! There is a series of them we can cite from both Old Testament and the New. Today's first reading presents to us one such personality - Gideon, a fear-stricken young man who defines himself as the least of all in Israel - is chosen by God and called, "Mighty Warrior". The numerous others like Jacob the less-stronger, David the puniest of the sons, Solomon the son of the coveted wife and over to the New Testament the uneducated fishermen and despised sinners as disciples and apostles - the list is endless.

In fact the whole of Salvation History is accomplished in and through the instrumentality of these so-called odd choices. It is very clear: "it is impossible for humans; but for God everything is possible." While the world and we ourselves look for something, God looks at something totally different and expects something totally different from us!

We look at the external appearance, the capacity to get noticed, the facility with which one makes a propaganda for oneself, the popularity one can attain, the comfort one can create for oneself, the promise of ease and pleasure that one can pose for the present and for the future...these seem to be the set of criteria of judgement and choice. The more saddening part is that even internally each of us is convinced of these criteria and we judge ourselves too on these counts.

Real liberation of the self and the path to perfection will be possible only when we realise the fact that, what God sees and expects is the most appropriate. And when that coincides with what I see and expect from myself - the miracle happens! In the Reign, the first becomes the last and the last becomes the first!

RACE - AN ANALOGY FOR CHRISTIAN LIVING

Urgency, Perseverance and Focus

August 17, 2025: 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Jeremiah 38: 4-6, 8-10; Hebrew 12: 1-4: Luke 12: 49-53

"Let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us"(Heb 12:1), invites the Liturgy today! Race - is a common analogy that is used to refer to something that requires a relentless effort and an enormous endurance. Today, the Liturgy of the Word invites us to look at our Christian living in the light of this analogy. 

Christian life is a Race; Living the Christian faith is like running a race...which has its starting point and the finish line in the person of Jesus Christ - "the pioneer and the perfecter of our faith"(Heb 12:2). Given the situation of the Greek Culture that was just spreading its philosophical wings over that part of the globe where Christianity was emerging out of Judaism, it was easy for the people to understand the analogy of Race applied to the life of faith. The analogy seems quite prevalent that we see apart from the letter to the Hebrews that we read today; also St. Paul uses it with facility, in his letters to the Philippians (Phil 3:14) and to Timothy(2 Tim 4:7,8). Extending the analogy a little more, we shall try to understand our Christian life today. 

Christian Life is a Race, a race of Hurdles! Obstructions all along the way, does not in anyway hinder the progress of the athlete, the athlete has to jump over those and run towards the goal that is set before one's eyes. If at every hurdle the person contemplates a back off or grumbles over its presence, the race is lost and ruined. Jesus today warns us of such hurdles and Jeremiah is presented to us in the midst of such overpowering obstructions. But Christian life has to go on! Jeremiah, when he was finally lifted up from the dungeon, he went back to proclaim the Word of the Lord! Up and across each hurdle, our life of faith, moves on! 

Christian Life is a Race, a Relay Race! We are not running alone, we are in a team. Some one has run the race before us and they have passed the baton on to us. It is our responsibility today to run and we will not be running it forever. We will have to finish our course and pass the baton to the next! Faith has to be lived, and passed on. In the encyclical, Lumen Fidei, chapter three Pope Francis states that those who believe are never alone, faith is always shared and it tends to be spread; it has to be handed on! The second reading presents this beautifully recalling to our attention that we are surrounded by a cloud of witnesses(Heb 12:1). 

Christian Life is a Race, a Marathon! It is not just a sprint, that I strive for a short time and I clinch a victory; it is a marathon, it is long and it is taxing. Speed is not enough, it demands also stamina! Endurance and Perseverance are inevitable subjects of attention when it comes to our Christian life. In Jesus' footsteps, St. Paul too instructs us, in his letter to the Thessalonians - never to be tired of doing what is right(2 Thes 3:13) and in the letter to Timothy - to endure every suffering and carry on our life (2 Tim 4:5). At times it can be boring, tedious or exasperating, but our character rests in staying on the track! 

Be it what it may, the analogy of the Race requires of us three important mindsets! 

The first is a sense of URGENCY. The Gospel presents this with the image of FIRE. Just as an athlete needs the fire within to run, a Christian needs the fire within to glow in his or her life. The fire that Jesus came to set, and badly wants ablaze. Jeremiah had it ablaze within his heart (Jer 20:9), the apostles, the martyrs, the first Christian community - all of them had it so ablaze within them, that it consumed them and spread wild to the world. Do we have it in us? 

The second is the strength of PERSEVERANCE. The Second reading presents it with the image of the BLOOD. In every race, there are those who are ready to beat us, to over power us - in our Christian life too there are elements that are on the prowl to beat us, to over power us - the element of sin, the element of godlessness, the element of materiality! A Christian needs to fight these elements constantly, struggle against them relentlessly, right up even to the point of bloodshed. 

The third is the sense of FOCUS. The first reading presents it with the image of the MIRE. With those around want us to fail, with the tiredness that catches on, with the target that lies quite away in a distance... there are chances for the athlete to lose heart. The training is to focus on the finish line! The darkness of the dungeon or the Mire that was all around, did not in anyway take away the focus of Jeremiah! He had his eyes focused from where came his help! The second reading has those phrases - "looking to Jesus"(12:2) and "Consider Him(Jesus)"(12:3), underlining the need for us to Focus on Him, who is our beginning and our end, our alpha and the omega, our pioneer and perfecter. 

With a sense of Urgency in our will to live our faith to the full, with the strength to persevere all trials and with our focus always on Christ - let us run this race set before us. We are not alone, we have the example and the help of those who have gone before us - the saints and martyrs. We have our brothers and sisters around us, united in the One Lord, to support us and sustain us. With the example and the help of the Crucified Lord who sits at the right of the throne of God, as the Risen Lord, let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us