February 16 : Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time - check your desires

First
Reading         :  Deuteronomy
30:15-20 or Sirach 15:15-20
Psalm                      : Psalm 119:1-8
Second Reading    : 1 Corinthians
3:1-9
Gospel                    : Matthew 5:21-37
Today's Gospel
invites us to understand the deeper meaning of religion and the difference
between observing the “letter of the law” and “the spirit of the law”.
It was Jesus’ teaching that it was not enough not to commit a sinful act
(like murder or adultery); the only thing sufficient was never even to wish
to commit a sinful act. It means that thoughts are just as important
as deeds, and that it is not enough not to commit a sin; the only thing that is
enough is not to wish to commit it. By Jesus’ standards a man is not a
good man until he never even desires to do a forbidden thing.

February 9 : 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time - Salt & Light

 First
Reading        :  Isaiah 58:1-9a
(9b-12)
Psalm                     : Psalm 112:1-9
(10)
Second Reading   : 1 Corinthians
2:1-12 (13-16)
Gospel                   : Matthew
5:13-20
 
So, when Jesus
says to his followers – “You are the salt of the earth”, it simply means that a
follower of Jesus must lend flavour to life, bringing joy & gladness,
happiness & peace, justice & love, care & concern, hope &
consolation, among whom he lives. Just as insipid salt is of no use in
flavouring or preserving food, so too the so-called 'disciples' are of no use if they fail to
live as Christ teaches. Jesus also says we are the light of the world. By itself light is no
good. It is only good when it shows us something other than itself. That is
what Christians are called to do - to live lives that show the presence of God
in the world. If we do not do this there is darkness and, without doubt, the
world is today in deep darkness in many ways. We Christians must ask ourselves
if we are giving out light.

February 2nd : Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time - The Presentation of the Lord

 
First
Reading        :  Micah
6:1-8
Psalm                    :  Psalm
15
Second Reading  :  1 Corinthians
1:18-31
Gospel                  :  Matthew
5:1-12
Today, 40 days after the
celebration of the birth of the Lord we gather to celebrate the Presentation of
the Lord. We commemorate the ritual purification of Mary as prescribed in the
Law of Moses after the birth of Jesus. We celebrate and remember the fact that
40 days after the birth of a Jewish boy, it was the custom to take him to the
temple in Jerusalem to be presented to God by his thankful parents and so Mary
the Mother of Jesus and Joseph the foster father of the Lord take him to the
temple in accordance with the Law. This Feast reminds us that just as Mary
consecrated Jesus to God we too have been consecrated at our Baptism and so we
are called "Children of God". This feast celebrates the fact that God
keeps His promises! Not only does God keep His promises to a chosen people
through a purified lineage and a virgin mother but also to particular
individuals like Simeon.
  

26 th January : Third Sunday in Ordinary Time - Light shines in darkness

First
Reading       : Isaiah 9:1-4
Psalm                    : Psalm 27:1, 4-9
Second Reading : 1 Corinthians
1:10-18
Gospel                  : Matthew 4:12-23
Jesus begins
his ministry not from the Holy city of Jerusalem but from Galilee, the land of
Herod Antipas, the ruler who had just arrested John the Baptist. Matthew saw
this as a fulfillment of ancient prophecy (Is 9:1-2). Light has come into a
land of darkness (Jn 8:12). Christ’s work goes on wherever even one true
follower of his is found for there still many who live in darkness and in the
shadow of death. Each of us has areas of darkness in our lives. Darkness can
stand for many things: fear, illness, pain, sin, error, loneliness, despair,
oppression etc. As followers of Christ we are called to be bearers of His
light. 
 
 

19th January : Second Sunday of the Ordinary Time - Pointing Christ out to others

  First
Reading       : Isaiah 49:1-7 Psalm                    : Psalm 40:1-11  Second
Reading : 1 Corinthians
1:1-9  Gospel                  : John 1:29-42 John the
Baptist found his reason for existence. He was to point out the Lamb of
God to the world.  His mission is not different from the mission of
every Christian.  We are to point out the Lamb of God to the
world. There is nothing greater that any of us can do in our lives than
point Christ out to others, first to our children who must follow us in
pointing to the Lord for others to find him, and then to all who meet us. John
the Baptist was not a typical person of his time.  He was
extraordinary.  When we consider his life, we realize that it was not
John’s dress or preaching that made him extraordinary, it was the fact that he
found the purpose for his life.  He looked to Jesus and said, “There
is the Lamb of God.” We have been called to do the same.

January 12th : Baptism of the Lord - Identity & Mission

First
Reading       : Isaiah 42:1-9 Psalm                    : Psalm 29 Second
Reading : Acts 10:34-43 Gospel                  : Matthew 3:13-17  
Today, we celebrate the
feast of Jesus’ baptism by John. His baptism marks the start of a new world, a
new creation. As Isaiah prophesied, the Spirit descends upon Jesus like a dove
- as the Spirit hovered over the face of the deep in the beginning (see Genesis
1:2). It was a special experience
in the life of Jesus and so made a lasting impact on His life. His Baptism
experience made clearer to Him that He is indeed God’s Son (divine identity:
“This
is my beloved son”) and that He was born with a special mission to fulfill (divine
Mission of salvation).  So today, let us see Jesus’
baptism as his new beginning for us and reawaken to our sonship in the Son (we
are God's children) and the mission which God has entrusted to each and every
one of us, that our Father might call us what he calls His Son - “my beloved. . .
in whom I am well pleased.” 

January 5 : The Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord - The Star of Wonder

 First
Reading       : Jeremiah 31:7-14
Psalm                    : Psalm 147:12-20
Second
Reading : Ephesians 1:3-14
Gospel                  : John 1:(1-9),
10-18
 
In Matthew 2:
9-11, the ageless story describes a Star in the East guiding three wise
men, or magi, to the place of the divine birth of Christ. According to
medieval legends, the three wise men were named Melchior, Balthazar and Gaspar.
These three priest-kings and wisemen brought royal gifts to the divine infant:
gold, frankincense and myrrh. Melchior brought a golden cup, which, according
to legend, was preserved by the Blessed Virgin Mary and was the same cup used
in the institution of the Holy Eucharist. Balthazar brought a gold box of
frankincense. Gaspar brought a curiously chased flask of myrrh, a royal
embalming oil. The gift of gold symbolizes the kingship of Christ, which
represents our own true royal Self-hood and our giving of love and service as
directed and commanded by that Self. The gift of frankincense symbolizes the
Godhead of Christ and our own gifts of honour and reverence to our indwelling
Divinity. The gift of myrrh is a prophecy of the death and burial of the
earthly body of Christ, which represents our understanding and empathy for the
suffering of humanity. Let us pray that just as the Magi were guided by a star
we too be guided by the signs of the times to find God and worship Him.

January 1 st 2014 : Solemnity of Mary the Holy Mother of God - The mind of Christ

First
Reading       : Numbers 6:22-27 Psalm                    : Psalm 8 Second
Reading : Galatians 4:4-7 Gospel                  : Luke 2:15-21
The mystery of
her divine motherhood that we celebrate today contains in superabundant measure
the gift of grace that all human motherhood bears within it, so much so that
the fruitfulness of the womb has always been associated with God’s blessing.
Mary is the mother and model of the Church, who receives the divine Word in
faith and offers herself to God as the “good soil” in which he can continue to
accomplish his mystery of salvation. The spiritual meaning of Mary’s motherhood
was made known by St. Augustine who said “Prium concepit in mente quam
corpore” which means Mary conceived Jesus in her mind before conceiving
Him in her womb. May was filled with Christ her son, she became the
faithful disciple of the Lord. We are called upon to do the same: to put on and
live with the mind of Christ. One of the instructions given to us in the Bible
is to have the mind of Christ. We read in Philippians 2:5, “Let this mind be
in you which was also in Christ Jesus.” May the Virgin Mary, whom
today we venerate with the title of Mother of God, help us to contemplate the
face of Jesus, the Prince of Peace. May she sustain us and accompany us in this
New Year: and may she obtain for us and for the whole world the gift of peace.
Amen!

December 29th : Feast of the Holy Family - Jesus-Mary-Joseph

 First
Reading       : Isaiah 63:7-9
Psalm                    : Psalm 148
Second
Reading : Hebrews 2:10-18
Gospel                  : Matthew 2:13-23
 
On this Sunday we celebrate the feast of “The Holy Family of
Jesus, Mary and Joseph,” which is very much part of this season and it
enables us to continue to ponder the mystery of Christmas and learn the lessons
that this season has to teach us. Actually, the birthday celebration of
the Christ child naturally leads us to contemplate the Holy Family of Jesus,
Mary and Joseph as model of all Christian families. For a large part of his life Jesus
was part of a family, but his family-life is shrouded in mystery. We always
imagine that the Holy Family must have been an extremely happy family. Yet,
like every other family, it too had from time to time its ups and downs, its
joys and sorrows, its problems and difficulties. In fact, challenges faced them
right from the very beginning. In the Gospel Reading of today from St. Matthew
which is unique to his Gospel, we have the story of 'the Flight into Egypt.' It
shows us that not even the Holy Family was spared the trials and sufferings of
every family. But they are called a “HOLY” family because they sought God’s
purposes in their lives and not their own comforts. This family is holy because God is
present in it and also it is responsive to the demanding word of
God spoken in the very trying circumstances of their daily lives. Let
us ask the Holy Family to bless all our families. 

December 25 : Christmas Day - God had visited us

 First
Reading       : Isaiah 9:2-7  Psalm                    : Psalm 96 Second
Reading : Titus 2:11-14 Gospel                  : Luke 2:1-14,
(15-20)
Today we
celebrate Christmas, the mystery of Incarnation, God becoming man, the
astonishing entrance that God made into our broken world. Again and again the
beauty of this Gospel astonishes us that God makes himself a child so that we
may love him, so that we may dare to love him, and as a child trustingly lets
himself be taken into our arms. It is as if God were saying: I know that my
glory frightens you, and that you are trying to assert yourself in the face of
my grandeur. So now I am coming to you as a child, so that you can accept me
and love me. God is born for us but the question is whether we are ready to
welcome him. The most unfortunate and the saddest sentence is found in the
Gospel of Luke: “There was no place for them in the Inn” (Lk
2:7). Centuries have passed but this stark reality still continues in our
lives. God wants to come in but we keep our doors closed. Why should we not
also be moved by curiosity to see more closely and to know what God has said to
us? At this hour, let us ask him to touch our hearts with the holy curiosity
and the holy joy of the shepherds, and thus let us go over joyfully to
Bethlehem, to the Lord who today once more comes to meet us. Amen

December 22 : Fourth Sunday in Advent: Joseph, the just man

First
Reading       : Isaiah 7:10-16 Psalm                    : Psalm 80:1-7,
17-19 Second
Reading : Romans 1:1-7 Gospel                  : Matthew 1:18-25 Today is the
fourth Sunday in Advent. Christmas will dawn in few days. Matthew’s story of
the birth of Jesus centres on the person of Joseph. The mystery is so great
that Joseph cannot understand what is happening. In his puzzlement, the Lord
calls Joseph to a remarkable act of faith and obedience. Joseph, in wordless
response to the word of God communicated by an angel, rose and ‘took his wife to
his home’. A total and unquestioning acceptance of the word of God is Joseph’s
first action in Matthew’s infancy story. St. Joseph shows us the value of grace
under pressure. He always found himself in emergency situations during the
brief period of his life on earth: having to accept a young wife who is
pregnant before they are married, having to travel to faraway Bethlehem, having
to flee as refugees into Egypt etc. He had to face a lot of pressure, a lot of
crisis and a lot of emergency situations but God’s grace was sufficient for
him. St. Bernard comments that God never gives us a challenge or a call or a
duty without the sufficient grace to accomplish it. Joseph leads the way and
shows us the quality of trust and commitment to the coming of God, which should
mark the lives of each and every one of us this Christmas.

December 15 : Third Sunday of Advent - Rejoice

 
First Reading       :  Isaiah 35:1-10 Psalm                    :  Psalm 146:5-10 Second Reading :  James 5:7-10 Gospel                  :  Matthew 11:2-11
 
The third Sunday of Advent is
called the "Gaudete Sunday" -- Rejoice Sunday, the
Sunday of joy. The Liturgy speaks of Joy in order to give us courage since our
hearts can easily become frightened and weighed down by the hardships we face.
We can lose patience in our sufferings as we await the coming of the Lord.
That’s what happened to John the Baptist as we hear in today’s Gospel. He is in
a dungeon, the victim of a petty tyrant and his vengeful, immoral consort. It
is just possible that, in the dark, vile hole of a prison John is having some
doubts about Jesus as the Messiah. Therefore Jesus gives John the reassurance,
echoing the words of the Prophet Isaiah, that He is truly the awaited messiah. All of us are searching for
happiness, but why are so few truly happy and even those who are happy
are only happy for such a short time? It is because our approach is
wrong. We go up the wrong side and we decide to take the wrong way up.
Revelation says: "God is love," but man has tried to
reverse the phrase so that it says: "Love is God"! Thus,
when we say, "Happiness is God," we divinize our little experiences;
we make happiness into an idol. This explains why he who seeks God always
finds joy while he who seeks joy does not always find God. Therefore let us
pray that we will always ‘seek joy in the Lord’.

Dec 8 : Second Sunday in Advent - A voice crying in the wilderness

 First
Reading       :  Isaiah 11:1-10 Psalm                    :  Psalm 72:1-7,
18-19  Second
Reading :  Romans 15:4-13  Gospel                  :  Matthew 3:1-12
 
The Church’s use of John the Baptist over the
Advent Season invites us to join John’s audience in these days of preparation.
The kingdom of heaven is at hand, and the one who is able to separate the wheat
from the chaff is coming. John never saw a superhighway, but he uses the image
in order to prepare the way for the coming of the world’s most wonderful and
most extraordinary traveller, the Messiah Jesus, into our lives. The highway
John wishes to construct is within our hearts. It hasn't a number, but it does
have a name-conversion. Conversion results when a person realizes
profoundly that the message and the life of Jesus make sense and is infinitely
desirable. Conversion takes place when Jesus and his message cut through the
moments of pain, tears, worry, fear and uneasiness in our lives. Conversion
means meeting Jesus in his word and allowing Him to become directly involved in
our lives. Once this happens, life can never be the same for us.

Dec 1 : First Sunday in Advent: Be awake and be Prepared

 
First
Reading       : Isaiah 2:1-5Psalm                    : Psalm 122Second
Reading : Romans 13:11-14Gospel                  : Matthew 24:36-44
 Today we begin a new season
of Advent and it is its 1st Sunday. Now,
in the general literal sense, the word 'advent' means 'coming
of someone,' but in the Christian Liturgical sense it specifically
implies to 'the coming of Christ.' So specifically therefore,
with the start of Advent today, we begin the period of expectation and waiting
for the coming of Christ, our Savior — his birth on the first Christmas
day. But actually, the Lord comes to us in three ways: the first coming of
Jesus about 2000 years ago when he came as our Savior (Coming in history), the
second coming is the glorious return of Jesus in future at
the end of time (Coming in Majesty) and the third coming is
situated between the first two comings. It is Jesus' daily coming into our
hearts here and now at every moment of every day in the sacraments – very
specifically through the Eucharist, and therein lies a challenge for us as well
as a comfort (Coming in Mystery). Thus in a general sense, the period of Advent
encompasses all time viz. Past, Present & Future. So, a Christian in this
sense is always a citizen of Advent. Therefore, it is not surprising that we
begin the new Liturgical Year this Sunday, with the same theme of 'the
coming of Christ', where we ended it last Sunday.
 

November 24 : Solemnity of Christ the King - Thy kingdom come!

Today, the last Sunday of ordinary time the Church in a special way
invites us to celebrate Jesus Christ our anointed king who overcame suffering
and death, and so brought us out of darkness into his kingdom of light. On 7th July 2009, during the funeral of Michael
Jackson, the presiding pastor said: “Behold the king of pop ready to face
the King of the world.” Today (34th Sunday),
the entire world stands still and bows to the King of kings and the Lord of
lords (Rev 17, 14), and the Holy Mother Church celebrates the feast of Christ
the King and Sovereign ruler of the Universe (Dan 7, 14). Pope Pius XI
instituted the Feast of Christ the King in 1925 in response to growing
nationalism and secularism. In initiating this feast, the Church wanted
to take our worship of Jesus from the privacy of our hearts and to proudly
proclaim his public reign as well. The title of the feast was “Jesu
Christi Regis” (Our Lord Jesus Christ the King). Again, in his
1969 motu proprio Mysterii Paschalis, Pope Paul VI gave the celebration
a new title: “Iesu Christi universorum Regis” (Our Lord Jesus
Christ King of the Universe). He also gave it a new date: the last Sunday in
the liturgical year and assigned to it the highest rank, that of “Solemnity.”
As we celebrate this feast let us ask ourselves: “Who reigns in my heart? Jesus
or the evil one? Am I happy to be a subject of His kingdom? What are the values
of his kingdom that I admire and try to inculcate into my life? 
 

November 17 : Thirty Thired Sunday Ordinary Time - 'Jesus left the Temple and departed from it’ (Mt 24:1)

In today’s Gospel Jesus portrays for us, graphically, the destruction of
Jerusalem and the Temple. For Jews, the destruction of these two things was
equivalent to the end of the world. Precisely for this reason, the Church uses
this gospel passage as one of its readings for the end of the liturgical year.
It wants us to reflect on the end of the world. But what’s the significant it
has in our lives? What does it mean to us personally? We read the Gospel of
Matthew that Jesus, before His prediction of the destruction of the Temple,
‘left the Temple and departed from it’ (24:1). Jesus not only went out of the
Temple, He also departed from it and never returned to it. He did not depart on
His own accord, they drove Him off; He did not reject them, rather they had
rejected Him. When He departed from the Temple, its sanctity, glory and defence
departed. The most beautiful and magnificent Temple in the world turned into
the most ruinous heap. Three days after He departed the veil of the Temple was
rent – making everything in the Temple common and unclean. Woe descends upon
anyone from whom the Lord departs. If we drive away His presence from our
souls, it will become desolate, as desolate as the Temple of Jerusalem. That
will be the end of the world to us. When Jesus departs from my life, that is
going to be my experience of the end of the world.

November 10 : Thirty Second Sunday in Ordinary Time: Heaven is our Home

 
In today’s Gospel we find Jesus in reply rejecting the caricature that
the Sadducees present of heaven, a caricature that suggests that it is a simple
continuation of the earthly relationships of the spouses. Eternal beatitude is
not just an increase and prolongation of terrestrial joys, the maximization of
the pleasures of the flesh and the table. The other life is truly another life,
a life of a different quality. It is true that it is the fulfilment of all
man's longings on earth, yet it is infinitely more, on a different level.
Interpreting Jesus' answer to the Sadducees, in an erroneous way, some have
claimed that marriage has no follow-up in heaven. He does not deny that they
might rediscover in God the bond that united them on earth. If God united them
on earth, how could he divide them in heaven? According to this vision,
matrimony does not entirely end with death but is transfigured, renewed and
made holy -- it loses those limits that mark life on earth -- in the same way
that the bonds between parents and children or between friends will not be
forgotten. In the preface of the Mass for the dead, the liturgy says that with
death "life is changed, not taken away"; the same must be said of
marriage, which is an integral part of life. Let us look forward to a glorious
life in heaven. 

November 3 : Thirty First Sunday in Ordinary Time: Zacchaeus’ Transformation

In the figure of Zacchaeus in today’s Gospel, we have a portrait of a lost soul. He is a chief tax collector, a rich man who has apparently gained his living by fraud by profession and so a“sinner” excluded from Israel’s religious life. But Zacchaeus’ faith & humility bring salvation to his house. He expresses his faith in his fervent desire to “see” Jesus, even humbling himself to climb a tree just to watch Him pass by. While those of loftier religious stature react to Jesus with grumbling, Zacchaeus receives Him with joy. Beneath the loving gaze of Christ, the heart of Zacchaeus warms to love of neighbour. From a feeling of isolation, which had led him to enrich himself without caring about what others had to suffer, he moves to an attitude of sharing. In another passage of the Gospel Jesus states that it is very difficult for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven (cf. Matthew 19:23). In the case of Zacchaeus we see that precisely what seems impossible actually happens: "He," St. Jerome comments, "gave away his wealth and immediately replaced it with the wealth of the Kingdom of Heaven" (Homily on Psalm 83:3). And Maximus of Turin adds: "Riches, for the foolish, feed dishonesty, but for the wise they are a help to virtue; for the latter they offer a chance of salvation, for the former they procure a stumbling block and perdition" (Sermon 95). And it is only at this point that the love of God achieves its purpose, and salvation is accomplished: 'Today salvation has come to this house' (v 9)."

October 27 : Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time - The Prayer of the Humble Man

Jesus draws a blunt picture in today’s Gospel. The Pharisee’s prayer is almost a parody of the thanksgiving psalms (see for example Psalms 30,118). Instead of praising God for His mighty works, the Pharisee congratulates himself for his own deeds, which he presents to God in some detail. The tax collector stands at a distance, too ashamed even to raise his eyes to God (see Ezra 9:6). He prays with a humble and contrite heart (see Psalm 51:19). He knows that before God no one is righteous, no one has cause to boast (see Roman 3:10; 4:2). We see in the Liturgy today one of Scripture’s abiding themes - that God “knows no favorites,” as today’s First Reading tells us (see 2 Chronicles 19:7; Acts 10:34-35; Romans 2:11). God cannot be bribed (see Deuteronomy 10:17). We cannot curry favor with Him or impress Him - even with our good deeds or our faithful observance of religious duties such as tithing and fasting. If we try to exalt ourselves before the Lord, as the Pharisee does, we will be brought low (see Luke 1:52). This should be a warning to us - not to take pride in our piety, not to slip into the self-righteousness of thinking that we’re better than others, that we’re “not like the rest of sinful humanity.” If we clothe ourselves with humility (see 1 Peter 5:5-6) - recognize that all of us are sinners in need of His mercy - we will be exalted (see Proverbs 29:33). The prayer of the lowly, the humble, pierces the clouds. Paul testifies to this in today’s Epistle, as He thanks the Lord for giving him strength during his imprisonment. Paul tells us what the Psalmist sings today - that the Lord redeems the lives of His humble servants. We too must serve Him willingly. And He will hear us in our distress, deliver us from evil, and bring us safely to His heavenly kingdom.

Oct 20 : Twenty Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time: Persistent Widow

The Lord is our guardian, beside us at our right hand, interceding for us in all our spiritual battles. In today’s Psalm we’re told to lift our eyes to the mountains, that our help will come from Mount Zion and the Temple - the dwelling of the Lord who made heaven and earth. Joshua and the Israelites, in today’s First Reading, are also told to look to the hilltops. They are to find their help there - through the intercession of Moses - as they defend themselves against their mortal foes, the Amalekites. Notice the image: Aaron and Hur standing on each side of Moses, holding his weary arms so that he can raise the staff of God above his head. Moses is being shown here as a figure of Jesus, who also climbed a hilltop, and on Mount Calvary stretched out His hands between heaven and earth to intercede for us against the final enemy - sin and death (see 1 Corinthians 15:26). By the staff of God, Moses bested Israel’s enemies (see Exodus 7:8-12;8:1-2), parted the Red Sea (see Exodus 14:16) and brought water from the Rock (see Exodus 17:6). The Cross of Jesus is the new staff of God, bringing about a new liberation from sin, bringing forth living waters from the body of Christ, the new Temple of God (see John 2:19-21; 7:37-39; 19:34; 1 Corinthians 10:4). Like the Israelites and the widow in today’s Gospel, we face opposition and injustice - at times from godless and pitiless adversaries. We, too, must lift our eyes to the mountains - to Calvary and the God who will guard us from all evil. We must pray always (persevere in prayer) and not be wearied by our trials, Jesus tells us today. As Paul exhorts in today’s Epistle, we need to remain faithful, to turn to the inspired Scriptures - given by God to train us in righteousness. We must persist, so that when the Son of Man comes again in kingly power, He will indeed find faith on earth.