31. I THU of Kaitha

Jn. 8: 48-59: In time Jesus saw nothing but pain, dishonor and rejection. In eternity he saw only the glory which he who is obedient to God will someday receive. Jesus had the supreme optimism born of supreme faith, the optimism which is rooted in God. In Jesus alone we see what God wants us to know and what God wants us to be. In Jesus the eternal God shared himself to men. 

30. I WED of Kaitha

Jn. 10: 22-28: Jesus promised to those who accepted him of eternal life, a life that would know no end and a life that was secure even in a world crashing to disaster. They would know the serenity of God. It is both an invitation and a promise. 

29. I TUE of Kaitha

Lk 19: 11-27: How we live in this world, as well as how we pray in the church, can be apostolic and powerfully evangelistic. This parable of the talents, both used and unused speaks on several levels to us on our life. It can be applied spiritual, intellectual and material opportunities. Gifts unused remain unused and for every gift we received we are responsible. Through the members of the church enormous abundance of gifts for the spread of the Gospel are received. Often a fearful attitude that seeks only to preserve the past and not to launch out into the future has hindered the growth of the Gospel.

28. I MON of Kaitha- St. Alphonsa

Jn.12: 20-16: Jesus turns the dreams of conquest of the disciples into sacrifice and death. The dream of conquest is replaced by a vision of a cross. Greeks representing the gentile world come to know this through a succession of disciples from Philip through Andrew. Saint Alphonsa suffered for the world.

27. I SUN of Kaitha

Lk. 14: 7-14: There is no room for a Christian for spiritual self-exaltation. Those who gloat over their special entry to God and who deprecate their neighbour’s spiritual vitality are in fact negating the very thing they claim to have. Our closeness to Jesus is measured by how close we are to those around us. However publically some may seem to have rejected Jesus, that refusal is never final. 

26.VII SAT of Apostles

Mt. 19: 1-12: While giving the genealogy of Joseph, the last verse shifts to focus on Mother Mary and the birth of Jesus. The shift to focus on Mary is with a purpose to show that she is chosen by God Himself to be the mother of God. Thus royalty of kingship gained, the tragedy of freedom lost, the glory of liberty restored. It is the mercy of God that is the story of mankind and of each individual man. 

25. VII FRI of Apostles

Mt. 20: 20-28: The disciples were not a company of saints. They were ordinary men set out by Jesus to change the world. They were ambitious having failed to understand Jesus, his mission and the purpose of his coming. In them we find the amazing confidence and the amazing loyalty in Jesus. Jesus raised these ordinary men to change the world as apostles and his ambassadors of the Divine plan – the will of God to which Jesus submitted himself to.

24. VII THU of Apostles

Mt. 23: 13-22: The word ‘hypocrite’ not only means to appear to be what one is not but also it refers to the one who makes light of the things of God and who causes loss of respect for them. These teachers close the path to true knowledge of God the Father, and bar the way to freedom and confidence which is proper to the children of God.   

23. VII WED of Apostles

Lk. 16: 9-17: We should use our things to enhance our friendships and not to use our friendship to enhance the number of things we have. Each of us has a god we serve. The question centers upon, which will attract our devotion. Spiritual bonds endure over time. Things can be lost or rotten. 

22. VII TUE of Apostles

Mk. 1: 29-34: Jesus restores Peter’s mother-in-law to a full and productive life. Our deepest fulfillment is found in allowing the Father to work through our intelligence, abilities, imagination and personalities. Communicating that message of the liberation available to us hwn we submit to the rule of God and it was more crucial to jesus than attracting crowds through miracles. 

21. VII MON of Apostles

Mt. 12: 38-42: The Pharisees want a miracle that will undoubtedly prove that Jesus do the work of God. Jesus refuses. People who love truth and seek what is right will recognize the seal of God in the deeds of Jesus. But Jesus will have to give a sign – his resurrection. So people, who demand a miracle before they believe, receive no answer. 

20. VII SUN of Apostles

Lk. 13: 22-30: Jesus foresees that people from all nations will convert and come into the church. The Jews alone cannot claim the kingdom of God by merely having a superficial acquaintance with Jesus. It demands serious effort like entering through a narrow door. The v. 25b “I do not know where you come from” is very frightening.  It exhorts us to have a serious examination of conscience. 

19. VI SAT of Apostles

Jn. 7: 14-24: Jesus heals the impotent man on the Sabbath and this action of Jesus infuriates the Pharisees but Jesus on the other hand  justifies his action glorifying God. Jesus has the argument with them and he tells them to judge fairly. We see the logical, keen and clear mind of Jesus defeating the wisest but ill intentioned men of his times. 

18. VI FRI of Apostles

Mt. 22: 15-22: Jesus invites his adversaries to give political life its true place and not to confuse faith and religious fanaticism. ‘What belongs to Ceaser ‘ means ‘the kind of things which fall under his rule’. Thus ‘what belongs to God’ means ‘the obedience of conscience was due only to God’. So he separates religion from politics. From now on, religion should not be manipulated for political purposes, nor should religion confuse its political opponents with the enemies of the kingdom.

17. VI THU of Apostles

Mk. 10: 46-52: The blind man at Jericho understands that if he lets this opportunity go by there will not b another chance; so he shouts all the way. An authentic disciple must be the one who is fully convinced of his/her total inability to become God’s child except through the power of Jesus. Only Jesus can provide the divine light. The bind man designates Jesus as Son of David. He actually ‘sees’ who Jesus is, more clearly than the disciples and the crowd who have been with him all along.

16. VI WED of Apostles

Lk. 15: 8-10: A woman searches diligently for her lost coin. The same way Jesus speaks of a God who searches for men who are lost in sin. For Jews it is a new idea or concept. Man searching God is understood by them easily. We believe in the seeking love of God, because we see that love incarnate in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who came to seek and to save that which was lost. 

15. VI TUE of Apostles

Mk. 4: 21-25: The word works secretly within the heart but when we discover the transformation that is at work in our life, we readily proclaim Christ and make known to others the secret that has made us happy. So Jesus wants us to read the Gospel and challenge ourselves before we follow any further. Then we produce fruit according to the Gospel in our life.

14. VI MON of Apostles

Mt. 12: 33-37: That which is in the heart can come to the surface only through lips. Jesus laid it down that a man would specially render account for his idle words. In public he carefully chooses what he says in private he takes the sentinels away. So whatever he says in anger what he really thinks and what he has often wanted to say, but which the cool control of prudence has kept him from saying. It is often these words which cause the greatest damage. A man may say in anger things he would never have said if he was in control of himself. 

13. VI SUN of Apostles

Lk. 12: 57- 13:5: Jesus speaks about individual conversion and to have that conversion at the earliest, lest it is too late like that happened to those people upon whom the tower fell and perished. A Christian must be prepared to face any eventuality to settle things before the things go wrong. 

12. V SAT of Apostles

Mk. 12: 38-44: Though the teachers of the law were not bad persons and interested in religion and teaching people trying to be a saint, he becomes a weak person. The very respect that people show leads them to overlook in themselves many wrongs that in anybody else would be severely censured. 

11. V FRI of Apostles

Mt. 13: 24-30, 36-43: Because of the roots of wheat and weed are intertwine it is dangerous to put out the weeds. In the same way virtue and vice are seen intertwined in our life and it is, for us to see which direction we are moving forward. Because good and evil mingle in this world we need vivid symbols and signs to serve as focal points for our faith and our life. 

10. V THU of Apostles

Jn. 6: 60-63: Jesus knew that some would not receive him and reject him with hostility. No man can accept him unless he or she is moved by the Spirit of God. The word of God that Jesus spoke is the key to this Spirit of God by which one can come to God through Jesus. 

9. V WED of Apostles

Mk. 12: 1-12: The early church saw what was told in the parable fulfilled. The Jewish people rejected Jesus while the gentiles receiving him. The church is this new vineyard of Christ being entrusted by Christ to cultivate, care for and to bring forth fruits for God who is the rightful owner. 

8. V TUE of apostles

Mt. 11: 1-6: Jesus preached the gospel of divine holiness with divine love. He was saying to the disciples of John (to whom the episode is directed) “May be I am not doing the things you expected me to do. But the powers of evil are being defeated not by irresistible power, but by unanswerable love”. Jesus’ aim was to draw faith and hope from the disciples of John. It is again a direction to his disciples too. 

7. V MON of Apostles

Jn. 16: 25-33: Jesus opens up the way to the father making the one who believes in Jesus is also the beloved of God. To him there is the forgiveness, sympathy and the gift of Jesus. He is not alone, but with the Father making easy for the believer to come to the Father. 

6.V SUN of Apostles

Lk 12: 22-34: It is not what we earn but what we give makes our life a blessing to all. To explain the above, Jesus tells this parable of the rich fool, in which the quantity of his wealth never saves him and never gives him eternal security. So the one who trusts in the providence of God, will find happiness in life, safety in the hand of God. He will forsake anxiety of heart and seek the kingdom of God in all throughout his life. 

5. IV SAT of Apostles

Mk 1: 40-45: All who had skin diseases were considered lepers at Jesus’ times and thereby unclean and are outcastes.  By curing such a one is a conspicuous and significant feature of the ministry of Jesus. Jesus brings back the lost dignity of man into the warmth of human communion.

4. IV FRI of Apostles

Mk. 5: 21-24, 35-43: Jairus wanted a physical contact with Jesus-but Jesus looked beneath the surface touch to the deeper contact of faith. Through faith we make contact with Jesus. We can contact the same Jesus and be healed by the same saving power through faith and the sacramental liturgical life of the church. 

3. IV THU of Apostles

Jn. 20: 24-29: This exclamation of Thomas is the supreme affirmation of faith in which the sum total of the Johannine faith is expressed. Thomas exclamation is indeed the new covenant declaration of our relationship with the word incarnate, a confession which each one of us is called to make and thereby enter into the blessed v. 29 life of Jesus’ community. 

2. IV WED of Apostles

Mt. 14: 22-33: ‘Walking on water’ is considered a divine act from Old Testament times. The disciples failed to understand the significance of this divine act even after ‘the multiplication of bread’. Only the final acts – the cross and the resurrection of Jesus could invoke some understanding in the minds of his disciples. Thereafter all deeds of Jesus were understood by the disciples probably with the help of the Holy Spirit

1. IV TUE of Apostles

Lk 10: 38-42: Two sisters respond differently but authentically to the Lord. Martha is busy serving and Mary listens to the Word. Jesus approves what Mary has done. We all develop spiritual and sacred shorthand by which we standardize our efforts and responses to events. Such an approach is much easier in a busy world that seeking out the uniqueness of individuals that come our way. Mary reminds us to make time to examine the special features of our family, Social and professional loves. Each situation caries its own individual potential for grace and life.