30. Mt. 4: 18-22

Mt. 4: 18-22: By calling the first disciples- Peter, Andrew, James and John by Jesus, we are told to turn to God with a change of heart. Their conversion makes a decisive change of life, renouncing all their possessions and family, and follow Jesus without knowing where he is leading them. They develop a Master (Guru) disciple (shishya) relationship of deep faith and trust on their Guru. 

29. Mk. 12: 18-27.

Mk. 12: 18-27: The Sadducees are silenced by Jesus by proposing to have faith in the power of God by highlighting their shallow understanding of their scripture. God is powerful to overcome death and give life – the resurrected life will enjoy uninterrupted communion with God. Our hope in resurrected life is based on the character of the ever-living God (v. 26 & 27).

28. Mk 5: 25-34

Mk 5: 25-34: Jesus manifests his lordship over life and death, which no doubt is another sign of his kingdom. A missionary is asked to support life enhancing programmes of health, environment, housing, food production, clean water and so on. The Jews regarded this woman ‘unclean’ but for Jesus, she is the owner of immense faith and dares to defy all Jewish regulations.

27. Mt. 6: 19-21

Mt. 6: 19-21: Although both God and wealth play a vital role in our lives, one of them will be the lens through which we view the world. If wealth is the centre of our lives then religion become a subtle way of insuring the survival of what we have stored. If God is at our center, then the things we own enhance the way we give glory to God. Whichever serves as our lens, will colour our view of the rest of the world.

26. Mt. 22: 41-46

Mt. 22: 41-46: Jesus here makes his greatest claims. In him there came, not the earthly conqueror like that of David, but the son of God who would demonstrate the love of God upon his cross. The disciples felt a shiver in the presence of the eternal mystery. They had the feeling that they had heard the voice of God, and for a moment, in this man, Jesus, they glimpsed God’s very face.

25. Lk. 9: 10-17

Lk. 9: 10-17: The multiplication of the loaves of bread foreshadows the Eucharist. If Jesus could multiply the bread for the poor people, then he could feed and nourishes the faithful with his own life. This is the way Jesus answers to the question of Herod ‘who is this man?’

24. Jn. 18: 28-37

Jn. 18: 28-37: The trail of Jesus by Pilate is central in the Gospel of John. The account moves every man to decide what we will do with Jesus-accept him or reject him. No one can compromise with Jesus; no man can serve two masters. We are either for Jesus or against him. We are expected to come out of the captivity of human circumstances to follow Jesus. Pilate was a captive of his office.

23. Mt. 22: 1-14

Mt. 22: 1-14: The only table of Christ that Christians usually know is the Eucharist. Our meeting together at Mass has to remind us that God calls us to prepare in our daily lives, for the banquet reserved by him for all humankind. Ours is the task of uniting and reconciling all people. We are also reminded that as Christians we are to wear the garment – a life of justice, honesty and trustworthiness!

22. Mt 16: 21-28

Mt 16: 21-28: V.26 resounds all over the world – many people of different cultures changed, converted by hearing this verse. We all can lose ourselves in events. We all play a variety of roles with family, friends and co-workers. By entering on Christ we can allow Jesus to become our central point of balance in this rapidly changing world. The God of the galaxies chose us to a special covenant so that His Eternity can by our own.

21. Lk 8: 1-3

Lk 8: 1-3: Women could not become disciples of a rabbi and so also of Jesus. But several women took Jesus’ words and attitude as a call to freedom. They joined Jesus’ followers and became witness and supporters of his ministry. Later they would be honoured witnesses of his death and resurrection. Here we have a fundamental testimony to the freedom which the Gospel brings to people in different cultures.

20. Lk 11: 1-4

Lk 11: 1-4: The disciples ask Jesus as to how to ask things of God. He then teaches them the prayer of ‘Our Father’. It is a prayer by which we acknowledge and submit to God’s sovereignty and providence. Then only we place our particular need within that great design. What we often do is that we reverse that order by presenting our needs in that context of divine providence. The things in our life that we cannot control we submit to the providence of God in whom we should have faith and confidence.

19. Jn 2: 13-22

Jn 2: 13-22: Cleansing of the temple by Jesus happened because of God’s house being desecrated. Together with this action Jesus made the people think that the whole paraphernalia of animal sacrifice was completely irrelevant. To explain further Jesus indicates of a new temple- his own sacrifice-which would come what this present temple at Jerusalem would have been. In the street, in the home, at business, on the hills in the church we have our inner temple, the presence of the RISEN CHRIST for ever with s throughout the whole world.

18. Lk 22: 24-30

Lk 22: 24-30: What the world needs is service and it is the foundation of the church as well. The one who serves more or ready to serve longer time qualitatively risk high in esteem and in position. Authority is give to serve rather than for authority’s sake. Jesus finished his warning by promising his disciples that those who had stood by him through thick and thin would in the end reign with him.

17. Jn 14: 1-7

Jn 14: 1-7: There is only one way to God. ‘No one comes to the Father except through me’ (v.6) in him we see what God is like. He leads to this ONE without fear and shame. He speaks this to the disciples honestly and it is for this he came to this world i.e. ‘to prepare a place for us’ (v.2b) in him we end our journey. Heaven is where Jesus is. “Where I am, there you will also be” (v.3)

16. Lk 10: 8-16

Lk 10: 8-16: To reject God’s word invites condemnation. There is a sense in which every promise of God that a man has ever heard can become his condemnation. If he receives these promises they are his greatest glory but each one that he has rejected will someday be a witness against him.

15. Mk. 10: 28-30

Mk. 10: 28-30: Correct ritual alone or good intentions alone are incomplete. Both must be validated by how we live our life. It may be to simplify our life style or to engage in a more active prayer life or to expand ourselves in a wider service to an individual in need. In this way Jesus promises a qualitatively greater reward not only in this life but in the next as well.

14. Jn. 6: 47-53

Jn. 6: 47-53: Jesus is the bread of life. He is essential for life. So the refusal of his invitation would mean missing of life and death. The fathers who died in the wilderness not only missed the Promised Land but also missed the life to come. Jesus gives life to those who believe in him.

13. Mt. 19: 16-22

Mt. 19: 16-22: The rich young man is advised to go beyond the commandments. Jesus tells him to break with the crowd, to leave all he has and to follow. The young man could not do this. Our relationship with Jesus is any other relationship-the more time we spend the more our conversation with him become intimate, rewarding and profound. To such he is ready to do much more unlike the person who meets him once or twice and with him our conversation would be more formal and strained. We are invited to level of spiritual life as that of the former type i.e. to go beyond the commandments.

12. Mt. 12: 1-13

Mt. 12: 1-13: Jesus sets priority to human needs. All other needs of worship, ritualistic life and liturgy and so on are important but human needs come prior to them all. He defends the disciples than he defends himself. Christian freedom is established from the enslavement of oneself from the tyrannical regulations.

11. Lk 5: 1-11

Lk 5: 1-11: The call of Simon to be a fisher of men and women remind us that the church was created by Jesus to help us attain perfect wisdom and spiritual insight. The teaching of the church is very pivotal. It is through the documents and papal teachings that the successors of St. Peter, the Pope teaching us. The all enable us not to be content with spiritual mediocrity but to push out into deeper waters.

10. Lk. 19: 1-10

Lk. 19: 1-10: Zacheus was not an evil man but defrauded many as a tax collector of Jerico. His meeting with Jesus changed his heart and he willingly compensates the damages done and gave half of his profits to the poor. Salvation comes to us with a change of heart for Jesus

9. Mt. 9: 35-38

Mt. 9: 35-38: Having a feeling of compassion for the ‘sheep who have no shepherd Jesus struggles through with his healing and teaching ministries in ‘towns, villages, and in their synagogues’. Such struggles to find God in lives can be termed as ‘dark night of the soul’ and ‘spiritual aridity’. If we pursue such times to their conclusion, we can emerge from them with deeper and cleaner insight. What we learn through our struggles with darkness can help others to see light. It can be our way of bringing in the harvest. 

8. Lk. 8: 26-39

Lk. 8: 26-39: A man possessed with a legion (6000) of demons was cured by Jesus. The demon enjoyed a routine way of life in the man. Jesus comes there to disturb that routine. Life went peacefully on till there arrived this disturbing Jesus. They complained to Jesus; they hated him. More people hate Jesus because he disturbs them of their wrong doings. They don’t accept Jesus by saying “Go away and let us be in peace.” Those who come out from their routine life, serve the church but Jesus says they must start from their home. 

7. Lk. 21: 1-4

Lk. 21: 1-4: The poor widow who put a few pennies to the treasury is a symbol of the poor and dispossessed. The few pennies she contributed meant a great deal to her. It came from her heart and signified sincerity and authority. Jesus comments really make us to know that traditions live through people and not through books. 

6. Lk. 20: 1-8

Lk. 20: 1-8: The authority of Jesus is questioned. The emissaries of the Pharisees didn’t want to face the truth which would confront them with a sore and to refuse to face it makes them even more a difficult situation. By their own refusal to answer the question which Jesus asked them about John the Baptist, made them frustrated and discredited in the crowd.

5. Mt. 16: 13-19

Mt. 16: 13-19: The foundation of the church is faith in Jesus, the Christ and Son of God. The above text points to the primacy of Peter among all the apostles. The church always needs a visible head. This we believe is the successor of Peter, the Pope.

4. Mt. 5: 38-42

Mt. 5: 38-42: Against the backdrop of the Old Testament saying (Leviticus 24:19: Exodus 21:22 ‘tooth for tooth’), Jesus gives the new rule not simply to avoid retaliation but to forgive. Forgiveness is the only way to interrupt the endless and destructive recycling of hatred and revenge.

2. Jn. 11: 17-27

Jn. 11: 17-27: When one believes in Jesus, he or she is freed from the fear of godless life; from the frustration of sin-ridden life; from the futility of Christless life. Life is raised from sin’s death and becomes so rich that it cannot die but must find in death only the transition to a higher life.

1. Mt 5: 1-12

Mt 5: 1-12: The blessing is related to the people or right attitudes, namely people who have dependence on God, longing for justice, sincerity, mercy and peacableness like the Greek Fathers whose feast we celebrate today. The happiness promised to them is the total liberation of humankind. Though this begins here and now, will reach its fullness in the hereafter.