30. IV MON of Apostles

Mk. 5: 25-34: The woman who is healed from her hemorrhage is an example of popular religiosity. Though ill instructed many simple pious people manifest strong religious sense by honouring saints and so on. It may be naïve, expecting great results from touching images of saints and other religious objects in this present case, Christ’s garments. But like Jesus, we should respect the religious expressions of these people, while at the same time try to help them discover deeper dimensions of their faith. 

29. IV SUN of Apostles

Lk 6: 27-36: Love your enemies in v.27 apply first to his persecutors of Christians in his communities. Jesus doesn’t ask for a mere tolerance but active love. More specifically the above verse 27 applies to the possessors of his community. They are not to show a mere reciprocity but to be uncalculating in their giving. In any society, the rich, the middle class, the poor and the poorest need conversion to Jesus’ words though in different degrees, manners and terms.   

28. III SAT of Apostles

Lk. 2: 41-51: ‘He went home and he was obedient to them’. The fact that he was God’s Son made him the perfect Son of his human parents. The real man of God does not despise earthly ties; just because he is God’s man, he discharges human duties with supreme fidelity. 

27. III FRI of Apostles

Jn. 19: 30-37: Water that flowed from the side of Christ stands for the powerful new life as well as the spirit. Blood expresses the saving power of Jesus’ death. The Salvific power is displayed in these symbols of blood and water. 

26. III THU of Apostles

Lk.8:4-15: Through this parable, the Christians are assured that failure to find unanimous acceptance of the WORD was not necessarily their fault but the result of factors beyond their immediate control. Even the failures of the early church fell within God’s design. 

25. III WED of Apostles

Jn. 4: 39-42: The Samaritans were introduced to Christ by the woman. The word of God must be transmitted by man to man. We also find in Samaritans a nearer intimacy and growing knowledge of Christ. Soon their growth in knowledge in Jesus came to discovery and they surrendered to Christ as the savior of the world. What they found in Jesus, John writes later in 1 John 4: 14 and gives Jesus this title ‘par excellence’

24. III TUE of Apostles

Mt. 18: 6-9: Sometimes, it is an individual who leads others to sin at other times it is society itself with its corruption, violence and unjust social structures. Jesus invites us to be aware of sin personal and social. There will be evil in this world, but we must make sure that we do not contribute to it or let it flourish through our inactivity. 

23. III MON of Apostles

Jn. 6: 30-36: It was God who gave manna to the people; of Israel in the wilderness. It was only symbolic of bread of life. The real bread from heaven is to be found in the one who came from heaven, i.e. Christ himself. In him we find not only satisfaction from physical hunger, but life also. Jesus was claiming that the only real satisfaction was in him.  

22. III SUN of Apostles

Lk. 10: 25-37: The Jewish conception of a neighbor originates from ‘flesh’ and ‘blood’.  Jesus corrects this by establishing that the neighbor is the one who is close to any brother or sister in need. Loving the neighbor must not be only in the thought but also in deed as we see in this parable of Good Samaritan. 

21. II SAT of Apostles

Jn. 6: 1-15: Jesus needs what we can bring to him. It may not be much but he needs it. If we would lay ourselves on the altar of service, there is no saying what we could do with us and through us. We may be sorry and embarrassed that we have not more to bring, it is no reason to fail to bring. Little is always more in the hands of Jesus. 

20. II FRI of Apostles

Jn. 6: 45-50: Jesus is the bread of life. Bread is very essential for life. Those who refuse to Jesus are those who miss life in this world and in the world to come. Those who accept Jesus will find this life worth and glorify God in the world to come. 

19. II THU of Apostles

Jn. 6: 51-59: In a general sense Jesus speaks of eating his flesh and drinking his blood. The flesh of Jesus means his complete humanity. In Jewish concept blood means ‘Life’. So it means that we should have the humanity and life of Jesus. John meant more that this general sense. He was saying if you want life, you must come and sit at that table where you eat that broken bread and drink that poured-out wine which somehow, in the grace of God brings you into contact with the Lord and life of Jesus Christ. 

18. II WED of Apostles

Jn. 6: 37-44: Life in Jesus is life in time and life in eternity. In him we find new satisfaction. The hunger and thirst are gone in him. The human heart finds what is was searching for and life ceases to be mere existence and becomes a thrill and peace and even beyond life we are safe in him.

17. II TUE of Apostles

Jn. 6: 64-71: Peter has a personal relationship with Jesus though he did not understand many things he spoke. So Christianity is not a philosophy we accept, nor a theory to which we give allegiance but a personal response to Jesus. It is this personal allegiance and love one is motivated to surrender his heart, mind and soul to Christ. 

16. II MON of Apostles

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. 

15. II SUN of Apostles

Lk. 7: 36-50: Simeon’s reception of Jesus was without any love in his heart. But the sinful woman’s was a service of love by washing his feet with pure nard oil while Simeon did not even wash his feet. Jesus loves sinners, outcastes which Simeon criticizes. It is love that forgives sin and when sins are forgiven that love grows. Jesus teaches all those assembled there this great lesson. He also teaches us that the real knowledge is to recognize that we are sinners. God’s love follow us to redeem us. 

14. I SAT of Apostles

Jn. 6: 25-29: Jesus is sealed by God, he is God’s truth incarnate and God alone can truly satisfy the eternal hunger of the soul which he created. For this Jesus offers us a relationship of service, purity and trust in God. When we do that, Jesus satisfies us from our eternal thirst and hunger. 

13. I FRI of Apostles

Lk. 7: 11-23: We, the ministers of the church are called to summon all who are spiritually, ecclesiastically, canonically, intellectually dying people to new life. The church should be a place not where people come to die but where they can come to receive new vigor and life. 

12. I THU of Apostles

Jn. 2: 13-25: With the trade and the entire ritualism in the temple what happens in the temple was a mere ritualistic worship while the hearts of the people are far from God. So Jesus reacts and cleanses the temple like that of the Old Testament prophets. Unless there is a connection between our piety and our everyday living, our devotions and liturgical services are pure hypocrisy which God rejects. 

I WED of Apostles

Mt. 10: 16-22: The passage gives us the experience of the generation of Christians after Christ’s earthly life. The Christians were hunted by the state, rejected by the religious establishment and ridiculed by their families. A great leadership was demanded to unite them all as of today when the church faces religious pluralism, affluence and secular hegemony. We have to struggle to keep ourselves at spiritual peace. 

10. I TUE of Apostles

Mt. 20: 29-34: Many people get material and spiritual benefits from God through Jesus, but forget to say thanks to him. Ingratitude is the ugliest sin of all. Here we find these two blind men after receiving sight give due loyalty to him. We can never repay God for what he has done for us but we can be grateful to him. 

9. I MON of Apostles

Mt. 5: 13-20: Jesus gives three missionary images to explain the role of these who follow him. They are to be salt, light and a city built on a hill. This means that they are to be a grout of peoples who will be highly visible because of the unusually dedicated character of the lives, who will illuminate the world as light does, and who sanctify, purify and preserve the world in its relationship of God lie salt. 

8. I SUN of Apostles

Jn. 16: 5-15: Holy Spirit gives freedom and sanctifies our souls. Moses received the message of freedom in the presence of fire that doesn’t consume the plant on mount Horeb (Ex. 3:2; 9-10). The pillar of fire travelled at night in front of the Israelites (Ex. 13:21). It is the tongues of fire (Holy Spirit) that guided and inspired the disciples. Fire has always been symbolical to the Holy Spirit both in OT and NT. The Holy Spirit is seen empowering the disciples in the Gospels. Holy Spirit teaches about sin, justice and last judgment as found in the Gospel of today. 

7. VII SAT of Resurrection-Bl.Mariam Thresia

Mt. 25: 31-40: In the last judgment setting Mathew summarizes Jesus’ teaching. The purpose of this passage is to tell us what we must do in order to be saved. It is also a parable of separation into the good ones and to the bad ones. 

6. VII FRI of Resurrection

Mt. 24: 7-14: A true missionary and disciple of Jesus will be hated by the people, will be handed over for suffering by the people and Jesus says that the one who endures till the end will be saved. It is not about the time of suffering that Jesus speaks about but the fullness of suffering.

5. VII THU of Resurrection

Lk. 14: 25-35: The man who follows him should not be on the way to worldly power and glory, but must be ready for loyalty which would sacrifice the dearest things in life and for a suffering which would be like the agony of a man upon a cross. It is the Christian way to salvation. But he won’t be alone. He who called him to the steep road will walk with him every step of the way and be there at the end to meet him.

4. VII WED of Resurrection

Jn. 17: 1-5: For Jesus, life had a climax and that was the cross. To him the cross was the glory of life and the way to the glory of eternity. Facts from the history shows that how they died showed people what and who they really were. For Jesus, the cross was the glory as it was the completion of his work. “I have accomplished the work” he says.

3. VII TUE of Resurrection

Lk. 12: 13-21: Professional success is what one gets rich to oneself while spiritual success as one grows rich in the sight of God. Wealth is not a thing that we can rely upon. As it disappears we become more relying upon God – that is what we mean ‘growing spiritually rich’. Trust in God orients one’s attitude toward the world. It determines whether we see the world as an essentially hostile place to live in for our spiritual life.   

2. VII MON of Resurrection

Jn. 4: 3-15: Jesus, overcoming racial and social prejudices, begins to talk with a Samaritan woman with the intention of bringing her to salvation. Her immediate concern was to quench the thirst with water from the well of stagnant water. But Jesus promises her of the living water which is the word of God as wisdom and the Holy Spirit who give eternal life. Once one possesses it as a reality within one’s heart, all thirst for happiness will be satisfied. 

1. VII SUN of Resurrection

Mk. 16: 14-20: The church has a healing task and a source of power. The church is never left alone to work. Always Christ works with it, in it and through it. The Lord of the church is still in the church and is still the lord of power. The Gospel of Mark ends here with this message of presence of this power of Christ.