Saturday 3 June
Saints Charles Lwanga and his Companions, Martyrs Saturday of week 8 in Ordinary Time First reading - Ecclesiasticus 51:17-27 “I have stretched out my hands to heaven and bewailed my ignorance of her; I have directed my soul towards her, and in purity have found her”. The Word of God is instructing us how to get Wisdom. This Wisdom is the joy of our heart in our relationship with God. Wisdom is achieved by our relationship with God. I have stretched out my hands to heaven. Only in relationship with God we can attain wisdom because God is the source of wisdom. And this relation with God is achieved by two things. First, we have to seek Wisdom in our relationship with God. This is more than just calling God. It is about recognizing the profoundness of God’s love for us. Often, our relationship with God remains in a superficial level of our necessities and concerns. But it can go profound in diving deep into the depth of God’s love for us and its implications in our daily life. And then that Wisdom becomes the delight of our heart. This acquiring of Wisdom happens when we are humble. “By bowing my ear a little I have received her, and have found much instruction”. Wisdom from God is welcomed in being humble. Even it does not stop there, once you have that Wisdom, you put that Wisdom into practice. God’s love pushes you to put love into practice. Let’s reflect: Am I trying to acquire the Wisdom from my relationship with God?
Friday 2 June
Friday of week 8 in Ordinary Time Saints Marcellinus and Peter, Martyrs First reading - Ecclesiasticus 44:1,9-13 “But here is a list of generous men whose good works have not been forgotten”. The author is speaking about what really remains in life. It is the generosity that lasts. It is the good works that last. Again, there is something special about being generous and good. It is contagious. All those who are in contact with us would also like to be generous and to be good. It’s important to be generous because only in being generous you can imitate God who loves you with generosity. Generosity is not giving more. It is about setting your boundaries of giving. In Jesus the boundary is the last drop of blood. Let’s reflect: How much am I generous with others?
Thursday 1 June
Saint Justin, Martyr Thursday of week 8 in Ordinary Time First reading - Ecclesiasticus 42:15-26 “As the sun in shining looks on all things, so the work of the Lord is full of his glory”. The entire creation is full of the glory of the Lord. It’s only a question of seeing it by our eyes. We must open our eyes to see the glory of the Lord. We get disappointment and we say, “where is God?”. Because we fail to see the glory of the Lord in all the things around us. Most probably we see the glory of God only in this we want to see. But the truth the Word of Gods says today is that the work of the Lord is full of His glory. There is also a reason for that. “By the words of the Lord his works come into being and all creation obeys his will”. Everything is created by the Word of the Lord. Again, “He has imposed an order on the magnificent works of his wisdom, He is from everlasting to everlasting”. So, it’s important to try to understand His wisdom in all the things around us. That is why, the Word of God say, “How desirable are all his works, how dazzling to the eye!” Let us reflect: Am I seeing the glory of God in the entire creation around me?
Wednesday 31 May
The Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary First reading - Zephaniah 3:14-18 Today we are celebrating the feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary to Zechariah and Elizabeth. This feast is about the presence of Virgin Mary who conceived the Word in the midst of us. In Mary, the God is present. That is what the Prophet Zephaniah is saying, “The Lord, the king of Israel, is in your midst; you have no more evil to fear”. Not only that he continues, that the Lord our God is in our midst, a victorious warrior. The Lord exult with joy over you and will renew you by his love. How beautiful is that! The Visitation of Blessed Virgin Mary is the feast that reminds us that God is in our midst and we have no more evil to fear. It’s feast that reminds us about the presence of God in our midst. His love will renew us. His love will be our joy. Let’s reflect: How much I can related the feast of Mother Mary to the presence of God in our midst?