Wednesday 9 November
Dedication of the Lateran Basilica Gospel - John 2:13-22 “But he was speaking of the sanctuary that was his body, and when Jesus rose from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the scripture and the words he had said.”. Our body is also a sanctuary as St. Paul says. We have inside us the life of Christ which we have received in the sacrament of baptism. It’s our vocation to make it into His Father’s house. For this we must take out of my heart, all that make it a market. The activities of my heart which transforms everything into business relations where my primary aim is my profit. Whenever I think what I gain from this, I am setting up my market. Whenever I think how I can use this occasion to grow in the divine life I have in me, I am making my heart into Father’s house. Jesus wants to purify us from the market principles and wants to strength us with the three days’ principle. The principle of cross. The principle which asks us to give up everything for the other. That is the principle which makes our heart fully into the Father’s house.
Tuesday 8 November
Tuesday of week 32 in Ordinary Time Gospel - Luke 17:7-10 “We are merely servants: we have done no more than our duty.” We are merely servants but chosen to be servants by the Lord who knows us. We know our limits. We know our difficulties. We know our weaknesses. My limits, my difficulties and my weaknesses do not hinder me in doing my mission. Because the one who called me knew all these and still, He called me. That is the beauty of Christian vocation. My limitation is the starting point of His grace. This gives me the courage to overcome my limits, to exceed my difficulties, to surpass my weakness because it is not my capacities, it is not capabilities, and it is not my strength but it’s His grace. So, what we need to have in life is an eternal gratitude for the grace which works through me. The grace that makes me an instrument of His grace to work miracles.
Monday 7 November
Monday of week 32 in Ordinary Time Gospel - Luke 17:1-6 “Obstacles are sure to come, but alas for the one who provides them! It would be better for him to be thrown into the Sea with a millstone put round his neck than that he should lead astray a single one of these little ones. Watch yourselves!” Jesus is speaking about obstacles. About persons who provide the obstacles. How wretched is their situation. And then he immediately speaks of: “ If your brother does something wrong, reprove him and, if he is sorry, forgive him. And if he wrongs you seven times a day and seven times comes back to you and says, “I am sorry,” you must forgive him.’” So, what is the real obstacle? The real obstacle is not forgiving from the heart. Every time we don’t forgive, we are creating an obstacle for the other person and for ourselves. Obstacle for the other person to correct and to come back. Obstacle for us to accept that person as a person loved by God with all his mistakes. That is why when I am not forgiving, I go to the wretched state of being thrown into the Sea with a millstone put around my neck. Let’s us forgive from our heart anyone any number of times not to be an obstacle.