Monday 31 July
Saint Ignatius Loyola, Priest Monday of week 17 in Ordinary Time First reading - 1 Corinthians 10:31-11:1 “whatever you do at all, do it for the glory of God. Never do anything offensive to anyone” This Word of God can guide us in every moment of our life. Today we are celebrating the Feast of St. Ignatius Loyola who lived this as his life motto. Whatever we do, we do it for the glory of God. Everything is about putting God in front of us. In everything, God becomes the driving force. Then it will not be any more about my ego. Neither will it be about competing with others. St. Paul is giving a practical advice how to follow this: “I try to be helpful to everyone at all times, not anxious for my own advantage but for the advantage of everybody else, so that they may be saved”. By being helpful to everyone at all times – two important points, being helpful to everyone without exception and all times without exception. This makes a change in our life. Being helpful to everyone and all times. How many exceptions we make in our life? All these exceptions are for our advantage. This is why St. Paul is saying that, “for my own advantage but for the advantage of everybody else, so that they may be saved”. Let’s reflect: Am I helpful to everyone at all times or I make exceptions for my advantage?
Sunday 30 July
17th Sunday in Ordinary Time First reading - 1 Kings 3:5,7-12 “Give your servant a heart to understand how to discern between good and evil, for who could govern this people of yours that is so great?’ It pleased the Lord that Solomon should have asked for this”. Solomon asked what is pleased to God. This is because he was not thinking about himself. He was thinking about the people of God. We are selfish and we have egoistic desires when we think of ourselves. But when we think of others, when we place others before ourselves, there is totally a different perspective. We see things in a different perspective. In the words of Solomon we can see that. “Your servant finds himself in the midst of this people of yours that you have chosen, a people so many its number cannot be counted or reckoned”. The People is more important than him. He considers the people as great. That’s why he is humble enough to ask for the wisdom to serve the people of God. When we put the other in front of ourselves we can be humble enough to ask the grace of God to serve others. Let’s reflect: Am I humble enough to put the other before me to ask the wisdom from God to serve the other?
Saturday 29 July
Saints Martha, Mary and Lazarus Saturday of week 16 in Ordinary Time First reading - 1 John 4:7-16 “Anyone who fails to love can never have known God, because God is love”. This is the fundamental and foundation of our belief. God is love. It emphasizes the idea that God's love is unconditional, infinite, and all-encompassing, and it serves as a foundational principle for understanding God's relationship with humanity. This is the revelation about God which summarises everything about God and love. Love comes from God, and we can know God only if we love. We understand God only if we truly love and we can only truly love when we understand God. Love is the starting point of knowing God. True love is the end point of knowing God. Only in knowing God, we can grow in love. In the memorial of today, we can see the family in Bethany growing in love with Jesus. Each one in that family grows in a unique relationship with Jesus and between them. Growing in love with God is growing in love with each other. This cannot be separate. If we believe that God is love, we can only be part of the God, by loving one another. Let’s reflect: How much I understand that God is love?