Thursday, October 8, 2026 - To be without shame is also to be without ego.

 

Thursday, October 8, 2026 - Do you give up easily when your prayers are not answered? Will you be shameless today? Will you persist today?

To read the texts click on the texts: Gal 3:1-5; Lk 11:5-13

Luke 11,5-8 is exclusive to Luke and deals with the assurance that God will answer prayer. This point is implicitly made through the parable in these verses. It is a parable from common experience. If the Greek word anaideia is translated as “shameless” (which is it literal meaning), then the parable is stating that it would be unthinkable in the setting of a Galilean village that a neighbour would not get up to give his friend what he wants even if it meant disturbing the entire family at midnight to oblige his friend. The reason why he would do this is to avoid being shamed. However, it can also mean that the one who makes the petition is shameless for going to the friend’s house at midnight to beg for bread.

If the translation of the word anaidea is “persistence” or “boldness”, then the point is that it is the persistence of the one who asks for bread, which will get him what he wants. The friend who gives the bread will be tired out by the persistence of the one who is asking.

 

In 11,9-13, we have a three-fold admonition, “Ask, search and knock” (11,9-10), followed by two rhetorical questions (11,11-12) both of which elicit the answer “No, there is no one”.

The final verse of this section 11,13 contrasts evil human beings with the heavenly Father. If humans evil as they are will still give their children only what is good, then the heavenly Father will do more than that. He will give the greatest of gifts, the Holy Spirit to those who ask.

To be without shame is also to be without ego. The one who is shameless is also one who can persevere since he/she has nothing to lose. Perseverance is indeed the key to open the door to God’s heart.

Wednesday, October 7, 2026 - Let our every prayer be "Let it be done to me according to YOUR will"

 

Wednesday, October 7, 2026 - Our Lady of the Rosary

To read the texts click on the texts: Acts 1:12-14; Lk 1:26-38

The Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary was formerly known as the Feast of Our Lady of Victory. Legend has it that Our Lady appeared to St. Dominic in 1208, and gave him the Rosary to be used as a tool against all kinds of challenges.

Our Lady of the Rosary, also known as Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary, is a title of the Blessed Virgin Mary in relation to the Rosary. The Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary is October 7. It was formerly known as the Feast of Our Lady of Victory. The development of the Rosary as a form owes much to the followers of St. Dominic. On October 13, 1917, Our Lady of Fatima told the children, “I am the Lady of the Rosary”.

The text chosen for the feast relates a scene immediately after the announcement of the birth of John the Baptist and contains the announcement of the birth of Jesus. There are many similarities in the annunciations to Mary and to Zechariah. The angel Gabriel is the one who makes both announcements. Both Zechariah and Mary are called by name and exhorted not to be afraid. Both ask a question of the angel, and it is the angel who tells them what name each child is to be given.  It is the angel who predicts what each child will turn out to be. However, even as there are similarities, there are differences in the narratives. While the announcement to Zechariah comes in the Temple and as a result of his fervent prayer, the announcement to Mary comes (apparently) when she is in her home and it is unanticipated. While Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth are advanced in age, Mary has not yet stayed with her husband, and so is a virgin. The birth of John to parents who are past the age of child bearing is a miracle, but even greater is the miracle of the birth of Jesus, who would be born through the Holy Spirit, and to a virgin. Even as John the Baptist goes with the spirit and power of Elijah, Jesus will be called “Son of God”. Luke clearly wants to show John as great, but only the forerunner of the Messiah, Jesus, who is greater.

Here, too, like in the case of the announcement of the birth of John the Baptist, God intervenes in human history.  Mary though betrothed or engaged to Joseph, who was of David’s family, had not yet lived with him. This she would do only after marriage, which would be one year after the betrothal. The angel greets Mary as the recipient of God’s grace. She has opened herself to the promptings of God’s Spirit. While Zechariah was gripped with fear at the very appearance of the angel, in the case of Mary, it is the angel’s greeting that perplexed her. The angel reassures Mary and makes the announcement, not only of Jesus’ birth, but of who he will be and all that he will accomplish.

In response to this announcement Mary, like Zechariah, asks a question. While both questions seem similar, it is clear that Zechariah’s question expressed doubt and asked for a sign, as is evident in the angel’s words before Zechariah is struck dumb. Mary’s question, on the other hand, is a question asked in faith. Mary did not question the truth of the revelation like Zechariah did. She asked only for enlightenment on how God would accomplish this wonderful deed. This will be accomplished in Mary through the work of God’s spirit. This is why the child will be called holy. Luke probably also intends to convey here that it is not merit on Mary’s part that obtained for her what she received, but God’s generous gift in the Spirit.

The evidence that what the angel has announced will indeed take place is the pregnancy of Elizabeth, for nothing is impossible for God. Mary responds, not merely with a Yes, but by asking that the Lord work in her to accomplish all that he wants. The annunciation would not have been complete without Mary’s trusting, obedient response.

Today, many assume that those whom God favours will enjoy the things we equate with a good life: social standing, wealth, and good health. Yet Mary, God’s favoured one, was blessed with having a child out of wedlock who would later be executed as a criminal. Acceptability, prosperity, and comfort have never been the essence of God’s blessing. The story is so familiar that we let its familiarity mask its scandal. Mary had been chosen, “favoured,” to have an important part in God’s plan to bring salvation to God’s people, but it is unthinkable that God would have forced Mary to have the child against her will. Mary is an important example, therefore, of one who is obedient to God even at great risk to self.

When we think of or reflect on Mary, the one word that comes to mind to describe her whole life is the word, AMEN, a word which may be translated, “so be it”, “your will be done”, “do whatever you want to do in my life”. This was, indeed, Mary’s constant response to every situation in her life, especially when she could not understand why things were happening the way they were. The text of today is, then, a call and challenge to each one of us, that we, too, like Mary, might be able to say YES to all that God wants to do in our lives. It is a challenge to be open and receptive to the Spirit of God, so that we, too, might be able to give birth to the Saviour in our hearts.

Tuesday, October 6, 2026 - Will you presume to tell God what to do or would you have God tell you what to do?

 

Tuesday, October 6, 2026 - Will you like Martha, presume to tell Jesus what he ought to do, or will you like Mary listen to what he would like you to do?

To read the texts click on the texts: Gal 1:13-24; Lk 10:38-42

This text, which speaks of the encounter of Martha and Mary with Jesus, takes the form of a pronouncement story (a story in which a saying of Jesus stands out and is the focus of the story). While the Gospel of Luke explicitly mentions women disciples of Jesus, here Mary is even sitting at the feet of Jesus and listening to his teaching, something unthinkable at the time of Jesus. By sitting at his feet, Mary is acting like a male, and in doing so neglects her duty of helping to prepare the meal. This action of Mary also results in bringing shame upon her house. Though justified Martha’s protest is put negatively by her. It is clear that her focus is not the Lord, but herself. She is concerned not with her service of the Lord, but the trouble that it is causing her because she is left alone to serve. The response of Jesus to Martha is the main point of the story and the pronouncement. The repetition of her name is a mild rebuke. Her “cares” have prevented her from unhindered devotion and attention to the Lord. Mary has chosen the one thing necessary and that is the Lord. Martha presumes to tell Jesus what he should do; Mary lets Jesus tell her what to do.

There are times when we do things not because we are convinced that they have to be done but because we want the approval of others or we want others to know how hard we are working. These are selfish acts and do not bring grace. The act that does bring grace is when we do what has to be done simply because it has to be done and expect nothing in return.

MEETING FRANCIS AGAIN, THROUGH CARLO CARRETTO

Around fifty years ago, during a period of searching for my own path forward, my sister Svetlana gave me a copy of Carlo Carretto’s Letters from the Desert. At that time, my reading list fluctuated between George Orwell, Somerset Maugham, and St. Thérèse of Lisieux, alongside books on law and finance. Yet, it was Carretto’s words that gripped me; I returned to that book more than twenty times, finding myself renewed and deeply moved with every reading.

This initial encounter sparked a lifelong devotion. I collected every book Carretto ever wrote and closely followed his community's footprint in India. Last year, that fifty-year journey came full circle. While visiting Assisi with Svetlana and her family, we transitioned from a meditative time with St. Francis to visit Carretto’s own final resting place in Spello, nestled in the Umbrian landscape. It was a deeply moving pilgrimage to the grave of a man who lived as a devoted follower of Francis, passing into eternity on the saint's feast day: October 4, 1988.

Why bring you to this intersection of my personal journey and these two spiritual giants?

As we celebrate the 800th anniversary of the enduring wonder named Francis of Assisi, I want to invite readers in India to engage with him in a contemporary mould. To do that, no one serves as a better bridge than the mystic Carlo Carretto. In his fictionalized autobiography I, Francis, Carretto boldly adopts the first-person voice of the saint, instantly dismantling the romanticized caricature of a man who merely talks to birds. He presents Francis not as a medieval curiosity, but as a disruptive, living prophet whose radical embrace of the Gospel serves as a direct indictment of modern greed, urban consumerism, and spiritual complacency.

I offer you these reflections and excerpts from this profound work, hoping it will prompt you to read the book itself and better relish the true spirit of Saint Francis.

The Interior Desert: Radical Poverty and Naked Faith

In the book, Carretto’s Francis insists that poverty was never a mere lifestyle choice or an exercise in philanthropy. As the saint reflects, "Poverty did not consist in helping the poor, it consisted in being poor." It was a necessary stripping away of the human ego to encounter God in absolute vulnerability. Carretto writes through the voice of Francis: "Poverty is not just a lack of things; it is a lack of self. It is the vacuum into which God can pour His love."

External lack is merely the beginning, for "true poverty went to the bottom of things, and touched the spirit." This perspective resonates deeply with the spiritual heritage of India, beautifully mirroring the ancient concept of aparigraha (non-possession) and the ascetic path of the sannyasi. Francis notes that "putting a little money aside, keeping a larder, buying a house" would have meant a devastating "lack of trust in my Lord." True spiritual wealth begins when physical ownership ends, shifting the soul from the "eros of easy things" to the profound "agape of heroes of the spirit."

Crucially, this path is not a platform for social activism or systemic restructuring. Francis clarifies that his "choice to be poor, then, was not a social or political choice, but a mystical one." He did not set out to organize a political pressure group or engage in standard class struggle. He recognized that while revolutions fight for the working classes, "nothing changed, because these people did not change hearts." For him, the Gospel was a call to look beyond temporal structures: "It is not enough to change laws. You have to change hearts."

For a reader navigating the hyper-materialistic, upwardly mobile realities of modern mega-cities like Mumbai or Bengaluru, Carretto’s Francis offers a sharp wake-up call to look past "a life of easy pleasure." He models a journey that transcends all human constructs, civilizations, and conventions, reminding us that true liberation is found not in what we accumulate, but in what we have the courage to discard.

The Armor of Peace: Non-Violence and Unarmed Love

Just as Francis’s radical poverty was a mystical surrender rather than a political statement, his response to a violent world bypassed the conventional logic of warfare and strategic defense. For a modern reader grappling with global strife or systemic conflict, Carretto’s Francis offers a timeless pattern of deep, active non-violence. He did not wage war for justice, even when the suffering of the poor seemed to demand it. Instead, he introduced a method of combating injustice that relied on entirely different weapons: humility, presence, and unarmed love.

By stepping out onto the open road without a script or a shield, Francis showed that the only way to break the cycle of human violence is to absorb it rather than reflect it back. In a world defined by division, his life remains a radical blueprint for peace built from the inside out.

Rebuilding from Within: A Quiet Meditation on a Broken, Beloved Church

For Carretto, this deep interior stripping this radical detachment from worldly constructs was never meant to drive the believer away from the community. It was designed to anchor them deeply within it, even when that community is terribly flawed. The absolute vulnerability born in the desert of poverty becomes the precise tool needed to face the institutional Church.

“Repair it.” When the Lord spoke these words to Francis from the crucifix at San Damiano, Francis first looked at the crumbling stone walls around him. It takes time for human hearts to understand the vastness of God’s designs. Francis soon realized the call wasn't just to rebuild a small, quiet refuge in the woods, but to steady a great Church stretching across the earth "the one founded by Jesus himself who at Saint Damian had spoken to me, telling me straight out, 'Repair it.'"

For more than two thousand years, the gates of hell have targeted the Church, yet they have not prevailed. Yet, anyone who deeply loves the Church today knows the heavy grief of looking at its wounds, power dynamics, and the heavy burden of "shameless wealth" and "involvement with power politics." And yet, like Francis, we are called to stay, to love, and to labor with an enduring, quiet hope.

Writing with the hindsight of eight centuries, Carretto’s Francis does not ignore the historical corruption or wealth of the ecclesiastical hierarchy. He addresses the reality of having "seen no poverty in the halls of the Vatican." Yet, instead of advocating for a schism or walking away in bitter anger, Francis models an agonizing, fierce loyalty. He recognizes a profound debt, asking us directly: "Who would have handed down to us, across twenty centuries, the teachings of our dear Lord Jesus? Who would have encouraged us in the truth, reassured us in the path we had undertaken?"

This is the great mystery we live with: the Church is simultaneously holy and broken, divine and deeply human "at once indefectible by divine promise, and capable of scandalizing... by its riches and its might." When confronted with the flaws of our spiritual home, it is incredibly easy to become bitter, sour, and judgmental, quick to point the accusing finger at the festering sores of others.

But Francis heard a softer voice whisper in his spirit: "Judge not... I have come not to judge but to save." He realized that if he wanted to have any right to speak, he must have compassion. If we wish to heal the Church today, we must begin where Francis began: not with criticism, but with compassion. We reform the body of Christ by allowing Him to reform us, becoming simple instruments of grace from the very inside of the home He built for us.

It is here, in this tension, that we find the most poignant prayer of the modern pilgrim, reflecting Carretto's own deep theological struggles as a monk addressing the Church directly:

"How much I must criticize you, my church, and yet how much I love you! You have caused me more suffering than anyone else, and yet I owe you more than anyone else. I should like to see you destroyed, and yet I need your presence. You have given me much scandal and yet you alone have made me understand holiness. ... In a word, I cannot live outside of you, because outside of you I would no longer have my Christ."

 

Dr. Fr. Conrad Pesso s.j.

 Director Xavier Institute of Communications

Chairman Xavier Institute of Management and Research

Monday, October 5, 2026 - We often look at people with tainted glasses or a prejudiced vision. We tend to categorise them and place them in neat compartments based on their backgrounds. This attitude leads to stereotyping people and not being able to see them as they are.

 

Monday, October 5, 2026 - Is there a person/group that you have a prejudice against or whom you have stereotyped? Will you overcome that prejudice today?

To read the texts click on the texts: Gal 1:6-12; Lk 10:25-37

Our text for today contains the Parable of The Good Samaritan. This is a parable that is found only in the Gospel of Luke, and the context in Luke is the question that is asked by a lawyer regarding eternal life. In Matthew and Luke, the lawyer is hostile (not so in Mark), because the question is asked to “test” Jesus. While in Matthew (22,34-40) and Mark (12,28-31) the question is about the greatest commandment, and Jesus answers the question quoting from Deuteronomy and Leviticus, in Luke, Jesus asks the lawyer a counter question and gets him (the lawyer) to answer. Deuteronomy 6,4-9 (Love of God) was part of the “Shema” (the prayer to “Hear”), repeated twice each day, but it had not been linked to Leviticus 19,18 (Love of neighbour) as it is here. Since it is the lawyer who answers, Jesus responds with a commendation (“You have answered right; do this, and you will live.”) Since the lawyer was forced to answer and cede the upper hand, he does not give up, but asks a question over which there was some controversy – “Who is my neighbour?” In his response to this question, Jesus tells the parable of the Good Samaritan. This parable has often been interpreted as one in which Jesus is telling us that those in need are our neighbours, or that it has an anticlerical edge, in which Jesus is showing up the priestly class by mentioning priest and Levite as not reaching out to the one in need. If these were the meanings, then there would be no need to make the third person that passed by that way, a Samaritan. The third person could have been a lay Jew. The reason why the third person is a Samaritan is because Jesus wanted the lawyer who was a Jew, to go beyond the narrow definition of neighbour, to go beyond his prejudice, his bias, and his stereotyping. When Israel was split into kingdoms after the death of Solomon in around 922 BCE, the North (named Israel which had its capital at Samaria) and the South (Judah which had its capital as Jerusalem), it became the target for its neighbours, because its strength was divide. In 722 BCE, the Assyrians captured Israel and its capital Samaria and took as their wives and concubines’ Israeli women. The children by that union were known as Samaritans and till the time of Jesus were regarded as inferior and outcasts by their former Jewish brothers (and sisters). Jesus is thus asking the Jew (the lawyer) if he can get rid of his negative way of looking at the Samaritan, and regard him also as neighbour. It is interesting that at the end of the parable, Jesus overturns the lawyer’s question. Jesus asks, “Who was neighbour to the one who fell among robbers?” whereas the lawyers question was “Who is my neighbour?” The Samaritan is indeed, neighbour.

We often look at people with tainted glasses or a prejudiced vision. We tend to categorise them and place them in neat compartments based on their backgrounds. This attitude leads to stereotyping people and not being able to see them as they are. Albert Einstein said this about a prejudice, “It is easier to disintegrate an atom than a prejudice”.

Sunday, October 4, 2026 - We are tenants and not owners of this wordl. We mus act like tenants.