Saturday, July 4, 2020 - How often have you made rules and regulations ends in themselves? What will you do about it today?

 

Saturday, July 4, 2026 - How often have you made rules and regulations ends in themselves? What will you do about it today?

To read the texts click on the texts: Amos 9:11-15; Mt 9:14-17

The question about fasting is raised here by the disciples of John the Baptist. Jesus’ first response is that the wedding guests do not fast during the wedding. In other words, the time of Jesus is considered as a time of celebration, it is the time of the presence of the Kingdom of God. The second and third responses are about the new cloth and old garment and about new wine in old wine skins. The point here seems to be that both have their place in appropriate settings and must not be mixed up. Fasting does have a place in spirituality, but must not be made an end it itself.

It is possible that even our good actions might take a hold of us and so become ends in themselves. There is only one end: God and all else that we do even if it is good can never be an end. We must use them as means to reach God. This means that if something helps me, I use it, if it hinders me I give it up

Friday, July 3, 2026 - St Thomas Apostle of India. Will you believe even when you cannot see?

 

Friday, July 3, 2026 - St. Thomas Apostle of India - Will you believe even when you cannot see?

To read the texts click on the texts: Acts10:24-35; Heb 1:2-3; Jn 20:24-29

Thomas the Apostle, also called Didymus (meaning "Twin," as does "Thomas" in Aramaic") was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. He was perhaps the only Apostle who went outside the Roman Empire to preach the Gospel. He is also believed to have crossed the largest area, which includes the Parthian Empire and India.

The text chosen for the Feast of St. Thomas from the Gospel is often mistakenly referred to as that of “Doubting Thomas”. However, that is a misnomer. Jesus does not use the word doubt in these verses. Rather, Jesus chides Thomas for being unbelieving. The story focuses on the grounds of faith. Thomas seeks tangible proof which the disciples are unable to provide. Jesus provides this for Thomas and in so doing asks him to move from unbelief to faith.

Thomas does not touch the hands and side of Jesus as Jesus invites him to do, but responds with the highest acclamation or title for Jesus anywhere in the New Testament. Thomas sees God fully revealed in Jesus. This is why Jesus is for Thomas “My Lord and my God!”

The Beatitude or blessing pronounced by Jesus on future generations’ states that having seen Jesus is not a prerequisite for faith. One must first believe in order to see.

Thursday, July 2, 2026 - Do you believe that God has forgiven you all your sins? Will you now extend the same forgiveness to at least one person today?

 

Thursday, July 2, 2026 - Do you believe that God has forgiven you all your sins? Will you now extend the same forgiveness to at least one person whom you find it difficult to forgive?

To read the texts click on the texts: Amos 7:1-10; Mt 9:1-8

The miracle of the healing of the paralytic who was let down from the roof which forms our text for today is found also in Mark (2:1-12) and Luke (5:17-26). Matthew has omitted some details from Mark and thus shortened his narrative. Through these omissions, Matthew allows the reader to focus exclusively on Jesus and his words. It is unusual that Jesus does not respond to the paralytic’s immediate need but first forgives him his sins. The healing of the man is done later and only as demonstration of the fact that Jesus has power and authority to forgive sin, because the scribes consider Jesus’ pronouncement of forgiveness of sins as blasphemy. Since Jesus heals by the power of God, he can forgive sins by the same power. In Matthew, the crowd does not praise God for the miracle like they do in Mark and Luke, but for the authority to forgive sins attributed not only to Jesus but to human beings (“such authority to human beings” – Mt 9:8).

 

Most doctors today are convinced that there is an intimate connection between negative feelings and especially unforgiveness and physical ailments and advice a positive attitude and forgiving and letting go, for quicker healing. If we persist in our unforgiveness, we will continue to have a variety of ailments and sometimes no amount of external medicine will help at all. Forgive it is good for health.

Wednesday, July 1, 2026 - Which demons possess us today?

 

Wednesday, July 1, 2026 - Which demons are possessing you and so not allowing you to be free? Do you believe that Jesus can exorcise them from your life today?

To read the texts click on the texts: Amos 5:14-25,21-24; Mt 8:28-34

The text begins by stating that Jesus arrived on the other side, which because of the presence of pigs mentioned in 8:30 is clearly Gentile territory, since Jews considered pigs as unclean. While in the story in Mark 5:1-20 there is one demoniac, in Matthew’s story there are two (8:28). The version in Matthew is considerably shorter than the one in Mark, since Matthew omits many details that Mark gives. One possible reason for this is that Matthew wants to focus attention in his story solely on Jesus. The demons recognise Jesus and also recognise that they belong to two different worlds. In Mark, the demons enter into conversation with Jesus, but in Matthew they do not, but only beg Jesus to send them into the herd of swine., and Jesus exorcises them with just one word, “Go”. Matthew does not tell us what happens to the demoniacs after the demons leave them. However, when the people of that town are told what happened to the demoniacs, they beg Jesus to leave their neighbourhood.

More than physical demons that may possess us, we may be possessed by psychological demons. These can be feelings of fear, anger, revenge, jealousy, envy and a pessimistic attitude. If we continue in these feelings we are not living fully the life that God wants us to live. We need to decide that with the help of Jesus we are going to get rid of them today.

Tuesday, June 30, 2026 - Have the storms of your life sometimes overwhelmed you?

 

Tuesday, June 30, 2026 - Have the “storms” of your life sometimes overwhelmed you? Will you believe that with Jesus in the boat of your life these can be controlled?

To read the texts click on the texts: Amos 3:1-8;4:11-12; Mt 8:23-27

The miracle in our text for today known sometimes as the Calming of The Storm is found also in Mark (4:35-41) and Luke (8:22-25). It is only Matthew, however, who emphasises that the disciples “followed Jesus into the boat”. The miracle is not only a nature miracle but also a story told to indicate that Jesus has control over the storms of life itself. In Matthew the “storm” indicates the stormy experience of the community (represented by the disciples in the boat) who follow Jesus. While in Mark the cry is one of distress (“Teacher do you not care if we perish?”), in Matthew, it is a liturgical-sounding cry for help (Save, Lord; we are perishing). In both Mark and Luke the reprimand about “little faith” is after Jesus has calmed the storm, whereas in Matthew, the reprimand precedes the calming. This is an indication that “faith” is primary, and if the disciples had the faith needed, they would not be agitated.

We may sometimes get disturbed and agitated when things do not happen the way we expect them to or when we are faced with a difficult situation. At times like the disciples in the Gospel of Mark we may accuse Jesus of not being concerned about our plight and at other times like the disciples in the Gospel of Matthew we may plead with him to come to our aid. No matter which approach we may use, we need to remember that he will let nothing happen to us that is not part of his plan and will. We have to continue to do what is required of as and confidently leave the rest to him.