Monday, November 9, 2026 - The Church founded by Jesus on the shoulders of weak humans is both divine and human.

 

Monday, November 9, 2026 - Dedication of the Lateran Basilica - We are each and as a whole part of CHURCH

To read the texts click on the texts: Ez 47:1-2,8-9,12; 1 Cor 3:9-11,16-17;Jn2:13-22

The Basilica of St John Lateran is the cathedral of Rome, the cathedra, or Chair, at which the Bishop of Rome, the Pope, presides. In order to express devotion and unity of all Catholics to the successor of Peter, the Church commemorates the dedication of the Lateran Basilica. Since the Pope presides in charity over the universal Church, the Lateran Basilica is affectionately called the "mother and head of all the churches of Rome and the world".

When the Cathedral in Milan was finished, in the vast throng of people assembled for the dedication, a little girl cried out in childish glee, as she pointed to it: I helped build that. One of the guards challenged her: “What? Show me what you did.” The girl replied, “I carried the lunch box for my father, while he worked there.” The cathedral, the Church the Basilica is not primarily a building but the people of God. Each of us and all of us help build up the Church.

It is interesting but mainly revealing that the gospel reading chosen for this feast in which we celebrate the Lateran Basilica would be Jesus cleansing the Temple. Much like the Temple was a significant and symbolic building for the Jewish people the Lateran Basilica serves in this capacity for us.

The first Christians gathered to pray in private homes. To be a Christian was for the first three hundred years after the Resurrection of Christ a crime of treason against the Roman state. Therefore, believers would meet secretly to hear the Gospel and break the bread. Today's feast commemorates the end of those many long years of terrible persecutions and martyrdom and the dedication of the Christians' first public place of worship.

While this was a welcome change for the first Christian community, it also began to soon struggle with a dilemma. The source of Jesus' power is found in weakness and poverty. While being an underground church this was easy to accept. Now, being accepted by the state, Christianity's power began to be aligned with fame and fortune, buildings and property, prestige and status. The church began to take on the political structure of the Roman state. Officials began to be identified by secular titles such as “prince of the church" (Cardinal) and "lord" (Bishop).While it is advantageous to have a place to worship and also advantageous to have a structure to maintain a sense of order, both, however, can also prevent us from encountering God by presenting an image of God that is quite different from the one that Jesus presented and revealed.

Writing during the period of Exile, the prophet Ezekiel dreamed of returning to his home in Israel and especially to the Temple. The vision narrated in the first reading of today is of water flowing from the Temple giving abundant life to the valley below, even to the arid, lifeless region around the Dead Sea. However, at the time of Jesus, this life-giving water had dried up and the temple was no longer what it ought to have been.

The cleansing of the Temple is an incident that is narrated by all four evangelists. However, there are significant differences in the manner in which John narrates it when compared with the Synoptic Gospels. In John, the incident appears at the beginning of the Gospel and immediately after the Cana miracle of turning water into wine, and so sets the stage for the kind of revelation of God that Jesus makes in this Gospel. The temple in Jerusalem was considered the dwelling place of God on earth and a place where people expected to encounter God in prayer and sacrifice. However, as is evident in the actions of Jesus, the Temple had become instead a market place. When one considers that some trade and exchange of Tyrian coins for Roman or Greek coins was absolutely necessary for worship to proceed smoothly, one realizes that this action of Jesus is extremely radical and goes to the root of the meaning of worship and encountering God.

All religious institutional rootedness whether in the form of worship, unjust social systems or repressive religious practices are challenged by this action of Jesus.  Zeal for his Father’s house did indeed consume him when it led to his passion and death at the hands of religious authorities. While he was aware that this would be one of the main actions that would lead to his death, Jesus went even further when he pointed to himself as the new Temple, the new place of worship. In him a person encounters God as never before.

Thus, Christians, being identified with Christ in Baptism, are also temples of God, living temples of the Holy Spirit. Paul reminds the early Christians of the community at Corinth that they are themselves God’s Temple. God, in Christ, dwells in each one. Moreover, the whole community of Christians forms a temple, in which each Christian is a living stone, with Jesus himself as the cornerstone.

It is in the context of these readings that we must ask ourselves what we are really celebrating today. While it is true that the very orderly, stable and universal structure is surely to be celebrated in this feast and we need the certainty and conviction that comes from something that is consistent and bigger than ourselves, we also need to accept the fact that this is not all that the Church is. We also celebrate weakness in today’s feast. First, the weakness and numerous failures of each of us individuals who make up the Church, and also the failures and shortcomings of the Church as a whole. Both are in constant need of cleansing by the head of the Church Jesus Christ who continues to make all things whole.

Sunday, November 8, 2026 - Will you be good and merciful often instead of occasionally?

 

Sunday, November 8, 2026 - Will the lamp of your life have enough oil to welcome the Lord when he comes?

To read the texts click on the texts: Wis 6:12-16; 1 Thess 4:13-18; Mt 25:1-13

The themes of wisdom and preparedness dominate the readings of today. If the first reading is a description of what wisdom is, where she may be found and the consequences of finding her, the Gospel reading of today narrates in practical terms who the wise person is.

Wisdom according to the first reading of today does not hide herself, but continues to make herself available to all who seek her. One who does indeed find her will act prudently and so be free from all kinds of tensions, worries and lack of preparedness. The wise person will be ready at all times and every time.

The parable of the ten bridesmaids narrates graphically the consequences of acting wisely and foolishly. It has no parallel in the Synoptics and is special to the Gospel of Matthew. We are told right at the beginning of the parable that five of the bridesmaids were foolish and five were wise. This is because we cannot tell this just be looking at them. All ten have come to the wedding; all ten have their lamps burning; all ten presumably have on their gowns. The readiness is what distinguishes the wise from the foolish. Five are ready for the delay and five are not. Five have enough oil for the wedding to start whenever the bridegroom arrives; the foolish ones have only enough oil for their own timetable. The point is not so much falling asleep, but readiness at the hour when one is tested. It is thus, not being called that is important but being tested, not the lamp but the oil, not membership in the church but deeds.

For Matthew, “watching” does not mean that one lives in constant fear of missing the time. Instead, “watching” means following the command of Jesus in such constant, complete, and undivided obedience that it is all right to sleep until the time of the Parousia (the second coming of the Lord), because one is always ready and need not change at the last minute. In short, the uncertain time of the parousia becomes completely immaterial for those who always do the will of the Father. Such a person is not concerned about the delay of the bridegroom. Such a person is not worried about the time of the coming. Such a person even though asleep is still ready.

This readiness is possible because of the promise and example of Jesus as narrated by Paul in the second reading of today. We are sure of victory because Jesus has conquered death once for all. For us as believers, salvation is assured and thus our task is to be concerned not with times and seasons but watchfulness and readiness. If we are so ready, the time and season will not matter because of the promise of the Lord.

The texts of toady are therefore calling us to watchful readiness. No one knows the hour when the Lord will decide to come. Delay can be interpreted to mean that the Lord is allowing us the time to get ready and prepare ourselves for his coming, whenever that may be.

It is easy to be good for a day if goodness is seen only as a means to an end. It is easy to be merciful for a day if mercy is seen only as a means to an end. However, if we see goodness and mercy and everything that is positive as an end in itself, then it is possible to be good and merciful and positive always. We are called then to be like the wise ones with our lamps always burning so that we will then be able to welcome the Lord whenever he comes.

Saturday, November 7, 2026 - While wealth must be used, it must never be allowed to use us.

 

Saturday, November 7, 2026 - Will you do all that you do today to the best of your ability?

To read the texts click on the texts: Phil 4:10-19; Lk 16:9-15

These verses are found only in the Gospel of Luke and continue what was begun in 16:1-8, but also make a new beginning with the phrase, “and I tell you” in 16:9.

The disciples are called to use wealth to make friends. If they use their wealth to help others, they can be assured that they would be welcomed into their homes when their wealth is all used up. The person who is faithful in little will also be faithful in much. However, one who is unfaithful in little will also be unfaithful in much. And, if a person is not able to manage honestly that which is given in trust he/she will surely not be given what actually belongs to him/her. If that person cannot be faithful with worldly wealth that has been entrusted to their care by God, how can God give them their treasure in heaven?

While wealth must be used, it must never be allowed to control a person or use him/her. Wealth must be at the service of human beings not be served by them. God alone is the one to be served.

Friday, November 6, 2026 - If you were told that you have only one more day before the Lord called you to himself, what three decisions would you make?

 

Friday, November 6, 2026 - If you were told that you have only one more day before the Lord called you to himself, what three decisions would you make?

To read the texts click on the texts: Phil 3:17-4:1; Lk 16:1-8

The text of today contains a parable found only in the Gospel of Luke and which is often titled as the Parable of the Dishonest Steward.

In the Parable, the steward is about to be dismissed because of charges against him of squandering his master’s property. Since he does not want to have to do manual labour or beg after his dismissal, he responds to the crisis in his life by taking the decision of reducing the debtor’s debts.

The amounts mentioned are all large, and indicates commercial rather than household transactions. By the reduction of the debts, he gains the favour of his master’s debtors, which will stand him in good stead in the future. It is not clear whether the steward acted dishonestly through this action, because some presume that he was foregoing his own commission or acting righteously by excluding the interest prohibited by Deut 23:19-20.

Despite this, however, most prefer the interpretation that the steward continued to be dishonest and arbitrarily reduced the amounts of the debts. By doing this, the steward casts an aura of goodness on his master and also provides for his own future.

The point of the parable of the parable is not so much honesty or dishonesty, but a call to cast caution aside, seize the opportunity and make provisions for the future before God. The kingdom is here.

Thursday, November 5, 2026 - Do you believe that you have been forgiven/accepted/loved? Will you forgive/accept/love in return?

 

Thursday, November 5, 2026 - Do you believe that you have been forgiven/accepted/loved? Will you forgive/accept/love in return?

To read the texts click on the texts: Phil 3:3-8; Lk 15:1-10

While the parable of the Lost Sheep, which makes up part of our text today, is also found in the Gospel of Matthew, the parable of the Lost Coin is found only in the Gospel of Luke. Also the setting for the parable of the Lost Sheep is different in Matthew and Luke. Whereas in Matthew it is part of the Community Discourse, in Luke it is told in the context of Jesus’ table fellowship. i.e. his eating with tax collectors and sinners, .and the murmurings of the Pharisees and the scribes because of this act.

In the first story of the Gospel text of today, the shepherd leaves the ninety-nine sheep to go in search of the lost one. The joy of finding the lost sheep is compared with the joy that God “feels” over the repentance of one sinner. By implication, Jesus’ action in accepting sinners and eating with them reflects God’s gracious spirit toward those who were held in contempt by the Pharisees and scribes.

The second parable, that of the Lost coin features a woman with ten coins. A drachma was a silver coin worth about a denarius, or a day’s wage. Hence ten drachmas was not a great sum of money. This makes it clear that the parable is pointing not to the great monetary value of the coin or loss but to the human reaction to prize what is lost, even if it is of lesser value than what one still possesses. Since in this parable there is no comparison with the other nine coins like there was in the Parable of the Lost Sheep with the ninety-nine who had no need of repentance, the parable focuses even more sharply on God’s joy at the recovery of what had been lost.

The parables therefore seem to focus not on the need for repentance but on the rejoicing and the call to the righteous to join in the celebration. Whether one will join in the celebration will reveal whether one’s relationships are based on merit or mercy. Those who cannot rejoice exclude themselves from God’s grace.