Daily Catholic Reflection: Sunday, September 1, 2024, Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

Dt 4:1-2, 6-8

Ps 15:2-3, 3-4, 4-5

Jas 1:17-18, 21b-22, 27

Mk 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23                                 Full Readings      

Saint Giles

That Which Comes from Within Matters

Brethren, today we live a very cosmetic age where external beauty and appearance is overly admired and celebrated. We often worry excessively about how we are perceived by others, how we look, or what our reputation is in the eyes of the world. We put on nice clothes, drive good cars, speak nice words even to the extent of pleasing others, have rich friends, and do whatever externally pleases the people who are watching us. It's quite unfortunate that sometimes, these are done at the expense of our own happiness and inner wellbeing; they are done in pretense, to show a good picture outside, while inside it is conflict. How many times have we seen, beautiful people, rich people, beautifully dressed people and other celebrities committing suicide, failing in marriage, and even having no friends.  Jesus was aware of this, and in today's gospel he invites us to pay more attention to our hearts than the outer appearance for nothing that enters one from outside can defile that person; but the things that come out from within are what defile.” Saint James too, in the second reading is aware that some of our Christians who think that true religion or Christianity is just showing off and performing external actions and rituals. True religion is not just external that but a true heart full of love which moves one to charity.

Daily Catholic Reflection: Friday, August 30, 2024, Friday of the Twenty-first Week in Ordinary Time

1 Cor 1:17-25

Ps 33:1-2, 4-5, 10-11

Mt 25:1-13                                  Full Readings             

Saint Jeanne Jugan

Be Prepared

In today's Gospel, Jesus makes a clear distinction between the wise and the foolish maidens who were waiting for the bridegroom. Five of them took extra oil with them for their lamps and foolish ones never took more extra oil. When the bridegroom came, he found that the lamps of foolish ones had gone off and had no more oil. On going out to buy oil. the wise ones entered inside with the Lord and the door was locked. On coming back and knocking on the door so that the Lord can open for them, the bridegroom told the five foolish virgins, "I don't know you." With this parable, the Lord calls for our preparedness for the final day for we never know the day when he will come back.

Daily Catholic Reflection: Thursday, August 29, 2024, Memorial of the Passion of Saint John the Baptist

1 Cor 1:1-9

Ps 145:2-3, 4-5, 6-7

Mk 6:17-29                           Full Readings             

The Beheading of John the Baptist

Stand For Justice and Truth

Today we celebrate the memorial of the beheading or passion of John the Baptist, a courageous man who stood for the truth and justice. This created hatred between him and Herodias and was finally beheaded due to this hatred as we see in the Gospel. Today's Gospel presents to us various aspects and teachings which we can learn as Christians.

Daily Catholic Reflection: Wednesday, August 28, 2024, Memorial of Saint Augustine, Bishop and Doctor of the Church

2 Thes 3:6-10, 16-18

Ps 128:1-2, 4-5

Mt 23:27-32                           Full Readings             

Saint Augustine of Hippo

Religious Integrity

In the Gospel today, we see the last two of the seven woes to the Pharisees. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You are like whitewashed tombs, which appear beautiful on the outside, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and every kind of filth. Even so, on the outside you appear righteous, but inside you are filled with hypocrisy and evildoing.” "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the memorials of the righteous...Thus, you bear witness against yourselves that you are the children of those who murdered the prophets..."

Daily Catholic Reflection: Tuesday, August 27, 2024, Memorial of Saint Monica

2 Thes 2:1-3A, 14-17

Ps 96:10, 11-12, 13

Mt 23:23-26                                Full Readings             

Saint Monica

Religious Congruence

Brethren, today's Gospel presents to us the next two of the seven woes in the gospel of Matthew, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You pay tithes of mint and dill and cummin and have neglected the weightier things of the law: judgment and mercy and fidelity....", “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You cleanse the outside of cup and dish, but inside they are full of plunder and self-indulgence. This was yet another critique to the Pharisees and Scribes by Jesus. Jesus rebukes them for just washing outside the cup and inside is very dirty. This can be termed as hypocrisy which is simply lack of congruence (outside not reflecting the inside). Jesus tells them and he tells us today too, to first wash the inside of the cup and the outside will be clean too.

Daily Catholic Reflection: August 26, 2024, Monday of the Twenty-first Week in Ordinary Time

2 Thes 1:1-5, 11-12

Ps 96:1-2a, 2b-3, 4-5

Mt 23:13-22                                 Full Readings             

Saint Joseph Calasanz

Do Not Close the Doors of the Kingdom

Jesus went to the heart of the matter when he called the religious leaders of his day blind Pharisees and hypocrites! A hypocrite is an actor or imposter who says one thing but does the opposite or who puts on an outward appearance of doing good while inwardly clinging to wrong attitudes, selfish desires and ambitions, or bad intentions. Many scribes and Pharisees had made it a regular practice to publicly put on a good show of outward zeal and piety with the intention of winning greater honors, privileges, and favors among the people. Jesus had a very good reason for severely rebuking the scribes and Pharisees, the religious teachers and leaders, for misleading people and neglecting the heart and essence of God's law - love of God and love of neighbor.

Daily Catholic Reflection: Friday, August 23, 2024, Friday of the Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time

Ez 37:1-14

Ps 107:2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9

Mt 22:34-40                                 Full Readings             

Saint Rose of Lima

The Greatest Commandment

Today's Gospel presents to us the greatest commandment summarised by Jesus from all the 613 pieces of laws in the Old Testament. He summarises it as loving God with all your heart, your soul and all your mind and that you shall love your neighbor as you love yourself. The pairing of these commandments was of course a shock to the Jews because they thought only love for God mattered not the love for the neighbor. Jesus puts them on the same level as being the greatest which means claiming that you love God while hate your neighbor is not love at all.

Daily Catholic Reflection: August 22, 2024, Memorial of the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Ezekiel 36:23-28,

Psalm 51: 12-13.14- I 5.18-19,

Matthew 22: 1-14.                                 Full Readings             

Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Know more About the Queenship of Mary here!)

The Wedding Garment

Today's Gospel presents to us a King who gave a feast for his son's wedding. He invited his guests but surprisingly at the time of the feast none of them turned up while giving different reasons. The king was really angry with them. The king then sent servants who went to the streets and collected everyone they came across to come to the wedding banquet. Among those who came, one was without a wedding garment. He was bound and thrown outside to where there is grinding of teeth and suffering.

Daily Catholic Reflection: Wednesday, August 21, 2024, Memorial of Saint Pius X, Pope

Ez 34:1-11

Ps 23:1-3A, 3B-4, 5, 6

Mt 20:1-16                                 Full Readings             

Saint Pope Pius X

God's Generosity 

Today's gospel presents to us another parable of the kingdom where landowner hired workers for his vineyard early in the morning, and then again at nine o’clock, noon, three o’clock and finally at five o’clock. But at the end of the day, he paid them all the same daily wage as if they had all been working since early morning. The ones hired first were upset thinking it was unfair that those who worked just an hour were paid the same wage as they were. But the landowner concludes, “What if I wish to give this last one the same as you? Or am I not free to do as I wish with my own money? Are you envious because I am generous?”

Daily Catholic Reflection: Tuesday, August 20, 2024, Memorial of Saint Bernard, Abbot and Doctor of the Church

Ez 28:1-10

Ps Deut 32:26-27AB, 27CD-28, 30, 35CD-36AB

Mt 19:23-30                                Full Readings             

Saint Benard of Clairvaux, Abbot

The Rich and the Kingdom

Today’s gospel is the continuation of the message of yesterday and continues to shed light on the inadequacy of riches in making us to inherite the kingdom of God. The word of God describes how hard it is for rich people to enter the kingdom of heaven. This is not a denigration of material wealth. We must know that material wealth is a gift from God. In fact, the Bible also sometimes describes salvation in terms of material wealth. But Jesus uses imagery from his time to show the incompatibility of the entrance to the Kingdom of Heaven with one whose heart is full of earthly treasures.

Daily Catholic Reflection: August 19, 2024, Monday of the Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time

Ez 24:15-23

Ps: Deut 32:18-19, 20, 21

Mt 19:16-22                                Full Readings             

Saint John Eudes

The Inadequacy of Riches

Today's Gospel presents to us what we must do in order to become perfect and inherit the kingdom of God apart from following the commandments. Jesus tells the young rich man to go and sell all he had and give the money to the poor. The young man could not imagine this for he had so much, and he went away very sad. Will your riches stop you from attaining the Kingdom of God?  The Gospel shows us the inadequacy of riches especially in the aspects of the kingdom of God.

The young man came to Jesus and though he was rich and had won all the world, he felt that it was not enough, but there was something missing in his life. That's why he came and asked, what good deed must I do to possess eternal life. This question means that his wealth alone cannot gain him eternal. We all know that money can do everything but cannot buy love, cannot buy eternal life. Wealth also can seriously make one feel lonely by losing all the friends. All these show that wealth is inadequate and cannot provide us everything we need.

Daily Catholic Reflection: August 17, 2024, Saturday of the Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Ez 18:1-10, 13b, 30-32

Ps 51:12-13, 14-15, 18-19

Mt 19:13-15                                Full Readings             

Saint Joan of Arc

Individual Responsibility

In today's first reading, we are presented with the declaration of individual responsibility, one of the key passages of Ezekiel. Both here and in Jeremiah 31 the proverb “The fathers have eaten unripe grapes; and the children’s teeth are set on edge” is set aside. This had been the primitive situation which had prevailed in Israel since tribal times, particularly in a desert context, where the fate of one was the fate of all, the punishment of sin of the father would be given his children or even grandchildren. It was the morality of the Deuteronomic history, in which the sins of one generation were often seen as visited upon the next. Now this morality was being questioned, especially among the exiles: why should they suffer for the sins and offences of a previous generation? Were they to be held responsible for the infidelities which had led to the exile?

Daily catholic Reflection: Friday, August 16, 2024, Friday of the Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time, Year B

Ez 16:1-15, 60, 63 or Ez 16:59-63

Ps Isaiah 12:2-3, 4bcd, 5-6

Mt 19:3-12                                Full Readings             

Saint Stephen of Hungary

The Two Vocations

Jesus, today, is talking about two vocations, marriage and celibacy. Marriage is modeled to reflect the love of God that forgives and endures forever. The long and everlasting love and fidelity that should exists between a man married a woman who are in marriage is shown by the love and fidelity that God had for his people Israel. The first reading tells us all the care, wonders and good things that God did for His people right away from childhood until maturity as the most beautiful among all nations, and how Jerusalem turned shamelessly from God and how God, despite this turning away, never forgot his lasting and loving covenant with them, forgave them, and promised then a new covenant. This love of God should that which exists in our vocations whether married or single for the Lord; a love that never breaks it covenant with each other and to God no matter what comes in our way. This love thinks first of the good of the other person. This love inspires compassion because it understands other people’s mistakes and weaknesses. This love sees the good in others and does not give up on them.

Daily Catholic Reflection: Wednesday, August 14, 2024, Memorial of Saint Maximilian Kolbe, Priest and Martyr

EZ 9:1-7; 10:18-22

PS 113:1-2, 3-4, 5-6

Mt 18:15-20             Full Readings                 

Saint Maximillian Mary Kolbe

Making Peace

Today's Gospel is part of the community or ecclesial discourse which Matthew presents in the whole of Chapter 18. This discourse gives the guidelines upon which the church of Christ will depend on in preserving the memory of Christ and in spreading the Gospel. Jesus today teaches us the best way to make peace with one another and says that if a person wrongs you or if you wrong any person, go to that person individually ask for forgiveness and if you win his or her heart then you have won your brother or sister back. But if the person refuses, don't give up take a trusted friend or friends who are not judgmental, to talk to the person, and if the person refuses again, then tell the Christian community, and if the person refuses, you have done your part and you are no longer guilty, regard the other one as a sinner. He gives a stern warning that whatever we bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever we loose here will be loosed in heaven. After, Jesus shows the power which is in unity and a community prayer for where two or three are gathered in his name, He is in their midst and when we pray together through him, God will answer our prayers. He ends by promising to be with us always.

Daily Catholic Reflection: Sunday, August 11, 2024, Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

1 Kgs 19:4-8

Ps 34:2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9

Eph 4:30—5:2

Jn 6:41-51         Full Readings

Saint Clare of Assisi

Food for the Journey

The First Reading highlights how the Eucharist is food for our earthly journey. It tells the story of Elijah and his journey to Mt. Horeb. Just as the pharaoh persecuted the Israelites as they journeyed toward the Red Sea and Mt Sinai, Queen Jezebel persecuted Elijah, who fled to the same mountain. Like the Israelites who were fed with miraculous food from heaven during their forty years in the desert, Elijah was fed by miraculous food that sustained him for forty days and forty nights on his way to Mt. Horeb. Both Israel and Elijah were sustained by miraculous bread from heaven. In the Eucharist, Jesus gives us miraculous bread – the Bread of Life and Bread of the Angels – that sustains us on our journey to the eternal promised land. That means that our life is like an exodus journey in the wilderness. It is a time of testing.

Daily Catholic Reflection: Friday, August 9, 2024, Friday of the Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Nahum 2:1, 3; 3:1-3, 6-7

Ps: Deut. 32:35CD-36AB, 39abcd, 4

Mt 16:24-28                           Full Readings

Saint Benedicta of the Cross

What Profit Would There Be?

In today's Gospel Jesus tells us that whoever wants to follow Him should renounce him or herself and take up his or her cross and follow Him. He again tells us that whoever wants to save his or her life at the expense of Jesus will lose it and whoever loses his or her life for the sake of Jesus will gain it, for what profit is it for one to gain the whole world and lose his or her life? This encourages us to put our investment in Jesus by picking up our crosses and following him daily.

Daily Catholic Reflection: Thursday, August 8, 2024, Memorial of Saint Dominic, priest, on Thursday of the Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Jer 31:31-34

Ps 51:12-13, 14-15, 18-19

Mt 16:13-23                                     Full Readings

Saint Dominic

Personal Experience of Jesus

When Jesus asked his disciples their perception and the peoples’ perception of him, in today's gospel, he received several answers. It was only Simon who answered, “you are the Son of the living God.” Instantly, Jesus reminded Simon that his answer was a revelation from God. Nonetheless, he changed his name from Simon to Peter, and placed authority and responsibility of the new people of God, the church, on him. It is incontrovertible to argue, as some often do, that Peter is not the first Pope. Jesus himself gave him this privilege, because it was revealed by the Father. We should always try to conform to the teachings of the church, for when the Church speaks through her leaders, it is Jesus that speaks. Listen.