32nd Week, Ordinary Time, Thursday, 13-11-2025

Wisdom 7:22 - 8:1 / Luke 17:20-25 

We have our expectations in life.

We try to manage our expectations so that we will not be faced with too many disappointments.

But we will wish that we can know something about the future so that we can be prepared for what will happen.

So we will plan for the future and then wait to see how life will turn out.

But our faith will tell us that the present and the future lie in the hands of God.

In the gospel, the Pharisees asked Jesus when the kingdom of God will come about.

For the Pharisee, and the people in general, the kingdom of God means freedom from oppression and independence as a nation.

But what Jesus told them is beyond their expectations.

Jesus told them that the kingdom of God is already here among them, but they need to be wise enough to recognize it.

As for Jesus, He knows that He must suffer grievously in order to bring the kingdom of God to fulfilment.

As for us, let us ask God to grant us the Wisdom who will lead us to truth and love.

Where is there is truth and love, there the kingdom of God will be.

When we live our lives in truth and love, there will be peace and joy in our lives.

32nd Week, Ordinary Time, Wednesday, 12-11-2025

Wisdom 6:1-11 / Luke 17:11-19 

Illnesses and diseases are the realities of human life.

They do not respect personages or titles or status.

We do not deny that some of the illnesses or diseases are of our own doing.

Unhealthy lifestyles like excessive eating and unhealthy habits can contribute to the rise of illness and diseases.

In the biblical times, illness and disease were thought of as punishments from God, and there are also traces of such thinking in our modern times.

When the ten lepers approached Jesus, they saw Him as someone sent by God and that He can heal their leprosy.

When Jesus saw them and heard their pleas, He told them to go and show themselves to the priests.

So if those ten lepers had the thinking that the leprosy is a punishment from God, then Jesus is also telling them that God has forgiven them and God will heal their disease.

And indeed as they went on their way, they were cleansed of their leprosy.

But only one, the foreigner, a Samaritan, came back to Jesus to give thanks.

And even Jesus wondered why only one came back to give thanks.

That reminds us that when we are afflicted with illness and disease, we turn desperately to God for help and healing.

But with a thankful and grateful heart, we will also know how much God loves us and cares for us.

May our faith in God lead us to always give thanks to God, for in thanking God, we will also be filled with the saving love of God.

32nd Week, Ordinary Time, Tuesday, 11-11-2025

Wisdom 2:23 - 3:9 / Luke 17:7-10  

Human beings have the tendency to be ambitious.

They desire to be better than the rest and to even rise above the rest.

In other words, human beings want to be masters instead of being servants.

They want to be served and not to serve.

But when God created man, God made him in the image of His own image.

God even entrusted man to be the master of all creation.

Yet, as the 1st reading tells us, it was the devil’s envy that brought about the fall of man.

In the gospel, Jesus reminds us that we are merely servants and we have a duty to fulfil.

But beyond that, we are also called to serve, just as our Master Jesus came to serve and not to be served.

May our service to others express the love of God for them.

And by our service, may we also discover our dignity in Jesus, that we too serve just as Jesus our Master came to serve.

32nd Week, Ordinary Time, Monday, 10-11-2025

Wisdom 1:1-7 / Luke 17:1-6 

When there is an obstacle in our path, there can be two possible options.

One is to find a way around the obstacle, if there is a way around it.

But the obstacle can be turned into an opportunity of learning to overcome the obstacle.

But an obstacle often poses a challenge to our abilities to overcome it.

More so if the obstacle is a difficult person and our patience and tolerance are tested to the limits.

In the gospel, Jesus gave an example of a person who does something wrong to us.

Jesus teaches us to forgive and keep forgiving, but we will wonder if any good can come out of that.

Here is where faith comes in. Jesus says that if our faith were the size of a mustard seed, we would be able to even uproot mulberry trees.

The 1st reading tells us to have the Spirit of wisdom when faced with people who are obstacles in our path.

Wisdom teaches us to pray with faith and trust in the ways of the Lord.

With the Spirit of wisdom, with faith and with prayer, obstacles will be turned into opportunities of learning the ways of the Lord.

Dedication of Lateran Basilica, 09.11.2025

Ezekiel 47:1-2, 8-9, 12 / 1 Cor 3:9-11, 16-17 / John 2:13-22

Today, the Church celebrates the dedication of the Lateran Basilica. 

Officially it is called the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran, and it is dedicated to St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist. 

It is the cathedral of the diocese of Rome, and so it is the official Church of the Pope, who is the Bishop of Rome. 

Built in the year 324AD, it is the oldest church in the West, and it is considered the mother and the head of all the churches of Rome and of the world. 

In celebrating the dedication, we also celebrate the deep spiritual aspects of our faith. 

We celebrate unity, that we belong to the One Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. 

We believe that through the Church, God is offering the world the gift of forgiveness and salvation. 

We also profess that the Church is human and divine. 

We are the living members of the Church, the Body of Christ, and Jesus Christ is the Head of the Church. 

In the gospel, Jesus drove out all those merchants and money changers and said: Take all these out of here and stop turning my Father's house into a market. 

When the people challenged Him to justify what He did, Jesus said: Destroy this sanctuary and in three days I will raise it up. 

The people didn’t understand that Jesus was referring to the sanctuary that is His Body. 

So, the Church, the living Body of Christ, is holy, and the Church building is also holy.

The Church is the House of God, and a House of prayer. 

So, the building is sacred and it stands on holy ground. 

In this sacred building, worship is offered, prayer is heard and answered, and God’s love flows like the healing waters described in the 1st reading. 

The Church, the House of God, is like the Temple described in the 1st reading, where the waters of God’s healing love flow into the hearts of all believers. 

It is the waters of God’s love that brings about life, that brings about healing and forgiveness, that makes us bear fruits of love for others and for the glory of God. 

The celebration of the dedication of the Lateran Basilica also reminds us that we all have a spiritual home. 

So, the Church is the House of God, as well as our spiritual home, and we have come home to be with God. 

So, if Pope Leo XIV is asked where is his spiritual home, he will say that it is the Lateran Basilica. 

And if we were asked where is our spiritual home, we will say that it is the Church of Christ the King. 

Yes, here we are at home with our King and our Lord Jesus Christ. 

Here at home, we receive blessings from Jesus, we receive forgiveness for our sins, we are healed and strengthened with Holy Communion. 

Here at home, in the House of God, we offer worship and prayer, and we believe that our prayers will be heard and answered. 

And we go forth from the House of God with the mission of calling others to come back home. 

No matter how far they have gone, no matter what they have done wrong, no matter how angry or disappointed they are with the Church, God is calling them to come back home and to talk to God. 

And we are to be the voice of God to call them home. 

The feast of Christ the King will be in two weeks’ time. 

Before that, there will be a triduum, the three days of prayer in preparation for the feast day. 

Let us take some prayer cards and petition forms and ask others to come to the triduum to offer up their prayers to God. 

Everyone, whether young or old, everyone has a need, everyone has a prayer, and everyone needs to come home and to know that their prayers are heard. 

Let these prayer cards and petition forms be like God’s invitation. 

Regardless of how near or how far we are from God, let us come home to the House of God.

Let us come home and receive love, forgiveness, healing, and to let God make His home in our hearts.

31st Week, Ordinary Time, Saturday, 08-11-2025

Romans 16:3-9, 16, 22-27 / Luke 16:9-15  

The reality of death happens everyday. Not one day has passed where there are no obituaries in the newspapers.

Yet, because it happens so frequently, we have become immune to it, we are not that affected by it anymore, unless it happens to our close ones.

As it is, most of us believe that we will see tomorrow, that we won't die so soon.

There is a poster in the office of a hospice and it reads like this : We are not here to add days to our life, but life to our days.

Indeed, it is so true. Our days are limited and we should really live out those days fully.

Not just enjoying life, but to discover in this life, what eternity is all about, and to discover in this life what really has eternal value.

In the secular sense, it may be seen as a choice of value. But in the spiritual sense, it is about the choice of masters.

So the question from today's gospel is this : Who is the master in charge of my life?

If money is my master, then I will be dishonest, I will cheat, i will lie, I scheme and do anything and everything just to have money for my security. But of course in doing so, I might still exist but I am spiritually dead.

On the other hand, when I choose Jesus to be my Master, then I also will choose to be loving, to be forgiving, to be compassionate, to be honest.

Life for me might be difficult and I might seem to be like a loser, but I will be at peace with God and with the people around me.

So life essentially is a series of choices.

Life is not lost by dying.

Life is lost, minute by minute

day by day

in all those unloving, uncaring and unforgiving ways.

31st Week, Ordinary Time, Friday, 07-11-2025

Romans 15:14-21 / Luke 16:1-8  

We cannot deny that one of the top priorities in life is our security.

By security, it means material and financial security, which is expressed in a comfortable home and a healthy bank account.

It also means emotional and physiological, and that is expressed in being at peace with others and having a stable reward job.

But life has its bumps and we get shaken up here and there, and sink into the darkness of the potholes of life.

We begin to lose our sense of security and we may even resort to whatever means to stay afloat.

That dishonest steward in the gospel parable resorted to dishonest means to ensure his security.

We will also be tempted to do the same when our security is threatened.

But we need to remember that what we have and made us feel secure is given to us by the Lord.

When we get shaken and trip over the bumps and potholes of life, we must turn back to the Lord Jesus.

It is only in Jesus that we will be safe and secure.

Jesus is also the light who will lead us out of the darkness of fear so that we can live as children of the light.