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.

31st Week, Ordinary Time, Thursday, 06-11-2025

Romans 14:7-12 / Luke 18:1-10  

In life, we see and hear a lot of things about situations and about persons.

Some of the things that we see and hear may be factual or they may be just opinions and interpretations.

Even if what we see and hear are factual, it does not mean that it is the truth.

Because not all facts tell the truth.

In the gospel, the Pharisees and the scribes saw the tax collectors and sinners seeking the company of Jesus to hear what He had to say.

What the Pharisees and scribes saw was a fact, and their interpretation was that Jesus welcomes sinners and even eats with them.

That interpretation formed their conclusion that Jesus was also a sinner, just like those tax collectors and sinners.

And here is where Jesus connected the fact to the truth, and that is the tax collectors and sinners were seeking repentance and conversion.

They came to Jesus to look for hope in order to change their lives.

The 1st reading also teaches us that we should never pass judgement on another or treat him with contempt.

Because we may know all the facts, but we may not know what is the truth of the facts.

The fundamental truth of our faith is that Jesus is our Saviour.

Let us ask Him for forgiveness and healing and we will come to know the truth of life.

31st Week, Ordinary Time, Wednesday, 05-11-2025

Romans 13:8-10 / Luke 14:25-33  

A young plant asked a big tree: How did you grow to become so tall and strong.

The big tree gave just a one-word answer: Storms.

When we were young, we were brought up in a loving environment.

We experienced love and we had an idealistic view about a world of loving people.

And then the storms of life came.

It was people who brought about those storms in our lives.

We encountered people who were unloving, unkind and unforgiving.

The storms of life shook our understanding of love and tested our roots of love.

But there were also loving people who came along our way and they helped us to believe in love.

We also came to know Jesus who showed us God’s love and taught us to love our neighbour as ourselves.

The 1st reading also tells us that love is the answer to every one of the commandments of God.

So, if we really want to follow Jesus, we must believe in love and walk the way of love.

There will still be storms, but with Jesus, those storms will make us strong.

And we will also tell others that love is the answer to every storm in life.

31st Week, Ordinary Time, Tuesday, 04-11-2025

Romans 12:5-16 / Luke 14:15-24  

To always tell the truth is difficult, because there are many factors to consider.

To always live the truth is also difficult, because we cannot say that our motives and purposes are always noble.

Whether in words or in deeds, we are always tempted with motives or interests that are self-centred or for self-gain.

It is like those who were invited for the banquet in the gospel parable, they made up excuses for not going.

But excuses being excuses, they are not the truth.

In the 1st reading, St. Paul says this: Do not let your love be a pretence, but sincerely prefer good to evil.

St. Paul also teaches us this: Bless those who persecute you. Never curse them, bless them. Rejoice with those who rejoice and be sad with those in sorrow. Treat everyone with equal kindness. Never be condescending but make real friends with the poor.

The truth of life is that when we are honest and sincere in our words and actions, God will bless us.

And when others are not honest and sincere to us, or when they do wicked things to us, let us pray for them.

Let us ask God to bless them, and we will inherit a blessing for ourselves.