25th Week, Ordinary Time, Thursday, 24-09-2026

Luke 9:7-9   

When we reflect on our pride and ego, the one thing that we can say is that we struggle with them.

The obvious understanding is that we try to control our pride and ego so as not to let them get into the way of our character and personality.

So we try to be humble, so as to be a pleasant person and get along well with others, and we can even get rather anxious trying to be a pleasant person.

On the other hand, it cannot be denied that there are people who are fixated or engrossed in boosting their pride and ego.

So they will seek attention and want the limelight on them.

As the first reading puts it so profoundly, pride and ego are the vanity of vanities.

It is like the rivers all go into the sea, and yet the sea is never filled, and still the rivers continue to go into the sea.

The human pride and ego are nothing new under the sun.

And yet human beings succumb to this vanity of vanities.

We seek attention only to find rejection. We seek to impress but we get depressed.

In the gospel, Herod was curious and anxious to find out who Jesus is.

In his pride and ego, he had done away with John the Baptist. And he now wants to do the same with Jesus.

Anxiety, curiosity and vanity was his obsession and he forgot how to be human.

Let us control our pride and ego, and let go of our anxiety and vanity.

Let us look at the Lord Jesus and do what He wants of us and to be who He wants us to be.

Let us live simple and humble lives and be happy with the love of the Lord.

25th Week, Ordinary Time, Wednesday, 23-09-2026

Proverbs 30:5-9 / Luke 9:1-6      

The word “enough” needs further elaboration as it can have subjective meanings.

Like for example, we may say that we do not have enough of something like manpower or finance.

And when we say that enough is enough, it may mean that we have reached the limits of our tolerance and we are going to react.

And when we say that we have more than enough, it also needs elaboration about what is being referred to.

In the first reading, book of Proverbs states that every Word of God is unalloyed.

And that Word of God teaches that two truths that applies to every situation on life.

There is no need to fear poverty or desire for riches, only enough to live life happily and to trust in God for His providence.

In the gospel, Jesus sent out His disciples and gave them power and authority over devils and to cure diseases.

And He told them to take nothing for the journey, almost nothing except whatever they had on them.

God will provide for them and they must have faith in God’s providence.

May we also have faith and trust that God will provide for us.

God will give us just enough, and that will also be our witnessing to who we believe in.

25th Week, Ordinary Time, Tuesday, 22-09-2026

Proverbs 21:1-6, 10-13 / Luke 8:19-21  

When we reflect upon nature, we may be able to see the mystery of life and what it reveals to us.

For example, when water runs down a slope, it does not flow in one straight line.

Rather, the water separates and each stream flows in a direction of its own.

Even the water seems to have some kind of life.

The first reading says that like flowing water is the heart of the king in the hand of the Lord, who turns it where He pleases.

But our human tendency is to direct the flow of water to where we want it to flow.

So we will dig drains and build ducts to direct the flow of water.

Similarly we want to direct the flow of our lives according to our own wishes.

As the first reading says, we work hard for gain, but we also want to gain quickly, but it leaves us desiring for more.

It also reminds us that the Lord weighs the heart, and to act virtuously and with justice is more pleasing to the Lord than sacrifice.

Indeed, when we turn away from sin and put our lives in the hands of God, then our hearts will be like flowing water in the hand of the Lord who turns it where He pleases.

And the Lord will also make our hearts flowing with His love to hear the poor man’s cry.

And when we call upon the Lord, He will hear our cry and quench our thirst with His living water.

St. Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist, Monday, 21-09-2026

Ephesians 4:1-7, 11-13 / Matthew 9:9-13  

In a job application form, as well as other application forms, it is usually a requirement for applicants to disclose any prior criminal convictions or penal offenses.

The purpose is primarily for legal, practical, and risk-management reasons.

And if an applicant has a prior criminal conviction or committed a penal offence, then there will be challenges and difficulties.

For St. Matthew, it was public knowledge that he was a tax-collector who was working for the Romans.

Needless to say, he was labelled as a traitor who betrayed his own people, and hence he was cut-off, rejected, despised and hated.

Jesus would have His reasons for calling St. Matthew to follow him, but the other disciples would certainly be suspicious of him.

St. Matthew may had had a bad start, and he had to work hard at being faithful in following Jesus.

And he may also had to make it a point to remember and record down the teachings of Jesus.

And so for the feast of St. Matthew, the gospel passage was chosen from his gospel with the message that Jesus did not come to call the virtuous, but sinners.

It was a message for himself, and it is also a message for each of us.

St. Matthew started off rough and tough, but that formed him to be one of the Evangelists.

When we acknowledge that we are sinners, then God will call us to do great things for Him.

25th Ordinary Sunday, Year A, 20.09.2026

Isaiah 55:6-9 / Philippians 1:20-24, 27 / Matthew 20:1-16           

The term “last minute” often evokes sudden emotions.

Because the term “last minute” is usually followed by other words like “last minute problems” or “last minute interruptions” or “last minute disruptions”. 

Such situations are certainly unpleasant surprises that immediately give rise to tension, stress, anxiety or confusion. 

This often results in strained relationships, the blame-game, and quarrels.

Simply because something bad has happened or something bad is going to happen, and so no one is happy about it.

In fact, everyone will be angry because someone or some people were irresponsible or negligent or has overlooked an important matter. 

So “last minute-whatever” are not pleasant surprises, but they might also remind us to expect the unexpected. 

In the gospel parable, there were a couple of last-minute surprises. 

In the parable, the landowner sets out at daybreak to hire workers for his vineyard. 

There seems to be an abundance of workers as he kept hiring at the third hour, the sixth hour, and the ninth hour. 

Then at the 11th hour, the landowner found more workers standing around because no one had hired them. 

Yet, despite being the 11th hour, which means that there is only one hour of work left, the landowner still hired those workers. 

It seems like a last minute surprise, and for those workers, it was certainly a surprise. 

It was a pleasant surprise beyond their expectation. 

But for those workers who were hired at the start of the day, they grumbled because they had expected more but got the same wage as those hired at the 11th hour. 

This parable gives us an insight into the mind of God and His ways.

One of which is that length of time is irrelevant to God. 

It doesn't matter to God whether a person is a lifelong Catholic or a last-minute convert. 

God has no favourites, and He gives His blessings to those who ask for it, and to those who need it. 

And the parable also addresses our human weakness in the areas of jealousy and entitlement. 

The workers who were hired first got the same wage as those who were hired at the 11th hour. 

Instead of being thankful and grateful for their wages, they grumbled at the landowner. 

They were jealous of those last-minute workers, and they thought they should be entitled to more. 

But God's ways are not man's ways, and God's thoughts are not man's thoughts, as we heard in the first reading. 

God is truth and justice. So, all the workers were paid as agreed upon. 

The ways and the thoughts of God are not that difficult to understand, but it is man's selfish thoughts and greedy ways that cause confusion and frustration in life. 

So, while the 11th hour hiring of the workers was a pleasant surprise, the last-minute grumbling of the workers who were hired first was a sour taste of jealousy and entitlement. 

The second reading tells us this: Avoid anything in your everyday lives that would be unworthy of the Gospel of Christ. 

In other words, never do anything that we can't offer to God. 

Once upon a time, there was a selfish man. He liked everything to be his own. He could not share his belongings with anyone, not even his friends or the poor. 

One day, the man lost a bag of thirty gold coins. He went to his friend’s house and told him how he lost his gold coins. 

His friend was a kind man. As his friend’s daughter was coming from an errand, she found that bag of thirty gold coins.

When she arrived home, she told her father what she had found. The girl’s father told her that the bag of gold coins belong to his friend and he sent for him. 

When the selfish man arrived, the father told him how his daughter had found the bag of thirty gold coins and handed it to him. 

After counting the gold coins, the man said that ten of them was missing and had been taken by the girl, as he had forty gold coins in the bag. 

He further insisted that he will recover the remaining amount from the father. But the girl’s father refused. 

The man left the bag of gold coins and went to the court and informed the judge there about what had taken place between him and the girl’s father. 

The judge sent for the girl and her father, and when they arrived asked the girl how many gold coins did she find. She replied thirty gold coins. 

The judge then asked the selfish man how many gold coins did he lose and he answered forty gold coins. 

The judge then told the man that the gold coins did not belong to him because the girl found thirty and not forty as he claimed to have lost. The judge then told the girl to take the gold coins and that if anybody is looking for them he will send for the girl. 

The judge told the man that if anybody reports that they have found forty gold coins he will send for him. 

It was then that the man confessed that he lied and that he lost thirty gold coins, but the judge did not listen to him. 

So, the ways of man may be corrupted and dishonest, but the ways of God will prevail with justice and truth. 

The thoughts of man may be slanted in selfishness and greed, but the thoughts of God are towards love and mercy. 

Let us walk in the ways of the Lord and we will understand the thoughts of God. 

Let us never do anything that we cannot offer to God. 

And at the 11th hour, or even at the last minute, God will show us His wonderful blessings when we follow His ways.

24th Week, Ordinary Time, Saturday, 19-09-2026

1 Corinthians 15:35-37, 42-49 / Luke 8:4-15  

It is not exactly easy to illustrate a gospel teaching by using stories or examples.

There are times when the gospel teaching is clear-cut but to find an example or story to illustrate it requires time and reflection.

The parable of the sower and the seeds is indeed an excellent story with a divine message.

It is a story in which we are invited not only to listen to it but also to find ourselves being part of it.

It is not a story that we can listen to and go away unchallenged, unchanged and unmoved by what we heard.

Even though we may not be from an agricultural background, yet we can still understand what the parable means to us.

Because every time we read the Bible or hear the scriptures being read and shared, the Word is being sown in our hearts.

How much of God's Word will take root in our hearts and bear fruits in our lives depends on how deeply we want to reflect on the gospel parable we have just heard.

When we are able to reflect upon the truth in the parable, then we will also see the truth about ourselves and also the state of our hearts.

But the fundamental truth is this: Just as God cares about what happens to His Word, He cares more about us who hear His Word.

24th Week, Ordinary Time, Friday, 18-09-2026

1 Cor 15:12-20 / Luke 8:1-3  

In life, we need to have a direction so as to keep moving forward.

And there can be a direction only when there is meaning in what we are doing here and now.

And that meaning comes from our beliefs about the present and that shapes our future.

In the first reading, St. Paul emphasized on the teaching about the Resurrection.

There were some who doubted the truth of the Resurrection.

St. Paul retorted that if there is no truth about the Resurrection, then Jesus Christ did not rise from the dead, and preaching and believing about the Resurrection is useless.

Furthermore, if Jesus Christ did not rise from the dead, then we are still in our sins, and all who have died in their sins would have perished.

But Jesus Christ has in truth been raised from the dead, the first-fruits of all who have fallen asleep.

So our hope in the Risen Lord Jesus is not just in this life only, but also for an eternal future.

In the gospel, among those who followed Jesus, besides the Twelve, there were also women and others who provided for them out of their own resources.

They followed Jesus because they believed in Him, and hence they had a meaning and direction in life.

We too need to believe in the truth of the Resurrection and that Jesus is our only Saviour.

He is our hope for the present as we journey on into our eternal future.