24th Ordinary Sunday, Year A, 13.09.2026

Ecclesiasticus 27:30 – 28:7 / Romans 14:7-9 / Matthew 18:21-35          

By and large, we like to be neat, tidy, and clean.

And normally speaking, we don't keep or hold on to rubbish or rotting and rotten stuff.

That is a reflection of who we are, and how we want to live our lives.

And it is also said that cleanliness is next to godliness.

Because cleanliness, or neatness, is seen as an expression of a due reverence to God, who made us in His image.

On the other hand, it is also said that mess causes stress.

Yes, physical mess often directly triggers mental stress.

A messy room is like a list of chores that is not finished, which causes stress and tension in the mind.

In other words, it is like unfinished business all over the place.

Similarly, when unfinished work is piling up, the mind will be stressed.

So, cleanliness is godliness, and mess causes stress.

But besides physical and mental stress, there is also spiritual stress.

The first reading says this: "Resentment and anger, these are foul things, and both are found in the sinner."

When it comes to rubbish, rotting and rotten stuff, we would instinctively get rid of it.

But with resentment and anger, the strange thing is, as the first reading puts it, "Mere creatures of flesh, man cherishes resentment."

Resentment and anger are foul things, and they cause spiritual decay and corruption.

The result is unforgiveness.

Unforgiveness is described as drinking poison and wishing that the other party would die.

Unforgiveness is also described as holding a burning charcoal and thinking that the other party will be hurt.

In the Gospel, Peter asks Jesus if forgiving someone seven times is more than enough. 

Jesus replied with an astounding, "Not seven times, but seventy-seven times." 

And then Jesus told a parable about an unforgiving servant. 

That servant has just been forgiven for a huge, enormous debt by his master. 

Yet, that servant could not forgive a fellow servant for a small debt. 

The underlying point of the parable is that the first servant received forgiveness but did not understand that forgiveness flowed from love.

Because love and forgiveness are like two sides of the same coin. 

When we love, we will forgive, and in forgiving, we will grow deeper in love. 

There is this classic story that comes from an old traditional folktale that was set in ancient China. 

A bride by the name of Li Ling married into a household with a strict and demanding mother-in-law named Mrs. Huang. 

The mother-in-law criticized Li Ling's every action, causing intense tension and resentment. 

Unable to bear the mistreatment any longer, Li Ling went to her uncle, a wise herbalist, and she begged for a discreet poison to end the cause of her suffering, which is her mother-in-law. 

The uncle listened carefully and agreed to help, but with strict conditions. 

He gave her a mixture of slow-acting herbs, instructing her to mix a small pinch into her mother-in-law's daily tea so that no one will suspect foul play. 

To avoid suspicion after the mother-in-law's death, Li Ling was ordered to act respectfully and devotedly, and to obey her mother-in-law willingly and never to argue. 

Li Ling followed the instructions strictly. Every morning, she served the tea and treated her mother-in-law with patience, kindness and care. 

Seeing Li Ling's transformed behavior, Mrs. Huang's hostility melted away. 

She began to love Li Ling like her own daughter and even boasting to neighbours about what a wonderful daughter-in-law she had. 

Realizing how much genuine love they now shared, Li Ling was consumed by guilt. 

Desperate to save the woman she had grown to love, Li Ling rushed back to her uncle's shop, begging and weeping for an antidote to neutralize the slow poison. 

Her uncle smiled gently and told her that no antidote was needed. 

The powder he had given her was actually a blend of vitamins and nourishing tonics to improve the elder woman's health. 

The only real poison was the anger in Li Ling's heart, which she had successfully cured through kindness and patience. 

That story reminds us of that tough teaching of Jesus: "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who treat you badly." 

That is forgiveness, and we are reminded in the prayer, "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us." 

Yes, God so loved the world that He sent His only Son, Jesus, to love us, forgive us, save us, and to free us from sin, resentment, anger, and unforgiveness. 

Let us hear the call of love and to come out of the prison of unforgiveness. 

Let us experience the power of forgiveness in the joy of God's love.

23rd Week, Ordinary Time, Saturday, 12-09-2026

1 Cor 10:14-22 / Luke 6:43-49

In almost every religion, food is used in worship as a sign of communion with the deity.

That is why in the worship, some thing is offered for sacrifice.

It can be an animal, or some produce of the land, or some cooked food.

It is offered to the deity, and then the devotees partake of some of the food as a sign of communion with the deity.

Even in our Eucharist, the bread and wine are offered and through the consecration of the priest, we partake of the Body of Christ in communion.

In the 1st reading, St. Paul had to remind the Christians that they are indeed in communion with Christ as they partake of the breaking of bread in the Eucharist.

Yes, they had to be reminded because familiarity can be the death of reverence.

We too can forget that we are in communion with Christ and that Christ lives in our hearts.

From the words that come out of our hearts, we will know how aware we are of the presence of Christ in us.

As Jesus said in the gospel: For a man's words flow out of what fills his heart.

By our words, others will know whether we truly worship God or not.

23rd Week, Ordinary Time, Friday, 11-09-2026

1 Cor 9:16-19, 22-27 / Luke 6:39-42   

There is a difference between choosing what we want to do and being told to do something.

When we choose what we want to do we exercise our freedom of choice to do what we like to do.

But when we are told to do something, it may not be what we want to do and that we may not even like to do it.

In the first reading, St. Paul says that he was given the duty to preach the gospel and he should be punished if he did not do it.

Yet, he willingly does it, and his reward is that he is able to offer the Good News freely and without insisting on any payment for it.

And in doing so, he also made himself a slave of anyone so as to win as many as he could, and that, for him, is his blessing.

St. Paul could do all that because he has fixed his eyes on Jesus Christ and in following Him, he was willing to do whatever Jesus is asking of him.

St. Paul’s vision is clear in that he is following his Master and Teacher Jesus Christ.

As for us, we have seen the ways of the world and we have also seen the way of Jesus Christ.

May we always choose to follow our Master and Teacher Jesus Christ, so that we too can lead others to follow Jesus Christ, and receive the blessings of the Good News of salvation.

23rd Week, Ordinary Time, Thursday, 10-09-2026

1 Cor 8:1-7, 11-13 / Luke 6:27-38   

Having knowledge is certainly a good thing, as it gives us awareness and understanding.

But knowledge in its extremes can be problematic.

A little bit of knowledge can lead to a narrow view and dangerously fundamentalistic.

Too much knowledge can lead to arrogance and pride.

In the first reading, St. Paul says that knowledge is the means to understand the truth of life.

And when that truth is understood with love, then a person will know the ways of God.

So knowledge of the truth, together with love, will build up those who are weak and not to cause a scandal or cause others to sin, as in the case of foods that are offered to idol.

In the gospel, Jesus gave a teaching that is difficult to understand, or to practice.

Jesus said, “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who treat you badly.”

But it is the truth, and that truth can only be understood with love.

Jesus is the truth and He is also the love of God made flesh.

May that knowledge help us to be more compassionate and understanding to others, especially our enemies and those who treat us badly.

Our reward will be great, and we will be sons of the Most High, for He Himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.

23rd Week, Ordinary Time, Wednesday, 09-09-2026

1 Cor 7:25-31 / Luke 6:20-26

This world, undeniably, has its attractions and delights.

For those who seek it, and can afford it, the desire for pleasure and luxury has almost no limits.

We would have loved to enjoy all the good things of this world and not think too much about the future.

And then in the first reading, St. Paul tells us of this grim reminder.

He says, “Our time is growing short. I say this because the world as we know it is passing away.”

He said that for his time, but it is a fact for every age in history, and it is a fact for us in this modern age.

We can become too engrossed with the attractions, delights and pleasures of this world that we forget what is temporal and what is eternal.

In the gospel, Jesus gave a teaching that makes us stop and think deeper about life.

We want to be happy in life but Jesus gives us a glimpse of eternal happiness which goes against the world’s view of happiness.

Those who are poor will be blessed, those who hungry will be satisfied and those who weep will rejoice.

Those are eternal blessings. 

It is only when we look away from the attractions, the delights and the pleasures of this world, that we will understand and inherit the eternal blessings that God wants to give us.

The Nativity of the BVM, Tuesday, 08-09-2026

Micah 5:1-4 or Romans 8:28-30 /  Matthew 1-16, 18-23

The Church celebrates the birth (or the nativity) of three persons in the liturgy: Jesus, John the Baptist and Mary.

John the Baptist pointed out Christ as the Lamb of God and prepared the way for Him.

Mary conceived Christ, the Son of God, by the power of the Holy Spirit and she brought Christ into the world in the wonderful mystery of the Incarnation (God became man).

Sources other than the Bible gave the names of Mary's parents as Joachim and Anna and the Church celebrates their feastday on the 26th July.

Also Mary's birth was termed as miraculous because her parents were childless and they prayed for a child and it was God who answered their prayers, and in a way that is more than they can expect.

Because God has a special mission for Mary in His wonderful plan of salvation. With her birth, the plan of salvation took on concrete shape towards its fulfillment.

Jesus is the Saviour, and Mary is the one who mothered the Saviour; Jesus is the fullness of the expression of God's love and in Mary, that love was made flesh.

We rejoice with Mary as the Church celebrates her birth. And yet Mary would also want us to join her to give thanks and pray for the salvation of the world.

Just as she gave birth to Jesus our Saviour, every birth of a child is God's love made flesh and the promise of salvation is renewed.

And as Mary's children, let us join her to pray for the world's conversion and salvation.

23rd Week, Ordinary Time, Monday, 07-09-2026

1 Cor 5:1-8 / Luke 6:6-11    

Small amounts or small numbers are usually deemed as negligible.

After all they don’t usually have much effect because of the small quantity.

But of course, it depends on what is the matter at hand.

Because in the case of salt, a small amount of it put into the food will change the taste.

Or in the case of yeast, a small amount of it will make the dough rise.

In the first reading, St Paul used the image of the yeast in the dough to talk about the spiritual life.

A small sin may not seem to be dangerous, but that does not mean that it is negligeable to the spiritual life.

Because when small sins are left unchecked, it could be like the yeast in the dough.

Small sins could slowly multiply and soon will manifest into big grave sins.

As in the case of the man in the withered hand in the gospel, the spiritual life can slowly wither away with small sins.

As we examine our conscience, let us take note of the small or minor sins that we commit.

Let us ask Jesus to forgive and cleanse us so that we can offer to Him a pure heart to be filled with His love.