Word of Life

Word of Life 

On 21st Jan 2025  

Meditating the Words of Jesus from Holy Scriptures 

Jesus Said. “‘Repent, for the kingdom of Heaven is close at hand“

  Mt 4: 12-17 Hearing that John had been arrested he withdrew to Galilee, 13 and leaving Nazara he went and settled in Capernaum, beside the lake, on the borders of Zebulun and Naphtali. 14 This was to fulfil what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: 15 Land of Zebulun! Land of Naphtali! Way of the sea beyond Jordan. Galilee of the nations! 16 The people that lived in darkness have seen a great light; on those who lived in a country of shadow dark as death a light has dawned. *  17 From then onwards Jesus began his proclamation with the message, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of Heaven is close at hand.’ Lord has heard that John the Baptist was arrested. Jesus left Nazara and setteled in Caparnaum and this way he was called a Galilean Jn7: 41-42 ‘and some said, ‘He is the Christ,’ but others said, ‘Would the Christ come from Galilee? 42 Does not scripture say that the Christ must be descended from David and come from Bethlehem, the village where David was? However, Jesus wasn't prepared to debate them from his place of origin. The  people,  lived in the darkness had seen the light of Jesus Christ. John the Baptist said that Jesus would arrive in the midst of Israelites to illuminate them with his real light.  Jesus tells us to turn from our sins in verse 17 because the kingdom of heaven is near. He claims that it will not be delayed and that it is extremely close to us. Jesus extends an invitation to his home for everyone, but with one requirement: repentance and faith in the gospel. The path to eternal life is repentance.  Jesus also discusses repentance in order to enter God's kingdom in Mark 1:15. God will never forsake us and will constantly shower us with His mercy. How can we disregard the kindness He has shown us? In the letter to the Romans, St. Paul provides us with an explanation. Rm 2: 4 Or are you not disregarding his abundant goodness, tolerance and patience, failing to realise that this generosity of God is meant to bring you to repentance? Jesus is waiting for us patiently, in great tolerance and with a merciful heart, just to make us repent and bring us back to Him. 

Word of Life

Word of Life 

On 17th Jan 2025  

Meditating the Words of Jesus from Holy Scriptures 

Jesus said: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.

  Jesus was tested by evil and he was ready to accept the situations and face the temptations. He never allowed devil to take advantage on his spiritual mortifications. Jesus was fasted fourty days to overcome all kinds of temptations the evil try to impose on him. Satan was quoting the Scriptures to Jesus to get him into temptations. Mt 4: 5-9 ‘If you are Son of God,’ he said, ‘throw yourself down; for scripture says: He has given his angels orders about you, and they will carry you in their arms in case you trip over a stone.’ *  7 Jesus said to him, ‘Scripture also says: Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’ *  8 Next, taking him to a very high mountain, the devil showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendour. 9 And he said to him,. The Devil constantly tricks us with his schemes to lure us into doing various sins. He never stops working on his goals.  He never stops roaming around our minds like a roaring lion in order to trick our souls when we are asleep. He might provide a variety of delusions, hopes, and promises of wealth. We may believe that we may live a good life after achieving material success. We can forget God once we have experienced all of this world's joy. Js 1: 13-14 God cannot be tempted by evil, and he does not put anybody to the test . 14 Everyone is put to the test by being attracted and seduced by that person’s own wrong desire. God cannot be tempted by evil, and Jesus will not be tempted by evil either. He disproved evil with God's power. Every temptation that enters our minds is a result of our desires.  By asking the Lord to have pity on us, we can put our faith in him to help us conquer any temptations. The Word of God is the sole means by which evil can be vanquished. Therefore, in order to resist temptations, we must pray in specific scriptures, and Jesus will guide us through his Spirit as we pray. Mt 4: 9-11I will give you all these, if you fall at my feet and do me homage.’ 10 Then Jesus replied, ‘Away with you, Satan! For scripture says: The Lord your God is the one to whom you must do homage, him alone you must serve.’ *  11 Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels appeared and looked after him. We can see how Jesus is casting out evil by quoting the Holy Scriptures and he shouted ‘Away with you Satan’ The Word of God is the sword we have to use to refute evil, so pray by reading the Word of God with a humble and repentant heart. Eph 6: 17 And then you must take salvation as your helmet and the sword of the Spirit, that is, the word of God. 

Word of Life

 

The Baptism of the Lord 

Word of Life

On 12th Jan 2025 

Meditating the Words of Jesus from Holy Scriptures 

Happy Feast of Baptism of the Lord 

“This is my Son, the Beloved; my favour rests on him.”

  Today is the Feast of Baptism of our Lord. It was God’s plan for Jesus to take the Baptism from St John the Baptist, this way Jesus shows us how to practice the real humility in the service of the Lord. The baptism of Jesus, which is detailed in the Below passage by St. Matthew the Apostle and the Evangelsit, involved a lot of events. John was not prepared to baptize Jesus because he believed that he was not worthy of doing so; instead, he stated that Jesus should perform the baptism for him. "Do all that uprightness demands in this way," Jesus urged. As an upright man, John the Baptist prepared and modeled for the Israelites the humility and repentance necessary to withstand the Lord's faith, which pleased the Lord. All of heaven opened with blessings for everyone when Jesus was baptized, and baptism opened a sacred entrance for people to become true Christians. The salvation of all people, whether they were Jews, Greeks, Romans, or any other gentile country on earth, began at this point. We are all baptized as children for this reason, or some of us become Catholic later in life. At Jesus' baptism, another significant event occurred: a voice from heaven declared, "This is my Son the Beloved; my favor rests on him." St John Chrysostom says on John 3:5: "Unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost," etc.: "When we dip our heads under the water as in a kind of tomb, our old man is buried, and being submerged, is hidden below, and thence he rises again renewed." Therefore it seems that immersion is essential to Baptism. 

  So through the baptism we are born again in Christ Jesus. Then Jesus appeared: he came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. Mt 3: 14- 17John tried to dissuade him, with the words, ‘It is I who need baptism from you, and yet you come to me!’ 15 But Jesus replied, ‘Leave it like this for the time being; it is fitting that we should, in this way, do all that uprightness demands.’ Then John gave in to him. 16 And when Jesus had been baptized he at once came up from the water, and suddenly the heavens opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming down on him. 17 And suddenly there was a voice from heaven, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved; my favour rests on him.’ * 

Word of Life

 

On 9th Jan 2025 

Meditating the Words of Jesus from Holy Scriptures 

St John the Baptist said: ‘Repent, for the kingdom of Heaven is close at hand.’

   Mt 3: 2-3 Repent, for the kingdom of Heaven is close at hand.’ 3 This was the man spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said: A voice of one that cries in the desert, ‘Prepare a way for the Lord, make his paths straight.’ *John the Baptist came in this world to prepare a way for Christ. He proclaimed the message of repentance to everyone. He told everyone to produce fruit in repentance. Let us ask Jesus to give us the repentance and believe in him and come back from the old ways of life. Jesus said about John the Baptist that, he is the greatest among born from a woman. John the Baptist says about, what is his mission and what is the mission of Jesus: I baptise you in water for repentance, but the one who comes after me is more powerful than I, and I am not fit to carry his sandals; he will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire. John the Baptist was doing the baptism of water for the repentance, but Jesus came to baptise everyone by the Holy Spirit. John wants to make the path straight for Jesus and of those are repenting and give them the baptism with the water. Ps 51:17  Sacrifice to God is a broken spirit,  a broken, contrite heart you never scorn. Psalmist also says to have repentant, God never despise a broken heart soul, He will lift him up Prophet Joel says: Joel 2: 12-13 Yahweh—come back to me with all your heart, fasting, weeping, mourning.’ 13 Tear your hearts and not your clothes. How to repent ourselves is with fasting, weeping and mourning. When we are facing the absence of God in our soul and mind, means we are fallen into sin. So we have to get more closer to God again. Only a penitent person can melt the heart of God, He will hear the prayer of him and relent on such persons and forgive their sins

Word of Life

Word of Life

On 5th Jan 2025 

Happy Feast of Epiphany to All

Let us meditate the Words of Jesus from the Holy Scritpures 

Jesus said: Anyone loves me will keep my Word 

Lk 2: 1-  After Jesus had been born at Bethlehem in Judaea during the reign of King Herod, suddenly some wise men came to Jerusalem from the east 2 asking, ‘Where is the infant king of the Jews? We saw his star as it rose and have come to do him homage.’ 3 When King Herod heard this he was perturbed, and so was the whole of Jerusalem……….King Herod asked the wise men which date they have seen the star, as he wants to calculate when was the birth of Jesus. The kings saw the star which was guiding them to place where Jesus was born. King Herod told them to come back to him and tell him about the child, where he was born. But the Kings of the east has gone different way without meeting King Herod as they have seen a dream that, they should not go to King Herod. 

In the Gospel of Mathew Chapter 1 explains about the geneology of Jesus Christ. This chapter tells us how he became the son of David. Then in the same chapter 1: 18-25 says how virgin conceives Jesus in her womb without the intervention of a man, but by the power of God through the Holy Spirit. Joseph was betrothed to Virgin Mary but he found she was pregnant and the angel of God came to him in vision and told him to accept Mary as his wife. Mt 1: 23-25 Look! the virgin is with child and will give birth to a son whom they will call Immanuel, *  a name which means ‘God-is-with-us’. 24 When Joseph woke up he did what the angel of the Lord had told him to do: he took his wife to his home; 25 he had not had intercourse with her when she gave birth to a son; and he named him Jesus. This prophecy of Isiah was fulfilled as the birth of Jesus is going to happen. As we all celebrated Christmas and we are taking so many resolutions. Let us think, how we can will fulfill the mission of Jesus. Jesus needs our love and nothing else, let us make some kind of sacrifices for to live a life of holiness. How can we show him that whether we love him, by keeping his commandments, Jn 14: 23, Jesus replied: “Anyone who loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we shall come to him and make a home in him”. 

Family is Heart of the Church

 

Happy Feast of Holy Family 

Family is Heart of the Church 

Lord, even you were born in a manger 

Lord, you lived in the Holy Family, the fulfillment of the Heavenly Father 

Till the time was fulfilled to preach the Kingdom of God

to everyone the present, past and the future

Lord Jesus, You gave an example of family life

As you obeyed your parents, 

To teach the whole human race how to obey parents,

The first steps of the ladder to obey the Living God  

Lord, we all brought up through the families 

You brought us into the world to practice the true faith in You

Lord Jesus, you were born in the Holy Family’

Which was the plan of the Heavenly Father to David and other Prophets 

Lord, family is a place for a child to nourish his or her faith from their home.

The parents are the teachers to teach them the faith and love of God 

Oh Father, you created a great family, the Holy Family 

To bring Your child, Your own Son into the world

Jesus was called a carpenter’s son 

It may be disgrace by humanly way 

But God allowed His Son to be humble and to bear all humiliations

Even he is the King of kings and Lord of the lords

Lord, we are praying for our many families

Some are broken by troubling circumstances of this world 

Lord, the children are suffering by the broken families 

The single parents are suffering, by their untimely separation

You only can bring them hope by uniting them 

Lord, give them your humble and gentle heart 

To forgive and forget each other and heal the wounds from their heart 

Pope St Paul VI said; “Next, there is a lesson on family life. May Nazareth teach us what family life is, its communion of love, its austere and simple beauty, and its sacred and inviolable character. Let us learn from Nazareth that the formation received at home is gentle and irreplaceable. Let us learn the prime importance of the role of the family in the social order.”

Word of God Reflection I Part VI

A Study and Reflection on Sirach Chapter 39 : 1-11

Word of God Reflection Sirach 39: 8-11, On 19th Dec. 2024

Lord, You made the New Everlasting Covenant with us for our eternal salvation 

  Let us meditate the verses of Sirach 39: 8-11 He will display the instruction he has received, taking his pride in the Law of the Lord’s covenant. 9 Many will praise his intelligence and it will never be forgotten. His memory will not disappear, generation after generation his name will live. 10 Nations will proclaim his wisdom, the assembly will celebrate his praises. *  11 If he lives long, his name will be more glorious than a thousand others, and if he dies, that will satisfy him just as well. 

  He will meditate on the instruction he has received from the Lord and will give to others freely. He will take his pride in the Law of the Lord’s and in His covenants of the Old and the New Everlasting Covenant which Jesus has established by sacrificing his own life.  Ps 119: 72 The Law you have uttered is more precious to me  than all the wealth in the world.  The law of the Lord will be precious for those trust in Him. God will reveal His covenant to those who fear Him. Ps 25: 14 Only those who fear Yahweh  have his secret and his covenant, for their understanding. When someone learns about the covenants of the past, they will comprehend the mystery of the Eternal Everlasting Covenant, which Jesus made as part of the Heavenly Father's plan, in which God Himself became a sacrifice. Although God established covenants with Abraham, Noah, Moses, and the Ten Commandments, He was not pleased with each of these Covenants. Through Jeremiah, the Lord informed us of the New Covenant He intends to establish with the House of Israel., Jer 31: 31-34, “……………….but not like the covenant I made with their ancestors the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of Egypt, a covenant which they broke, even though I was their Master, Yahweh declares. No, this is the covenant I shall make with the House of Israel when those days have come, Yahweh declares. Within them I shall plant my Law, writing it on their hearts. Then I shall be their God and they will be my people.……….” When someone praises the Almighty God and obey His commandments, his wisdom will increase and his words will be gracious for the listeners. In their descendants  they find a rich inheritance, their posterity. 12 Their descendants stand by the commandments and, thanks to them, so do their children’s children. 13 Their offspring will last for ever, their glory will not fade. 14 Their bodies have been buried in peace, and their name lives on for all generations. 15 The peoples will proclaim their wisdom, the assembly will celebrate their praises. *Such individuals are evidently present in the nation's highest office. No matter where they travel or who they visit, they will be appreciated. Such person will control the nations and have a name more glorious than a thousand others, if he is wise and knowledgeable about many subjects. He will be satisfied even if he passes away because he has completed the tasks the Lord has given him.