Be Attentive and be Awakened - God will Deliver

First Sunday of Advent: November 30, 2025

Readings: Isaiah 2:1–5; Psalm 122:1–9; Romans 13:11–14; Matthew 24:37–44

To listen to my audio-video reflections via YouTube, please click here: https://youtu.be/BtQiuMaLlBo

Being attentive is part and parcel of our lives. Even though we are imperfect beings yet we want to be perfect in whatever we do. Therefore, we give so much attention to simple and small details. Sometimes, in spite of giving attention to little details, we may go wrong. We may try to correct it, perhaps the next time. When guests visit us, we give our time and attention. This shows that we have time for them and appreciate their visit. It also tells us that we love them. Having concluded the ordinary liturgical year, this Sunday we begin the great Advent. It means "coming" or "arrival." Firstly, it is remembering the first coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Secondly, it is awaiting the second arrival of Jesus Christ. As we enter into the Season of Advent, we reflect on this theme of "Hope." We are getting ready to welcome Jesus amongst us with the hope that we will truly be blessed and graced. The liturgical readings help us meet our saviour with such expectations, attention and hope. 

1. Advent: Gazing our eyes to the heavens

In the Gospel reading of today, Matthew 24:37–44, Jesus speaks about his second coming. His words invite his disciples to be attentive and ready for that day. Jesus speaks of the days of Noah, of ordinary people going about the ordinary rhythms of life—eating, drinking, marrying, working. Nothing dramatic, nothing sinful. Just life unfolding as usual. Yet, beneath that ordinariness, something divine was approaching, something beautiful was drawing near, and they did not recognize it.

Christ the King - Walking with a Person of Hope

Solemnity of Christ the King: November 23, 2025

Readings: 2 Samuel 5:1–3; Psalm 122:1–5; Colossians 1:12–20; Luke 23:35–43

To listen to my audio-video reflections via YouTube, please click here: https://youtu.be/LafZGRdNUAo

As most of us are born and brought up in democratic countries, the word "King" is a bit alien to us. Moreover, a good number of us may not like to have so-called "kings" on earth. Having studied history in schools and colleges, we have seen what kings did in their lives. Somebody put it so wisely: "Absolute power corrupts absolutely." Most of the kings have been nasty and hypocritical, enjoying the wealth of the people. St Ignatius of Loyola gives us two well-noted meditations in his Spiritual Exercises: 1. Two Standards, 2. Kingdom Exercise comprises the earthly king and heavenly king, where he depicts the heavenly king as the most perfect one that Christians must emulate in their life. As the liturgical year draws to its close, the Church invites us to look at Jesus, our King. He reigns in a way the world could never imagine.

1. Christ the King - A man for all seasons

The scripture is full of mentions of kings. The great kings David and Solomon steal the show in the Bible. Even God is likened to a King or the King of glory. In the New Testament, we see people's desire to see in Jesus a king who would deliver them from the clutches of Roman rule. However, the Gospel does not show us a triumphant ruler surrounded by glory; it shows us a silent, wounded Jesus, whose kingship is revealed not in splendour but in surrender, not in power but in love. And perhaps this is exactly where the year must end: at the foot of the Cross, where everything is stripped away except love.

Labouring for Eternity

33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time: November 16, 2025

Readings: Malachi 3:19–20; Psalm 98:5–9; 2 Thessalonians 3:7–12; Luke 21:5–19

To listen to my audio-video reflections via YouTube, please click here: https://youtu.be/dyAV341UTW8

We love to see and admire great and grand things. Our fascination with such things is natural and real as we are blessed with a capacity to enjoy such beautiful things. Unfortunately, the so-called great and beautiful things are also time-bound. They do not last for eternity. There is nothing in this world that we can claim will last forever. They are short-lived, just like our lives. They are created by someone. Therefore, having an awareness of uncertainty and limitedness is good for us so that we do not land in a world of despair and unhappiness when the end comes unexpectedly. We must be ready for anything and everything that would occur in our lives. Only then will we be content to know that there is also life beyond the earthly things. As we inch closer to Advent, the liturgical readings are becoming poignantly clear that we must rely on God and God alone.

1. Built by human hands has an end!

In today’s Gospel Luke 21:5–19, Jesus stands before the grandeur of the Temple in Jerusalem — its stones gleaming in the sunlight, its beauty admired by all. It is the second temple built by the decree of King Cyrus, the king of Syria, a non-Jew, around 546 BC (cf. Ezra 1:1–4). However, the construction began later and was completed under Darius I in 515 BC (cf. Ezra 6:15). The First Temple, built by King Solomon, had been destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar II, the King of Babylon, in 587/586 BC during the Babylonian captivity. Thus, the Second Temple became the center of Jewish faith and identity — a visible sign that they were once again the people of Yahweh, the chosen race. Later, it was magnificently expanded and renovated by King Herod the Great beginning around 20 BC, and this is the temple Jesus refers to in today’s Gospel.

You are God’s building - Preserving Our Sacred Spaces

32nd Ordinary Sunday - The Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome: November 09, 2025

Readings: Ezekiel 47:1–2, 8–9, 12; Psalms  46:2–3, 5–6, 8–9; 1 Corinthians 3:9–11, 16–17; John 2:13–22

To listen to my audio-video reflections via YouTube, please click here: https://youtu.be/2Kt-T5qpUBM

How wonderful it is to know that we are all God's beautiful mansions! As God's magnificent creations, we have a place for God in our lives. It is God who makes us dwell in Him. There is nothing that can separate the creator from its creation. Just like an artist makes a beautiful painting, even if someone buys that artwork, it still is the creation of the artist, and every detail in it is the imagination of that artist and not of that buyer. On this day, the Church celebrates the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome, a mother Church for all the other Churches. It invites us to look beyond the stones and grandeur of any Church building to what it truly represents — the living, breathing presence of God among His people. The Lateran Basilica, the cathedral of the Pope as Bishop of Rome, stands as a symbol of unity, the mother and head of all churches in the world. Yet, in celebrating its dedication, we are called not only to honour a structure but to renew our awareness that we ourselves are temples of the living God. The liturgical readings on this day invite us to do just that. 

1. A Stronger Zeal for God's Work

In the Gospel John 2:13–22, Jesus enters the temple in Jerusalem and finds it turned into a market. His reaction is bewildering: He drives out the merchants, overturns tables, and commands, “Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!” (v.16). This dramatic moment is not about anger alone — it is about zeal. Zeal for God’s house, zeal for the purity of worship, zeal for restoring what has become corrupted.