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.

Advent always begins in a quiet, almost mysterious way. The first Sunday of Advent does not take us to Bethlehem, nor does it speak of shepherds, angels, or a Child in a manger. Instead, Jesus invites us to lift our eyes and look toward His coming. He invites us to be attentive and awakened so that we may experience something deep and tender within our souls.

2. Advent: Seeing the extraordinary in the ordinary

Advent is essentially the quiet recognition that God often comes to us hidden within the ordinary, wrapped in the small and unnoticed movements of our days. The Lord’s coming is rarely loud; it is more like dawn breaking over a sleepy horizon. No one hears it happen—yet slowly the darkness gives way, shapes emerge, colours return, and the world looks different simply because light has touched it. God's ways are not our ways.

Jesus says, "For you do not know on which day your Lord will come." He comes to us in very unexpected moments. That is why we should be attentive, ready to notice the "silent steps of our God" in ordinary things. He comes to us in moments of unexpected peace, in the quiet courage to begin again, in the gentle healing that we did not even know was happening within us. He comes in a word that consoles, in a kindness that uplifts, in a silence that suddenly feels holy. He comes in the faces of the people who love us, and even in the strangers we might overlook. 

3. Advent: Living with hope 

Today's Christian is a Christian of hope. We cannot expect anything more than this. What we know of today and tomorrow is purely because of Jesus. It is he who introduced us to be people of hope. Jesus’ call to “stay awake” is not a command to live in fear or tension. It is an invitation to live with awareness, with eyes that notice grace, with hearts that are open and uncluttered. Staying awake simply means paying attention to the ways God is already walking toward us.

So, how can we connect this with our lives today? Advent is a season of tenderness and warmth, love and compassion. It is a time to pause and breathe, to let our restless hearts settle into God’s presence, to allow hope to rise quietly within us again. Perhaps we are entering this Advent with tiredness, with questions, with burdens we cannot name. Maybe our dreams have not been fulfilled,  but it's time to listen to those whispers of our God,  "Do not be afraid. The Lord is near."

Questions for self-reflection

1. Where in my life do I need hope right now?
2. How does Christ already come to me in the ordinary moments of my day?
3. What small step can I take this Advent to create space for God—in silence, in prayer, in kindness, in forgiveness?
4. If the Lord were to enter my life today in a new way, what would I want Him to heal, change, or renew within me?

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, as I begin this season of Advent, awaken my heart to your quiet coming. Let your light enter the places within me that feel tired, anxious, or forgotten. Teach me to wait with hope and to watch with a spirit that is gentle and attentive. Help me to welcome you with a heart made simple, open, and ready for your presence. Let your nearness bring renewal to my days and peace to my spirit. Come, Lord Jesus, and be born again in my life. I make this prayer in Jesus' Holy Name, Amen.

- Fr Olvin Veigas, SJ

27 November 2025

E-mail: olvinveigas@jesuits.net

Blog: Celebrate Faith

Video: YouTube

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.

All Souls Day - In the Embrace of God in Eternity

Sunday - All Souls:  The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed - November 02, 2025

Readings: Wisdom 3:1–9; Psalms 23:1–3A, 3B–4, 5, 6; Romans 5:5–11; John 6:37–40

To listen to my audio-video reflections via YouTube, please click here: https://youtu.be/eLVtYlZq_r8

There is a pretty casual saying in Kannada: "ಇಲ್ಲಿರುವುದು ಸುಮ್ಮನೆ, ಮೇಲೇರುದು ನಮ್ಮ ಮನೆ." "We are here for nothing, but our real home is above." Even though it is a simple way of making ourselves lighter, the words are profound. No one is permanent on this earth. Our fragility, vulnerability and the sense of non-existence are felt at death. However, we cannot take our lives lightly. We have to learn to live our lives to the fullest. Only those lives which lived to the full have meaning. Today, on All Souls Day, the Church pauses in prayerful remembrance of all our departed brothers and sisters. We remember our loved ones who have gone before us. It is a day when love looks beyond the veil of death, when memory is touched by hope, and when faith assures us that our loved ones are not lost, but live in God. The liturgical readings of today help us to understand the significance of this day.

1. Everything has a Purpose

The Book of Wisdom 3:1–9 opens our hearts with its consoling truth: “The souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, and no torment shall touch them.” To human eyes, death appears as an end, nothingness, empty, meaninglessness, silence, absence, loss and so forth. Yet, in God’s eyes, it is a beginning. It has a meaning. It has a purpose. God never leaves his best creation purposeless. The faithful are at peace, embraced by the One who created them in love. What may look like suffering or destruction is, in fact, purification — the soul being refined like gold in fire, made radiant in God’s presence.

Mercy of God in the Face of Human Weakness

30th Sunday in Ordinary Time: October 26, 2025

Readings: Sirach 35:12–14, 16–18; Psalm 34:2–3, 17–19, 23; 2 Timothy 4:6–8, 16–18; Luke 18:9–14

To listen to my audio-video reflections via YouTube, please click here: https://youtu.be/ktim7wP-aew

What makes a person great? Is it pride or humility? Wealth, honour, and pride seem to be what determine a person's position in this world. However, when we delve deeper into the mystery of the human person, what really matters to persons is that they are loved, respected, and accepted. The so-called values of the world, which seem to reward conceit, success and self-promotion, have a limited existence. But the values of the Reign of God, such as peace, justice, humility, generosity and respect, have eternal value. They determine the future of the world and not the values of the world. We are equal before God. Yet, everyone runs after having more than being more. St Ignatius of Loyola speaks about the necessity of being humble before God, to be ready for honour or dishonour, poverty or wealth, or anything else for God and finally to desire poverty, dishonour, and even be a fool for God, since Christ was. As we delve deeper into the liturgical readings on this Sunday, they invite us to follow the same Christ in humility, service and in the well-being of the greater good. 

1. Finding the mercy of God in being humble

In this Sunday’s Gospel Luke 18:9–14, Jesus tells the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector—two men who go up to the temple to pray. Their actions during the prayer reveal the state of their hearts more than their words. The Pharisee, confident in his own righteousness, stands tall and lists his religious achievements. The tax collector, aware of his sinfulness, stands at a distance, unable even to lift his eyes to heaven, and simply pleads, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” He prays with a humble and contrite heart (Ps 51:19). What a contrast we notice here? 

Persistence in Prayer: A Way to Win

29th Sunday in Ordinary Time: October 19, 2025

Readings: Exodus 17:8-13; Psalm 121:1-8; 2 Timothy 3:14-4:2; Luke 18:1-8

To listen to my audio-video reflections via YouTube, please click here: https://youtu.be/5WtZYZDe7Vc

To win a game, we must know our competence. Our courage and dedication will enable the competitive spirit to win a game. Persistence, consistency and resilience are three essential mantras for any victory. Our efforts bear fruit depending on when we adhere to the rules of the game and make use of our every talent diligently. We can win the battle if we are ready to fight with determination and dedication. The liturgical readings on this Sunday invite us to embrace the spirit of Moses, the eloquence of St Paul and the wisdom of Jesus. Moses, along with his people, the Israelites, had to fight for their survival with no weapons in hand. The only weapon they had was the great courage of Moses and his intimate relationship with Yahweh through prayer. As we delve deeper into the Word of God, we are truly inspired to follow the path that was tread by Moses, Jesus and St Paul.

1. Persistence in the absence of God's Presence

In this Gospel passage, Luke 18:1-8, Jesus tells the story of a widow who keeps coming to an unjust judge, pleading for justice. Though the judge has no fear of God and no respect for people, he eventually grants her request—not because he has become righteous, but because she refuses to give up. Jesus then contrasts this unjust judge with God, who is just and compassionate. Unlike the unjust judge, God always listens to us; moreover, if we pray persistently, then He will grant us everything. 

Your Faith has Saved You

28th Sunday in Ordinary Time: October 12, 2025

Readings: 2 Kings 5:14–17; Psalm 98:1–4; 2 Timothy 2:8–13; Luke 17:11–19

To listen to my audio-video reflections via YouTube, please click here: https://youtu.be/7_Rqj2U_U4U

Gratitude is the attitude of the heart. Gratitude swells out of the abundance of thankfulness. A grateful heart is joyful, blissful and faithful. Thanksgiving is a beautiful expression of our joy in having received some help or service. That's why everyone loves to hear the word "thanks." Unfortunately, it often remains just lip service. We must be thankful for what we have received. If we received some benefit or help, or assistance from someone, then we must return it more than what we have received. Only a grateful heart is a happy heart. Cultivating such a heart takes energy and effort. The liturgical readings on this 28th Sunday in Ordinary time invite us to be like that Namaan, a Syrian, a non-Jew, a Commander of the Army or that Samaritan leper who thanked God for all the healing they received. They made not only an extra effort to thank the person who healed them, but also continued to proclaim the mighty works of a God whom they did not believe earlier. 

1. Faith demands active listening

In this Sunday’s Gospel Luke 17:11–19, we meet ten lepers standing at a distance, crying out, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” Their disease had separated them from their families, their communities, and even their places of worship. Yet, their cry of faith reaches Jesus — and He hears them. Jesus does not touch them or perform a dramatic miracle. He simply tells them to go and show themselves to the priests. As they obey, they are healed on the way. Moreover, all ten lepers were healed. God's love and mercy are for all people who are open and willing to receive it, regardless of their background or where they come from.

Lord, Increase our Faith

27th Sunday in Ordinary Time: October 05, 2025

Readings: Habakkuk 1:2–3; 2:2–4; Psalm 95:1–2, 6–9; 2 Timothy 1:6–8, 13–14; Luke 17:5–10

To listen to my audio-video reflections via YouTube, please click here: https://youtu.be/o1AZFhQ3lgM

Faith is the greatest force in the world. Even that which looks completely impossible becomes possible if it is approached with faith. Often, we are worried for no reason! A senior person may worry because his or her children are away for the moment, and the person feels lonely. Or the worry about one's senior years may trouble him or her. A young person may worry about one's grades in studies, finding the right job and getting settled down, even though the person may be on the way to completing studies, has applied for a job or has plans to settle down in life. Things are going to happen, and they are on the way for the best of our abilities and time, yet we worry about those things which have not left us in delusion. Getting worried about things, even though they might not have any consequences immediately, seems to be a natural phenomenon that all of us go through. In this context, we have powerful readings on this Sunday's liturgy. Jesus says have faith and that will settle you.

Robin1. Faith is cultivated and not bought

The Gospel this Sunday, Luke 17:5–10 opens with the heartfelt plea of the apostles: “Lord, increase our faith!” It is a prayer of everyone. All of us look for a strong sense of faith. Faith is not something we can manufacture or produce in a factory by our own strength; it cannot be bought; it is a gift that grows when we remain close to the Lord. Jesus reminds us that even faith as small as a mustard seed can move mountains, uproot trees, and do what seems impossible to our eyes. The point is not the size of our faith, but the presence of genuine trust in God. A small but living faith, surrendered to God, can unleash His power in ways far beyond our imagination.