31 week days mass reflection of the year 22

31 OCTOBER - 05 NOVEMBER 2022, HOLY MASS REFLECTIONS 31 OCTOBER 2022: PHIL 2. 1-4; LUKE 14. 12-14 Thrust: Give without return! Indicative: There is an overriding spirit of receiving, grabbing, and profiting. The spirit of giving and sharing is declining 1. We are dominated by a culture of calculation, accumulation, and manipulation. Behind every move and action in life, there is a pre-thought of estimating and evaluating the gain and the loss. Against such a mentality, today Jesus advocates the spirit of giving without expecting a return and repayment. 2. He uses the simple metaphor of a dinner or banquet. It is quite normal that we invite our friends or relatives or who are important to us in terms of position or usefulness. There is always an element of expectation. It may not be always a material benefit but at least in terms of maintaining goodwill, and receiving recognition and appreciation. 3. Here the point is not about whom to invite or not to invite. It is also not a directive to stop inviting all our near and dear ones. Rather, it is a call to purify our spirit of giving. Give selflessly without any self-interest. Give with real concern for the needs of others. Give with a genuine spirit of generosity and sharing. 4. The reason for giving is not self-interest or self-orientation but other-orientedness. The first reading makes this very clear. St Paul exhorts us: “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit… Let each of you look not only to his own interests but also to the interests of others.” 5. At times we may also give or organise something in order to display our greatness, make a show, and good impressions. There can be an implicit feeling to show our importance. That is why St Paul reminds us, “in humility count others more significant than yourselves.” Imperative: Let every action of ours proceed from a sincere love for Christ, and a fraternal spirit of accord and benevolence 01 NOVEMBER 2022: ALL SAINTS DAY, REV 7. 2-4, 9-14; 1 JOHN 3. 1-3; MATTHEW 5. 1-12 Thrust: Blessed are you! Indicative: Blessedness is our destiny and beatitudes are our royal means 1. What a celestial joy it is to celebrate the solemn festivity of all saints! Explicitly on this one day, we are united with the whole band of saints. We are reminded of our bond and communion with them. Through them, we are reminded of our destiny as well, that is, to be with them in heaven. 2. All saints remind us of our own call like theirs – called to holiness. Holiness is our call and sanctification is God’s will for us. Holiness is not a privilege, reserved only to some. It is grace and gracious possibility laid open to all. 3. But it is not a gift by chance. It should not be a gift, taken for granted and left unmerited. God does not create readymade saints. There are no predetermined, predestined saints. One becomes a saint by living. Thus, saintliness on one hand is a gratuitous gift of God and on the other hand, is an assiduous task. 4. It is a bounden duty of everyone to strive for sanctity. God has destined us “to be holy and blameless” in His sight for eternity. These saints encourage us that it is possible to become saints, despite our weaknesses and pressures. They inspire us to become like them, in patience and perseverance. They challenge us to guard and fight against all forces that are unholy. 5. Beatitudes lay open before us the “golden path” of holiness that leads to blessedness. Clearly, they are stark contradictions to the standards and ways of the world. The beatitudes exalt and advocate 1) “poverty” – humility, detachment, moderation, and contentment, against all greed and accumulation; 2) “mourning” – being sensitive, attentive, tender, empathetic and caring, against indifference and unfeeling; 3) “gentleness and meekness – being polite, courteous, composed and serene, against being rude, impatient, hot-tempered, aggressive and hurting; 4) “hunger and thirst” for righteousness – being passionate and relentless for justice and fairness, against all tepidity and feeding on unfairness; 5) “mercy” – being compassionate, forgiving and reconciling, against resentment, revenge, and retaliation; 6) “purity of heart” – being clear-sighted, single-minded and clean of heart, against being contaminated and polluted, cunning and deceitful; 7) “peacefulness” – loving peace and promoting peace, against all violence and mindless agitation and anxiety; 8) “persecution and insult” – bearing all misunderstanding, opposition, slander, calumny, and affliction for the sake of God and good, against seeking comfort, praise, and popularity for the sake of self. 6. Such a way of beatitudes subjects one to tremendous struggle and suffering. But one need not lose heart because the end fruit is eternal bliss. Nevertheless, this bliss will be already foretasted here on earth, in obtaining and relishing God’s own comfort, satisfaction, mercy, an abundance of fortitude, joy, and peace. Imperative: Sanctity is a project that is worth pursuing because its fruits are everlasting. It is always more worth to strive and suffer for something higher (REFLECTION 2 FROM 2021) Focus: All are called to be saints; all may not be raised to sainthood but all can rise to saintliness. All may not receive the honor of official veneration but all can strive for the honor of actual imitation 1. Every November 01st is a great celebration. It is in fact the earthly celebration of the feast day of the heavenly saints. What a grand celebration it is because it puts together all the feast days of all the saints! Today we are reminded of our inseparable communion with them. They stand before us as references and icons of holiness, sources of encouragement, beacons of hope, flashes of inspiration, pointers of challenge, and urges for change. 2. They lived on the same earth beset with the same struggles. They were not born saints. They strove, struggled, and grew and became saints. They fill us with confidence, courage, and hope that we too can become saints. They inspire, guide, and challenge us and assist us to change. Status or capacity, time, or space do not matter. To be holy and saintly is the call and possibility for everybody, everywhere and every time. 3. In them, we see what we must become, what we can become and how to become. Sainthood may be a special honor granted by God to a few. But saintliness is an honor open and possible for all. They understood and followed the beatitudes as the authentic and effective means to become saints. They became saints because they followed the beatitudes. 4. The beatitudes indicate that we are destined people and not people without a destiny. We are people by God’s choice and not by chance. We live and move by God’s gratuitous gift and not by a fortuitous drift. We are destined for bliss and blessedness. The Beatitudes are the pathways and roadmaps to travel the journey and pursue that path. 5. The saints through their life by beatitudes show us that we need to lead a heaven-directed and heaven-driven life in contrast to an earth-bound and earth-pressured life. The beatitudes are contradictory values to the false values of the world. 6. They summon us to be humble and surrendered to God, contrary to being proud and unruly complacent. This is the way of being poor in the sight of the world but rich in God’s sight. They call us to be sensitive and caring toward others, contrary to being indifferent and self-centered. This is the way to mourn with others and for others. 7. They call us to be gentle, meek, and patient contrary to being rude, harsh, and aggressive. They call us to hunger and thirst, to passionately crave to be righteous and fair. They call us to be merciful and forgiving, contrary to being stern and grudgeful. They call us to be pure of heart, uncontaminated by guile and malice contrary to all impurity, deception, and evil-mindedness. They call us to be peace-lovers, peace-makers, peace-givers, and peace-promoters contrary to all aggression and disharmony. They call us to joyfully suffer for God and good. 8. There is no doubt that such a life according to the beatitudes is very strenuous and demanding. But we need not be frightened or discouraged. The Lord will himself be our rescue and refuge. And our reward is great beyond compare. It is to enjoy the abundance of the Spirit in his light and power, already here on earth and the measureless eternity thereafter. Saints are our assurances! Direction: Holiness is wholeness. The more we try to live as holistic and integrated persons, the more we become holy and saintly. Whoever strives to sanctify himself is a saint of sanctity! (REFLECTION 3 FROM 2020) 1. All Saints day is a special and specified day that recalls and reminds us of our universal call to holiness. All are called to be holy. It is a privilege and responsibility of all, a right and duty as well. It is not reserved only to a privileged few, but the patrimony and destiny of all. Everyone, irrespective of their state of life and affairs, in their own walk of living, can strive for sanctity. 2. All Saints day shows this bonding with them in sanctity and binding for sanctity. The feelings that should arise in us, are those of admiration, inspiration, and imitation. Saints were not superhumans or extraordinary aliens. They are like us, surrounded and surmounted by the same pressures and challenges, constraints, and problems. But they were focused on their destiny and they walked toward it and reached it. They deserve our admiration. 3. The saints are inspiring. Their spirit and spirituality, their depth and interiority, their passion and assiduity, their consistency and perseverance, their warmth and vigor in the practice of virtue, Impel us for the same. 4. The saints are imitable. They evoke in us not only a sense of admiration and inspiration but also emulation. They invite us and challenge us to walk the way, they have traveled. They show us the way, accompany us on the way as our guides and mentors, and also strengthen us. 5. They indicate to us the answers to fundamental questions like How to live life? How to walk the way? How to nurture sanctity and attain perfection? We should be imbued with a sense of destination, direction, determination, devotion, and dedication. 6. In a world that has lost sense of destiny and destination, and thus gratifies itself with shorter destinations and lesser ideals, lower goals, and cheaper targets, like money, comfort, physical pleasure, status, and power, we are called, in line with the saints, to live as people of higher destiny and eternal destination. 7. In a world that is often confused and misguided by lesser interests and unworthy motives, losing its focus, clarity, and vision, and thus oscillates and stumbles aimless and directionless, we are called to instill in them a sense of direction, against being disoriented and deviated and distorted. 8. In a world where the motivation for what is good and right, is at its low ebbs, and thus determination is very fragile, we in line with the saints, are called to ignite the people with the positive drive and force of resolve and determination. Often the reason for failure to grow steadily is not so much the lack of capacity or resources, but only the lack of will and resolve. As long as we do not will strong, we will not go strong and well. 9. We live in a world where devotion acquires more and more secular connotations. It is equated with undying interest and pursuit of temporary and temporal goals, like devotion to career, wealth, power, position, pleasure, and gratification. Subsequently, devotion to God and higher ideals loses its charm and appeal. Many remain indifferent to God and spiritual concerns. 10. There are also others, who are externally counted "devout", but are only shallow and superficial. Their devotion really does not bring them closer to God in a personal intimacy, nor does their devotion change their concrete life. In such a world, we need to bear witness to a genuine and deep devotion to God, and witness to a higher spiritual power and realm. 11. Further, we are in a world where dedication has two main aspects: either, dedication is declining, as convenience and comfort override it. Or, dedication is wrongly directed and charged, in the pursuit of wrong things. 12. In such a world, we, along with the band of saints, are urged to be people on fire of passion and enthusiasm for God and good, and also to set the people on fire, motivating, animating, enthusing, and empowering the people, in and through our lives and ministries, charged with sanctity. May the saints illumine, guide, and strengthen us! May we walk more and more the path of holiness! Long live the saints! 02 NOVEMBER 2022: ALL SOULS DAY, WISDOM 3. 1-9c; MATTHEW 25. 31-46 Thrust: Awaiting heaven! Indicative: Earth is the launching ground, purgatory is the transit and heaven is the landing destination 1. Every November 02 we commemorate all souls. It teaches and indicates many truths of our Christian life. First of all, life does not end with death but continues in another form. The physical body is perishable and physical, earthly human existence is temporary. There is a spiritual body and existence that are imperishable and eternal. 2. Whether in or without body, we are bound together in fraternal and spiritual communion, and the cessation of physicality or earthliness does not disrupt or cancel this communion. Death is a moment, a door of passage, a transition from earth to heaven, from temporary to eternal life. 3. Heaven is our homeland proper and all are destined to reach back there. This human physical earthly existence is then a limited duration during which real preparation must be done to take us to heaven. 4. However, as humans we are, our fragilities do not fully leave us. Our imperfections accompany us to the grave. But nothing unholy or unclean can stand before God or be with Him who is the Holy of holies. 5. Therefore, purification, and purgation must continue and be complete. We believe that purgatory is that “purgative”, “transit” and “probative” period that cleanses us perfectly to “fit us to the heavenly mansions”. Where it will be, how long, and how, such questions are beyond our human comprehension and are irrelevant as well. 6. What is important to note is that our fraternal and spiritual bonding and obligation do not cease with death. We continue to belong to God and each other, whether alive or dead. Therefore, we continue to love the departed and be concerned for them. 7. We continue to pray for them, recommending them to God to purge them and receive them into heaven. The prayers, holy masses, and the good works we offer on behalf of the dead should not be seen as “compensations” or “installed payments” to appease and relent God’s wrath and punishment. 8. They are also not a “barter system” where heaven is given in exchange for what we offer on their behalf. Neither is it an “interested investment” where we buy a heaven ticket to the souls and send them to heaven so that they can be our benefactors later on. 9. Rather the whole reality of all souls must be seen from the optic of communion and solidarity in faith and fraternity. They are clear expressions of our solidarity with them and concern for their salvation. They are also our supplication to God’s mercy to make good for what might have lacked in their earthly life. 10. There is nothing wrong to believe that we help the souls in purgatory because by themselves they remain helpless to help themselves. While on earth, we are able to help them, and once relieved from purgatory and received into heaven, they will be able to help us. 11. Besides, this commemoration is an alarm bell for all of us that one day all must reach the same end of death. No one is permanent on earth. And death is not a permanent closure. Eternity awaits us. 12. But there is the last judgment that decides the face of our eternity, whether damnation or salvation. And this differentiation is solely on the basis of one’s life on earth. Life before death determines life after death. Only a life of charity rooted in faith can qualify us for heaven. Imperative: A life rooted in spiritual and fraternal communion and which flourishes in charity will purge us and gain us eternal victory. (REFLECTION 2 FROM 2021) Focus: Our God is holy and our destiny is holy heaven. Nothing unholy or impure can live with Him eternally. Therefore, real purification is a must 1. Every 02 November marks the special commemoration of the departed. We believe that everyone in God’s mercy is destined for eternal life and not damnation. Thus, our destiny is heaven and not hell. However, we being fragile are not worthy to be in eternity with all our sinfulness. Therefore, all need cleansing and purification. Purgatory is that condition of purgation 2. Where? How? How long? Such questions regarding purgatory are not within our grasp and perhaps are not crucial as well. All that is needed to know is that we have a time and situation of cleansing. Purgatory is not a place of punition but purification. It is not a punishment but chastisement. It is not harassing but cleansing. It is probation for insertion into the heavenly abode. The emphasis should be on the bliss of eternity and not so much on the misery of purgatory. 3. Purgatory is like waiting on the right platform. A life that is not properly led is like remaining on the wrong platform. The right train arrives at the station. But the problem is that people are not on the right platform to get into the right train. God’s grace and mercy is the right train. A life of virtue is the right platform. Often in life, we get on to the wrong platforms or wrong trains. All Souls day is a call to place our life rightly and travel rightly. 4. Purgatory is then an extended “grace period”, an additional “mercy time” for reparation. It does not indicate God’s rigidity to delay our eternity. Rather it indicates His extra benevolence to grant us further chance. It is in fact not a forced imposition by God. Rather, it is a needed self-preparation. It is a time of “refitting” ourselves, “re-equipping” ourselves to enter heaven. We need not argue how God can punish eternally for the sins committed temporarily. Rather, we can feel happy that in exchange for a short good life, He generously grants one whole eternity, and He is so concerned that He takes care to make us fit during purgatory for one whole eternity. 5. Once again, like All Saints’ day, on this All Souls’ day too, we are reminded of our spiritual and fraternal communion and solidarity as God’s children and as brothers and sisters, in faith and fraternity. It is this bonding that makes us bound to pray for them, for their release from probation and raising to new life. Direction: Let the commemoration of the departed remind us that we need to depart one day and stand before God for His judgment. If so, it is better that we continue to judge ourselves and cleanse ourselves to fit into the heavenly mansions (REFLECTION 3 FROM 2020) All Souls day - A day that uniquely teaches us some fundamental lessons of our Christian living. 1. We are all destined for eternity. This earthly human life is only a temporary dwelling and duration, and death is inevitable. It is through the door and passage of death that we are at the entrance of eternal life. Therefore, our sight should be raised beyond death, on to eternity, and not be stuck with and dissipated by the encounter with death 2. To be in such an eternal abode, in the presence of the Holy God, we fall short and fail, due to our sinfulness and unholiness. We need to be purified so as to be holy. God in His infinite mercy, provides the departed souls, such a purifying time in purgatory. 3. We all Belong to one God, as His children, be it the saints of the Triumphant Church, be it we, the pilgrims on earth of the militant Church, or be it the departed souls in purgatory. It is this belonging to God and one another, in faith and fraternity, that obligates us toward the souls of departed 4. Our essential bonding in faith and fraternity puts on us a binding obligation to continue to be concerned for the departed, in remembrance of them and prayer for them. 5. In other words, our spiritual and fraternal communion leads to an obligation for oration, affection, and perpetuation. Obligation for oration implies that we pray for the departed, for their repose. Obligation for affection implies that we continue to love them and care for them. Obligation for perpetuation implies that we think of them not only sentimentally and spiritually, but also perpetuate their memory, through living their ideals and virtues, bringing them honor, by our life and example. May the souls departed find eternal repose! 03 NOVEMBER 2022: PHIL 3: 3-8a; LUKE 15. 1-10 Thrust: The Uncountable treasure! Indicative: God’s mercy is the greatest treasure and repentance is the fitting way and condition to experience it 1. The experience of loss is a natural human experience. It is common for everybody. It can refer to any aspect – material, physical, intellectual, psychological, social, moral, or spiritual. It is in terms of money, things, health, relationship, knowledge, success, profit, values, faith, opportunities, et cetera. Whenever something is lost, there is certainly anxiety, tension, and sadness. And also one begins to reflect on the causes and consequences of the loss. 2. There will be also efforts to search for what is lost and to regain it. Jesus brings our awareness to this fact of loss, through two metaphors of a lost sheep and a lost coin. We are the lost sheep and lost coin. We are lost many times due to sin. We are lost to God in faith and fidelity and lost to others in goodness and kindness. 3. What is consoling is that God is deeply concerned about us being lost. He is in a ceaseless search for us to regain us. He wants to restore us to our lost dignity and sanctity. He rejoices over us when we are found. 4. Often we easily get lost. We deliberately lose God – His love, intimacy, instruction, and values. We lose him in preference to lesser things of the world. We wrongly think that the rest are greater gains. 5. In fact, we lack wisdom. So we fail to distinguish and discern between what is more important and precious and what is less important and valuable. But Paul had this wisdom. That is why he was able to choose Christ and his way in preference to all the rest of the things. He would confess with conviction: “Whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” Imperative: In life, we need to sincerely check and see what are our priorities. What do I lose and what do I gain? Do I lose the essential for the sake of the trivial? Do I repent over losing my love for the Lord and goodness to others? (REFLECTION 2 FROM 2020, 05 NOVEMBER) Focus: Being lost is not something condemnable as long as there is a readiness to set on the search and return One of the greatest differences between God's mindset and that of humans is the sense of judgment and condemnation. God who has the power and authority and the capacity to judge and condemn, is patient, merciful, and exuberant in forgiving and receiving back. But a man who is not competent and prone to falter is eager to judge and despise others. Jesus makes it very clear that God is not at all interested in exercising his power to condemn the lost ones but is concerned to search and to regain them, so as to stand them among the "gained". No one needs to be dissipated about "losing the way" and getting stranded at times. What is important is one has the humility and surrender to allow oneself to be found by the Lord and to be restored to the right fold and path. Direction: When God Himself wants to absolve, forgive and reinstate the repentant ones, who are we to continue to label, despise and estrange them? (REFLECTION 3 FROM 2021, 04 NOVEMBER) Focus: The beauty and greatness of our God are, He is ever merciful and surplus generous. He wants our conversion and not the damnation 1. One greatest consoling thought is God never wants us to die in sin. He does not want us to deserve judgment and condemnation. He understands that time and again we “are lost” like the lost sheep. We deviate from the right path. We get stranded. We go away from Him. We also estrange ourselves from the fold. At times, we are also lost like the lost coin. We slip away from the hold and possession of God, like the coin lost from the woman. 2. What bothers and anguishes God is not so much that we are lost at times. He understands our human fragility and waywardness. So, He is benevolent and patient toward us. He is ceaselessly in search of us. He wants us to repent. He wants us to rediscover and regain our lost way, our lost spirit, and our lost belongingness. 3. He wants to re-embrace us to His loving bosom. He wants to continue to lead us and feed us like the shepherd. He wants us that we remain always as His priced coins, His valuable wealth with value, dignity, and usefulness. 4. Now, how does one repent, and how does one manifest his repentance? Paul’s letter to Romans 14. 7-12 gives us some concrete cues. First of all, realise that we essentially belong to Him: whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. 5. Secondly, realize that He is our Lord: he bought us from the slavery of sin and ruin of death and offers us new life by his own death and rising; every knee shall bow to him, and every tongue shall give praise to God. Therefore, grow in the spirit of dependence on Him and surrender to Him. 6. Thirdly, remember always that we are all subject to God’s judgment: we shall all stand before the judgment seat of God, and each of us shall give an account of himself to God. Therefore, we must be more accountable. We must also avoid all judgmental and despising tendencies toward others. Direction: Let us grow more conscious and confident of God’s mercy and forgiveness. Let His patient benevolence be our opportunity to repent and turn back to Him. Let us become more accountable and merciful toward others. 04 NOVEMBER 2022: PHIL 3.17 – 4. 1; LUKE 16. 1-8, St Charles Borromeo Thrust: Lay up treasures! Indicative: Often short-sightedness in life leads to short-term goals and shortcuts. The remedy is to be far-sighted and strive for what is more lasting 1. Many suffer from short sight. They do not have a long-term vision and higher goals. Even if some have goals, they may be worldly, in terms of material progress or social upcoming. Thus, there is no guarantee for the quality of the goals. Accordingly, many do not also bother much about the fairness of the means they employ to achieve their goals. They easily follow shortcuts and are guided by deceit and manipulation. 2. Rightly the words of Paul apply to them: They walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their belly is their god and they glory in shameful things. Their minds are set on earthly things. In this context, through the example of a dishonest steward, Jesus drives home to us the need for foresight, and focus on our eternal destiny. 3. Apparently what is praised is the dishonesty of the steward. He was dismissed because of his mismanagement. But he ensures a secure future by manipulating and reducing accounts of the debtors in their favour and winning their favour. But actually what is praised is his shrewdness and farsightedness. 4. This foresight includes certain components. They are namely, promptness to jump into action without being bogged down by his ousting; his focus and concern for a secure future; awareness of his own inability to work hard or to beg; sharp thinking and planning to meet the uncertain and insecure future. 5. If the dishonest manager was so focused and prepared regarding his temporal future, how much more we should be focused and prepared concerning our eternal destiny? How easily do we neglect the essential and eternal in preference to the secondary or unworthy interests and pursuits? 6. St Charles Borromeo whom we commemorate today, stands tall for this focus and commitment. He was an outstanding reformer during the counter-reformation, especially the founding of seminaries for the education of priests. Imperative: Apart from the foresight of the manager, do we also succumb to false means and manipulative methods to ensure our safety and security? (REFLECTION 2 FROM 2021, 05 NOVEMBER) Focus: Our earthly existence is temporary and so it has limited durability. There is destiny and the destination of eternal life. Therefore, there is a compulsory moment of departure from the earth and a day of reckoning and judgment 1. In the gospel, Jesus speaks of a dishonest steward who gets dismissed from his stewardship because of his mismanaging. On his dismissal, he manipulates the accounts of the debtors, reducing the measures of what they owe to pay. He favours them so that he can be favoured by them in his bad time. Strangely, the master praises this steward. 2. Here let one not pick up the wrong message that dishonesty, deception, and manipulation are justified and appreciated. Not at all! One cannot expect that from Jesus. He may condone weakness and incompetence but never fraud and unaccountability. What is complimented and made imitable is not his dishonesty but his foresightedness. He is so well-prepared to meet his future. He does not sit back to lament and curse over his dismissal and the consequent misery. Immediately, he jumps into action. He has a vision and plans about how to face his impending difficult situations. 3. If that steward is so far-sighted, foresighted, and well-prepared for a temporary future, how much more we must be clear-sighted and well-prepared to encounter our eternal future? If he is so shrewd about mere earthly riches, how much more we must be wise and discerning regarding our heavenly riches? If he is so judicious in dealing with material goods and accumulating them for a short future, how much more we should be assiduous in piling up spiritual goods for an unending eternity? If he made use of the temporal goods to do favour to others and to win their favor, how much do we make use of our various resources to do good to others? 4. In contrast to this dishonest steward in the gospel, we have an honest steward in the person of Paul. He is an authentic, faithful, and committed steward. He is ever conscious of his special vocation and mission, gifted by God. That is to be “a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God”. Unlike the dishonest steward, Paul feels every reason “to be proud of his work for God”. Direction: In a world where there is so much dishonesty and manipulation concerning material things, we need to recapture the spirit of a responsible and accountable steward. We shall not have reason to face disgrace from the master (REFLECTION 2 FROM 2020) Focus: A life without vision will go without direction and will land in eventual destruction In the gospel, the dishonest steward is praised. One shall not mistake it as a license for dishonesty and deception. By no means! In fact, his dishonesty wins him his master's displeasure and dismissal. Therefore, no one can justify or promote dishonesty and fraud. What is commended is his foresightedness to prepare himself fittingly for his future. His future looks very bleak and at loss without enough means and resources. Therefore, he makes wise moves to ensure a tensionless and comfortable future. We know that an eternal future awaits us and how fittingly do we prepare ourselves? How do we equip ourselves to meet our destiny? Does our way of life qualify us and keep us worthy in God's sight? Direction: Knowing fully well that one day we must pass to a future for eternity, how foolishly we will face it unprepared and unworthy? 05 NOVEMBER 2022: PHIL 4. 10-19; LUKE 16.9-15 Thrust: Win friends! Indicative: Fidelity is a value that is on the decline. Not many take it seriously. The simple reason is that it brings no visible or practical gains 1. Greed is one root cause of many evils. It leads to dishonesty, deception, and corrosion of all right values and relationships. Money and material well-being are good. But the excessive craving for them and attachment to them is pernicious. They rupture the goodness of the heart and the genuineness and beauty of relationships. 2. One who is greedy becomes a slave to the very things for which he is the master. Wealth and material things are kept at our disposal so that we make use of them for good purposes. They are meant to serve and help others. They are never for self-interests or wrong pleasures. 3. Our main focus is God, spirituality, and eternity. Our binding values must be honesty and fidelity. Jesus clearly cautions us to guard ourselves against the spirit of avarice and accumulation. Greed is an untold slavery and undignified servitude. It breaches our holy servantship to God. It makes us neglect our striving for true, spiritual, heavenly riches. 4. The material riches and possessions in themselves are not wrong. Having them in itself is not sinful. But the way they are acquired, the purpose for which they are used, and the effect of them where they lead us – these are very important. If deceptive means are employed to acquire them, if they are used for unworthy pleasures, self-glory, and suppression of others, and if they make one arrogant and manipulative, then they are very destructive. 5. As St Paul testifies in his letter to the Phillippians, we must always cultivate a spirit of contentment and moderation in all situations. How convincingly he attests: “I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.” Imperative: Let us constantly nurture the spirit and culture of honesty and fidelity, contentment, and moderation. It will make us increase our heavenly riches and acceptable in God’s sight (REFLECTION 2 FROM 2021, 06 NOVEMBER) Focus: Dishonesty may bring quick gains but it is ruinous and abominable in the sight of God. Honesty and fidelity alone are the hallmarks of a true follower of Christ 1. We are living in a world where dishonesty and deception, greed and accumulation, manipulation and corruption have become the norms of life and order of the day. These false values are not only tolerated and accepted, but even justified and glorified. On the other hand, honesty, moderation, and generosity are looked down upon as signs of incompetence and lack of worldly wisdom. 2. It is in such a context Jesus once again insists on fidelity. It is not merely adherence to certain religious precepts or practices. True fidelity comprises the whole life and affects the whole person. A man of fidelity is essentially an honest person. He is honest in whatever is entrusted to him. He does not fail the trust of his master. Whether big thing or small thing, his only concern is to be transparent and accountable before his master. 3. Fidelity implies wisdom and discernment. A man of fidelity discerns wisely the value and use of earthly and material things and riches. He makes use of them for doing good and for gaining heavenly riches. The material things do not blur his vision but help him to see their positive worth. This is what is implied when Jesus says, “Make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous mammon”. By no means it means that we should acquire money unrighteously and use it to win friends. The point here is that we should use even worldly things for the sake of doing good to others. 4. Further, our attitude toward money is never that of love and slavery. Money and things are never to be loved. They are to be used for need and good. There is no question of serving them. Rather, they should serve our good purposes. When we begin to love and serve money and material things, we become lovers and servants of them. But we are lovers and servants of God. Therefore, our love and service pertain only to Him and the good of others. In the name of being intelligent and tactful, many serve both God and money. They fall to compromises. It is nothing but infidelity and doublemindedness. Direction: The lovers of money may justify themselves before men; they may please and win them by a deceptive use of it. But God knows their hearts. For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God.