Category Archives: Tuesday

Every once in a while, we come across people who think that their salvation is already guaranteed. Such persons think that their “saved” status can never be revoked, no matter what they have said or done. Some have even claimed that only a certain number of people would be saved, and they conveniently misquote scripture to support their views. But what is a Christian understanding of salvation? Are we really saved or not?

In today’s reading, St. Paul reminds us: “For we must be content to hope that we shall be saved – our salvation is not in sight, we should not have to be hoping for it if it were – but, as I say, we must hope to be saved since we are not saved yet – it is something we must wait for with patience.” What does this mean to us? It means that we still need to continue living good Christian lives, as we await our hope for salvation. It also means that we cannot do as we please, thinking that we can get away with it, expecting to still be saved when what we have done is against God’s commandments. May we be consistent with our behaviour, conduct and attitude, as we await our hope for salvation, and inspire others to do the same.

Some of us are used to putting off to tomorrow what could be done today. We can come up with many excuses as to why we are not getting the task done. For example, we say that there is still plenty of time, or that the task seems not that important, or the task needs extra time to prepare, even though in reality it is not that difficult to do, or we feel lazy or unmotivated at the moment. Sometimes we procrastinate for so long, that when the deadline for the task is approaching, then we begin to panic and work feverishly on it to get it done, or if the task does not seem so urgent, we may just forget about it altogether. But what we thought to be not so urgent today, may turn out to be critical tomorrow. For example, we think that servicing the car is not so urgent, even though the time to service has come, because we mistakingly believe that the car can still run for some time before it really needs servicing. But are we going to wait until the car breaks down and is in bad shape, then only we become frantic and get it serviced? By then, we may end up paying more for repairs, compared to if we had serviced regularly and according to schedule.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus reminds us of the need to be prepared: “See that you are dressed for action and have your lamps lit. Be like men waiting for their master to return from the wedding feast, ready to open the door as soon as he comes and knocks. Happy those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes.” Just as we should not procrastinate in getting a task done, even though it may not seem so urgent at first, we should also not procrastinate in building our spiritual life. May we not find ourselves caught off-guard when the time suddenly comes for us to meet the Lord.

Many of us make great efforts to keep ourselves clean, tidy and pleasant smelling. We bathe regularly, use expensive perfumes, apply make-up, put on good looking clothes, and do many other things of this sort, to make a good impression and keep up a good appearance. After all, we would not want to emit body odour and feel embarrassed in the presence of others, and we would not want to appear unkempt. But all these efforts to maintaining cleanliness are merely external cleanliness. What about our internal cleanliness, that is, the cleanliness of our soul?

In today’s Gospel, Jesus admonished the Pharisees when he said: “Oh, you Pharisees! You clean the outside of cup and plate, while inside yourselves you are filled with extortion and wickedness. Fools! Did not he who made the outside make the inside too? Instead, give alms from what you have and then indeed everything will be clean for you.” The Pharisees were more interested in appearing to be good and holy, and they observed many practices to appear to be clean, but they neglected in keeping their spiritual sides clean. In the same way, we too could be appearing be clean, but we may be neglecting to keep our souls clean from the stain of sin. Are we interested in only external appearance, which is temporary? Or have we made effort to remain clean internally, by keeping our souls clean from sin?

What do you do when you come to realise that you have sinned? Would you go for confession as quickly as possible to remove the stain of sin from your soul? Or would you think that there is plenty of time to go, only to put it off indefinitely? When you stain your shirt or dress, surely you would get it cleaned and removed as quickly as possible. This is because the shirt or dress may be valuable or significant to you, and you would not want to end up with a ruined shirt or dress. If so, then why are some procrastinating in removing the stain of sin from the soul, which has eternal consequences?

In today’s reading, the king of Nineveh made quick and immediate “efforts to renounce their evil behaviour, and God relented: he did not inflict on them the disaster which he had threatened.” This is because the king of Nineveh realised the consequences of not taking action, and he was not going to wait until he encountered God’s wrath. May we too make every effort to keep our souls clean from the stain of sin, so that we too avoid the disaster which would affect our eternal future.

In our efforts to preach the Good News, we may come across resistance and opposition. The reaction of a good Christian is not to get angry with those people who oppose and resist us, but to have more patience with them. The task of a disciple of Jesus is not to destroy but to build up. We must temper our tendency to return evil for evil. But being patient to such people is not so easy. This is because some of us are used to quick results, and we expect our ministry to flourish after a certain time. But the reality is, God’s ways are not our ways, and sometimes our efforts may not bear fruit as we expect. Then what happens?

In today’s Gospel, we see an example of expecting quick results in ministry, where the brothers James and John said to Jesus: “Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven to consume them?” This is because the people of the Samaritan village did not receive them well. But Jesus turned and rebuked them, and they went off to another village. Jesus showed His disciples, and us too, that using force or threats is not the way to preach the Good News. At the end of the day, we are required to do our part, the rest we leave it in the hands of the Lord.

Action speaks louder than words. We have heard many words and speeches throughout our lives, but all this talk is merely hot air, if nothing is done or carried out after that. Sometimes, we come across some politicians who would promise the sky during an election campaign. But after the elections are over and the politician has won, how many of them would actually keep their promises for the good of the people? The same thing goes for many other professions: it is pointless to talk a lot and sound good, without doing what you say.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells us: “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and put it into practice.” We can claim to be related to Jesus, since we are supposed to be brothers and sisters in Christ. But if we only know how to talk but don’t do anything, then what sort of brothers and sisters are we? Are we only Christians in name, without action, without making effort to love and care for others? Or are we putting into practice what Jesus has taught us, so that others would know that we ae Christians by our love?

What does it mean to do noble work? For some, it means doing some sort of charitable task, or to carry out some form of social work or to volunteer for a good cause. But sometimes, people perform noble work for a reason. Some do so because they want to gain a tax exemption or recognition from the government. Some do so because they want others to look up to them or to gain admiration or praise from their friends and peers. But what is a Christian understanding of noble work?

Noble work, from a Christian perspective, is not so much what a person does, but the kind of person he or she is, that is the person’s character. Today’s reading gives us some important clues about the kind of character a person should have, which in a nutshell should be respectable and impeccable. The work or ministry that a person would be doing could only be noble when the person in question is of noble character. That is why, when it comes to clergy and persons who would be entrusted to positions of authority in the church, it is necessary to examine and scrutinise the person’s character prior to ordination or appointment. May we be found to be of noble character, in our efforts to preach the good news to all.