We must live by the obedience of faith, a faith that shows itself in works of charity and self-giving. That’s the lesson the two widows are teaching us in today’s readings.

The widow in the First Reading isn’t even a Jew, yet she trusts in the word of Elijah and the promise of his Lord. Facing sure starvation, she gives all that she has, her last bit of food—feeding the man of God before herself and her family.

The widow in the Gospel also gives all that she has, offering her last bit of money to support the work of God’s priests in the Temple.

In their self-sacrifice, these widows embody the love that Jesus last week revealed as the heart of the Law and the Gospel. They mirror the Father’s love in giving His only Son, and Christ’s love in sacrificing Himself on the Cross.

Jesus taught that real giving must come from the heart. A gift that is given with a grudge or for display loses most of its value. But a gift given out of love, with a spirit of generosity and sacrifice, is invaluable. The amount or size of the gift doesn’t matter as much as the cost to the giver. The poor widow could have kept one of her coins, but instead she recklessly gave away all she had! Jesus praised someone who gave barely a penny—how insignificant a sum—because it was everything she had, her whole living. What we have to offer may look very small and not worth much, but if we put all we have at the Lord’s disposal, no matter how insignificant it may seem, then God can do with it and with us what is beyond our reckoning. Do you really know the joy and freedom of giving liberally to God and to neighbor with gratitude and love? We shall put that into practice in everyday life. God is not looking into the amount but into our Heart only.

We shall try to give all that we can to the Lord—not out of a sense of forced duty, but in a spirit of generosity and love.

Today, let us follow the widows’ example, doing what God asks, confident that our jars of flour will not grow empty, nor our jugs of oil run dry. That is God’s promise to us always.

Love and prayers,

Fr. Charley

In the Catholic Church we have the great tradition of praying for all the beloved deceased souls throughout the month of November. It is good to know why we should be praying for the dead.

Death is not an end in itself. Death is not the final thing in the plan of God. St Paul says in Phil 1:6, “I am confident of this, that the one who has begun a good work in you will continue to complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.” Jesus’ mission on Earth was to save you and me, which he has already begun and not yet completed, but it will be completed only on the Day of His Second Coming. Jesus will continue working in us even after our death in order to save us.

Malachi 3:2-3—“But who can endure the Day of his coming? Who can stand firm when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire, like fuller’s lye. He will sit refining and purifying.” As all human beings are sinners, we all have to go through the purifying process of God. How long may this process take? Mt 5:26 says, “Amen, I say to you, you will not be released until you have paid the last penny.” Our prayers may let God have mercy on our beloved ones. In Job 1:5 we see Job offering a sacrifice of burned offering for the purification of his (living) children. 2 Maccabees 12:46 says, “Thus he (Judas) made atonement for the dead that they might be absolved from their sin.” So, we can offer prayers and sacrifices for the forgiveness of sins of the living and the dead alike. Jesus prayed for those who crucified him, that their sin be forgiven them.

Does God answer the prayers for the dead? Yes! Lazarus is dead for four days. Martha, his sister, prays to Jesus in Jn 11:21-22, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now [even four days after the death of Lazarus] I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you.” And Jesus answered this prayer by raising Lazarus from the dead.

In Mk 5:21-43 Jairus prays for his sick daughter, who eventually dies. Still later, Jesus answered his prayer by raising the dead girl back to life. In Lk 7:12-15 Jesus answered the tears and cry of a mother, who was a widow from Naim, by raising her dead son back to life. Death is NOT an end in itself, and the dead can listen to the voice of the Lord. If you pray, your beloved deceased souls will be given God’s mercy and heaven!

May the Lord of Mercies grant eternal rest unto all the departed souls. Amen.

Love and Prayers,

Fr. Charley

Today’s Gospel is about a blind man, Bartimaeus, who becomes the first person outside of the Apostles to recognize Jesus as the Messiah. And his healing is the last miracle Jesus performs before entering the holy city of Jerusalem for His last week on earth, according to Mark’s Gospel.

The scene on the road to Jerusalem evokes the joyful procession prophesied by Jeremiah in today’s First Reading. In Jesus this prophecy is fulfilled. God, through the Messiah, is delivering His people from exile, bringing them back from the ends of the earth, with the blind and the lame in their midst.

Jesus, as Bartimaeus proclaims, is the long-awaited Son promised to David. Upon His triumphal arrival in Jerusalem, all will see that the everlasting kingdom of David has come. As we hear in today’s Epistle, the Son of David was expected to be the Son of God. He was to be a priest-king like Melchizedek, who offered bread and wine to God Most High at the dawn of salvation history.

Bartimaeus should be a sign for us. How often Christ passes us by—in the person of the poor, in the distressing guise of a troublesome family member or a burdensome associate, and yet we don’t see Him. Christ still calls to us through His Church, as Jesus sent His Apostles to call Bartimaeus. Yet how often are we found to be listening instead to the voices of the crowd, not hearing the words of His Church.

Today He asks us what He asks Bartimaeus: “What do you want me to do for you?” We must be able to tell Christ: “I want to see people in the way that you see them and to be able help them out in their needs and difficulties.”

Love and Prayers,

Fr. Charley

Balu was a very humble and God-fearing man. He was very knowledgeable about many things in the world. One day while he was traveling along the mountainside, he found a piece of green rock on the side of the mountain. As soon as he saw it, he realized that it was a precious stone, and a very costly stone it was. He knew that it was a very expensive gem, but Balu decided to give that precious stone as a great gift to the king. He gave the gemstone as a gift to him, but the King’s advisory team told the king that it was not a gemstone; it was only an ordinary stone meant to deceive the king. The king was so angry with Balu that he had him put in prison and they cut his toes as a punishment. Though they punished him cruelly, Balu would not give up his effort. After a few years, the king died and a new king came in his place. Balu again took the green gem to the new king and presented it to him as a gift. The king called the gem experts and asked them to verify it, and the gem experts said it was the costliest gem in the world. The value of it was huge, and the king was so taken that he called Balu to come to the Palace and receive great gifts of appreciation.

Many of the people we meet are like the gem that Balu found. When we consider their background and behavior, we have not given them the respect and recognition they deserve. The reason for that is that we don’t see the goodness in them. We have to dismiss preconceptions about other people and try to look inside of them and try to understand who they are really.

The story also reminds us that sometimes our goodness, efficiency, and commitments are not known by others. Don’t cry over it. It is because of the inadequacy of others rather than our own inadequacy. Wait for the chance to come. Do not be disappointed. Balu was not disappointed when the first king treated him badly. If we are not aware of the hidden gems within us, how can others have that conviction? So, the first thing is that we have to develop a better awareness and understanding of our own goodness. We must strive to grow those gems continuously.

As Jesus tells us: “For human beings it is impossible, but for God all things are possible.” Wait for God’s response; the time will come. Do not be afraid. Whatever God’s will is, that will happen to us. It may take time, but surely it will take place. So, do not be afraid about what human beings say. Depend on God’s will. May God bless you all.

Love and prayers,

Fr. Charley

First and foremost, discipleship is not a very easy thing in our lives. Jesus asks the rich man, and he is also asking each one of us, to divest ourselves of our idols and all the things that keep us from God. The Gospel presents us with a paradox: we lose what we keep, and we gain what we give away. When we lose our lives for Jesus Christ, we gain a priceless treasure and an inheritance which lasts forever. Whatever we give to God comes back a hundredfold. Generosity flows from a heart full of gratitude for the abundant mercy and grace which God grants. And generosity will be amply repaid, both in this life and in the life to come. Namely, we are to let go of the things of life that are used to oppress others. The rich man is not asked by Jesus to sell his riches because his wealth is evil; instead, Jesus is making the point that the rich man does not understand a fundamental aspect of Salvation. Salvation is a gift.

The rich young man in today’s Gospel wants to know what we all want to know—how to live in this life so that we might live forever in the world to come. He seeks what today’s Psalm calls “wisdom of heart.” He learns that the wisdom he seeks is not a program of works to be performed or behaviors to be avoided. As Jesus tells him, observing the commandments is essential to walking the path of salvation.

The Wisdom of God is not precepts, but a person—Jesus Christ. Jesus is the Wisdom whose Spirit was granted to Solomon in today’s First Reading. Jesus is the Word of God spoken of in today’s Epistle. And Jesus, as He reveals Himself to the rich man today, is God. In Jesus we encounter Wisdom, the living and effective Word of God. As He does with the rich man today, He looks upon each of us with love. That look of love, that loving gaze, is a personal invitation—to give up everything to follow Him.

We must have the attitude of Solomon, preferring Wisdom to all else, loving Him more than even life itself. This preference, this love, requires a leap of faith. We will be persecuted for this faith, Jesus tells His disciples today. But we must trust in His promise—that all good things will come to us in His company. We shall always have that good relationship with Jesus in our daily lives. Jesus will provide everything we need to reach salvation because Jesus is Wisdom, the word of God and God Himself who alone can save us and give Salvation to us.

Love and prayers,

Fr. Charley

Jesus deals with the issue of divorce by taking his hearers back to the beginning of creation and to God’s plan for the human race. In Genesis 2:23-24 we see God’s intention and ideal that two people who marry should become so indissolubly one that they are one flesh. That ideal is found in the unbreakable union of Adam and Eve. They were created for each other and for no one else. They are the pattern and symbol for all who were to come.

Jesus sets the high ideal of the married state before those who are willing to accept his commands. Jesus, likewise, sets the high ideal for those who freely renounce marriage for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Both marriage and celibacy are calls from God to live a consecrated life, that is, to live as married couples or as singles who belong not to themselves but to God. Our lives are not our own, but they belong to God. He gives the grace and power to those who seek to follow his way of holiness in their state of life. Do you seek the Lord and his grace in your state of life? That is what God expects from us always. He is always on our side to help us to go forward. His grace is enough to go forward peacefully.

According to Tertullian, one of the early Church Fathers, marriage is “Mutual Servants, equally Serving.” He says, “For all around the earth young people do not rightly and lawfully wed without their parents’ consent. The kind of yoke is that of two believers who share one hope, one desire, one discipline, one service. They enjoy kinship in spirit and in flesh. They are mutual servants with no discrepancy of interests. Truly they are ‘two in one flesh.’ Where the flesh is one, the spirit is one as well. Together they pray, together bow down, together perform their fasts, mutually teaching, mutually entreating, mutually upholding….”

We shall ask the good Lord to help us to do his will and live according to his way always.

Love and prayers,

Fr. Charley

Regardless of one’s religion, see how Pope Francis has beautifully written about the family:

Family, a place of forgiveness. There is no perfect family, we do not have perfect parents, you are not perfect yourself. We do not marry a perfect person and we do not have perfect children. We have complaints from each other. We cannot live together without offending one another. We are constantly disappointed. Yes, for so many reasons at different times, we are disappointed by one another. There is no healthy marriage or healthy family without the exercise of forgiveness. Forgiveness is the medicine for family joy and happiness. Forgiveness is vital to our emotional health and spiritual survival. No matter the offense or who is the offender. Without forgiveness the family becomes an arena of conflict and a fortress of evil. Without forgiveness the family becomes sick and unhealthy. Forgiveness is the antiseptic of the soul, the purification of the spirit and the liberation of the heart. No sin is too big to be forgiven. He who does not forgive does not have peace in his soul and cannot have communion with God. Unforgiveness is evil and a poison that intoxicates and kills the one who refuses to forgive. Keeping the heartache of unforgiving in your heart is a self-destructive gesture. Those who do not forgive are physically, emotionally and spiritually ill. For this reason, the family must be a place of life and not a place of death; a place of forgiveness, a place of paradise and not a place of hell; a healing territory and not a disease; an internship of forgiveness and not guilt. Forgiveness brings joy where sorrow has brought sadness; healing where sorrow has caused disease. A family is a place of support and not of gossip and slander of one another. It must be a place of welcome, not a place of rejection. Shame to those who plant evil about others. We are family and not enemies. When anyone is going through a challenge, all they need is support (By Pope Francis).

Love and prayers

Fr. Charley

We cannot share in God’s glory without the cross. When Jesus prophesied his own betrayal and crucifixion, it did not make any sense to his disciples because it did not fit their understanding of what the Messiah came to do. And they were afraid to ask further questions.

The Apostles don’t understand this second announcement of Christ’s Passion. They begin arguing over issues of succession—over who among them is greatest, who will be chosen to lead after Christ is killed.

They are thinking not as God but as human beings. And Jesus teaches the Twelve—the chosen leaders of His Church—that they must lead by imitating His example of love and self-sacrifice. They must be “servants of all,” especially the weak and the helpless—symbolized by the child He embraces and places in their midst.

Jesus made a dramatic gesture by embracing a child to show his disciples who really is the greatest in the kingdom of God. What can a little child possibly teach us about greatness? Children in the ancient world had no rights, position, or privileges of their own. They were socially at the “bottom of the rung” and at the service of their parents, much like the household staff and domestic servants.

Jesus elevated a little child in the presence of his disciples by placing the child in a privileged position of honor. Who is the greatest in God’s kingdom? The one who is humble and lowly of heart—who instead of asserting their rights willingly, empty themselves of pride and self-seeking glory by taking the lowly position of a servant or child.

Jesus, himself, is our model. He came not to be served, but to serve. Paul the Apostle states that Jesus emptied himself and took the form of a servant. Jesus lowered himself and took on our lowly nature that he might raise us up and clothe us in his divine nature.

This is a lesson for us, too. We must have the mind of Christ, who humbled Himself to come among us must freely offer ourselves, making everything we do a sacrifice in praise of His name.

Love and Prayers,

Fr. Charley

Many in Israel recognized Jesus as a mighty man of God, even comparing him with the greatest of the prophets. Peter, always quick to respond whenever Jesus spoke, professed that Jesus was truly the “Christ of God”—”the Son of the living God.” No mortal being could have revealed this to Peter, but only God. Through the “eyes of faith” Peter discovered who Jesus truly was. Peter recognized that Jesus was much more than a great teacher, prophet, and miracle worker. Peter was the first apostle to publicly declare that Jesus was the Anointed One, consecrated by the Father and sent into the world to redeem a fallen human race enslaved to sin and cut off from eternal life with God. The word “Christ” in Greek is a translation of the Hebrew word “Messiah”—both words mean “the Anointed One.”

Jesus told his disciples that it was necessary for the Messiah to suffer and die in order that God’s work of redemption might be accomplished. God’s way of thinking is always different from ours. Jesus is telling us that we also have to go through the sufferings of our lives in order to reach our goal in heaven. It was through humiliation, suffering, and death on the cross that Jesus broke the powers of sin and death and won for us eternal life and freedom from the slavery of sin.

If we want to share in the victory of the Lord Jesus, then we must also take up our crosses and follow where he leads us. We should always offer our daily crosses into the hands of the Lord and pray to him to give us the courage to carry them with love towards him so that one day we will be reaching that Victory and enjoying it with him in heaven as the Holy Spirit gives each of us the gifts and strength we need to live as the true sons and daughters of God.

Let us pray: Lord Jesus, I believe and I profess that you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. Take my life, my will, and all that I have, that I may be wholly yours now and forever. Help me to carry my daily crosses and follow your footsteps without any complaint and do it with great joy and love to you. Amen.

With love and Prayers,

Fr. Charley

One day a rich man gave a basket full of bad and rotten food to a poor man, thinking that he could give something to the less fortunate. The poor man thanked the rich man and left the house with the basket. He emptied the basket of whatever was in it and he cleaned the basket and filled the basket with beautiful flowers. Then he took it to the rich man. The rich man was surprised to see the beautiful flowers. He asked the poor man why he returned it with the beautiful flowers. “I gave you a basket full of rotten food and you are giving it back to me with beautiful flowers.” The poor man looked at the eyes of the rich man and said, “Every human being gives what is in his mind and in his heart. What you gave is what is inside you.” The rich man was deeply moved by what the poor man told him. He understood the very important lesson. It is not only the things in the basket, it also shows what kind of person that rich man is inside. Whatever you give to others always reflects what is in your heart. Kindness and positivity often inspire the same turn while negativity reflects one’s inner state.

We heard what Jesus was telling us in last week’s gospel: “Hear me, all of you and understand. Nothing that enters one from outside can defile that person.” My dear brothers and sisters, from the fullness of heart the mouth speaks. Whatever is in you will always come out. So therefore, let us keep our hearts and minds clean and practice kindness and mercy in our daily lives. God Bless you all.

Love and prayers,

Fr. Charley