A Message from Fr. Jay
Dear Friends,
First of all, I would like to thank you for your prayers. I had a wonderful and fulfilling retreat full of prayers and the grace of the Lord. You were all specially remembered.
This week, we are nearing the end of the liturgical season of Ordinary Time culminating with the feast of Christ the King next week, there is so much talk about the end of time and big anxiety around it in the gospel. Whenever some natural or human-made disasters happen, the talk about end-of-time comes into limelight again and again. At the wake of 2025, such talk will probably be started by some of our evangelical friends.
A careful reading of the word of God for this week helps us to understand that the readings do not focus much on destruction but on the promise and continuity of life. ‘Learn a lesson from the fig tree…Heaven and earth will pass away but my words will not pass away’ says Jesus in the gospel. After all, our God is not a God of death, but of Life.
Sunday, we also observe the ‘World Day of the Poor’. When Mother Teresa spoke at the General Assembly of the UN on October 26, 1985, showing everyone the rosary she always held in her hand, said: “I am only a poor sister who prays. By praying, Jesus puts His love in my heart, and I go to give that love to all the poor I meet along the way. Pray too! Pray, and you will notice the poor who are beside you…perhaps on the same floor in your apartment building, perhaps even in your houses. Someone is waiting for your love. Pray, and your eyes will open, and your heart will fill with love”.
This Thursday, our Youth ministry is going to distribute hundreds of Turkeys to the children at Tice Elementary School and a few other places like St. Martin De Porres soup kitchen for their Thanksgiving. Blessed are those who care for the poor.
God bless you and all in your family,
Fr. Jay Raju
- Reading 1: Daniel 12: 1-3
- Reading 11: Hebrew 10:11-14, 18
- Gospel: Mark 13:24-32
