It is 11th February 2020. We celebrate the Memorial of Our Lady of Lourdes. The readings are from 1 Kings 8:22-23, 27-30 and the Gospel from Mark 7:1-13. We are not orphans spiritually. We have a Mother and the Church. Mother Mary and the Mother Church are always interceding for us and shielding us against all satanic and evil acts. Our willingness and open to be led by the Church and the Immaculate Virgin Mary surely culminate our journey to God smoothly. We constantly need to turn our core being to God. Dichotomy in relating with God will be seen in the way we relate with one another. Our duplicity and pretention are the explanation and expression the way we handle people around us. The first reading offers the prayer of gratitude by king Solomon. God cannot be contained in a place or a person. “Heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain God.” (1 Kgs.8:27). Yet God wishes to have a place of honour and worship in our body and in the place we live. God desires us to hear our prayer and forgive our human sinfulness always. We need to approach and be available to God. God is present in His creation and in all creatures more tangibly in human persons. Let us not reduce God’s presence and power to a particular place and tradition humanly made. In everything we see, there is a mark and impact of the presence of God. In every human heart filled with charity, there is a spark and a flame of the divine. Prayerless heart is like a crownless king. Just like Solomon, we need to face God before we entertain with people. Whatever is the burden we have whether spiritual, physical or material, God alone can lighten them and grant us the favour we plead in our prayers. The responsorial Psalm praises, “How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord, God of hosts.” (Ps.83”2). The Gospel reprimands about our priorities in our life. Cleanliness is next to godliness. Wherever there is unity, there is beauty. Beautiful people are unifying people. Cleanliness is something to do with our purity of our inner self and intentions. It is the coherence and cohesiveness in loving God and our neighbour without any prejudice, biases, pretention. We cannot have something different and express differently. People make rules to suit them and play their own games to succeed and be popular. We must not play with God and loving people. There is no substitute for love. The spirit of the law is that we all need to go in for rather than the letter of law. It is all about inside. It is the inner beauty brings the sanctity to the sanctuary of God, the temple of the Holy Spirit. Religion is only the means to reach and relate with God. God is our beginning and our destination. May we be truthful and prayerful in all we do and say. May you have a day full of blessings and may God bless you.