It is 19th January 2019. The readings are from Hebrews 4:12-16; and the Gospel from Mark 2:13-17. Thanking God for having allowed me as a priest to serve God, God’s people and the Church for the past 23 years as a Capuchin Friar. Kindly say a pray for me to live what I preach and to believe what I reflect and read. We are living in a wordy world. Everyone wants to word for word. Most of the times, our words hurt than heal due to lack of truth in it. At times we wonder, silence is the sure cure for the unstoppable wordy world. A lot of people are addicted to speak than listen. Truth does not need a trumpet to play its music. We mostly face situations to prove one word, we desperately look for many more words and end up frustrated using the wrong word to the right person and inappropriate word in wrong situations. But God’s Word is just the opposite. God’s Word is the reflection of God’s mind. It is the perfect expression of God’s truth in readable, comprehensible, digestible word for all of us. Only God’s Word has the inherent power to heal, integrate, intervene, intertwine, interrogate, and interpret human conditions with its surest penetrations into us. There is no dichotomy and confusion in God’s Word. “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” (Ps.119:105). Only through our familiarity and practicing the Word of God, we begin to discern the mind of God in embracing God’s will in our lives. God’s Word has the power to fill our empty minds and souls that are looted and desecrated by sins. We are always assured by God’s word that we are blessed when we accommodate it. “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” (Jn.15:7). The first reading teaches us that God’s Word is so sharp and fine that has the power to permeate every side of our lives. Since Jesus is the Word of the Father who is our High Priest before the throne of God, we must never hesitate to approach the Altar of mercy and forgiveness. Jesus, the visible and tangible form of God’s Word heals us and makes us holy and perfect by the acquaintances with Him. “Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” (Heb.4:16). The responsorial Psalm praises, “Your words are spirit, Lord, and they are life.” (Jn.6:63). Our friendship with God and familiarity with the Word of God must not shun the sinners and those who are sick in the souls away from us. In the Gospel, we encounter Jesus who calls Matthew to follow Him. We all who are sinners can only hear Him calling when we are able to confess our sins and acknowledge our fallenness to Jesus. The Word of the Father wishes to have a space in our lives to heal our wounds and cleans our sins. Let us not delay further a minute to postpone the encounter with Jesus. “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.” (Mk.2:17). May we begin to handle the Word of God so as to become holy and fruitful believer in Christ. May you have a good day. God bless you.

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