It is 10th July 2018. The readings are from Hosea 8:4-7, 11-13; and the Gospel from Matthew 9:32-38. When our worship and service turn to be the occasions of sin, it mocks God and makes God flare up with anger. The materials things we go on acquiring, number of our parties that we attend to have happiness and peace and the innumerable meetings we schedule leaving God and God’s ways will be all brought to books by the Spirit of God. When religion and religious practices have become corrupted, decayed, and demolished by the evil forces within each one of us and that of the society leads to individualism, moral decay and indifference to God and the suffering in humanity. Replacing God with the human security endangers the welfare of human life in totality. In the first reading, the prophet Hosea intercedes for the people of Israel, because God wants to punish them with slavery on account of their sins. “They love sacrificing; right, let them sacrifice! They love meat; right, let them eat it! The Lord takes no pleasure in these. The Lord is now going to remember their iniquity and punish their sins; they will have to go back to Egypt.” (Hos.8:13). The responsorial Psalm acclaims, “House of Israel, trust in the Lord.” (Ps.113:9). As we are praying for the vocations, the Gospel of the day intercedes for more people to be sensitive and service-minded without expecting anything in return. When Jesus silenced the dumb demon, the people who witnessed began to abuse the goodness of Jesus and ridiculing him, “it is through the prince of devils that He casts out devils.” (Mt.9:33). We are all called to respond to the invitation to serve, to love, to show compassion, and to be generous to the world which is insensitive, selfish, sinful, indifferent, and greedy. We need to imbibe the characters, qualities and personality style that were found in Jesus. Let us move away from being a mediocre to merciful servants of Christ wherever we are. Every tiny sacrifice we make not only purifies our souls, but it adds flavour and fragrance to the entire humanity. It is our moral duty and responsibility to work for the Kingdom of love, peace, joy and forgiveness. God counts on us for making the world a better place to live in. God solely depends on our efforts to make the suffering humanity to feel that there is still hope in the Lord through our sacrifices, services and personal sanctification. “The harvest is rich but the labourers are few, so ask the Lord of the harvest to send labourers to his harvest.” (Mt.9:38). Do we want to be the masters of the world or the servant in the vineyard of the Lord? It is up to us to respond to the call of God. After all, our service to the humanity is the antidote for the mess we have made by our personal sins. May you have a good day.