22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)

 Jer. 20:7-9; Rom 12:1-2; Mt. 16:21-27

There are moments in life when a person discovers that love is not merely a feeling but a decision to give oneself for another. A firefighter, Corey Comperatore, was attending a public gathering with his family in Pennsylvania in July 2024 when gunfire suddenly broke out. According to his family and Pennsylvania's governor, when the shooting began, he threw himself over his family to protect them. He was killed, but his wife and daughters survived. His wife later remembered him as a man who died protecting his family. What makes such an act so moving? At that moment, he was not thinking, "How can I save myself?" His instinct was, "How can I save those I love?" Love made him forget himself. And this brings us very close to the words of Jesus: "Those who lose their life for my sake will find it." The Gospel is telling us that the greatest life is not the life spent protecting ourselves, our comfort, our possessions and our reputation at any cost. The greatest life is the life given in love.

The Bible has always presented this truth. In the Old Testament, we find people who discovered that life becomes meaningful when it is offered for God and for others. Abraham was asked to place even his beloved son Isaac into God's hands. He had waited for Isaac for years, and Isaac represented his future, his hopes and God's promise. Yet Abraham had to learn that even what is most precious cannot become more important

21st Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)

Is. 22:15, 19-23; Rom. 11:33-36; Mt. 16:13-20

There is a story about a man who spent years studying a famous person. He read his books, studied his speeches, learned about his childhood, knew the important events of his life and could explain his ideas better than many people who admired him. One day someone asked him, “You seem to know so much about this man. Did you ever meet him?” The man paused and said, “No. I know everything about him, but I have never actually known him.”

That is a very important distinction in life: knowing about someone is not the same as knowing someone. We can know a person’s name, profession, achievements and history without ever having a personal relationship with that person.

There is something very striking about today’s Gospel. Jesus asks a general question: “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And after hearing their answers, he makes the question more personal: “But who do you say that I am?”

20th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)

 Is. 56:1, 6-7; Rom. 11:13-15, 29-32; Mt. 15:21-28

There is a beautiful story associated with George Müller, the nineteenth-century Christian known for caring for thousands of orphaned children in England. One morning, the children came to the dining room, but there was no food on the tables. The kitchen had no bread, and there was no money to buy any. Yet Müller asked the children to sit down. He prayed, thanking God for the food they were about to receive. The children waited. A few minutes later, there was a knock at the door. A baker stood there. He said that he had been unable to sleep and felt strongly that he should bake bread for the children. He had brought several loaves. Soon afterwards, another knock came. A milkman had broken down near the orphanage and did not want the milk to go to waste, so he offered it to the children. Whether every detail of the story has been preserved exactly as it happened or not, the story has remained because it captures something very

Independence Day Speech (Independence Day of India)

 Independence Day Speech (August 15 Independence Day of India)

Respected dignitaries, teachers, dear students, and my dear friends,

Today, as we celebrate the Independence Day of India, let us remember that the freedom we enjoy did not come to us easily. For centuries, foreign powers controlled our land, our resources, and, in many ways, the destiny of our people. Millions experienced poverty, exploitation, humiliation, and untold suffering. But history also witnessed something extraordinary: generation after generation, brave men and women rose to challenge injustice. They refused to accept slavery as their destiny.

Our freedom struggle was not the achievement of one person, one movement, or one generation. It was the result of centuries of resistance and the sacrifices of countless known and unknown heroes. Some fought with weapons; others fought with ideas, courage, non-violence, education, sacrifice, and an unshakeable faith in the dignity of India. Many went to prison. Many lost their homes, their livelihoods, and even their lives. Their sacrifice finally brought us political independence on 15 August 1947.

The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (A)

Rev. 11:19a, 12:1-6a, 10ab; 1 Cor. 15:20-26; Lk. 1:39-56

Today we celebrate one of the most beautiful feasts of our Catholic faith—the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Church teaches that, when the course of her earthly life was completed, Mary was taken up body and soul into the g
lory of heaven. This doctrine was solemnly defined by Pope Pius XII on November 1, 1950, in Munificentissimus Deus. The Church proclaimed that the Immaculate Virgin, preserved from original sin, was assumed into heavenly glory.

 But today, rather than looking at the Assumption merely as something that happened to Mary at the end of her earthly life, let us look at the kind of life she lived that prepared her to become the woman whom God glorified. The secret of Mary's life can be found in one sentence from today's Gospel: “My soul magnifies the Lord.” That sentence is almost like the spiritual biography of Mary. She did not spend her life magnifying herself; she magnified God. She did not make herself the centre; she made God the centre. And perhaps that is the most important message Mary has for us today.

There is a beautiful example of this in the life of St. André Bessette, a simple religious brother from Canada. He had very little formal education, was physically frail, and for many years his main responsibility was simply to serve as a doorkeeper at the