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SOCL, 33C

ree

Sunday November 16, 2025


See


When the news from the Middle East —the cradle of civilisation and faith— is so consistently dreadful, our dismay can easily devolve into despair. What about all the innocent lives lost? What of the old, the new-born, the newlyweds and so on? The devastation can be overwhelming, leaving us feeling both powerless and furious. And yet, at the centre of our faith is a deep conviction that the forces of evil and destruction are not, and will not be, the final word. Yes, it is terrible; but no, it is not the last word. God’s faithfulness in Christ’s resurrection assures us and invites us too to the same witness of fidelity, even against the odds.


Listen



Reflect


(Luke 21: 5-19)


Luke presents Jesus as a prophet, capable of reading the signs of the times, and one who offered wise and insightful advice on how to cope with difficult times. Who are the people you see who act like this in the troubled times we live in today? Maybe you yourself have been a calming influence in the face of turmoil within your family, parish, church, workplace, or elsewhere. Can you claim that gift and give thanks for being such a person?


Jesus alerts his listeners to the transitory nature of human grandeur and splendour. How have you been reminded of this truth? What lessons has this given you about life?


In any walk of life troubles will come. Jesus encourages his listeners to stand firm in such circumstances, telling them ‘your endurance will win you your lives’. When you are in the midst of inner turmoil and/or outer trouble or opposition, what have you found gives you the strength and ability to endure?


Pray


Lord God of all the ages, the One who is, who was, and who is to come, stir up within us a longing for your kingdom, steady our hearts in the time of trial, and grant us patient endurance until the sun of justice dawns. We make our prayer through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever. Amen.

 
 
 

SOCL, Lateran BasilicaC

ree

Sunday November 09, 2025


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We protect our spaces with velvet ropes and unspoken rules, convinced that order equals reverence. Yet the most violent act of devotion in history was clearing a room—turning tables, scattering coins, naming the corruption that everyone accepted as normal. The marketplace had become temple; the temple had become marketplace. No one questioned it anymore. Commerce wrapped itself in ritual until the two were indistinguishable. We do this too: professionalize our passion, monetize our meaning, trade what matters for what's measurable. We mistake transaction for connection, convenience for care. But real transformation always feels like destruction first. What if the disorder you fear is actually clarity breaking through? What if the structures you're defending have already betrayed their purpose? Sometimes love doesn't preserve—it overturns. Sometimes the way forward requires recognizing what's already been hollowed out, naming it honestly, and building something true from the wreckage.


Listen



Reflect


(John 2: 13-22)


Think about the spaces in your life—your home, workplace, relationships. Where have you allowed something transactional to replace something sacred? What routines or compromises have you accepted because they seemed necessary, even though they've slowly hollowed out what you once valued most deeply?


Jesus didn't politely suggest reform; he disrupted the entire system because it had corrupted what was meant to be life-giving. What would it look like to bring that same fierce clarity to your own life? What compromises might you need to overturn, not with anger, but with love for what could be?


Consider what needs to be rebuilt after the tables are turned. What would it mean to reconstruct your daily patterns around what genuinely matters—connection, integrity, purpose—rather than what's merely efficient or expected? How might this disruption become the beginning of something more authentic?


Pray


God of fierce love and transforming fire: overturn what we've mistaken for reverence but is only routine. Clear the clutter we've called necessary. Restore what we've commercialized, heal what we've commodified, reclaim what we've traded away. Give us courage to dismantle what's hollow, wisdom to rebuild what's true, and vision to create spaces where people encounter life, not transactions.

 
 
 

SOCL, 29C

ree

Sunday October 19, 2025


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There can be no “part-time” discipleship. Likewise, there can be no parttime prayer. The deep reason behind this is that God loves my whole person and desires all that I am. Constancy in discipleship demands constancy in prayer; and constancy in prayer builds discipleship. In other words, they can be no separation of life and prayer— the goal is the same, the integration of my whole self into the Christian project. However, the relationship is primary. It is not that practical action is more important and prayer helps, but that prayer is more important and how I live is the test of my prayer.


Listen



Reflect


(Luke 18:1-8)


The purpose of prayer is not to change God’s mind, but to change ourselves and we can be slow to move. When have you found that persistence in prayer strengthened your faith in the presence of God with you in that struggle?


The context of the story may be a concern about the delay in the final coming of the Lord. Have there been times when your persistence in prayer, or action, was eventually rewarded after a period when you had doubts about the outcome? What were the fruits of your persistent prayer?


Behind the story lies the final question of Jesus: Who does have faith? Who have been models of faith and trust in God for you? How has that trust been shown in their lives? How is it shown in yours?


Pray


Lord, tireless guardian of your people, always ready to hear the cries of your chosen ones, teach us to rely, day and night, on your care. Support our prayer lest we grow weary. Impel us to seek your enduring justice and your ever-present help. Amen.

 
 
 
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