General. Serving God is a source of pleasure and well-being in itself. It is a sign of fulfilling one’s mission of worldly existence. Without waxing philosophical, it is a matter of existentialism. What are we doing here and why? There is no answer to this question, especially when things turn really sour. The best answer is, as ever, to accept God as the creator, carer and end of our life, and to turn to Him by serving and adoring Him. This we can well do starting from this Eucharistic Liturgy and continuing thereafter during the week.

Book of Malachi. The grim November days have prompted the Church to choose readings which remind us of the desolation befalling humanity unless we believe in the salvation brought by Jesus, whose coming into the world and birth we celebrate in hope the following month. Jesus intervened in the history of the world to usher in a salutary ray of hope and justice in an unbelieving world where the haughty and evil-doers were having their sway. Could not this also be the case today? The Book of Psalms pines for the day when ‘words of pride shall no longer leave their lips’.

Second Epistle to the Thessalonians. St Paul shows himself out to be very much in favour of the work ethic. Laziness is out sync with him. The thought at the back of his mind is that there is also a social aspect to faith, conventionally styled as the love for one’s neighbours. Rather than depending on others one should contribute towards one’s own upkeep, thus lessening their burden, and towards theirs if they are in need, in true Christian spirit.

St Luke. Things of this world do not last for long, surely not for eternity as does life everlasting which is worth striving for. Man pines for comfortable permance on earth and anything which upsets this wish of his is considered as an object to be fought against tooth and nail. One such comfort man seeks is unhindered power over fellow men, and the Christians who were persecuted often belonged to a class of people who raised their voices and went against the grain of power. It all boils down to a clash betweem power and money on the one hand, and faith on the other. A titanic clash indeed, even when one considers that one can pay for it with his life as a martyr. It happened before and still happens today, but the end is not in sight giving us a comfortable hope we may die as martyrs too.

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