22nd Week in Ordinary Time : Monday 1st September 2025

September is here. How would we view our relationship with all creation? First, to see life as supreme and holy. St Paul experienced it and offered hope and comfort to believers grieving for the dead. The promise of resurrection and Christ’s return assure us that those who have died in Christ will rise and be united with the living. Hence, relationship is never completely severed. As long as we pause and gaze at the Crucified and Risen Christ who sharpens our faith and shapes our hearts to love till the end, our relationship with creation is increasingly appreciative.

Jesus returns to His hometown and reads from Isaiah in the synagogue, declaring that the familiar prophecy is fulfilled in Him. Initially, the crowd marvels-but quickly turns hostile and unappreciative when Jesus reminds them that God’s grace extends beyond Israel. Jesus reveals that true relationship is not curbed by racial, religious or royal perimeter now. Jesus broadens His listeners’ thinking on how God relates to different people and creatures by pointing that even in the past, God’s blessing was not monopolised by one tribe; all share equal attention from the Lord and hence we are to relate to one another appreciatively. But Jesus and His proclamation is met with rejection and outrage. Ponder this

– do I give due recognition to Jesus’ words that pave our holy connection to God, the author of life?

PRAYER: Lord God, let me truly appreciate the gift of relating and relishing all in things in Christ.