12 December 2026 · Syro-Malankara Rite
Open in the Daily Word appAlso: Syro-Malabar Rite · Latin Rite · മലയാളം
“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” 1 Thessalonians 5:16–18
Paul ends his first letter with a burst of short commands, like a spiritual rule of life: respect those who labour among you; be at peace; admonish the idle, encourage the faint-hearted, help the weak; do not repay evil for evil. “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” Do not quench the Spirit; test everything; hold fast to what is good.
Jesus speaks with startling seriousness about sin: better to lose a hand, a foot or an eye than to be thrown into the fire. He does not mean self-mutilation, but radical decisiveness: cut off whatever leads you or a little one into sin. Then a gentle image: “Salt is good… Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.” Salt preserves and gives flavour; in the Old Testament every offering was seasoned with “the salt of the covenant”. Our fast is a season to become salt again.
Theme: “Have salt in yourselves.”
A rule of life for the fast.
“O give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.” Psalm 136:1
“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” 1 Thessalonians 5:16–18
Apply: Repeat a short prayer throughout the day.
“Then afterward I will pour out my spirit on all flesh;” Joel 2:28
“Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise the words of prophets, but test everything; hold fast to what is good;” 1 Thessalonians 5:19–21
Apply: Pray to the Holy Spirit each morning.
“You shall not omit from your grain offerings the salt of the covenant with your God;” Leviticus 2:13
“Salt is good; but if salt has lost its saltiness, how can you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.” Mark 9:50
Apply: Make peace with one person this week.
Joy, prayer and thanks are God's will.
Let us be salt and peace.
Take-home resolution: Give thanks to God for three things each night of the fast.
Dear friends, St Paul gives the Thessalonians a list of short commands: respect those who labour among you; be at peace among yourselves; encourage the faint-hearted, help the weak, be patient with all of them. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you (1 Thessalonians 5:12–18).
Rejoice, pray, give thanks: three practices that can transform a life. Not rejoice when things go well, but always. Not pray when in trouble, but without ceasing. Not give thanks for good things only, but in all circumstances.
Paul adds: do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise the words of prophets, but test everything; hold fast to what is good; abstain from every form of evil (1 Thessalonians 5:19–22).
In the Gospel Jesus speaks strongly: if any of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea (Mark 9:42). Then he says: if your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off (Mark 9:43). These are images of radical seriousness about sin.
Jesus ends: salt is good. Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another (Mark 9:50). Salt gives taste and preserves from decay. A Christian gives flavour to the world and preserves it from corruption.
During this fast, let us remove one stumbling block: a bad habit, a source of temptation, an unhealthy relationship. And let us practise Paul's three words each day: rejoice, pray, give thanks. Amen.
Children, St Paul says: be happy, pray always, and say thank you to God. Try all three today!
Lord Jesus, teach us to rejoice always, pray without ceasing and give thanks in all things. Give us courage to cut away what leads us into sin, and make us salt that brings peace. Amen.
Two teachers speak to two communities about how to live together. Paul gives the Thessalonians a run of short commands: respect your leaders, help the weak, rejoice, pray, give thanks. Jesus speaks more sharply to his disciples: do not trip up the little ones, and cut away what makes you fall. Both end in the same place: peace among yourselves.
Setting.
These are the closing instructions of Paul's letter. The young church has been told to watch for the Lord's coming (5:1–11). Now Paul explains what watching looks like day by day: it is a life of mutual care in the community. The commands come quickly and short, probably so that they could be easily remembered when the letter was read aloud.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“And we urge you, beloved, to admonish the idlers, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with all of them.” (5:14)
Different people need different care: one needs correction, another courage, another a helping hand. Patience is for everyone.
“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” (5:16–18)
Paul wrote “in all circumstances”, not “for all circumstances”. He had suffered at Philippi and been driven out of Thessalonica. The verb “give thanks” is eucharisteite, from which the word Eucharist comes.
“Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise the words of prophets, but test everything; hold fast to what is good;” (5:19–21)
The Spirit is compared to a fire that can be put out. The Church must neither stifle the Spirit nor accept everything that claims to come from him.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism quotes these verses in its teaching on persevering prayer (CCC 2742) and on thanksgiving: every event and need can become an offering of thanks (CCC 2638). St Augustine, preaching on the Psalms, says that your desire is your prayer, and if your desire is continuous, your prayer is continuous (in substance). The Syriac daily office, with its hours of prayer through the day and night, is one way the Church has tried to live this command.
Setting.
Jesus and the disciples are in a house at Capernaum. On the road the disciples have been arguing about who is the greatest (9:33–34). Jesus has placed a child among them (9:36) and has defended an outsider who cast out demons in his name (9:38–41). Now he turns to the harm that believers can do, and to the harm they do themselves.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
““If any of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea.” (9:42)
“Little ones” means vulnerable believers, not only children. Jesus' strongest language is kept for those who damage the faith of the weak.
“If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life maimed than to have two hands and to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire.” (9:43)
This is deliberate exaggeration in the Semitic manner. It does not ask for injury to the body. It asks for a decisive break with whatever leads to sin.
“Salt is good; but if salt has lost its saltiness, how can you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.” (9:50)
The words “salted with fire” (v. 49) are hard. They probably mean that everyone will be tested and purified, as a sacrifice is salted, and some later manuscripts add a line from Leviticus to explain this. The last word goes back to the argument on the road: peace, not rank.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism teaches that scandal is a grave offence when it leads another to sin, and that it is especially grave when it comes from those in authority or harms the weak (CCC 2284–2287). The sharp sayings about hand and eye call for the conversion of the heart. They have never been understood by the Church as a command to harm the body (see CCC 2297).
Why does the POC have verses 44 and 46 when the English does not?
The difference is only in the numbering, not in the teaching. Some later copies repeat the line about the worm and the fire after vv. 43 and 45, and these repeats were numbered 44 and 46. The oldest manuscripts do not have them, so the NRSV passes over those numbers. The POC does not have the repeat either; it divides vv. 43 and 45 into two verses each, so that the numbers stay in place.