10 April 2027 · Syro-Malankara Rite
Open in the Daily Word appAlso: Syro-Malabar Rite · Latin Rite · മലയാളം
“Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me, and whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.” Luke 10:16
Christ is risen! Yesterday Paul told how the risen Lord called him; today he tells how he kept communion with the Church. “Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me. I went up in response to a revelation.” Fourteen years of preaching lay behind him, and still he laid his message before the leaders of the Church: “Then I laid before them (though only in a private meeting with the acknowledged leaders) the gospel that I proclaim among the Gentiles, in order to make sure that I was not running, or had not run, in vain.” Here is a great lesson for every gifted Christian. Paul had seen the risen Lord himself, yet he did not run alone. He submitted his preaching to the apostles, so that his work would be one with theirs. The Gospel is not a private discovery; it is received, guarded and handed on in the communion of the Church. St Irenaeus, writing a century later, pointed to this unbroken handing on through the bishops in the apostolic Churches as the sign of the true faith (in substance).
The question that troubled the young Church was whether Gentile believers like Titus had to be circumcised and keep the whole Law of Moses to belong to Christ. Paul's answer was clear, and the leaders in Jerusalem agreed with him: “But even Titus, who was with me, was not compelled to be circumcised, though he was a Greek.” Against “false believers secretly brought in, who slipped in to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus,” Paul stood firm, “so that the truth of the gospel might always remain with you.” This freedom is not a freedom to do as we like. It is the freedom of children who are saved by the grace of the risen Christ, not by their own achievements, and who now live by his Spirit. Paul speaks here about what was required of Gentile converts, not against the Jewish people, whose covenant with God the Church honours (Catechism 839). And he adds a word every parish can use: “God shows no partiality.” In Christ there are no first-class and second-class members.
The Gospel is sober. Jesus grieves over the towns where he did his mighty works: “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the deeds of power done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes.” Those towns had seen everything and changed nothing. The danger is not far from us. We have heard the Easter proclamation, received the Holy Qurbono, seen the light of the Resurrection. Then Jesus gives his messengers an astonishing dignity: “Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me, and whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.” When the Church preaches the Gospel faithfully, it is Christ who speaks (Catechism 87). On Saturdays many of our families turn in prayer to the holy Mother of God, the Virgin Mary, who heard the word of God and kept it in her heart. Ask her today for a listening heart. Tomorrow, the Second Sunday after Qyomtho, come to the Holy Qurbono ready to listen, and ask the risen Lord to let his word change something in you this week.
Theme: “Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me, and whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.”
On Saturday after New Sunday: running with the apostles, the freedom of the Gospel, and the danger of hearing without changing.
“The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners;” Isaiah 61:1
“For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.” Galatians 5:1
Apply: Name one fear or habit that still enslaves you, and bring it to confession this Easter season.
“How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity!” Psalm 133:1
“It is by your holding fast to the word of life that I can boast on the day of Christ that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.” Philippians 2:16
Apply: Before you share a strong opinion about the faith, check it this week with the Catechism or a priest.
“And the people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast, and everyone, great and small, put on sackcloth.” Jonah 3:5
“But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves.” James 1:22
Apply: Choose one word from tomorrow's Gospel and do it before next Saturday.
Paul ran in communion with the apostles and defended the freedom we have in Christ.
Christ speaks through his Church; to listen is to be changed.
Take-home resolution: Come to the Holy Qurbono tomorrow ready to listen, and let one word of the risen Lord change your week.
Dear friends, Christ is risen! After fourteen years of preaching, St Paul went up to Jerusalem and laid his gospel before the leaders of the Church, in order to make sure that I was not running, or had not run, in vain (Galatians 2:2). Even a great apostle does not run alone.
He defended the freedom we have in Christ: Titus was not compelled to be circumcised. We are saved by the grace of the risen Lord, and God shows no partiality (Galatians 2:6).
In the Gospel Jesus grieves: woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! They saw his mighty works and did not repent. We too have seen much this Easter. Have we changed?
Whoever listens to you listens to me (Luke 10:16). Christ speaks through his Church. Like the holy Mother of God, who kept the word in her heart, let us listen, and let his word change something in us this week. Amen.
Children, Christ is risen! Jesus once said to his friends: when people listen to you, they are listening to me. So when your parents or your Sunday school teacher tell you about Jesus, it is really Jesus speaking to you. Listening means doing what we hear. What will you do this week that Jesus asks?
Lord Jesus Christ, risen and alive, you speak to us through your Church and send messengers in your name. Do not let us be like the towns that saw your mighty works and did not repent. Keep us in the communion of your apostles, guard in us the truth of the Gospel and the freedom you have won for us, and deliver us from all partiality. By the prayers of your holy Mother, give us hearts that listen and are changed. You live and reign for ever. Amen.