What is important with regard to our doctrinal and moral response to new situations, is that we must maintain the fundamental principles of our faith in God and our central beliefs in our Jesus and His Church, and the basic moral laws. It is also critical that we do not just observe the laws slavishly but to ask ourselves how we are keeping the intent and the spirit of the fundamental laws given by God.  What is required of us is a good sense of pastoral outreach, guided by the spirit of the laws.

Jesus in today's Gospel said: “It is what comes out of a man that makes him unclean.  For it is from within, from men’s hearts, that evil intentions emerge: fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, malice, deceit, indecency, envy, slander, pride, folly. All these evil things come from within and make a man unclean.” Again, wisdom is defined in terms of justice and righteousness. It is not about what we eat or dress that will define us but what is in our heart. What makes us miserable is not the external dressing or eating but whether our heart is one of compassion, love and justice.  When we are full of evil, selfishness, greed, lust and anger, we can be dressing and eating well, it does not mean that we are happy. Thus, food cannot defile us but what defiles us is the actions that come from an evil heart.

A leader without humility will become a dictator, a tyrant and divisive. When leaders think too highly of themselves, they listen to no one. They tend to be overconfident of themselves and hardly pray to God! Often, they become proud and egoistic. They forget that they were chosen by God’s grace, and tend to emphasize on what they do, how much they have achieved, and how hard they worked. They tend to focus on themselves instead of getting people to focus on God.  Instead of sincerely glorifying God and feeling humbled at their achievements, they glorify themselves.   But when we are humble even when we do well, then God will be glorified because we will give all glory to Him. When we truly believe that it is God’s grace alone, we will do even more for Him because we know success in our ministry is His work in us.  

To be a good shepherd like our Lord, one needs to have a discerning and intuitive heart. This will allow one to act in faith which goes beyond logic. With a discerning heart, one will know when to say yes and when to say no to requests, and be disciplined yet not rigid in spiritual practices.

When we do evil things, our thoughts will come back to haunt us in our quiet moments, and condemn us. Trying to live with a guilty conscience is like trying to live with oneself condemning oneself. When the voice of conscience becomes louder, we live in fear of being found out and of the consequences that will catch up with us for the evil we have done. This is true for a murderer, a molester, an adulterer or a criminal. We are haunted all the time, so much so sleep evades us. When we live a life of sin, our conscience will haunt us in our dreams, when we are quiet, or when we are at prayer.

As leaders, we must be close to God, listening to Him so that we may be prudent, wise, and acting justly to care for the interests of those under our charge. We need to put on the mind of God in the way we exercise our leadership.

We need to be purified in our service and commitment, otherwise the light of Christ in us will die down. On this Feast of the Presentation, let us ask the Lord for the grace to renew our faith, our commitment to the vocation we have chosen, and to the life of Christian discipleship.

A person is truly happy when he is in right relationship with God, others and himself. He experiences the apex of his happiness when he finds the face of God in man.

A true prophet is motivated purely by the love of God and His people. Such a person is compassionate, patient, and speaks with charity. How can we exercise our prophetic role worthily?

It is important for us to understand the nature of sin and evil. It grows by leaps and bounds once we allow sin to enter our lives. No one becomes evil overnight. Sin begins small. It begins with idleness. An idle mind is the Devil’s workshop. When the devil leads us to one sin, we are led to a string of sins. Sin does not come singly. It has many offspring. To cover up our sin for fear of the consequences, we commit more sins. We begin to lie, to deceive and even to kill. If we nurture evil, then evil will grow to be stronger each day till we are numbed to sin and evil.  But if we sow the good seed of virtue and truth, then eventually, “of its own accord the land produces first the shoot, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.  And when the crop is ready, he loses no time: he starts to reap because the harvest has come.”  So we must be careful of what seeds we sow and what kind of ground we provide for the seed to grow.