The Catholic Church observes ‘World Mission Day’ on Sunday, 19 October. There is added significance this year because it is the Jubilee Year, and the focus is on becoming ‘pilgrims of hope’.
In the current scenario of division and discord both in the church and in the world, the story of St Ignatius of Antioch, whose feast day we celebrate on October 17, comes as a breath of fresh air.
October is “Respect Life Month”. On October 10, “World Day Against the Death Penalty”, Malaysian Pannir Selvan Pranthaman was laid to rest after he was hanged in Singapore two days earlier.
On October 16 of that year, medium and long-range missile launch facilities of the Soviets were discovered in Cuba, with the capability of attacking the United States.
The world today observes the World Day Against the Death Penalty, a day to reflect on the sanctity of life, justice, and the growing call for abolition. But for one Malaysian family, the occasion has taken on a deeply personal meaning.
Then I saw the title: Dilexi Te, “I Have Loved You.” Instantly, it felt different. This wasn’t just another official Church document. It felt personal, a letter written with love, shaped by the hearts of two Popes.
For faith does not happen in the cloud. It happens on the ground where people still reach out to hold one another’s hands, whisper a prayer, and believe that even in an age of machines, the human heart remains the oldest, most sacred technology of all.
Jesus connects these two teachings because they are really the same truth. Faith is not about our adequacy. It is about God. And service is not about our worthiness.
God teaches us new and valuable lessons at this stage of our lives I feel. They may be painful, but they are necessary in helping us realise the need for detachment and the ultimate goal of our existence.
Brothers' lives will not make headlines, but they will change hearts. And perhaps that is the most important bridge of all, the one between despair and hope, loneliness and belonging, indifference and love.
October is known across the Catholic world as the Month of the Holy Rosary. It was Pope Leo XIII, in 1884, who dedicated this month to the recitation of the Rosary, placing in the hands of Mary’s children a spiritual weapon of hope and victory.
From the war in Ukraine to the tragedy in Gaza, from the capricious policies of the Trump administration to the upheavals in the world economic arena – nothing seems certain anymore.
The title “Mother of the Church” strengthens the identity of the Church as a family of God. Just as every family has a mother, the Church has a mother in Mary. She makes the Church a home, where the members are loved and nurtured.
Take a step, give to the Church, to the poor, to the missions. Your offering will travel to places you cannot imagine, bless people you will never meet, and return to you in ways only heaven understands.
The Scriptures present us with three vessels of salvation: the Ark of Noah, the Basket of Moses, and the Ark of the Covenant. Among these, only the Ark of the Covenant appears in both the Old and New Testaments, making it a privileged sign of God’s saving presence.
At its core, the parable urges us to look past people’s anger to their pain, continue loving without recognition, and remember that both we and others are healed by Christ’s patient, restorative love.
In today’s fast-paced world, silence and solitude often feel like rare luxuries. Yet, in the Christian tradition, solitude is more than just “being alone.”
