Bombay Jesuits

05/10/2026

06/10/2026 (St. Bruno)
Spiritual Spark 🔥

Choice between Good and Evil, and between Good and Better

"They only heard it said, 'The one who formerly was persecuting us is now proclaiming the faith he once tried to destroy.' And they glorified God because of me" (Gal 1:23-24).

In life, we always have a choice between two things: with our life we can either praise and glorify God and be an inspiration before others or we can choose a path of evil and scandalize others. In today's Gospel, St. Paul admits how in his former life he had made a conscious choice to persecute the church of God violently. After his encounter with the Lord on the way to Damascus his life changed completely and he became a cause for others to glorify God.

In today's Gospel, both Martha and Mary try to serve Jesus and through their service glorify God. Both made their own choices. Here the choice was not between good and evil, but between good and better. Mary through her loving listening exhibited a model discipleship. Martha was a generous host, but her service was tainted by her complaining and grumbling against Mary.

Let us ever make a choice not only between good and evil but also between good and better so that we may always be able glorify God through our lives!

Good day and God bless us all! 🙏🏼✔️✖️

05/10/2026

04/10/2026

05/10/2026 (St. Faustina)
Spiritual Spark 🔥

Only One Gospel: The Gospel of Mercy

"But even if we or an angel from heaven should proclaim to you a gospel contrary to what we proclaimed to you, let that one be accursed!" (Gal 1:8).

St. Faustina Kowalska whose memory we celebrate today popularized the devotion to the Divine Mercy. She is also called the "secretary" of Divine Mercy. She died at the age of 33, the same age as that of her Lord and Master Jesus. Today's Gospel reading is providentially fitting for the devotion St. Faustina spread throughout her life.

The essence of the Parable of the Good Samaritan is mercy. The parable contains two Greek words describing mercy: the verb "splankhnizomai" (Lk 10:33) and the noun "eleos" (Lk 10:37). Jesus invites us to imitate the Good Samaritan by doing what he did. St. Paul in today's first reading admonishes the Galatians who were turning to a different gospel. According to him, there is only one Gospel and that Gospel is the Gospel of God's abundant mercy.

We cannot understand God without his abundant mercy because as Pope Francis rightly calls, God's name is mercy. Today let us have a personal encounter with the Divine Mercy and in turn become missionaries of mercy!

Good day and God bless us all! 🙏🏼❤️

04/10/2026

03/10/2026

04/10/2026 (27th Sunday in Ordinary Time / St. Francis of Assisi / Brotherhood Day)
Spiritual Spark 🔥

Don't Worry; Repent and Be Fruitful

"Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God" (Phil 4:6).

The focus of today's readings is bearing good fruits. In the first reading we have the Song of the Vineyard from Prophet Isaiah (Isa 5:1-7). In this Song, we see a painful situation of sad and disappointed Lord, who showered his abundant love and care on Israel, compared with a vineyard, only to receive worthless wild grapes. This same theme is carried forward in the Responsorial Psalm, where Israel realizes her mistake, repents and resolves to be fruitful again.

The Gospel parable deals with the wicked tenants who mirror rebellious Israel in the first reading. Jesus warns them and us with a clear message that being a chosen people is not the guarantee of salvation. We need to bear fruits of repentance. The second reading connects all these readings, where St. Paul tells us not to worry, but bear good and noble fruits. Today's Saint, St. Francis of Assisi was one of the most fruitful Saints in the vineyard of the Lord.

Let us not worry about the judgment; instead in total trust in God's providence, let us return to his loving care and bear much fruit!

Good day and God bless us all! 🙏🏼🍇

03/10/2026

Congratulations, Fr. Roshan Goveas SJ, on your priestly ordination! 🙏✨

Born and brought up in Mangalore, Fr. Roshan’s journey of faith and vocation has been one of a deep and generous response to God’s call. As a member of YU4C, he touched the lives of many young people and journeyed with them in faith, friendship, and service before joining the Bombay Jesuits Province

His Jesuit formation has taken him through Novitiate in Belgaum, Philosophy at Satya Nilayam, Chennai, and Theology at Vidya Jyoti, Delhi, before arriving at this beautiful milestone of priestly ordination.

Congratulations, Fr. Roshan! May God bless your priestly ministry abundantly and guide you as you begin this beautiful journey of service

03/10/2026

02/10/2026

03/10/2026 (St. Francis Borgia)
Spiritual Spark 🔥

Surrender and Restoration; Sharing and Rejoicing

""Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know" (Job 42:3).

Today's first reading is taken from the last chapter of the book of Job. After struggling with God on the complex topic of innocent suffering and after listening to God's speech describing his magnificence, Job realizes his unworthiness and surrenders himself completely before God. This surrender brings about transformation not only in his mental situation but also in his physical situation. He is fully restored. In fact, his situation becomes much better than it was earlier.

If the first reading speaks about surrender and restoration, the Gospel speaks about sharing and rejoicing. The enthused disciples come back with great joy after their successful mission and they share their experience with Jesus and other disciples. Jesus makes them aware that they should not so much rejoice about the power they exercise, but they should instead rejoice in realizing the identity of the person who empowers them. Being in the presence and company of Jesus is the most important aspect of rejoicing.

Like Job let us surrender ourselves completely before God and experience restoration, and like disciples let us share our faith experiences with Jesus and others and experience rejoicing realizing the fact that Jesus is with us always!

Good day and God bless us all! 🙏🏼🛐

02/10/2026

🌱Growing Native Roots, Protecting Talasari’s Future🌿

On 29th August 2026, Catholic Church Talasari inaugurated a nursery dedicated to the indigenous trees of the Talasari region—a small but meaningful step towards protecting our local biodiversity.

The nursery currently nurtures saplings of around 40 indigenous species, including Bibva (Semecarpus anacardium), Bondara, Kalam, Ragat Rodha, Tivas and many others.

Unlike conventional nurseries, the focus here is not on commonly available trees such as mango, teak, bamboo, neem, banyan and rain trees. Instead, the initiative seeks to preserve and promote the native species that belong to the land and ecosystem of Talasari.

At its heart, this is a people-oriented project—one that seeks to protect, nurture and nourish the biodiversity of Talasari by involving the local community.

🌱 This is only the first step.
A step towards preserving the trees of our land, caring for our common home, and ensuring that Talasari’s native biodiversity continues to flourish for generations to come.