Frankly, Why Do We Need God?

Don’t we have all we need?

Mathew Anthony

24 minutes ago

October 31, 2026

What happened to Job when he had everything going for him can happen to us. This day we have everything going for us too. Hiccups, sure. But a gulp of water can remedy it.

In the land of Uz lived a man named Job. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil. He had seven sons and three daughters, and he owned seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen and five hundred donkeys, and had a large number of servants. He was the greatest man among all the people of the East. (Job 1:1-3)

“Does Job fear God for nothing?” Satan replied. “Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. But now stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face.” (9-11)

At this, Job got up, tore his robe, and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship and said: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.” In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing. (20-22)

Job was struck by calamity, ironically, because of his holiness and devotion to God. It became the subject matter of his test. When everything was taken away, the ‘transactional’ in Job, Satan said to God, would emerge. Job would curse God. Satan misread. Job did not curse God. He discovered God in a new light. His relationship with God deepened. An absurdity. Yes?

We are church-going and are diligent with our prayers. We have no police record of violence or theft. Maybe a couple of traffic tickets, because patience is not our virtue, or we fear saying ‘Talaq’ to the mobile phone even while driving, and that too without seatbelts. We tithe. We are charitable. Do we fear God? Are we meant to fear God? Is God fearsome?

God is not a stalker or a mugger that we should feel unsafe. In fact, He is our protector. He is our provider. He is our redeemer. Why should we fear God? God is love. “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.” (1 Jn 4:18)

We do not fear God, as our human mind understands it. We fear sin, which our human mind often does not want to understand for fear of feeling restricted. What is sin? Sin is anything that displeases God. That’s a broad statement. Because sin is broad. It is all-encompassing. Every act of unkindness to another is sin. What is unkindness? We will know when it is done to us. We know sin when it is done to us. That is the simplest answer to what is sin. “If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. (1 Jn 4:20)

A founder of a retail coffee chain was acclaimed as a pioneer in his field. I recall having coffee in the first internet café of its kind, in the early 90s. Coffee houses are where plans are made, Venn diagrams drawn on napkins. I had quit my well-paid job. I was a man with a dream. An entrepreneur. My own boss. Hoping to be very rich one day. I was reasonably rich by middle-class standards. But that’s a tale for another day. I can tell you one thing about my wealth. I did not file for bankruptcy. I was never that rich.

The founder of a coffee chain became enormously rich. Politically connected, by marrying a prominent politician’s daughter. All was going well. The political connections, a boon, became the bane of his life. His father-in-law’s fallout with the powers that be affected the son-in-law’s progress. The meteoric rise tilted into a crashing fall. His net worth could not pay his debt arising from borrowed money and poor bets.

Like Job, did the coffee-chain founder, when he lost everything, put on sackcloth, smear his body in ash, and cry out to God? No. He chose a tragic path. Possibly, he could not face the idea of loss, humiliation, and the dread of possible jail time. He killed himself. So did Judas Iscariot. Leaving his wife to bear the burden of his debt. That is unkindness. Sounds unkind to say that of the dead. We lay our debt on others by not doing what is right by God. That’s unkindness.

While all deserted Job. God did not. God restored Job to full health. Not just that. He multiplied his wealth manifold. As a believer, God could have done the same for the coffee-chain founder. He does for you and me. Many of us undergo such situations. When we lose our job, EMI on our home, car, and ostentatious living tighten their grip on us like cling wrap. Every penny saved and invested in times of plenty is money earned when we are not earning. Good times shield wisdom from us.

Where does wisdom come from? From God for those who seek diligently. What makes some buck the trend of their fellow youth who have chosen a path where faith and God are not fashionable? It cramps their lifestyle. Their friends would find them boring. They will poke fun at their piety and ignore them. Do we have resilient faith to bear it?

We deliberately choose the temporal over the spiritual. Temporal is fun, even if it is temporary. Spiritual is a black box. Good for philosophy. It does not bring in the big bucks. A canard spread by the evil one. It brought the bucks for Job.

Job stood by his belief in God even when everything he was going through should have led him to desert God. God seemingly deserted Job. Job gave God the benefit of the doubt. Job sought answers from God, and God answered him. We, too, should trust God to answer. However, we must also accept that our temporal life has affected our hearing. We cannot cultivate it overnight. A flowing beard does not grow overnight. We need to desist from shaving. Likewise, we must desist from unbelief to acknowledge we need God. He will answer. In His time. Not because we took time to come to Him. But to give us time to shed our temporal ways and fully embrace Him. To hear the small whisper in which he speaks. (1 Kgs 19)

- Mathew Anthony

The Mental Fork on the Road Called Life

 Discernment is a prized grace.

Mathew Anthony

just now

October 30, 2026

When we reach a fork in the road, we must decide which road to take.

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveller, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth; … I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—I took the one less travelled by, And that has made all the difference. (Robert Frost)

If we had such an experience. What did we do? Like Robert Frost, we too looked into the distance, took a quick poll with the family in the car, and went with the majority. Spouses decide when children are too young to ask. When each feels differently about the choice, they toss a coin, unwilling to yield to the other. The coin decides, not the hearts.

Bam! We reach a dead end, or the road is unnavigable. The spouses look at each other. The guilty one cannot stand the silence. The one who suggested the other way lets the spouse squirm a bit. The purgatory moment. They back up to the fork and take the other road. And the vistas open up, and they are on the way to civilisation. But it takes a while to restore the civility between them until one apologises for the folly and they are good again. Are they?

No, they are not good. Revenge is still in the air. They will be tested again at another fork in their life. The winner serves. The loser will return the serve. The winner has the advantage. Control of the ball and the court.

If they were a Christian couple, hopefully they would have attended a retreat between the first fork and the second fork in their life. At the retreat, the priest would have spoken about the Holy Spirit, the third person in the Trinity: The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

He would have told them: “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” (Mt 7:7)

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.” (Jn 14:15-17)

At the second fork in their lives, the couple don’t toss a coin or decide the winner will serve. The fervour and zeal of a new convert persist still. They are fertile soil for now. Parable of the Seed (Mt 13) warns us not to become lukewarm.

They agree to ask the Holy Spirit. Each one prays, calling on the Holy Spirit to lead the way. Then each one asks the other what the Holy Spirit said. The one who got it wrong last time puts on the armour of humility, and asks the winner in the last ‘fork-in-the-road’ contest to go first.

What happens when they have received contradictory messages? It is a dilemma. The loser earlier offers to go with the winner’s judgment. The winner fears that if her judgment turns out wrong, they become even. The winner does not want to lose the high ground she is enjoying in the relationship.

They decide they will write ‘Left’ or ‘Right’ on a piece of paper. Then they will pick one of the papers. Whichever direction comes up, they will take that route. They both know what they have written. It was either ‘Left’ or ‘Right’. If both wrote ‘Left’, then there is nothing to complain about when wrong. Should it be right, then both can cheer; they can hear the ‘Holy Spirit’ speak to them.

What if one was right and the other was wrong? Then we are back to a stalemate. Who is more ‘spirited’ than the other? A religious conundrum. If both were wrong, they have to go back to the blackboard to learn how to discern the voice of the Holy Spirit.

When can you hear the voice of the Holy Spirit? When you are pure of heart. “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.” (Mt 5:8) How do you become pure of heart? When you become capable of love. What is love? To think the ‘good of the other’. (Thomas Aquinas). How do we think the good of the other? Through surrender. Don’t be the boss in the relationship with God or with your spouse. Learn to suspend judgment. Listen. Agree. Disagree. Don’t be disagreeable. That’s when relationships become a knotted tangle.

There are always two voices in our head. The ‘mental fork in the road called life’. It is there all the time. Once we become aware of ‘two voices’, we will always pause and ask ‘who is speaking?’ The ‘troublemaker’ or the ‘waymaker’? We make that decision day in, day out.

It is easy to decide if our intent behind every word we speak or action is clear. What motivates us to speak or act? To hurt or to heal? Transparency or deception? Is it pride or envy that is making us say or do what we have said or done? Or is it humility and surrender to His will or our spouse’s will, without sinful rancour in our heart?

Are we trying to win an argument, or are we saving a person from potential grief? When we are silent, have we given up on the person? We do not even want to try, but let the person learn the hard way, a form of revenge for not heeding our good counsel? Are we hoping to profit, or willing to accept a loss to let the other win?

When we make the right choice, and the outcome is positive, we know we have learnt discernment. When we are at a fork in the road, we do not have to draw lots. We know what the right thing to do is. “What good is it for someone to gain the whole world (the argument), yet forfeit their soul?” (Mk 8:36)

- Mathew Anthony

God is Punishingly Good

 That He should care to come down from heaven to help

Mathew Anthony

3 hours ago

October 29, 2026

It was a small thing. But when you suffer from obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), the smallest thing takes on gargantuan proportions. On a regular visit to a practitioner of alternative medicine, while being examined, the conversation turned to age-related ailments like dementia. This was the practitioner’s greatest fear.

He had a photographic memory of every patient treated, by name, face, ailment, medication given, and last visit. He was blessed with a ‘Fort Knox’ memory. ‘Fort Knox is where the US Bullion depository is kept in a fortified vault. He could still recall formulae and chemical compounds he studied in school and rattled some off just for effect.

It was genetic. His father, too, had a formidable memory. However, age did take its toll on his father. He feared the same would happen to him. It need not be. Lifelong learners practising their profession into their sunset years usually sidestep such decline. Especially if they are ferociously curious, read and write extensively and are physically active. They may weaken physically, but not mentally or emotionally. The key is temperament.

David Ogilvy, an advertising legend and creative genius, lived and worked into his 88th year and died peacefully. He was 39 years old when he started one of the world’s most well-known ad agencies. Curiosity—his most defining characteristic—took him through a richly lived life. It began in a little English village of thatched haystacks and ended peacefully in his beloved peach-colored castle in the French countryside.

Along the way, in his 88 years, there was a stint as a chef at the Majestic Hotel in Paris and an infamously short career as a door-to-door stove salesman. He introduced George Gallup’s audience research to Hollywood and was a member of the British Secret Service.

He radiated a vitalising energy, the zest and gaiety of an inexhaustible joie de vivre. He advocated developing our idiosyncrasies early in life, so that when we grow old, people don’t think we are cuckoo.

The discussion veered to managing the person who was a perfectionist and blessed with a good memory before dementia set in. The loss of control is troubling. Their behaviour becomes increasingly erratic and unpredictable. Any action involving surrendering their independence becomes a perilous enterprise for them.

Among many complications, handing over rights to property or bank accounts is a contentious issue, to be resisted, causing undue problems for the family, as the law is not helpful in the matter, purportedly to protect the elderly against misuse, which is rampant indeed, and not to be glossed over. But it has to be dealt with intelligently and compassionately.

Getting back to the small thing. Needs to be prefaced with a mini drama.

A Malayalee in a thick Malayalam accent looked at the man sitting next to him, on Air Arabia, and seemed to enquire, ‘Sippysopan’? The man replied that he was not ‘Sippysopan’ but Emmanuel. The man persisted, ‘Sippysopan’? This became tiring for both. Until the Malayalee pointed to the opening in his pants. The man zipped up and thanked the Malayalee for saving him from grave public embarrassment.

The medical practitioner, as part of his healthcare practice, kept oils and soaps that could be bought on request. I had run out of my supply and needed to replenish the ayurvedic soap. In all this talk about poor memory and dementia, I suffered from one too.

To get to the practitioner’s clinic, I had inched through traffic, cheek-by-jowl, and had returned home. My foot felt like the clutch and brakes were walking with me out of the car. I walked funny. Pressing one foot to the floor and then the next. My wife inquired why I was acting demented. I was not jolted by the aspersion cast. But the fact that I had forgotten to pick up the soap. There was no way I was going to go back to get it. OCD set in. I need it come what may.

I posted on the community chat requesting the soap to be picked up if someone was visiting the practitioner? This is how punishingly good God is. One person who noticed the post was also jolted to attention.

He had completely forgotten the appointment he had with the practitioner, which is just a tad more difficult than navigating Bangalore traffic. He dropped everything and rushed there. Ok. He persevered to make his appointment. He made it and lived to tell me the tale. We expressed our mutual gratitude.

God is punishingly good, because even in an innocuous matter of a forgotten soap, he whispers to the universe he created, to make it possible, that the desire of his children’s heart should be met. What is punishing about it? We are so undeserving of the Almighty’s love. The creator of the universe. That he should care about this little thing like a forgotten soap. In these times, we feel unworthy and small. We ask, why am I deserving of this benevolence?

Peter had such a moment with Jesus when he had finished speaking to people. Jesus was sitting in Peter’s boat. “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.” Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.” When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken. (Lk 5:4-9).

When we come face-to-face with the Holiness of God, we do squirm a bit, confronted with the question: what have we done to deserve such grace of the Almighty’s intervention. The answer is in the question: it is unmerited grace that we must strive to live up to in our own little way.

- Mathew Anthony

Marriage Is Not a Gamble

 When it is the work of God, experienced over the course of the marriage

Mathew Anthony

just now

October 28, 2026

Card games are of two kinds: chance and skill. When it is a game of chance, it becomes a matter of probability. When you toss a coin, it will fall on heads or on tails. Toss it enough times, and it will even out.

Las Vegas, is a gambling haven, not heaven. It has been the ruin of many. The odds are always stacked in favour of the house. It stands to logic. Why else would they be in this business? Their regular customers are compulsive gamblers. They do win up to a point. That is the house strategy. Make them win till it becomes an addiction, then make them lose big.

The house plays its cards when the stakes become high. They swoop in like vultures, their prey in their crosshairs, and wipe the table clean of all the winnings in one swift move, leaving their prey gasping as their winnings, until now, are whisked away in a flash. Their pockets scorched. Their heart scarred. Their mind in a daze. The folly of gambling. Wisdom is in doing an activity of skill. You will always win. Better and better rewards as your skill become better and better.

Then there are the smart ones. They play the house at their own game. They start with small stakes and don’t mind losing until they win. The philosophy of probability is simple. When you lose, you lose in a row; when you win, you win in a row. They are not pathological gamblers, but data scientists who understand the rules of probability. They are scientific. They are logical. It is a skill learnt from hard work. From thinking through issues. At times, it is a life-or-death issue.

Once upon a time, a princess had to choose between three princes: Noble, Debonair, and Valiant. The king decided it would be by a duel. Each would be given a pistol with one bullet, to be refilled if eligible for another shot. They will stand equidistant from each other, and by turn shoot at one of the two suitors. One who survives will marry the princess. Nobel is a crack shot. In mock shoots, he hits his target 100% of the time. Debonair is at 80%. And Valiant, the weakest, is at 60%. That is, the last two miss their shots 20% and 40% of the time, respectively.

For the princess, it is love at first sight when she sees Valiant. Blind love, if you like. She wants Valiant to win, and of course, Valiant wants to win. But the chances are not good for him, as he is not as good a shooter as the other two. The king is in a quandary when he hears of his daughter’s choice. Having announced the duel, he has to proceed with it. He does something. He says the worst shooter, Valiant, will shoot first, followed by Debonair, and then Nobel, if he has not been shot by then. Bit macabre.

The princess does the math for Valiant to have more than a 50% chance of winning the duel. Valiant has the first shot. He believes he should shoot at the most dangerous adversary, the crack shot Nobel. Two things will happen. Valiant kills Nobel. There is a 60% chance. There’s a 40% chance he will miss. What happens if Valiant misses? It will be Debonair’s turn, who can do either of two things: Shoot at Valiant or shoot at Nobel. If at Valiant, then there’s an 80% chance that Valiant will be dead. So, Valiant rethinks his strategy and considers shooting Debonair. 60% chance Valiant will kill him, and if so, what happens next? Debonair will not get a turn because he is dead. Nobel will then shoot at Valiant. And Valiant will be dead. Remember, Nobel is a crack shot. 100% wins.

What happens if Valiant misses when he shoots at Debonair? There’s a 40% chance of that happening. Then Debonair would shoot next. What will Debonair do? Debonair will probably shoot at Nobel, with an 80% chance that Nobel will die. But there is a 20% chance that he misses. Let’s say he kills him. Then what happens next? It is Valiant’s turn again. Only Debonair is left. He has a 60% chance of killing him. That is better than half what the princess wanted.

That’s a lot of math. But the point is: Valiant must miss shooting Nobel to give Debonair an 80% chance to kill Nobel. It is a skill that would save Valiant’s life and have the princess as his wife.

Jesus did not choose his twelve disciples. His Father did. “Jesus went up on a mountain to pray, and he prayed to God all night. At daybreak he called together all of his disciples and chose twelve of them to be apostles.” (Lk 6:12-13). The choices were eclectic: a former Zealot, a former (crooked) tax collector, an impetuous fisherman, two “sons of thunder,” and a man named Judas Iscariot.

God had a purpose for each. Each had their vulnerabilities which they would outgrow when Jesus went to the cross, died, and was resurrected. Judas, too. He carried the most pain from his betrayal. He did not think he could be forgiven. His idea of repentance: to kill himself. The rest became men of God. Holiness was a gift bestowed on them. Holiness does not depend on human merit, culture, personality, effort, or achievement. It is entirely God’s creation and gift.

Marriage is not a gamble when the decision is the Father’s choice. He does not see as we see. “And when the Philistine looked about, and saw David, he disdained him: for he was but a youth, and ruddy, and of a fair countenance.” (1 Sam 17:42). He sees beyond into what would make a holy marriage. Go to the mountain and pray to the Father as Jesus did. He will give you the answer.

St. Thérèse of Lisieux wrote that there is more power in one little act done with all the love one possesses than in the most impressive spiritual displays or works of service if they are not rooted in pure love for God. She wrote of how one moment of sincere worship brings more joy to Christ than anything we could ever “do” for him.

Marriage is one of those decisions to be ‘rooted in pure love of God’; then the choice of spouse becomes divine. Don’t get into a duel to get the math right: right height and weight, education level, family background, spouse’s net worth, fair, dusky, or dark. Shooting for the best. All this is important. Marriage is not a game. It is not about winning. It is about losing. Oneself to another. Being holy. Possible only if it is God’s will, however that is to be discerned.

- Mathew Anthony

Miscarriage in Marriage

 When the divine is ignored

Mathew Anthony

just now

October 27, 2026

Marriage is a strange bond. I walked my daughter to the altar and handed her over to a stranger to me until a few weeks and months ago, but not a stranger to my daughter. They exchanged vows with ‘for better, for worse.’ And, frankly, that’s what marriage is (it can go sideways). More often when among strangers, less between childhood sweethearts or those who have known each other for long. Interfaith marriages have their challenges.

The Catholic Church takes the sacrament of marriage very seriously. Divorce is not kosher. Many still divorce and marry again, but that marriage will not be recognised by the Catholic Church if the Church has not annulled the earlier marriage.

My wife and I were strangers to each other, and even our families, until three months before we tied the knot. After meeting and taking up the gauntlet thrown, we bonded. Quite deeply, I should think. We have five adult children today. Most marriages in traditional societies are forged among families that know each other. In certain communities, the niece marries the maternal uncle, presumably to stay within the community and preserve family wealth.

When the alliance is brokered, the families are at the broker’s mercy. The broker’s job is to spin tales, to make the unpalatable acceptable, often shorn of facts. Nobody will reveal suppressed family secrets to a paid vassal. Mollywood is replete with movies of brokers playing mischief. In Drishyam 3, the broker is paid off by the groom’s parents to ensnare Georgekutty’s daughter, to settle old scores, and demean the girl. The movie has a happy ending, Bollywood style: cops, hero (Mohanlal) turn up just in time to rescue the girl.

I have known of flying-in marriages. Migratory birds. The suitor from the US has a two-week break, true of most people overseas, except in the Gulf. The alliance is stitched together with a photograph and the legend that follows in a matrimonial column. They speak online. Enquiries go up to the fourth generation. Engagement, madhuram veppu, and marriage are all wrapped up at warp speed. Promises of the bride joining the groom are made. The groom disappears into the ether. And worse happens when the bride joins her husband. Grim, to say the least.

In these two-minute Maggie Noodle marriages, I wonder when marriage counselling, an essential for marriage in the Church, is observed. More often than not, in the breach. The marrying parties find it a pain. Parents believe it is a waste of time. In fact, two doctors were getting married. The quip was: What was a celibate priest going to teach doctors about the human body and its part in a marriage? In this instance, the couple had jobs overseas; despite restrictions on leave, they ensured they completed the 4-week course in person in its spirit.

The parent’s comment, notwithstanding, the course was an important part of their vow ‘for better, for worse’. Those who cannot find time for counselling, will they make time for each other if they are so busy? When every second marriage ends up in divorce, a conservative estimate, is the Church in error in insisting on marriage counselling to avoid the ‘inevitable’?

In a Sacramental Marriage, when the vows are taken and administered, the officiating priest is persona Christi, standing in the place of Christ. Hence, the vow is not between two, but amongst three, to hold the marriage sacred, as Jesus exhorts when questioned by the Pharisees: He said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart, Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so.” (Mt 19:8)

Jesus is the bridegroom. The Church is the bride. The alliance was brokered by a relative, John the Baptist. He knew Jesus from when they were in the womb of their mothers, Elizabeth and Mary of Nazareth. It did not appear that they were in contact or were best friends or anything. But John the Baptist knew enough to make an impassioned recommendation.

The next day John the Baptist was standing with two of his own followers. Jesus walked by. John looked at Him and said, “See! The Lamb of God.” John’s two followers heard him say this and followed Jesus. (Jn 1:35-36).

As happens in most marriages, when the alliance is to be confirmed, the families visit each other’s homes and meet the relatives, and do the math on the net worth of the respective families based on the value of the home, if owned, and how many sisters and brothers, and the apportioning of ancestral properties. This is made-up broker talk with no credence whatsoever, yet alliances are formed based on a fibber’s glib talk. The parties want to be done with it. Sad!

Andrew and the unnamed disciple were doing the same. Making enquiries. Jesus turned around and saw them following. He said to them, “What are you looking for?” They answered, “Teacher, where are you staying?” He said to them, “Come and see.” They followed Him and saw where He lived. They stayed with Him that day. It was about four o’clock in the afternoon. (Jn 1: 38-39)

Andrew bought into the groom’s credentials and informed the rest of the family. Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who had heard John’s words and had followed Jesus. The first thing he did was to find his brother Simon. He said to him, “We have found the Christ!” Andrew took Simon to Jesus. When Jesus saw Simon, He said, “You are Simon, the son of John. Your name will be Cephas.” The name Cephas means Peter, or a rock. (Jn 1: 40-42)

Did the marriage have teething problems? Sure, it did. Betrayal by Judas. Denial by Peter. Desertion by disciples. “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?” (Jn 6:60). Suitors left. Bride stayed. The marriage was sacred.

The bride, the Church, of Jesus was built on an indestructible rock. It is a solid marriage. “And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it”. (Mt 16:18)

- Mathew Anthony

How Worthy Are We?

 God Alone Knows.

Mathew Anthony

just now

October 26, 2026

Folks take great pride in their pets. Pomeranians, pugs, poodles, dachshunds, cocker spaniels, German shepherds and golden retrievers. They are family to them. They mourn their loss.

The pets are not very demanding. Nor is an infant. Their needs and wants revolve around food, comfort, walks, and sleep. Slip on any of them, and they are no more angels. They have bodily compulsions that must be attended to, or they will bring the roof down.

Humans can think, feel, and do. So do our fellow canines. They do think. For their security and the security of the hand that feeds them. They do feel when the weather turns harsh, or when they lose a mate or a family member. And they do. Fetch a ball or unearth drugs and trapped bodies or hunt down an assailant.

Domesticated dogs can also misunderstand a human gesture of affection. They perceive it as manhandling. They will attack should a hand be laid on their owner. They attack the points of contact between the two to free the one they hold dear. It could be jealousy too.

When a stranger enters the house, the child is suspicious. So is a dog. While a child is defenceless if the intent is sinister, the dog isn’t. Begs the question. Can they can tell right from wrong? Can they be held to account for the bad that they do? Yes, they are put to sleep on earth. Do they have an afterlife for further accountability?

A moot point for canines, but not so for human beings. There is accountability on earth as in the afterlife. Regardless of whether there is an afterlife or not, some men live their humanity on earth and others their inhumanity. Others (unless it is pathological or a tumour pressing the amygdala, triggering homicidal tendencies) justify their conduct as being for a larger cause.

This is where the question of right or wrong comes up. “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Gen 3:5)

Humans, biblically, are incapable of knowing good from evil. When we look around us, we see that it is true. Might is right. Power is heady. A coterie rules and brutalises. It attracts the corrupt and the infantile. They feel invincible. No more human. More Wolverine with unbridled power. Reckoning will come to them. Dead or behind bars.

Canines show more soul. One seemingly without a soul or conscience. Despite the lack, they know how to use their power. Despite their strength, they show great temperance. They attack only if they are attacked or when they have become pathologically deviant to maul the helpless.

When we gain power, or too much money for our own good, our conscience declines by the same measure. It goes dormant. We grow anaesthetised to sin. We don’t see it or feel it. We are not just dead, but have become deadly. Our values vaporise with the first contact with power and wealth. Power and wealth are needed to experience pride, lust, wrath, envy, gluttony, greed, and sloth. The potency of one makes the other impotent. What was always subtle now becomes anonymised. The medical conditions we suffer are not necessarily because of these sins, but they are contributory. So, let’s address it to be good with God.

Is being proud of our achievements pride? No, it is motivating. When does it become a sin? When we take a dim view of others. When we treat our God-given gift as something to hoard, not share. When we expect to be treated differently. Desire a place of distinction. (Mt 23:6)

Beauty is meant to be in the eye of the beholder. Beauty is to be appreciated. When beauty becomes objectified, that is, stripped of its humanness, it becomes lust. Humanity is respecting the other. Humanity is doing good for the other. Lust is the antithesis of being humane.

Wrath occurs because we are hurt. Hurt is like an iceberg. We are conscious of only a fraction of the hurt we feel. The rest is buried in our unconscious. We have accumulated hurts through our life. Some are from birth that we are not even aware of, and others have recently occurred. We can only do something about (if we want to) what we are aware of, not what we do not it even know exists. Which is why we are not able to understand why we get angry. Light or livid - both have consequences. The conscious: we must deal with the conscience. The unconscious: with prayer. We know we are succeeding or failing by the frequency of our outbursts.

Envy is easiest to handle. Don’t desire what you don’t have. Be happy for someone who does have. What you have, cherish it. Be grateful for it. When do we really cherish what we have? When it is taken away. Like during a power cut. We are grateful for uninterrupted power.

So is gluttony. Easily resolved. Stop eating beyond your needs. People do so in excess to compensate for a lack in their life. Peace, joy, love. This would seem contradictory. Those who are overweight or known to be jolly. Maybe gluttony perversely has its merits. People can also be genetically overweight, as some are lean just by genetics irrespective of their dietary habits. But to do it excessively just because you can is a sin when we live in a world where the larger majority on this planet cannot manage even one decent meal a day. Alcoholism, drugs, and loose living are other signs of excess just because we can. It is tragic when excessiveness results in starvation. When the powerful become powerless, and the rich must beg to live.

Greed is an issue of conscience like gluttony. If your only source of joy is depriving someone else of having their fill, then a God who is compassionate is unlikely to be kind to those who are not. Slothfulness is also a form of greed. Greed for binge-watching shows. Greed to skip one’s responsibility and lay the burden on another to provide. Hibernation is for bears and alligators. They are ectothermic. They can live without food for months. Man cannot. Not to work is a sin.

How worthy are we? Better than canines? Better be. They are animals. They don’t have to account for their deeds on earth. You and I do.

- Mathew Anthony

The Importance of Non-Doing

 To do.

Mathew Anthony

20 minutes ago

October 25, 2026

I am not into plantae. My wife is. A planter’s daughter, continuing her father’s legacy. We bought a plot of land on the outskirts of the city before it began to burst at its seams.

The land was stripped by the developer of every living organism, including a sapling that muscled its way out of the soil. The earthmovers mauled it to its roots. The idea was to achieve line of sight to map out the plots. An interesting expression, ‘line of sight’, which originally meant a straight line from the muzzle of an artillery piece to a target. In this case, the boundary stones.

On this bare land, we built our home. The frontier spirit of my wife’s ancestors was alive in my wife. I, a city dweller, baulked at the thought. Escalating rents in the city and a growing family of five children made me leap with my wife into this deserted land to own and behold.

My wife’s ancestors, including my wife’s grandfather, a District Medical Officer, at Madras (now Chennai), bought thousands of acres of land in an uninhabited place in Kerala, so far away that boundaries did not matter. The horizon or a stream or a natural earth formation was the fenceless boundary. No neighbours to speak of who would file objections for encroachment.

When the West opened up for settlers who landed on the Eastern shore of the United States, the idea of land ownership was: whoever plants his stake on a piece of land first gets to own and develop it. Then there were cattle ranchers only. There was no industry.

Having chosen to build our house in the tree-less wilderness, which would take at least 18 months, my wife decided to deploy her green thumb. She planted by line of sight in every direction around the house.

After 22 years, there is once again no spot for a sapling to grow outside our home and garden, in a manner of speaking, with buildings having mushroomed in every itty-bitty place around our house. Ours, however, is an oasis, amongst concrete, where camels can rest under the shade of flowering and fruit-bearing trees.

Into this Eden of my wife’s making, I woke this morning to see our driveway festooned by ‘akasha malika’ stalks and petals shed by the preening, aromatic tree, after a night of quiet but incessant rains.

I remarked to my wife that I think our unmarried daughter was going to get a proposal today, for the driveway is in a celebratory mood. My daughter is yet to wake up. She would be shaken out of reverie at the very thought. She dreads losing her charmed sleepy existence to a rise-and-shine type of hubby, which she morphs into when she is awake. But not a second earlier. For that, someone will have to pay dearly.

A farmer was blessed with a heavenly crop of wholesome and singularly high-grade variety corn year after year. His neighbours asked the farmer if he would share the seed with them. He willingly consented. The farmer’s friends, hearing of his generosity with one-of-a-kind seeds, cautioned him about losing his competitive advantage.

The farmer explained, quoting John 3:8, “The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” The farmer was a man of the Spirit. He knew the Word of God.

He said the wind carries the pollen from the budding corn to wherever it wishes. When high-grade variety corn has been sown by the neighbours too, and the wind blows his way, I inherit their largesse. If they only have access to low-grade variety, then the wind will carry the pollen of that variety into my farm, ruining my crop. From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, even more will be expected. (Lk 12:48)

When you live surrounded by trees on all sides- our garden, the neighbour’s garden, and the trees planted by the wife on the road surrounding the house- and there’s a bird bath on the premises, there is a flock of winged creatures who descend for a morning dip.

The ones competing for the bird bath are bulbuls, hummingbirds, and the like. They don’t fly; they flit, wings flapping at the speed of a jet’s propeller fans. With pauses being rare. Fearful of deadweight bringing them crashing down. Their life is about darting from one mischief to another; with din and racket they announce their existence. They keep low between a cluster of trees, ducking into its foliage, to scuttle attacks. For them is not the philosopher’s life of deep thought or long-term planning. They are skittish; their thought is only of the moment.

Then you have the light crane, which feeds on the fish and weeds in the backwaters. While able to fly continents, when it comes to rest, it stays put. Meditating on one foot. From a fish’s line of sight, the foot would be a piece of wood. Its beak is a snaring arm to snap the wayward fish. It chooses not to be busy. In fact, unbusy at its extreme. It flies not too high, flaps its wings languidly, gliding with the current, and occasionally flapping to adjust altitude. And, back to playing one-legged stool, striking when the fish is nigh. The art of non-doing to do.

And then you have the eagle, who flies high, scans the hunting ground, mostly glides, a paragon of eternal quietude, exerts effort only when the target is in position (line-of-sight), swoops for the kill with its formidable talons and beak primed to finish the job. A parable in ‘non-doing’. Do the least and gain the most.

The bulbuls do the most when their need is the least, with tiny stomachs to fill. The light crane is the happy middle of non-doing to do. The eagle is the exemplar of ‘non-doing’ to do the most. Choosing to live in the suburbs helps with the ‘non-doing’ by replacing busyness with a quieter routine. To think and to do.

- Mathew Anthony

One Day We Will Also Die

Spoke Ecuadorian Priest Father Patricio when preaching the homily at Holy Mass

Mathew Anthony

just now

October 24, 2026

Social media is abuzz with the news of Father Patricio Alfredo Sanchez Molinari, who, during a sermon, uttered the words, “One day, we will also die.”, which became tragically prophetic when a large crucifix hanging behind him fell and struck the back of his head during a livestreamed Mass in Ecuador.

In a tragic coincidence, the priest had been discussing the uncertainty and brevity of life shortly before the accident. He was reflecting on the words of Jesus and the inevitability of death. He also urged members of the congregation not to waste their lives endlessly scrolling on their mobile phones. Instead, he encouraged them to devote more time to God, their families and their loved ones.

The Word of God is for all times. From Adam to Jesus in the Old and New Testaments, God reveals his will to His people. On Friday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time, October 23, 2026, we heard these words from Jesus:

“Hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky. How is it that you don’t know how to interpret this present time?” (Lk 12:56)

The Gospel Reading, Saturday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time, October 24, 2026, from Luke 12:54-59 helps us interpret what happened to Father Patricio Alfredo Sanchez Molinari.

Do tragedies happen only to sinners, or are they part of the human journey? Anything can happen to any of us at any time. The Word of God has one purpose: to call us to repentance before the inevitable happens.

Our life on earth is finite, but our afterlife is forever. God is asking us to focus on the afterlife to guide our earthly life. Seek not the rewards of the earth, but the rewards we can behold every day of our lives: Peace, serenity, freed from bodily needs, for we have no body in heaven that will grow old and wither, be struck with sickness and tragedies, or marry. In heaven, we are spirit, as God is spirit. “At the resurrection, people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven.” (Mt 22:30)

There is no further death after the death on earth. When we die, we are born again into a new life that is everlasting. In the company of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, with Mother Mary, and all the Saints, our departed parents, brothers and sisters, who by self-will or by grace made a deliberate choice to repent before they were bid to come to Him.

In the passage below, Jesus clarifies for those who today debate the manner of Father Patricio Alfredo Sanchez Molinari’s death and ascribe judgment depending on which side of the fence our beliefs lean: faith or faithlessness.

As Father Patricio said, don’t spend your time scrolling for news but on the Word of God. God gives us multiple chances to repent and return to Him: the parable of the man and the fig tree being one of them.

Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it but did not find any. So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, ‘For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’ “‘Sir,’ the man replied, ‘leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilise it. If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.’” (Lk 13:6-9)

The man who takes care of the fig tree is Jesus, who is appealing to His Father to allow one more year, pleading not to cut the fig tree down. Jesus appeals to His Father every day for us. One more year. One more year. One more year. Jesus knows we will come around. Yes, He died for us. He did not die in vain. He knows he can gather His flock and bring them around. When we are blessed with such a loving God, how can we resist but heed His call?

Resist we do. We take sides. Not with God, but with God’s fallen angel, Lucifer. His constituency is the ones who reject God. When we look at the world we live in, there is no debate on who is winning. Why is that so? We make it so. Not God, as detractors claim.

God is not a tyrant, as some imply when reading the Old Testament. He has given us free will. What did we do with the free will? We crucified His Son then, and continue to crucify Him every day with our reluctance to repent.

Father Patricio stood under the cross, as priests all over the world do. Will the Catholic Church shift the altar or the cross because of this incident? God forbid! The Cross at the centre of our worship sets us apart from all other Christian denominations.

Some denominations resent the cross. They do not have it, at least not front and centre, as the Catholic Church does, larger than life, commanding our attention, touching every sinew and nerve in our body by its presence. The words from the Book of Deuteronomy challenge people with the truth: Jesus became a curse that we may be saved:

“And if a man has committed a crime punishable by death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day, for a hanged man is cursed by God. You shall not defile your land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance.” (Deut 21:22-23)

They don’t want to associate their life with suffering, only abundance, the Gospel of Prosperity. The Catholic Church embraces suffering, poverty, and is built on the Beatitudes, the hallmark of our belief that Jesus preached to us to observe if we desire the afterlife with Him. “I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.” (Lk 13:5)

- Mathew Anthony