📅 30 August 2026  |  👤 Fr. Fiorello Mascarenhas SJ

God’s word today encourages us, “Do not be conformed to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your minds.” St Paul, in his Letter to the Romans, encourages those who call themselves Christians (that is, those who profess that they are disciples of Jesus Christ) to live up to their vocation to be true disciples of Jesus Christ by living in a way different from other people who do not accept Jesus Christ as their Savior. (The popular hymn, “I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back, no turning back,” can be a background for our understanding of this text.) There are three key words in this very important exhortation: the words are: “conformed,” “this world,” and “minds.”

1. ‘conformed’: this word signifies that living in today’s ultra-secular world already makes us live by its worldly ideas and thought patterns, its worldly values, and its worldly behavior patterns, all of which are quite different from what Jesus Christ expects of his followers; hence the New Testament exhorts us to make a determined effort “to be different,” to show our friends and neighbors a different, happy yet “holy,” lifestyle.

2. ‘this world’: the focus of this world is limited to everything that is part of the material world, to what the Bible calls “the things of the flesh,” e.g. money, wealth, physical posessions like big and faster cars, big and luxurious houses and mansions (totally out of proportion to the needs of one’s family), many servants, big meals of expensive foodstuffs much of which may be wasted, travelling in luxury, etc., etc.      

3. ‘minds’: the logic of this world is ungodly, focusing on “man/woman” as masters of their own destiny, an “eat, drink, and be merry - for tomorrow we die” approach to life, and consequently open to vices of lust, greed, envy, wrong and selfish use of power, arrogance, etc.

A Christian is called to be different, with a different mindset based on Jesus’ Good News. St Paul writes, “Do not be conformed to this world,” BUT “be transformed by the renewal of your minds.” So we must ask, HOW TO BRING ABOUT A RENEWAL OFOUR MINDS?

The first way is to become familiar with the word of God. Most Catholics know little or nothing of Jesus’ important teachings. Our grasp of the Gospels is minimal. In Sunday School perhaps we learnt some interesting stories from the Old Testament (David and Goliath, Kings David and Solomon, Adam and Eve, Samson and Delilah, etc) and some catechism about the 10 Commandments, the miracles of Jesus, his Passion, Death and Resurrection, etc. But we rarely entered into the Acts of the Apostles, and hardly especially into the Letters of St Paul, and the other Letters which are practical descriptions of what it means to be a true and faithful disciple of Jesus. The saying of Pope Benedict is true: “Many Catholics are sacramentalized but not truly evangelized!”

In the liturgical Readings at Mass on Sundays (also daily), we start with long, and often boring passages about Jewish history and wars, and about the Jewish Prophets who usually are scolding the Jewish people for their idolatry and other weaknesses, and so no real spiritual food and nourishment is received by the ordinary Mass goer. We move on hastily through the words of Jesus at the Consecration and confess we are not worthy to eat the Body of Christ at Communion, and then without real personal silent thanksgiving and adoration we hear the priest utter some final prayer, give a final Blessing, and say the words, “GO, the Mass is ended!!!”

So, to become really familiar with the teachings of Jesus and his Apostles, we need to spend time (20-30 minutes weekly if not daily) in personally (or in small groups of 3-4 friends) reading and contemplating the relevant scriptures! BE TRANSFORMED BY THE RENEWAL OF YOUR MINDS, IF YOU WANT TO REALLY NOT BE CONFORMED TO THIS WORLD’S LOGIC and behaviour. The Saints were also worldly people until they converted to becoming “transformed by the renewal of their minds,” There is a phrase in English which says, “A man is what he thinks!” Yes, we will act according to what we think, in worldly ways or, in Christlike ways.

This message from the 2nd Reading will be confirmed by Jesus words in the Gospel about the Cross and Resurrection. Let us pray to our ENCOURAGER (the Holy Spirit) to make us better and more credible followers of Jesus and not just names in a Baptismal Register.