Daily Catholic Lectio
Sat, 30 May 2026
Eighth Week in Ordinary Time
Jude 17, 20-25. Mk 11:27-33
Empty Questions
Questions are important. A sincere question can open the mind, change the heart, and guide a person to the right path. But a question becomes empty when we are not ready to accept the answer. If a traveller asks for directions, receives the right guidance, but continues on the wrong road, the question has brought no fruit. It remains only a sound, not a step toward truth.
In today’s Gospel, the chief priests, scribes, and elders come to Jesus with such an empty question: “By what authority are you doing these things?” They have seen His teaching. They have heard of His works. They have witnessed His courage in the Temple. But their question does not come from faith. It comes from suspicion. They do not want to understand Jesus; they want to control Him.
Jesus does not answer their question directly. Instead, He asks them about the baptism of John: “Was it from heaven or from human origin?” With this counter-question, Jesus reveals their divided hearts. They are not seeking truth. They are calculating consequences. If they say John’s baptism was from heaven, they must believe. If they say it was merely human, they fear the people. Their problem is not lack of information; it is lack of surrender.
The authority of Jesus is not meant to satisfy curiosity alone. It calls for faith. A true question about Jesus must lead us to trust Him, follow Him, and change our way of life. But His opponents stop at questioning. They stand before the Truth, yet refuse to enter into truth.
The first reading from Jude invites believers to build themselves up in faith, pray in the Holy Spirit, remain in God’s love, and wait for the mercy of Jesus Christ. Jude also asks the community to show mercy with discernment. Mercy is not blindness. Love is not naïveté. Jesus Himself came to reveal the mercy of God, yet He was careful before hypocrisy, pride, and double-heartedness.
This is a lesson for our own faith journey. We may ask many religious questions. But do our questions lead us to conversion? Do they make us more humble, more obedient, more merciful, and more faithful? Or do we use questions to delay surrender?
Today, let us move from empty questions to a surrendered heart. Let our questions become doors to faith. Let our search for answers become a path of discipleship. Before Jesus, the true question is not only, “By what authority do you speak?” but also, “Lord, how shall I follow you today?”
Fr. Yesu Karunanidhi
Archdiocese of Madurai
A Yesni Prays Initiative
Yesu Karunanidhi 
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