“THEY HAVE NO WINE”: CANA AS A SALESIAN CALL IN KOLKATA’S CENTENARY YEAR and BEYOND

 

Against the backdrop of the Salesian Strenna message 2026 by the Rector Major of the Salesians of Don Bosco, Fr. Attard with the theme: "Do what he tells you: Believers, free to serve", here is a new interpretation of the miracle narrative at the Wedding in Cana, Jn 2:2-11. From the Salesian perspective we provide with original biblical hermeneutics of the text and event as explained below, but applied to the Salesian mission to the young especially the most poor and needy youth, in the light of the present ongoing centenary year of the Province of Kolkata. We present  positive and concrete proposals towards witnessing to the first manifestation of the glory of the Incarnate Word. The Apostle John, writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, calls this event the beginning of miracles (Jn 2:11). But in the original Greek, the word is semeion meaning a sign. A sign is not an empty spectacle. It is a divine finger pointing to a greater reality. When Jesus Christ turns water into wine, He is not merely acting as a gracious guest saving a wedding from social embarrassment. He is acting as the Lord of all creation, the Redeemer, and the true Bridegroom of the Church. We shall examine this sign through the lens of God’s grace in emptiness. We will see how the Lord Jesus takes the empty vessels of the Old Covenant and fills them with the new wine of His atoning blood. We will elaborate on: the failing to understand the Salesian ‘Cana’ and the earthly ‘wedding’ with empty wine as a crisis; the source of true vine and vine-dresser; and the festive jars of ‘here and now’: a Salesian spirituality of the ever to the ‘brim’.

1. Cana re‑read from the oratory courtyard

The Gospel of John calls the wedding at Cana “the beginning of his signs.” It is not a magic show; it is a window into how God chooses to act. At Cana, Jesus does not preach a long sermon. He quietly takes what is empty, what is ordinary, and what is on the verge of shame, and fills it with unexpected joy.

Read from a Salesian perspective, especially in this centenary year of the Province of Kolkata, Cana becomes more than an ancient miracle. It becomes a mirror. It asks every Salesian community, school, parish and youth centre in our province a simple, uncomfortable question: in the lives of the young, especially the poorest, where has the wine already run out?

The Rector Major’s Strenna, “Do whatever he tells you – Believers, free to serve,” invites us to stand in the scene not as distant observers, but as those servants at the wedding who hear Mary’s whisper and Jesus’ surprising command. In Kolkata, Siliguri or Azimganj, the oratory courtyard, the tea‑stalls and the shops outside the campus, the school boardings or shelter for youth‑at‑risk are today’s Cana. The sign is still the same: God wants to begin again from our emptiness.

2. “They have no wine”: naming the crisis of our young

Mary’s sentence is painfully brief: “They have no wine.” She does not explain, moralise or blame. She simply names the lack. In our context, that line could be rewritten a hundred ways:

• “They have no stable family.”
• “They have no meaningful work.”
• “They have no safe digital space.”
• “They have no one who listens without judging.”

For many young people in our province, especially in the slums, brick kilns, tea gardens, rail platforms, and migrating families, the first party of life has already gone wrong. The wine of childhood – safety, acceptance, play, school – has often run out too soon. Others in our elite schools have full glasses of opportunity but find the taste strangely flat: anxiety, loneliness, performance pressure, addiction and social media fatigue leave them asking whether this is all there is.

John says the wedding feast was on “the third day”, a hint of resurrection. But before resurrection there is a crisis. Before any sign there is honesty. A Salesian rereading of Cana begins when we dare to say, in front of the Lord and one another: in this neighbourhood, in this school, in this hostel, our young have no wine.

That honesty is the first act of pastoral love. It is also the first movement of the Strenna’s discernment path: recognise. We cannot “do whatever he tells us” if we refuse to see what he is already pointing at.

3. Mary’s pedagogy: a listening presence, not a neutral guest

At Cana, Mary is not an anxious relative running about with a bucket. She is a calm, attentive presence. Nobody comes and formally informs her of the shortage. She notices. She “listens” with her eyes and heart. She reads the faces of the stewards, the half‑empty jars, the nervous whisper. Then she takes the lack straight to Jesus.

This is profoundly Salesian. Don Bosco’s Preventive System begins with presence: being in the courtyard, in the playground, in the workshop, at the bus stand after classes; seeing and sensing the unspoken needs of the young before they become scandals or statistics. Mary at Cana is the model of this type of pastoral intelligence.

In the centenary year, our province can look back on a hundred years of such Marian, Salesian presence – from the first boarding houses and schools to today’s Don Bosco Tech centres, youth‑at‑risk shelters, migrant desks and parishes. Yet the Strenna gently asks: have we become neutral guests at some of our “weddings”? Do we still see the new forms of emptiness – mental health struggles, toxic online culture, trafficking, silent loss of faith – or have we grown used to them?​

“Believers, free to serve” begins with the freedom to be disturbed by what we see. A Salesian Marian heart does not say, “It’s not my responsibility,” but quietly repeats, “They have no wine.”

4. The stone jars of our institutions

Now we see the vessels. John notes that there were six stone water jars “for the Jewish rites of purification.” They are large, expensive, culturally important – and at this moment, empty. Jesus does not throw them away. He asks that they be filled. Verse 6: “And there were set there six waterpots of stone, after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece.” Note carefully: Waterpots of stone. Not wineskins of leather, which are flexible and living, but stone which is cold, hard, and rigid. These pots were used for "purifying." The Jews would wash their hands, their cups, and their tables, trying desperately to scrub away their defilement before a Holy God.

The jars can symbolise the Old Covenant, as your given reflection explains. They can also, in a Salesian rereading, stand for our own structures: schools, boarding houses, parishes, youth centres, degrees, syllabi, timetables, even our centenary programmes. They are not bad. They are needed. But they can become cold, rigid stone if they are no longer filled with the living water of the Gospel and the passion of the Preventive System.

One hundred years ago, the first Salesians in this region arrived with little more than a dream, a cassock and a football. Today, the Province of Kolkata is rich in institutions and achievements: thousands of students, a wide network of works across Bengal, the North‑East and beyond, and a recognised contribution to national priorities like skill development and youth rehabilitation. Yet

Cana asks a dangerous question: are our jars full or hollow?​

• Is there real accompaniment happening, or just efficient administration?
• Are our hostels places of family spirit, or simply safe lodging?
• Do our academic toppers also learn compassion and faith, or only competition?

Jesus does not despise the jars. He reclaims them. The Strenna invites our communities to let him refill every structure – old and new – with a passion for the poorest and most fragile youth around us.

5. “Fill them to the brim”: collaboration and co‑responsibility

The Mystery of Wine and Life Brethren, we must go deeper here. Why did Jesus choose wine? Why not milk? Why not honey? Because in the Scriptures, Wine speaks of Life through Blood. When you look at wine in a cup, what does it resemble? It is red. It is rich. It looks like blood.

The servants at Cana receive a very odd instruction: fill huge stone jars with water. It is heavy, repetitive work. The guests do not see it. Yet John notes that they “filled them up to the brim.” Obedience here is not passive; it is generous and creative. So, when Jesus turns the water into wine, He is signaling a change in the source of our life. This brings us to a profound insight from the wisdom of Solomon. Turn in your minds to Proverbs 31:6: “Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts.” On the surface, this sounds like a comfort for the dying. But look at it through the lens of the Gospel. Who is the man “ready to perish”? It is you. It is me.

The miracle at Cana is the Gospel in a picture: The Law gives water which is cold and judicial cleansing. The Gospel gives Wine which is warm and invigorating life.

In the Strenna, the Rector Major insists that we are “servants, mere servants,” and that the freedom of believers is precisely the freedom to respond without half‑measures to whatever Jesus asks. In the light of the 150th anniversary of the Salesian Cooperators, this scene takes on a special colour. The “servants” today are not only SDBs and FMAs, but lay collaborators, Cooperators, past pupils, parents, youth leaders – each carrying their bucket of water into the big jars of the mission. “Filling to the brim” in our Kolkata centenary context may mean:

• A Cooperator who quietly tutors slum children after work.
• A teacher who stays back to listen to a struggling student.
• A past pupil who returns to mentor first‑generation college‑goers.
• A community that opens its campus for skills training on Sundays.

No one of these actions is spectacular. Yet together they create the conditions for the sign. Jesus turns the water into wine; we are asked only to give him our labour, our time, our creative ideas – completely, not grudgingly.

6. The hidden moment of transformation

John does not describe the instant the water becomes wine. It happens somewhere between the filling of the jars and the steward’s first sip. That silence is very consoling for educators. Most of the time, we do not see when the “water” of daily efforts in the yard, classroom, confessionals or youth groups quietly becomes “wine” in a young person’s heart:

• A boy who stops using violence because he was trusted with a responsibility.
• A girl who rediscovers prayer because a sister listened without judging.
• A street child who becomes an honest worker through patient years of accompaniment.

In its hundred years, the Kolkata Province has seen such transformations thousands of times: from railway platforms to college graduations, from shelter homes to leadership in Church and society. Cana invites us to believe that this mystery will continue, often invisibly, if we keep doing “whatever he tells you.”

The Strenna speaks of discernment in four verbs – recognise, interpret, choose, act. At Cana, the servants live all four: they recognise the lack, listen to Mary’s hint, choose to obey Jesus’ strange command, and act by carrying water and then wine. The transformation happens in God’s time, not theirs. Our task, as a centenary province, is to stay faithful to those verbs, not to demand instant results.

7. “You have kept the good wine until now”: hope for the second century

The steward’s comment to the bridegroom – “you have kept the good wine until now” – is not only about the past hours of that wedding. It is also a promise for us in this centenary year. It suggests that in God’s economy, the best is not behind us but ahead.

It is easy, in a province with a proud history, to slip into nostalgia: to think of the “golden days” of full boarding houses, abundant vocations, overflowing parishes. The Cana sign, read with the Strenna, tells us something else: if we stay close to Mary, listen to the voice of Jesus and the cries of our young, and dare to act together, the Lord is able to give a wine we have not yet tasted.

For Kolkata and her missions across Bengal, Sikkim, Nepal, Jharkhand and Bangladesh, this might mean:

• New forms of presence among migrant youth and gig‑workers.
• Bolder commitment to mental health, addictions and digital wounds.
• Deeper collaboration with other charisms and Churches in serving youth‑at‑risk.
• A humbler and poorer lifestyle that frees resources for the poorest families.

The Strenna calls these “counter‑cultural decisions,” where believers show their freedom by choosing the Gospel over comfort or prestige. In this sense, the centenary is not a closing ceremony but a threshold. The good wine of the second century will not simply be more of the same. It will be a renewed, perhaps more fragile, but more authentic richness born from listening, discernment and shared risk.​

8. “Believers, free to serve”: the Salesian vocation as Cana spirituality

Finally, Cana offers us a simple portrait of the Salesian vocation.

• We stand with Mary, close to the needs of the young, seeing what others do not see.
• We hear her quiet command: “Do whatever he tells you” – a call to personal and communal discernment.
• We accept to be servants, not masters; collaborators, not saviours.
• We bring water – the simple, daily gestures of presence, reason, religion and loving‑kindness – and let God decide when and how to make them wine.

We are heading to a wedding, Beloved! The earthly bridegroom at Cana ran out of supplies. He failed. But our Heavenly Bridegroom, the Lord Jesus, has an infinite supply. There were six waterpots. Twenty or thirty gallons each. That is over one hundred gallons of wine. An abundance that no wedding party could consume! This signifies the Superabundant Grace of God.

Are you still holding on to the empty stone waterpots of your own works? Are you trying to scrub your soul clean with the water of morality and religious duty? It is cold. It is empty. It has no life. Or are you intoxicated with the cheap wine of this world? Are you chasing money, fame, or lust, hoping it will make you glad? It will run out. And you will be left thirsty in eternity. I invite you to the True Vine.

To be “believers, free to serve” in this way is to live Cana every day in our courtyards, classrooms, hostels and streets. It is to trust that the Lord who began a good work in Kolkata in 1926 has not run out of wine in 2026.

As the province celebrates its centenary, perhaps our best prayer is simply Mary’s gaze and Mary’s sentence. To look once more at the faces of the young entrusted to us, especially the poorest and most wounded, and whisper to Jesus in the silence of our hearts: “Lord, they have no wine.”  The good Lord grant us to drink deeply of His grace, that our hearts may be made glad in God alone, until we sit down at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb (work and service; bread and heaven). Then, together, as Salesian Family, to listen for his voice and begin again to do whatever he tells us, free and joyful servants at the side of the true Bridegroom of our youth.

 

BELIEVERS, FREE TO SERVE: SALESIAN FAMILY DAY LIGHTS UP BOSCO SPIRIT AT KOLKATA

Walking Together as One Family

The Salesian Family of South Bengal converged on Nitika Don Bosco, Kolkata, on this Centenary Year of the presence of Kolkata Province, on 23 January 2026 for Salesian Family Day, drawing over 112 participants from across the South Bengal region. The date carried a uniquely Bengali resonance: the birth anniversary of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and Saraswati Puja, a day when Bengal honours courage, learning, and youthful energy. Against this backdrop, the Family gathered to reflect on Strenna 2026, “Do whatever he tells you – Believers, free to serve,” proposed by the Rector Major, Fr Fabio Attard. The day followed a simple yet meaningful timetable that helped participants pray, reflect and plan together as one family. Registration began at 9.00 am, followed at 9.45 am by the main input session on the Strenna 2026, which set the tone for the rest of the programme. The day underlined that the Strenna is not a text for SDBs alone but a shared spiritual roadmap for every group of the Salesian Family worldwide.

From the outset, the tone was one of joy and gratitude: joy at being together after another intense year of youth ministry, and gratitude for 150 years of the Salesian Cooperators’ vocation in the Church. Participants included SDBs, FMAs, MSMHCs, SMI Sisters, Salesian Cooperators, ADMA members and lay collaborators, all united by Don Bosco’s charism and by a common desire to listen to the Lord’s voice in today’s youth realities.

Listening to Mary’s Invitation at Cana

The heart of the day was a reflective presentation on Strenna 2026, anchored in the Gospel scene of the wedding at Cana (Jn 2:1–11). Mary’s words, “Do whatever he tells you,” were presented not as a vague exhortation to obedience, but as a pedagogy of listening that calls believers to active, discerning faith. The Rector Major’s commentary on the Strenna stresses that genuine freedom is born of faith in Christ and finds expression in concrete service; believers are “free to serve” because their hearts are already rooted in the One who calls and sends them.

Using the official Strenna logo and posters, the speaker highlighted how the Cana servants become a model for today’s Salesian Family: they recognise the crisis (“they have no wine”), listen to Mary, trust Jesus’ apparently unreasonable request, and act with generous faith. Participants were invited to see themselves in those servants, especially in a Bengal context where “no wine” often means young people deprived of opportunities, direction, and hope.

A Journey of Discernment: Recognise, Interpret, Choose, Act

The day unfolded as a shared journey through four classic stages of Christian discernment that structure the Strenna: recognise, interpret, choose, act.

·      Recognise (SEE): Groups first “read” the world of the young in South Bengal. They named youth as creative, outspoken, digital natives, ambitious, socially aware, and passionate for change—yet also vulnerable to isolation, digital addiction, and value-confusion. Listening with empathy was stressed as the first act of service: an “attentive gaze on reality” that sees in the lives of young people a kind of “treasure chest” where God is already at work.

·      Interpret (LISTEN): Participants were then invited to ask what God is saying through these realities. The call emerged to cultivate spiritual intelligence—seeing youth issues like migration, unemployment, and ecological anxiety through the eyes of Christ, not through fear or nostalgia. Silence, prayer, and community listening were presented as essential to hearing the Lord’s voice amid the noise of social media and polarised politics.

·      CHOOSE: In the third movement, the focus shifted to freedom. The Strenna warns against self‑referential faith and fear-driven decisions; instead, it proposes counter-cultural choices rooted in the Gospel rather than in today’s dominant ideologies of power, possession and pleasure. Participants asked themselves what concrete decisions they must now make as individuals and as groups to be truly “believers, free to serve” and not mere functionaries.

·      ACT: Finally, the Family reflected on actions. Faith that does not translate into service, it was said, remains sterile. The Strenna pushes every group to embrace risk and apostolic daring—trusting in divine Providence and moving beyond safe, event-based ministry into sustained accompaniment of the young, especially those most at risk.

 Youth at the Centre: From Ideas to Concrete Commitments

From 11 am, the Salesian Family members broke into smaller groups to discuss the theme and, at 11.30 am, presented their insights and concrete proposals in plenary. The spiritual heart of the day was the Holy Mass at 12.15 pm, during which the fruits of the morning’s reflection were offered at the altar. Group discussions brought the Strenna down to earth in very practical ways. In response to the question, “What do we see in the young today?”, participants spoke of youth as tech-savvy, expressive, global in outlook, independent and eager for authentic role models. The second question—“What is God telling us as Salesian Family members?”—drew out a strong consensus: to be more present, more approachable, more patient; to listen before judging; to understand the digital world; and to offer guidance that respects freedom while opening paths to God.

When asked, “What have I decided to do to reach out to the young?”, individuals committed themselves to being more available, less controlling, and more willing to walk with youth in their concrete struggles—through mentoring, counselling, peer-group facilitation, and a friendly presence rather than a distant authority. At the community level, a rich list of proposals emerged: talent expos, retreats and value-based events; youth leadership camps; counselling and career guidance centres; skills training hubs; platforms for youth expression; and regular family visits to strengthen the triangle of youth–family–Salesian presence. All of this was seen as the Salesian Family “walking in synodality” with young people, sharing responsibility and decision-making with them rather than simply programming for them.

Mary’s Gaze and Don Bosco’s Dream

Throughout the day, Mary’s attitude at Cana served as a guiding icon. She is not a neutral guest; she notices the lack, listens to the unspoken pain, and quietly creates a path for the miracle by involving the servants. Participants were reminded that Salesian presence must be similarly proactive: seeing the hidden “no wine” of today’s adolescents and young adults and helping them turn the “water” of their daily efforts into the “wine” of a meaningful, faith-filled life.

The celebration closed with a renewed sense that the Salesian Family in South Bengal is called to be an “amphora” of five essential attitudes in 2026: living faith, educational passion, fraternal communion, prophetic courage, and co‑responsibility. In the light of the 150th anniversary of the Salesian Cooperators, everyone was invited to “Give thanks, rethink, relaunch” their vocation, so that Don Bosco’s dream may continue to grow in Bengal’s schools, parishes, youth centres and streets. As one participant summed up the day: “Alone we become irrelevant; together, as a Salesian Family, we are free to serve—and to make the wine of joy flow again in the lives of the young.”

The day’s SF gathering reached its climax with the Concelebrated Eucharistic Celebration thereafter, where the Strenna’s  core ideas were highlighted in the light of the Gospel of the Day in Spirit and Faith. A fraternal lunch at 1.30 pm crowned the celebration before participants began their homeward journey, enriched and encouraged to “do whatever He tells you” in their own local contexts. 

DO YOU WILL TO LIVE A WILLED LIFE ?

The will to live a willed life is, at its deepest level, the desire to let God’s will and our free will meet in a loving, creative partnership. A new year is a privileged moment to renew this partnership and to choose—not just to have a life, but to will a life that is consciously shaped by Christ, for others, and for the Kingdom. ​

 1. From vague wishes to a “willed life”

Every January, people around the world make resolutions: to get fit, to reduce stress, to be more organised or to “spend more time with family.” These are good desires, but often they remain vague wishes. In Catholic spiritual tradition, the invitation goes further: to allow the Holy Spirit to convert our freedom, so that our plans and desires become a response to God’s loving call.

Scripture reminds us that “it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Phil 2:13). Our will is not erased by grace; it is healed, strengthened, and invited to cooperate. A “willed life” is therefore not stoic self‑discipline or sheer will‑power. It is the decision to bring every dimension of life—spiritual, human, emotional, intellectual, ecological—under the gentle lordship of Christ, and to keep choosing this day after day.

A new year is like a blank page. We can drift through it on autopilot, driven by habit and external pressures, or we can write it deliberately with God, allowing his Word to become the deep script of our choices. This is why many Catholic writers encourage concrete spiritual goals at the start of the year: daily prayer, frequent sacraments, acts of mercy, and intentional growth in virtue.​

2. Will, love, and the call to holiness

At first glance, “drawing up a will” or “making a life plan” may sound legalistic or self‑centred, but in the Christian vision it is an act of love. It is a way of asking: How can my time, energy, relationships, gifts and even my material resources serve God’s Kingdom more clearly—now and in the future?​

Jesus tells the rich young man: “Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor… then come, follow me” (Mk 10:21). The heart of the invitation is not loss but freedom: freedom from possessions that possess us, and freedom for a relationship that gives life. In a similar way, a willed life is a freely embraced pattern of commitments—spiritual, relational, apostolic and ecological—that expresses our deepest love for God and neighbour.

In practice, this means deliberately aligning our “small wills” (daily choices) with the “big Will” of God, who desires that “all be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim 2:4). It also means recognising that our decisions have ripple effects: on our families, communities, the Church, and the wider creation. A consciously willed life becomes a channel through which God’s providence and mercy can flow to others.

3. Seeing God’s call in the concrete: one example

The life’s personal spiritual plan you outline—rooted in one’s self  identity, mystical consciousness and apostolic or human service—is a concrete illustration of what it means to will a life in Christ. It is not abstract piety but a carefully discerned response to God’s call at a particular time and place.

Here, God’s call is heard in the quiet rhythm of our home and surrounding, or the workplace: prayer, work at home, work at office, reading, studying, writing, and supportive service. It is deepened by the Church’s ecological magisterium—especially Laudato Si’—and by the Christo‑cosmic vision of Teilhard de Chardin’s “Mass of the World,” where all creation is seen as drawn into the Eucharistic offering of Christ.​

Three elements stand out in this plan:

• Mystical union and eco‑mysticism: God is encountered not only in the chapel but in the whole cosmos; creation becomes a theophany and a partner in praise. ​
• The Non-compulsive Way: faith, reason, devotion and loving gentleness shape the style of presence among others, building relationships of trust and joy. ​
• Integration of dimensions: human self‑care, community life, spiritual depth, intellectual labour, consecrated mission, emotional maturity and ecological responsibility are all woven into a single fabric.

This is what a “willed life” looks like: not a rigid schedule, but a dynamic pattern where each area supports the others, oriented toward a clear Gospel vision—here, a “universal eco‑mysticism” that sees all reality in Christ.

4. Free will and life‑planning in Christian perspective

Modern psychology confirms that people who set specific, meaningful goals and review them regularly are more likely to grow in resilience, wellbeing and purpose. Yet Christian tradition adds something crucial: discernment. The question is not only “What do I want?” but “What is God inviting me to desire?”

Saint Ignatius of Loyola teaches that the human person is created “to praise, reverence and serve God our Lord, and by this means to save his soul,” and that other things are to be used insofar as they help toward this end. The will is free, but it becomes truly free when it chooses according to this fundamental orientation.

A good spiritual life plan therefore:

1. Begins with God’s initiative – recognising how God has already been at work in our history, gifts, wounds and desires.
2. Names the “actual situation” honestly – strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and limits.
3. Sets concrete lines of action – small, realistic steps that can be evaluated and adjusted.
4. Integrates the whole person – body and soul, emotions and intellect, personal and communal, human and ecological.
5. Includes regular examen and review – to see where the Spirit is confirming, challenging or redirecting.

From a theological angle, this honours both divine providence and human freedom: God respects our agency, and we in turn trust his wisdom more than our own impulses.

5. Lines of action: willing a willed life in 2026

Drawing from tried plan and wider ecclesial insights, here are concrete lines of action for anyone wanting to “will a willed life” this year—adaptable to different vocations.

1) Personal spiritual plan of life

• Set a daily rhythm of prayer: a fixed time for morning offering, Scripture meditation (lectio divina), and an evening examen in which you review the day with Christ.
• Choose one key Eucharistic or biblical text—for instance, 2 Cor 5:17 (new creation) or the Canticle of Creation—and let it accompany you as a leitmotif through the year.
• Plan regular silent adoration or nature‑based contemplation, allowing God to re‑shape your inner gaze toward a more contemplative, eco‑sensitive mysticism.

2) Human and emotional wellbeing

• Protect basic self‑care: regular sleep, wholesome food, moderate exercise; these are not selfish luxuries but stewardship of the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 6:19).
• Use tools like a gratitude and reflection journal to notice patterns of stress, joy, consolation and desolation, and to bring them into spiritual direction.
• Practise emotional honesty in community: name your limits, ask for help, and cultivate humour and forgiveness.

3) Family/Community and relationships

• Intentionally show up: for common communiry/family prayer, meals, recreation and meetings, not only physically but with listening and availability.
• Create spaces for shared reading and reflection on Laudato Si’, Christian spirituality, or other texts that connect faith and ecology; this builds a common horizon.
• Seek reconciliation promptly when conflicts arise, practising non‑judgemental dialogue and patient listening.

4) Intellectual and apostolic mission

• Draw up a realistic work schedule that honours both creativity and rest; overproduction without integration can fragment the heart.
• Engage continuously with Church documents, teachings, world situations, synodal reflections and contemporary theology, especially where they intersect with your work mission.
• Mentor at least a few persons—children, students, friends, collaborators—in combining faith, thought and action, helping them develop their own life plans.

5) Ecological conversion and eco‑mysticism

• Let creation become a sacrament of encounter: treat each walk, tree, river or sunrise as an opportunity to praise and intercede for the world. ​
• Integrate practical ecology into daily habits: reduce waste, conserve energy, support local green initiatives, and bring these themes into catechesis and liturgy.
• Cultivate universal brotherhood by building bridges with people of other faiths and cultures around shared concern for the Earth and the poor.

6) Ongoing evaluation and review

• Schedule a quarterly review of your plan: What has borne fruit? What feels forced? Where is the Spirit inviting adjustment?
• Use yearly retreats or major feasts (Easter, Pentecost, Francis of Assisi) as moments to renew and perhaps rewrite parts of your plan.
• Above all, measure “success” not by productivity but by growth in faith, hope, love, joy and compassion.

In all this, the aim is not to control life but to offer it: like bread and wine on the altar, like creation in Teilhard’s cosmic Mass, like Don Bosco’s “Da mihi animas, cetera tolle.”

 

6. Questions for personal reflection

To deepen the move from “will to live” to “willed life,” you might pray with questions like these at the start of the year or during a retreat:

1. When I look back over the past year, where do I recognise moments when I truly lived—when I felt aligned with God’s will, fully present, and generous?
2. Where do I notice patterns of fragmentation—overwork, escapism, anger, compulsive use of media, or neglect of relationships? What do these reveal about my unspoken fears or false securities?
3. How clearly have I named God’s call in my current context—family, community, ministry, creation? If I had to summarise it in two sentences, what would I say?
4. Which dimension of my life plan (human, spiritual, community, intellectual, apostolic, ecological, emotional) is most integrated at present? Which one is most neglected?
5. What one concrete step can I take this month to bring my free will into deeper harmony with God’s will—something small but specific, that I can review at the end of the month?
6. If someone were to read my calendar, budget and daily routine, what would they conclude are my real priorities? How close is that image to the Gospel priorities of Jesus?
7. In the light of Laudato Si’ and the cry of the Earth and the poor, how is God inviting me to widen my circle of concern beyond my immediate comfort zone?​

Conclusion: “Today, with you, Lord”

To will a willed life is ultimately to say each morning: “Today, Lord, I choose to live with you, in you, and for you.” It is to entrust our plans to the One who makes all things new, while taking responsibility for each concrete choice.

As 2026 unfolds, the invitation is simple and demanding: write your life’s plan with a strong will, but write it together with the Holy Spirit; be determined to love those you love most and those you naturally avoid; care for your own heart so that it may become a home for God and a shelter for others; let your relationship with creation become a school of praise and solidarity.

Your gift of a daily, willed life—no matter how hidden—helps secure the future of God’s plan in building the Kingdom. It is an ongoing “yes” that allows Christ to live his own willed life in you, for the blessing of many, long after this year has passed.​ 

FEDERAL INDIA AT THE CLIMATE CROSSROADS: AFTER COP30, WILL WE CHOOSE SOLIDARITY OR SINKING? WINDOW CLOSING, POLITICS DRIFTING

Introduction

India returned from COP30 in Belem, Brazil, with fine words and diplomatic smiles. But beneath the gloss lies a dangerous gap between rhetoric and readiness. COP30 in Belem has told the world a blunt truth. The Amazon summit reminded the world that the 1.5°C threshold is no longer a distant danger. It is now a breached boundary. The guardrail has been breached; the window for meaningful action is narrow and shrinking fast. For a federal, climate‑fragile India, this is not an abstract alarm. It is a warning about food on the plate, water in the tap, and roofs over the heads of millions from Ladakh to Kanyakumari. Yet New Delhi still prefers incrementalism, slogans and optics to deep structural change.​

COP30 placed responsibility squarely before emerging economies. And for the Global South Asia, the call is unmistakable — we survive only if we stand together. Not as isolated nation-states, but as a region with shared rivers, winds, forests, oceans, and destinies. This region in particular, stands on the frontline of a warming planet. Its parliamentarians have responded with a call for climate solidarity — a regional architecture that can pool knowledge, technology and finance through a proposed South Asian Climate Cooperation Council (SACCC). India should have been its boldest champion. Instead, domestic politics, Centre–state tensions and short‑term economic calculations blunt its response. ​

Indians are scorched by heatwaves, drowned by floods, uprooted by storms, and suffocated by smog. Yet in New Delhi, the climate file gathers dust. Commitments melt like Himalayan glaciers. Promises evaporate like parched reservoirs in Vidarbha, Kutch and Bundelkhand. India’s federal structure, once imagined as a dynamic balance between Centre and States, today resembles a climate gridlock. We speak of climate justice, while lakhs breathe toxic air. We speak of transition, while coal expansion marches on.

Here we argue for climate federalism and regional solidarity, expose the political ill-will slowing urgent reform, and offers a roadmap for real action. No diplomatic cushioning. Time is too short for soft language. In sharp clear voice and with strong words this uncompromising truth must to told: Federal India needs climate solidarity.

One Climate, One Future

South Asia is not a collection of independent climates. It is a single ecological pulse. When Bangladesh sinks, West Bengal shivers. When the Hindu Kush melts, Punjab dries. When the Maldives drowns, Kerala’s coast retreats. When Sri Lanka burns, Tamil Nadu feels the heat. The region is warming faster than the global average. If the trajectory continues, by 2050 South Asia may lose 1.8% of annual GDP, erase millions of jobs, kill thousands through heat stress, and displace entire cultures. Seasonal rhythms are breaking. Traditional agriculture falters. Fisherfolk sail farther for fewer fish. Forest dwellers walk longer for water. The tragedy is not only climatic — it is political. We know what must be done. We simply refuse to do it, fast.

COP30: A Mirror the World May Not Like

The Amazon meeting shouted one truth: Paris has failed us. Not the Agreement, but the ambition behind it. Too little, too late. Too dependent on voluntary goodwill in a world powered by coal, greed, and nationalistic hoarding of resources.

At COP30, the Global South demanded climate finance, technology access, adaptation funding, and equitable carbon space. India spoke of stewardship, lifestyle change, and Mission LiFE. But at home, ministries bicker, state governments plead for funds, and climate action depends on bureaucratic goodwill. Political parties trade climate for votes. Industry lobbies drown science with sponsorships.

The summit urged a new architecture — one built on South-South cooperation, shared technology, cross-border power lines, and pooled finance. Leaders’ suggested SACCC is a brilliant proposal. India should be anchor, not observer. But New Delhi’s climate diplomacy moves like a bullock cart on a six-lane highway. The world is burning. India cannot afford lethargy.

The Problem: Climate Ambition Without Accountability

India talks climate transition. But the reality reveals contradictions: Coal capacity is expanding; Forests shrink under ‘development’; River linking threatens fragile ecosystems; Cities choke under PM2.5 deposits; EV policy remains patchy and urban-elitist; Climate budgets shrink when GDP slows.

States demand a share in climate policy. But decisions remain centralized. Funds trickle unevenly. Climate disasters become political scoreboards instead of lessons. The Centre promises green hydrogen, solar parks, and circular economy models, but policy execution remains weak, fragmented, and unmonitored. We have climate intent. We lack climate integrity

A federation on the front line

South Asia risks losing nearly 1.8 per cent of annual GDP by 2050 from extreme heat, sea‑level rise, floods and droughts. India will bear a heavy share of that loss. The Indo‑Gangetic plain now faces deadly wet‑bulb temperatures more often; coastal districts from Kutch to the Sundarbans are eroding and salinating; the Himalayan arc is warming faster than the global average. These are not distant forecasts but lived experience after each monsoon and each cyclone. ​

Federal India adds another layer of complexity. Energy, forests, water and urban development are deeply shared or state subjects under the Constitution. Climate policy cannot be executed from a single ministry in Delhi; it demands genuine cooperative federalism, with empowered states and panchayats, transparent revenue‑sharing, and room for local innovation. Instead, climate has become another arena for centralised control through centrally sponsored schemes, politically timed clearances and selective allocation of green funds. ​

A Federal Climate Compact: The Only Way Forward

Climate cannot be solved by one ministry. Or one political party. Or one election cycle.
We need a National Climate Solidarity Pact, binding Centre and States to measurable action. Not advisory. Mandatory.

The Key pillars are: 1. Green Federal Fund (GFF): A pooled national account, co-financed by Centre, States, CSR, and international climate finance. Allocation linked to verified outcomes — renewable generation, wetlands restored, waste reduced, mangroves planted. 2. State Climate Rights Charter: Legal recognition of each state’s right to carbon budget, clean air, safe water, and disaster compensation. No more discretionary relief. Compensation must be rule-based and time-bound. 3. District-level Climate Councils: Climate governance must begin at panchayat and municipal levels. These councils monitor groundwater, waste, emissions, crop shifts, and early warnings. Local database. Local accountability. 4. Climate Education in Every Syllabus: Not elective. Core compulsory. From Class 1 to universities. Science meets ethics. Policy meets citizenship. India needs not only solar farms — but climate-literate citizens.

Regional Action: South Asia Must Breathe Together

Climate does not stop at Wagah, Petrapole, Lipulekh, Phungling or Talaimannar. We must think beyond borders. COP30 gave us structural ideas worth adopting immediately:

South Asian Climate Cooperation Council (SACCC): A permanent body of India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Afghanistan. Research + finance + policy integration. Political disagreements cannot freeze environmental collaboration.

Regional Knowledge & Innovation Centres: Distributed hubs, each with elite specialization: Maldives — coastal resilience, corals, island water security; Sri Lanka — mangroves, 30x30 conservation model; Bhutan — mindful green cities, forest governance; India — grid integration, renewable scaling, green hydrogen. Knowledge must be shared, not patented for geopolitical leverage.

 South Asia Green Climate Finance Facility: One regional fund. One pipeline.
Many investors. Issue regional climate bonds. Invite World Bank, ADB, GCF. Fund cross-border renewables, Himalayan glaciers monitoring, Bay of Bengal cyclone defence, Indus-Ganga-Brahmaputra River conservation.

A South Asian Scientific Commission: Independent. Fiercely evidence-driven. Zero political interference. Let science lead. Not propaganda.

India’s Ill-Will and half‑measured policy

Let us speak plainly. India went to COP30 projecting itself as a “climate leader of the Global South,” highlighting Mission LiFE, solar expansion and green hydrogen announcements. The narrative was polished. The domestic record is mixed. The current dispensation prides itself on big slogans, global summits, green speeches. But when policy demands sacrifice, dialogue, and power-sharing — the government blinks. Coal lobbies overpower renewable urgency. State consultations are cosmetic, not collaborative. New coal mines and coal‑based power plants continue to receive clearances, locking in emissions and air pollution for decades. ​

Environmental Impact Assessments are diluted or fast‑tracked; public hearings are treated as hurdles, not democratic rights. Civil society activism is criminalised. Forest and coastal regulations have been loosened to favour infrastructure and extractive projects, from highways through tiger corridors to ports in fragile coastal belts. Forests opened to mining are rebranded as ‘eco-tourism’. The pattern is clear. Climate action remains secondary to short-term capital, electoral populism, and majoritarian political narratives. Climate finance is highly centralised, with state governments and local bodies struggling to access predictable adaptation funds. Climate refugees do not vote as blocs. Melting glaciers have no lobbyists. We know well, without political courage, even the best international frameworks collapse. Such choices reveal a form of political ill‑will: not open denial of climate science, but a persistent refusal to align fiscal priorities, land‑use decisions and industrial policy with the scale of the crisis flagged at COP30.

Climate solidarity: a test for Delhi

The recent Indian Express piece by South Asian MPs suggests a clear three‑pillar design for regional climate solidarity: a knowledge and innovation hub, a green climate finance facility, and a scientific commission for South Asia. India is pivotal to all three. Its power grid already enables cross‑border electricity trade under the SAARC Framework Agreement for Energy Cooperation; a trilateral line sends power from Nepal to Bangladesh through Indian territory; and the “One Sun One World One Grid” idea is on the table. ​

But regional diplomacy has been uneven. India’s relations with Pakistan are frozen; SAARC is dormant; even with friendlier neighbours, New Delhi often prefers bilateral deals that underline asymmetry rather than shared governance. If India wants to be taken seriously as a climate leader after COP30, it must reverse this pattern and actively build the SACCC architecture, not merely tolerate it. ​

Concrete proposals for a reluctant government

The present dispensation can still pivot from symbolism to substance. That requires decisions that cut across ministries, parties and electoral cycles. The following proposals are politically tough but technically feasible.

1. Make climate federalism real

Constitutional climate council: Establish a permanent National Climate and Just Transition Council under Article 263, with chief ministers, Union ministers and representatives of scheduled areas and islands. It should clear major energy, mining and infrastructure plans for climate compatibility and just‑transition impacts.

Predictable state climate finance: Earmark a fixed share of GST or cess revenues for a State Climate Action Fund, allocated by transparent formulae based on vulnerability and performance, not party alignment. ​

City‑level adaptation compacts: Sign climate adaptation compacts with key metros and vulnerable coastal and Himalayan cities, linking extra finance to hard commitments on heat‑action plans, flood‑resilient zoning and nature‑based solutions.

2. Draw a red line under new coal

COP30’s message implies an urgent phase‑down of unabated coal. India need not shut mines overnight, but it must stop expanding the problem. ​

No‑new‑coal moratorium for post‑2030 projects: Announce that no new greenfield coal plants will be approved beyond those already in the pipeline, and that any replacement capacity after 2030 will be renewable or storage‑backed.

Just transition plans for coal districts: Mandate detailed transition roadmaps for districts in Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and West Bengal, including retraining funds, health remediation, and diversification into solar manufacturing, agro‑processing and ecosystem restoration. International climate finance can be sought around these plans. ​

3. Put adaptation at the centre of fiscal policy

For millions of Indians, adaptation is not a side‑issue; it is survival.

National Adaptation Budget Statement: Present, alongside the Union Budget, an annual statement of adaptation spending across ministries — water, health, agriculture, housing, rural development — with measurable outcomes.

Gram sabha climate rights: Amend relevant laws so that gram sabhas in scheduled and coastal areas can veto or demand redesign of projects that raise local climate risk, including mangrove destruction or groundwater over‑extraction.

Insurance and social protection for climate shocks: Scale up subsidised crop and health insurance bundled with universal basic services — safe drinking water, primary health, public housing retrofits — in districts classified as climate “hotspots.”

4. Lead, not lag, on South Asian cooperation

India’s size should be an asset, not a threat, in building regional climate solidarity.

Champion the SACCC: Offer to host the secretariat of the South Asian Climate Cooperation Council on a rotational basis, with a clear pledge: decisions will be consensus‑based; small states will have equal voice in scientific panels and finance boards. ​

Share grid and data: Fast‑track the One Sun One World One Grid initiative in South Asia, with open access rules and transparent pricing, while also supporting common climate‑data platforms on monsoon behaviour, glacier melt and cyclone patterns. ​

Co‑branded regional projects: Develop flagship regional projects — a Bay of Bengal mangrove belt, a Himalayan glacier observatory network, a South Asian heat‑health early‑warning system — and pitch them jointly to the Green Climate Fund and multilateral banks. ​

5. Clean up domestic climate governance

Political ill‑will thrives in opacity. Sunlight can change incentives.

Independent Indian Climate Commission: Set up a statutory body with scientists, economists and social representatives to review progress against India’s NDCs, net‑zero pathways and loss‑and‑damage needs, and to publish periodic “state of the climate” reports. Model it on the UK Climate Change Committee but tailor it to India’s federal context. ​

Transparent carbon accounting: Mandate standardised corporate climate disclosures, including Scope 3 emissions for large fossil‑fuel and cement firms, with independent verification.

Citizen climate dashboards: Create open dashboards mapping air quality, heat‑risk, flood‑prone zones and project clearances, so citizens, courts and media can hold all levels of government accountable.

6. Put vulnerable communities at the table

Climate solidarity means solidarity first with India’s own most exposed citizens.

Institutional voice: Reserve seats for representatives of coastal fishers, forest‑dwelling communities, informal workers and people with disabilities in national and state climate councils.

Loss‑and‑damage registry: Develop a transparent registry that documents climate‑linked displacement, livelihood loss and cultural erosion — especially in the Sundarbans, Kutch, coastal Odisha and Himalayan valleys — to inform domestic compensation schemes and international negotiations.

Cultural resilience: Support local languages, rituals and knowledge systems that carry memory of floods, droughts and storms; climate policy should not erase these but learn from them. ​

The Road India Must Walk

Here are concrete, time-bound proposals for the present government. Not wishful. Implementable.

Legally-binding Net Zero Accountability: Every ministry must file annual decarbonization report cards. Missed targets face budget penalties.

Phase-down Coal, Not Expand It: Freeze new coal approvals. Redirect subsidies to solar rooftops and community-owned renewables.

            50-City Clean Air Mission: Mandatory pollution budgets. Daily violation fines. Clean fuel transition for industry within five years.

National Water Security Act: Glacier protection. Wetland revival. Ban river sand mining in critical zones. Waste-water recycling targets for every state.

A Tribal-Led Forest Restoration Corps: Indigenous communities must lead conservation. Protect rights. Share profits. Stop extractive displacement.

Agro-Ecology Transition: Minimum 30% of agriculture under organic, regenerative and climate-resilient cropping by 2035. MSP support for millets and climate-fit crops.

Bay of Bengal Cyclone Defence Shield: Mangrove belts. Floating solar. Coastal embankments. Evacuation tech. Regional data sharing with Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

A Closing Warning

South Asia stands at the mouth of a furnace. The monsoon is mutating. Rivers carry salt instead of sweetness. Farmers bury crops. Cities drown overnight. Summer kills. Winter dries. The poor lose homes first. Women walk farthest for water. Children breathe the dirtiest air. We need federal cooperation. Regional cooperation. Climate justice rooted in science, not slogans. The clock is not ticking. It is ringing. After COP30, history will not judge us by speeches. It will judge us by survival. India can do all this. We simply lack political will. India must lead — or the region sinks together.