A few days back my fellow brother in Christ, Dayroyo Fr. Mathews entered his 90th year.
Ninety – a number formed by the combination of the digits 9 and 0 – is invested with great value. First off, let’s unravel the significance of the digit 9.
Per biblical numerology, nine represents completeness, maturity, the consummation of divine act and the manifestation of divine fullness.
1. The fruits of the Holy Spirit are nine (Gal 5:22-23).
2. Christ dies on the Cross at the Ninth Hour (Matt 27:45-50).
3. The day of forgiveness or Yom Kippur of the Jews begins at the sunset of the ninth day of the seventh month (Lev 23:32).
4. Although Christ healed ten lepers (Lk 17:11-19) only one of them returned to thank Him making the remaining nine constant reminders of gratitude we owe God yet forget to express.
5. Before falling into the hands of the Assyrians, Hosea the last King of Israel ruled for nine years (2 Kgs 17:1-6)
6. It was nine months after the Great Flood did the water recede and the mountaintop become visible (Gen. 8:5).
7. Finally, an average human gestation period is nine months.
Thus nine symbolizes wholeness and finality.
Next, the digit 0.
Zero represents void or vacuum. However, it also represents possibility and potential.
1. God begins His creation from a formless chaotic void and darkness.
2. The Sedro of the Divine Liturgy further affirms this; “O Lord, the High and Exalted, who created us from nothing and brought us into existence.”
Therefore, 90 is formed by combining 9 (the digit of wholeness) and 0 (the digit of infinite possibility).
Ninety is an age where human expectations cease. That may be why the ninetieth psalm itself mentions; “The days of our life are seventy years, or perhaps eighty.” (Ps 90:10). Ninety seems a hopeless and farfetched idea to humans. Yet God begins where humans give up. Probably that’s why Sara gives birth to Isaac at the age of ninety (Gen 17:17).
Rooted in this assurance Dayroyo Fr. Mathews embraces ninety not as the end of expectations rather the beginning of new divine missions. For instance, he welcomes his birthday by spearheading the interment of a portion of the Holy relics of St. Ignatius Elias III at his church. So you see what seems an end to us is often a beginning for God. As T. S. Eliot rightly says; “The end is where we start from.”
As we acknowledge and appreciate the long, yeomen, extensive and diverse services of dear Dayroyo Fr. Mathews rendered to the church and society, let us pray that may God continue to strengthen and prepare him to accomplish phenomenal things for the glory of God. As C.S. Lewis reckons; “You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.”
Many years and blessings dear Rambachan and cheers to new beginnings! 
~ Dayroyo Fr. Basil
Urho, The Way 