Do you see Jesus?

THE WORD AND THE SAINT 

August 1, 2025: Remembering St. Alphonsus Liguori

Leviticus 23: 1,4-11,15-16,27; Matthew 13: 54-58

Due to their lack of faith, Jesus did not work many mighty deeds among them, says the Gospel today.  Someone might argue, “but if God could not do a miracle, be it for whatever reason, is it not a limitation or a weakness?" Let us pay attention, it is not God's weakness, but the strength that God has shared with us. What do we mean?

God created us in God's image and likeness and this likeness ensures that we are hardly different from God (Ps.8)! That makes us also persons with inviolable freedom, a freedom which not even God would take away. Though many resent it saying it is the cause of scores of evils in the world, it is that which makes us human, and gives us the dignity as the images of the Creator. Without the 'personal freedom' we would be no more than the animals.

Faith and Freedom have a great deal to do with each other. Faith is a response given in freedom, a total absolute freedom of the inner being of a person. Jesus in his freedom chooses to enter the synagogue to pray with his people and the people with their freedom choose to see only the apparent facts of Jesus, as the son of the carpenter and a son of their soil. They were not able to see the divine import of his actions, his words and the signs that he was accomplishing.

Just as we have in the saints, specially like those of Alphonsus de Ligouri whom we celebrate today, we have people who were ever prepared to recognise the Lord, that is the reason they did not miss the Lord or allow the Lord to pass by unnoticed! They become non just beholders of God, but ambassadors of God. 

Especially today, it can happen so that we look at Jesus as someone kept aside for Sundays, special days and some particular moments of other days! It is an oft repeated warning from the Lord, not to make our spirituality legalistic and our piety pharisaic!

Set Apart...for the glory of God!

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

July 31, 2025: Remembering St. Ignatius of Loyola
Exodus 40:16-21,34-38; Mt 13: 47-53

Moses did exactly as the Lord had directed him. The first reading begins thus. And that is what set Moses apart! Joshua would soon be following suit. We are constantly being judged, of course, not by God and not even by the world, but by our very actions and our choices. We are set apart as people of God but that is no guarantee that we will remain so forever. Just as we were set apart we could be set aside too, again depending on our choices and our readiness to do as God directs! 

The Lord is present among us, as pointed out by the tabernacle that Moses made. It is a clear message sent to the people and to us: God dwells amidst us; God is with us. God shares our lives. We are set apart to do exactly as God directs. Ignatius of Loyola whom we remember today, was a perfect example of this way of life, one who did everything esactly as God directed him! 

Ignatius, in the thirtieth year of his life, came to know the Lord at a closer communion and fell so madly in love with the Lord that he was ready to do anything "FOR THE GREATER GLORY OF GOD" (ad maiorem Dei gloriam). A holy fixation that led to the great movement of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) and so many other movements related to that; a strong determination to do what the Lord wants and for the greater glory of the Lord. The emphasis that he laid in his teaching on "discernment" was precisely to ensure we do as God directs us... when we do it, we realise that we are set part; and if and when we fail, we would be consequentially set aside! Do we wish to be in the net? Or to be cast away? 

The need to cover your face!

WORD 2day: Wednesday, 17th week in Ordinary time

July 30, 2025: Exodus 34: 29-35; Matthew 13: 44-46

The need to cover your face! In the first reading today, we have an interesting account of Moses who would cover his face with a veil because, it shone after the meeting with the Lord. We see in the television newscast and other dailies where people cover their face, when taken into police custody or arrested for some malpractices! Two extreme reasons which can lead us to cover our face - one, shame and the other, a holy embarrassment - it all depends on one fact - where lies your treasure or which is the pearl you are in search of?

Many of the saints who found their treasure in the Lord, were found to act crazy! They gave up everything - their wealth, their prospects, their career, their comfort, their health, even their life - because they found the Lord and the Lord's will for them! Some of them were even considered lunatic and taken to asylums. As St. Paul says, they have behaved like "fools for Christ"(1 Cor 4:10).

In whatever we do, in whatever we choose, if we have the Lord ever before our mind and always as our priority and criterion, we will never have the need to cover our face in shame. Look up to him and be radiant, says the Psalmist (Ps 34:5). When we continuously grow in our union of intention with the Lord, we would certainly reach a moment, when we would be forced to cover our face – out of sheer radiance of the Lord!

Let us fix our eyes on the Lord, from whom all richness and light come. All that matters is that our treasure, our pearl remains forever, the Reign of God!

Love makes us siblings!

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

July 29, 2025: Remembering Martha, Maria and Lazarus
1 John 4; 7-16: 1-9; John 11: 19-27.

What has traditionally been celebrated as the feast of St. Martha, from 2021, we have been celebrating as the feast of the Siblings of Bethany - Martha, Mary and Lazarus - thanks to our beloved late Holy Father Pope Francis. Just as we recently celebrated the Grandparents' day... this could be also considered as the Siblings day...reminding us, how we need to as siblings love each other, sustain each other and be connected to the Lord together in love.  

In the Gospel, we see when Martha tells Jesus, "if you were here, my brother would not have died," Martha's (and Mary's) hope in the Lord was plainly expressed in those words. But the Lord challenges them to journey further in their hope, not to get stuck to clichés, not to remain with mere oft-repeated statements and memorised aphorisms... but to go all the way out, in trusting the Lord. It is like what St. Paul who says about Abraham (Rom 4:18), that Jesus invites Martha and Mary: to hope against hope!

Martha's confession about Christ is in no way less than the confession of St. Peter! The faith that Martha had in Jesus was so profound that she believed when Jesus was around nothing could go wrong. Jesus acknowledges the trust that Martha had in him, but invites her to go a step ahead and trust that even if things went wrong, she had nothing to fear for the Lord was with her always! 

Martha, Mary and Lazarus are given to us, in contrast to the people whom the prophets before Jesus and Jesus himself had to encounter... people who heard everything said and saw everything done, but at the first instance of a crisis or doubt, they fell back to their faithless ways. To stay strong without falling, we need to sustain each other - Martha and Mary, Disciples gathered together in the upper room, etc... are models we have of those who sustained themselves in each other's love, during moments of struggle. 

As we hear from the first reading, love is proposed as an over-all remedy and today, in a special way, the love between the siblings! Even if we are not siblings, our love in the One Lord, makes us siblings. Let us love one another! 

PRAYER IS RELATIONSHIP

An Authentic Christ-ian Prayer...

July 27, 2025: 17th Sunday in Ordinary time
Genesis 18: 20-32; Colossians 2: 12-14; Luke 11:1-13

Prayer... A Christian Prayer... An authentic Christian Prayer... A Christ-like prayer... is fundamentally one's Relationship with God. Out of the numerous attributes to God that were proper to the historical experience of the people of Israel, which was his own experience too, Jesus picked that of 'Father'. That was the most scandalous of all, for the Jews. When Jesus called God, Abba, Father (Mk 14:36) as we see in Gospels, he was demonstrating an intimate relationship that existed, not only between him and the One who sent him, but also between everyone who believes in him and in the One who sent him...as John says, to all who believed in him, he gave the right to become the children of God (Jn 1:12). Radically for Jesus, faith was a process of acknowledging a God who reveals Godself as a father, a mother, as one who created us, one who cares for us! Consequently, Prayer for him was a relationship that one shared with God; a relationship that is built on a personal sharing, that is, on DIALOGUE.

Prayer is a Dialogue... a dialogue where there is a sharing of minds and oneness of heart. Abraham, today is presented in the reading as dialoguing with God... he does not only speak his mind but listens to God and gets to know God's mind. A beautiful picture of a person in conversation with God - trying to raise his preoccupations, with the limited knowledge that he has, but with the concern he has for the life of the others. And an amazing depiction of God who knows very well that there will not be even 10 righteous people as Abraham claims, but listens patiently to his pleas, allows him to talk and permits him to share his concerns.

At times when we begin to furnish a list to God and ask that to be granted on order; or when we make programmes and suggest God to follow; or when we find problems with God's designs and suggest improvements - we need to remind ourselves of this dimension of prayer - prayer as a dialogue! It consists not only in speaking but also in listening, waiting for and accepting God's will. Prayer is a dialogue, a dialogue that is initiated by the overwhelming RECOGNITION OF GOD'S GOODNESS.

The overwhelming recognition of God's goodness and majesty is what initiates the process of dialogue! The Psalm beautifully presents the human heart opening itself up to God, in praise and thanksgiving! A true Christian prayer begins there! St. Paul formulates this so well in his letter instructing, "do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God" (Phil 4:6).

When we recognise the loving presence, the helping hand, the protecting wings, the sheltering solace of God on a daily basis, we cannot help singing the praise of God in spite of the endless needs and preoccupations we can possibly have in life! That recognition of God's goodness and majesty and our readiness to acknowledge and submit to it, bestows on us the greatest of all gifts, the TOTAL ACCEPTANCE BY GOD.

God accepts me totally, unconditionally, in spite of all my imperfections and iniquities - this is the realisation out of which a lovely relationship is born - that relationship we call, Prayer. The second reading today affirms that God has forgiven me, buried all my sins and nailed them to the Cross on which my saviour Jesus died for me! And with the same Jesus, God has raised me to the status of God's child, in my baptism! God loves me so much that God accepts me with all my limitations, with all my childishness, with all my idiosyncrasies.

Comparing this relationship to friendship in the parable that Jesus narrates today, he subtly communicates a point that we can be sometimes foolish, simplistic and thoughtless in the things that we ask from God or in the way we ask for them. Still, we need not hesitate, we can go right on and do it, because God accepts us as we are. It is that affirmation that gives us the right to stand in the presence of the Lord and be ourselves, as Abraham dared to be!

Let us treasure this great relationship we have with God, yearn to be in God's presence and live in God's presence as authentically as possible, as innocent and dependent as children, as grateful and obedient as sons and daughters, as rightful and loving as Jesus himself was towards God, whom he revealed to us our Our Father and Mother!

Grandparents' day today!

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

July 26, 2025: Celebrating Sts. Joachim and Anne, parents of Mary and grandparents of Jesus
Ecclesiastes 44: 1,10-15; Matthew 13: 16-17

The first setting in which faith enlightens humanity is the family, declared Pope Francis in his encyclical Lumen Fidei (n. 52).  He further explained that passing on of faith in the family happens in the process of shared expression of faith within the family, helping children to become aware of their faith and grow and mature in it.

Christian faith is always communitarian and it is passed on initially and primarily in the family. Recent studies have shown that on the level of faith being lived (or practiced) in Europe vis-a-vis in India, that one major reason for the degeneration in Europe is the weakening of the institution of the family. Those who hand on faith to us are really God-given. Most important among them, our parents and grandparents who not only give us life but show us also how to live it, from their own experience.

Celebrating a day to remember the parents of Mary, the Mother of God and our Mother, provides us an opportunity to remember with thanks these our fore-runners in faith, as the first reading suggests, 'let us praise famous persons, our parents in their generations. These were persons of mercy, whose righteous deeds have not been forgotten' (Sir 44:1,10). Infact, thanks to them, we are in a position better than them due to their hard work, great example and their dreams for us! Jesus acknowledges that in his words (Mt 13:16-17) and exhorts us to live up to our blessedness, our giftedness, worthy of the faith and tradition that is transmitted to us, from our predecessors.

For the past four years, inspired by Pope Francis' call, we have been holding this day as a grateful remembrance of our grandparents! Pope Francis, had pointed to this day as World Grandparents' Day in the Church, and asked for it to be celebrated on the closest Sunday to the feast we celebrate today, that of Sts. Joachim and Anne. If you have the fortune of having them still with you, give them a bear hug and say a big thanks! And if they are no more, remember them with love and gratitude! Whatever be the case, let us celebrate them!

Called to follow the Contradictions

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

July 25, 2025: Celebrating St. James the Apostle
2 Corinthians 4: 7-15; Matthew 20: 20-28

We believe, so we speak! That was the watchword of the band of apostles, as St. Paul notes in the first reading today (2Cor 4:13). However, there was a time when even the apostles did not understand what Jesus was upto... they looked at Jesus like any other leader, carrying forward his career! But in time, Jesus made them understand that they are called to follow, a leader who is 'crazy' in the terms of the world, a man who was full of contradictions.

Whoever among you would be the great must be a servant, and who would be the first must be a slave. James and John today become the occasion for Jesus to reinstate his philosophy of life, indeed a tough one. St. Paul understood that philosophy perfectly and he expressed it lucidly when he said, we carry within our bodies the death of Jesus, that the life of Jesus might be manifested in us. He says, death was at work in the lives of Apostles, so that life can be experienced by those to whom they carried the message.

When the culture at large would teach that it is important to prevent death and seek life, the apostles seemingly seek death, in order to give life, and behold eternal life! And they invite the others to believe and once they believe, the believers too seek to carry within themselves the death of Jesus, so that the world may receive life in Christ. That is the chain of apostleship that is passed on to us... to be apostles is to carry the death of Jesus within us, that we may ultimately manifest the eternal life in Jesus to the world.

James, the first of the apostles to be put to death (Acts 12:2) bears a resounding witness to this way of life; the life of apostleship, the life of contradiction! 

Seeing and Hearing - Lightening and Thunder

WORD 2day: Thursday, 16th week in Ordinary time

July 24, 2025 - Exodus 19: 1-2,9-11,16-20; Matthew 13: 10-17

Happy are your eyes for they see what they see; happy are your ears for they hear what they hear! Israel encountered the Lord, just as Moses did. Moses saw God, the people saw the lightening; Moses heard the Lord speak, the people heard the peals of thunder. They were frightened to the core, while Moses was not. Seeing and hearing are two great faculties that the Lord has given us!

Even spiritually seeing and hearing are wondrous gifts of God. God wishes that we may see: but do we look at God's presence as an illumination of life and its meaning or merely as fearsome lightening? God speaks that we may hear: but do we hear those words or only a noisy thunder? 

Jesus declares it openly, that it is not destroying the traditions that he was intent on, but finding the right rationale behind so many things that we see and hear. If we dont really understand the way the Lord wants us to understand, the revelations that are sent our way will remain only lightening and thunder...but if we are with open eyes and heed our ears, we shall see and hear the Lord, in varied events of our days. 

Are we ready to meet the Lord, to see and to hear... not out of fear, but in awe, respect and love!

To become fertile soli...

WORD 2day: Wednesday, 16th week in Ordinary time

July 23, 2025: Exodus 14:21 - 15:1; Matthew 12: 46-50

Those who have ears, let them hear; those who have eyes, let them see; those who have a heart, let them feel... how pained Jesus would have been to say this! The people saw him cure the sick, give sight to the blind, make the deaf hear and the mute speak, drive the demons out and raise people from the dead! In spite of all these the people were not ready to believe him! He was wondering what kind of a heart they had... rocks, or thorny bushes or sandy sidewalks... how he wished they were good fertile soil.

However, Jesus knew what kind of people he was dealing with - the children of the people who saw the plagues one after another in Egypt, but still readily murmured when they saw the Egyptians pursue them; the people who saw the Egyptians perish right in front of their eyes, but still readily murmured when they had nothing to eat; the people who saw the manna fall from nowhere and the quails that fell right into their mouths, but still readily murmured that they would die for want of water; the people who saw water gush forth from a rock in the middle of the desert, but still readily murmured that manna was tasteless and the quails were stale!

Hard and stubborn as they were, nothing pierced their hearts to make it bear fruit as God wanted from them... the warning to us is clear! How prone we are to murmur against God in times of trouble, forgetting the abundance of graces we have received! The capacity to see God's presence in our daily life will decide, whether we are sandy sidewalks or rocky ruins or thorny bushes or as God wants, fertile soil!

Weeping blinds you... listen and look!

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

July 22, 2025: Celebrating St. Mary Magdalene 

Song of Songs 3: 1-4; John 20:1-2,11-18

We celebrate Mary Magdalene, the first apostle of the Risen Lord. It may be a surprising title to give her, but factually it is so! An apostle is someone who is sent, sent with a message, sent with a task... and the first one who was sent, sent with a message, sent with a task by the Risen Lord was Mary of Magdala! Hence, isn't it true that she was the first apostle of the Risen Lord?

Mary Magdalene loved Jesus intensely. She was delivered by Jesus from seven demons, the Gospels tell us. And after that for her, Jesus, her Master meant everything in life. The first reading is given to make us understand how intimately she had loved Jesus. She had encountered, experienced and cherished her relationship with Jesus, while he lived, in such close quarters but now the Risen Lord stands right beside her and she is unable to identify him... the reason: she is too occupied with her weeping and complaining.

At times in our lives when troubles come by and trials abound, we fumble and falter as if we are all alone. We fail to recognise the Lord who sticks so close to us, because we are too busy weeping and complaining.

If only we opened our eyes and saw; if only we opened our hearts and listened; if only we believed in the words of the Lord, "I have conquered the world"... we would leap for joy and love to cling to the Lord. Mary Magdalene gives us a clear message: stop weeping; weeping blinds you; look, listen and you will leap for joy, for the Lord is with you now and always!

Stand up, cry out and carry on!

WORD 2day: Monday, 16th week in Ordinary time

July 21, 2025: Exodus 14: 5-18; Matthew 12: 38-42

Look at the images given to us today - the raging waters, the pressing enemy forces, the stone hearted beneficiaries, the swallowing sea monster, the gulf that separates the south and the north, the hard headed wicked generation - there is everywhere threat and the so-called evil stands out. What are we going to do?... Stand up, Cry out and Carry on!

Stand Up against the evil: Jesus never feared the pressurising crowd. He was able to stand up and call a spade a spade. He was able to chide them on their face - you evil generation. A person of God needs that spirit to be bold, to stand up against the evil and to stand up for the truth.

Cry Out to the Lord: It is never by my own power that I can fight the powers of evil. No I cannot. I need to cry out to the Lord, just as Moses did. Moses was mindful of the fact that he was about God's business and it belonged to God to accomplish whatever has to be, in and through God's servants. In whatever we do, we need to acknowledge the presence of God and the workmanship of God.

Carry On with the Lord: Never give in to the pressure of pleasing the clamouring crowd. The world will keep shouting at you, criticising you and giving you easier and more pragmatic alternatives. But what matters is to carry on with the Lord. That is what we see with both Moses and Jesus - they never obeyed the crowd, they never gave in to the expectations of the world. They carried on with the One who had called them: their Father!

GOD VISITS US...

Behold! I stand at the door and knock...

July 20, 2025: 16th Sunday in Ordinary time
Genesis 18: 1-10; Colossians 1:24-28; Luke 10: 38-42

Behold! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me - Rev. 3:20 summarises the liturgy of the Word today! The Lord visits us, everyday; in various ways, in ways ordinary or wondrous, the Lord visits us. What is our response and what should it be - that is the question we are invited to reflect on.

The first reading pictures God visiting Abraham. It is interesting to read the first three verses and a great lesson awaits us there. The first two verses say, that the Lord appeared and Abraham lifted his eyes and saw three men! Not in glorious light or in flaming clouds, but in three simple men, that the Lord visited Abraham. Reading further the second and the third verse together, gives us another detail, Abraham saw three men and he addressed them, "My Lord, do not pass by." Though Abraham saw the men, he was able to behold the presence of the Lord. The Message for today is established right there! Our God visits us... on a daily basis.. in one way or the other, in ways ordinary or in ways wondrous, the Lord visits us. Through extraordinary signs of awe-inspiring events or heart-breaking happenings; through a person whom we come across on a dreary daily routine, an extra smile or an overshadowing grief on the person's face; through a habitual joy that brightens the day or a repeated bad news on a newsprint; the Lord visits us!

'I fear the Lord passing by', said St. Augustine, in simple words expressing the grief of not being ready to behold the visit of the Lord, due to the hustle and bustle of the day or the ordinariness of the experience. The Word today points to us the special capacity needed for someone in order not to allow the Lord pass by...

The Capacity to Receive: Hospitality is not in things; it is a matter of the heart! It is not the fact that some one can afford, that makes him or her hospitable to the other. It is the heart, the love that is there in the heart, the warmth that fills that heart, that makes a person go out of one's way to extend hospitality to another person. In the ancient Israel, a stranger to the land was treated as a guest of honour, and a guest became a messenger from God! In the ancient Indian culture too, we have the age old saying, 'Adhithi devo bhava' (meaning -the Guest is God) and the great Tamil Classic, Tirukkural dedicates a whole chapter of 10 couplets on Hospitality, that is receiving guests and treating them with love and honour.

The Capacity to receive the Lord, is seen in one's capacity to observe everything in life with a sense of gratitude and wonder, one's capacity to encounter a person every time with a new perspective and without judgments and prejudices. It is the capacity to see God in everything that is around and every person who is around. Abraham was able to encounter God in the three men that he saw; St. Paul was able to encounter Jesus in the light that threw him down from the horse and listen to his voice, calling out to him!

The Capacity to Listen: Encountering God, is basically listening to God! Every visit brings us a message. Every encounter has something to tell us for our daily life. It is a special gift to listen to the Lord, to discern what God wants of us, to hear the Lord's voice telling us 'do this' or 'be this' or 'become someone' or 'denounce something'.

The Lord speaks in every encounter, through every person, through every event... we are expected to act, to respond and carry out the task entrusted to us. But the point of departure is always the feet of the Lord! To sit at the feet of the Master and drink in every bit of wisdom and knowledge, that when it is time for me to go forth, I am prepared to be God's presence to the others, that when they encounter me, they can feel the presence of the Lord!

The Capacity to Suffer: Encountering God is a challenge to make a choice, a fundamental choice for the Lord or otherwise! St. Paul made that choice, a 'U' Turn for the Lord - and the ultimate choice is to choose to suffer for the Lord. The Lord prepares us - Abraham was prepared to wait endlessly for the promises to be fulfilled; Martha was prepared to run about doing things for the love she had for Jesus, Mary was prepared to sit at the feet of the Lord mindless of the criticisms hurled at her, and St. Paul was prepared to say, "I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake!"

When God visits us, it is a dangerous event, a risky experience - because after that nothing can remain what it was before. There will be a drastic change and we have to be prepared for that. The change, certainly, would not be always for the better or for a more pleasant development - more often than not, it would be towards a hardship, a task, a cross!

The invitation is clear dear friends... to behold the Lord who visits us, to let the Lord speak to us and be prepared for an encounter with the Lord - on a daily basis. Doing this our daily life will become meaningful, challenging and TRULY CHRISTIAN.

Keep Walking...

WORD 2day: Saturday, 15th week in Ordinary time

July 19, 2025: Exodus 12: 37-42; Matthew 13: 14-21

Reading passages like that of today's first reading, where it says 'that was for the Lord a night of vigil, to bring them out of Egypt'... that the Lord watched over the people of Israel as they walked into that night of freedom towards the broad day light... there is a longing in our hearts that cries... Will there not be a day when the people suffering today would walk into their freedom; the oppressed innocents, the trodden poor, the cheated multitudes, the neglected lots, the exploited masses - will there not be an end to evil in the world? Will not the Lord keep watch over these my suffering brothers and sisters to walk into their freedom, into their life of peace, into their days of tranquillity?

The response is right there in the reading too... the number of years that the Hebrews lived in Egypt was four hundred and thirty! The Lord is still working on the solution, and we are all part of the process! There are many who create hindrances and blocks, but despite all, the humanity will one day see the eternal goodness, the Reign of God established forever!

Our role in the plan, is as that of the people of Israel - Keep Walking... Jesus was cornered, plotted against... he moved on, slipped through, and went ahead doing good to the people - for he knew his time had not come, he knew the One who sent him had a proper plan and the right time - and Jesus kept walking, 'and many followed him'.

Let us wait on the Lord, in the Lord's own time everything will happen according to the design; but on our part we are called to do the little that is ours to do, and keep walking. As Matthew quotes Isaiah, 'In God's name will we hope.' And the sign of hope is - to keep walking!

Sacrifices or Self Understanding...

WORD 2day: Friday, 15th week in Ordinary time

July 18, 2025: Exodus 11:10 - 12:14; Matthew 12: 1-8

The Liturgy of the Word today traces for us an eventful journey of the understanding of God and the self-understanding of the people in relation to their God! From an importance attached to sacrifices as necessities, demands and requirements for relationship with God, to a liberating understanding of God that was brought by Jesus, who presented a God who says, "I desire mercy and not sacrifice".

The point is not that the Old Testament's understanding was faulty; neither is it to say that Jesus negates all the understanding of the Old Testament! As Jesus himself explained, he came not to abolish the law, he came to bring it to its fulfilment. That fulfilment is achieved when we understand not just the letter but the spirit of the law and try to live it to its details.

The sacrifices, the sanctifications, the consecrations that were prescribed were all for one reason: to bring the people closer to the Lord! To make the people understand how good the Lord has been... in order that they may lift the cup of salvation, a thanksgiving sacrifice to the Lord, as the Psalm invites us today.

Having moved a long way from the understanding of the people of the Old Testament, the challenge is much greater for us today - to prioritise our relationship with God, in all that we carry out in the name of our spirituality, in the name of practices of piety. It is not merely a fulfilment of a duty or a necessity, for God needs nothing from us; but a thanksgiving to the ever-present Lord, a grateful beholding of the loving presence of God with us, is what really matters!

The Name of God

WORD 2day: Thursday, 15th week in Ordinary time

July 17, 2025: Exodus 3: 13-20; Matthew 11: 28-30

The Word presents the name of God to us today. Reflecting on the name of God, every time I narrate this curious experience of mine a few years ago when I was doing my licentiate studies in Rome. In a parish in the north of Italy, where I was substituting a parish priest during his days of Spiritual Retreat, there were a few elderly ladies who were regular for the daily Eucharist. And after the celebration every day, they would spend some time, speaking with me. They loved to hear things about the Bible and one day the most vociferous of the lot, asked me - "Is there a name for our God!" Before I could say, "Yes, it is Jesus!", she intervened and said, "I mean, God the Father! Does God have a name?" And I quoted to her today's reading and said, "Yes, our God is I AM. Or when we say it...Our God is WHO IS". She was thrilled to know the name of God, and was going around telling everyone the discovery that she has made. When the Parish priest returned a week later, one of the first things she told him was, "Fr. you know, I know the name of our God. Our God is, WHO IS, or I AM, or YAHWEH"...And the Parish Priest was a bit upset; he turned to me and said - "No Father... That is the God of the Hebrews!"

I did not want to pick a theological argument with the Parish priest...but thought to myself - "Yes...that is the God of the Hebrews, and therefore the God of Jesus too...the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ as St. Paul would say (2 Cor 1:3; Eph 1:3; Col 1:3)."

YAHWEH, One who IS… It is not just a name - it was an experience. It has to be our experience today: the God who IS, who is with us, now, always, all the time. Especially in tough times as we are living today, we need to yearn for and draw strength from this experience of God with us, the God who IS with us. Yahweh, O God who IS with us, help us feel your presence and share the same with those who are in need of it.

Where do I belong?

WORD 2day: Tuesday, 15th week in Ordinary time

July 15, 2025: Exodus 2: 1-15a; Matthew 11:20-24

Yesterday we reflected on the situations of injustice in the world and the readings drove us to a reflection on it. Today, the readings issue a warning to us! The Lord is patient and merciful, but at the same time just and righteous. The Lord has a predilection for the poor, the oppressed, those who are sinned against, those who are denied of their rights, those who are constrained to live in conditions that they actually do not deserve to suffer. The warning is this: that we take care to see where we actually belong!

One cannot forget the dark day of the last century: July 16, 1945 – we shall be commemorating it tomorrow… it was the day that the atomic bomb was dropped, bringing the World War II to an end. We are not called merely to judge who is right and who is wrong and give a verdict on persons. We are called to remain on the side of the right, the truth and justice. It is not that we may be oppressors, but even if indirectly by our inaction and silence we allow the oppression of a person or a people go scot-free, we are on the wrong side, on the side of injustice! As the famous holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel said, "We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented."

Our help is in the name of the Lord, affirms the Responsorial Psalm today. When we are a help to the oppressed, we are acting in the name of the Lord. The Lord raises Lord's judgement, Lord's Hero from where and when, we know not. But surely our help is in the name of the Lord, and let us strive to be always on the side of the Lord. If we fail, the Lord warns us today, "I tell you that it shall be more tolerable on the day of judgement for the land of Sodom than for you." When we are on the side of the poor, the oppressed, the little ones of the Lord, we are on the side of the Lord. 

It is important to ask myself constantly, where do I belong?

People who forget their stories

WORD 2day: Monday, 15th week in Ordinary time

July 14, 2025: Exodus 1:8-14, 22; Matthew 10:34 - 11:1

One cannot but think of the prevailing situations of inhumanity, cruel hegemony, political manipulation, socio-economic oppression and human right violations all over the world, when we read the first reading today! When we find ourselves in front of these suffering brothers and sisters, we cannot close our eyes or switch off our minds. No one can be neutral, in our own way we have to take our stand - if we try staying neutral, so many memories will come crowding into our minds: the world wars, the holocaust, the hiroshima-nagasaki, the Srilankan tamil carnage, the ongoing Ukraine-Russia crisis, the Israel-Iran tussle, the so-called super powers who are tyring to draw their mileage ... how many of these can we ward off from our minds?

Not only did the Pharaoh not know the history of Joseph and things that happened in his predecessors' times, even the people seemed to have forgotten their origins - of how they reached Egypt and why they reached there and that they were there only for a while, that the Lord had said they will move to "their" land later! They began to think Egypt was their land and they would be there for eternity. They forgot their story. The Lord had to remind them. The world today too has this spiritual amnesia!

That is why the Lord comes with the sword, with fire... that we may wake up and wake up the world, and bring ourselves back as people who are mindful of our stories, our experiences, all that we have enjoyed from the Lord and all that we have promised the Lord and all that we have neglected so far. At times when we face turmoils, we need to turn back to our stories thus far and draw consolation and inspiration from there. In those moments of struggle, as people of God we need to realise that we are afflicted but not crushed, perplexed but not driven to despair, persecuted but not forsaken (cf. 2 Cor 4:8)... let us pay heed that we do not become people who forget their stories.

BE LOVE! BE COMPASSION!

Being Christian: the Image, the model and the challenge!

15th Sunday in Ordinary time - July 13, 2025
Deuteronomy 30: 10-14; Colossians 1: 15-20; Luke 10: 25-37

Religion has been traditionally considered a search for God, some of those are long-winded and some others super-human. The Liturgy today differs from this point of view and indicates to a Christian, that living as a Christian is neither too hard nor too far off. Jesus Christ the Son of God has brought it so close to us, by becoming one of us and having lived out for us in his own life a model to be emulated, an example to be followed and a path to be retraced. Those who wish to take the unbeaten path need not worry, for this path traced by Jesus will forever remain unbeaten for not as many as enough dare take that path. The Challenge thus is alive for you and me today!

The Word of God is in my heart! What God wants of me, what really matters to lead a life worthy of the One who created me, is right within me! It is in the core of my being, because I am created in the image and the likeness of God (Gen 1:27) and having been created in God's own image, I have within me all that is Godly...all that is characteristic of God, I have it embedded in the core of my being! If nothing hinders or distorts it, this is what I will manifest too in my daily life! This is what the book of Deuteronomy teaches us today in the first reading! In the exegesis by St. Paul on this passage from Deuteronomy - in Romans 10:6-7 - we hear the Apostle telling us, that we need not wonder how will we come to understand this inherent nature of ours - because we have Jesus Christ who has revealed it to us!

Christ came to reveal to us not merely who God was, but who we were; that we are the image and likenesses of God, that we are sons and daughters of a God who is love and compassion. A literal translation of the Hebrew version of Psalm 103, would read, "The Lord is compassion and love" (Ps 102(103):8) - not merely that God is compassionate and loving, but God is compassion and love! Christ was the visible image of this invisible God - Christ was the love of God personified, Christ was the living image of Compassion. He came to reveal to us, how much God loved us and how filled with compassion God is. Our call to be Christians is not a call to believe in some truths and adhere to some moral virtues, it is to live as Christ lived, to think as Christ thought, to feel as Christ felt, to love as Christ loved!

That is why Jesus did not stop with the two great commandments, he made them just one and said - "I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another" (Jn 13:34). According to Christ it is not enough to love the other as I love myself... but I am called to love the other as God loves me, as Christ loved me - that is, to love unconditionally, to love without counting the cost, to love even upto the death on the Cross!

That is a challenge! That is why when they asked Jesus who is my neighbour, Jesus did not answer them directly. He gave them a parable and made them reflect, to whom they have to be a neighbours! Yes, the Lord invites me today to be a neighbour to every person who is in need, every person who is suffering alone, everyone who is left to bleed on the pavements of the present world of insensitive globalisation, inhuman consumerism and heartless technological domination. I am asked to be a neighbour to everyone who is tired and heavy laden, everyone who is lonely and sick, sick in body, mind, heart and soul. Let me not ask anymore the stale question, who is my neighbour! If I am truly a Christian, I would ask a question more pertinent - TO WHOM SHOULD I BE A NEIGHBOUR...and the answer will be right before our eyes.

And the way to be a neighbour is what Jesus explains today! To be like himself, to feel for the other like Jesus, to live like Jesus, to love like Jesus: to BE LOVE, to BE COMPASSION - that is the most fitting way to be a Christian today.

A Challenge and an Assurance

WORD 2day: Saturday, 14th week in Ordinary time

July 12, 2025: Genesis 44: 18-21, 23-29, 45: 1-5; Matthew 10: 7-15

By the grace of God, I have come across so many youngsters who are so inspiring by the absolute choice that they have made for God and the will of God. People who have had great ambitions and plans, but have just thrown them into the air for the sake of a vision that God inspired. Persons who have had prospects so promising, but have ignored those just because they felt they have been called for a specific mission, a mission in the footsteps of the Master-saviour. Daring individuals who have made choices for which they are being derided, called names and have suffered worst experiences of want and willful deprivation. A challenge!

When this challenge is taken up, one could find oneself on a tossing sea or a troubled sky, but nothing would disturb the person, for he or she has found a ground so firm, a base so strong, a root so deep - the Lord who calls, commissions and walks one through. At the end of all the tribulations, pervades a serenity, a sense of accomplishment, the same sense with which Jesus gasped on the cross, "It is accomplished." That is the tone in which Jacob (aka) Israel speaks today of his end and what should come after.

The Lord does not leave us merely with the challenge; the Lord attaches an assurance to every one of those situations: the assurance of God's caring presence with us! Pope Francis in his first encyclical Lumen Fidei had called this, 'the accompanying presence of God' (LF 57). It is an assurance that arises from the fact that God loves us, that God values us, that God cares for us, and above all, that God counts on us!

The challenge is to belong to God, come what may. It is not an easy task considering the prevailing atmosphere today... how prepared are we?

To stick till the end...

WORD 2day: Friday, 14th week in Ordinary time

July 11, 2025: Genesis 46: 1-7, 28-30; Matthew 10: 16-23

Enduring till the end is the test of the strength of one's faith. Israel (Jacob) today expresses that great satisfaction in having endured till the end, on seeing Joseph alive..."Now let me die!" - a sense of fulfilment! As later we would hear Simeon exclaiming in the Temple of Jerusalem on seeing the child Jesus, "At last all-powerful Master, let your servant go in peace. For, my eyes have seen the salvation you have prepared for the nations!"

Jesus teaches the same to us his followers, "the one who endures till the end shall be saved" (Mt 10:22). Endurance that Jesus demands is for two reasons - first, because all the troubles that a follower of Christ faces is for such a noble purpose, a cause so great, that anything can be given up for its sake - the Reign of God on earth. Seek first the Reign of God... even if you have to give up your home, your dear ones, your belongings or even your life, for you will be rewarded hundred percent, says the Lord, here on earth and in the eternal life!

Secondly, because the mission entrusted to us is so vast and so immense that these troubles can measure nowhere in comparison to it. He says with a tinge of humour, even if you have to run from one town to the other due to persecutions, "you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel, before the Son of man comes." Such was the determination of the early Christians and the Apostles who led them from the fore - to stick till the end, the very end.

To proclaim through our daily lives the Reign of God and if we have to face hard consequences due to it, to be prepared to endure it all the way - that is the call for me today.

SHALOM - Carrying God's message...

WORD 2day: Thursday, 14th week in Ordinary time

July 10, 2025: Genesis 44:18-21, 23b-29, 45:1-5; Matthew 10: 7-15

The theme of yesterday continues still: Being sent, and being sent on a mission! The Lord sends the twelve to carry his message to all the people of Israel, a message of gladness, healing, restoration, peace and joy... in short Shalom!

As Joseph notes in the last verse of the first reading today, "it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you". It was with a mission that Jesus was sent to us and it is with a mission that Jesus sends us today - he says to each of us: "As the father sent me, so I send you"(Jn 20:21).

Each of us is sent! Sent with the promise of Shalom; Shalom which is fullness of blessings that we wish for every brother or sister in the Lord, or for that matter that is what we wish for the whole world as sons and daughters of the Good Lord. We may wonder, why the whole world... is it not only those who are good to me; those who are my well-wishers? But the Lord and the Word today have it otherwise.

We are presented with the example of Joseph who in spite of all that they did to him tells the rest of the sons of Jacob, “I am your brother"! Isn't that the true Christian attitude expected of us? This is possible only if we look at everything from the perspective of God as did Joseph, and of course Jesus! That is Shalom... not just being good to those who are good, but being good and... period! ...irrespective of what others are and what the world around me is.

Let this day be another opportunity for us to carry the Lord's message: Shalom to you!

His band... of brothers and sisters

WORD 2day: Wednesday, 14th week in Ordinary time

July 9, 2025: Genesis 41:55-57, 42:5-7a, 17-24a; Matthew 10: 1-7

The Twelve... that is the common element in the two readings today. The 12 tribes and the 12 apostles, was not a mere coincidence, it was more than that. It was a choice to resemble because the Lord was raising a new people of God, the New Israel, a new band of brothers and sisters.

Jesus had a big following, that is, his disciples and from them he sends these 'Apostles'; we are among his disciples already by our Baptism and he wants to send each of us with a specific mission. And each of us sent, exactly to where we are - to our homes, to our neighbourhoods, to our parishes, to our societies... to establish the Reign of God, that is, to assure the needs of all, to stand by the neglected and guarantee them their rights, to stand against the ungodly forces, the unjust systems, the corrupt and inhuman dominations, to empower the people towards a peaceful, serene and human existence.

The naming of the Apostles - with a function given to them: to chase the evil spirits and to heal the sick! Apostles are those who are 'sent' (literally too, 'apostolos' in Greek); sent in the name of God with a specific mission. Joseph of the Old Testament, was an apostle too - sent ahead by God to Egypt in order to provide for God's people at a later time! So, providing for God's people, liberating them from the ungodly forces and giving them a life in all its fullness - those are the duties of an apostle, on behalf of the Lord who sends him or her.

Have I made real efforts to understand my call and my mission as an apostle, the Lord's band of brothers and sisters?

The Struggle of life and death

WORD 2day: Tuesday, 14th week in Ordinary time

July 08, 2025: Genesis 32:23-33; Matthew 9:32-38

It's puzzling! Among a few puzzling details of the Old Testament is the likes of today's account from Jacob's life. The Lord (!?!) wrestled with Jacob, says the reading today - and elsewhere we see a similar account of God trying to kill Moses (Ex 4:24). Whatever may be the exegesis, the first disclaimer here is not to take these lines literally. There is a symbolic or an interpretative meaning to these happenings!

One thing we can guess here is that these men had something really to struggle with, a struggle of life and death! But they stood firm on the side of the Lord who had called them and after that struggle of life and death, there is something remarkable, a change that is radical, a happening that defines history forever. For, Jacob after that struggle comes to be called Israel, a name that would define the People of God forever. Incidentally, Moses after that struggle comes to establish a new covenant with the Lord in the sign of circumcision - again something that would define the People of the Covenant, ever since.

Jesus had the same struggle, constantly there were people who followed him as there were the others who tried their best to demonise him (Mt 9:34). The struggle went on right till the cross - the struggle of life and death, but he stood by the Father who had sent him. And after that struggle, he was not anymore merely Jesus, but Jesus the Christ; there came the event that changed the World for ever, it changed the history not only of the world in general, but of you and me in specific! Today we are saved, in his struggle, in his death, in his wounds, in his blood and in his Resurrection!

Can we say from our hearts today that we are ready for struggles that come on our way because of our faith in the Lord?

Encounter that touches

WORD 2day: Monday, 14th week in Ordinary time

July 7, 2025: Genesis 28:10-22; Matthew 9: 18-26

Encounter with God - the Word presents three of them today: Jacob's encounter with God, the ailing lady and the little child encountering Jesus. There are two messages that stand out in the entirety of today's events. 

Firstly, any encounter with God rejuvenates. Jacob was given a new vision of life; the lady with the haemorrhage was given a new life; and the little child was given back her life! One cannot remain the same after having encountered God. 

The second message, which is carried specially by the Gospel account, is about the special encounter through TOUCH - It is interesting to note the two accounts of Luke which seem to point to a fact: whether you touch God or God touches you, the fruits are the same! The lady, sad and suffering touched Jesus, and Jesus touched the little child dead and gone... the effect was the same - a new lease of life. 

Touching God or God touching us, they are the same - for they both are fundamentally an encounter and "Faith is born of an encounter with the living God who calls us and reveals his love" (Lumen Fidei, 4).

May be another important feature can be underlined too - that God met Jacob on a ground and while he slept; Jesus encountered the diseased lady on a road and amidst a jostling crowd; Jesus touched the little girl in a room and while she lay dead! It does not matter where we are, or what we are up to, the living God can encounter us anywhere and anytime, provided we are ready and willing to accept and behold the encounter. 

Behold I stand knocking at the door, says the Lord! May Lord Jesus touch us so that we may be healed by that encounter that touches our entire being!

PEACE - THE GOOD NEWS FOR TODAY

The call to conviction and commitment!

14th Sunday in Ordinary time - July 06, 2025
Isaiah 66: 10-14; Galatians 6: 14-18; Luke 10: 1-12, 17-20

What could be the Good News today to the world, in these days of unrest – anything sweeter than or more reassuring than peace? We observe unrest at all levels - Global, National, Local - at all levels there is a sense of acute unrest, a feeling of insecurity and anxiety.

At the global level news like the Ukraine – Russia conflict, the Israel – Iran conflict, the continuing conflicts in the Middle East such as those in Lebanon and Syria, the never ending and sometimes never considered issues of some African nations such as Somalia, Haiti, Mali and so on, the ongoing tensions in Myanmar… these signs of unrest stand out as a reminder of the loss of hope in humanistic solidarity!

At the national level, the various uprisings, the increasing polarizations, the unchecked politicisation of crimes, the exploitation of political power, the manipulation of the media platforms, these are just the tip of the iceberg of unrests that are aggressively active underground.

At the local level, the recent custodial death and the uproar against it, the varied killings and sexual harassments reported, the constant effort to create political and socio-religious unrest, these are just another set of events laying bare the unrest that rules the minds of persons in today's society.

Just to add to these instances one opinion that is being considered as a wisdom for human flourish these days: there are people who seem to say, 'it is alright to be selfish' and some even saying, ‘it is legitimate to be self-centered’! What a stage we have reached where people not only justify selfishness but propagate it as if it is a virtue, a virtue of the new age, post-truth pragmatic school, that is threatening to make all religious values meaningless!

The Word this Sunday, presents us with what could be the good news for a time that is marked by such unrests: the good news of PEACE.

"Peace" is the term that is common to all the parts of the liturgy of the Word today. The Lord promises a peace of comfort to God's people in the first reading; the psalmist hopes for the peace of the Lord and invites to pray for it; St. Paul wishes and blesses the people of God with peace; and finally Jesus highlights good news as a sharing of peace!

But what kind of a peace is the Word speaking to us about?

A peace that promises... Comfort but not Compromise

Though the Lord time and again promised the people of God peace in their borders and the justice in their homes, the Lord does not compromise on anything. Of course, the Lord has a great and true promise of comfort and well-being. But the comfort that the Lord promises does not consist of any compromise.

We see in the political arena today people who speak flabbergastingly about principles and policies and not too far within the timelines, they begin to speak and promote just the opposite of what they have been speaking a while before! There are people who speak of something but as soon as it touches them personally, do exactly the opposite things. Compromises seem to be a competence of coping with life! It is propagated as a way of gaining a peaceful life!

Instead, the peace that the Lord promises, is far from this - what matters to the Lord, matters truly and matters always, without change or without exceptions. When we are clear of what the Lord expects of us, and when we make a conscious choice for it, we are filled with a peace that comforts us, even amidst difficulties and pressures – no compromise can be justified!

A peace that is born out of... Convictions and not Convenience

The Lord as he sends his messengers ahead of him puts them through a rigorous drill, to learn to put up with inconveniences for the sake of the convictions they would live by. There is this tendency in the culture today to consider what is convenient as true! A pragmatism of sorts, which says what does matter is that which leaves you with peace of mind! But what kind of peace of mind are we speaking of – that of time being, that which keeps you under uncertainty, that which leaves you internally unsettled, that which tends to kill your conscience?  

The conviction of a provident God, the conviction of the ever-loving God, the conviction of the ever-present God... leads to a peace of mind that defeats all consumer crazy claims of the day. Like St. Paul, we would be able to say, I have learnt to live in want and in plenty (cf. Phil 4:12). That’s the key to peace.

A peace that is experienced through... Commitment and never Compulsion

Peace is the good news that the Lord offers, but the bad news is that it is upto me to accept it or not. When Jesus teaches them to wish peace to all… it does not mean an empty wish, a wish that makes no difference! “Shalom” that is wished for is something concrete and something that changes life qualitatively! But this wish can bear its effects only when it is “received”… if there is a person of peace, your peace shall remain or it shall return – that is what Jesus said. The Lord promises peace, but it depends on us to receive it, deserve it, behold it.

However, it is not all that too easy to accept that offer of peace, because it involves quite a bit of discipline and sacrifice! Again, the choice is always mine. Behold I place before you life and death: remember those words that the Lord said in Deuteronomy? It is the Son of that God who speaks to us today and he will never be less demanding. When we decide to be deserving of that peace promised by the Lord, without any external compulsion, we shall make some concrete commitments, be it personally or be it collectively – like commitment to truth, commitment to love, commitment to mercy, commitment to family, commitment to sanctity!

In summary, the good news that the Lord wants to offer us today is peace...a peace that flows from personal integrity and interpersonal solidarity! Are we ready to receive that peace, prepared to behold that peace, eager to activate that peace in our lives: we can do it only through our convictions and commitment!

To be predilected children!

WORD 2day: Saturday, 13th week in Ordinary time

July 5, 2025: Genesis 27: 1-5, 15-29; Matthew 9: 14-17

Cursed be everyone who curses you and blessed be everyone who blesses you! To be God's "predilected" child (if I can use that term) is an incredible honour; and that is what we are. (How beautifully John expresses this in 1Jn 3:1-3!). In the corrupt culture of the day, it is pretty easy to understand this predilection... there is so much of talk about nepotism today, where a VIP's son or daughter, or a person who has the backing of a key personality in the society gets above anybody and everybody else to win favours in the society!

Jacob was the chosen one, he was the one picked to bring forth the 'predilected' people of God. And because he was chosen, everything works in his favour. Unjust! Unfair! Undeserved! - we might say all that and all that is true! God's love that is 'poured' into our hearts (Rom 5:5: not just given but poured into our hearts); it is unjustly given, unfairly lavished, undeservedly heaped on us. What a way to communicate that truth via the story of Jacob - a cheater yes, but who becomes an identity for God on earth - God refers to Godself as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and God of Jacob!

This logic is totally different! This logic will not fit into the usual logic of the give-and-take, the cause-and-effect; this is a totally different logic of God's love, God's prodigal love for each of us. And if we try to fit this into the normal logic we will be frustrated, like pouring new wine in old skin, or old wine in new skin or stitching a new cloth to an old shrunken one! The call is to be drenched in this entirely unconditional love of God, and to understand how privileged I am to receive this love; and the most important of all, to exhibit that awareness in concrete, day to day actions and attitudes.

Mercy, not Sacrifice

WORD 2day: Friday, 13th week in Ordinary time

July 4, 2025: Genesis 23:1-4,19, 24:1-8, 62-67; Matthew 9: 9-13.

Mercy not Sacrifice! Mercy and Sacrifice actually stood for two paradigms that were in confrontation as a result of Jesus' life and teaching. God and one's relationship to God was explained purely in terms of sacrifice, sacrifice which stood for fulfilment of the requirements based on regulations and customs. The challenge is alive even today - that we do not make our spirituality a sacrifice-based spirituality. Fulfilment of the precepts, keeping the commandments, making vows and carrying out the same, offering suffrages and being faithful to our prayers to be 'said' or 'done'.

Mercy, instead is fundamentally a relationship. I remember our Scripture professor explaining the meaning of the hebrew word for mercy - rahamim (or rachamim) which comes from the root, rehem (or rechem) which means "womb". Biblically, as Jesus uses, mercy thus refers to a compassion one feels to a child in the womb or a bond very intimate that arouses a warm feeling towards the other!

Far from, doing something to help the other or giving something to someone in need, Mercy is to feel one with the other, specially with someone who is really in need. That is why the statement of Jesus that follows, I have come not to call the righteous but the sinners - a feeling one with the needy!

When we really feel one with somone in trouble, or difficulty, or temptation, or a struggle, much before branding that person a 'sinner' or a 'weakling' or a 'traitor' or an 'infidel', we would strive to stay close to him or her, find out what actually is going on and share moments of solidarity that would walk that person right out of that situation. That is what Jesus did and that is what he expects of you and me: mercy, and not sacrifice!

Faith is to be Communicated!

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

July 3, 2025: Celebrating St. Thomas, the Apostle

Ephesians 2:19-24; John 20: 24-29

The first reading celebrates the unity we have as a community of faith, with the Apostles. The Apostles are the foundations of our faith says the reading and the liturgy proclaims the same truth too! Celebrating St. Thomas today, the diverse legends not withstanding, we thank God for this great Apostle, known not only for his doubt but also for his determination to go with Jesus and die with him (John 11:16)! 

Thomas is called the Apostle of India, and there are great legends regarding how faith was brought to India by the Apostle already in the first century after Christ. Not entering to the history of the events, let us remain with the event itself...

"Bringing Faith", "Passing on Faith", "Transmitting or Communicating Faith" - these terms have always interested me, personally. Faith is a gift from God, a grace, an inspired response given by a person to the Self-revealing God! If so, can faith be 'brought', 'passed on' or 'transmitted or communicated'? The question does not in anyway negate the process that is referred to here with gratitude and recognition of history; instead it offers an opportunity to bring forth a nuance that dazzles within it.

Transmitting faith or Communicating faith, means primarily testimony of one's faith, that inspires faith in others! The testimony of one's personal response to God, that inspires the others to respond likewise! The Apostles' way of transmitting faith was that, they responded to the God who revealed God's self in Christ Jesus, and in that response they challenged and invited all who were around to respond to the same Lord!

The history narrated about St. Thomas and his evangelising activity in the southern part of India, is basically a testimony lived and held out as a challenge. The Challenge is not merely to accept the testimony, but to become a testimony ourselves and continue being the salt and the light of the earth, in whichever corner we find ourselves!

May St. Thomas inspire us and intercede for us!

With open eyes...

WORD 2day: Wednesday, 13th week in Ordinary time

July 2, 2025: Genesis 21: 5, 8-20a; Matthew 8: 28-34

Hagar had almost given up. For her it was all over. She found no scope of living on and no chance of surviving that desertedness. All that while the well was just round the corner. She was so filled with self pity that she was not able to see the ample opportunity just there for hers to take. All that God did was open her eyes that she may see the well.

However blinded she might have been, Hagar, finally does see unlike the people of Gerasene who never saw till the end, who it really was that had entered their village. Their self pity of having lost their swine in thousands, blinded their eyes from perceiving the great and wonderful blessings that Jesus had in store for them. What a great miss it was; they asked Jesus to leave!

Our problems and troubles, our suspicions and judgements, our prior experiences and disappointments, can easily blind us to the great things that surround us. Sometimes these may even block the blessings that we could receive in life. Not that miracles do not happen, but most of the times we are not in a position to see the miracles that abound all around us. We choose what is not necessary, what could be easily done away with, what does not really help us live our life to the full. And we reject the truth, the fact, the light, the way, the meaning, the sense of life!

If Hagar had still failed to see what the Lord was showing her, she would have thrown her life away. If only the people of Gerasene saw who it was that they were rejecting; if only they beheld the blessings that he brought; if only they lived their lives with open eyes...