The dry ground phenomenon

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

August 14, 2025 - Remembering St. Maxmillian Kolbe

Joshua 3:7-11,13-17; Matthew 18:21 - 19:1

The presence of the Lord with the Israelites was a solid and concrete presence - the pillar of fire and the pillar of cloud that we have seen and today the splitting of Jordan when the bearers of the Ark step in. The presence made a great difference in the lives of the people and at times the Lord made it concrete because they were constantly forgetting the fact.

Today in the first reading, we have the Jordan splitting itself - the upper Jordan and the lower and they saw the dry ground. It is a repetition of the experience when they crossed the Red Sea with Moses, they walked on dry ground even then. In our life too, there are experiences of dry ground - we walk through them without our feet getting wet or dirty or stained or soiled, not by our own merit but by the grand mercy of God.

That is what Jesus is reminding us of - when you find fault with your neighbour, when you judge your brother or your sister, when you call them names, when you have your finger pointing at your fellow persons, remember the dry ground phenomenon. You are standing on a dry ground, your feet unsoiled because the Lord has had mercy on you. Remember, your dry ground is not your merit, it is God's mercy. When you are mindful of it, you will surely be a member of the Reign.

We remember today Maximlian Kolbe, a saint of our times whom we can look up to with awe! He lived with courage his call to be a Christian, that is his call to choose God above all else! He took seriously 1 John 3:16 - "... we ought to lay down our lives for our brethren." That is the sign given to us to testify for the absolute choice we have made for God. But how much we cry and complain when someone causes us trouble, or spoils our name, or ruins our prospects...that is a sign that we have other choices which matter to us more!

Right enough, at the canonisation ceremony, Pope John Paul II declared him as 'the Patron Saint of our Difficult Century'. A saint from the greatest of all tragedies of the just gone century in the concentration camp of Auschwitz, where Kolbe chose to die in place of another (that was Franciszek Gajowniczek, who was present at the canonisation of the saint). Kolbe was able to do it because he was mindful of his dry ground experience, the gratuitous gift that he had received from God, the life that he chose to give for the other!

Let our choice for God be absolute. If that is the case, nothing can ever overpower us, except loving gratitude to the one who gives us the dry ground experience in our daily lives!

There is nothing greater than God's plan

WORD 2day: Thursday, 18th week in Ordinary time

August 7, 2025: Numbers 20: 1-13; Matthew 16: 13-23

Moses and Peter – their impatience and impudence come under scrutiny today! Moses, whom God spoke to as a friend, and Peter, whom Jesus called the Rock on which he would build his Church – even they, as leaders give themselves off in a moment of fatigue and overconfidence!

Discipleship is not a victory gained once for all! It is a daily commitment and a perpetual challenge. Anything can bring down to the ground whatever we have built with days, months and years of hard work and persistence. We cannot afford to grow careless. That is why Jesus teaches us to watch and pray and be vigilant always, that the moment of the enemy may not overtake us (Lk 21:34-36).

The murmurings and the hardheadedness of the people catches on to Moses and in a moment of impatience and restlessness, Moses instead of waiting on the Lord, decides to act on his own account. While the Lord asked him to speak to the rock (20:8) in order that the water may flow, he strikes the rock with his baton (20:11), to make it dramatic before the people and draw their attention!

The commendation from Jesus gets to the head of Peter and he turns presumptuous to question the will of God! He begins to think he has to even tell Jesus what is alright and what is not to be done; he wishes to have his way inspite of what God reveals. Not that he was conscious of it; but he was mindless, he was losing his head over his popularity with Jesus.

Both Moses and Peter are promptly indicated their mistake. The lesson is clear for us today – to remain vigilant in our discipleship that we may always remain calm but cautious, confident but humble, persistent but patient, passionate but attentive to the Will of the Master! May these two great men, Moses and Peter, and many such persons of God, teach us by their example: there is nothing greater than God's plan!

The Light for our way!

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

August 6, 2025: Transfiguration of the Lord
Daniel 7: 9-10,13-14; Luke 9: 28-36

The disciples see their Lord in his glory and all that they want is to remain in that state of splendour and delight! There was a proposal also to make tents, and stabilise their presence. The sense of awe makes them feel like reifying that moment and that event. It is nothing wrong, isn't it? However, the call is to climb down, move on and keep walking, taking advantage of the light that the moment has shed! Though Jesus was all the time with them, the disciples needed that experience on the mount to behold his power and glory, in its true majesty.

Our life of prayer, that is, our relationship with God who shares every moment of our life, is punctuated at times with ‘peak’ experiences, to sustain us in the tedium of the daily journey. Retreats, pilgrimages, charismatic conventions, supernatural experiences and miraculous events – these are very useful and important, but we cannot get stuck these! Effective representatives of these that the Church suggests to each of us, are the Sacraments of Eucharist and Reconciliation – which when celebrated with the zest and the earnestness that they truly deserve – can become peak experiences on a regular basis.

To walk with Christ every day of our life - that is the call that we have received and not to go by merely exciting events and extraordinary moments. But the Lord deigns to throw the light of faith in God's own ways. If we are attentive we shall receive those timely gifts and keep marching on every day and every moment, accepting the light for our path.

The feast of transfiguration that we celebrate today has this call for us: on our daily journey, let us observe the glorious presence of the Lord in the ordinariness of the day. Let the gentle beckoning of God keep sounding in our ears – “This is my Son, my Chosen. Listen to him.”

Like the men of God!

WORD 2day: Tuesday, 18th week in Ordinary time

August 5, 2025: Numbers 12:1-13; Matthew 14: 22-36

The Word speaks of two Men of God today - not merely by the popular title but by their very life style and the way they respond to tough situations.

Moses, against whom the very people whom he served grumbled, including his closest collaborators. What did he do? Held it against them? No, that was not becoming of a man of God. Even when Miriam stood affected by her own sin, he intercedes with the Lord, obtaining her health back. he proves to be a man of God.

Jesus the Son of God, the ideal man of God proves himself so, by being so unaffected even when he knew his own disciples knew him not. They did not understand him, they thought him to be an evil spirit. In spite of it, when Peter wishes to walk on the water, he gives him that privilege. He was so patient, kind and gentle with the disciples, because that is the mark of a person of God, a God who abounds in mercy and love.

How many circumstances present themselves to us today, to remind ourselves and testify to those around, what it means to be persons of God. In our personal lives, in our family situation, in the social scenario, in our reaction to the global happenings... in all these we need to show ourselves to be persons of God, by our lives and especially by our choices!

Yes, the call is loud and clear - to live for God, for God's people and above all for the strengthening of the Reign of God, here and now.

PILGRIMS TO PARADISE

Wisdom, Knowledge and Discernment - a journey kit for the wayfarer

18th Sunday in Ordinary time: August 3, 2025

Ecclesiastes 1:2,2:21-23; Colossians 3:1-5,9-11; Luke 12:13-21

A wise man lived in a tent in the deserts of Arabia. Numerous people went to meet him everyday either for a blessing or a counsel or merely to see the saintly man! Once entered a man who was totally surprised that there was nothing, absolutely nothing inside the tent – not even a stool for a furniture! And he asked the wise man, “Where are your furnitures?” The wise man looked up and instead of answering that question, retorted, “and where are yours?” “But I am only a traveler, a passer-by” protested the visitor. And without losing his calm the wise man quipped, “So am I; a traveler, a passer-by!”

We are all travelers, passers-by, pilgrims towards our heavenly home, pilgrims to paradise! Pilgrim, is a frequently heard word today, with the Jubilee year on - pilgrims of hope! Pilgrims everywhere...and pilgrims of all kind. Therefore the question becomes quite crucial - what do we mean by "pilgrims" here! We do not have a permanent home here, we are looking towards it, says the letter to the Hebrews(13:14). When the Word of God repeatedly reminds us that we are merely “strangers and pilgrims” (Heb 11:13; 1 Pet 2:11), it is not a negative outlook on our life here and now, but a lasting perspective to understand it in the right manner! We are not permanent here on earth, however famous or important we are – and that is an obvious truth, so much forgotten or so much neglected by our ambitious world! We are not in an oblivion, as if to say we do not know our origins nor our future! No! The second reading today tells us, “Brothers and sisters, you are risen with Christ” – We are resurrected people, people of the Risen Lord, who awaits us in the heavenly abode, for us to be with him for eternity! We are on a journey, we are on a pilgrimage! And on this pilgrimage we need a travel kit! The Liturgy today reminds us of three essential components that should find their place in that kit – those components are Wisdom, Knowledge and Discernment! 

The first of the components is Wisdom – the capacity to know the difference between the vanities and values in life! There are those who run after wealth all their life and finally discover that they have infact lost their whole life for nothing! Attachments, Ego, Vain glory, prestige, power and pleasure can mislead our minds and spoil our spirits, leading to a life so empty and erroneous. Persons entrusted to us by God, Love that brightens every morning and illuminates every night, Relationships that give meaning and make us feel wanted- these can help us live our life for others and ultimately for God, who is the very source of that life and the only One who can throw light on its real meaning! Vanities and Values – both shine but it depends on me to differentiate the real brilliance and the fake lustre. 

Knowledge is another necessary element to never lose our way on this journey! Knowledge is not merely a collection of information, it is the capacity to choose between the virtues and vices! St. Paul instructs us through his letter to the Colossians today (3:10) that to put on the new person, is to be renewed in the fullness of knowledge after the image of the One who has created us! God is the fullness of knowledge, that is, the fullness of Virtues who shows us how our lives have to be lived! “To make them know the beauty of virtue and the ugliness of vices” was the task given to Don Bosco, the educator of the young, by the Risen Lord and the Blessed Mother. The right knowledge guides us on our path and leads us through right choices. 

The third and the most difficult of all is Discernment! To store up right treasure in the right place! The clarity of what is truly the treasure to be sought and the choice of the right place to store them, is the most important truth every religion and faith intends to present. The readings today direct us to this discernment! Living in a world of consumerism and globalization, days of technological advancement and communication revolution, we are today made to think deep with the situations of war, violence, killings, greed, corruption, domination, deception, exploitation and dehumanization all around us. The choice is ours, either to be carried by the current or to swim against the current! If we are carried by the current we are dead and buried in this world of vanity! If we dare to stand against it and swim countercurrent, we are people of the Risen Lord, the followers of the living Lord, real pilgrims to paradise!

A Righteous Celebration

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

August 2, 2025: Leviticus 25:1,8-17; Matthew 14: 1-12

In spite of all the talk about escalation of prices and tough times, crisis and economic slowdown, the celebrations do not seem to reduce or cease! Especially in the religious realm, celebrations find their importance and significance intact, though there do exist a number of restrictions and the rest. At times these celebrations are exaggerated too, to the extent of being detested. Imagine the Jubilee year we are celebrating and the Jubilee of the youth that is going on at the moment at the Church level. Should we, or should we not, celebrate? 

The Word today presents us two modes of celebration: one, an exploitative celebration that is irresponsible, insensitive and a mere show of arrogance; indifferent to the other and absolutely self centered, with no thought of contributing to the good of the other or the common good. The other mode is a righteous celebration. Let none of you wrong the neighbour but fear the Lord your God, instructs the first reading today, which is all about jubilee among the people of God. Are we not challenged to rethink and re-evaluate our own celebrations, be it in the families or be it in the religious communities?

The consideration is very straight forward: a celebration that is godly should not be at the cost of the other, but for the sake of the love for the other. A true Christian celebration should reaffirm the meaning and joy of living. That is why everyday eucharist is a celebration, a reminder of the life that we are called to live in the Lord, in communion with our brothers and sisters.

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!