The Best Man's Call

WORD 2day: Saturday before the Lord's Baptism

January 9, 2021: 1 John 5: 14-23; John 3: 22-30.

The stage is all set for the Baptism of the Lord. We have, in these days, reflected on all the passages around the event of baptism of Jesus! Only thing left is, to celebrate the great event of Baptism itself, which we will be doing tomorrow. 

Today we have the identity and role of John clarified: John calls himself the best man! What a beautiful imagery of a prophet and a minister... one who rejoices for his master! But not anyone would be chosen the best man for a bridegroom! It will be the best friend of the bridegroom who will have that privilege. And he will have the honour of staying the closest to the bridegroom all through the ceremonies of wedding! 

The call is to grow in our relationship with Christ, to an extent that we would be considered close to Christ. Everyday is an opportunity to grow in this relationship. It is a life journey, a journey we make accompanied by the Lord, a journey that is shared with the Lord who walks beside us. 

By this evening we would begin the celebrations of the Baptism of the Lord. This day, let us dwell on our baptism, and thank God for the grace given to us in our baptism. Our baptism was the beginning of our journey with the Lord. Have we been conscious of the presence of the Lord with us, on the way? What place, in our daily life, have we given the Lord who is constantly with us? And what about the promises we gave to the Lord, at our baptism, at the beginning of this journey together? 

Let us make amends in our breach of promises and lack of commitment to the Lord and renew our resolve to grow ever closer to Christ our Lord!

The Christ Logic

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

August 29, 2020: Remembering the Beheading of John, the Baptist
Jeremiah 1: 17-19; Mark 6: 17-29

St.Paul boasts often saying, there is a different kind of a logic that is at work in us... and the first person who lived by that logic even before Christ the Lord, was John! In fact Christ called him the greatest of those born of a woman. The sufferings of this world are nothing compared to the glory that awaits us in the Lord, St. Paul would remind us.

This special, if not strange, logic can be called Christ Logic... a logic that gets its stamp of divine approval from the words, life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is all about being the last and finding yourself the first; serving everyone and finding yourself the master of the moment; going about in silent righteousness and finding the entire world after you - after you either following you or trying to do away with you!

Be a servant to be the Leader, be the least to be considered the best, be ready for the Cross in order to taste the true love of God... identifying ourselves with Christ is a serious affair. We would either be judged "strange"or "challenging". Many went through this ordeal due to this Christ logic... Jesus himself was affected by that, wasn't he?...they called him 'possessed'...they called him 'out of his mind'...and finally villainised him and killed him, just as they did with John the Baptist.

The Baptist was an extreme illustration of Christ Logic, just like Jeremiah was in his time. And both of them were eliminated as early as possible by the world around them. The same happened to Jesus and in this, Jeremiah and John the Baptist had proved themselves to be prefigurements to Christ, the prototypes of those who live by Christ logic. 

Applying today that Christ logic... what do we expect of the world? Persecutions and pressures...what would be our response to them? The prosperous evil ones against whom we need to be shouting from the dark, apparently in vain... what would we make of it? In today's culture of hatred and violence, what would our style be? Do we dare to make our own, the Christ logic?

John: God has been Gracious

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

June 24, 2020: Birthday of St. John the Baptist 
Jeremiah 1: 4-10; 1 Peter 1: 8-12; Luke 1: 5-17

The readings today summarise in a perfect sense who John was. The first reading describes his identity, the second his self-understanding and the Gospel, his blessedness in the eyes of God.

The Voice: his identity. 

He stands out as a prophet, a prophet who ensures the continuity between the Old Testaments prophets and Jesus, the prophet par excellence. His identity as a voice explains also his priority to make God's Word known. The Word is announced by the Voice: the call for us... to make present to the Word in the world.

Our Reflection: Is my identity in relation to the Word, in relation to the Lord, in relation to my saviour?

The Servant of God: his  self-identity.

John was filled with a sense of his mission. He was sent to prepare the way of the Lord, as a precursor to run before the Lord and get the spirit of the Lord's people up and awake. He challenged people to conversion as a foretaste of the Reign of God that Jesus wanted to establish. The challenge for us, is to recognise God's will at work in our lives.

Our Reflection: Do I consider myself as an instrument at the service of the Will of God... in my family, in my work place, in my parish or wherever I am!

Blessed from the Womb: God's chosen one.

John becomes the most proximate witness to us for the words that Isaiah, Jeremiah and other prophets always insist upon: the Lord chooses us before we were ever formed in the womb and the Lord has a specific plan for each of us. Such a blessed one, was killed so brutally and it looked like he ended up a big failure! In God's wisdom lies our true happiness. The invitation for us, is to understand the real purpose of our lives from the perspective of God.

Our Reflection: The so called goals and ambitions, purposes and plans of my life - how seriously do they seek to know, understand and accept the plan and purposes of God?

In the identity he received from God, in his self identity and in his blessed life right from the womb of his mother, John stands a witness and a challenge to our life in God! In fact, as his name means, we are called to realise God has been gracious to us and respond to that grace, with our true childlike love and surrender.