OUR CHOICE: to Love and Abide by the Word

16th February,2014: 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Choice is the central theme running through the readings today! And there is another dominant theme that qualifies this choice - that is LAW. Law for the people of Israel was the way ordained by the Lord. Law was for them the guarantee of remaining  people of God; it was their part of executing the covenant that the Lord made with them: I shall be your God and you shall be my people! To speak or act against the law was for them a serious and punishable offence. There is a discussion on two other themes- "maturity" and "wisdom" in the second reading from St.Paul. Combining all these, Jesus in the Gospel presents to us a mature and wise attitude towards LAW. He invites us to Choose LAW... that is to choose to Live and Abide by the Word. 

Faith is a Choice...

Faith is not a blind leap, it is a conscious Choice! As Lumen Fidei n.3 affirms, faith cannot be associated with darkness, instead faith is a light that enlightens one to choose, to choose believe in God, to choose to see God alive in one's life. The first reading presents to us the same perspective today, we have the choice between water and fire, between good and evil, between true joy and fleeting pleasures, between the right and the convenient, between conviction and compromise, between life and death! The choice is ours! We cannot ride on the shoulders of tradition and custom, and justify our acts and habits. We have to grow up! Our maturity has to be seen in the wisdom we possess. It is God who gives us this wisdom, as St.Paul reminds us. Jesus embodies that wisdom and presents the same to us in his words: I have come not to abolish the law, but bring it to its fulfillment. 

A Choice beyond the Law...

Jesus declares that his disciples should make a choice not against the law but beyond the law! He gives a new meaning to law, and presents the way to go beyond, to transcend a mere slavish legalism and reach the heights of saintly perfection, through love and compassion. The words of Jesus, "You have heard that it was said,...but I say to you", heard repeatedly in the Gospel today presents Jesus as the New Moses, and describes the community of disciples as the New People of God! "See I am making all things new," declares Jesus by this (Rev. 21:5). The new law...today how do we understand that new law, the law beyond the law... L - to Love, A - to Abide, and W - the Word. To love the Word and Abide by it...is the new law that Jesus gives. The Word presents to us a guarantee to sanctity. To know the Word, to reflect on it and understand it, to love it and strive to abide by it, is the sure way to be real children of God, worthy people of God. Our life does not comprise merely of avoiding evil, it is much more profound and meaningful. It is to live, to love, to relate, to do good, to mature, to be happy, to make others happy and thus together as a community of God's children, to renew the world and fill it with joy.

To Obey the Law...

Jesus teaches the people today not to go against the law but to understand what it really means to obey the law. For Him, to obey the law was not to obey the word of the law but to obey the Lord of the law! It was so for the people of Israel; they obeyed the law as an act of obedience to YHWH. But when the Lord of the law was with them, and they did not realise it. The Word lived and moved among them, but they did not comprehend it. The danger for us too is the same: that we may be by definition the best of Christians - missing no Sunday Mass, regular with reading the Bible and reciting the prayers, strict with our fasting and abstinence, visiting as many pilgrim shrines as possible - but let us beware, we may be missing the point. These are good but not good enough - the Word instructs us: Love and Abide by the Word... to love the Word, and to live by it; not being merely hearers of the Word  but doers(Jam 1:22); to say YES to the Word and mean it, to face all the consequences of that Yes and live through it. Our YES to the Word has to be our choice, our choice to go beyond the Law and obey the Lord of the law, to live and fill the earth with love and compassion; to challenge the present standards of the world towards a new world, new heaven and new earth!

WORD 2day: 15th February, 2014

Can we live divided lives?

For the people of Israel there was no difference between their political life and their religious life. For them everything was just one; an integral mode of living as people of God; forever the people of the Covenant: 'I shall be your God and you shall be my people'. But at a certain point, as we read in the first reading today, the misery befalls them - Politics and Religion part their ways. Further, something that happens makes things worse: using religion for political ends or politics for religious reasons. It becomes almost an unjust alliance and remains so even to this day! That is history, but can happen in our personal life too: the division between our religious life and our civil life, and worse still if we use one for the manipulation of the other. Jesus is totally against this division and considers it always an hypocrisy. One cannot call oneself a shepherd and still remain untouched by the miseries of the people. One cannot call oneself a 'Christ-ian' and live a life that is totally insensitive towards others. One cannot call oneself a child of God and look down on his brother or sister, or much worse ill-treat, exploit or oppress them. If one does that, he or she is giving into idolatry, claiming to belong to Christ but divided within oneself, externally professing Christ but totally against Christ at the level of the inner self. 

WORD 2day: 14th February, 2014

Pride, Rebellion and Hearing God's Voice

The readings today speak of two kingdoms...one that was ending and the other which was rising. Prophet Ahijah instructs Jeroboam about the role that he has to play in the fall of David's kingdom. And in the Gospel we see the people who rejoice at the coming of the Kingdom (Reign) of God: "the deaf hear and the mute speak" they exclaim - that phrase was symbolic and indicative of the Reign of God to the people of Israel. The message is obvious - it is an invitation to turn away from a tendency of human pride and rebellion and place the absolute dominion always in the hands of God. Right from the beginning (explained by the stories of Adam and Eve, the tower of Babel and so on), the ruin of humankind has been due to human pride; the entry point of sin into humanity has been rebellion. It is in that rebellion and pride that we make gods for ourselves - making gods of our own ego, of our successes, of our plans and projects, of our prospects and the social ladders, of our attachments and cravings. At times, only when drastic things happen we realise our folly! The Lord says to us today: I am the Lord you God, hear my voice...let us make it our habit to hear the Lord's voice and live by it everyday.

WORD 2day: 13th February, 2014

Saints who surprise God!

The most dangerous character of sin is, it takes over little by little that, all too soon we find it to be too late! Solomon who was a sign of God's glory in the early days of his kingship, soon finds himself in a point of no return, because he had given away his heart little by little to ways that took him away from God! In simple words sin can be understood as a rebellion against God... a lack of surrender into God's hands. The remedy is: a childlike surrender into the hands of God; following God unreservedly as did David (1Kgs 11:6); a faith that becomes a humble surrender to God's Will, like the Syrophoenician woman that we see in the Gospel. She becomes the prototype of the saints who surprised God... who surprised God by their total surrender...like St.Paul, or the early martyrs, or the later saints like John Maria Vianney, or Maxmillian Kolbe, or great models like Bishop Oscar Romero, Sr. Rani Maria... the list goes on, and the challenge is that we add our names to that. Let our surrender to the Lord be so total, that in God's pleasant surprise miracles abound. Can we surprise God by our surrender?... that will be a wonderful sign of growing in holiness.

WORD 2day: 12th February, 2014

Living at the Core of our Being...

"That they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father", said Jesus to us this Sunday(Mt 5:16). Today we see Solomon exemplifying this claim to honour. We read that the Queen of Sheba, looking at the wisdom and splendour of Solomon, said "Blessed be the Lord your God!"(v.9). What actually matters is not what is seen merely on the outward appearance, for we cannot put up a show all our life. Just imagine, if we have to create an image of ourselves just for the sake of the others and live up to it all our life - how tiresome and fatiguing it can be! At some point or the other, to someone or the other, the truth will be known and that will be the ruin of everything. Instead, Jesus invites us to an authentic living that is built from within, from those which comes out from within - our thoughts, our attitudes, our priorities, the words and thoughts we entertain, the feelings and impulses we give into, the kind of persons we identify ourselves with, the sort of people for whom our hearts are moved, the readiness with which we go out of ourselves in true love and selfless compassion. Let us pay attention to our interiority. The core of our self defines who we are, and at that level of our being, we cannot deceive ourselves! Let our hearts enshrine the presence of the Lord and let that presence illumine every bit of our life. 

WORD 2day: 11th February, 2014

External Expressions Vs Internal Dispositions

Still keeping with the theme of yesterday, the first reading presents to us Solomon who brings to light the relationship that lies between the absolute importance of the temple and the folly of limiting God's presence to the temple. They are two elements of a devotion that is matured, worthy of being called an adult faith. Jesus too talks of the same, but from a different context. He contrasts between an External Expression and an Internal Disposition: they are not exclusive choices to be made but a mature balance to be achieved. External expressions without deep internal dispositions will turn into mere ritualism and legalism; while mere internal dispositions without right external expression will lead to a cold individualism which is totally 'unchristian'! Our Blessed Mother, did not only keep everything in her heart and ponder (Lk 2:51), but also intervened in concrete situations with relevant actions (Jn 2:3). Commemorating Our Lady of Lourdes and remembering the 22nd World day of the Sick - let us resolve to make the life of persons who suffer, who are sick and who are in need, a little better to be lived - if not, all our faith-practices will become empty expressions of ritual legalism. Let our internal disposition be challenged and transformed on a daily basis towards a continuous maturity that leads to a meaningful living of our faith.

WORD 2day: 10th February, 2014

Can God's presence be felt!

The Ark comes to the Temple and Jesus comes to the people: where does the link lie here? Obviously, it lies in the fact that the people of God are the true temples of God! Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? , asks St. Paul (1 Cor 3:16). Specially the needy and the poor, the sick and the suffering, the lonely and the unloved... they are the temples where we can encounter God face to face. Jesus does not depreciate the importance of the Temple when he said: a day will come when you will worship the Lord in Spirit and in Truth (Cf. Jn 4:23,24). He invites us to look at a new perspective. Building churches are important but it is more important to build the Church, that is the people of God. Celebrating the feasts and solemnities are important, but it is more important to celebrate persons and ensure humanity, happiness and wholeness to every person. What would we have gained if we spent tons of money on a well organised festivity, if we had not touched even one needy person, or made happy one grieving heart, or given joy to one drooping spirit? Wherever Jesus went, people went and God's presence was felt; wherever the apostles went, people went and God's presence was felt (compare with Acts 5:12-15); wherever we Christ-ians go, God's presence should be felt!

THE LIGHT OF FAITH

Be illumined! Illumine!

9th February, 2014: 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time

"The Light of Faith: this is how the Church's tradition speaks of the great gift brought by Jesus": so begins the encyclical Lumen Fidei. Light is an image very often presented in relation to faith, the faithful and the life of a faithful. It is an explicit call by the Lord right from the Old Testament times that the people of God have to be light to the nations (Is 42:6). With Christ's call today to be light of the world, it becomes an inevitable criterion to be identified as Christ's disciple or not!

Faith as Light: The first reading reminds me of a Zen story that I have heard of the Master who asked his disciples: When do you think it is dawn? The disciples attempted various responses, like - when we see the difference between a tree and a pillar; when we can identify a black thread from a white, and so on. The Master, discontent with everything, finally said: it is dawn, when you look into the eyes of the one next to you and see your brother or your sister! The first reading  tells us exactly that... when you accept the gift of faith from the Lord, your eyes are opened that you can see into the eyes of those around you and see your brothers and sisters; in their suffering and in their pains, you can feel your heart weeping and your eyes welling. We are reflecting today on the theme of LIGHT... the light that illumines us, the light that makes us see the real meaning of life and the true sense of being human. Which can do that task better than our faith - Faith is the Light we are offered by the Lord, as a gift! 

The Faithful as Light: Once we accept that gift, the gift of faith from the Lord, we as faithful, we become the Light! Receiving the light, we become the Light. The Lord sets us as the light to the nations, the light to the world, the light on the lampstand, the city on the hilltop! Our faith does not rest on human wisdom, or logical reason, or scientific thinking, or systematic and mind blowing theologies! Our faith is primarily founded on the power of God, reminds St. Paul in the second reading today. Illumined by the Light, we become the light! Jesus declared, "I am the light of the World" (Jn 8:12); but did not stop with that. He challenges us today, "You are the light of the World." Every person of faith is called to be a light that is set on the lampstand, to spread the light to the entire house, to illumine those around him or her. But it is important that we remember always that the source of our light, is the Light which illumines us all, the Light eternal of which we are rays, the eternal fire of which we are sparks.

The life of the faithful as Light: Being the light...what does that mean? It involves two important elements: One, everyone sees you; and two, one is able to see because of you! Just two days have passed after an exam that I gave, where the examiner asked me, what would be the apt mode of proclaiming the Good News to those who have not heard it. I said, "by living my everyday life!" One may ask, but where is the proclamation - I believe it is in the very living! Our life cannot have two shades - personal and public, sacred and profane, spiritual and secular... If I am a Christian - I should be seen! That is the first dimension of being light - my life has to be lived in its integrity. When the light can be seen, then one can see, because of the light. When my life can be seen by the other as a open book, the other can draw an inspiration to live by, and that is proclamation; that is evangelisation; that is illumining! It is through my life, my words, my actions and everyday choices that I become a light to the other; "if you bestow your bread on the hungry and satisfy the afflicted; then light shall rise for you in the darkness!" and thus one will become the light in darkness to the upright.

Let us keep this light burning in our hearts whole day today, to evaluate our daily life and see, if we really possess the Light of Faith, if we really live our life in a manner as to become light to those around me! Let the Eternal Light of Lord fill our hearts to be illumined and to illumine!

WORD 2day: 8th February, 2014

Compassion - the quality closest to sanctity!

"An understanding heart to guide God's people", is what Solomon asks of the Lord... and that is what he was given! We see Jesus, who understood the tiredness of his apostles and counseled them to relax. We see Jesus looking at the people and understanding their need, their thirst, their yearning for life...he was filled with compassion! Compassion, which comes from com-pati (latin),  to have the same feeling as someone, is basically an understanding of the other! When someone next to me is undergoing a crisis, when someone in my vicinity is going through a suffering, when persons in front of my eyes are experiencing a situation that stifles their lives... can I really feel with them, can I really suffer with them? That would be compassion! That is the sensibility that Jesus exhibits, that is the sensibility that Christ requires of us, if we have to call ourselves Christians! Compassion is the quality closest to sanctity! To be Christ-ians, we cannot but be compassionate; like Solomon, let us ask the Lord, and the Lord will grant us a heart that is wise and understanding, loving and compassionate.

WORD 2day: 7th February, 2014

Making God the centre of our lives!

We are presented with two kings today in the readings - King David and King Herod! Of one the reading praises without end and the other... we surely know his end! Both kings over Israel... but two totally different sorts of kings. One, who listened to the prophets and the other who killed them! Not that one was a saint and the other was a sinner... both were sinners; but what made the difference? While one was merely curious about the things of God, the other one - the reading says, "with his whole being he loved his Maker and daily had His praises sung" (Sir 47:8,9). The place that David gave to God, in spite of all the weaknesses he had, made him the most loved of the sons of God. It does not matter what heights we reach, or what laurels we fetch, giving the Lord the first place, will set everything else right. Making God the centre of our lives, is what all the saints teach us. And that is the secret to a life, truly happy and meaningful.