With hearts on fire!

WORD 2day: Thursday, 29th week in Ordinary time

October 24, 2019: Romans 6: 19-23; Luke 12: 49-53

With hearts set on fire... that is the way to live an authentic Christian life, invites the Gospel today. 

Fire can symbolically mean light that dispels darkness; one can choose either to live in the light or slumber in the shade - "the work of each will become visible... because it will be revealed with fire"(1Cor 3:13) says the Word. 

Fire can symbolise the purifying fire which tests the genuineness of our faith, faith which is more precious than gold (1 Pet 1:7). Yes, it destroys, but only the dirt; fire makes it disappear, fire makes it disintegrate, fire makes it unidentifiable anymore... thus making the gold shine more and more!

Fire in consuming, can symbolise the saving love of God in Christ, that consumed totally our sins, consumed the very life of the Son of God, even while we were still sinners (Rom 5: 8), consuming his divinity, his humanity, his entire being!

Fire - there is no dilly dallying about it. When it blazes, you either exist or you dont! Yes, the key message today is all about choices! The choices we make, define the persons that we are. Every moment of our life, in our words, in our acts, in our thoughts, in our priorities, in every little decision that we make, we are making choices, we are continually defining who we are, to ourselves first of all and then to the world. Its a choice fundamentally - for death or for life! 

When we choose things that are ungodly we choose death. When we choose righteousness, the way of the Light, the fire of the Lord, we choose eternal life in Jesus Christ. The question is, are our hearts on fire?

The grace of 'slavery'!

WORD 2day: Wednesday, 29th week in Ordinary time

October 23, 2019: Romans 6: 12-18; Luke 12: 39-48

Being 'slaves' of righteousness - it is a wonderful figure of speech that St. Paul uses to communicate the level of virtuousness that we need to arrive at. Because, more is given to us (for God did not spare anything because of the love God has for us), and so more is expected of us! 

The Lord in his turn speaks of the same message with the help of a parable. Jesus speaks of various categories of persons today: those who do not know what is right and so fail to do it, they are helpless  and will receive the light; those who do not know what is right but still do it, they are fortunate and so are blessed; those who know what is right but still do not do it, they are slaves to unrighteousness and they bring upon themselves needless grief; those who know what is right and are particular about doing it - they are the righteous, they are the people of the light, they are the sons and daughters of God. 

Let us add one more to that list... those who know what is right and cannot but do it; they face troubles and struggles, they suffer heat and cold, they endure pain and persecution, but can never give up on doing what is right: these are whom Paul calls today, 'slaves' to righteousness. Isn't that a grace?

That is why, I wish to extend that figure of speech of Paul and speak of how important it is to pray for the grace of 'slavery', slavery to righteousness. These are the saints, who cannot but be righteous, cannot but be good, cannot but be loving, cannot but be forgiving! This is the category that are really the 'Blessed'! 

Which category do I belong to?'

Awake and alert - always with God!

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

October 22, 2019: Romans 5: 12,15,17-21; Luke 12: 36-38 

Be Awake, says the Lord today. St. Paul reminds us, that death has come from sin; Sin comes through disobedience and disobedience does not, for sure, come all of a sudden. It comes, either from a conscious rebellion or a habitual disregard. 

Conscious rebellion is not as dangerous as a habitual disregard, however. Conscious rebellion at least is a stand taken. One can understand and someone can help too! But a habitual disregard, is dangerous; it is a slow poison. 

A feeling of monotony, getting used to things done on a regular basis, fixed but indifferent schedules of prayer and customary acts of piety, usual persons and daily routines - these are the sources of habitual disregard. It is a kind of a slumber, a slumber with which we carry out our tasks and duties, be they spiritual or otherwise - all done and dusted, but not really bearing their fruit. 

The Lord invites us today, to be alert, to be awake, to be diligent even in the most ordinary of the daily tasks that we carry out, to make a conscious choice in everything that we involve in, so that when the Master comes we are prepared to receive, whatever time it is. 

We remember and thank God for Pope St. John Paul II today, a man who was convinced of what he believed, and what he lived, alert and awake even at the fag end of his life, so burdensome and heavy, so challenging and demanding, willing to give his all, as the Servant of the servants of God. Let us learn from him: to keep awake and alert, because the devil our adversary is prowling round like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour (1 Pet 5:8).

Rich in God's sight

WORD 2day: Monday, 29th week in Ordinary time

October 21, 2019: Romans 4:20-25; Luke 12:13-21

Storing up treasures for oneself versus being rich in God's sight - is the contrast that the Gospel presents us today! Being rich by the standards of the world, or at least having more than just enough, seems to be the driving force for a big majority in the present day context. At times one is dumbstruck looking at how one has wealth as much much as a whole village and another at the very same time, has not enough to be assured of the next meal. This is no strange fact today's world - that is how is the world is, they say without shame or shock!

Storing up wealth, however, is not easy - work, fatigue, stress, competition, strain, pain, sacrifice, fight, strife... it involves all these and more. Being rich in God's sight - consists of just one thing, one single thing - to remain still in God's presence! Through darkness and cloud, through storm and turbulence, 'be still and know that I am God' (Ps 46:10). 

Abraham, through all moments of probable doubt and hopelessness, "grew strong in faith as he gave glory to God" says the letter to the Romans. That was reckoned to him as righteousness! Through our daily work and responsibilities, concerns and discouragements, struggles and temptations, let us learn to 'be still' and 'grow strong in faith'! 

As we go about out daily duties and demanding responsibilities, let us remember that we are upto these tasks because God has willed it so. If that is truly the case, God shall give us the grace to see ourselves through them too. Let us be ever convinced that God is capable of doing what God has promised - that will make us rich and blessed in the sight of God. 

WITH HANDS RAISED UNTO THE LORD

In our battle of daily living...

29th Sunday in Ordinary time: October 20, 2019

Exodus 17:8-13; 2 Timothy 3:14 - 4:2; Luke 18:1-8

Work as if everything depended on you; Pray as if nothing depended on you, goes the popular saying. Today we have a wonderful image to place before us, as we go about our daily life. Moses on the hill overlooking the battle, with hands raised unto the Lord! The battle belongs to the Lord... all that we need to do is keep still, the Lord will fight for us says the book of Exodus (14:14). 

We are called to live our life with our hands raised unto the Lord! 

Living with hands raised unto the Lord is a gesture that means to abandon everything into the hands of God. It is a total personal abandonment to the Lord, that the Lord may guide us and that the Lord may fight the battle for us! Many grow weary of struggles and temptations in life... when Moses' hands were raised, Israel won! 

The book of Proverbs tells us, 'the horse is made ready for the battle; but the victory belongs to the Lord!'(Prov. 21:31). When we learn to abandon ourselves in the hands of God, we will see the wonders that can happen. The more we stick on to ourselves as the source of energy and victory, the more we could get stressed, depressed and discouraged. These instances are today, becoming more and more as human mind in its pride thinks of any dependence as below dignity, even the dependence on God! Is not interdependence among fellow beings and total dependence on God, that would make us truly human!

Living with hands raised unto the Lord is to reach out to the Lord with all our heart. It is like the antenna that stretches to connect, to receive and to communicate. That is in short, 'prayer' - to connect, to receive and to communicate. How many times we rattle off prayers, with the formula we have memorised from time immemorial! Even the so-called spontaneous prayers, how many times it is like the warning from the Lord: heaping up empty words and phrases! Do we really pray, or say prayers?

Let us pay attention to the term that seems common in today's readings: pray without ceasing tells Jesus presenting to us the image of the widow; proclaim in season and out of season instructs St. Paul; and the first reading presents to us Moses unwilling to grow weary of having his hands raised unto to the Lord. A two fold call here: first, not to grow weary... like the widow to go on in trust, with our hands raised unto the Lord; second, when a brother or sister seems to grow weary, to rush to their side like Aaron and Hur and to be with them and to raise our hands in unison unto the Lord. A praying person builds a praying community of brothers and sisters, genuinely concerned about each other!

Living with the hands raised unto the Lord is to be filled with hope in the Lord. Like it happened to the widow, it may look like you might never get justice. Like it happened to the Israelites, it might look like you are losing the battle. Things may continuously go wrong, people might endlessly misunderstand you, nothing might seem to be going the way you wished it would..."But as for you, continue, in what you have learned and firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it"...from Jesus himself who hoped in the One who sent him, from our Blessed mother who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken by the Lord! "Let us not allow ourselves to be robbed of our hope" reminds Pope Francis.

In the battle of our daily living, every day of our life, every moment of our day, let us resolve to live with our hands raised unto to the Lord in a holy abandonment, in a loving union and in an unfailing hope... so that when Our Lord and Saviour comes he will still find faith here amidst us! 

Hope: the mark of a Christ-ian

WORD 2day: Saturday, 28th week in Ordinary time

October 19, 2019: Romans 4: 13,16-18; Lk 12: 8-12 

Jesus speaks of sin against the Holy Spirit in the Gospel today (Lk 12:10; also look up Mt 12:31-32). This is one of the most frequently asked questions among the youth at discussions. Moral theologians and Scripture Scholars have tried to make sense of it and one familiar interpretation given is this: the sin against the Holy Spirit, considered 'unforgivable' by Jesus, is the sin of presumption! 

Theologically, presumption is a vice against the virtue of hope; in simple words it is giving up hope! When one gives up hope, he or she crosses the human limits to decide that God is incapable of acting on his or her behalf and at that point the person loses any kind of needed disposition to receive anything from God, including forgiveness! 

It is not that God does not want to forgive, but the person has removed himself or herself from the possibility of receiving it. As Pope Francis says, and is fond of repeating, God is never tired of forgiveness. There is no limit to God's mercy, for the truth is not that God has mercy, but that God is mercy! 

The first reading of today says of Abraham, that "hoping against hope, he believed" (Rom 4:18)...and thus he received all that blessings that he did! This is the unfailing mark of being a true Christ-ian... hope! Our faith should be founded on Hope, and that is the fundamental attitude of a person of the Spirit. 

Losing hope, robbing people of their hope or even allowing oneself to be robbed of hope, is a sin against the Holy Spirit!

Requiring a fearless choice

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

October 18, 2019: Remembering the Evangelist St. Luke

2 Timothy 4: 10-17; Luke 10: 1-9

Luke alone is with me...writes Paul. We are given to understand that Luke, although he was not part of the apostles' band, he was very closely associated with them and eventually grows up into an evangelist!

One salient feature that is often pointed out about St. Luke's gospel is the contrasting images that he uses in his narration...the beatitudes and the woes, Martha and Mary, the prodigal and his brother, the rich man and Lazarus, the good thief and the bad thief... these are all typical to Luke, in comparison to the other Gospel narratives! 

The message is obvious: he challenges his readers towards absolute choices - for or against the Lord; with or away from the Lord! A value that he seems to have lived in his own life - an instance is that he chose to remain with Paul in his difficult ministry! The radical choices that a disciple had to make according to Jesus in the Gospel today, were very clear for Luke and he made those choices his own! 

Christian Discipleship requires these absolute choices that we have to make for the Lord and for the Lord's people! Being an apostle or an evangelist, is only a step that follows! Without the former, the latter is phony. The memory of St.Luke invites us to make an absolute choice for God: on a daily basis, at work and at home, on the streets or in a public transport; in company or alone - we are what we choose to be! 

Let us fearlessly choose to belong to the Lord, always!

Faith-Work: Not controversy but complementarity

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

 October 17, 2019: Remembering St. Ignatius of Antioch

Romans 3: 21-30; Luke 11: 47-54

One is justified by faith apart from the works of law - this was, is and will ever be a point of contention. In the Old Testament times it was a contention between the 'conservative' and the 'progressive' rabbinic schools; in Jesus' times between him and the Jewish religious heads; in the times of the early Christians it was a contention between those who followed the Pauline theology and those who believed the theology of James; today it continues between the Catholics and the non Catholics! 

Amidst all the contention foreseen, needless to say our point of reference is Jesus: 'Don't put your trust in your capacity to achieve things and to gain control or dominance', warns Jesus, 'become like children!' That is, respect the primacy of faith! Jesus also declared, 'when you did this to one of these little ones, you did it to me!' That is, the necessity of works! 

In Jesus' terms, faith is that capacity to live totally dependent on God and do all that we can do, primarily as instruments in the hand of God - an attitude diametrically opposed to pride and arrogance of work alone, and practically a corrective to passivity and timidity of faith alone! 

What Jesus teaches against is, empty ritualism, legalistic spirituality and hypocritical religiosity! St. Ignatius of Antioch, whom we celebrate today says that in very simple words, "it is not that I want merely to be called a Christian, but to actually be one. Yes, if I prove to be one, then I can have the name." Works manifest my faith, faith makes my works efficacious!

Justice, Mercy and the Love of God

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

October 16, 2019: Remembering St. Margaret Mary Alacoque

Romans 2:1-11; Luke 11: 42-46

'For God shows no partiality' - that verse from the first reading is evidenced in the Gospel today. Jesus minces no words, nor spares anyone! All that matters to Jesus is Justice and Mercy... and he pulls up every one, be it Pharisees or Scribes, as Paul pulls up, be it Jews or Greeks, following his Master! 

Justice and Mercy - purest forms of expression of God's love - is what we are called to set our minds on today! It is said justice is blind, and that is why they have the statue of justice blindfolded; God's justice is not blind, rather capable of seeing everything, even what one does not wish to be seen! Mercy comes in there, where God is able to see even the feeblest of our authentic efforts to tend towards true love. 

Celebrating the memory of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, we are reminded of the profound revelation of that incredible love of God, symbolised in the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus! Though God's love is a beautiful feeling of being drenched gratuitously, it challenges us - not merely to reciprocate, but to act with justice and mercy towards our fellow beings, as a concrete expression of that love received and cherished! 

Speaking of Justice of God need not be merely a discourse on the fright of judgement, but it has to be a daily criterion of action and decision in our life. Being merciful like our heavenly Father, is being mindful of even the simplest of opportunities to stand by truth, justice and love! Let us remember, being just, merciful and loving is the only way we can fit the description of being 'children of God'.

Beware of Foolishness

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

October 15, 2019: Remembering St. Teresa of Avila

Romans 1:16-25; Luke 11: 37-41

The theme of yesterday continues today...what Jesus spoke in the Gospel yesterday, St. Paul writes in his letter today. There isn't any need for an extraordinary exercise to realise the presence of God. "Be Still and know that I am God", suggests Psalm 46 (v.10). 

One common word that we can find in the first reading and the Gospel today is, "fool" (Rom 1:22 ; Lk 11:40). It would indeed be foolish, if we do not really manage to experience the presence of God after all that we have been blessed with in life. Be it St. Paul in the first reading or Jesus in the Gospel, they seem to be very strong with their words. At times it is necessitated!

Sometimes we can be led into that so-called foolishness by our daily concerns, overwhelming troubles, endless temptations, nagging situations, seemingly insuperable burdens that tend to bog us. As Jesus remarks, some of our misplaced priorities and scandalising practices in life, may not only take us away from God but may even keep some others far from God! How many have gone away from God, because of the life and practices of those who claim to believe in God! 

The readings, as well as the Mystic whom we celebrate today - St. Teresa of Avila, invite us to look within us and observe the greatness that is treasured within us, and from there we can shine forth to the world: through a thorough soul searching and a realisation of the indwelling Spirit within us! For we may be unworthy clay jars, but exactly in these has the Lord placed the priceless treasures (2 Cor 4:7)!