CHRISTMAS NOVENA - DAY 3: O Adonai!

18th December: O Adonai...

O Adonai, and leader of the house of Israel

who appeared to Moses in the fire of the burning bush

and gave him the law on Sinai:

Come and redeem us with an outstretched arm.

Based on Isaiah 11:45 and Isaiah 33:22, the title Adonai, refers to the Lordship of Yahweh, that the people of Israel always stressed on. From a generic universal history that yesterday's "Wisdom" reminded us of, today's "Adonai" comes down to the particular experience of Exodus, the watershed of the Spirituality of the people of Israel.

The Symbols are burning bush, to remind the experience when Moses surrendered to Yahweh and the stone tablets of the commandments, the symbol of Israel's surrender to Yahweh. What is stressed is the Lordship of Yahweh, which is the key to the God-experience of the Israel and our faith-experience today.

The Lord of Israel, our God is Supreme over all beings of the earth or the heavens, the Lord of history and the Lord of the future. This is nothing that God would insist on holding on to, because God stands to gain nothing whether we accept or reject God's losrdship; it is we who stand to gain or lose! When we accept the Lordship of the Creator, we find meaning, significance and purpose in everything that happens in our life; when we do not surrender, every bit of what happens can become a concern and a cause for sadness and dissatisfaction. Hence the call is to Surrender, to the lordship of the Lord.

The prayer today is that of a SURRENDER into the redeeming power of God, to be led by the Lord's hands always - from darkness to light, from folly to wisdom, from death to life! 

Keys to the Kingdom: Feel the Spiritual Restlessness

THE WORD IN ADVENT - December 18

Jeremiah 23: 5-8; Matthew 1: 18-24

Joseph was a righteous man. His rectitude consisted of an incomparable combination of the Justice of Yahweh, that we see in the first reading and God's predilective love for the poor and the weak, that is exalted in the Responsorial Psalm. 

The Righteousness of God is an uncompromising stand for the truth, because of which Joseph thinks of divorcing Mary; it is also a unparalleled love for the poor and the weak, or in Pope Francis' words, love for those in the periphery - that is what makes Joseph search for ways to spare Mary the disgrace! 

This prophetic righteousness causes a spiritual restlessness within Joseph, in which he is taught to see things from God's perspective. If he were a self centered, egotistic person he would have never learnt to see it that way, he would have done what he wanted and things would have been drastically different. 

In all the things that are happening around us, do we feel that spiritual restlessness within us - so many people robbed of their dignity, humanity deprived of its peace and tranquility, persons denied their rights and due respect, communities oppressed and weak and feeble trampled under foot: does that in anyway make us spiritually restless - does the righteousness of God and predilection for the weak, in anyway impel us to take a stand?

The Lord comes to visit us on a daily basis in these experiences, as the Angel came to meet Joseph. We will miss it all, if we are filled with only ourselves, our ideas and our perspectives! Joseph inspires us towards the third key to the Kingdom - to feel the Spiritual Restlessness within!

CHRISTMAS NOVENA - DAY 2: O Wisdom!

17th December: O Sapientia...

O Wisdom, coming forth from the mouth of the Most High

reaching from one end to the other,

mightily and sweetly ordering all things:

Come and teach us the way of prudence.

Based on Isaiah 11:2-3 and Isaiah 28:29... the antiphon recalls the most popular attribute given to the Spirit of the Lord and the Word of God which is seen active in creation and order of the universe. It is this Word, who becomes flesh to dwell among us (John 1:14). 

The Symbol used is often...the eye within the triangle, which symbolises the Omniscient God...the Wisdom of God. The Jewish or the Davidic lampstand (with 7 sticks) is used to refer to the Wisdom of God which has accompanied the people of God right from the origins of history!

Wisdom, we know is slightly different from knowledge and could be even considered a level higher, because even a person who lack the so-called knowledge may possess the finest wisdom, while a person with all possible knowledge may prove miserably unwise! Wisdom would be that capacity to not just know, but to use what we know at the right moment in the apt manner. In our daily decision-making it amounts to actually, prudence!

The Prayer today is for PRUDENCE...to be guided always by the Lord, the Lord who dwells among us.

Keys to the Kingdom: Take no one for granted

THE WORD IN ADVENT - December 17

Genesis 49:2,8-10; Matthew 1: 1-17

The first reading speaks of the sons of Jacob, and among them Judah who has to rule! The Gospel reading gives us the whole lineage of Jesus, the Christ who is to come! In both these, there is a reference to the so-called little ones who make a difference at the level of global history. 

We look at those who are around us... we know them all - their history, their geography, their background... and with all these, we think we know them so much... that we can miss the

 Lord who wants to encounter us in them, in their words or gestures! 

Even as the whole world is becoming just a little village with everyone getting to know about every other, we are getting so far away from each other. The irony of our times is that the social network which claims to take communication to the optimal levels, is stopping us from true existential encounters with each other. We are becoming happy with profiles, statuses, likes, shares and comments on the virtual world, failing to really get in touch with persons in flesh and blood. 

And even where we get to live with persons on a daily basis, there is a big danger that we look at some persons so regularly, that they no longer really mean anything to us. That's really a danger of missing the Lord who comes and his Kingdom. The key to the Kingdom that's presented to us today: every person in your life is sent on purpose by God, so, take no one for granted.

CHRISTMAS NOVENA - a tradition so lovely

Novena...'O' Antiphons...Oh what a Tradition we have!!! 

Naturally the last days of the Christmas preparation are a great excitement...
The Church has a beautiful tradition of 
the Novena in preparation of this wonderful festival of LOVE...

And within this novena... 
leaving out the first day and the last day...
there are 7 verses from the prophecies from the Old Testament (Isaiah) 
which announce the coming of the Lord's Messiah...they are named "O" Antiphons.
each of these antiphons, so meaningful and beautiful...

We pray them as Antiphons before the Gospel at the Eucharist these days...
those who pray the daily prayer of the Church (Breviary) pray it in the evening 
with the hymn of our blessed mother, the Magnificat.

16th of December begins the Novena...
on this day, the antiphon, though not an O Antiphon...
sets the tone for the next 9 days...

WE BEGIN A SPECIAL SEASON OF WAITING FOR AN IMMINENT COMING OF THE LORD

Keys to the Kingdom: Rely on the real King

THE WORD IN ADVENT -  December 16

Monday, 3rd week in Advent: Numbers 24:2-7,15-17; Matthew 21: 23-27

Starting today, we begin the next phase of our preparation to receive the Lord. There are certain key attitudes with which we shall be in a better position to receive the Reign. The challenges are multifarious and a person of the Reign cannot go past them without true and absolute choices. 

In today's Word, Balaam asserts, affirms and reaffirms on whose authority he speaks; the Jewish leaders and priests ask Jesus on whose authority Jesus does all that he does. Both Balaam and Jesus, we see in the Word today, were fearless. 

Balaam was faced with a furious whole race and Jesus was faced with a powerful top brass of the society. They make it clear to themselves and to those around, that they rely not on their power, or eloquence, or skill, or talent but they rely on the Lord! Today when the very institutions like the governments and public services, which have to safeguard the common good, start working against equality, justice and human dignity, what do you do! Stand up, speak up and usher in the Reign! No authority can stop us! And we need to please no authority, except One.

An authority that will never be questioned...is the Lord who reigns over all and submitting myself to that Reign and inspiring others to submit to the Reign is the way to establish the Reign of God. It is not Reign that expands by conquest and battles, but by submission and surrender, by a personal choice to absolutely rely on the real King!

WAIT - FOR AND ON THE REIGN

THE WORD IN ADVENT

December 15, 2019: Third Sunday of Advent

Isaiah 35: 1-6,10; James 5: 7-10; Matthew 11:2-11

Rejoice! Look, the Lord your God is coming... the advent commission today is to Wait for and Wait on the Reign of the Lord!

An expectant couple, a lover on the park bench, a child on the birthday eve, a starved person on a set table... these are vivid snapshots of the joy of waiting! There is a pain involved, but a pain that is part of a greater joy. There are myriads of reasons to be disturbed and be restless about, but they are all overwhelmed by the joy that resides beneath. That is the picture that the Church wants us to contemplate this Sunday: the Joy of Waiting, for and on the Reign. 

This Sunday is called the Gaudete Sunday (Gaudete in latin simply means 'Rejoice')... taking off from the entrance antiphon which invites us to REJOICE, because the salvation of the Lord is near. Note the colour of the vestments today...they are not merely the violet, but purple...to add the necessary element of joy to the waiting! A Christian waiting should be joyful, the liturgy reminds us today - and what are the marks of this joyful waiting?

The whole creation groans as with pangs of childbirth...for a peaceful, prosperous, perfect world. Every religion and every spirituality is a yearning towards that state of existence, called in various names. We believe it to be the Reign of God; "We are seeking God's Kingdom" reminds the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium(180) of Pope Francis. This waiting, this Christian waiting for the Reign of God is a joyful waiting, not a miserable waiting, not a servile waiting. That is why this Waiting cannot be only a waiting for the Reign, as if it is a passive inaction, totally depending on an external factor. No, it has to be also waiting on the Reign... yes, the Reign is here, the Lord is here and the more faithful we grow to the Reign, the more present it becomes. It has to be an active making present of the Reign, here and now! The Word today brings to our attention the marks of this kind of a waiting: 

The first mark is the Assurance of Faith. The first reading is full of words like, gladness, joy, exultation, rejoicing, shouting, leaping, singing... all these words are used by Isaiah, when the people of Israel are still in Exile...but they know their liberation is imminent. What fills their hearts and their lives is faith - a joyful and total abandonment into the hands of God, one who creates and directs history. A total assurance that the Lord is for them; the Lord stands in favour of them and the Lord will lead them to the prosperity that they are waiting for. 

Our life, to be truly Christian, to be truly worthy of the Reign, has to be based firmly on this assurance of faith, that the Lord is with us and the Lord is for us. When God is for us, who can be against us! When evil plans of the villainous powers arise and grow stronger, it is not a moment to be frightened and retract our voice; it is a moment to stand firm and raise it to the skies. That is the sign of faith, that we believe we can do everything in the Lord who is with us and strengthens us - the assurance of faith.

The second mark of a joyful waiting is the Aspirations of Hope. The first reading, the responsorial psalm and the Gospel are filled with imageries of the lame walking, the blind seeing, the deaf hearing, the dumb speaking... the aspirations of a heart, the desire for a better world, the yearning for a bright tomorrow, the thirst for justice and truth, these are infallible signs of the Reign. That is what we are invited to hope for, and only that hope will thrust us into action, into doing our little bit, our essential part in making those dreams come true! 

We need to be filled with that vision, to reach the promised land, each and every one of us hand in hand. Things will change, justice and righteousness will prevail, peace and joy will flower... we need to wait on the Reign - that is, promote the cause of the Reign. Keep speaking of justice, keep standing for righteousness, keep pushing the initiatives of peace, keep multiplying the occasions of true joy... we need to keep promoting the Reign, the dreams and the aspirations of hope.

The third mark is Associations of Love. The second reading touches upon a crucial point: yes we wait, but in the meanwhile what do we do? how do we comport ourselves? There are various modes of waiting... angry and restless... anxious and nasty... irritated and tensed... But the joy of waiting for the Reign has to be a wait that is filled with a "prophetic patience", says St. James. An abundance of patience that cherishes every moment that is spent in waiting. A patience that is expressed in our loving rapport with every brother and sister. 

Our relationships have to express to the world that we are people with a difference, we look for something that not everyone is looking for, that we are people who have our gaze fixed on the Lord and the Lord's Reign that everyone around seems beautiful and precious in our eyes! It has to tell that world that we are not only people who wait for the Reign, but we are people who wait on the Reign, that is those who serve the Reign with all our heart, through all our associations of love.

We are waiting... we are waiting for the Reign... but the Reign is already here, the wait is to make it more and more visible, it is waiting on the Reign! Each of us has the responsibility, to make the Reign of God felt, here and now, through living with an abundance of assurance of faith, with limitless aspirations of hope and divine associations of love with each other. The joy of waiting for the Reign, has to radiate that joy to every one, everyday in every way.

Repent and be ready to behold the Lord

THE WORD IN ADVENT - Second Saturday

December 14, 2019: Remembering St.John of the Cross

Ecclesiasticus 48: 1-4,9-12; Matthew 17: 10-13

Read the Life of John of the Cross

Today we are given to reflect on three great personalities... the first one as we reflected yesterday, is the person of the week John the Baptist, credited by Jesus as greatest of all who are born of a woman. The second one is Prophet Elijah of the Old Testament, who is considered to be the greatest of the prophets. The third is St. John of the Cross, considered to be the greatest mystic and doctor of the Soul! Why were all these people 'great'... not because they were in power or were the most influential of their times!

The simple reason was that they were fired with a burning love for God... Elijah shut the heavens, brought down fire, all because he wanted the people to see the glory of God! The Baptist remained a voice in the wilderness, warning everyone of their sins, ready even to die for the Reign of God. John of the Cross was a great reformer of the religious life and an ardent agent of counter reformation, standing by the Church during the tough times of Reformation, filled with the zeal for the Reign of God.

The reflection however is not about their greatness - that is by now indisputable. The question is: what do we do with these persons of greatness, what do we do with these revelations of the glory of God? In our daily experience, we see things and encounter people, that are grandiose revelations of God, provided we are ready and willing, prepared and capable of beholding those revelations. In fact this is one of my firm convictions: Miracles (and here revelations) abound for those who are prepared to see them around. We are prepared by the Word, but are we ready?

The Reign of God is near...if we wish to receive it, we have to be filled with that same fire! The fire, the zeal, the yearning, the thirst for the Reign of God, which should shine through every word, thought, deed and choice of everyday life. The Word invites us, Jesus, Elijah, John the Baptist and John of the Cross - they challenges us today, to Repent and be ready to behold the Lord!

Repent from childishness to child-likeness!

THE WORD IN ADVENT - Second Friday

December 13, 2019: Remembering St. Lucy

Isaiah 48: 17-19; Matthew 11: 16-19 

Read the Life of St. Lucy

If we had noticed carefully these days, there is a constant reference in the Gospel this week to John the Baptist. From last Sunday, the Gospel and the preface keep presenting to us the figure of John the Baptist, to challenge us regarding how prepared we are for the Coming of the Lord! 

Today we are made to reflect on the difference between "being childish" and "being child-like." Unless you become like a child you will not enter the Reign of God - but that in no way means you remain childish! Jesus gives a simple example - being childish is being so centered on yourself that you wish everything around you happens as you wish and everyone does what you wish... and said literally, that every one dances to your tunes!

Being childlike, instead, is being prophetic, being like the persons of God who abandon everything into the hands of God with total confidence in God and in God alone. One such example we have in St. Lucy the fourth century martyr whom we celebrate today - a life of total abandonment into the hands of God, as a child into the hands of its father or mother!

Another quality of typical children - that they are single minded. You tell them, 'do this', they are all taken up with that until they do that - their entire mind is occupied with that. Look at the mindset of John the Baptist... or Jesus for that matter... so single minded in their faithfulness to the One who had sent them. Another prophetic character in them.

Let us be like children, let us be child-like; let us single mindedly walk in the path God has planned for us, with our hands in the hands of God. Let us not remain childish, looking for our immediate happiness but grow to be child-like, prophetic and God-loving. Let us Repent from childishness to child-likeness!

Repent and trust in the hand of the Lord!

THE WORD IN ADVENT - Second Thursday

December 12, 2019: Isaiah 41: 13-21; Matthew 11:11-15

News about violence everyday, cry of injustice and unfettered exploitation of the weak, persecutions in the name of religion and venomous maligning of persons and groups owing to the religious and moral values that they hold on to, conniving laws and strategies in the making, outright squashing of truth with might and muscle - these are what we hear on a daily basis these days. Jesus seems to tell us, that this is nothing new! "Since John the Baptist came, upto this present time, the kingdom of Heaven has been subjected to violence", he says. And the first reading adds hopefully, inspite of all these, "Do not be afraid, I shall help you." 

The image that we can behold and ruminate, is that of a child holding the hand of the father or the mother, and braving the whole world around. There may be a whole world of strangers around and some of them may be intending to hurt or harm too, but the child is blissfully secure in the hands of the Father or the Mother... that is what a Christian should be!

Let us never forget that one quintessential truth of Christian faith: we are never alone! The Lord promises today: I, the God of Israel, shall never abandon you! We are preparing to celebrate this truth; that God came to dwell with us. And ever since, God has been with us; and God shall never abandon us! This is one important truth to which we have to repent very often, because we forget it, drift away from in and in the meantime deny it by our actions and choices!

Let us heed the voice of the Lord today, remind ourselves of the ever-present hand of God and Repent and trust in the hand of the Lord!