The Call and the Reminders

WORD 2day: Monday, 28th Week in Ordinary time

October 11, 2021: Romans 1: 1-7; Luke 11: 29-32

The first reading today speaks to us about our call to belong to Christ, our call to be holy and our obedience of faith. At times we forget this fundamental call as we live our daily life  and all its responsibilities, getting lost in programmes and daily chores. We get so used to our life as Christians or as Religious, that it doesnt make any concrete difference in us! Gradually we lose track of our fundamental call, and go after things that matter nothing to our salvation, some of them even detrimental to it. We become so callous to our failures and disorientation that we do not even realise we are going farther and farther away from our destined goal: our sanctification.

One thing we are aware is that we can never justify our act, our choices or our priorities when they go against this call that we have received. First of all because we are given reminders after reminders, through persons, situations, events and experiences. Secondly because  the Lord comes to us in person to remind us that we belong to him, that we have a whole life journey to make with him on our side.

The Gospel offers us models by way of the people of Nineveh and Queen of Sheba, people who were so attentive to these signs and reminders that they instantly picked up the message that God was giving them. They recognised the voice of the Lord and Word that was brought to them, took the utmost effort to respond to their specific call.

That is the reminder given to me today: to know how much have I grown in responding to the call that the Lord has given me personally, the call to belong to Christ, the call to be holy, the call to my personal sanctification!

THE PRIMACY OF THE WORD

Between Godliness and worldliness 

28th Sunday in Ordinary time: October 10, 2021

Wisdom 7: 7-11; Hebrew 4: 12-13; Mark 10: 17-30

The Word this Sunday is on the primacy of the Word. The most categorical criterion for a Christian life in this world is the Word, and nothing can define more what a Christian has to be in this life and what awaits him or her in the next. 

There is a craze for wealth and pleasure, comfort and ego, in this world and this is what we term, 'worldliness', a tendency to give importance to the conventional standards of the  world. This is what St. Paul warns against, when he says, 'do not conform to the world' (Rom 12:2). The other pole that is more proper to a follower of Christ, a disciple of Christ, that is a Christian, is the path of Godliness - where God matters the most, God's ways become the criteria of decision, and God's people become a point of sensitive concern. Every person who is active and wishes to live one's life to the full, will certainly be confronted with this dilemma, a tension between Godliness and worldliness. The Word this Sunday, wishes to reflect on this and offers us the clear cut criterion to go by: the primacy of the Word, the Wisdom of God. 

The tendency towards Godliness: There is a natural tendency towards Godliness that every Christian possesses - owe it to the baptismal grace, or the upbringing of the family, or the influence of the faith community or atleast the effect of indoctrination that happens right from the early ages of a person. That tendency is what keeps faith going amidst all crises that exists in the world...but is that enough? The first reading speaks to us of the longing for Wisdom, the yearning for the presence of God, the wish to belong to God and be possessed by God. This is a grace and we cannot squander it. And as a community of faith we have the responsibility to nurture it and nourish it in the upcoming generations. There is a call in that lovely passage to develop within us an intimate love for God, a soul-stirring yearning for God and a passionate search for what pertains to God in any concrete circumstance that we find ourselves in. For example - finding myself in the pandemic situation, what has been my predominant sensibility: aggressive self-preservation? or fierce rebellion? or insensitive indifference? Can't we today reflect and judge for ourselves, what has been our tendency? When we do that we can measure pretty well the level of our tendency towards authentic Godliness.

The tension from worldliness: Many a moment, the yearning for Godliness that we have within is confronted with the worldliness that overwhelms us from all around. The society and the so-called world keeps bombarding us with the terms such as. 'success', 'achievement', 'wealth', 'power', 'influence', 'trending', 'fashion', 'advancement', 'development', and so on. What are we to look up to: the God who calls us to sacrifice and self-giving or the world which clamours after self-fulfilment and self-actualisation? This tension increases even as we tend to encapture the meaning of our life in terms of what we do and what we achieve, rather than what we are and what we are created to be! For the true followers of Christ, this tension reaches its peak, when the Lord calls us 'to go sell everything. give it to the poor and then come and follow him!' We try to compromise that statement and say, it has to be interpreted in context and it has to be understood with the circumstances in mind! But the Lord continues to harp on the same values: self-emptying, reaching out, and finding meaning in the Lord and in the Lord's ways! When we call ourselves Christians, when we say we are followers of Christ, when we say we are living our Christian call here and now... how true is it? The Word is the judge!

The Word, our Judge: The Word in the foundational principle of our Christian life. It is the Word that makes all the difference for the choices we make. It offers us all the wisdom we stand in need of to live a life that is meaningful. The Word is our Judge, practically because the Word gives us the criteria to live by. When those criteria are met we are affirmed; when they are not, the Word holds us on a tribunal... it can scan through our heart and our mind, isn't it! The Word is the treasure that gives meaning to our Christian life. Once we grasp the Wisdom that the Word is, we would come to the conviction that it is worth giving our life in the service of the Word. Just as so many saints who have gone before us, saints whom we have known, those who we do not know, and those who have been living may be right next door to us... we need to respect the primacy of the Word, deciding to live at the service of the Word. And at the service of the Word, whatever we give up comes back manifold.

The Son - the Shelter and the Stronghold

WORD 2day: Saturday, 27th week in Ordinary Time

October 9, 2021: Joel 4: 12-21; Lk 11:27-28

Do an exercise, why don't you? Start reading the passage prescribed for the liturgy today: start reading Joel and you will come across in your mind so many questions. The day of the Lord - is it going to be pleasant or is it going to be terrifying? Is the Lord vindictive or is the Lord truly merciful? Is this good news or a fearsome prophecy? As we read those long verses, made longer because of our ruminations, and reach the Gospel, before we realise that we have begun to read it, the passage ends! Such a short Gospel for such a long reflection before: but that is exactly the message of this whole exercise, the central theme of the liturgy today!

One may ask a thousand questions, or raise a hundred doubts...one truth never changes: Jesus is the Answer! The Son, is the stronghold, the shelter for the children of God. There is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus (Rom 8:1). Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, for the Son has made us all children of God, provided we stick to him. Let us hold on to Christ, in our words, in our actions, in our relationships and in the way we look at the entire world and its daily events. When we have the mind of Christ and look at everything in that perspective, we are sheltered and we have a stronghold, nothing can assail us.

At times our weaknesses and our human tendencies can take the better of us, but all that we need to do is, accept in all humility our failures, get ourselves together back again and reunite ourselves to Christ, clinging on to the Lord, the Son, the Shelter and the Stronghold!

Catch up with the Reign

WORD 2day: Friday, 27th week in Ordinary time

October 8, 2021: Joel 1:13-15,2:1-2; Luke  11 : 15-26

The easiest way to get rid of someone from the world is to demonise that person! This is what the Political Super Powers today keep trying. If they feel the need to eliminate  someone, they feel like demolishing another nation or they feel like doing away with a movement, the easiest way they follow is, to demonise them - call them names like evil, violent, terrorists, outlaws, rebels and so on - and get the whole world look at them as a being personification of evil. Then what remains is to get rid of the so-called evil!

This happens in all walks of life. Why do you think the fundamentalist pentecostal groups keep calling the Apostolic Catholic Church names and comparing it to the Antichrist? The sad thing is, even within our Catholic community of faith, there are those who care about nothing but rules and rigour, not about true faith and real God-experience, who at times start such demonising acts, creating schismatic sentiments within the Church, opposing the Holy Father or finding fault in whatever is proposed towards more meaningful living of the Church.

The Lord warns us today: you will be lagging behind, while the Kingdom of God would have overtaken you. Catch up with the Reign. Revelation is progressive, everyday the Lord keeps revealing to us, the way to get closer and closer to the Lord. Everything that happens, all the situations of humanity are but signs of God's revelation and a call to get closer to the Reign, by becoming more and more like the Merciful Father, Observant Son and the Illumining Holy Spirit. If we lose track of it, we shall certainly lag behind. 

It is necessary today, to open our ears, eyes and our hearts, and understand what is going on around us in the light of the Wisdom of the Lord. That alone shall enable us to catch up with the Reign!

Lepanto, Loretto and our Life!

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

October 7, 2021: Celebrating the Queen of the Holy Rosary
Acts 1: 12-14; Luke 1: 26-38

The feast of our Blessed Mother of the Holy Rosary reminds us of the battle of Lepanto 1571! The Christians were at war defending themselves against the Ottoman Empire. They were at sea, as we know, it was a naval battle and the Rosary brought them the desired victory. At the recommendation of the Pope, the Church began to celebrate Our Blessed Mother as Our Lady of Victories. It was then that Pope Pius V added that invocation, "Mary Help of Christians", to the litany of Loretto (that which we pray normally). Truly Mary was a great help for them at sea! 

Every Christian and every one of us, is at sea on a daily basis, with our concerns and temptations battling against us. Today this naval battle can be won not with bullets but with beads, the beads of the Most Holy Rosary. It is a powerful weapon that we have with us to defend ourselves from our enemy and attack every negative force to overcome evil. It is the sign of our Blessed Mother's presence with us and that presence is an assurance of a much greater presence, that of the Lord! 

As Mary was there in the upper room with the disciples praying, she is there every time we invoke her through the Holy Rosary. And every time we pray this powerful prayer, she strengthens us to say, just as she did, a whole hearted 'yes' to the will of God. As Pope St. John Paul II would often remind us, the Rosary is infact a compendium of the Gospels, a summary of the Paschal Mystery! The Rosary is a weapon that guards us from our foe malign. It is a vehicle that commutes us closer to God the Father. It is a fragrant garland that unites us with our Blessed Mother, thus sanctifying us into children more and more worthy of her divine Son, our Lord and Master.

Prayers, Questions and Answers

WORD 2day: Wednesday, 27th week in Ordinary time

October 6, 2021: Jonah 4: 1-11; Luke 11: 1-4

At times persons, when they are faced with problems, difficulties and enormous burdens, they tend to throw numerous questions at the Lord - for they know they have no one else to question about what is happening in their life. But later when things settle down, they thinking of all that and feel bad, saying 'I am so ashamed of myself. I asked the Lord so many questions when I went through those troubles!" But should it be the case? Truly speaking, "it need not be! and it should not be!" There is nothing to be confused  about, here!  The idea here seems perfectly fitting as a reflection on the Word today.

Can I question the Lord? Is that prayerful at all? 

What else could be more prayerful? It is not wrong to ask questions to the Lord. But it is important to wait for the answer. What is wrong is, we ask questions and move away from the Lord, abandon the Lord, quit the presence of the Lord. That is the problem most of us give in to. 

Ask whatever question you want to, because the Lord is your Father and Mother who loves you above all. But after asking the question, remain there till the Lord answers you, as the Lord answered Jonah today. The answer will come, now, later, much later, God alone knows when, but it will come. Because God answers prayers, that is, God answers the question your raise in prayer! God will surely answer...wait! 

Praying can very well be asking questions, but only when you are determined to get an answer from the Lord, whatever time it takes! For God's is the kingdom, God's is the power, God's is the glory for evermore!

The art of prioritising

WORD 2day: Tuesday, 27th Week in Ordinary time

October 5, 2021: Jonah 3: 1-10; Luke 10: 38-42

Martha was doing a lot of good but what Mary chose was deemed to be the best. At times we spend our time and energy doing a lot of things, all of them good may be! But what is the best we can choose at a given moment, I believe that is the point of discernment. The best that I can choose at a point of time, is what is expected of me from God right then. 

The people of Nineveh had a keen sense of discernment and they made a concrete and clear choice. They had their priorities clear. My choices actually reveal my priorities. When my choices are repeated, when they are beyond all conditions and circumstances, it is an indication that they are becoming my priority! A priority determines what I do; and more than what I do, what I think; and much more, what I am!

Instead, spending hours together for an entertainment, investing enormous energy towards getting merely an appreciation, dumping whole life down the drain hoarding money, these are some warped priorities that threaten us these days. A majority of us give into it consciously or unwittingly. Jesus teaches us today the art of prioritising. 

Jesus says, place not just the first things first, but the most important things first! You may have to even give up on somethings, not merely because they are bad but even if they are good, merely because they are not as important. Seek ye first the Reign of God and everything else will be given unto you - that's a pearl of the art of prioritising!

Love alone is the answer - Peace and Goodness!

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

October 4, 2021: Celebrating St. Francis of Assisi
Jonah 1:1 - 2:1, 11; Luke 10: 25-37

Humanity has so many questions - why are the evil people thriving; why are the innocent suffering; why are there exploitations in the world; who is cause of the misery of the poor; why is there so much of violence and killing; what makes people turn against each other... how many questions we face in our daily life and in today's world. Yes, humanity has all these questions, but Love alone is the answer! 

People may turn evil, but they were created out of love and they are called to live with that love, in joy and fulfillment. When they make mistakes, it begins to affect the other, finally there will be a time when it comes back to them. Self centered exploitation of the other is a deprivation of love. Violence and killings are but inevitable consequences of these. Celebrating Francis of Assisi today, we are inspired to think of a man who loved not just other human persons, but a person who loved every 'other'... the nature-other, the cosmic-other, the 'other' in all sense! That love alone can answer all the problems of today's world. 

If Love is felt to be present around, if Love is felt in each one's heart, if Love is found to animate every relationship, if true Love of God governs the whole world, misery, violence, killing, poverty, suffering, injustice, exploitation and every shade of sadness and grief will be wiped out. Will it happen? When that happens, what Francis of Assisi would say so often would become a reality: Peace and Goodness!

Peace and Goodness... aren't these the really longed for state of life on earth today? How can they come except through love, through a Love that pervades everyone towards wishing the good of every one else, of every other being! Let us understand, remember and remind each other today: to every single problem on earth, Love alone is the answer!

CHRISTIAN RELATEDNESS

You are your other's keeper!

October 3, 2021: 27th Sunday in Ordinary time

Genesis 2: 18-24; Hebrews 2:9-11; Mark 10: 2-16

Christian faith is all about relationship - it is a relationship initiated by God with me and a relationship to which God calls me. One of the first questions that God seems to have asked humanity was: "where is your brother?"  My Christian faith stows me right in the midst of a community. Every aspect of my daily life and not only prepares me for a tangible community life but offers me all the necessary scope towards growing in a life of communion. The family, the neighbourhood, the community of faith... all these are experiences and locus where I learn to live my Christian faith  and grow in it. The Word today offers us three keys to truly understand our Christian faith and a growth in the same: the family, the other and the community.

The Family - this is the first possibility of relationship offered to humanity by God, right at the origins of a person. As soon as a child is born into this world, he or she is given with a family - a father, a mother and the others who belong to that family, which becomes the locus where the child shall breathe, live, move and grow! A Christian family therefore has not merely a biological significance as the node 6 of origin of persons, but an anthropological or existential sense which makes the person truly what he or she is. That is, it attaches the very identity of the person as the ground where the seed of humanity within the person sprouts, grows and flourishes. The family therefore has a great responsibility in what a person goes to become. The family is the primary place of education and the parents are the first educators of a child. The seriousness of the vocation to Christian parenthood cannot be overlooked. 

The Other - let's understand this in its entirety... the Other and the other are not dimensions extremal to me, but they are dimensions that complete me. I cannot be what I am without the Other (God) and the other (my brother and sister) who give meaning to my existence. What distinguishes a healthy human person is a free and mature rapport with the Almighty (in whatever terms it could be known and understood) and with the other (my neighbour, brother and sister given to me to love). I am responsible for the salvation of the others, says the second reading. Salvation, which means not only a blessing awaited in the other world, but fullness of life here and now. Wishing the good of the other, is a commitment that comes with the call to be a Christian. As a Christian, I share the humanity with my fellow brothers and sisters and I share the divinity with Christ the Son of God who became human - I cannot forget this profound sense of the vocation that I have as a child of God and a disciple of Christ.

The Community - this is the crux of my Christian calling. The entire explanation about the spousal relationship in the first reading, besides a reflection on the call to matrimony, actually refers to the mystery that Christ and the Church partake in. That is what St. Paul presents to us in the letter to the Ephesians (5:32).  This mystery is about the Community of faith which is betrothed to the Saviour, that is promised in covenantal relationship to the Lord. It is this Community which is given the responsibility of nurturing every member, with a special attention to the future generation, the young and the children. The life of the Community has to become an element of education to the young, to the upcoming generation, to the entire community of faith, to be built up in relationship with the Lord and with each other. Communion comes from God and division comes from the evil one - a Christian is one who promotes the sense of commuity, accepting the other as one's one brother and sister in God's own family. It is a reminder of our vocation to be God's people, people of faith and people united in the Lord, growing together in witness of love and communion. 

Christian call is all about our relatedness, that we are related to each other in the Lord and related to the Lord in our genuine relationship with one another. May our Christan Relatedness give true meaning and deep joy to every one of us. Let us never divide what God has united - our hearts bound, as one people, in the love of God. 

God's ever present guidance

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

October 2, 2021: Celebrating the Guardian Angel 
Baruch 4: 5-12,27-29; Matthew 18: 1-5,10

The readings today speak to us of the experience of the people who walked away from God, who rejected God and when they were down in the drudge, they repented of their choices. They felt and were convinced that it was because they went against God that they faced all those bitter experiences that they had to face. They express their conviction and beseech God for mercy! God made them realise that inspite of all their unfaithfulness and imprudent choices, God has always been with them and God wants to be with them! This was another powerful experience that the people of Israel had. 

When they were in the desert, they felt God walking with them, being with them, leading them to the new land... these experiences of God that people had, became the watershed of their history / a God who was present, who inspired and who accompanied them. This is the experience that is consolidated in the belief in the Guardian Angels: God's incessant presence and unfailing guidance. Jesus refers to that phenomenon in the Gospel and invites us to believe, accept and respect the presence of God through the Angels with us in our daily life.

When we stand by the little ones, guide the confused, redirect the faltering, strengthen the tired, hold firm the drooping, uplift the downtrodden, encourage the heart broken, we would be playing Angels to these because we would be doing exactly what the Lord wants to do to them, we would be representing God's presence to them. This is what the Lord wants us to do - to feel the presence of the Lord when we are on a down trip, and to be the presence of the Lord when we notice someone on a losing ground. 

Let us believe in the Guardian Angels, experience the guardian angels and play guardian angels to whomever we can!