The gift of faith and what we do with it

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

October 20, 2023: Romans 4: 1-8; Luke 12: 1-7

Faith is a gift, a gratuitous gift from God! My part is to grow in it. The more I grow in it, the more I realise how undeserving I am of it.

Abraham was granted this gift and he grew tremendously worthy of it. Paul was granted this gift and he fought a brave fight to become worthy of it. Jesus accuses those who throw those pearls of faith to the swines of their ego and self centered thinking. If I have received this gift of faith, should I not be grateful for it and mindful enough to keep growing in it. Can I be boasting about it and mindlessly acting contrary to it? 

Jesus warns us about something that would not look apparently like an aberration of faith, but in fact leads us gradually away from what true faith is all about - 'the yeast' of the Pharisees, that Jesus mentions in the Gospel today. At times people think they are treasuring that faith, but actually trashing their faith by becoming self righteous and so judgmental about others. They grow so intolerable towards others that they think they possess the whole truth and no one can dare differ from them. 

Taking my faith to be a reason for my pride, judging everyone else who does not partake of it; calling names at people who have a faith different from mine merely because of the difference and treating them with despite; making faith a means to make my living instead of making it my life and journeying genuinely towards my eternal life...these are somethings that I need to be on the guard about! 

Faith is a gift given to me and I need to grow in it every day, every moment.

Refrain from Bloodshed

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

October 19, 2023: Romans 3: 21-30; Luke 11: 47-54

We are 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! 

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, in violence or in silencing people through your vilifying judgements,' warns Jesus. All these are blood shedding... not only literally killing people by the sword. Your words and your judgments can kill people long before they actually die. You will be demanded to account for this! 

What Jesus taught against was, empty ritualism, legalistic spirituality and hypocritical religiosity, that allows one to compromise between inhuman behaviour and an unbelievably pious image, the coexistence between unjust thought process and a sweet religious conversation, the unholy alliance between dirty politics and pompous spirituality. Ignatius of Antioch, whom we celebrated a couple of days ago would say, "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." 

Let my faith and my works go together, only then can I truly refrain from bloodshed

Absolute Choice for God

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

October 18, 2023: Celebrating St. Luke, the Evangelist
2 Timothy 4: 10-17; Luke 10: 1-9

Luke alone is with me...writes Paul.

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 typical to Luke-s narration! 

Today's Gospel too highlights one: a person of peace and a person who is not of peace; those who respond to the Lord and those who do not. It follows the same logic of the contrast... where does the contrast lie and what message does it give us today?

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

The feast 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!

No excuses! Towards Integrity!

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

October 17, 2023: Remembering St. Ignatius of Antioch 

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

The terminology used by Paul today sounds very practical, warning us that there are no excuses one can give for not recognising the hand of God in and through the immensity of the reality around. And added to that when it comes to me and God, I don't need to have proofs and justifications and evidences that I believe in God or not. Because God knows the innermost thoughts of mine and I need not be bothered about my presentations and formulations. This is the fundamental element of what we call 'integrity.'

Integrity is having the least discrepancy between my inner self and my external behaviour, between my convictions and what I engage myself in on a daily basis, between what really matters for me and what I present myself as to others! It is avoiding hypocrisy, staying clear of putting up appearances, or having hidden agenda. Jesus uses simple terms for that in the Gospel - inside and outside! Let both be clean he says... I can have no excuses when it comes to my inner self, for I stand convicted before God who knows the innermost thoughts.

The saints like the one whom we remember today, St. Ignatius of Antioch, were people who were incomparable in their integrity. They were ready to give of their whole self to God - not just part time and not just a stage show or a dramatic performance. When I do all that I do, with true consciousness and sincere acceptance of why I do it, I am on the first step towards integrity. I need to constantly purify myself towards that integrity that will reveal God's image within me. 

In spite of the beasts of this world, the attractions and the pressures that surround me, help me Lord to grow in my personal integrity!

The call and the reminder

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

October 16, 2023 - 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, our obedience of faith. At times we forget this fundamental call and live our daily life in the way we like, giving into our whims and fancies. We lose track of our fundamental call and go after things that matter nothing to our salvation, some of them even detrimental to our salvation. 

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. This does not mean that we cannot fail or that we cannot have imperfections in life, but that we cannot justify them or become indifferent to them. 

We can never justify our act, our choices or our priorities when they go against the call that we have from God. We are given reminders after reminders, through persons, situations, events and interventions. The models given to us today: the people of Nineveh and Queen of Sheba, are people who were so attentive to these signs and reminders that they instantly picked up the message that God was giving them. They took the utmost effort to respond to their specific call. That is the reminder given to me today: 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!

Being God's people - a sense of 'given'!

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

October 14, 2023: Joel 4: 12-21; Luke 11: 27-28

Joel speaks of that day of calamity that was bound to come, but adds a note of promise to God's people. The rest of the discussion is the whole dispute of the biblical history: who are these God's people? Some claim that status for themselves on the basis of their historical, geographical, ethnic and social background.

Jesus makes it clear in the Gospel today- all these details may matter but what matters most is the way you live your life on day to day basis. Life is a given and it comes with a multitude of givens that come along with it. If God has willed me to be born at this juncture - that  is, here and now... that has within it a task and a call that comes along. 

The 'givenness' of the identity as people of God, is certainly a privilege but not just that! It has to be understood without fail in terms of a task, a call ... because that is what God wants from me and in accomplishing it or committing myself to it, I become God's own! That sense of 'given' - as a privilege given and a task given - makes me conscious and faithful to the identity given me! 

To live our lives with a sense of given, that's what will make us God's people.

Catch up with the Reign!

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

October 13, 2023: 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. When they feel like eliminating someone, when they feel like demolishing another nation, the easiest way 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 being personification of evil. Then what remains is to get rid of the so-called "evil".

It 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, there are those who care about nothing but rules and rigour, not about true faith and real experience of God, within the Catholic Church - 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, refusing to sit together or walk together on a synodal journey.

The Lord warns us today: you will be lagging behind, while the Reign 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 Illuminating Spirit of the Lord. If we lose track of it, we shall certainly lag behind. 

Come on, let us catch up with the Reign!

At the right time...

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

October 12, 2023: Malacchi 3: 13-20; Luke 11:5-13

Just yesterday we reflected on waiting for the answers from the Lord and today the Word continues to insist on the same: at the right time, everything will be set right!

If I want it right now, it does not mean it is the right time. If I insist on having what I want, when I want it, where is the space for the Omniscient God, the God who has a plan for eternity. Within God's eternal plan everything will have its place. It is faith alone that can help us understand and accept that. 

Our confusion regarding the thriving evil, our compassion for the suffering righteous, our helplessness before the conniving shrewdness, our anger before the insensitive power... all these should not frustrate us, if we take the God-perspective seriously. If only we can look at everything that is happening from God's perspectives we will be strengthened by that serenity that God alone can give. 

This serenity is not inactivity or passivity or incapacity or giving up... it is a hopeful surrender to the Lord that truth and righteousness alone can triumph because God is in charge! Nothing can ultimately go wrong. For a while, some forces can be at play but the final victory belongs to the Lord. This is the hope of Resurrection and we are a Resurrection People! 

Prayers, Questions and Answers

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

October 11, 2023: Jonah 4: 1-11; Luke 11: 1-4

At times persons have a perplexity, that they are tempted to ask the Lord so many questions when they have difficulties! Do they really need to be perplexed about it? This is the reflection that the Word today can inspire within us.

Can we question the Lord? Is that prayerful at all? Let us think a bit: what else is prayer then? 

It is not at all 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 prayers! God will surely answer...I need to wait!

Praying can very well be asking questions, but only when I am 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!

Listening and Doing

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

October 10, 2023: Jonah 3:1-10; Luke 10:38-42

Is listening better than doing? What about that young man that Jesus spoke to, who came to Jesus and asked a question about being saved and Jesus looked at him with compassion and explained? He listened... was that enough? Or what about that son, in Jesus' parable, who listened to his father with such eagerness, saying 'yes' even before he could finish telling him to go to work in the vineyard? He listened too... was that enough? Today Mary is listening... is that enough?

Is Martha less than Mary for doing so many things, all for Christ? What is the problem here? Martha's doing was like the doing of the Hebrews, all for God but nothing with God! Whatever you do, do it with God... listen and do! That is the point Jesus was arriving at. Like the people of Nineveh, who listened and acted, Mary was listening to act, listening to do, listening to transform herself!

Neither listening alone nor doing alone will make a difference in our lives, says the Word today. Listening and Doing is what we need to learn. Listening alone will make us useless. Doing alone will make us place the work of God prior to the God of work. So the right Christian attitude will be listening and doing - a doing that is born out of listening and a listening that moves us towards doing!