People of One Flock - through one Gate

WORD 2day - Monday, Fourth week in the Eastertide

April 22, 2023 - Acts 11: 1-18; John 10: 1-10

Jews and pagans - this week the Word will present to us how this distinction was overcome gradually after the Resurrection experience. It was not neither natural nor an easy process - it had its moments of terrible resistance and inacceptance. However, there was no other way because the Spirit of the Risen Lord was categorical - it has to be one flock of the one shepherd. 

Jesus declared that even while he was with his followers - I am the gate of the sheepfold and all the people of God have to enter through this gate. The single name given to us for our salvation as the Word reminded us yesterday - that is what Jesus meant by the metaphor of the gate of the sheepfold. I am the way to the Father, in other words, is what Jesus taught them. Children of the One Father, flock of the One Shepherd, the people of the One flock!

Today, at times when we still speak like the pre-Resurrection people: we and they, we and the others... it is so indicative of what we need to till learn, and of where we need to still grow in our maturity. Our faith is not something that differentiates or divides us from the other, but it urges us to move towards them, to embrace them, the reach out to them. This is what it means to become the Church that goes forth... and this can happen if and only if we realise we have all come to know the Father, through that one Saviour; and we are made one people, through that one Gate, the Risen Lord Jesus Christ.  

PEOPLE OF ONE FLOCK

People of the Light - the choice!

WORD 2day: Saturday, Third week in the Eastertide

April 20, 2024 - Acts 9: 1-20; John 6: 52-59

People of the light are drawn by God and they are transformed - the Word highlighted this to us, the past two days. If they are drawn and transformed, they should show some sign of it. And the sign is their choice, their absolute, unswerving choice, for God and for a life in God. If it were Paul yesterday, it is Peter today, presented to us by the Liturgy of the Word, soliciting our attention on the aspect of choosing God to truly belong to God.

Peter's statement in the Gospel today: "Lord, who shall we go to?", is an expression of such a choice, a choice of absolute nature. Even if everyone else leaves you, we shall not, because you mean much more than anything or anyone else. This absolute choice is highly demanding. It can destroy everything else that one could think of as a source of meaning or basis of sense in life. Peter, Paul, and every other messenger chosen by God, drawn by God and transformed by the Message, is a living illustration of this choice.

What happens when that choice is concretised? Aeneas and Tabitha stand witnesses to the effect that can be  seen. Just as Jesus said - the one who believes in me shall accomplish all I do, and even more than that. We see a stark resemblance in the narration of these signs accomplished by Peter, to those that we can see in the Gospel where Jesus said to the crippled: pick up your mat and walk (Jn 5:8), and to the little girl: talitha koum (Mk 5:41). 

The key is the choice! The people of the Light are those who have chosen God, God's Son, God's Message above everything else in life. If we are among those, we shall certainly see the signs of it in our life. Let our words today, from our hearts be: Lord to whom shall we go, you have the Words of eternal life, and we believe in you. You have chosen us; and we wish to choose you above all.  

People of the Light - transformed

WORD 2day - Friday, Third week in the Eastertide

April 19, 2024 - Acts 9: 1-20; John 6: 52-59

The Light infact blinds us, only to make us see everything more clear and more resplendent. That is what we see in the experience of Paul, or any other apostle or disciple. When they encountered the Risen Lord, they were blinded, they could not really get what they were seeing, but very soon, they began to see everything in a new light... because they were transformed; people of the Light are transformed, they begin to see everything new, clear and renewed. 

Transformation here could mean three important internal experiences of a person: conversion, renewal and proaction.

We see Saul who turns away from his past, with an absolute detachment to the old ways of life. Jesus' call to his followers was a break from the past too - they had to unlearn what the old bread meant and behold the new bread that was being offered. That required accepting the challenge of transformation. Conversion, as a definitive break from a tendency that keeps us away from our way to perfection is an essential first step towards transformation.

Paul becomes a new man, all new that he was able to proclaim, "I live, but not I, it is Christ who lives in me" (Gal 2:20). Is it not what Jesus promised too: he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives in me and I live in him? Transformation is not about touching up some corners of our life, but being born anew, becoming a new person, a total Renewal into Christ every time we encounter the Risen Lord in intimacy.

We see a sense of urgency in the transformed Paul. He is emphatically dedicated towards preaching Christ without lamenting or crying over the forgettable past. Whoever eats me will draw life from me, says Jesus - a new life, a new way of life, a new meaning to life. Transformation is all about this Proaction - it is not explaining to all what has happened to me, but letting my actions speak, letting my life manifest the new lease of life in me. 

People of the Light are transformed people, with an enviable experience of conversion, renewal and proaction. Are we?

People of the Light - drawn

WORD 2day - Thursday, Third week in the Eastertide

April 18, 2024 - Acts 8: 26-40; John 6: 44-51

No one can come to me unless he oe she is drawn by the Father who sent me - this teaching of Christ explains to us who could become people of the Light:  those who are drawn by the Lord. This experience of "being drawn" is what we exactly mean by the conviction, faith is a gift; not everyone gets to have it. 

First of all the persons should feel drawn: those who have a disposition from within, feel drawn by the Lord. Just as the Ethiopian minister who we meet in the first reading today, who was eager to know something, who was reading to get to know. The Lord uses that disposition, to draw the person to Godself. This is the stage of realisation. The Minister felt drawn. The people were fed with the bread from heaven, and here they see, in the Gospel, the Bread from heaven feeding them!

Secondly, persons should wish to draw closer: this is the part of the personal response to what the Lord wishes to do to us. The Minister asking Philip to get in and sit by his side, and imploring him to explain the Word, is a response, a clear and definitive respose of a yes to draw near to the Lord who is drawing the person to himself. Difficulty in understanding things beyond our minds, not really getting to see the spiritual sense of the things happening in our life, could be reasons enough to turn us away from God, but not so with those who are drawn by God!

Thirdly, persons stay close to God and draw others to God: this is the part of resolve, to taste the Lord and share that with the world around. Anyone who eats of this bread will live forever and there is a net difference seen in the life of these persons drawn by God and those who let themselves be drawn. They become ambassadors of this eternal life that resides in God. They are already taught by God to hear the teaching, feel drawn, actively draw closer and stay close to God drawing others to God and to God's Reign. 

People of the Light - finding the Way

WORD 2day - Wednesday, Third week in the Eastertide

April 17, 2024 - Acts 8:1-8; John 6: 35-40

It is the Father's will that whoever sees the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, declares Jesus today and that is what the people of the Light are. They are in the Light and they see the Light; seeing the Light, they find the Way. The people of the Light shall find the way, even where there seems to be none, because they have the Way with them - the Way, the Light and the Truth, the Risen Lord. 

The acts of the apostles reports that people where dispersed, but wherever they where scattered they announced the Word; they were not a group of desolate persons lost in diaspora but were like seeds that were scattered...giving rise to life wherever they found themselves. This is finding the way...they found it without problem, because they were people of the light. 

Jesus' call to eat of him and receive eternal life is a call to find this Light, that is himself. To find our existence in him, to find our life in him, that our life and our existence will discover the gift of eternity that we have in God and from God. Faith, therefore, is not merely knowing and understanding what it means to be  people of God, instead it is finding the Light that sustains our lives every moment - that even in moments of "being scattered" we could be persons who could offer light to the world around us.

People of the Light - heavenward

WORD 2day - Tuesday, Third week in the Eastertide

April 16, 2024 - Acts 7:51-8:1; John 6:30-35

The characteristic trait of people of the Light, presented for our reflection by the Word today, is being heavenward! 

Being heavenward is not a negation of the present, nor is it belittling of the gift of life that we possess here and now. It is a recognizance of the fact that we are meant for an experience and a destination that is beyond, beyond everything that we can think of or imagine. That is why we are reminded by the Word elsewhere that we have our true home in heaven! 

The people of the Light are heavenward, in as much as it matters nothing to them who and what can destroy their life here below. Stephen today with his courage and valour, testifies to the convicting Spirit with no fear of anything. After all his Master had taught them, do not be afraid of those who can destroy only your body but submit to Him who can give you eternal life. 

The people of the Light are heavenward, in as much as they are able to see through the various events of life the miraculous hand of heaven. They are not curtailed by the apparent, they see beyond and observe the ultimate truth that can be revealed only by the Light - just as Jesus teaches the people in the Gospel, that they need to look beyond Moses, to see the real Love that was burning for them.

The people of the Light are heavenward, in as much as they are able to trace their way to heaven through every ordinary step in their daily life. That is the type of faith that the Lord invites us to. To walk consciously every day, and to take every step with mindfulness that God is with us and God is directing us in ways known only to God. Not to fret in anxiety and at the same time not to drag on in lethargy, but to remain open and attentive to the Word and the voice of the Lord, that is being heavenward. 

People of the Light - in Wisdom

WORD 2day - Monday, Third week in the Eastertide

April 15, 2024 - Acts 6: 8-15; John 6: 22-29

The Liturgy yesterday presented to us the importance of the light from the face of the Lord to shine upon us: it is lumen fidei, the light of faith that the Risen Lord makes shine on us, that we become children of the God. When the light of faith shines on us, we the people of resurrection, we turn into people of the Light - and that is what we are, the people of the Light. 

The Word this week shall speak to us about the characteristics of the people of the Light of the Risen Lord, that is the tenstimonies of the Risen Lord who are filled with the light of faith. The first characteristic that the Word today points us to is: Wisdom. Stephen, the first known martyr for the Gospel, is presented to us as a person filled with wisdom: they found they could not get better of him because of his wisdom, and because it was the Spirit that prompted what he said. 

Our minds now turn to this great gift of Wisdom: how do we understand that? The easiest way to comprehend wisdom would be through another great gift that is closely related to it: knowledge. How do we differentiate these two: knowledge and wisdom? Knowledge is possessing the required data... knowing, being informed and having the necessary data is an important aspect of faith. But more crucial is the gift of wisdom, which is the capacity to use the data in the right manner, the capability to draw the right inspiration from the information that I possess, the competence to convert the data that I have to right principles for life. Wisdom is manifested in the right choices that one makes. 

This is what Jesus exhorts from those who followed him allover. Do not work for food that cannot last, work for food that endures to eternal life - he said. Knowing what is eternal and making a choice for it, makes me relativise everything else in life. Food and necessities, identity and achievements, status and positions... they are all good motives that can take one's life forward, but not sufficient to take one upto salvation. It is wisdom to know what truly matters, and choose the Lord above all.

THE PEOPLE OF THE LIGHT

The Light of the Risen Lord

Third Sunday in the Eastertide

The Easter Community - centred on the Word

WORD 2day: Saturday, Second week in the Eastertide

April 13, 2024 - Acts 6: 1-7; John 6: 16-21

The Easter community was born of the Word made flesh, who died and  rose again, bringing the new community into existence. In this new birth of the community there were new meanings, new significations, new implications and new world view initiated. There was no dearth of crises, but the new born community had a new vision, that empowered them to approach the crises with calmness. It was the Risen Lord who taught them that. 

The event narrated in the Gospel is one instance where the Lord had taught them these precious lessons: there is nothing to fear about the crises that come your way, they can become means to recognise the Lord; as long as we remain with the Lord, we could be battered by the winds of time, but we will never be blown away; if we remain with the Lord we will hear the Word right amidst the confusion - Do not be afraid, it's I! 

Having learnt these from the Lord, the Easter community puts it into practice, when they are faced with one of the earliest problems that arise in the community. The lament of neglect and deprivation from one section of the community, in comparison to another section... how much such laments exist even today. What matters is, that the community responds immediately, adding to its ministries. But what is more important is the fact that they were particular not to lose there foundation...the ministry of the Word.

The centre of the Easter community was the Word, made flesh, who died and rose...they refused to lose sight of it, at any moment of their life and experience. The challenge to today's community is exactly this - how many things, how many interests, how many priorities, how many principles take us to a point where we begin unfortunately to compromise the centre of our faith and identity, the centrality of the Word!