GET YOUR BASICS RIGHT!!!

19th January, 2014: 2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

We have been busy celebrating feasts one after the other! It's time to return to the Ordinary Sundays and probably, the right beginning is to get our basics right, as sons and daughters of God. Today the readings speak to us about living our Christian life on an everyday basis...in our ordinariness of life! Festive occasions make it easier to feel the joy of the moment; but the demanding call is to live our life on a daily basis, to live it fully, faithfully and meaningfully.

Jesus is about to begin his public ministry, and like an MC in a performance, John the Baptist announces his entry into the scene! With Jesus' entry and his public life, our life as Christians, our call as sons and daughters of God and our identity as disciples of Christ are clearly defined. And that is what the liturgy today intends to do... to clarify the basics to us, so that we may live our Christian calling everyday of our life. The readings seem to answer the basic Question Words...

WHO? WHAT?

The first question is about who we are and what we are? Isaiah gives a direct response to it: We are the light of the nations! We are called, we know that. But, as what? To do the will of God, yes; to be ever at the disposal of the will of God and say, "Here am I Lord, I come to do your will" (Heb 10:7) But doing the Will not merely as sevants but as 'the light of the nations!' We are called not merely as workers but as witnesses. "Called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God" ...that is the answer to the Who and the What, of our Christian life. We are called to live our life as witnesses...witness is our first mode of proclaiming Christ and His gospel.

WHY? WHERE?

Why should we be doing God's will and where are we bound to? In simple terms, what is our goal? What are we called for? The Word of God is vociferous on this point, be it in the Old Testament or in the New Testament: We are called to Holiness... We are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be holy - says the second reading today. Holiness consists of a clarity of one's own identity as Isaiah, Paul and John the Baptist demonstrate in the readings today: to know who we are and what we are, and thus realising why we are doing all that we do and where we are going towards! If all that we do in our daily life, does not ultimately lead us to sanctification and holiness, we are on a mistaken journey. It might seem colourful at the moment, but will soon end up gloomy and grey. A clairty on the why and the where, will determine our daily choices, will define every aspect of our Christian living - our family life, our career, our spiritual life, our personal life and so on.

WHICH? HOW?
The next question is, which way? and how do we reach that holiness? Christian life cannot be just a me-and-God type of a life. It has to be lived in a Community! From the very beginning, Christ-experience and the message of Christ has been lived and passed on by a community. The readings underline this community aspect with the terms like, light of the 'nations', 'to all those everywhere who call upon the name of the Lord', and 'Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world'... We are in the Unity Octave and it reminds us of the fact that Christ cannot be Divided (1 Cor 1:13). Unity and peace that stems from a genuine love, which comes from God - that is the true sign of Christian life. 

Now the only question that is left is, When? But that is established right in the beginning...Now, Today, Here, in the Ordinariness of our daily life... every day of our ordinary life... we are called to live mindful of our identity as children of God, called and sanctified by Christ towards holiness, living to spread God's love to the entire world... as light of the nations, in footsteps of the Lamb of God who calls us as a community of faith and love! 

UNITY OCTAVE 2014

A week of Prayer for Unity among Christians in the World...

... is a traditional 8 day prayer,
from 18th to 25th January, in practice from 1908! 
It is a call to the Christians and Christian churches all over 
to look beyond all the differences we have 
and find our unity in 
One Lord, One Baptism and One Spirit...


For this year 2014, 
1 Cor 1:1-17 has been proposed as the theme,
paraphrased in the question: 
Has Christ been divided?

For more information and resources go to:
UNITY OCTAVE 2014

WORD 2day: 18th January, 2014

The King in search...

The Word presents to us today two persons...one, who went in search of the asses and the other, who went in search of the sinners... both for the sake of their fathers' wish! Though the comparison is strange, the fact is that both are kings...one the first king of Israel and the latter the eternal King of heaven and earth. We may consider ourselves worthless and dumb as asses, but the truth is the Lord is in search of us. Many a times we speak of the humanity that is in search of God...but how much more true it is to think of the Lord who is in search of each of us. Let us open ourselves up to the Lord; invite the King into our hearts; and the King shall reign for ever in our lives and through us, reach out to many more who are lost and are searching for themselves! I do realise that I have been too allegorical today, but the message is simple: to be forever open to the Lord, in a sense of daily conversion and repentance, ever growing more and more as children of God.

WORD 2day: 17th January, 2014 (Remembering St. Anthony, the Abbot)

Freedom in Submission!

It is a human tendency to look for something or someone, to which or to whom, one can submit oneself! Whether by force or by choice, a form of legitimate dependence or extraordinary obsession, habit of blaming someone or positively seeking someone's counsel... we are always looking to submit ourselves to someone or something! The point to be noted here is this: whatever be the form of submission, and whatever be its reason, it makes us dependent or subservient. The first reading reminds us of this human tendency and before we judge the people of Israel of those historical times, let us understand how we ourselves fall into the same category! The only submission that gives us a sense of freedom and a sense of self-worth is the submission to God's authority - because God dwells in us and a submission to God, as God's children, is a reinforcement of our dignity, our self-worth and the sovereignty that God has placed within us, as human persons. St. Anthony of the desert, reminds us of this, in and through his life lived totally in submission to God and God's authority! Let us realise that God has the ultimate authority over us, and thus we will experience the greatest of all freedom: the freedom of the children of God.

WORD 2day: 16th January, 2014

Do we know our strength?

When the Israelites rejoiced at the arrival of the Ark to their tents, the Philistines shivered and recognised that the Lord were amidst them! The Israelites realised their real strength was the Lord. You are my strength, my fortress, my rock of refuge - expressed the Psalmist later. And people saw this true in Jesus too. If you wish to, you can cure me, said the man to Jesus, realising the source of grace and salvation is in the mighty will of God. God's will saves us, protects us and guides us. All that we need to do is to allow ourselves to be guided, to be strengthened, to be fortified by the Lord. We need to rise from a style of life that is a mere damage-control, to a more proactive responsible living. When we realise the presence of God ever in our midst, we will live a life that is worthy of the Lord and the Lord's will; and that alone can keep us from becoming mere laughing stock among the people! Let us live up to our call, our vocation - that of being sons and daughters of God.

WORD 2day: 15th January, 2014

To do good - is that really enough?

Preaching, healing, casting the demons out - Jesus went around doing good! But he was personally conscious that doing good was not good enough! When the disciples scout to find him and the people try to possess him for themselves, he insists that he needs to move on. Doing good was good; but more important for him was doing what God wanted of him. We get lost sometimes in the frenzy of doing good to as many as possible... not really bothering whether we are doing really what God wants of us! Obedience to Eli and service in the temple was something good... but God was calling Samuel for something higher: to listen to the Lord and speak the Lord's word to the people! When doing good alone becomes our concern, a lot of problematic elements like the fame-game, the ego-trips and rat-races find their way easily in. If we are convinced of doing what God wants of us, we will surely find serenity even amidst the worst of situations. But for that, we need to learn to say: 'Speak Lord, for your servant is listening!'

பொங்கல் வாழ்த்துக்கள்

WORD 2day: 14th January, 2014

The capacity to magnify the Lord!

It is a spiritual capacity to magnify the Lord, to exult in the glories of the Lord! The responsorial psalm presents to us the precedent of the famous magnificat sung by Mary in the gospel according to Luke: the hymn of praise and thanksgiving sung by Hannah, who realised the goodness of the Lord to her! It is a special capacity to realise God's hand in things that happen in our daily life. Even what was so apparent to the demons, who recognised Jesus and proclaimed him as Christ, was so difficult for the people to understand! Till the end they were only amazed and kept asking who Jesus could really be! When things go wrong we spontaneously look to the Lord and demand for answers. But when things remain normal and calm, how ready are we to see the hand of God, and praise the magnificence of the Lord! If we are ready to believe that there are no coincidences in life, we will witness mighty miracles on a daily basis!

WORD 2day: 13th January, 2014

What's in store doesn't matter... Just Follow!

After a long while we are back to the Ordinary time and the very first message that the Word gives is so relevant. In our life's journey, that which can grant us an incredible serenity is the attitude of Following the Lord, without being worried too much about what is in store! We are still in the beginning of this year...or while thinking of projects that engage our days, it is normal that many things preoccupy our minds. Samuel's story that we begin to reflect on from today, affirms to us that God has a definitive plan for each of us; as the Lord would explain through Jeremiah in Jer 29:11. The secret lies in not permitting the grievances of our past to stunt our life and at the same time not permitting the anxieties of the future eating into our todays. Let us live our life, here and now, to the full, with total confidence that the Lord has a plan that will unfold in God's own time! All that we need to do is what Jesus tells us - FOLLOW HIM!!!

BEHOLD JESUS... THE GREATEST GIFT OF GOD!!!

12th January, 2014: The Baptism of the Lord 

Christmas season draws to its close with the Baptism of the Lord, because the manifestation is made as clear as possible at this point when the voice from heaven thunders, "this is my beloved Son!" The moment definitively seals the greatest of the gifts that God has ever given humanity: God's only Son...Jesus the Christ, the Word made flesh! The gift that came down to us on that Christmas night, in the lowliness of the manger, has been gradually unwrapped these days, with manifestations - first to the shepherds, then to the wise men and slowly but strongly to Mary and Joseph, as they beheld that Son of God, in their humble hands.

Today is the culmination of the unwrapping...Jesus the gift of God is unwrapped so magnificently in the Liturgy today. We are called to behold that gift, so that the warning that John gives in his Gospel: he came unto his own and his own did not recognise him, may not happen in our case.

We are called to behold Jesus, the LOVE OF GOD. Jesus is the love of God personified. God's love takes flesh and pitches the tent amidst us... in the person of Jesus! Wherever Jesus went there was healing, life, happiness, forgiveness, in short he was the presence of God, the presence of love, love which lived among people. That is what we are called to perceive, as perceived Peter in the second reading today! To perceive Love living amidst us, manifest today by the very voice of God. Perceiving the presence we are called to transform ourselves into presences of love...for the same voice cries out to us today, in the suffering world, in the marginalised persons and in the exploited brothers and sisters!

We are called to behold Jesus, the COVENANT OF GOD. Isaiah proclaims those beautiful words, : I have given you as a covenant to the people, a light to the nations. A covenant is more than a contract; a covenant is more than an agreement. It is something that is etched into the lives of those who are involved. It is taking responsibility for each other, that is why the Church defines marriage as a covenant! Jesus is the sign of the responsibility God took for his children; God did not spare even God's only Son, writes the Apostle. Perceiving Jesus as the covenant of God, we are called to take responsibility for our brothers and sisters, we are called to concern ourselves with the blind and the deaf of our society, the poor and the needy of our locality, the marginalised and the oppressed in our contexts.

We are called to behold Jesus, the BELOVED OF GOD. The voice declares it in all clarity, as wrote Isaiah of old. "This is my beloved, in whom i am well pleased!" In declaring God's love for Jesus, the voice today declares to each of us: you and I... we are the beloved of God...in whom God takes delight! In our Baptism, God made us God's own, and we belong to God and our God takes delight in us (Ps 149:4). 

In baptism we are made sons and daughters of God...that is brothers and sisters of Jesus, the greatest gift of God, Jesus the Love of God, the covenant of God and the beloved of God...and in Jesus our brother, we are called to be in our contexts, the presence of the love of God; in Jesus our covenant, we are called to be the signs of the covenant of God with the suffering humanity today; in Jesus the beloved of God, we are called to live our lives, every day and every moment pleasing to the Lord, who longs to declare, regarding each of us, "This is my beloved son, my beloved daughter, in whom I am well pleased!"