WORD 2day: 29th August, 2014

The Christ logic: The Martyrdom of John the Baptist

1 Cor 1:17-25; Mk 6: 17-29

St.Paul boasts often saying, there is a different kind of a logic that is at work in us... and the first person who lived by that logic even before Christ the Lord, was John! Infact Christ called him the greatest of those born of a woman. The sufferings of this world are nothing compared to the glory that awaits us in the Lord, St. Paul would remind us.

Be a servant to be the Leader, be the least to be considered the best, be ready for the Cross in order to taste the true love of God... identifying ourselves with Christ is a serious affair. We would either be judged "strange"or "challenging". Many went through this ordeal due to this Christ logic... Jesus himself was affected by that wasn't he?...they called him 'possessed'...they called him 'out of his mind'...and finally villainised him and killed him, just as they did with John the Baptist.

Applying today the Christ logic... what do we expect of the world? Persecutions and pressures, what would be our response to them? In today's culture of hatred and violence, what would our style be? Do we dare to make our's the Christ logic?

WORD 2day: 28th August, 2014

A Life without God? - Remembering St.Augustine

1 Cor 1:1-9; Mt 24: 42-51

"Stay awake", warns the Gospel today and that seems to be a constant reminder these days... with the rising political friction, ecological crisis and social turbulence. Stay awake and don't miss the the Lord, instruct the readings ... resounded by the famous expression of the saint of the day: St Augustine - "I fear the Lord passing by!" 

The anxiety not to miss the Lord comes from the absolute dependence on the Lord, that was so typical of Augustine, just as we see also in St. Paul. They both believed and taught that we are made for the sake of the Lord and that we would find our true fulfilment in the Lord alone. 

The scourge of today's humanity seems to be exactly this - that we are looking for happiness, joy, advancement, progress and development without having to do anything with God! Is it really possible?

WORD 2day: 27th August, 2014

The Lord be with you: Remembering Saint Monica

2 Thess 3: 6-10, 16-18; Mt 23: 27-32

The loftiest wish one can make for another is, that the Lord be with him or her! But a Christian hears it almost all the time that he or she is out there to pray, specially in union  with the other brothers and sisters. Today St. Paul makes the same wish and prays that we may be blessed with peace. That peace and serenity will come only with the presence of the Lord and that is the meaning of the wish, 'Lord be with you!'

But this wish is at one and the same time, a blessing and a challenge. A blessing because it is in that moment of blessing that the Lord decides to intervene definitively in favour of the salvation of the entire humankind. It is a challenge because, the Lord being with us all the time, is a bit inconvenient. The Lord would be aware of everything we say or do, because the Lord is close at hand. Would I feel comfortable if the Lord knows all that I am involved in? Or would there be areas, where I would rather be by myself, without God?

In fact, it is this sense of God, the sense of God's presence all the time with me that amounts to a spirituality that is profound in its simplicity. Saint Monica is a great example in this regard. Her incessant prayers for her son and her spiritual endurance in waiting for the grace of God to bear fruit are lessons taught so powerfully. 

WORD 2day: 26th August, 2014

Be scandal proof!

2 Thess 2: 1-3a, 14-17; Mt 23: 23-30

I was shocked a few years ago, when I saw a video posted by an anti catholic brother. He was criticising everything 'Catholic' and went to the extent of calling the then Holy Father, the Anti-Christ who is to come. Taking the matter to another priest, I expressed my shock at this. And the priest just smiled at me and said: "a fruitful tree has to foresee the stones coming its way!" 

Oppositions, today more than ever, keep growing to unbelievable proportions against the faith and tradition that we have grown with. There are splendid ways of God that we come across in spite of all these oppositions. At same time there is no dearth of examples that fail to communicate God's benevolence to us. What we are to do is, simply remain calm and composed at times when we are troubled. No use lamenting the absence of witnesses for the Lord, but being one myself - that is what really matters. And whether we are a model or not, it is important and urgent today to observe, notice and identify the counter witness! And it is more important and crucial to be scandal proof! 

WORD 2day: 25th August, 2014

Growing to be children of the Reign

2 Thess 1: 1-5, 11-12; Mt 23: 13-22

Children of God or Children of the Hell... what decides our identity? Not what we claim to believe in nor the group we belong to? It will depend on my personal integrity says the Lord today. If I declare what I believe and live what I am convinced of, I will be a daring disciple of Christ and that is what Christ wants of us. When we live in such a way "that our God may make us worthy of his calling and powerfully bring to fulfilment every good purpose and every effort of faith, that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you and you in him, in accord with thy grace of our God and Lord Jesus Christ" (2 Thes 1:11-12.)

To grow to be worthy of our calling as children of the Reign, is the call that we have everyday. Let nothing that is part of us - our speech, our action, our attitudes, our values - let nothing that is part of us offer a message that is against the Reign of God. Let everything that we are involved in be a proclamation of the Gospel, proclamation of the goodness of God, proclamation of the glory of God in Lord Jesus Christ.

Key persons unto the Kingdom

21st Sunday in Ordinary Time : 24th August, 2014

Is 22: 19-23; Rom 11: 33-36; Mt 16: 13-20

One image that dominates the liturgy of the word today, is the image of the Key...every person wants to be a key person. Becoming conscious of one's mission and situating it within God's plan is the real secret behind being key persons in the eyes of the Lord. Every prophet, we see in the Old Testament, is enamoured by the love of the Lord and surrenders totally to the Spirit shining as a key person within the believing community. Our tasks of being part of the Parish Pastoral Council, the cooperators to the animating nucleus of the Parish at the zonal or the division levels, are some key roles that people aspire for today. The call is be key persons, yes; but not unto our own glory but unto the Reign that the Lord wants us to build here on earth. 

God Given Role: 

Being key persons unto the kingdom would mean, we understand our key role from the perspective of God. At times politics enters the religious ambit and shatters every bit of truth that can exist. Loss of focus and confusion of meanings are the outcomes of such an influx and personal integrity is left at stake. The Lord reminds us in the first reading that it is the Lord who robes one with or strips one of authority.

Guided by Wisdom:

Wisdom is not merely knowing; it is knowing that one knows and knowing what is to be known at a particular point of time. It is, more than capacity, a grace! A key person unto the Kingdom should be equipped with wisdom much more than anything. To make the right decisions at the right time and to make the right changes at the right time towards an authentic growth towards being true people of the Reign, the key persons, if not all, should be guided by wisdom.

Personal Knowledge of God:

The Gospel today gives us the ultimate criterion to be key persons unto the kingdom: it is to know God, on a personal basis. To have encountered God, experienced God, tasted God, felt the concrete presence of God is one of the fundamental criteria to play any key role in a community of faith, a community of people of God. Mere borrowed experiences and brainwashed theories cannot make one an authentic key player within the community of the Reign. 

Each of us can turn to be a key person unto the Kingdom, if we realise the God given role that we have, be guided by Wisdom and yearn for a personal knowledge of God in our lives. The more key persons there are, the more the Reign can be established on earth.

WORD 2day: 23rd August, 2014

We, the glory of God

Ezek 43: 1-7; Mt 23: 1-12

The talk of the glory of the Lord reminds me immediately of the famous saying of St. Irenaeus, "the glory of God is the human person fully alive." It is so true, that the Lord does not glory in the whole universe, but in the human person that God has created, precisely because the Lord created the human persons in God's own image and likeness. Bearing God's image and likeness is much more than just being a special creature; it is being God's own, it is bearing that dignity that comes from God, it is having God as our father, our mother, our Master, our Lord, our source, our destiny, our model, our meaning... our all. 

Let us not be carried away by the scandals on earth and the misleading examples around. Let our eyes be fixed on that one source and summit. The Lord alone is our Master. When we journey on this way, we will have with us those who have gone before us, those who are struggling along with us, those who are on the verge of giving up, those who are contemplating to commence the same journey and so on. Let us feel a sense of solidarity with all, encourage each other and grow up (cf. 1 Thess 5:11), to be true sons and daughters of God , manifesting the glory of the Lord here on earth. Just as Ezekiel saw the glory of the Lord enshrined in the Temple, let the world today see the glory of the Lord in us, the living temples of the Lord (1 Cor 3:16).

WORD 2day: 22nd August, 2014

The Dry bone syndrome
Ezek 37: 1-14; Mt 22: 34-40

The world is experiencing a time that is strange in all its sense and meaningless in  its totality. There is some invention or development every single day in the field of social networking, making it easier and easier to stay in touch and communicate to each other. But the paradox is that world is growing colder by the day towards those who are suffering, those who are struggling, those who are left without hope, those who are exploited and targetted, denied their rights, robbed of their dignity and incessantly dehumanised. It is an experience we can call the dry bone syndŕome. Bones strewn all around but having nothing to do with each other.

The spirit, the breath of the Lord that the Lord commands Ezekiel to prophesy about, is nothing but the Spirit of the Lord, the love for God and the love for one's neighbours. It is Love that can give life to this heap of dry bones. It is the love that God lavishes upon us and the realisation of it, that can urge us to love others (2 Cor 5:14).

WORD 2day: 21st August, 2014

The task of becoming God's people
Ezek 36: 33-28; Mt 26: 1-14

The readings today seem to underline the urgency of responding to God's invitation. The urgency in no way does away with the demands of the criteria. The demand is not just to be good people, but to be God's people. However we may try, that task seems to be practically impossible, with all the traps and trials around in our living conditions. The Lord òffers to fill us with Lord's own spirit. It is only through that, one can live according to the norms of the living Lord. Let us put on the Spirit of the Lord and enter the daily banquet of the Lord...well on our way to becoming the Lord's people.

Joseph: Biblical Icon for Family Living #2

My contribution in the Salesian Bulletin - August Issue...