LOVE-LENT 2017 - HOLY WEEK #1

Palm Sunday 2017: 9th April

LOVE CELEBRATES LIFE

Is 50:4-7; Phil 2:6-11; Mt 26:14-27:66

Jesus enters Jerusalem. Jesus knows well what awaits him there... he had told his disciples that the Son of Man would be handed over to be tried and tortured; he had seen people plotting against him and waiting for a moment to lay hands on him; he had heard the whispers against him that it is better that one man dies for the whole of Israel. In spite of all these, Jesus sets his face towards Jerusalem, he enters Jerusalem.

Just as we find a festive atmosphere suddenly in the midst of the lenten sobriety this Sunday, so did Jesus find the joy of those people as he entered Jerusalem. He joins them in their celebration, notwithstanding the anxiety that clung to his soul. When someone suggested that he stop the people from all the frenzy, he disagrees with them and allows the jubilation and joins them in it. Love Celebrates, come what may!

Jesus' solemn entry into Jerusalem, is not merely a road show; it is much more. Like the disciples who had the transfiguration experience to sustain themselves, the common believers are given this solemn reception as something that they can fall back upon when things would look to be going wrong. He wants them to understand the celebration and the following confusions, the jubilation and the following tragedies, the triumphant entry and the shameful exit...all of these as part of a grand plan, the salvific plan. All that we need to do is to realise that life is from God's hands and learn to live life from God's hands. Surrender every thing, every little thing that happens - joy or sorrow, challenge or victory, opportunity or obstacle...surrender every thing into the hands of God and find its meaning from there. This is living life from God's hands! When we do this there will be no dearth for celebration in life.

Jesus was constantly motivated by the Mission that was entrusted to him by the One who sent him. It was this mission that defined his thoughts, words and actions. When there was a temptation of resting on the glory of the wonders that were happening, or the pressure from the people to make him their king, or the tendency towards attachment to a particular place or people, Jesus had his mind clear. He always said, we have to go to other villages and proclaim the good news! Living Life for God's Mission, was all that mattered for him. That is why a call from Herod for signs or a plea from Pilate for a submission or the threats from the high priests - all of them fell on a deaf ear. Jesus' mind was focused on just one thing: living life for God's Mission.

I came that you may have life; life in all its fullness: this was the self definition of Jesus' mission. The true glory of God is a human being fully alive, and Jesus is the prototype of this. Difficulties, rejections, let downs, oppositions, criticisms and condemnations, nothing really mattered for Jesus. He understood living to the full consists of all these experiences put together. What matters is hope, trust, and courage in the Lord with which to leap into the future which is filled with joy, splendour and peace that God alone can give. Behold, I come to do your will, says the Son and challenges us to do the same: to live our life to the full. Not to give up at the first of problems, not to give in to the least of the tests, but to remain faithful to the will of God, and obey with the same humility as the Son of God who emptied himself to the point of accepting death on the Cross. 

Let us look at the picture that the readings paint today...the man who foresees a terrible time amidst the people gathered around in extraordinary jubilation; the calmness of Jesus and the excitement of the people. This is living the moment to the full, living every thing that comes our way with intensity, this is celebrating life come what may! 

If we truly love the Lord, let us live our life from God's hands, live our life for God's mission and live our life to the full, after the example of our Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

LOVE-LENT 2017 - THE WORD IN LENT #32

Love is to gather, not scatter.

Saturday, Fifth week in Lent - 8th April, 2017
Ezek 37: 21-28; Jn 11: 45-56

Love is to gather, it is not to scatter. In the name of love for a person, if someone shatters every one else and scatters everything that is there, is it truly love? In the name of love one pressurises, forces or makes someone endure an undue pain, is it true love? In the name of loving someone or something, if a person advocates division and cruelty to others. is it truly love? Love does not polarise. Love does not set one against the other. Love does not spread calumny or hatred against others. Love is not an exclusive relationship that promotes ghetto mentality. Love is a broad sense of openness to the entire world. In loving one, I become a loving person myself...and thus I become one who gathers, not one who scatters. If I truly love, I will not be able to think thoughts of hatred, thoughts of division, thoughts of possession, thoughts of manipulation, thoughts of exploitation, thoughts of deception. Love, if true, makes me gather, not scatter!

LOVE-LENT 2017 - THE WORD IN LENT #31

Love is vulnerable, yet...

Friday, Fifth week in Lent - 7th April, 2017
Jer 20:10-13; Jn 10:31-42

Love is vulnerable, in the hands of those who receive it. Once love is extended, no conditions can be laid as to how the other should handle it. If conditions are laid, that love is not true, nor is it strong. The strength of true love is in its vulnerability. The Lord gave himself up in love, without counting the cost or expecting any returns. They did what they wished with him, just as we see in the case of Jeremiah who is taken for granted by the people to whom he was sent. But the question here is, though we know love is vulnerable, yet can we refrain from it? God loved the human beings into existence and lavished God's love upon them - they took it for granted and broke it right away!

Everytime God came forward to reveal God's love in any concrete way, human beings have always been taking advantage of its vulnerability. The height of it was killing of the God's own Son! We are sons and daughters of that love, that kept becoming stronger and stronger in the face of its vulnerability. How do we love? Precautious? Calculative? Expectant? Choosy? Is my love strong enough to be vulnerable?

LOVE-LENT 2017 - THE WORD IN LENT #30

Love is a Covenant, and so...

Thursday, Fifth week in Lent - 6th April, 2017
Gen 17: 3-9; Jn 8: 51-59

Love is not a contract, it cannot be. A contract is a give and take - love is a pure giving. That is why God is love and God's love is unconditional and without limits. The Word explains to us today, if love is not a contract, what is it? It is a Covenant.

Love is a Covenant, so unchangeable - it does not change. Even if one of that parties of the covenant fails in his or her obligation the covenant does not change. That is why God's love is unchanging whether we measure up to it or not. God has made a covenant and God will not change.

Love is Covenant, so eternal - it is timeless, it is at the same time retrospective and futuristic. Eternal is not merely endless, it is without beginning or end. God's covenant is such, it encompasses the entire humanity regardless of time - that is how Jesus is the saviour of the entire humankind, not only to those who come after him. So Jesus is the saviour of Abraham, of Isaac, of Jacob of every single human person. The Jews find it difficult to understand because they looked at their religion as a contract, not as a covenant.

God's love is a covenant and God expects that our love for each others has to be a covenant too - loving everyone regardless of what we gain out of it; loving everyone without counting the cost; loving everyone without demanding the other to deserve it. Let our love be a covenant too!

LOVE-LENT 2017 - THE WORD IN LENT #29

Love, if true, sets free!

Wednesday, Fifth week in Lent - 5th April, 2017
Dan 3: 14-20,24-25,28; Jn 8: 31-42

Truth will set you free; true love will set you free; it will make you experience that freedom even inside a furnace. The Word speaks of true love and its capacity to set persons free. Faithfulness to One God was an act of love for the Jews - an act of unfailing love, inspired by the unending love of God. Today we see the story of the three men inside the furnace - the icons of love and faithfulness to God.

Jesus shows the same faithfulness in his fearlessness. He speaks against the compromises the Jews continue to make and accuses them of being slaves to their own compromises. In fact compromises lead to bondages, while true love and faithfulness lead to freedom. 

We have our daily furnaces to prove our love and faithfulness to God. The offer is clear and open: I will set you free, truth will set you free, true love will set you free, the Lord declares. Are we ready to be set free?

LOVE-LENT 2017 - THE WORD IN LENT #28

Love, Look Up and Live

Tuesday, Fifth week in Lent - 4th April, 2017
Num 21:4-9; Jn 8: 21-30

All those who look up to the one who is lifted up, will find life! But anyone who looks up?... looking up can have very many motivations. 

One is a mere curiosity to know who is there and what is there. Just knowing about Christ and knowing about the Faith, may be an exercise of curiosity, not really leading us anywhere remarkable. 

Another motivation of looking up would be to make the most of the moment. It is to get whatever the benefits that are promised, however convinced or not I may be. It is an attitude of eclecticism, picking up what seems good all around and having them compiled together- not really bothered whether they contradict or comply. This can serve as a starting point to a faith experience, but cannot become a permanent faith choice!

The third is looking up with love, with trust, with hope that it is in the one who is lifted up there is an answer to every issue that I face in my life. I look up in love and I look up to love and it is in love that I am lifted too. The Love of the Lord urges me and I can love, even amidst circumstances that appear so loveless. I look up and I see Love lifted up and that is a call to lift my love up. Yes, it is in love, I look up and I live!

LOVE-LENT 2017 - THE WORD IN LENT #27

Love - and how you treat the other

Monday, Fifth week in Lent - 3rd April, 2017
Dan 13:1-9,15-17,19-30,33-62; Jn 8:1-11

We don't live as islands and we cannot. We share our time, space and experiences with others, very few of whom we consider, 'related' to us and the others remain 'strangers' or 'outsiders'. However, there can be three types of attitudes towards the other, that we see around us. 

First is, knowing little and manipulating it. This is Evil. We know very little about the person, but even that very little we try to make use of, for our own good, manipulating and exploiting the other, without even offering the other the due dignity and respect the person deserves. The two evil men in the episode of Susanna and all those who were involved with the woman spoken of in the Gospel today - they come under this category - the Use and Throw Society.

The second category is, knowing nothing but judging. This is Sinful. We know nothing much about the person but we judge the person, basing ourselves on the judgments and opinion spread by people. Whether we try to know the real truth or not, we are more eager to judge, hold an opinion and keep ratifying it by our own interpretation. The people who stood around in both the episodes in the Word today, are of this category. We are so busy judging the persons that we do not have the time to really understand what the person is going through - the Curious and Judgmental Society.

The third category is, knowing the person and loving the person genuinely, that you try to empathise with the person and understand the person, leading the person to a holistic dignified life. This is Love. Jesus and Daniel, give us a wonderful example of this disposition to persons. Love is all about how you treat others. Whether Jesus or Daniel, they were respectful, mindful of the dignity of persons, willing to listen to them, open to accepting them and eager to see them live, live a happy and wholesome life : this is love. Only those who do this belong to a truly Christ-ian Society.

TO LOVE IS TO LIVE

LOVE-LENT 2017 - THE SUNDAY SCHOOL

Sunday 5 : 2nd April, 2017
Ezek 37:12-14; Rom 8:8-11; Jn 11:1-45

The signs of life are newness, change, growth, freshness and development. We are called to be People of Life. Being people of life is not that easy today, because we live in a Culture of Death. Death is signified by a state of stand still, a state of no change, a state of decay, a state of giving up, a state of discouragement. The world today is filled with these signs - everyone seems to be giving up very easily. People see corruption and mismanagement, but give up that nothing can be done. People see sinfulness and decadence, but give up saying that is the order of the day... Are these really people of life? Can a Christian take this stand towards life?

The Readings today invite us to be PEOPLE OF LIFE... because we are children of the God of Life. God gives us life and constantly renews us. In the first reading, we are invited to reflect through Prophet Ezekiel, the gift of Life that is given to us by the very author of life, that is God. In faith we have a relationship built between God and us: You shall be my people and I shall be your God...that is the alliance that God has made with us, and is faithful to. You shall be my children and I shall be your father and mother; You shall be my flock and I shall be your shepherd; You shall be my beloved and I shall fill you with my love..says the Lord. Today the Lord promises us amidst all the darkness of the world and the shadow of death, to fill us with God's Spirit and make us live. As those dry bones, gathered together and stood up to life, so can we rise up in this world as people of life, IN FAITH.

We are constantly challenged and threatened by the darkness that surrounds us, as the darkness that surrounded Lazarus in the tomb. Lord it's been four days since he has been laid there, they said. Four days...the Jews believed that from the fourth day after death, the process of decay began. The decayed body comes to life, the situation of total hopelessness is brought to life by the Hope of Resurrection...Jesus declares, I am the Life and Resurrection. In Baptism we are all united to the death of Christ on the Cross, and that gives us the hope of sharing the Resurrection of the Lord. We are called to live as People of life, people who look to the light, people who look up to resurrection, people who are filled with joy and optimism, people who live IN HOPE.

If we are people of life, it has to be seen in our daily life... we cannot live a life that is like anyone else and call ourselves people of life. We cannot grumble and mourn like everyone and call ourselves people of life. We cannot give up and groan like the rest of the world and call ourselves people of life. We cannot just succumb to sinfulness and evil and still call ourselves people of life. St. Paul in the second letter makes it clear to us...we are to live our life in the Spirit, not the life of flesh. Life in the Spirit is filled with light, radiance, joy and above all, Love. The Spirit of the Risen Lord has to fill our life and thus we will be light to the nations, witness of God's love to the people around, testimonies of the Resurrection that is promised to us and signs of the eternal life that we are called to. The foundation is love...to live a life that is filled with love, love for God who loves us abundantly and love for our brothers and sisters, with respect and dignity to each and every child of God. We will stand for, radiate and uphold life as people of life, IN LOVE.

Let us heed the call that the readings give us today: TO LIVE, to be people of life, in faith, in hope and in love. To behold life from God's hands in Faith, to radiate the presence of God in Hope all through life and to become more and more like God in living a life of Love.

LOVE-LENT 2017 - THE WORD IN LENT #26

Love: the strength that seems weak!

Saturday, Fourth week in Lent - 1st April, 2017
Jer 11: 18-20; Jn 7: 40-52

A friend of mine once told me, "I hate that person" and I immediately asked her, "why?". She said it as a matter of fact, "I don't like the beard that he sports, that he is tall and well built and that he has that big bike." Are you wondering whether these are reasons enough to hate a person? I too wondered, but she did not. Many have many strange reasons to hate persons. While that level of strangeness can be debated, my question remains this: can I hate someone, being a disciple of Christ? It is one thing to disapprove of what one is or what one does, but to hate a person, to the extent of intending to get rid of that person... that is a serious issue. 

Christian way of living would mean I love everyone, irrespective of who the person is and what he or she has done to me or failed to do to me! The Word today presents to us the cases of Jeremiah and Jesus - both hated for reasons known only unto the haters. They were scheming to kill Jeremiah and he was not even aware of it, until the Lord revealed it to him; he was so innocent. Jesus was hated because he was from Galilee...what a reason!

Jesus or Jeremiah, may seem weak here - but they are truly strong, people who loved the Lord and the Lord's people. Love at times may look like a weakness or timidity, but actually it is a strength, a power, something that is going to triumph ultimately. Will you endure until that moment?

LOVE-LENT 2017 - THE WORD IN LENT #25

Love: cannot be killed

Friday, Fourth week in Lent - 31st March, 2017
Wis 2: 1,12-22; Jn 7:1-2,10,25-30

True love annoys people today. Compromises and make ups are appreciated much; they are found to be practical and concretely viable. Speaking of the ideals or absolutes or of genuine relationships seems useless activity and impractical waste of time. After every talk that I have given to persons of various categories, speaking of true love, I have had the same feedback: "it is so wonderful to hear, but..." There is hardly  anyone who would take up that challenge and say, why not live up to it. Everyone is concerned about its probable futility and likely failure to bear any fruit. The easiest excuse they give is, we would be singled out, left alone to chase the wind, found unfit and declared losers.

The Word today presents the same scenario, with the Gospel in a special way placing Jesus into that category. Beyond the titles of strange and unfit, Jesus was considered a man to be eliminated. Jesus seemed to be speaking things that will not help the normal running of human life; he was considered a danger to the human minds of his times. Even today, the world at large would be in favour of that opinion. Jesus still seems an unfit in this world - that is why they are taking him off from their public lives, from governing principles, ethical considerations and social ideals. Because Jesus would differ from every prominent principle today: inhuman development, loveless autonomy, heartless economy, truthless politics and godless religion. 

If we stand by true love, if we take the side of Jesus, we need not be anxious - true love cannot be killed; even if the world manages to, it will rise again on the third day! True love cannot be killed, keep loving!