To burn within - rekindling that fire!

WORD 2day: Wednesday within the Easter Octave

April 7, 2021: Acts 3: 1-10; Luke 24: 13-35 

The presence of the Risen Lord was felt in a concrete sense by the apostles and those around them. The Risen Lord was there as a fire within them, burning their hearts, warming up their relationships, firing up their commitments and lighting up their understanding. Their lives were touched by the Lord and not merely they, but all those who were around felt that touch. Haven't we heard from persons, saying about someone in a group, or a family - 'when he or she is around, we cannot but sense it. There is so much laughter and cheer!' That is a fine compliment to receive for an apostle of Christ!  

Aren't we called to be Easter people, radiating joy, radiating warmth, radiating light! That does not mean we would have no problems or no struggles! They would in fact abound. But that does not matter because we have within us a fire that is alive, burning and igniting every part of our selves - the fire of the Risen Lord. Some of us may be burning, some of us would have been burning once in our life, or some of us have always been wishing to burn with that fire of the Lord... let us remember, we have that fire always with us, ever within us. We just need to rekindle it.

Once I received a message requesting prayers - the person said her marriage was broken, and that she found herself alone with her child. She could not go back to her family because she had entered into this marriage against all their wish! 'Why is God so blind to my problems,' she ended the message. I only enquired, if there were no indications when things were beginning to happen or was she negligent of those indications! However, even now she can confront her problems if only she draws strength from that fire that is within her - the presence of the Risen Lord! Can't she?

In fact, it is the case with every one of us. With that fire burning within our hearts, we can face any situation and find new lease of life within us and share the same with all around us. The source of life and energy, is within us and all that we need to do is, become aware of that source and connect to it; become aware of that fire within us and get closer to it, close enough that we can burn within us and set everyone around us affire! 

What do I do: Open up your heart!

WORD 2day: Tuesday within the Easter Octave

April 6, 2021:  Acts 2: 36-41; John 20: 11-18

'What are we to do?' ask the people cut to their heart! That is the first sign of a transformed people: being cut to the heart and wanting to do something about it. I remember a gathering of teachers that I addressed in the beginning of an academic year. There were over 200 of them and at the end of the meeting one teacher walked up to me and said: 'Fr. I want to do something... I just can't continue the way I am. Tell me now, what should I do?' And I gave him a suggestion, and now he is part of an Evangelisation Team, that was connected until 3 years ago!

Being cut to the heart - it can happen only when I open my heart! The Word is powerful, the living Word, the Risen Lord is powerful, yes. But I need to allow the Lord to touch me, to transform me! I need to allow the truth to penetrate my soul and my heart... it will never happen if I am busy proving myself, justifying myself and compromising my ways! My choice has to be radical and then I shall see that the Word shall cut through my heart. 

If we allow the Risen Lord to encounter us through the numerous ways the Lord usually does, we will be cut to our hearts! The Lord has a suggestion for the future course of action: Go and Announce! He would say he is going to the Father and would ask us to continue what he started. The disciples took it to heart and they did an enormous work... what about you and me today?

How frequently do we have this pressing question in our hearts: What are we to do? What am I to do? Is there some course of my life that I need to alter, in order that I may live my life to the full? There is no use lamenting on the past or counting the unhatched chicks of the future... I need to act today and I need to choose today! This is the Easter Call, to open our hearts, to ask that question: what do I do, and to resume our course towards living a life to the full!

Get back to Galilee - the Memory Saves!

WORD 2day: Monday within the Easter Octave

April 5, 2021: Acts 2: 14,22-33; Mt 28: 8-15

The conspiracy to malign the name of Jesus and his apostles had not stopped even after having had Jesus killed. Now after the resurrection, it gets more urgent and more intense, because the opponents were already feeling the mounting pressure. Jesus in his ever cool fashion tells his disciples to get back to Galilee- Galilee, where Jesus went about doing good, where Jesus was living and moving with them day in and day out, where Jesus was sharing their daily concerns and making them feel so cared for, loved and attended to.

The lesson for us is: at times of conspiracy, at times of troubles and uncertainties, what do we need to do? When all that we face is trouble and from every corner there is disouragement, what do we need to do? When the gloom that has befallen refuses to leave and burdens our shoulders and our minds, what do we need to do? The directive from the Word today is: Get back to Galilee!

Let us get back to Galilee: let us get back to the wonderful experiences we have had with Jesus. Let us get back to the basic lessons we have learnt from Jesus. Let us get back to the fundamental values that Jesus has always been offering us.Thus we will never be disoriented and we will see a light that will pierce through the present cloud. 

MEMORIES can serve as a boost for our spirit, but the same can pull us down to the drain. It all depends which of type of those we wish to keep alive. If we are Easter people, then we will keep alive the positive memories, the wholesome memories, the lovely memories, the memories that give life, memories that build up and memories that rejuvenate. This is the Easter Call today: to get back to Galilee...to fall back on the wonderful things that God has done for us, specially in times of our troubles!

HAPPY EASTER 2021

 

The Silence of the Tomb and the most powerful Word!

THE WORD IN THE HOLY WEEK

Another Passion Week amidst the Pandemic - the Silent Saturday

April 3, 2021: There is no Holy Mass on this day!

The Silent Saturday - the Church is silent, no public worship; the day is silent, nothing happens and everything seems to be in suspension; the Word is silent, there is no Mass celebrated this day; because Jesus, our Lord is silent, he is laid in the tomb; and God is silent, preparing something totally new for us! We are called to be in silence, waiting in hope! Though everything is silent, there is something that is powerful happening... in the silence of the tomb, this day, we hear the most powerful of all words: Hope! 

That is the word that the Lord wishes to tell us...even these days as we get through this pandemic...hope! Hope in the Lord and praise his still, my Saviour and my God is there for me, whatever happens. There may be a thousand arrows aimed against me or there may be a whole battalion that comes against me, but nothing can assail me, for I hope in the Lord, my God. That is the kind of hope we are challenged to possess and grow in...not just in moments when we feel so close to God and specially blessed by God. But more importantly in moments of darkness and drear, in the moments of struggle and confusion, in moments of pain and burden... in moments of grief and sadness...through the experience of the tomb!

This day teaches us and invites us to understand the language of silence... not anyone's silence, but the silence of God. The Silence of God is filled with messages, provided we are ready to pay heed and attend to what it communicates to us. These moments continuously speak to us and offer us the opportunity to look at the rest of our life's moments with focus and within a framework. If only we are able to sit in that silence...without filling it with our words, cries, laments and proposals to God! 

Jesus is in the tomb...the silence of the tomb is so piercing, so heavy and so laden. The women were worried about what was kept inside that tomb, the body of Christ; the apostles were worried about what would happen to them next; all those who followed Jesus were dumbstruck still trying to make sense of what has happened in a question of three days...after all the fanfare with which they received Jesus into the city... looked like everything came to a standstill... yes, it was still, it was silent, but not empty or hopeless... but there was a burdensome task of waiting. They had to wait on the Lord. 

We need to wait too, on the Lord, for very many answers to our questions. The Lord has every bit of answer to give us and this silence can provide an opportunity to arrive at those answers. But we need; to allow the silence to speak... speak those powerful word, the word that the Lord is getting ready for us: Hope! 

Cross: Salvific Suffering for the sake of the Other

THE WORD IN THE HOLY WEEK

Another Passion Week amidst the Pandemic - the Good Friday

April 2, 2021: Isaiah 52:13 - 53:12; Hebrews 4:14-16, 5:7-9; John 18:1-19:42

Thinking of the Cross in relation to the pandemic is no difficult thing, it syncs naturally. So many different crosses, directly due to the disease and the indirectly due to its related effects.  The disease itself, the strange symptoms and the stranger lines of action like quarantine and isolation, the loss of dear ones, the still unclear state of the virus and its nature, the power and control that the moneyed have over the rest of the world, the ironic fact of how both the rich and the poor are affected by it, the silent cries of the millions and economic crises of families as well as societies... all these are crosses that we have faced during the time of pandemic which is still going on and threatens to prolong itself much more!

Amidst such experiences, how do we make sense of the Cross? "...ours were the sufferings he bore, ours the sorrows he carried' - the words of Isaiah that prefigured the passion of Christ, give us a clue to understand what a true Cross is. Cross is not any suffering. Cross is not merely any inconvenience experienced in any mode. Cross is salvific, a suffering or an inconvenience, that brings a salvific grace to you and to others, is what can be called a Cross: this is the lesson that Jesus on the Cross offers us today. 

Cross is Salvific. Not any suffering is a cross...what if I chose to do all the wrong things and as a conequence, I face the suffering - is that a cross, merely because it is a suffering? What if I knew well where it was taking me, still I either actively or passively submitted myself to things that were very clearly enslaving and entrapping - could the resultant sufferings be called a cross just because it tears my life asunder? What if I deliberately chose to be arrogant and self-centred and as a result I feel abandoned and alone, languishing in loneliness and pain - could it be called a cross just because it gives me pain and burden? No... these are not salvific, these are choices that I make and the consequences that I have incurred. Cross, though heavy and burdensome, elevates me, raises me up to experience the mighty presence of God. If it has to be so, then, Cross is submission to God's will and Cross is taken up for the sake of others!

Cross is submission to God's will: "Although he was Son, he learnt to obey through suffering" says the letter to the Hebrews. "Not mine, but your will be done," prayed Jesus as he took up the will of God. Cross is suffering in submission to the will of God. It is transcending rebellion and complaint; it is growing up to see the salvific nature of a suffering because it is accepted in submission to God's will. During these days of suffering due to the pandemic and its aftermath, how prepared are we to submit ourselves to God and God's will? How prepared are we to see the presence of God, even through the dark valley of insecurity, incertitude and inadvertent sufferings?

Cross is taken up for the sake of others: The pandemic has taught us this - wearing the masks, is not for myself but for others; staying in quarantine is not primarily for myself, but for others; giving up the normal pleasures of life, like going for entertainment and recreation, is not for myself, but for others! Without looking at the practicality and rightness of these directives, when I am able to take it upon myself for the sake of the others, those inconveniences becomes salvific - that is truly a Cross, from Christ-ian point of view! When I am ready to bear the burden, go the extra mile, do an extra sacrifice, exert a little more my energy and suffer an unnecessary trouble for the sake of others, not for my own benefit, that is a Cross and it is salvific: it serves others and saves me! 

Today from the Cross the Lord speaks to us - for you I have taken up all these suffering! How much suffering are you prepared for, for the sake of the other? Cross, is the Salvific Suffering for the sake of the other... are you prepared?

The Meal, the Memorial and the Mandate

THE WORD IN THE HOLY WEEK

Another Passion Week amidst the Pandemic - the Maundy Thursday

April 1, 2021: Exodus 12:1-8,11-14; 1 Corinthians 11: 23-26; John 13: 1-15

This Thursday is central to the Paschal Mystery, for varied reasons: firstly, because today we see happening things that are a foreshadow or a foretaste of what is to come - the body and blood to be given on the Cross is already pre-announced, the passage from death to eternal life that is to be accomplished on the resurrection of Christ is already explained in the passover meal, the very essence of Christ's life, death and resurrection is summarised in the call to serve each other; secondly, because it is the beginning of the climax of God's salvation plan, the climax which began in the incarnational event and reaches its peak in the resurrection event. The Thursday gives us three important messages to ruminate on - 

The Meal and the Eucharistic Community. The Lord renders us the Eucharistic Community by giving us a meal to nourish us individually and as a community. The meal, as explained in the book of Exodus, already contains so many Eucharistic elements - the community factor, the salvific factor, the festive factor, and so on! This day makes us Eucharistic Community and that is why so much importance to the Eucharistic Lord - with the meal and the adoration and the vigil.

The Memorial and the Ministers of the Lord. The Lord sets up this gathering of the people of God as a memorial of the covenant, specially the everlasting covenant made in the blood of Christ. And to facilitate memory, he creates his own ministers, so close to his heart and leaves them as living memories of his covenant. This is the challenging call that the Lord has given to every person called to ministerial priesthood...that they remain the living memorials of the presence of the Lord amidst God's people. 

The Mandate and the People of God. The people of God are created in the name of God and the defining identity that is given, is the command of love! Love - it was that made us and it was love that saved us and love is the call that makes us trully people of God. "By this they will know that you are my disciples, by the love that you have for each other." The mandate, from where derives the word Maundy Thursday, is not merely a command to do, but a task that defines our very existence as people of God. 

May this day remind us, that we are everyday called to be people of the mandate, the mandate of love!

Commitment and Priority-Choice for God

THE WORD IN THE HOLY WEEK

Another Passion Week amidst the Pandemic - the Spy Wednesday

March 31, 2021: Isaiah 50: 4-9; Matthew 26:14-25

The disciple's tongue to speak and the disciple's ear to listen - that is what the Lord has given us; but whether we use the faculty or not, depends so much on our choice! What a sad illustration of this we have in the Gospel today. This Wednesday is called the Spy Wednesday, as Judas is seen to agree to betray Jesus to the authorities, for thirty silver pieces, and from that moment began looking for the opportunity to hand him over to Jews!

Did Judas make a mistake? Yes, most probably! But did he have a chance, not to make it? Yes, ofcourse he did! Be it Judas who betrayed Jesus, or Peter who denied him, or the rest of the apostles who abandoned Jesus and ran for their lives, they were all warned, forewarned and prepared for such a treacherous moment... but they chose not to act on what they knew!

That is why we need to know, that knowing alone is not enough. To know what is right and wrong, to know what is sin and what is righteousness, to know what is the apt choice to be made at a given time - these are all faculties that are good, but not enough. Our relationship with God, our commitment in faith, goes beyond merely knowing and understanding, it depends on the choices we make with the convictions we form. 

In fact, the three levels of growth from an ignorant way of life are -the level of knowing and understanding, where there is knowledge and intellectual prowess at play; the level of conviction and principles, where a person appears disciplined and guided by principles but there is still the dichotomy of the theory and practice, the beliefs and life; and thirdly comes the level of commitment and priority-choice, where there is nothing that can make one falter from the way of life that one is called to. 

While Judas was still in the first level, Peter and other apostles had gone to the second level, which depending on the grace and mercy of God could save them. But the call is always to the third level - to be persons committed to God and God's way of life, to be totally formed in the image of God and communicating the same to the world around. Jesus was that and he had to pay the price for it. That is what we are celebrating these days - his knowledge and understanding of his Father, his conviction and principles guided by his Father's will and his commitment and priority-choice for God and God's plan. 

Today, setting aside our judgemental looks at Judas, can we ask ourselves: am I growing in my commitment and priority-choice for God, that nothing else can distract me, tempt me or draw me away from God's plan for me?

The task of an Apostle - day in and day out!

THE WORD IN THE HOLY WEEK

Another Passion Week amidst the Pandemic - the Preaching Tuesday

March 30, 2021: Isaiah 49:1-6; John 13:21-33,36-38

'Listen' is the call of the first reading! And reflecting on the life of Christ the exegetes say, today - this tuesday, might have been the last day that Jesus was upto his usual task with his disciples and followers. He knew the Jews were looking for him, waiting to trap him and do something about him! Yesterday we heard them so desperate about the crowd that was going behind this man, from Galilee! But what did Jesus do: he went on with his task as an apostle, day in and day out.

Jesus was the apostle of God, the apostle of the Goodnews that God wanted to share with whole humanity, the apostle of God's mercy, the apostle of love...nothing could stop him from being that! He was there with the crowds speaking to them, still explaining thing about the Reign of God and about how they could all together become the living temple of God! 

The Pandemic experience has thrown a similar challenge to us: last year things were worse! We were stuck in our houses and could not even go out. And we know how the social media and the television ministry came to our aid... helping us unite ourselves in the paschal mysteries of Christ from home! We thank God for these means.

The problem is not there...because what followed has become more problematic. This year things are not still totally alright, but much better than last year, as there is a possibility of moving out, even though with restrictions. But is there a kind of mindset, a spiritual lethargy that is set in: people preferring TV Masses to the Church services, persons looking for better alternatives and interesting choices instead of commitment to the Lord and the faith community they are called to be part of? 

‘I make you light of the nations,’ promised the Lord to his Servant. Jesus became the Light and said, ‘you shall be light of the world,’ making us just like him, apostles of the Father. Are we committed to our relationship with God our Father and Mother, just as Jesus was, come what may! Or are we giving the easiest reasons and simplest excuses to have our easy way out?

Jesus warned Judas; he warned his apostles; but they were all too naive to take it seriously. Jesus was troubled in spirit, says the Gospel today. Let him not be troubled by our spiritual lethargy and tendency of not prioritising what pertains to God.

Let us strive to be at the task of the apostles, day in and day out!

Whipping out not slipping out!

THE WORD IN THE HOLY WEEK

Another Passion Week amidst the Pandemic - the Cleansing Monday

March 29, 2021: Isaiah 42: 1-7; John 12: 1-11

We have entered the second Holy Week, the situation of pandemic that tormented us last year, still lingering around with its taunting tentacles! And in this one year we have lived through moments of varied nature and unprecedented outcomes. We are still languishing under the pain and pressure of the pandemic and this Holy Week...let us take a walk with our Saviour and reflect on what he would have done, if he lived this around us. 

The Monday of the Holy Week, is called the Cleansing Monday - refering to that incident when Jesus entered Jerusalem and visited the temple... he was so annoyed with what was happening that he whipped it out against the situation and its perpetrators! 

Beginning with the Gospel, 'six days before the passover' he is found in Bethany, just outside Jerusalem... in the house of Lazarus and his sisters. From here he would enter Jerusalem, as we celebrated yesterday...gloriously wlcomed by the masses. It points to the beginning of a definitive clash between Jesus and the authorities, leading to the tragic crucifixion that we would soon reflect on. One of the point of contention between Jesus and the Authorities was the temple!

When Jesus entered the temple and whipped out the evils from there, it was at the same time a symbolic action and spiritual statement - symbolic action because he wanted the true temple - the people of God - to be cleansed of its iniquities. It was a spiritual statement because his zeal for his Father's house was burning bright within! When he saw the ungodliness of the people of God, the inhumanities of the so-called religious systems and the injustices of the inhuman society at large, he whipped out, and never slipped out quietly. 

As people of God, the Church today, we are called to whip out against all injustices and inhumanities which amount really to ungodliness in the world; we cannot choose to slip out quietly as if we saw nothing, as if it means nothing to us or as if it does not concern us in anyway - much worse, if we ourselves mete out such an injustice or inhumanity on others, in whichever situation we find ourselves in. May the fiery and prophectic Jesus be in our hearts and minds whenever we fail to stand up against evil and lies. 

In the pandemic situation today, there are varied ways of coping: Be a negationist and reject everything that being said about - how blind it could be, after seeing all the real and concrete sufferings of many. Another approach could be, to be a negativist or pessimist finding fault in everything and reading a conspiracy version into everything that is happening aroung - how sad it could be! Another way is to be a careless freak - to go about as if there is nothing abnormal happening. A final, Christ-worthy, approach would be to adapt a prophetic stance - critiquing anything that is against plain logic and integral goodness. There are so many decisions and policies made, with underground dealings and suspicious agenda. What happens when we know them - are we able to stand up and speak up? What about the poor and the marginalises who are pushed to the anonimity in the process of handling and countering this pandemic? It is not oly the pandemic in itself that troubles us, but the politics that surround it, the exploitation that is involved and the inhumanities that prevail. 

Would Jesus, at these moments, have slipped quietly into his silence and security or would he have whipped out against the anomalies?