The glory that surrounds

WORD 2day: Monday, 5th week in Ordinary time

February 7, 2022: 1 Kings 8: 1-7,9-13; Mark 6: 53-56

The Word today does not say, all those whom he touched were healed; it says, all those who touched him were healed. There is a crucial difference here, a difference that Jesus would very often emphasise on - it is your faith that heals you! 

When it is said that the glory of the Lord filled the Lord's Temple, it is not because it was not there earlier, but the people were prepared and disposed to see the glory of the Lord descending on the place, with their worship and prayers together. It is their faith that made them see that glory descend.

Today too, the glory of the Lord shall descend and we shall see it, if only we are prepared, disposed, and inspired by our faith. Glory, not in the sense of a cloud that covers, or smoke that fogs, but in the persons, events and experiences that we encounter. We shall see the presence and the glory of the Lord, if only we are prepared. 

As St. Paul would say, we know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose! If only we are attentive to it, we shall see miracles happening everyday in our lives. It is very true that miracles abound for those who are ready to see them around. The question is how prepared and disposed are we to experience and encounter the miracles, the daily miracles that the Lord sends our way. How ready are we to witness the glory of the Lord that surrounds us all the time!

WE ARE CALLED

in spite of, in view of & in the place of...

February 6, 2022: Fifth Sunday in Ordinary time

Isaiah 6:1-2,3-8; 1 Corinthians 15:1-11; Luke 5: 1-11

We are called - this is one of the most fundamental self-understanding that every Christian should possess. We are Christians, we are followers of Christ because we are called. There is in the Indian context, a term called 'Ghar Wapsi', refering to bringing back to the 'hindu' fold, those who had gone to other religions in the name of conversion! Is it as simple as this - just changing camps, or changing names? Or there is also another movement, however minor, of people who claim that their ancestors were converted to Christianity and that they have no allegiance to it on their own! What has been their self-understanding all this while? Still more, there are those who go from one denomination of Christian faith to another, looking for excitement and variety! Looking at all these phenomena, the sad fact that emerges is that those who claim to have received the faith, still need to understand that faith is a call!

Faith is a call, a response to a call, a personal response to God who reveals Godself to us, in various ways. Fundamentally, every believer in God is called, is called to a self-understanding, a way of life, and a mission. The Liturgy of the Word this Sunday reminds us of this fact: that we are called. And in this respect there are three messages given to us to reflect upon:

We are called in spite of... in spite of our limitedness, in spite of our weakness, in spite of our unworthiness! This is the common thread that obviously runs through the three readings we listen to. Isaiah exclaims that he is impure and lives among impure people and therefore is not worthy to even hear or pronounce the Word of the Lord; Paul declares that he has been like a person who was unexpectedly born and an enemy of the people of God; Peter falls at the feet of the Lord and begs the Lord to leave him because he is unworthy and sinful. The unworthiness, weakness, and at times even wickedness, is a matter of fact within us - it is in spite of that the Lord has called us!

It is not because we are worthy that the Lord has called us, we are worthy to stand before the Lord because the Lord has called us. Every day of our life when we have an opportunity to do good to someone, when we have a recognition for the identity we bear as followers of Christ, when we are in a position to serve someone because we have the identity of a Christian, we need to remind ourselves that we are called. we are called in spite of our limitedness. Our call, our identity can never be a source of pride or arrogance - judging others, condemning others, looking down on others, and  treating them as people who have to be somehow rescued to life! As Christians we need to grow more and more humble, towards an authentic self-understanding of a people who are called by God, in spite of our unworthiness.

We are called in view of... in view of a mission, in view of a purpose, in view of a task to be accomplished! The three characters we meet today in the Word - Isaiah, Paul and Peter - were called for a particular purpose - to be a messenger of God, to proclaim the Gospel to the peoples, to be fisher of persons! There were called in view of something, they did not know that. They were thinking only of their past, their present and their situation in life; they could not see what lay ahead of them. They were in fact being called for a way of life, for a new way of life, for a completely different way of life! As soon as they realised this, they were able to come over their fixation with the past and the present and they began to look that the new life they were called to life - as a messenger, as a preacher, as an apostle!

It is important to be attentive to what the Lord is calling me to. I cannot consider myself called and continue with the same old life style of the past or the present. As the saying goes, 'you cannot make a difference, if you do not do anything different!' My call, taken seriously, transforms me totally, to a new way of life, to a new perspective of life, to a new understanding of life, into a new person altogether. There is a sense of renewal in my choices, my priorities, my values, my outlook on life and my perception of persons. All these transformations, of course, are for the better, not for worse! Because as Jesus chides the pharisees and the scribes - woe to you who go across land and see to make one single convert, and make them twice as much a child of hell as yourselves! What a powerful accusation Jesus has against a conversion that does not bear its right fruit. We are called in view of a new way of life!

We are called in the place of... in place of God, to speak to the people who need to hear God's word, to announce the good news of God to the people that God loves them and comes to them with salvation, to become fishers of persons who need to come into the net of the Reign of God so that they can experience God more intimately and become truly fulfilled in life. Be it Isaiah, Paul, Peter, or any one called in the history of salvation, they have been called to carry out a mission in the name of God. Could there have been a person better than Isaiah, more commited than Paul, holier than Peter? Certainly, Yes! But all the same God chose these, and God had a specific mission for each of these.

When we are called, we are called to make the Lord present wherever we are. That is our mission. In our words, in the news we wish to announce to each other, in the choices we wish to propose to others, in the kind of outlook of the world we create, in the kind of mindset that we wish to spread, we need to be people who do it in the place of God...that is, those who create what God wishes to create, those who build what God wants to build, those who bring people to that net which gathers persons into the Reign of God. We are called with a mission to be presences of God, that people shall experience God in us, that persons shall be drawn to know God more in and through us, that persons can feel the need of having God close to them in their lives. 

We are called. Inspite of our unworthiness, we are called; in view of presenting to the world a style of life that becomes a witness; a witness that speaks in the place of God, that speaks hope and joy to a world immersed in strife. Let us live our lives ever mindful that we are called!    

The Lord who teaches

WORD 2day: Saturday, 4th week in Ordinary time

February 5, 2022: 1 Kings 3:4-13; Mark 6:30-34

As soon as we hear that the Lord is our shepherd, we think of a God who provides, who protects and who pastures! Today Jesus presents to us a dimension of the Shepherd that many a times we do not see, rather we do not wish to see or recognise. A Shepherd does not only feed or fend for us, but also teaches us! When Jesus saw the people as sheep without a shepherd, he set about teaching them. 

Solomon understood the importance of the Lord who teaches, the Lord who instructs what is right and what is wrong, the Lord who grants the wisdom to discern between good and evil. Following his great example the Word inspires us to pray: Lord teach me your statutes. The Shepherd who teaches, does not merely do things for us, but prepares us to do the right thing at the right time. 

We live in a time of confusion - everything is being justified; even the worst of criminals seems to have a justification for what they are upto, and the righteous and the just ones are taken to task by the forces with hidden agenda. Good seems to be on the losing side, and the evil so triumphant and vociferous; the monetarily affluent and the powerful seem to have every bit of this world under their thumb; do we give up? 

The Word inspires us today to hold on to the Lord who teaches, and the Lord shall prepare us to understand what is good and noble, at any point of time. When we discard everything else as secondary before the Lord and the Lord's wisdom, the Shepherd shall lead us in the path of righteousness and peace and the Lord shall teach us, as God's own people!

Madly in love!

WORD 2day: Friday, 4th week in Ordinary time

February 4, 2022: Ecclesiasticus 47:2-13; Mark 6: 14-29

We are given to meet two extraordinary persons in the Word today - first, David who was treated by God as a 'friend,' and second, John, who was declared that among those who are born of women, there is no one more blessed than him. They were both men of God, one called to rule and the other called to teach; one called to govern and the other to direct and counsel hearts to the Lord.

There is, above all, a comparison that makes these two stand out - they were both considered strange or even mad. David considered the Lord his Master, shepherd and king and therefore when it came to expressing his love for the Lord, he would go to any extent, at times even his wife laughed at him, we  are aware. The Baptist was indeed a strange man and that is how everyone knew and saw him - a skin-clad man who was living on locusts and wild honey.

They were both mad, yes mad in their love for God and what pertained to God. Did they have their shortcomings - yes they did. One was an emotionally driven man and the other was a sociability-challenged man. But when it came to their dedication to God and the mission that God had entrusted to them, they were totally and absolutely committed. Nothing else mattered to them; not their public image, nor their social acceptability, or their personal projects, not even their own lives!

This is the hallmark of a true person of God - being madly in love with God. 

Sent with a mission

WORD 2day: Thursday, 4th week in Ordinary time

February 3, 2022: 1 Kings 2: 1-4, 10-12; Mark 6: 7-13

The Lord is the ruler of all. The Lord rules over the time and history. The Lord has an eternal plan for the well being of everything and everyone. Observing the injunctions of the Lord, following the Lord's ways and keeping the laws, David says, will make a person worthy of the promises of the Lord. It is after all, a simple and straight forward truth - keep to the original plan and the project of life, everything shall go well. 

The problems that we encounter today are all outcomes of the loss of this congruence with the plan of God... look at the climate crisis that we are experiencing, the threat of war and violence, the drastic discrepancy between the rich and the poor...and finally, even the pandemic that has been troubling the whole world for the past two years! Can we not see that there is somewhere something that has been twisted wrong and we are paying for it with these consequences?

That is why the Lord calls and commissions the people of God - to go and teach the world out there, to bear witness to a life in keeping with the plan of God, to give a model to those living in greed and insensitivity of the other. What if we are following the crowd and not really living up to the call given to us, as the people of God? Be it David, or Solomon, they give us a warning in their own life, how one can turn unfaithful to God's purposes, when one's own whims and fancies take the better of what is true and noble.

The challenge to us is that each of us realises that he or she has been sent with a mission on this earth, and not run behind the crowd, doing what they do and dying for what they die. Every day, in every way, I need to remind myself that I am sent with a mission; discerning what the Lord wants of me, here and now! 

The Lord enters... are we there?

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

February 2, 2022: The Feast of the Presentation of the Lord

Malachi 3:1-4; Luke 2: 22-40

The first reading speaks of the Lord who enters the Temple, in surprise of those who were inexpectant of such a thing. The responsorial psalm, invites us to reflect on the need to prepare ourselves that the Lord may enter in. And in the Gospel we see the Lord entering... to present himself to the One who had sent him!  The three instances have three important lessons to communicate to us.

The first: the Lord enters our lives, whether we behold it or not. The Lord is someone who accompanies us and the Lord enters the history of humankind to make us understand what we are called to. The story continues... not just in the Old Testament or in the person of Jesus Christ, but even today, the Lord keeps entering the Temple of the Lord, that is the Lord keeps entering our lives, provided we are there to let the Lord in. 

The second lesson: we need to constantly prepare ourselves towards the Lord's entry into our lives. The Lord enters and we need to let him enter... he does not force his way through the closed door, nor does he enter those hearts which discard him, however the Lord awaits a favourable and authentic disposition on the part of the Lord's children.

The third: the Lord enters to offer himself - it is not to prove the Lord's sovereignty, nor is it to lord it over us, but the Lord enters to offer himself as a sacrifice of expiation for our salvation. The Lord enters to serve, to love, to save and to give of himself totally and lovingly. 

We are called to see the salvation that the Lord has prepared for us, that is the persons and events that the Lord sends our way, in order that we are prepared to behold the presence of the Lord and the presentation of the Lord, for our good, for our joy and for us to have our life to the full. The presentation becomes complete, when we ourselves are disposed to make present the presence and salvation of the Lord to those to whom we are sent. 

Yes, let us behold... the Lord enters; are we there?

Prayers and their Answers

WORD 2day: Tuesday, 4th week in Ordinary time

Febraury 1, 2022: 2 Samuel 18:9-10,14,24-25,30-19:3; Mark 5: 21-43

Turn your ear and give answer, O Lord, we pray in response to the Word today. Our prayers are answered always - at times it pleases us but at times it does not give us happiness at the moment. What is important to keep in mind is, the Lord hears us and the Lord know what is best for us. 

We have today the lovely twin episode of the woman who suffered from haemorrhage and that of the daughter of Jairus... the highlight is on how they persons here placed their total trust that the Lord will hear their cry - one better than the other. One asking the Lord to come and the other trying to touch the helm of his garments, with such confidence that the Lord will do to them, what they wished, prayed for and longed for. 

There is another important dimension that is added - at times the answer to our prayers may not be all pleasant. David was desperately looking for peace in his kingdom, safety from his enemies and the end of all the rebellion against him. The prayer was indeed answered - his son Absalom was killed! He cried bitterly and mourned, for he loved his son! But the prayer for peace and calm, had to be answered. 

At times we do not know what to pray for and how to pray for. This helps us to understand what St. Paul tells us in Romans 8:26: at times we do not know how to pray as we ought! It is the Spirit of the Lord who teaches us, not only how to pray but also what a true prayer is: a total surrender to the Lord, than prompting to the Lord what is to be done. We need to grow more and more in the prayer of surrender, thus prayers and their answers, all lead to one ideal end - a deep relationship with God. 

A Man of the Reign

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

January 31, 2022: St. John Bosco, Father and Friend of the Young 

Phillipians 4:4-9; Matthew 18: 1-5

We celebrate today a lovable saint of charity and of indefatigable commitment to the salvation of the young - St. John Bosco, or otherwise lovingly called Don Bosco. The Word that is proposed on his feast day so appropriately sums us what he is... a Man for all times, a Man of the Reign! We can identify three characteristics of his, outlined in the Word today.

The first is his insistence on joyous living of life. Rejoice, Rejoice in the Lord, Rejoice in the Lord I repeat, says St. Paul and that is what John Bosco told his boys and his collaborators always. He insisted on a joyful living of one's life, as a sign of the people of the Reign. The Spirituality he inherited from St. Francis de Sales (incidentally, this is the 400th anniversary year of St. Francis de Sales), was based on joy and optimism and that is the Christian humanism that flavoured the thoughts and teachings of Don Bosco.

The second is the primacy and priority for God. Whatever is good, whatever is true, whatever is noble and whatever is acceptable in the eyes of the Lord, choose them! This was a guiding principle for not only Don Bosco, but also given by him to others who followed him. His very motto - give me souls, take away the rest - was a reflection of this choice, the primacy and the priority that he had for God and what is acceptable in the eyes of the Lord. What a foolproof criterion also for us today - whatever is acceptable in the eyes of the Lord - that would be the choice of the Reign.

The third quality highlighted is the simplicity. If you do not become like the children, simple and innocent, you cannot enter the Reign of God, declares Jesus, thus making it so clear that Don Bosco was truly a man of the Reign. He remained a simple boy from a simple village called Becchi, right until he died as a great founder of a movement, a missionary par excellence of the young, a counsellor and confidant to great Nobles, ministers and even to the Holy Father! He remained the same simple priest that he always wanted to be! He was truly a man of the Reign.

PROPHETS OF THE LORD FOR TODAY

Called, Challenged and Comforted in Love

January 30, 2022: 4th Sunday in Ordinary time

Jeremiah  1:4-5,17-19; 1 Corinthians 12:31-13:13; Luke 4: 21-30

We live our Christian faith in an increasingly pluralistic world; to be precise, it is not pluralism that is increasing but forces that make that pluralism more and more felt even on a daily basis, are making their presence more felt! One very simple and straightforward example could be what is going on in Tamilnadu, South India for the past one week. An unfortunate suicide of a school student, is used as a pretext to sow hatred in the minds of the public against the Institution she studied in, which happens to be a Catholic Institution run by a congregation of nuns. The Institution is blamed for its forced conversions and that is cited abetting the suicide of the girl. This action cannot be seen as one isolated case of accusation against the Religious Minority institutions but has to be understood within a larger plot by certain anti-secular forces at work in a nation such as India, where pluralism has for time immemorial remained an integral part of the social texture. That said, we need to look at the other side of the scenario too!

We still, in fact more these days, find the so-called Christian preachers and evangelists putting up shows and exhibiting pathetic gimmicks, in the name of proclamation, healings and spiritual awakening... the unnecessary popularity shows, the unchristian greed for money, the inhuman deceptions in the name of God... are these truly becoming of a messenger of God? Ashamed and embarassed by these treacherous manifestations, can we completely blame those fanatics, without taking the onus also on ourselves? It is against this background that the Word speaks to us today, calling each of us to be Prophets of the Lord, today, here and now!

We are Called... I have called you and appointed you my Prophet to the nations, affirms the Lord. Each of us is called, by our very baptism, we are called to be prophets of the Lord, wherever we are. Being prophets of the Lord to the nation means that we take the message of the Lord, that we take the Spirit of the Lord, that we become the presence of God for the world. Being prophets, by the very word 'prophet' can mean three things: pro-phetes...could be, on behalf of the Lord, in front of the Lord, or in favour of the Lord. We are called to make present God, before the people who look for God, and God's comfort. We are called to be persons of God in the eyes of the Lord, not merely putting up an appearance in front of the people. We are called to be in favour of the Lord, that is, we are called to present the true Lord in front of the world that constantly goes away from and turns against God. This is the call of a prophet!

We are Challenged... In fact, it is very clear that the task just mentioned above are not so simple. They are difficult, challenging and highly risky. The Lord never has hidden that detail from us: they will fight against you, says the Lord in the first reading; and Jesus says no prophet shall be accepted in his hometown, by his own people. Hence, when we take up our call to be prophets we agree to take up also the challenges that come along - opposition, derision, struggles, turmoils, plottings, violence and at times even death! We are challenged, and just because we are challenged and we are struggling, the Lord does not lessen our burden. There is no compromise... the struggle is always the same, in fact it intensified as time goes on. What are we to do... get trained for it, get formed for it, get going with it! How far can we?

We are Comforted... the Lord comes with comfort and consolation, affirmation and assurances... I am with you; I was treated the same way; I have gone through all that you might be going through now...so be firm and keep going! Do not be dismayed in their presence, for I am there to deliver you, says the Lord. It is not the acceptance of the people that will confirm that you are a prophet of God - for Jesus was just praised a moment, right at the next moment they tried to throw him down the precipice. The true confirmation of a prophet and the real comfort comes only from the Lord. And that would come only if we live up to the criterion that God has set for us as prophets... Love!

We are called, challenged and comforted in Love. Love is the litmus test of our life as prophets. Love means wishing the good of the other... not wishing my own good or fending for my own happiness. Love is doing everything for the other, love is living my entire life for the other, love is readiness to give of myself totally for the other. There is no place for selfishness or deceit in love; there is no place for greed or ego in love; there is no place absolutely for any trace of unforgiveness or evil in love. It is with these criteria that the Lord calls each and every one of us Christians, to be prophets of the Lord to the world today. 

Can we realise and accept our call to be prophets in Love? Can we look at the challenges posed by the world today in living our call as prophets, and accept them all with love? Can we really feel the comfort of love from the Lord and share the same loving comfort to the suffering masses of the world today? Can our daily life of being Christians, being children of God, become a concrete life of the prophets of the Lord for today!

A pure heart!

WORD 2day: Saturday, 3rd week in Ordinary time

January 29, 2022: 2 Samuel 12:1-7,10-17; Mark 4: 35-41

"A pure heart create for me O God" -we repeat those beautiful and moving words of David, today as responsorial. It is an important grace to ask from God - a pure heart, for blessed are those who are pure in heart, they shall see God. But the question always remains, especially for us weak and frail human beings... can our heart be pure?

That is precisely why we need to pray for that grace! David is a powerful example of a man who was swayed by his weakness and his frailty and at a point of time, he thought he could get away with it, thinking that no one would ever know his secret thoughts and plotting. But the Lord revealed to him that everything is as bright as the day before the eyes of the Lord. 

The goodness of David rests in the fact that when the Lord made him aware of his mistake, he immediately accepted it and surrendered himself to the Lord - that is the purity of heart, that is a grace! That is the grace we seek from the Lord... we may not be as pure and holy as angels, but within our weakness and our frailty we are called to maintain the purity of our hearts. When we do that we shall see God, listen to God, feel God, and be illumined by the presence of God. 

With that pure heart, righteous and humble, we shall be able to face all the turbulence in our hearts, in our lives and in our small worlds. We would be able to look at situations that are frightening and command them to silence. We shall be able to calm the sea and the storm, above all our hearts within us. That peace and calm comes from a pure heart!