Celebrating Love made Flesh

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

June 24, 2022: Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
Ezekiel 34: 1-11; Romans 5:5-11; Luke 15: 3-7

Today we celebrate the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, the fount of love, the most symbolic expression of our relationship with God, or rather God's relationship with us. The great devotion that we have for the Sacred Heart, has come from and passed through immense experience of God's love in a concrete manner. Sr. Margaret Mary Alacoque was chosen as the champion and apostle for this devotion and today we have a treasure in its form, to reflect upon, to learn from, and to attach ourselves to!

The Sacred Heart symbolises...

1. The Covenant: God's initiative in love towards humanity, towards you and me. The heart reminds us of the covenant we have with the Lord - to belong to the Lord, to be people of the Lord! God has never ceased to remind us of the covenant that God has made with us - that we will be God's people and God will be our loving Father and Mother. How many miracles and how many signs...the Sacred heart is one such splending revelation and symbol.

2. The Compassion: God's continued relationship is filled with compassion towards us. The compassion which comes after us, not only when we are lost, but even when we decide to go aways from God. God calls us to belong to Godself, although we are lost, wounded and scarred. The pierced heart, offers to heal, soothe and fill our hearts with love and compassion.

3. The Commitment: God's invitation to imitate the total, self giving love of God. Loving one another is a commitment, not merely a sentiment or a wishful feeling. It is a concrete commitment towards the over-all well being of each other. Only when we love are we born of God's love, if not our very sonship or daughtership in relation to God becomes null and void. God has filled our hearts with love and that love has to overflow towards others, if we are truly people of God. 

Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, fill us with the same love that your heart burns with - Amen.

Not by chance; but by choice!

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

June 23, 2022: The Birth of John the Baptist
Isaiah 49: 1-6; Acts 13: 22-26; Luke 1: 57-66,80

The feast today is anticipated because of a greater feast that we will be celebrating tomorrow...John the Baptist would be very happy to see this done, as it coincides with his logic: He should increase and I should decrease! That was for a lighter note! 

The Gospels narrate a long list of similarities between the stories of John and Jesus... the apparently 'impossible' conditions in which the mothers conceived - one was too old and the other was too young and still a virgin; the direct intervention of God in the conception - the news brought to Mary and Elizaeth by the angel; the apparitions of the angels to the fathers - Joseph was instructed as to what to do next and Zachariah was informed of what is happening at home; the prior choice of the name of the child to be born! One simple and strong message of all these similarities, is the image of John the Baptist as the precursor of Jesus. 

The birth narratives of John and Jesus, together have another important message to reveal to us and that is, we are not here by chance! We are part of a complex plan, an eternal design of God. We are willed into existence by God; we are loved into existence, by the Creator! We have a purpose, because God knew us right when we were being formed in the womb of our mothers! 

Each of us has a special mission because, it is the Lord who has called us by name, even before we were born! We are chosen in the eyes of God, because as St. Paul says, God has chosen us before the foundations of the world in Christ Jesus, to be holy and blameless! We are created, called, commissioned and destined to usher in the Reign of God, as John announced the coming of Christ. 

At times we think so light about ourselves and our life here on earth - as if we are here by chance and every thing is running by some combinations. No! Let us become aware of our call, our purpose and our destiny, which is much larger than the image we have of ourselves and our life. 

Yes, we are here not by chance, but by choice, by the loving choice of God. 

Living our life from the core of our being!

WORD 2day: Wednesday, 12th week in Ordinary time

June 22, 2022: 2 Kings 22: 8-13, 23: 1-3; Matthew 7: 15-20

By the fruits will the trees be known; by our actions will we be known! Let your actions speak for what you believe and stand witness for what you say! That was not merely the way that Jesus taught, but it was the way Jesus lived. He had no dichotomy of words and deeds, of beliefs and expressions, or of principles and practices. Thus, he was able to say, even if you dont believe in me, believe in my works (cf. Jn 10:38), because Jesus lived his life from the core of his being. 

In the core of his being Jesus knew how he and the Father were united in their vision and their mission.  In the core of his being, Jesus knew he was not alone, never! He was always accompanied by his Father and he had that strength within him. Hence, living from that core of his being, he was able to live a life that was absolutely divine amidst all challenges. 

At times what happens in our daily life is just the contrary... we live from the outermost layer of our lives. We do so many things, we say so many prayers, we carry out so many religious practices, we undertake pilgrimages and penitential practices, we frequent charismatic retreats... but the effect lasts just a few days, or at the most a few weeks. Then? What then? - that is the crucial question!

The first reading has a wonderful symbolism to offer us, in this regard: we too possess what it takes to live such a life as that of Jesus! We have to go to the core of our being, unearth the image and likeness of God that we possess at the core, and bring it to the fore, proclaiming it to the world and installing it on a pedestal from where it rules our life, shines and glows for the others! Living our lives from the core of our being: that is the key! 

As St. Augustine would often say, 'an unreflected life is a wasted life'. Let us accept today the invitation to journey to the core of our being, and begin to live our life from there, bearing fruits worthy of the One who has created, called and commissioned us!

The Narrow Gate Spirituality

WORD 2day: Tuesday, 12th week in Ordinary time

June 21, 2022: 2 Kings 19: 9-11,14-21,31-36; Matthew 7: 6, 12-14

At times when we have problems that overwhelm us, in front of which we have nothing that we can actually do, we are constricted to a choice which is not actually a choice at that point, but a point of no other choice! This is what we see in the first reading today. Hezekiah appeals to God and surrenders himself in the Temple when he has absolutely nothing else he can do, faced with a situation so grave.

The Lord asks us, why do you wait till that crucial moment when there would be no other go, when you would be constricted to absolute straits, when you would find yourself at a moment of no other choice? Right from the beginning why don't you make the right choices, absolute choices, choices that are fundamental, choices that involve no compromise, choices that take you nowhere else but towards that point that is right! In short, why don't you, right from the beginning, all your life, even at the most casual moments and not merely at crucial moments, choose God and God alone!

The world would say, a bit of compromise is no issue! And that 'bit' is what will determine everything finally. Giving in that bit will enlarge the room gradually until the space makes our life so comfortable and cozy, enjoyable and easy! But it will also let so many other things right into our lives, making it vulnerable and weak even without our notice! When crisis arises as a result of it, we might be caught unaware and cry inconsolably, finding fault with God and every thing that is godly in our life.

The best solution: switch to the Narrow Gate Spirituality. It consists of never asking myself, at any moment of life, which choice is easier, which is more convenient, which is more common, which is the way the whole world goes about. Ask just one question: what is that one thing that God wants of me, that one thing, that one choice, that narrow gate that exists, through which you would have to squeeze yourself... only a few will find it and fewer will choose it. But those who choose it, shall march right into the consoling embrace of God.

A Self-critical Conscious Choice

WORD 2day: Monday, 12th week in Ordinary time

June 20, 2022: 2 Kings 17: 5-8, 13-15, 18; Matthew 7: 1-5

Judge not, and you shall not be judged, instructs Jesus today. Not to judge others does not mean justifying whatever he or she does. Between judging the other and justifying the other there is an attitude that Jesus deems Reign-worthy and we could call it: a Self-critical Conscious Choice.

The first need is to be self critical. When I find something wrong in the other, charity requires that I first become critical of myself. That is, seeing the log that is in your eye before offering to remove the splinter from your neighbour's. Once I am aware that I too possess the same, or a similar, or a bigger weakness or a vice, my attitude changes completely. I am in a position to better understand, and act with prudence and humility.

The second need is to set the home tidy first. "Do not do like they do" ... that was the instruction that the Lord had given the people when they had to come into contact with other nations during the period of their wanderings. St. Paul too has a similar warning for us, isn't it? Writing to the Romans, he tells us: do not be conformed to the world, instead be transformed in the Lord (cf. Rom 12). Let me set my life, my behaviours, my attitudes, my priorities, my choices right first... the rest will slowly fall in place. The first step, Gandhiji would say, towards changing the world, is to be the change that you wish to see there!

In short, the Word invites us today to live our daily lives conscious of who we are, what we are called for and where we are bound to! Let us take our faith seriously and live by sound self-critical conscious choices on a daily basis. The Word shall be the lamp to that path!

THE FEAST OF SELF-GIVING

He lives in me!

June 19, 2022: The Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ
Genesis 14:18-20; 1 Corinthians 11: 23-26; Luke 9: 11-17

I am the bread come down from heaven, one who eats of this bread will have eternal life!

Today we celebrate the solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ, the feast of Self-Giving...total self giving of the Lord who came down from heaven!

The Word has prepared us during the week towards this great celebration...

Let us reflect a little about Giving...
I can give to receive...not just a mundane reception of a return for my giving; but I can give to receive something spiritual. To receive, may be, a blessing from God , to receive an affirmation from the Divine Giver, etc. Melchizedek brought out bread and wine and Abraham gave him the one tenth... all these giving, in view of receiving the divine protection.

There was only one who gave, only to be received... notice, it is in passive! It is not giving to receive, but giving to be received!  The Lord gives, it is upto me to receive or not! But on his part, the Lord gives, to be Received. This is the element of salvation that the Lord has left in the sacrament of the Eucharist, for us to receive.

As the Lord gave the body and the blood, he said...do this in remembrance of me... note again clearly, not just to remember him but remember to do what he did, in remembrance of him... that is, to give of myself as he gave himself totally, to give in remembrance of him... He gives, to be Remembered, that he has invited me to give as he gave! This the element of gratitude that the Lord teaches us in the sacrament of Eucharist, the heart of thanksgiving.

Yes, the Lord invites me to give, as he invited the disciples to give the people to eat...'give them some food yourselves,' he said. It's only when we give the people in need, we remain the Lord's disciples. To make us learn that we need to give always of ourselves to the others in need, He gives, to Remain within us... He comes to us to transform us into Himself, to be givers, to be givers who give of ourselves to others, without passing the buck to someone else. This is the sign of charity, the bond of love that the Lord has left in the sacreament of the Eucharist, because of which the Lord abides in us forever. 

Yes, the Lord, everyday gives himself to me and so... I know, I am joyful and I believe that HE LIVES IN ME...

To whom is my allegiance?

WORD 2day: Saturday, 11th week in Ordinary time

June 18, 2022: 2 Chronicles 24: 17-25; Matthew 6: 24-34

Infidelity, compromises, transgressions, forsaking and tryst with the unholy...these were characteristic traits of the so-called 'chosen people', the people with whom the Lord made the covenant: I will be your God and you shall be my people. However unfaithful and treacherous they got, the Lord remained ever faithful and true to the covenant that was made. Coming across passages such as we find in today's first reading, we are prone to judge the people of Israel, but let us wait, take a minute and look at our own life!

Looking at our own life, the Lord has chosen us before the foundations of the world (Eph 1:4) and has made a covenant with us right at our baptism: you shall be my child and I shall be your God. And ever since, how many compromises and transgressions, how many moments of failures and negligences... the Lord however has always been faithful (cf.2 Tim 2:13). Yes, the story is the same even with us.

The goodness of God remains for eternity... the Lord continues to love us and be faithful to us; we continue to live our life as best as we wish, caring nothing about the call we have to belong to God always and in everything. In the light of today's readings let us raise a fundamental question to ourselves: to whom is my allegiance in my daily concrete living? And how absolute is that allegiance? Integrity demands that each of us be our own judge, analysing each and every little choice that we make and the priorities we act on! That will give us an idea of our level of fidelity to the One who has called us.

Dead before our death!

WORD 2day: Friday, 11th week in Ordinary time

June 17, 2022: 2 Kings 11: 1-4, 9-18, 20; Matthew 6: 19-23

'Where your treasure is, there also your heart will be!' 'For all those who draw the sword will die by the sword!' These are foregone conclusions and bygone experiences. Still, when it comes to our choices, we dare to be foolish. Everyone knows that possession and position are by no means permanent. No one claims that he or she will carry along what one holds here on earth, when this earthly sojourn is done with. But still the craze of hoarding wealth or the avarice for power over people does not cease in any case. 

The treacherous events of the first reading reminds us of these strange human choices. Just think of the great wealthy barons of various circles today - how they go on pounding for more and more wealth in spite of the heaps that they have. Or think of those who possessed enormous luxuries but ended up pathetic at the close of their lives. Had their choices really added value to their life!

As the book of Deuteronomy (30:15,16)) tells us: there is open before us the choice for life or for death. None of us can sincerely say that we are absolutely unaware of it when we choose something bad! The choice is always ours. The Lord has given us the Spirit and the wisdom of the Spirit, the eye to see, the light within us to be illumined, which instruct us the right way at every step of ours, as Isaiah tells us (Is 30:21). It is our responsibility to be attune to the voice, the whispering that guides us. 

It is our task to resist the temptation of making the wrong choice. And it requires maturity of faith to accept this responsibility. When we fail to accept it, or when we yield to the attractions of the temptation, we make a choice - a choice for death and not life, a choice for destruction and not prosperity. In those choices, however successful we seem to be, we are dead long before our actual death!

Prayer of the Persons of God

WORD 2day: Thursday, 11th week in Ordinary time

June, 16, 2022: Sirach 48: 1-14; Matthew 6: 7-15

Elijah and Elisha - these two personalities have been churning our minds these days! Wondrous deeds, challenging words, and above all, demanding prayers! Yes, you heard it right. Demanding prayers, not in the sense of demanding from God, but prayers that demand a way of life from those who are involved in praying. There is a characteristic difference in the prayers that persons of God make and that is what Jesus tries to teach us today. 

Prayer is not about begging God for things that we badly need! That makes the relationship so far from the question of dignity and self-respect. Instead, prayer is discussing with God my Father and Mother, the concerns that fill my mind at a point of time. It is a moment of colloquy, a sharing of concerns, an entrustment of care. That is what a Christ-ian prayer is all about.

The Our Father is one such prayer, a prayer of a person of God; a prayer that puts God at the centre and not my needs; a prayer that is bothered not so much about receiving the blessings as about being blessings to others; a prayer that does not seek a secure life but a sincere life, a prayer that does not concentrare on the results of getting something, but pays attention to and builds relationship! The prayer of a person of God, is born out of one's life and renews one's life at one and the same time.

Prophets are persons of God, par excellence. They stand for God, they speak for God and they challenge us on behalf of God. Jesus was a prophet too, and that is why he calls us all to be prophets like him. Let our daily life be in imitation of these prophets; let our daily prayer be a prayer of the persons of God.

To stay clear of trivialities

WORD 2day: Wednesday, 11th week in Ordinary time

June 15, 2022: 2 Kings 2:1, 6-14; Matthew 6: 1-6, 16-18

The only condition placed before Elisha, that he may receive a double share of the Spirit possessed by Elijah, was that Elisha should see Elijah being taken away by God. The challenge here is simply, not to miss what is central to whatever we are involved in, being distracted with the trivialities. This is a very current message for any age!

Because every age, every culture, every age group, and any context is made of a number of simple things that form the entire whole. At times, the maturity of a person or of a community in question is manifest from the capacity to differentiate between what is trivial and what is crucial, between what is negotiable and what is substantial, in short, what really matters and what does not! 

The Gospel places the same condition before us. The actions that we do will have their true value depending on the fact whether the centrality of the right element was ensured. Praying, fasting and almsgiving are three fundamental actions mentioned in the Gospel today and they together epitomise the entire religious practice of a Jew. However, the point here is: not to miss what is central to it in getting distracted with the trivialities of human recognition and immediate rewards. Prayer, fast and almsgiving - why do I do it? Because it has become my second nature, or because I have some other agenda behind it?

In our relationship with ourselves, with others and with God, we are invited to pay attention to the most central of all concerns: to do what is most pleasing to God at a given instant. Any other concern is only a triviality, however good and practical it could be. The spiritual prudence that Jesus teaches us today is to stay clear of the trivialities and place God at the centre and at the core, of our life, of the world, of everything!