WWW: WEALTH, WELLBEING & WORLD

The Web of Life in today's World

25th Sunday in Ordinary time - September 18, 2022
Amos 8: 4-7; 1 Timothy 2:1-8; Luke 16: 1-13

We have needs, wants and desires... they are but human. One has to be attentive about the difference between these three- how many times we confuse among these! Our wants and desires fill our minds so much that we make of them much too big than what they ought to be - we are happy only when we get some desires come true, we are fulfilled only when we get things that we want... yes, we turn these ordinary wants and desires into needs! Just imagine today, the number of things that we have made necessities of life: are they really needs? or just wants and desires? Be what they may be, the fact is that, only when they are fulfilled we are happy and grateful; when they are not, we keep beseeching the Lord, sometimes requesting, sometimes begging, sometimes obstinately pressurising, sometimes fighting, sometimes complaining and so on! 

Prosperity, from the time of the theology of the promised land, has always been looked at as a blessing from the Lord. Even today how many preachers take up this as a way of alluring people - whether tey are alluring towards God or towards themselves - we are not here to judge! The focus here is on that so-called prosperity... in simple terms, Wealth.

Wealth makes our life easy and our living pleasurable. By the very fact that it is a blessing, it is obvious that it is 'given' and it is to be given. Wealth is a means provided for one not only to live his or her life, but also extend his hand to the needy, the unfortunate, the underprivileged, the have-nots, so that their life becomes blessed through someone's instrumentality. Wealth, is a blessing, and more over a means, to be a blessing to the others! Prophet Amos minces no words in the first reading today. Swindling the other, manipulating the other and hurting the other for one's own well-being, is not Christian attitude; and it is no well-being at all.

Well-being is not merely one's individual pleasure and possession! Even if one possesses everything, if there is no harmony in his or her surroundings, he or she cannot cherish those possessions. How many individuals who possess enormous riches but lack a internal serenity bear witness to this fact. How many nations today which seem rich and affluent but lack peace and security attest to this fact. Authentic Well-being is harmony in every sense, within oneself, around oneself and with the entire universe! It is the 'quiet and peaceable life, godly and respectful in everyway', that St. Paul speaks of in the second reading. Selfishness and Greed can never lead us to this well-being. Concern and Compassion, a collective thinking of 'all to be saved and to come to the knowledge of truth' - only such an outgoing spirit can grant the world, a real Well-being.

The World and the life we live today is an opportunity given to us, reminds Jesus in the Gospel with his intriguing parable of the prudent steward! Intriguing it is, because it seems to advocate slyness and fraud. But that is not the point. The focus lies on another perspective, and it is: however limited and burdensome, the present life we live is all that we have, here and now, to make our journey toward our 'eternal abode' pleasant and meaningful. It is said, how we live our life here will define and determine how we will exist hereafter.

We have the gift and the Giver: of these, what matters to us is the crucial question. It cannot be that both gift and the giver are important - one cannot serve two masters, warns Jesus. Once we give the first place to the Giver, the Eternal giver, the Loving giver, the Wonderful giver, everything else falls in place. Wealth becomes a means, Well-being becomes harmonious living and the World becomes an opportunity for us to create a paradise here and now, as we live our life in peace and harmony with our brothers and sisters!

INDIFFERENCE - THE MOST UNCHRISTIAN ATTITUDE OF ALL

From blindness and selfishness to malice

26th Sunday in Ordinary time: September 25, 2022

Amos 8: 4-7; 1 Timothy 2:1-8; Luke 16: 1-13

Indifference, the worst of all vices and the most dangerous of all attitudes, is one thing that can be considered absolutely unchristian, something that the Lord cannot bear! Woe to those who are indifferent, warns prophet Amos. And that is precisely what Jesus presents in his parable too. It is something that God just cannot stand - the Lord will 'spit you' out of his presence, if you are lukewarm (Rev 3:16) and indifferent. If you have a living faith, then fight the good fight of the faith, challenges St. Paul in his letter today. 

'Blessed' are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness (Mt 5:6), not those who remain in their safe havens caring nothing for anyone around. St. Paul recalls to our minds today, how Jesus bore witness to his faith and to the truth, right upto his cross! "For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth," declared Jesus with a courage that disturbed Pilate (Jn 18:37). When it came to bearing witness to truth and righteousness, or feeling compassion for those who were helpless, or reaching out to the sinners and the outcast, or speaking out for the rights of those who were oppressed - of their right to be healed as sons and daughters of God, of their right to dignity and of their closeness to the Reign of God - Jesus never hesitated; and his true disciples would never hesitate too!

Today we live in a world that has innumerable justifications for being indifferent towards others - one's duty and family, corrupt system and government, anti-people policies and laws, legitimate development and technology, rapid growth and advancement - the list can go on endlessly. And it is effortlessly easy to cast the blame on someone else and hide behind the mask of myself being part of the 'affected' and the 'left behind'. In simple terms, the Word challenges me today to place myself in the shoes of the rich man and look at the world around me! Have I done whatever I could in my context, for justice, righteousness, dignity of all and true freedom of the children of God. If I say, 'what can I really do?' - beware, that could be the visible trace of the Indifference within!

Indifference is the most unchristian quality one can have. The readings today outline the three levels in which INDIFFERENCE grows.

First Level: Indifference as a fruit of Blindness - the inability to see the suffering around, the incapacity to sense the heavy burdens that persons around me carry, the failure to feel the unseen tears of those crying out for help... these are unchristian to the core. LOOK says the Lord, perceive the sufferings in the eyes of your brother and sister... even if you cannot do much, atleast be there for them!

Second Level: Indifference as a sign of Selfishness - even after seeing the sufferings and the pain, if I fail to be moved, if I refuse stand by someone because I could get into problems, or because I could lose my opportunity to go ahead in life, or because I could earn enemies in the bargain, I am unworthy of being called a disciple of the Lord who died for me! THINK of others, and not solely of yourself, says the Lord. Can I think of anything other than Me, Myself and Mine? I am my brother's keeper!

Third Level: Indifference as a form of Malice - it is a sin! "Silence encourages the tormentor; never the tormented!" says Elie Wiesel an holocaust survivor, who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986. He continues,"the opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it's indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it's indifference." How perfectly Jesus would agree to these words! For, this is what Jesus meant by that parable! 

You just cant be a silent spectator, you just can't stand by the sidewalks and see things happen, not even sit in the stands and cheer! No... FIGHT the good fight of the faith! That means living our life to the full, living our life for the other, living our life in a prophetic sense of love and compassion for the other. Remember, that is how indifference grows and moves - from blindness to the other and selfishness of sorts to malice that makes you evil. 

Let us take care that no trace of indifference invades our lives... we are called to fight, fight the good fight of faith, until we reach the bosom of our loving Father and Mother, as one family in heaven! 

Sowing, Growing and what is in between!

WORD 2day: Saturday, 24th week in Ordinary time

September 17, 2022: I Corinthians 15: 35-37, 42-49; Luke 8: 4-15

The Word today speaks to us of sowing and growing, and what goes on in between these - between dying and being reborn! Our Christian history is so full of martyrdom, and it highlights in a vivid manner, the aspects of dying to ourselves and being reborn in Christ is a criterion for Christian living (cf. Rom 6). In fact, it is true of every Christian... our very life has to be one of daily martyrdom - dying to our ego and growing in a deep sense of being; dying to our petty desires and growing in the sense of the Will of God; dying to our pleasure-seeking tendencies and looking at the nourishing value of suffering and hardships in life. 

Many of us who claim to be followers, disciples and apostles of Christ, still refuse to die to certain tendencies and elements within our self, which militate against the Spirit who wants to dwell within us, for we are called to be the temples of the Holy Spirit (cf. 1 Cor 3:16, 6:19). When there is a resistance to death, there is a resistance to new life, a resistance to resurrection. Where there is resistance to dying, there is a big struggle against growth.

These are indeed instances that are against our becoming totally the dwelling place of God: like the parched land or the scorching heat or the choking thorns. They are everyone's experience and cannot be cited as valid reasons for our personal lack of commitment to belong to God and for our lagging in efforts to grow closer to God. God has sown, God has called us and chosen us and appointed us each, in our life and in our own context. What matters now is our personal commitment, perseverance and loving decision to belong and to grow into the image and likeness of the One who has loved us into existence. 

The Resurrection Community

WORD 2day: Friday, 24th week in Ordinary time 

September 16, 2022: I Corinthians 15: 12-20; Luke 8:1-3

The Readings today point to an identity that is so fundamental to a follower of Christ. The first of all the effects that Christ has on his followers is the Resurrection effect: that is a life filled with hope! If Christ were not raised from the dead, our faith would be in vain - declares St. Paul today. We are filled with a hope so great that nothing, not even death can take away the meaning of our life. 

Secondly, we find today Jesus amidst the first community that he himself had initiated - the Twelve, and some women! That is another Resurrection effect - the fruit of rising above all the pettiness of the world, discarding the divisions, despising the differences of gender or geography, and becoming one community, one people! 'We are all baptised into the one Spirit - Jews or Greeks, free or slaves, we are all filled with the same Spirit', instructs St. Paul ( cf. 1 Cor 12:13). 

Today, let us look at our faith community, the Church, the local church and our own family or religious community: is it one body? is it united in the Risen Lord? is it "following" the Lord, the Risen Lord in every way? Does it have the "mind" of Christ? Are we really Resurrection Community?

One of the infallible signs as we reflect today, has to be - the hope we have in persons: never giving up on persons, never judging persons and never descriminating persons on any count! In a world that is full of expectations and standards of descrimination and division, our challenges is to be this ideal community: the Resurrection community.

Teaching us to Suffer

THE WORD AND THE FEAST 

September 15, 2022: Remembering the Mother of Sorrows

1 Corinthians 15:1-11; John 19: 25-27

A heart pierced with an arrow is a famous symbol today, a symbol very romantic. But there was a heart that was once told: one day a sword shall pierce you! And that heart remained patient and bore that piercing for the sake of that one "yes" that was pronounced at the beginning of the string of those events. The Mother of Sorrows is an icon that challenges us to understand the meaning of Christian living. 

As St. Paul would say, 'the reign of God is not a matter of food and drink, enjoyment and fun, a romantic feeling or a colourful happening'. It is a matter of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (cf. Rom 14:17). Righteousness, requires a hunger and thirst for it (cf Mt 5:6); Peace and Joy in the Holy Spirit consist of doing the will of the God, come what may.

Following immediately the Exaltation of the Cross, the feast of today, establishes the truth that, in living a Christian life, there are certain things clearly difficult and demanding. It requires an absolute choice to live a truly 'Christian' life to the full. Mary made that choice and stuck to it right up to the end and that is what we celebrate today... the mother who stood right there, right up to the cross, right up to the last minute of the gruesome salvific sacrifice. She has shown us what it means to be a disciple of Christ, the Lord of the Cross! 

May our Blessed Mother, strengthen our spirits, increase our endurance and deepen our faith. 

Look up to the Lord and be Loved!

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

September 14, 2022: The Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross
Numbers 21: 4b-9; John 3:13-17

We have today a beautiful remembrance, the celebration of the Christian symbol of Love: the Cross. The Cross is taken more often than not, as a symbol of suffering! Yes, it was a symbol of suffering, until the loving Lord took it into his embrace, on his shoulders and climbed on it to give his life for us... all this out of the limitless love he had for us! He changed its meaning and ever since, the cross has come to symbolise love, the unconditional, limitless and boundless love that the Lord has for us.

Hence the feast that we celebrated today gives us a fundamental lesson for living our daily life: Look Up to the Lord and Be Loved!

Look Up:
At times we are lost in the troubles that we have, in the daily struggles and everyday chores; so lost in those that we have time only to murmur, to lament and to complain. We do not have the patience and the capacity to look up! Look Up, look beyond, look upon high and you will see the horizon that will give you hope.  Hope is the key to Christian way of life.

Look to the Lord:
Let us look to the Lord; it is from the Lord that our help comes! The Psalms further insist: Look upto Him and be radiant (34:5). 'Looking Up' alone is not enough, we can be deceived or distracted or misled. Looking to the Lord is the key to Christian Problem Solving. The real solutions to our problems lie in the hands of God: it is in looking to the Lord that we will have life, life in all its fullness. 

Be Loved:
God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that we have eternal life. The Son so loved the world that he gave everything up, and showed his love in the total self-giving on the Cross. We are promised a measure of love that no human mind can comprehend, because it is eternal and limitless. Such is God's love for us, but nothing can be done if I keep myself away from it. When I claim that love, in total obedience and surrender unto the Lord, I feel loved! 

As we exalt the Cross today, as we sing praises to the One who is lifted high for our salvation, let us resolve to Look Up, to Look to Him and to Let ourselves be loved!

Comparisons or Compassion?

WORD 2day: Tuesday, 24th week in Ordinary time 

September 13, 2022: 1 Corinthians 12: 12-14, 27-31a; Luke 7: 7-11

Each of us is given special gifts from the Holy Spirit, special gifts according to the particular calling that we have. If we become aware of the call that we have received, we would also become aware of the gift that is given to us, to live up to that calling. To be prophets, or to be apostles, or to be teachers, or to be leaders, or to be interpreters... these are all different calls which are lived out by means of various tasks that we are called to carry out. But the fundamental purpose of all these, the call underlying all these calls is just one: to be holy and blameless, before God in love (Eph 1:4). And we are indeed given with all the gifts needed to live that call out in our daily life. 

The Word today, taken together, explains this all important Christian lesson: be compassionate and do not compare! Our call makes us all, children of One God our Father and Mother. The diversity of the call we have recieved does not divide us; it unites us, makes us one people, one people in one Word, one Body of Christ, one heart and one mind in the Lord who has called us. As St. Paul would instruct in the letter to the Romans, to rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep (Rom 12:15), that is the way we can realise, that we are One People! 

Comparisons lead to jealousy and infights and make us enemies, and we would lose our very identity of being God's people! While compassion makes us one, one in the Lord, one in his love. 

The Communion and the Coming of Jesus!

WORD 2day: Monday, 24th week in Ordinary time

September 12, 2022: 1 Corinthians 11: 17-26,33; Luke 7: 1-10

The Word presents to us the two inseparable dimensions of every Eucharistic celebration we undertake.  The coming of Jesus Christ the Word made flesh and the communion in the Body of Christ, the people of God.These are not only two inseparable elements, but essential too. A lack of these is symptomatic of a serious decadence in the true meaning of a Eucharistic moment.

Hence the first real challenge today is to make our Eucharistic Celebrations, truly moments of communion of hearts rather than merely rituals or ceremonies. That challenge requires a bit of homework prior to the celebration itself - the Communion has to be built in the daily life situations and be celebrated at the Eucharist. If it had not been built already, how do we celebrate and what do we celebrate at all?

The second challenge is to recognise the coming of Christ, making the words of the Lord come true. Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist is a great boon given to our burdensome lives! The Lord is with us and that makes our life extremely beautiful, come what may. 

We may not be worthy but the Lord deigns to visit us. How blessed we are!

Differences, disputations and dialogue!

WORD 2day: Saturday, 23rd week in Ordinary time

September 10, 2022: 1 Corinthians 10:4-23; Luke 6: 43-49

We live in a world of pluralism today. Not just India, or countries like that, but almost every one, all over the world lives in a context and a culture of pluralism. Everyone finds one's neighbour different, different in his or her creed or convictions or value systems. In such a situation, what should be a true Christian disposition? Can it be one of disputation, debate or delirious defence? The result would range from a kind of disrespectful cynicism to a hateful dissent. Are those fruits proper to a tree that is Christian? How can anything be its fruit other than love:  for by this they will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for each other.

If so, what would be the right disposition? Compromise? Relativism? An anything-is-ok mentality? No! Never!, says St.Paul in today's first reading. Between Controversies and Compromise, there is something called Comprehension. That, and that alone, is the need of the hour today. An attitude of mature Dialogue. 

What is the use of talking so much of God as love and of Christ's teachings of a forgiving and forbearing love, if we dont begin to live it? Will we not be foolish builders, building our beach side castles? Let us form ourselves into solid bulidings of enduring love and never failing faith, that we may teach the whole world, the lifestyle of true love.

"Trained" to be Apostles

WORD 2day: Friday, 23rd week in Ordinary time

September 9, 2022: I Corinthians 9:16-19, 22b -27; Luke 6: 39-42.

The Word today insists on the need to be trained, in being an apostle. An apostle we are, each of us by virtue of our baptism. That call is not merely a privillege, it is an obligation, a duty and a demand placed on me. Considering it merely a matter to boast about leads to some unfortunate developments within the faith community, situations such as infights, ego clashes, jealousy, clericalism and unchristian 'politricks'. 

The Gospel calls these practices: blind leading the blind and both into the pit! Neither you know what it means to be a Christian, nor do you allow those who aspire to really understand what it takes to be a Christian; in living wrong values you bring judgement upon yourself and in the counter witness that you give you make people go away from the Word and Lord, rather than bringing them closer to Christ experience. Instead, taking the call seriously - the call to be a Christian, the call to be an apostle - leads one to a fuller realisation of the gift that it is and at the same time of the demands that it places. 

One of the important demands that comes up is, to be trained! Both St.Paul and Jesus, today speak of this training. It would consist of fundamentally three things: humble acceptance of the call to be an apostle; attentive listening to the Word that comes to us; and diligent practice of the Word that is heard. Falling short of these three steps would make us either arrogant bigwigs or pretentious bullies but never trained disciples. 

The need to be trained is in simple terms, growing grow gradually into the image of the Master who has chosen us, called us and sent us!