God Begins - God enters our lives!

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

March 25, 2023: The Solemnity of Annunciation
Isaiah 7: 10-14, 8:10; Hebrews 10: 4-10; Luke 1: 26-36

I remember as a boy, having just entered the seminary, I was taken up by the subtitle in the prayer of the Angelus: God Begins -  the Angel of the Lord declared unto Mary! It is a stark reminder of the fact that our God is not merely a God who responds... but God begins, God reveals, God initiates, intervenes at the right time even without an asking. That is why St. John proclaimed, we love God because God first loved us (1 Jn 4:19). 

The feast of Annunciation is a splendid manifestation of this nature of God, the nature of intervening at the appointed time. In this solemnity and from the Word we listen to today, we see three people involved here, who are, each in their own inimitable manner, signs of a holistic life giving message to humanity. 

First, the Angel: Angel Gabriel stands for Faith - an Angel is a concrete sign of God's relationship with us. Angels are God's spokespersons, God's messengers and God's extensions who make present God to us in concrete ways possible. Our Faith is that God continues to live with us, even amidst all the worldliness that we are surrounded by. And the Angel Gabriel today, in bringing the message to Mary, brings us too the message of the nearness of God, the all loving presence of God. 

Secondly, Mary the young virgin: Mary stands for Hope - She shines as a concrete sign of our relationship with God. Mary stands out as a great witness of God's hope, to the hopeless humanity of all ages. Indifference and Individualism marks the humanity of today and Mary's 'yes' is a revolution that spells hope to the world and to the entire humanity. If she can, in her yes, give herself totally for the redemption of the world, can we not in our own way, offer our lives for our brothers and sisters? That is the mission of hope. 

Thirdly, the Child that is promised: Jesus who is conceived stands for Love - He has been the most concrete sign that God still loves the World. God has not given up on us and God will never do! A love that is ready to give totally of Itself (Rom 8:32). The Child that is promised is a sign of God's everlasting and unconditional love that gives life and light to the otherwise darkness filled world today.

PEACE-LENT 2023 - Peace is living to the full

The WORD in LENT - Fourth week, Friday

March 24, 2023: Wisdom 2: 1, 12-22; John 7: 1-2, 10, 25-30

People need no special reason to reject or condemn some one... it is enough that he or she is different from them. The passage from the book of Wisdom, though written hundreds of years before Christ, seems to fit in exactly to his life, as if it were a direct prophecy about Christ's life and its end. If we really look a little more deep, it may suit many others of our times too... persons who stand for truth, persons who are ridiculed for their commitment, persons who are threatened for their integrity in character, persons who are left to suffer just because they are sincere and genuine, and so on. Yes, it will fit into the life of anyone who wishes to live the purpose of one's life to the full.

There is a contrast that struck me, as I reflected on the readings of today: in the first reading there is a repeated usage of the phrase, "let us" - let us lie in wait, let us test, let us condemn and so on; while in the Gospel there is a repeated referrence of Jesus to himself - you know me, one who sent me, I have come from etc. The contrast can give us an insight into distinguishing conformity and integrity - the conformity to the collective evil around and the integrity of the persons of God who have their identity in God. 

Integrity of the persons of God, like Jesus, lies in the capacity to live our life to the full, and be reminders of it to everyone around! It does not matter what surrounds me or who surrounds me, I need to resolve in the Lord to live my life to the full. Jesus knew that he will be soon laid hands upon, but that would not stop him from being what he were, or doing what he did! It is so important that we understand our real identity with such clarity, to be as strong and determined as Jesus was. That alone can enable and empower us to live to the full, for peace is in fact, living to the full.

PEACE-LENT 2023 - Peace is testimony!

The WORD in LENT - Fourth week, Thursday

March 23, 2023: Exodus 32: 7-14; John 5: 31-47

The Gospel today is a very dense passage where Jesus speaks of his testimonies about himself and his identity, his testimony about God and the mission that the One who has called and sent him. In the extensive discourse what Jesus wishes to highlight is that we know, we understand, we come to believe, but these do not stand firm for long. 

A bit of a trouble, or a small delay in favours, or an untoward incident that breaks our plans, or an unexpected turn of events that gets us into crisis, takes us away from God. We see people going away from God, denying God, or creating their own god or gods when things do not go the way that they want. Is this my way of thinking too?

Here we are reminded, that our call is to be testimonies of the Lord and of what the Lord wants to accomplish in and through us. All over the world, we have any number of cases of persons who are persecuted, tortured, oppressed and even killed in the name of the faith and of the testimony they offer. But what stands out is the endurance of these persons and communities. Their struggles and deaths give us pain, but remain a great testimony, a testimony of peace!

The Holy Father calls them, 'the martyrs of our day'. The challenge is, how enduring are we in our commitment to the Lord? How prepared are we to hold on to our faith, in the face of struggles? How persevering are we to wait for the wonders that the Lord has in store for us! That will decide how much peace we would have and how much peace we would promote!

One good spiritual exercise that we can think of could be - to become aware of our words and our actions, and check how much of our thoughts and words bear testimony to the Lord, for peace is testimony!

PEACE-LENT 2023 - Peace is to love like God

The WORD in LENT - Fourth week, Wednesday

March 22, 2023: Isaiah 49: 8-15; John 5: 17-30

Does God love all in the same manner? Ofcourse, God is never partial but what would love mean if it is the same with everyone, everywhere! Love is always specific. If love is wishing the good of the other, how would I wish the good of someone, without knowing the specific good that person is in need of. Evey form of love has to be specific. And just so, above all, God's love is specific - says the Word today; we would do well to realise that, to feel peace and serenity within.

God's love comes to respond to the need of each one proper to the void he or she experiences in life. A mother's expression of love to a hungry child is feeding it; her reaching out to a frightened child is to caress it reassuringly! God's love is such, declares the Word today: even if that mother were to forsake, God would never forsake us! What a peace-filled affirmation it is, however simplistic it may sound!

It takes special effort to respond to each one, proper to his or her need. The needs of each person vary, at times to the extent of one clashing against the other! God alone has the capacity of reconciling all of them and making the right thing happen at the right time - is that not the definition of peace - right thing happening at the right time, in the right order. St. Paul paraphrased this in his letter to the Romans: all things work together for good to them that love God, to those who are called according to God's purpose (cf Rom 8:28). 

Acknowledging God's personal love for each of us and imitating God in loving each one in the specific and concrete manner that we need to, is the surest way to lasting peace. Jesus teaches this from his own lifestyle as Son of God who does everything just as God and just as God commands. It is simply participating in God's love, in other words, to love like God - as a way to peace. 

PEACE-LENT 2023 - Peace is Flowing.

The WORD in LENT - Fourth week, Tuesday

March 21, 2023: Ezekiel 47:1-9, 12; John 5: 1-3,5-16

We have a wonderful imagery to ponder over today: the flowing water that enlivens! Ezekiel speaks of it and John presents it; Ezekiel underlines the presence of the flowing water by the Temple while John points out the very presence of Christ as the life giving spring! Peace is flowing like a river; flowing out of you and me... for the Lord is with us and we are the dwelling place of God.

For the man who had been waiting for 38 years to get into that life giving water, but he could not; there were others who would overtake him, despise him and leave him behind still miserable. Now he has the water come to him. Yes, the fact that Jesus approached him was like the waters came to him, instead of he going to the waters. If you cannot not get to the mountain, the mountain shall get to you, if only you have the humility to let it pass. 

The Lord reaches out to us, flows into our lives to enliven us. When Jesus looks at us and asks us, just as he did to the man - "do you want to be well again"? "do you wish to expereince peace in life"? "do you want to be renewed this lent" - what would be our response? A direct, "yes" or "no"? Or, a lamentation on those who do not help, a complaint on the troubles we are facing and so on? 

Jesus does not wait for it when it is the rigt time. All that we need to do, is pick up our mat and walk - that we give up the old ways and move ahead, that we leave out our lamentations and complaints and reach out. Jesus invites us indeed, to become the waters that enliven people around us, that we reach out to others and flow into their lives, enlivening them! We need to flow on, we cannot get stuck, neither to our ways nor to our own selves. We need to be filled the Lord and flow on, ensuring peace in our hearts and wherever we are. 

St. Joseph - as the Word projects him

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

Solemnity of St. Joseph: Silent, Simple and Sleeping!
2 Samuel 7: 4-5a, 12-14a, 16; Romans 4:13, 16-18, 22; Matthew 1:16, 18-21, 24a.

St. Joseph occupies a huge space in the climax of God's salvific plan which was accomplished in Jesus - still he remains a quiet, noiseless and unassuming person! In a noisy world of today, which claims recognition for every little thing and clamours for attention, St. Joseph's mode of living his life, carrying out his mission and responding to his call is a lovely lesson. Apart from this, there are three dimensions of this saint that we can notice emerging from the Word today.

Silent Protagonist:

He had a very important role to play within the historical events that were unfolding in time, and he played it to perfection. The extraordinary quality that we see in this personality is his silence - how he remained recollected in his depths, to receive the directions from the Lord and execute them to the letter. The prefigurement of this image is seen in Abraham, presented to us in the second reading - how he spoke very little too; refrained from asking questions and dared to even give up his only son! Above all, he listened and obeyed! St. Joseph too listened and for that he chose to remain silent!

Simple Person:

He was simple as a person... this does not mean he had just an old fashioned dress and no sandals on feet - that is how 'being simple' is understood these days! Simple is opposed to complicated! He was not complicated in anyway - an yes meant yes and a no meant no. He thought of rejecting Mary, he was told to accept and he accepted. He thought of returning to Judea, but was told not to and he went to the district of Galilee. He was a simple man who had no air of ego around him nor any self-interests to hang on! The figure of David is presented to us in the first reading drawing our attention to a way of life that was simple. He was fooled for the exaggerated enthusiasm he had for the Lord (when he danced before the ark) but he never even bothered about it. Though the man had limitations and weaknesses within him, he had no ego absolutely. When he was pointed out, he immediately repented. He was called to be a servant of the Lord and even as a King he remained so! St. Joseph never complicated his role or his person, he remained as simple as he was called.

Sleeping Prophet:

Sleeping St. Joseph is a popular devotion by now... a renewed perspective reminded by our Holy Father. Incidently that reminds us to pray for Pope Francis who completes 10 years of his papacy today! May God bless this wonderful servant of God, who reminds us so plainly what it means to live as a Christian today - amidst all confusions and controversies - ever faithful to the call to be yeast, salt and light. Now let us get back to our Sleeping Joseph. It is not a mere novelty of thinking but an intense perspective of faith: the Lord provided for God's beloved even as they sleep (Ps 127:2). It is one lifestyle to spend sleepless nights thinking about something. It is completely a different life style to leave it to the Lord and sleep over it, for the Lord takes care of me even if I am asleep! It is a choice. It is a prophetic sleep when it is out of total surrender to the Lord - Joseph of the Old Testament, the namesake of the saint we celebrate, is a beautiful example of this lifestyle. He surrendered himself totally to the Lord and lived his life like a dream. St. Joseph too was so surrendered to the Lord that even as he slept, he felt protected and directed.

Today, let us thank God for the great gift and example of St. Joseph. Let us not only seek his intercession, but learn from his life that teaches us how to live our Christian call. May St. Joseph protect and direct us always. 

PEACE IS SEEING LIKE GOD

PEACE-LENT 2023: Fourth Sunday of Lent

March 19, 2023: 1 Samuel 16: 1,6-7,10-13; Ephesians 5: 8-14; John 9: 1-41

"We are children of the Light", the readings remind us today and invite us to live in the light, as a way to lasting peace! To awake from the slumber of the darkness, to avoid the works of the people of darkness and to acknowledge being anointed to announce the good news to the world - that is the call to be children of the light. We have the light within us, the Light of the world is with us, we are lighted to shine, we are lighted to shine as testimonies to the Light that longs to lead everyone to fullness of life, to eternal peace!

We are called to SEE. Blindness is not merely of the physical eye... blindness of the heart to perceive the something that is so apparent is the worst of all blindness. Physical blindness is a handicap, but Spiritual blindness sometimes is a choice, a choice against something obvious! Not to see the goodness of the other, not to see the good the other has done to you, not to see the great things that God has done for us, these are the blindnesses out of which the Lord calls us today. 

Most times, the lack of peace that we face in our heart and in our situation is our own making. It is our own way of creating a darkness all around us, that we become so incapable of seeing. Sometimes the darkness within us, surround us so much that we may find comfortable living within it. That was the problem of the pharisees and the scribes: they were so cosy in their own world but Jesus disturbed them! They thought they were peaceful and Jesus was raking up a storm; but in fact they were deceived in a false comfort and Jesus was challenging them to true peace, by opening their eyes. He called them to light, he called them to awake. The Word today, calls us to AWAKE and see the Light, shining on us! That is first step to true peace.

We are called to SEE LIKE GOD. As children of God we are called, not just to see, but to see like God. The first reading presents to us an incident where the Lord gives us a practical lesson for our life. David, the least of all in the family of Jesse was chosen against all odds to be the ruler of Israel. There are other such occasions too that we find in the Bible: Joseph the sold slave, Gideon the weakling, Esther the orphan girl and so on. The message is clear: to see like God. 

As the Lord clarifies it (1 Sam 16:7), the Lord sees the heart and not the external appearances; the Lord sees the internal disposition and not the eternal display; the Lord sees the interior openness and not a stubborn self righteousness. To see like God would mean to avoid the works of the people of darkness, who try to close their eyes to any good that someone can do because of a prejudice they have at heart; who look for any lame excuse to judge and vilify others merely because they do not like the other; who look at others as threats and wait to see their ruin. Avoid the works of darkness and put on the armour of Light!

We are called to MAKE OTHERS SEE GOD. We are anointed people of God, chosen children of God. Peter reminds us in his letter, "You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation. God's own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light" (1 Pet 1:9). By our baptism we have been anointed and by the sacrament of confirmation we are confirmed in the anointing - that we are to announce to the world the good news of the love of God. That we may see and see like God, we are given the Light of the Lord. The Light shines within us with such splendour that it radiates to the world around us! We guarantee peace not just in our hearts but in the situation we live in, in the society and in the whole world. 

If we can say like that blind man in the Gospel - "One thing I know, I was blind and now I can see!" - we are testimonies to the Light that shines within us, the Light that can give meaning to the world, the Light that alone can lead us to true peace and loving communion. When we really see and see like God, the works of God will be made visible through us and that is what we are called to. Let us thank God for having given us God's light and let us be lighted to be testimonies of the the Light of the world. 

PEACE-LENT 2023 - Peace is being Spiritual

The WORD in LENT - Third week, Saturday

March 18, 2023: Hosea 5:15 - 6:6; Luke 18: 9-14

Peace is a fruit of growing to be truly spiritual. At times being spiritual is confused with being self-righteous! Being self-righteous involves a large dose of judgement of the other. When you judge, you do not love. So being self righteous you begin to love the other lesser and lesser, and yourself more and more! It is a kind of narcissism (a pitiable condition of excessive self love). Whereas today the Word invites us to love more than to sacrifice, to get to know who the Lord is and who we are in relation to the Lord, than making our spiritual efforts mere rituals.

Being spiritual truly should mean growing more and more loving. More loving towards God and more loving towards those around us... and certainly that would lead to peace. Growing more loving means, that we grow more and more open, to appreciate the other sincerely, to sensitively confront the other in their shortcomings, to readily accept my own limitations with gratitude when pointed out, to reach out to the other in whatever way I can even if it costs me a bit.

Being Spiritual means to understand within me what the Spirit of the Lord wants of me and to lead my life in the Spirit's path - in peace with myself, with the others and with my Creator. The Spirit of the Lord wants us to grow more and more loving and less and less judgmental. The Holy Father seems to be repeating this time and again and infact this is one of fundamental ingredients of true peace. 

The reminder therefore today is: Relate lovingly, become conscious of your tendency to judge and grow more and more spiritual - and you will have peace!

PEACE-LENT 2023 - Peace is loving!

The WORD in LENT - Third week, Friday

March 17, 2023: Hosea 14: 2-10; Mark 12: 28-34

The twofold love that Jesus speaks of today is a message that we are used to hearing so much - Love of God and love of the neighbour. But what makes the difference here is the first reading which provides a slightly different context in which we read the commandments from the Lord. What is the context: Hosea speaks of returning to the Lord, to the True God.

The whole of Lent is a time we reflect on returning to the Lord, repentance of our ways and reforming our lives. Jesus seems to suggest, be truly loving in your ways and you would have returned to the Lord much faster than you imagined! Loving God and loving neighbours is the Christian lifestyle and it provides the fundamental way to reach the Lord. 

Here we can make two statements and that will explicate the teaching clearer:

You make all your sacrifices, gives all the alms that you can, spend all the time that you find in prayer and adoration, speak about God and are passionate about your religious duties... but if you do not love your brother and sister, beginning with those in your family - you are far from a truly Christian life.

Instead, you find it so hard to fast or so difficult to mortify yourself, you find it difficult to find even half an hour together to sit in front of the Lord and you find it so difficult to go to Church... but you love your brother or your sister wholeheartedly, with a sincere heart, genuine spirt and a godly sense...you are so close to the Lord and the Lord's way of life!

This is an undoubtable, indisputable means to peace: Be loving!... being loving in one's thought, word and deed; loving everyone whom we meet, offering it up to the Lord consciously, as a true and living sacrifice.  

PEACE-LENT 2023 - Peace is Listening

The WORD in LENT - Third week, Thursday

March 16, 2023: Jeremiah 7: 23-28; Luke 11: 14-23

One of the prominent dangers that we run into in our day to day life is, taking the goodness of the Lord for granted. The Mercy of the Lord is endless and immeasurable. Yet there is every chance that I may deprive myself of this boundless mercy - yes, it is I who deprives myself of it! The first step towards that is refusing to listen! Yes, it is true... not just incapacity to listen, but refusing to listen!

Every one of us is made capable of listening to the Lord and we are offered innumerable opportunities to listen, in fact we need not make any exaggerated effort to listen! Remaining calm, recollecting within, staying still is enough for us to listen to the Word, listen to what the Lord wants to communicated and reveal. But the problem begins when we make ourselves incapable of it, by our choices and priorities. 

In these priorities and choices, we relegate the aspect of listening to the Lord, to such a despicable position that we go far far away from God and we wish to establish our own existence, independent of God. The fact is that we cannot go too far, for wherever we go, the Lord is with us. Yet, we take that presence, that love and that mercy for granted. Such a painful experience of rejection, that we give the Lord. Is this not what the Lord shared already through Hosea (in chapter 11), 'the more I called them, the more they went from me'; 'my people are bent on turning away from me'...what an expression of pain from the Lord!

Precisely this fact, that God has made us for a life of union with the Lord, makes me lose my peace of mind or peace in the world, when we drift away from God and from God's voice. The call is simple but challenging - don't harden you hearts and your ears, listen and change, and through that you would have worked on your part of the Reign - that you yould have done your lot for peace. 

Peace is listening - listening to the voice of the Lord who instructs us, listening to the cries of those around who give us the opportunity to live the mercy we have received from God, listening to everything that is happening around me to know what is expected of me here and now... listening leads to peace!