Look up to the Lord and be Loved

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

September 14, 2023: 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 that 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: 

t 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. Our troubles are big, our concerns are challenging, but the horizon is there, the silver lining is there... we have to look up to notice that. 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. Unless through the Son of God who has come down from heaven, no one can go to the Father who is in heaven, says the Gospel today. 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. The call is: to refrain from telling the Lord that our problems are big; and begin to tell our problems that our Lord is big and mighty!

Be Loved: 

The Lord is filled with love, a total self emptying love that does not count the cost! 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 for myself, in total obedience and surrender unto the Lord, I feel loved! When I rebel and keep myself away, I prevent myself from experiencing that love which is so present all around me. The key is allowing myself to be loved by God, seeing myself as being loved by God, and identifying myself as the beloved child of God.

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!

The Christ Difference!

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

September 13, 2023: Celebrating John Chrysostom, the Golden Mouth 
Colossians 3: 1-11; Luke 6: 20-26

There is no more Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, slaves or free persons, there is only Christ, says Paul. Christ alone makes the difference. There is no more religious or lay, catholics or others, believers or non believers, practitioners or indifferent, regular-to-the-Church or non-church-goers... nothing is going to make a difference! There is Christ and only Christ who is going to make all the difference.

God has chosen each of us, and if God has chosen us in Christ, we have a duty to respond. It is our response that is going to make the difference. If I choose Christ, if I value Christ, if I value the call that I have received to be a child of God, I have to show it in my life, I have to live it on a daily basis, I have to prove it at times of real crisis in my practical living. When I choose Christ, the difference will be seen.

John Chrysostom, whom we celebrate today, was born just John. He was given the title Chyrsostom, which means "Golden Mouth" because of the way he spoke God's Word, the way he inspired others through his life so absolutely guided by the Word. He made a choice for Christ, in the midst of his early education with a climate so anti-christian and pagan, and his choice he lived for the rest of his life and was even killed for it. Let our choice for Christ make a concrete difference in our lives. Let the world around me see a difference in me, the Christ difference! 

Named after the Ultimate Name

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

September 12, 2023: Celebrating the Most Holy Name of Mary

Ephesians 1: 3-6, 11-12; Luke 1: 39-47

Name is identity. In the salvific plan of God, names refer to the core of one's being. The Mother of God was chosen, in Christ before the foundations of the world, to be holy and blameless - the name that refers to this identity is MARY. That name is a vocation, a call, a Divine choice, a crucial part of the Salvation Plan of God. And each of us is called, just like Mary was and we are given an identity that we draw from the One who has created us and called us.

What is my identity... what is my name? Do I realise that I am named after the Ultimate Name on earth and heaven... the name of God! That is what Paul asserts when he says we are chosen in Christ, in the name of Christ, the name above every name that was revealed to us, that name which was borne by Mary for the salvation of entire humanity.

The call is to live up to that name. Mary did. She was chosen and predestined and she lived upto that name by reaching out to the needy, even without being asked. This is what she does, even today. Reaching out to us in love! Let us confide in her, the mother of Christ and our Mother and she will lead us to our ultimate home.

Sufferings and Sisyphus...

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

September 11, 2023: Colossians 1:24 - 2:3; Luke 6: 6-11

Have you heard of the Greek Mythology of Sisyphus - that is what we can be easily reminded of when we read the passage from St. Paul in the first reading today. The Greek mythology is about the character called Sisyphus who receives a curse to push a boulder up the hill, only for the boulder to roll back to the foot of the hills. And he would begin it all over again. He would carryout that meaningless and endless routine all his existence! The existentialist, Albert Camus (in 1945) would compare that to human suffering and write an entire work. 

St. Paul's words in today's reading, to the Colossians sounds much like it, when he says, I have to suffer for you and for the Laodiceans without having even seen your faces. But Paul never ever felt it was meaningless or endless. He had a definitive purpose and he was so fulfilled about all the suffering that he underwent.

What does give meaning to our sufferings? All our laws and regulations, discipline and rules, what really makes them all purposeful? Let us clarify that question to ourselves... it is not what, but who! Yes, it is God who renders them all meaningful and purposeful. 

Without God and God's call and design, suffering is meaningless, pointless and a sheer misery. With God suffering becomes salvific, purposeful and destined towards an ultimate good. It is God who renders our sufferings, our mortifications, our rules, our legalities meaningful. None of these would mean anything, even if we kept them with utmost diligence, if we do not feel close to God. With God suffering is salvific! Without God, like for Sisyphus, our sufferings are mere miseries.

TRUE LOVE...

Connects, Corrects & Conducts

23rd Sunday in Ordinary time - September 10, 2023

Ezekiel 33: 7-9; Romans 13: 8-10; Matthew 18: 15-20

Am I my brother's keeper... is one of the earliest rebellions against God that is recoreded in the Bible. We are placed as sentries over our brothers and sisters, reminds prophet Ezekiel. Each of us is responsible for everyone who struggles or suffers. Every one who suffers, suffers because of someone else! And we are responsible for the one who causes the suffering too! In short... we are responsible for every "other", every situation and every thing that happens around us. We cannot feign ignorance, nor can we justify it. We cannot claim innocence, nor can we really explain it. This is in all Christian sense - TRUE LOVE. 

True Love, or Christ-ian sense of Love, is reciprocal responsibility - responsibility for the well being of each other! We are not saved alone - saints like Don Bosco would teach: we do not go to heaven alone! We are called to live in a community not merely here, even after here! We are created by Love, in love, for love. And this love is not merely a sentimental attachment to each other, but a genuine wishing the good of the other. That is why this True Love has some specific characteristics.

Love Connects beyond differences: Love connects, unites, binds, gathers, creates communion. Anything that does not sincerely promote union of persons and communities, is not love in anyway. Today we have forces in the society, in the world, even within the Church which spread hatred, division, calumny and power plays. They come nowhere close to what Christ taught his own - where two or three are gathered in my name... not divided in my name or fighting in my name or destroying each other in my name! Finally, it is love that constructs the community, builds the people of God and gives rise to the people of the Reign.

Love Corrects without hesitations: Love gathers, yes! But that does not mean it compromises! Love is justice, love is righteousness, love is Godliness -  hence love corrects. When my brother or my sister goes wrong, love reaches out, points out and corrects! Let us take the corollary seriously too: when I do a mistake, my brothers and sisters are obliged to point it out to me. Love requires on my part to accept that correction and set my life right. Love is merciful, forgiving and compassionate - but at the same time, it never compromises, nor rejoices in evil; it is patient and enduring, until everything falls in place. Love makes all efforts to correct the other, however with respect, regard and responsibility.

Love Conducts towards paradise: Love takes us towards the destiny that we are promised - eternal life, the paradise. And the stark fact is: love alone can take us there! That is why St. Paul reminds us today in the second reading, all the commandments are summarised and crystallised in one call that we have received: the call to love our brothers and sisters. Love alone can make me a Christian. Neither my great achievements nor my tremendous sacrifices, neither my competences nor my influential contacts, can really conduct me towards the promised paradise. It is love and love alone, it is true love that conducts me to the eternal reward. 

Love builds a community and the community thus built, is sustained by that same love. True love, connects. corrects and conducts the believers... towards the abode of love, the eternal life promised us, our blessed paradise. 

Allowing God to Work

WORD 2day: Saturday, 22nd week in Ordinary time

September 9, 2023: Colossians 1: 21-23; Luke 6: 1-5

Transforming a person is not difficult for God - Paul today reminds the Colossians how they have been transformed by God, from foreigners and enemies to pure, holy and blameless people of God. Yes, transforming a person is not difficult at all for God, provided there is a will on the part of the person to be transformed. The flesh could be weak, but what is needed is the spirit that is willing as Jesus would instruct his disciples.

Jesus found it so hard to make the pharisees and the scribes understand the Good News that he had brought. Hard, not because they were unintelligent nor because they were not able to see what Jesus was trying to tell them, but because they were unwilling to see, they were refusing to change, they had decided not to transform themselves. They did not allow him to make sense to them; they did not allow the truths that Jesus was expounding ever touch them.

We have today the sacraments and various other helps to pull ourselves up, make ourselves over and transform ourselves constantly in spite of our weaknesses, but we fail. Not because we cannot, but only because we do not want to, we do not will to. When we allow God to work in our lives, continuously pulling ourselves up and resuming our journey with the Lord, the Lord will surely transform us. That is the beautiful word we have in the responsorial, let us say it with faith: I have God for my help, but let us say with a readiness in our hearts and our minds to allow God to work on us!

Called according to God's Purpose

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

September 8, 2023: Nativity of our Blessed Mother
Micah 5: 1-4a (or) Romans 8: 28-30; Matthew 1: 18-23

The readings prescribed for the feast do not speak to us directly of Mary... but they have a truth which our Blessed Mother teaches us very strongly. The truth is: the choice that God has made for us! As St.Paul would say writing to the Ephesians, God chose us in Christ before the foundations of the world! The Birth of Mary signals in utter silence the beginning of the climax of God's plan of salvation. 

Here we have the mystery involved in this feast. We enshrine within ourselves a marvellous design which we ourselves are not aware of. Mother Mary is a splendid example for us to learn from. From eternity God has chosen us for a particular purpose and each of us has to discern that purpose.

Birthday of our Blessed Mother is a beautiful occasion to reflect on our state of being called - each of us is called, called according to God's purposes. God has a purpose for which he has put me into this world at this time and at this place, in a context so specific with a purpose so specific. There can be problems, discouragements, disturbances and even disasters, but I would have fulfilled my purpose if I learn to, and manage to, live my life to the full, refusing to be curtailed by the negativities around me, finding always the best way of responding to the situation that I am faced with.

When will I be able to do that? Only when I am convinced that there is a purpose to my life, when I believe that I have been created with a purpose, that I have been loved into existence with a magnificent plan which I may now know at present, but will slowly get to understand. Mary is a standing example for this and that is what we celebrate today - that moment when the world beheld her, her who was called into existence with a great purpose, the salvation of the universe!

Light, Freedom and the Reign

WORD 2day - Thursday, 22nd week in Ordinary time

September 7, 2023: Colossians 1: 9-14; Luke 5: 1-11

The Lord has taken us out of the power of darkness and created a place for us in the Reign of the Son that God loves, in him we gain our freedom! Beautiful words that St. Paul shares with us today. He underlines the process in which we grow in our life of faith.

Growth begins with the Light of God shed on the events of life, things we do not understand, circumstances that confuse us, failures that confound us and experiences that go beyond our control. The people who were in search and in expectation and the boatmen who failed to net any fish all night see the light in the Words of Christ.

The light thus shed leads us to a holistic comprehension of life where we grow to make choices that are Godly, choices that are acceptable to God, choices that pertain to the Reign of God. The people find solace in the words and boatmen choose to do what Jesus said in spite of their experience. The choice leads them to become what they were called to be.

The choice for the Reign is expressed in the inner freedom that persons experience once they belong to the Reign... the freedom with which the disciples left everything and followed Christ, the freedom with which Paul became a slave to Christ, the freedom with which I am called to stand for Christ and speak up for the Reign today.

Let us pray today that we receive the light of Christ to experience the inner freedom to belong to the Reign, in our daily life.

Spreading Good News is Spreading Love

WORD 2day: Wednesday, 22nd week in Ordinary time

September 6, 2023: Colossians 1: 1-8; Luke 4: 38-44

Today's first reading sounds more like a loving letter of a member of a family to the family than a formal sharing of the Word of God. In the mind of Christ, this is true proclamation - he goes to Peter's family, shares his care and love there, cures Peter's mother in law, the rest of the sick in the neighbourhood and spreads love and joy! This is what true proclamation means, unlike what some accuse the Christians of, specially in countries like India - a stealthy way of increasing numbers, or what even some Christian groups themselves feel - an itching aggression to add to their number and increase the membership of their so called church.

Speaking to the people of Mongolia a couple of days ago, the Holy Father said, "the Church is not bent on conversion!" It does not mean that the Church does not care about proclamation or announcing the Good news but it means that the Church is not worried about winning people over to itself or increasing its numbers, instead seeks to share the experience of the goodness, the love and the care of God. 

Spread love, you spread the Word automatically and powerfully. You strive to force the Word on people, but fail to truly love, you block the Word from really spreading. When you spread love, and spread the word about love, you spread the Word, your spread the Good News. Because, Good News is Christ and Christ is love!

The Spirituality of Keeping Awake!

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

September 5, 2023 - Celebrating Mother Teresa of Kolkata

1 Thessalonians 5: 1-6, 9-11; Luke 4: 31-37

It is an interesting anecdote to recall - the story said about a man who asked a Zen master, 'what would you do if the world begins to end right now?' The Master who was just drinking a cup of tea, looked up at him and said without panic, 'I would continue to taste this tea.' That is the spirituality that Paul and Jesus speak of today. To remain awake, alert, active always is the key to face the worst of events in life.

Mother Teresa of Kolkata was a living example of it. The enormous work that she had accomplished in her lifetime, and against all the odds that she faced, is an everlasting testament of how alert and awake she was to do good to others. She was never taken up with the fact that she was doing a great job... she always felt she was doing what she could. But the Lord was using her mightily. Her part lay in the way she cooperated with God's will to bring about the best in any situation. The secret that helped her was, not waiting for the ideal situation to do good, but to do it in whatever way you can, whenever you can. That is why she said, 'you need not do great things for God; but do the ordinary things with great love!'

The Spirituality of keeping awake is nothing but being alert to any situation that presents itself to do good. Whether we think it is small or judge it big, we are called to do whatever is within our capacity to make a difference in the lives of the needy and the suffering. Mother Teresa shines as a brilliant icon of God's compassion. Let us develop within us a heart for the needy, the suffering, the lonely and the oppressed -'those in the periphery' as Pope Francis would remind us.