The Name - our identity and call

THE WORD AND THE FEAST 

January 3, 2024: The Most Holy Name of Jesus
1 John 2:29 - 3:6; John 1: 29-34

"There is no other name under heaven...by which we must be saved," says Acts of the Apostles (4:12). Names, in the Biblical tradition, are not merely nominative, they are descriptive and definitive! Abraham, Moses, were names that redefined the history of the person; Gabriel, Raphael, Michael, are names that define the very role of the angels who bear them; John was given the name even before he was conceived, just like JESUS the Saviour, Emmanuel the God-with-us! Although this feast of the Holy Name of Jesus is a long standing tradition, it has not sustained its fervour down the centuries. We need to rediscover the importance and significance of this feast in our faith expression.

The true purpose of Incarnation was not to demonstrate the grandeur and the omnipotence of God, but the closeness of God with those whom God loved. Emmanuel, is the title that explains best the love that God has for us...For God so loved the world, that God gave up everything even God's own Son; and the Son of God gave up even his Godhead and came to be one among us! The Word became flesh and dwells among us. 

The Word today, brings to us another indispensable dimension of this name - the name that is imposed on us, through the greatest name of all - the name and identity as "Christ-ians". We see that the Holy Spirit, in the form of the dove testified on behalf of Jesus that he was the Son of God. We are made the children of God and the same Spirit waits to testify for us. We would be identified as children of God if and only if we resemble God, says John in the first reading today. 

Resembling God, would mean being loving, beyond all petty differences and being generous, beyond all calculations. Resembling God would mean remaining with the Lord - in every thought, word and deed. Resembling God would mean knowing the name imposed on us and its significance, and realising our call and daring to embark on that journey, of growing every day in our resemblance to our maker. 

Encountering Christ

WORD 2day: Tuesday, before Epiphany

January 2, 2024 - 1 John 2: 22-28; John 1:19-28

The identity of Jesus, as both God  and Human, was a major issue of controversies in the early Church. The first reading we have today is an indication to such feuds that they existed. What matters finally, as John so rightly points out there, is not the philosophical and theological justification of who Jesus is; but the personal experience of the person of Christ - live in Christ, .

John the Baptist foretold the coming of Christ and pointed out when Christ really came. His prophetic gift gave him the privilege of understanding Jesus and identifying Jesus when he came. Today we would do well to pray for this grace... to identify Jesus when he comes so that the encounter may enrich our life and bring meaning to it. 

In varied ways, and specially in our neighbours, our brothers and sisters, and more specifically in those who are in dire need and helplessness, we are challenged to encounter Christ who is God, but who had deigned to assume or nature and live in the poor and the oppressed! Certainly if we cannot find in Jesus a person, a man who lived human and experienced all that he did, we cannot see the Lord in the persons who are around us. We would be missing a major half of what Christ really wanted to reveal to us. 

This week running up towards the great celebration of the revelation of God in Christ, we are invited to understand and appreciate the depth of God's revelation on a daily basis - let us remain open to the Spirit and strive to understand the real meaning of incarnation and its lessons for our daily life. Today, let us prepare ourselves to encounter Christ wherever we are.

A PROMISING 2024

God's promise: blessing, grace and peace!

January 1, 2024: New Year, Mary Mother of God, and World day of Peace

Numbers 6: 22-27; Galatians 4: 4-7; Luke 2: 16-21

We are in the midst of a triple festivity today: the birth of a brand new year 2024, the person of Mary - Mother of God and the 57th World day of Peace in the Universal Church! On this auspicious day, we have a loving promise from the Lord - again a triple promise: Blessing, Grace and Peace, as the formula in the first reading from the book of Numbers teaches us. 

BLESSING: 

The Lord promises first of all, Blessings. How do we understand blessing? The antonym is a curse, that is wishing the destruction of someone. Blessing therefore is wishing that something good happens to the other. 

The Lord's Holy Will is that we receive, and experience all that is good. Sometimes we may think that the Lord fails to send anything good our way. Blessings abound when the waiting is long. Permit me to share with you a funny forward that I enjoyed some time ago circulating on a social network: it was about a dog and an elephant which got pregnant together. In 60 days the dog delivered some ten puppies! It got pregnant again and delivered another 10 in after 60 days... then again... in fact, after half a dozen such cycles, the dog happened to meet the elephant. The elephant was still go around with the first baby in gestation (we know the elephants' gestation period is close to 600 days). The dog laughed at the elephant and asked, "did you check if you are really pregnant? I have already given birth to some sixty kids. Look at you!" The elephant with a solemn smile said, "but just imagine, when I deliver my kid, he would draw everyone's attention. When he crosses the road, everyone will stop in awe. When he stops and turns around humans would run for their life." 

The longer the wait, the greater the blessing! The Lord has great things in store for us. Let us never get impatient and frustrated. Even amidst the toughest darkness, we need to keep our eyes fixed on the Lord and wait on the Lord with faith! The Lord promises blessing and they will surely come our way! 

GRACE: 

The second promise is Grace. What greater witness than the Mother of God, Mary who was called 'full of grace'. Understanding grace is another task we have today. What is grace? -Is grace a thing? an intention answered? a healing?... At times, we give into the misunderstanding of speaking about more graces and less graces, as if we count or weigh graces on scales. 

Let us remind ourselves today, Grace is fundamentally the presence of God with us, the relationship that God establishes with us, the way that God enters our ordinary lives! That is why Mary was full of Grace: she bore the Son of God, the second person of the Trinity, the Word made flesh, God made human in her womb. Mother of God, is what God made her! Theotokos - the bearer of God. In the fullness of time, God sent God's only son, born of a woman, declares St. Paul in the second reading. Why should God send God's Son? It is the way that God fulfilled God's own desire of being with the people of God, the children of God. I will be with you. I will never leave you; I will never forsake you, nor forget you, my people! Isn't that the promise that the Lord has given always?

The presence of God surrounds us, as much as we wish to have it. That presence never forces itself on us, nor does it choose to abandon us - the choice is ours. We choose it when we wish to remain with God, with the values that God proposes, with the ways that the Spirit of the Lord teaches us. That is grace, the state of grace, the grace-filled life. The Blessed Mother of God, teaches us as the bearer of God, the secret of remaining in grace, that is to bear Christ within us, to bear God all the time in our hearts and spirits. 

PEACE: 

The third promise is Peace. Celebrating as a Church the 57th World Day of Peace, Pope Francis invites us to reflect a bit on the theme - Artificial Intelligence and Peace. We are well aware that the Artificial Intelligence today is synonymous of the current progress in the scientific world, but is everyone equally sensitive about all its impact on the world today? 

The year that has just past, has been treacherous in many ways, adding to the case of world war being fought in piecemeal, all over the world, with over 50 nations involved in some form of war or weaponed activity! Along with this the reckless rapidity with which the advancement of artifical intelligence is taken forward, is alarming to humanity and to the entire universe or the cosmic home. Apart from the varied concerns it causes, namely the threat to democracies, to the autonomy and dignity of human persons, and to the ethical balance of the world, there is a need that "the rapid development of forms of artifical intelligence will not increase cases of inequality and injustice all too present in today's world, but will help put an end to wars and conflicts, and alleviate many forms of suffering that afflect our human family."

The Prince of Peace is with us - the Son of God who has come into the world, pleading us to love, embrace and grow together towards fullness of life - only peace can make that happen. And it is the Lord alone, who can give us that peace!

Blessing, Grace and Peace - that is what the Lord is promising us in 2024. Let us claim that promise for ourselves, for our families, for our communities and for the entire world.

The Lord BLESS you and keep you;
The Lord make his face shine upon you and be GRACIOUS to you;
The Lord lift his countenance upon you and give you PEACE!
Amen.

The Choice of a Christian Community

WORD 2day: Christmas Octave - December 30, 2023

1 John 2: 12-17; Luke 2: 36-40

World or things of the world as opposed to the love of the Father: by now, this kind of a contrast could be considered outdated way of thinking. Indeed, the dichotomy that is involved and implied is a bit old fashioned - there is no doubt we need to distance ourselves from such dualistic modes of thinking - spiritual and material, body and spirit, and so on! But, hold on... though the dualistic thinking seems a bit irking, the difference between the types of choices with these contrasting perspectives is real and concrete, don't you think?

Even our prayer, for example, could have within itself an impact of the two contrasting perspectives - it is all about the sense of priority or importance that we give to those around us and to the experiences of here and now, at the cost of the a filial and trust-filled love for God, our Father and Mother. It has become a spirituality, justified by its practicality to just look at the imminent and forget the horizon of eternity! 

I remember once a group of youth with whom we were preparing for a major event, when they heard of a last minute forecast for a likely thunder showers, they immediately got down on their knees to pray and say, 'Lord, please stop the rain'! Praying... it was a wonderful and exemplary gesture on their part, but a subtle point to be noted here is: how prepared are we to accept the will of God in things that we have planned; instead of asking the Lord to adjust everything to our designs?

Whoever does the will of God remains for ever, reminds St. John in his epistle today (v.17). Prophetess Anna, or even Prophet Simeon whom we encountered yesterday in the Gospel for that matter, waited for years together, in relentless patience towards the will of God. They knew what it was to abandon themselves to the will of God: a surrender so beautifully symbolised by the Divine Kid in the manger whom we celebrate these days. An absolute choice for God and for God's will without any compromises, is one of the unfailing marks of a true person of faith or a real community of faith. 

The Mark of a Christian Community

WORD 2day: Christmas Octave - December 29, 2023

1 John 2: 3-11; Luke 2: 22-35

One of the earliest marks of a Christian community, which holds good even today or especially today, is that it was a Contrast Community! They were called and commissioned to remain marks of a contrast, to stand out from the rest of the society, that they may call the entire humanity to a particular way of life: the way that is highlighted in the Word today - the way of the Light. The True Light was coming into the world - reminds us John in his Gospel prologue (Jn 1:9).   

Hatred, violence, vengeance, aggression, terrorism, manipulation and exploitation abound today in forms varied and vicious. The tendencies of anti-religiosity, the pressures of self-assertion, the obligation to challenge the established order or convention... these are some of the daily events we experience today in the world. There is constantly a question that resounds everywhere - who is right and who is wrong?

The Word today gives us a neat criterion to judge who is right and who is not: the one who loves one's brothers and sisters is in light. And whoever says he or she is in light, yet hates one's brother or sister, is still in darkness (Cf. 1 Jn 2: 8, 9); he or she is a liar! What matters is love, true love, true love of one's brothers and sisters, which does not make my self-centered desires and greed, priorities over the good of the other and the good of all.

Jesus the light can never cause hatred or division. There can be people who claim to be interpreting the Light but actually cause division, hatred and rivalry. Let them be certain, says the Word, that they are still in darkness. Let love, the light of life, guide us on as we come closer to the end of this year, that we may grow constantly to be children of the Light. 

The Obscurity of a Christian

WORD 2day: Christmas Octave - December 28, 2013

The Feast of the Holy Innocents: 1 John 1:5 - 2:2; Matthew 2: 13-18

These days we are celebrating the continued joy of Christmas, reflecting on the Christian community that testifies to this Word made flesh - we celebrated the martyr heroes who we hold in great esteem; we celebrated the great apostolic evangelisers who shine on the cloud of glory. And today we celebrate those who shine in their obscurity. It looks like a contrast in terms, isn't it? But that is the truth about the feast of the holy innocents we celebrate today. 

Those who died, the holy innocents, did not know who Jesus was, neither do we know these children we died were! All that we celebrate today is the fact that every day there are so many who are being killed, those who lay their lives down, for the sake of truth - without even knowing what they are doing. There are two important considerations that we can have today, from the perspective of our faith:

The first consideration is to recognise the Christians in obscurity - those who are standing up for the Reign, those who are voicing their hope in Truth, those who are ready to give up - be it simple things in life or be it their life itself, those who are ready to lose anything for the cause of true love of humanity. These are truly brothers and sisters of Christ, recognised by God - "all those who listen to the words of my Father and put it into practice are my mother, my brothers, my sisters". 

The second consideration is about the obscurity of a Christian - that a true Christian would live his or her Christian life in the obscurity of his or her daily life experiences. They are not always those in the limelight. Today, there is a craze for limelight; everyone wants to be trending - making statements without need, just creating ripples through the social media just for the sake of it, sometimes not worried about the repurcussions it would have on the common good. Instead, a true Christian, goes on living his or her life, in silence, in obscurity, in a daily martyrdom. 

Let us pray for all the innocents who are made to suffer for the Reign today, and in a special way let us offer the innocent children who are sacrificed at the altars of greed and inhumanity! May God have mercy!

The Joy of a Christian

WORD 2day: Christmas Octave - December 27, 2013

St. John the Evangelist: 1 John 1: 1-4; John 20: 2-8

The Christmas joy continues, even as we commemorate St. John the Evangelist today. There seems to be a wisdom and logic in celebrating St. Stephen yesterday and St. John today! Though this is certainly an unofficial reasoning, I like to hold on it for the point that it makes! Immediately after celebrating the birth of Jesus, we celebrate the birth also of the community around him - yesterday we remembered the representative of those who decide to lay their life down for the their Master, and today John, the only apostle as the tradition says, who did not die a martyr's death! But his undeterred perseverance was a martyrdom in itself - he was the only apostle who did not desert Jesus at the time of passion and he had the previllege of inheriting the mother of Jesus, in the name of the whole Church. It is indeed a great challenge to imitate - for him it was all about joy! 

Although the Gospel reading today draws our attention to the scene of resurrection, the message is about an encounter with Christ that redefines one's life. When a person encounters Christ in all one's earnestness, there is a choice, a categorical choice for Christ and Christ's mission! The joy of a Christian is seen here - John defines this for us today in three fundamental experiences - encounter, union and proclamation! 

"The Joy of the Gospel fills the hearts and lives of all who encounter Jesus," declares the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium (n.1). This is what we are celebrating for the past two days - the joy of having encountered the Word made flesh.

The union that this encounter leads to, is a joyful union with the Father in the Son, with the Son in everyone who is called in his name, with each other in the joy that the Lord fills us with - a complete joy, an overflowing joy, that has to be proclamed by all means!

Just as St. Paul would affirm that it is no merit that an apostle proclaims the Word, but woe to him if he does not (1 Cor 9:16), we see John today explaining in the first reading: He seems to say, "I am called to announce Christ, not merely because others will benefit from it; but primarily that my joy may be complete (1 Jn 1:4)!

For a Christian, a joy-filled proclamation of Christ is the only way to live his or her life - joyfully proclaiming Christ in every word, every action and every choice that is made, at every moment of one's daily life.

The Birth of a Christian

WORD 2day: Christmas Octave - December 26, 2023

St. Stephen the first martyr: Acts 6: 8-10, Acts 6: 8-10, 7: 54-59; Matthew 10: 17-22

Yesterday we celebrated the birth of Christ; today we celebrate the birth of a Christian! Stephen becomes a true Christ-ian, as he follows what his Master taught and lived, in his own life and even in his death! 

One does not become a Christian automatically, one becomes a Christian, through a process of continual imitation of Christ. As Thomas A Kempis, reflects in his classic The Imitation of Christ, "whoever wishes to understand fully the words of Christ must try to pattern his whole life on that of Christ." It is not that we try to understand the words of Christ, in order that we put it into practice, but we strive to practice and we begin to understand what it really means. 

Let us do an exercise: first let us read the Gospel today - Jesus has some strong words to teach us, we might even miss to observe the full sense of it; now let us go to the first reading and read it - that becomes a practical explanation of what Jesus taught! And certainly we understand the depth of it, however painful and frightening it is. That is the beauty of a true Christian life: it becomes a commentary to the teachings of Christ. 

It is not enough to look at Jesus as a child born yesterday, sweet and mild, and celebrate around. It is important to open our eyes to the constant challenges of being Christians, more precisely, challenges of becoming Christians - we are constantly called to become Christians. That is to grow more and more into the likeness of Christ. May St. Stephen the first martyr inspire us in this project of our life. 

BORN UNTO US

Prince of Peace, Divine Shepherd, Wonderful Counselor

The Nativity of the Lord - December 25, 2023

Isaiah 9:1-6; Titus 2: 11-14; Luke 2: 1-14

We celebrate a birthday today, a birthday that initiated a new birth to the entire humanity, a birthday of a very special person! We are not here to celebrate the birth of a helpless infant or a chubby child who would be playing with a globe in its hands... It is not just a child who is born today!

We are here to celebrate the birthday of the One of whom Isaiah spoke: for unto us a child is born, a son has been given to us... he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace (Is 9:6). 

If it were a mere child, why should the King be so alarmed? Why should the world fear? Why should the world wonder what is in store? The Kings are in fright because the one who is born is a Prince, the Prince of Peace! 

    It was 1914, this very same day, the Christmas eve, it was a friday, the morning was noisy with bombshells and bullet rounds but the evening came and there was a total silence. The darkness thickened as the silence deepened, with Germans on one side and the British and French on the other. But something strange was happening... something was breaking through that darkness - a small lit candle appeared on the German horizon... what a foolish thing to do in the war front - betraying your location, making oneself vulnerable to the guns of the enemy! As the British rose to an alert yet another strange thing happened breaking the silence of the night - a solemn orchestra began a lovely hymn : Stille Nacht, Heil'ge Nacht... It took just a few seconds for that beautiful sound to reach the opposite camp! The British were wonder struck and the guns went down while the voices rose singing the same hymn - the beautiful carol Silent Night, Holy Night. Very soon the French began the same in their language Douce Nuite, Sainte Nuit... One carol followed the other and more candles appeared. The Germans walked over the fence and the British and the French did the same and soon they were in the No Man's Land shaking their hands, embracing each other, exchanging gifts - strange gifts like their buttons and cigars, pipes and lighters - there was an unofficial, unauthorised and unarranged ceasefire! Not a shot was fired all night... In one of the zones the ceasefire continued for the next one week! The whole battalion had to be reassigned another region inorder that the war be continued in that place. This is called the Great Christmas Truce of 1914, in history. The next year in many zones on the border they tried to observe this truce and it was not as successful as in the precedent year. In 1916, there was a strict and deliberate prohibition for the truce! It's more a century since then... the world is still afraid of this prince of peace! Today, as it has been more than a few times, there is so much need for bringing peace to the warring factions - can the Prince of peace not bring peace to humanity, to our hearts, to our families, to our relationships... lets give peace a chance, allow the prince of peace to be truly born!

If it were a mere child which is born, why were the shepherds notified and why is it that they were given such a prominence in the story? Because the One who is born is a shepherd, true shepherd who is born to die, born to lay down his life for his sheep, the Divine Shepherd! Why should God  be born to die! Why? 

    God could have made one of his prophets die for us - why should he die himself? A friend asked another this question and the argument went long...the friend was not convinced. They went their way. The other friend one day invited the former to an outing and asked him to bring his beloved little son along. The outing plan was for a boating on a lake and in the middle of the water, the friend pushed his comrade's son into the water. Shocked and angry the friend jumped into the water got his son brought him to safety and was about to charge on his friend... he stopped him and asked him, why did you jump? You could have asked me to save your son, or the boatman to save or called for a security personnel...while the man shouted back - because he is my son and I love him more than anything in this world! He concluded - that's the same with God. For God so loved the world that God gave God's only son. For God so loved the world that God decided to come into the world in and through God's son. That is the Shepherd we have -who is not worried about making laws that are merciless and insensitive, who is not worried about establishing his own ego and prove to the world that he is capable of things that no one can imagine, who is not power mongering or money minded... he is a shepherd who is love and compassion, who decides to be born to die. Every one is born to live, there was only one who was born to die and that was God's only son! In his death he brought us life!

If it were a mere child who is born today, why should the world fear this child? Why should everyone look at this Child and the philosophy that this child brings into this world, as a threat? Because the One who is born is a wonderful counselor. If only we heed to His counsel! 

    The world has a counsel, an advice - make sure you get your share and a little more if can be, never less than that. Make sure you get and get, and keep getting without anyone cheating you! Doesn't matter what you do, make sure you succeed, you gain, you stand to win! The Child born today has a different counsel. Have you heard of these two brothers - one was married and had two kids, the other remained single. They had a common farm, their inheritance. And they worked together on the farm producing every year grains in abundance. They shared equally the produce. One night the married brother thought on his bed, 'it is not fair that we share halves. He is single and he needs a future that is secure. After all, I have my family to stand by me if anything happens in case!' So, from that day he would get up in the middle of the night take a sack of grain from his barn and quietly slip it into his brother's barn. The single brother thought to himself one day, 'it is not fair that my brother and I share the produce equally. After all I am single while he has three more people to fend for." And he began to transfer quietly a sack every night into his brother's barn from his own. Both of them on their own, were wondering why after all these nights of transferring sacks of grains there has been no difference...until one mid night they bumped into each other, each one with a sack on his shoulder walking towards the other's barn. They dropped those sacks, embraced each other and wept in love. That is Christmas giving! Can we bump into each other with sacks of what we want to give the other? What a place this world would be if we were to take this counsel seriously: Give! Christmas is giving...that is the Christmas advice - give and give and give. That is the most fundamental form of love.

The One who is born is the Prince of Peace, the Divine Shepherd, the Wonderful Counselor - are we prepared to accept that birth? Then, Merry Christmas to Us!

ADVENT - DISCOVERING THE REIGN

Discovering the fullness, the Godliness and the humanness in Christ

Fourth Sunday in Advent - December 24, 2023

2 Samuel 7:1-5,8-12,14,16; Romans 16:25-27; Luke 1:26-38

The Fourth Sunday of Advent invites us to discover the Reign, which we have been expecting, preparing and celebrating in the weeks that have gone by. This year, the fourth sunday already marks the eve of the great feast of Incarnation, bringing much more into focus the intimate relationship between the mystery of Incarnation and the promise of the Reign. In a few hours we shall already begin our festivities of Christmas, an event that generations have been waiting for in centuries - the Word becoming flesh. 

The first and foremost affirmation in this regard is an oft-repeated truth which we have more than once underscored during this season - the Reign is not something that has to come from elsewhere. It is in our midst and it needs only to be discovered, uncovered, unraveled, beheld. The disposition to discover the Reign is a fundamental capacity that we are called to grow in - the capacity to understand and recognise the fullness, the Godliness and the humanness that stand revealed in Christ.

The key is in these two terms that can summarise, not only the readings of today, but the entire message of Incarnation - 'revelation' and 'response'. Incarnation that we are preparing to celebrate, is indeed a self-revelation of God, entreating a response from humanity. This we see all through the salvation history of the creation - right from the moment sin entered the realm of existence, God's promise has been alive to redeem the whole creation and restore it to life. The plan of this redemptive love was revealed to humanity in varied ways, through the prophets where were sent to "go and tell" as we see in the first reading today, through events and experiences, and finally through the person of Jesus Christ, the promise come alive. All through the beckoning call was that human persons and humanity, as representatives of the whole creation, respond to this revelation from their hearts. 

That the redemptive design of God shall be fulfilled only when we respond to, in our inner freedom, is exemplified in the Christ event - where Mary beholds the revelation and responds to it whole heartedly: I am the handmaid of the Lord, where Jesus beholds his call to be the Lamb of God and responds in all sincerity: thy will be done. Revelation and Response summarise the crucial dynamic of the Reign, which remains to be discovered. 

Discovering the fullness in Christ: Discovering the Reign is discovering the Fullness in Christ. In Christ we see the fullness of everything, the fullness of the entire creation. We are called to recognise that fullness in Christ, "who alone is wisdom" as St Paul reminds us in the first reading today. The Word, the Wisdom, the Son of God reveals to us that our life's meaning is in our union with God. It is this perfect union with God that will amoung to the Reign of God - the fullness that we have lost due to our confused priorities, compromised principles and complicated personal choices - which we call in a word, "sins". It is only Christ, who comes to be like us in everything but sin, who can manifest to us this fullness that can take us to the promised salvation. 

Discovering the Godliness in Christ: Discovering the Reign is recognising the Godliness in Christ, who is the visible image of invisible God, in whom God was pleased to have all God's fullness dwell (Col 1:15, 19). The world thought it was making space for Christ  when he came - the famous Christmas narration is that isn't it - that he came unto his own and his own received him not (Jn 1:11)! But like David in the first reading today, the world thinks it has to accomodate God and give God the space or decide whether God will have a space or not here. How foolish and childish of us to look at it that way! Is it not God who sustains us and wills us to exist, and accomplish all that we do? We will do well to recognise that and come to terms with that truth as soon as possible in our lives, and stop making of ourselves the fools that the Psalmist spoke of -  "the fool says in his heart, there is no God" (Ps 14:1). Christ comes to reveal to us Godliness in such simple terms, for us to see, behold and understand.

Discovering the humanness in Christ: Discovering the Reign is learning to see the humanness in Christ. There is no doubt Christ revealed God to us, but more primarily, he revealed ourselves to us; Christ revealed to us who we really are - the children of a Loving Father, the image of a Compassionate God, the beloveds of a Searching Shepherd, the covenantal people of a God madly in love with God's own! Humanness is all these - it is not merely about sinfulness and limitedness, selfishness and craftiness - it is about love, compassion, forgiveness and relationship. Jesus reveals that in his very self, in his life choices and in his fathomless fidelity to his Father. Our humanness has to strive to reflect the humanness that Jesus reveals, and that is the challenge of discovering the Reign. 

The season of Advent is coming to an end, with this clarion call - to discover the Reign amidst us, to behold it and to sustain it, that the entire creation will know and realise the immense love of God. We are very close to contemplating the great event of incarnation - the highest revelation of God's love to world. May these few hours left aid us to meditate more on the loving mystery we are about to behold and celebrate.