BE LOVE! BE COMPASSION!

14th July, 2013: 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Religion has been traditionally considered a search for God, some of them are long-winded and some others super-human. The Liturgy today differs from this point of view and indicates to a Christian that living as a Christian is neither too hard nor too far off. Jesus Christ the Son of God has brought it so close to us, by becoming one of us and having lived out for us in his own life a model to be emulated, an example to be followed and a path to be retraced. Those who wish to take the unbeaten path need not worry, for this path traced by Jesus will forever remain unbeaten for not as many as enough dare take that path. The Challenge thus is alive for you and me today!

The Word of God is in my heart! What God wants of me, what really matters to lead a life worthy of the One who created me, is right within me! It is in the core of my being, because I am created in the image and the likeness of God (Gen 1:27) and having been created in God's own image, I have within me all that is Godly...all that is characteristic of God, I have it embedded in the core of my being! If nothing hinders or distorts it, this is what I will manifest too in my daily life! This is what the book of Deuteronomy teaches us today in the first reading! The latest encyclical Lumen Fidei (LF 20) makes reference to this passage and speaks of the exegesis made by St. Paul on this passage from Deuteronomy - in Romans 10:6-7 we read St.Paul telling us, that we need not wonder how will we come to understand this inherent nature of ours - because we have Jesus Christ who has revealed it to us!

Christ came to reveal to us not merely who God was, but who we were; that we are the image and likenesses of God, that we are sons and daughters of a God who is love and compassion. A literal translation of the Hebrew version of Psalm 103, would read, "The Lord is compassion and love" (Ps 102(103):8) - not merely that God is compassionate and loving, but God is compassion and love! Christ was the visible image of this invisible God - Christ was the love of God personified, Christ was the living image of Compassion. He came to reveal to us, how much God loved us and how filled with compassion God is. Our call to be Christians is not a call to believe in some truths and adhere to some moral virtues, it is to live as Christ lived, to think as Christ thought, to feel as Christ felt, to love as Christ loved!

That is why Jesus did not stop with the two great commandments, he made them just one and said - "I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another" (Jn 13:34). According to Christ it is not enough to love the other as I love myself... but I am called to love the other as God loves me, as Christ loved me - that is, to love unconditionally, to love without counting the cost, to love even upto the death on the Cross!

That is a challenge! That is why when they asked Jesus who is my neighbour, Jesus did not answer them directly. He gave them a parable and made them reflect, to whom they have to be a neighbour! Yes the Lord invites me today to be a neighbour to every person who is in need, every person who is suffering alone, who is left to bleed on the pavements of the present world of globalisation, consumerism and technological domination. I am asked to be a neighbour to everyone who is tired and heavy laden, everyone who is lonely and sick, sick in the body, mind, heart and soul. Let me not ask anymore the stale question, who is my neighbour! If I am truly a Christian, I would ask a question more pertinent - TO WHOM SHOULD I BE A NEIGHBOUR...and the answer will be right before our eyes.

And the way to be a neighbour is what Jesus explains today! To be like himself, to feel for the other like Jesus, to live like Jesus, to love like Jesus - that is to BE LOVE, to BE COMPASSION in the world today. That is the most fitting way to be a Christian today.

WORD 2day

13th July, 2013

A Challenge and an Assurance! The challenge is to belong to God, come what may. It is not an easy task considering the prevailing atmosphere today. I know of so many youngsters who are so inspiring by the absolute choice that they have made for God and the will of God. People who have had great ambitions and plans, but  have just thrown them into the air for the sake of a vision that God inspired. Persons who have had prospects so promising, but have ignored those just because they felt they have been called for a specific mission, a mission in the footsteps of the Master-saviour. Daring individuals who have made choices for which they are being derided, called names and have suffered worst experiences of want and willful deprivation. A challenge! When this challenge is taken up, one could find oneself on a tossing sea or a troubled sky, but nothing would disturb the person for he or she has found a ground so firm, a base so strong, a root so deep - the Lord who calls, commissions and walks one through. At the end of all the tribulations, pervades a serenity, a sense of accomplishment, the same sense with which Jesus gasped on the cross, "It is accomplished." That is the tone in which Jacob aka Israel speaks today of his end and what should come after. The Lord does not leave us merely with the challenge, he attaches an assurance! The assurance of God's caring presence with us! The new encyclical Lumen Fidei calls this 'the accompanying presence of God' (LF 57). An assurance that arises from the fact that God loves us, that God values us, that God cares for us, and above all, that God counts on us!