WORD 2day: 31st March, 2014

RELEARN TO COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS

Behold, I make all things new, declares the Lord. Every day, in spite of the trials and difficulties we are showered with innumerable blessings. If only we are attune to every thing that happens in our life, we will be able to count our blessings, the blessings that make our life every day new. If we start every day with the spirit of the Psalms that remind us: this is the day that the Lord has made, we will rejoice and be glad in it - we would profit by living that day with a grateful heart. A grateful heart is a humble heart; a humble heart is a grateful heart! The more grateful we grow, the more holy we become! The more holy we become, the more we will realise how true it is that the Lord changes our mourning into dance! Let us relearn to count our blessings, and we will live a life that will be a blessing to us, and a blessing to all who are around us!

ஒளிரும் சாட்சியங்களாய்...

தவக்காலம் 2014: நான்காம் ஞாயிறு - 30 மார்ச்சு

LIGHTED TO BE TESTIMONIES

Lenten Project 2014: Sunday #4 - 30th March

"We are children of the Light", the readings remind us today and invite us to live in the light! 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.

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. The darkness within us can surround us so much that we may find so comfortable within it. That was the problem of the pharisees and the scribes: they were so cosy in their own world but Jesus disturbed them! He called them to light, he called them to awake. The Word today, calls us to AWAKE and see the Light, shining on us!

We are called to SEE LIKE GOD. As children of God we are called 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 are commissioned to be testimonies of the Light that shines in the 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. 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.

WORD 2day: 29th March, 2014

RETURN TO THE LORD IN LOVE - the invitation continues!

'It is love that I desire, not sacrifice,' declares the Lord in the first reading today. In fact, love is the best form of sacrifice one can offer the Lord, says Jesus in the Gospel. Speaking of love, we do not refer to a mere sentimental feeling for the other, but a concrete commitment for the good of the other. The concrete commitment is translated in terms of compassion, understanding, not judging, empathising, extending a hand, standing for the other and being ready to lay down one's life for the other! Do we not see exactly the opposite qualities at work today in the world - competition, arrogance, judgements, insensitivity, let downs, conspiracies and ruining others' lives for one's own well being! The choice is ours: lie low in the eyes of the spoiled society and be "blessed" in the eyes of the Lord, or parade oneself before the society but be despicable in the eyes of the Lord! What is our choice? Will we go home justified today?

WORD 2day: 28th March, 2014

RETURN TO THE LORD IN LOVE

"Return" is the message that the readings today give us, as the first reading explicitly begins with. And Jesus in the gospel, states the way to return to the Lord... it is only through love; because "God is love"! Loving God and loving one's neighbours, is no more two different things in Jesus' mind. It is one and the same: to love God is to love others, to love others is the easiest way to loving God. More than that, loving God is a necessity and loving others is it credibility. The most interesting part of today's message, when both the readings taken together, is a short cut to the heart of God. The readings seem almost to suggest that, even if you have a lot of imperfections within you, if you genuinely love, you are closer to the heart of Jesus than the so-called perfect person who lacks compassion and mercy! "Love and do what you will", said St. Augustine, who understood the real heart of Jesus, who declares today, that the person who spoke to him was not far from the Reign, simply because he understood the importance of love, love for God and love for one's neighbours!

WORD 2day: 27th March, 2014

RELEARN THE ART OF LISTENING

Listening is not merely hearing; it is a basic openness of heart, a capacity of the mind to perceive the situation as it is, understand its demands without prejudice and respond to it in sincere commitment. Hardening of the heart leads one to see everywhere and in every person, what one wishes to see, instead of what is really there. The people were so hard hearted that they dared call Jesus, 'possessed' and that too, inspite of seeing all the incredible signs, inspite of listening to those powerful words and wondering from where on earth Jesus had received those words of wisdom, inspite of seeing the dumb speak, the deaf hear, the dead come to life! Our life can become worthy and acceptable to the Lord, only if we RELEARN THE ART OF LISTENING, and remain with an open heart to perceive God, an open mind to understand the Lord's messages and an open Spirit to carryout every one of those directions that God gives us in the core of our being, on a daily basis.

WORD 2day: 26th March, 2014

RELEARN THE REAL SENSE OF LAW

Law is a simplified code to live one's life to the full. But if law were to hinder one from living one's life or hinder someone else from living his or her life to the full, it is a clear sign that the real sense of law is lost! In the name of being forward thinking we cannot in anyway throw away the norms and laws that guarantee a meaningful personal and social life. Infact, each of us has this law embedded in our hearts, as the responsorial psalm reminds us; and our responsibility is to recognise, realise, RELEARN and respect the meaning, the role and the real sense of law in our hearts towards living our daily life in fulfillment of God's unique plan for each of us.  

Plan, Project and Proclamation

Solemnity of Annunciation: 25th March, 2014

God's salvific plan is an eternal design in God's endless love for us, the children of God. The feast of Annunciation is beautiful reminder of how every little thing that happens fits into the wonderful design of God. Inspite of the undeserving nature of persons as depicted by Ahaz episode in the first reading, inspite of the impossibility of conditions as expressed by Mary in the Gospel scene, inspite of the improbability of human calculations as evinced by the example of the aged Elizabeth, God's plan of salvation works, and works for the good of those who love God (cf. Phil 8:28). That which makes it possible is the willingness to carry out God's will. St. Paul affirms in his letter to the Romans, as one man's disobedience brought death into this world, so does one man's submission to God's will bring salvation to the entire human race! (Cf. Rom 5:19) Mary, is presented today as the type, the model, for human cooperation! We see in Mary's 'yes', the human version of the obedience of the Word Incarnate: "Behold, I come to do your will". She brings much more closer and makes it more compelling on us, to listen to God's word, treasure in our hearts and carry it out to the details, to be persons totally dedicated to live the will of God on a daily basis. In God's eternal plan, there is a project made for each of us and every time we cooperate with the plan of God, we proclaim in our own way the majesty of God's love for humanity, as does Mary today in her fiat.

WORD 2day: 24th March, 2014

RETURN TO THE CHILD IN YOU

All that Naaman had between him and his cure, was his ego! All that the people had between them and accepting Jesus as the Christ was the same ego and its senseless stubbornness. All that we have today between us and our inner joy, is our ego and its hardheadedness. When Naaman cleared himself of his ego and plunged into the humble waters of Jordan, the first reading says, "his flesh became again like the flesh of a little child and he was clean." Jesus invites us precisely to this: to RETURN TO THE CHILD IN US; 'unless you become like little children, you cannot enter the Reign of God', is Jesus' stand (cf. Mt 18:3). When we are capable of undoing the ego and train our hearts to thirst for God, as the responsorial psalm reminds us, we will inherit the Reign of God.   

தாகத்தோடு வாழ...

மூன்றாம் ஞாயிறு...23 மார்ச்சு

LEARNING TO LIVE WITH THIRST

Lenten Project 2014: Sunday #3 - 23rd March

Life is beautiful, no doubt; but it never lacks its share of problems, difficulties, confusions, traps and temptations. The beauty lies precisely in the manner in which a person lives these moments more than the happier ones. Anyone claiming to be a person of faith, has to manifest a level of maturity that shows him or her capable of living with a constant thirst. The liturgy today invites us to reflect on this aspect of one's faith life - learning to live with thirst. 

Life has its own patches of dryness and no one's life is an exception to it. The dryness is more severe in some, when compared to the others. What matters is not actually how much more or how much less, but how a person handles with one's own share of dryness. Handling aridity in life is a faith-skill. We see the people of Israel in their driest patch of their history - the sojourn in the desert. They are brought forth from slavery across the Red Sea, with great and mighty signs and wonders. But once in the desert, they complain for every little thing lacking patience to the core. They long for the onions and garlic of Egypt, they long for the flesh and meat they once had in plenty, they fret that they are without a drop of water! It is easy to laugh at them or judge their impatience, but we will do well before that to think of ourselves and our lives. Issues in the family, the employment issues, the financial crisis, the relationship issues, sickness, misunderstanding... as soon as a problem begins in our lives don't we begin to complain too? The Lord teaches us - to TURN TO THE ROCK, when struggling to handle aridity in life. Dying without water, the people get water from the least expected source... in the dry parched desert and worse still, a dry boulder of a rock in that desert. If we turn to the Lord, our Rock... we will see solutions to our problems, clarity to our confusions, help in our difficulties, from the least expected quarters. Let us turn to the Rock.

The second reading instructs us how to comport ourselves while feeling the thirst. When in the thick of a problem or in the eye of the storm, where do we fix our gaze? On the problem: that will only magnify the problem. On ourselves: that will only make us more and more depressed in self pity. Instead the reading invites us to fix our gaze on Christ, on the Lord who, even while we were undeserving sinners, was ready to lay down his life for us. Such is the love of God for us and should we fret when we are in a crisis? We are invited to RETURN TO THE SPRING, to the saving grace that loves without measure, the love that has been "poured" into our hearts from that Spring. 

In the Gospel, Jesus speaks of a thirst with which we should all live! It is not the thirst for a material good, a thirst for a interim peace, a thirst for a breath of relief but a Thirst for eternal life, a Thirst for perennial peace, a Thirst for fullness of life - a life-giving Thirst. He offers to give us the living water, the spring "gushing up to eternal life" (Jn 4:14). "All who are thirsty, come to me and drink" he declared elsewhere (Jn 7:37). We are called to live with that thirst, constantly longing for God. Like that deer that yearns for running streams, like the parched land that longs for rain, our soul should thirst for God, teaches the psalm (42). Let us thirst for God, let us thirst for a deeper and deeper relationship with God. let us thirst for the Spirit, let us thirst for the fruits of the Spirit, let us thirst for a life that is united with God, let us thirst for a life that is filled with God. Let nothing disturb us...let nothing separate us from God...hardships or distress or persecution or famine or perils or sword, not even death; let nothing separate us from God. Let these days of lent help us RELEARN TO LIVE IN GOD. 

WORD 2day: 22nd March, 2014

RETURN TO THE FATHER'S HEART

Faithfulness of God to God's people is expressed in God's boundless mercy. The first reading explains how it has always been so in history; and in the Gospel, Jesus presents this fact with a parable which  pictures the Father's heart with an incredible clarity: a heart that is forgiving, welcoming, compassionate, merciful, kind, unconditionally loving and absolutely faithful. When recently I shared this with a group of youngsters, one of them asked - 'but why should God forgive me and why should God be so merciful?' The answer was so simple, 'because "God is Love" (1 Jn 4:8)'. It is not merely that God loves, but the fact is, God is Love! God is madly in love with us... and that immense love is greater than any of my sin, it is greater than any force that blocks me from getting closer to God. All that I need to do is to decide like that son, "I will rise and go to my Father!"; all that I need to do today, is decide to RETURN to the Father's mercy; avail of the bountiful gift of forgiveness at the sacrament of reconciliation and be drenched in the mercy that flows from the Father's heart.

WORD 2day: 21st March, 2014

RETURN TO GOD'S WILL

A common phrase we come across in the two readings of today is, "Come let us kill him". The world today is no different - there are people who are prepared to even kill the other, for the sake of achieving their ends: be it killing them literally, or character assassination or killing the dreams of the other, killing the prospects of the other... it is a clear demonstration of obstinacy of one's personal will. However intricately we plan and however clinically we execute it, we are bound to have a restlessness in our hearts that will overtake us at some point or other in life. We will experience true peace and serenity in our hearts, when and only when, we are able to surrender our lives and all its aspects into the hands of God, and live according to God's will, bearing the fruits expected of us and bearing witness to the unconditional love of God! Return to God's will and you will rediscover the true meaning of life in God. 

WORD 2day: 20th March, 2014

RELEARN RIGHT PRIORITIES

Religious Commitment is not merely about rites, rituals, performances and practices! Christian faith is primarily about priorities. Life and all that it involves is a gift from God, and it makes meaning only as long as it is lived with that perspective clear and strong. At times the values that the times teach us, the priorities that the society promotes, makes us look at riches, comforts, social status, economic security, personal attachments as things that matter most. Taken well, these can bring us to realise, understand and cherish the giftedness involved. But taken amiss, they can confuse our priorities, as it happens with the rich man in today's parable. Jeremiah invites us to live a life as trees planted by the course of a river, to grow and flourish in grace and giftedness; and the way is to Relearn Right Priorities. Let God be the first priority in our life and we will surely be transported to the bosom of Abraham.

The Call to Serve...

Ordinations to Diaconate : 18th March, 2014

Today I had the grace of being part of the ceremony of the ordination of 9 deacons, held at Don Bosco Shrine, Ayanavaram, Chennai. It was a reminder of my call to serve, as the 9 of them were ordained deacons by Rt. Rev. Dr. Sounderraju Periyanayagan DD SDB, in a eucharistic celebration concelebrated by over 80 priests and laity of a packed church. Not to be served but to serve, said the theme that ran through the liturgy which was ably animated by the staff of Don Bosco, Kavarapettai and the hosting parish. My prayer was just this - that these words do not become just a fad or a cliche, but that I begin really to mean them. The self emptying of the Trinity, the example of the saints beginning with our Blessed Mother and the demands of the Salesian Constitution - these are the points of focus that posed a challenge to me, to renew my commitment to the Lord and the call that i have received, not to be served but to serve!

19th March, 2014 : Solemnity of St. Joseph

RETURN TO THE PROMISES

The feast of St. Joseph usually comes during the season of lent. The Church makes an exception to acknowledge the unique role played by the person of Joseph, within the salvation plan! Though an exception in the grade of celebration, as we break off from the violet and the sobriety of the lent and break into golden vestments and a solemnity in the liturgy, we can still stick to the scheme of our lenten project: St. Joseph is a reminder to RETURN to the promises!

Joseph is a personality who resembles more the patriarchs of the Old Testament...like Abraham, or Jacob, or Joseph. He stands for the promises of the Lord that are fulfilled to details, in God's own time. The first reading and the second invite us to reflect on the theme of promise and the Gospel presents to us the life of a person who was certain that the Lord is faithful to the promises he makes. Imitating St. Joseph, when troubles come our way, when we are hard up for solutions in difficult times, when we find ourselves before choices to make for the family, for the well being of those who love us and our beloveds, let us RETURN to the promises of the Lord. Standing on the promises of the Lord, we can live our daily life with serenity, inspite of the uncertainties that surround. May St. Joseph inspire us!

WORD 2day: 18th March, 2014

RELEARN INTEGRITY

"Do what they tell you but do not do what they do" - how would I feel if someone said this of me! My deeds have to speak the words of faith, and my faith has to be demonstrated by congruent and consistent deeds. Orthodoxy and Orthopraxis are two things that cannot be separated one from the other. Humility, Mercy, Forgiveness, Compassion and True Love...if these do not describe my person, I am no Christian! The more I grow in these, the more I grow to be a Christian. Often we pose a question: but what do I gain from these apart from the problems and disadvantage that I get into? Not for any gain or not for any advantage, but not to lose the integrity of my person that I need to grow in these. Sans integrity, life as a Christian will be a farce! The integrity that Jesus had, gave him the authority to stand up and speak, be it in the sanhedrin or before the Roman Governor. If my Christian life has to have meaning, I need absolutely to relearn integrity.

WORD 2day: 17th March, 2014

RELEARN THE MEANING OF BEING GOOD

Lent is not merely a moment of some rigorous self control but it is essentially a moment of enhancing our goodness, the goodness that lies deep within us because we are made in the image and likeness of God. We are not called just to return to the dust from which we supposedly came, but we are invited to become one with the eternal living God - the eternal life promised by God, through Christ the Son and Saviour. In being good or doing good, it is possible that we are guided by reasons like - expecting a good return or not to incur the wrath of justice or in return for a good received or in view of presenting a picture of good self to the others! However, the most Christian of all disposition is to be good, because it is my vocation; to do good because it is my essential nature! Being good, merciful and holy because the Lord who has made me, is good merciful and holy - that is the real meaning of being good!

LEARNING FROM TRANSFIGURATION

Lenten Project 2014: Sunday #2 - 16th March

We are invited to meditate on one of the marvelous incidents in the life of Jesus and his disciples - the Transfiguration. Peter, James and John were the three privileged ones to be there at this spectacle. But was it only a spectacle...what purpose does it serve within the whole picture of Christ's life and mission? That would be an interesting question to ask, as  it comes very close to the end of Jesus' public mission. More interesting fact is that the Church invites us to this reflection during the season of lent...a season when we are intensely thinking of the sufferings of the Lord. 

For Jesus, the suffering did not start merely at the moment of the arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane! It was there right through...there were moments when the people rejected him, wanted to throw him from the cliff, despised him saying they knew him too well, endlessly asked for signs and wonders as if he were some street charlatan, failed miserably to understand him! Jesus would have been anxious too about how his ministry was really going on! Jesus felt the special call from the One who sent him, to stand up and to voice the call of the Lord to the people! And when he set off to understand that call and realise it in life...he was faced with a myriad of problems. Might be that Jesus himself needed that wonderful assurance from God as a preparation for what lay in store for the coming days...the passion and death that awaited him. Secondly, it could have served as a trailer for the disciples who were in for a great trial within a few days. And the Church wants us to learn exactly these for our own life of faith too.

The Glory of the Lord is always present within us. All that Jesus had to do was to merely go by himself up the mount. The Glory of the Lord is ever present within us and all that we need to do is to make time to be by ourselves. Amidst the din of daily life and trying responsibilities, we may not manage to really be by ourselves. Even our prayer moments could be so filled with thoughts and preoccupations that we fill them so much with words, figures and plans which take away the space that we could share alone with God, who wants to speak to us! Being by ourselves... is an important spiritual exercise that we need to do every day... call it meditation or contemplation or merely prayer or retreat or recollection or whatever. It is when we are by ourselves that we can really turn to that glory of the Lord which resides within us.

Understanding the Glory sends us back to the daily life. Experiencing the glory of the Lord is not to get stuck there, reminds us Jesus. Peter's spontaneous response is usually what we wish in life - when we experience the Lord's presence close to us, may be at a miraculous happening, or a mysterious turn of events, or a joyful coincidence. But in fact it is merely a preparation for a moment that is trying, for a moment when difficult things happen, for a moment which cannot be explained in normal logic, for a moment when we need an extraordinary strength to remain faithful. The transfiguration of Jesus would have been running through Peter's mind all the time during the moments of darkness - the death of Jesus, the crisis of faith and the hidden life in the upper room. That is why he writes in his letter about this event (2 Pet 1: 17-18). Peter wanted to remain in that glory when he saw but Jesus reminds him to return to his daily life! Spending time with God, is not to remain there in that sanctuary, rapt in glory and praise, but it is to return to our daily life and live it more meaningfully; it is to take that experience into the daily life and make meaning out of it.

The Glory of the Lord sheds new light to our days. The experience on the mount could have strengthened Jesus to walk with assurance towards Jerusalem. The experience of the disciples would have given them a new insight into who Jesus was. In a life filled with normal commitments and extraordinary sufferings, the experience of God's glory can clarify and illumine our path, preparing us to live them with newer meaning and fresher strength. St. Paul reminds us of that in the second reading today, asking us to derive strength from the Lord to bear our share of hardships. Every Eucharist we celebrate is a transfiguration event, and it is an invitation to relearn to live our life with increased meaning and commitment. Should we remain the same after a Eucharistic Celebration, either we have not been by ourselves on that mount or we have been blind to that resplendent glory. The voice resounds at every Eucharist: This is my beloved Son,...Listen to Him." If we manage to gaze at the glory of the Lord and listen to the voice of the Lord, our life will be transformed and transfigured.

To turn to the glory that resides within us, to return strengthened to live our life with increased commitment and to relearn the real meaning of the life of faith: that is the project that today's word presents to us. Let us intensify our Lenten Journey and may the Spirit inspire us ahead.

WORD 2day: 15th March, 2014

RELEARN LAW AS LOVE

The first reading presents to us Moses the law giver and the covenant that he mediated between God and the people of Israel. In a parallel sense, the Gospel presents Jesus the New law giver and the covenant that he mediates between God and us. The figure of Jesus as the new law giver is not in despite of the old law, but an invitation to perfection, a perfection that involves an endless journey of transcendence right upto realising within us the image and likeness of our Creator. In fact it is a process of becoming conscious of our identity as children of God, an identity that makes us never satisfied of the perfection we have reached at any point of time - because the perfection of God is the goal that is presented to us by Jesus. That is a life time task, a task that invites us to keep walking, to keep learning, not just to keep the law and fulfill its requirements but to keep loving persons without measure, like God who loves us so unconditionally. It is an invitation to relearn law and spell it as LOVE.

WORD 2day: 14th March, 2014

RELEARN RIGHTEOUSNESS

Every social institution teaches one how to be good and how to act acceptable to the rest of the society, within a context. Religion is the easiest and most efficacious means of enforcement in this regard. Jesus today makes a difference between a simplistic understanding of religion and a profound sense of faith: faith as a personal response of a person to God, requires a perfection of a greater quality. It is not merely a life that is concerned about keeping the law, but it is all about going beyond it - in being sensitive to the feelings of the other, staying attentive to the needs of the other, and reaching out to the other in a self-giving love! Whole life cannot be spent on avoiding the evil, we are called to grow in goodness, personify goodness and spread goodness wherever we are. Jesus invites us to relearn what it means to be righteous; to surpass the righteousness of the world and set standards that are really worthy of the children of God.

WORD 2day: 13th March, 2014

TURN TO THE STRENGTH 

Queen Esther's episode in the Bible is a typical theme of faith. The Bible is full of such crucial situations - Moses before Pharaoh, David before Goliath or David before Saul, Elijah before the whole band of prophets of baal, Jeremiah before his own people who wanted to kill him... they were all situations like that in which we find Esther today! The simple orphan girl become queen, taking over the corrupt powers of Persia for the sake of the oppressed Jewish people. In all these situations the message is the same, as Jesus points it out in the Gospel: when you think of the good of the others and not your selfish ends, when you are intent on doing to good to the suffering, the oppressed, the needy and the downtrodden, when you want to stand by God and God's people, you will be faced with hurdles heavy and high. But turn to your strength which lies just a cry away, turn to your strength which is there ever present for you to take note of... turn to God and stand firm in faith; for the battle belongs to God (1 Sam 17:47).

God Bless Pope Francis

Its one year since this miracle began...
everyone keeps speaking of the miracle ever since...
the miracle of the person of the simple and loving Pope!
God Bless Pope Francis, as he completes one year of his Papacy...

Leaving Rome for Home!!!

400th Post in the Blog...

WORD 2day: 12th March 2014

RETURN TO RIGHT LIVING

'The sign of Jonah' - what really does Jesus mean by that? Is it merely a reference to the fact that Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days? According to Luke, No. The Gospel and the first reading taken together makes the message clear. And of all times, at the present times, the message seems so perfectly applicable! The world is going in a direction so bizarre and in a pace so reckless; everything seems acceptable and basics seem crammed up. Respect for persons, dignity of life, value of truth, sensitivity to the other, sense of self-donation - these seem to be totally alien to the world today. But the final word, however, is not hopelessness: that is the message! Listening to the call of Jesus, if we stop, think, and return to right living as the people of Nineveh did at Jonah's words - it will surely become a better world to live in. But are we ready? There is no alternative. If we really do not want to ruin the world and our existence further, we have no other go but RETURN to Right living.

WORd 2day: 11th March, 2014

TURN YOUR HEARTS TO GOD: that is Prayer!

Prayer is not about well-worded phrases and decorated utterances, it is about turning one's heart to God. The Word today teaches us how our prayer should be, drawing inspiration from the very Word of God and its nature. The prayer that we make should rise from the heart, it should be a self-communication that brings us close to God! When it happens every word we use will have its effect; the words will not be empty phrases but concrete commitments to the Lord and our relationship with God.  Jesus teaches a model in the 'Our Father' - glorifying God's name, desiring God's Reign, submitting to God's will: aren't they concrete commitments? Let not our prayer me empty phrases and legalistic performances, but total surrender and concrete commitment to the Lord. In simple terms, prayer is a constant and daily effort to turn away from things that distract and turning our hearts to God.

WORD 2day: 10th March, 2014

RELEARN YOUR BASICS

Law and Holiness had a very intimate connection for the Jews. For them, a strict observance of the law meant a sure way to holiness. As time went by, they began to identify the law and holiness, forgetting what lay in between... the relationships that the laws were meant to ensure! Laws were given to enhance the relationship between the people and their God and among people with each other as a community. And that is exactly what Jesus stresses on: the relationships! As St. John questions, how can anyone who does not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, love God whom they have not seen? (cf. 1Jn 4:20). Jesus places this as an absolute condition - the correlation between faith and love; when they combine there is hope; if not, the very fundamentals are under question. Let us relearn our basics this lent - let us begin within our family; let us love each other genuinely and that will be the best starting point to grow in holiness!

GROWING THROUGH TEMPTATIONS

Lenten Project 2014: Sunday #1 - 9th March.

Temptation is a daily experience, sometimes consciously lived through and some other times unconsciously. However much we try to, we cannot live a life without temptations - that would even make life uneventful and our commitment less challenging. Big, small, mighty, risky, simple, profound, drastic... temptations can vary in their dimensions and gravity but the fact is, they are there! The readings today invite us to look at these moments of temptation as Spiritual moments, moments out of which we can grow, moments through which we can deepen our faith experience and refound our footing in our journey towards spiritual perfection. Be ye perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect!

Temptation ...is a moment of CRISIS. Crisis, is probably the word that is heard the most today. World economic crisis, the political crisis in parts of Eastern Europe, Africa and the Middle east, the ethical crisis, the faith crisis and so on. Crisis is simply the experience of a drastic reduction of something that has to be. Lack of money, lack of political stability, lack of ethical certainty, lack of adherence to faith... at the ground of it all there is a fundamental lack - the lack of meaning, the lack of sense of worth, the lack of real fulfillment in life. The Gospel today gives us a beautiful insight into this situation of crisis, the moment of temptation. 'At that time Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil'...the insight is this: The Spirit of the Lord is present with us, as ever, even at the moment when we feel tempted! That is a tremendous insight. When we go through a moment of crisis, a moment of difficulty, a moment of tendency to sin, a moment of pressure to give up, we think we are all alone. No! We are not alone. The Spirit of the Lord is with us, ever present beside us. All that we need to do, is to TURN TO THE SPIRIT at those crucial moments, as did Jesus in the Gospel today. And the Spirit will give us the strength to fight and overcome those temptations unscathed. 

Temptation ...is a moment of CHOICE. Every crisis requires a categorical choice to be made. When Eve was faced with that situation standing in front of the tree, she had to make a choice - to be God's or to be like gods! And Adam, when he was faced with a situation, in front of Eve, he had to make a choice to conform or to challenge, to compromise or to stand firm! Jesus makes that choice... not to make himself a king or like god, but to belong to God always and remain the loving son of God; not to conform to the power seeking, pleasure-mad world order but to challenge it and to stand firm in his identity as the son of God. All that we need to do, is RETURN TO OUR ORIGINS... As the first reading of today says, we have the breath of God within us; we are sons and daughters of a God who has loved us into existence. I remember the counsel the Director of Novices, when we were novices, used to give us: when you are faced with moments of crisis in your religious life, think of the first moments when you felt called by God. That is a wise counsel, and the Word today gives us the same. When you are faced with a difficulty, a lack of meaning, return to your origins... the moments when you felt loved by God, called by god, chosen by God and commissioned to live this life... and the life will become meaningful with all its ingredients - sadness and joy, love and suffering, loneliness and celebration.

Temptation ...is a moment of CLARITY. If we go through the moments of crisis and difficulty with the help of the Spirit, with the assistance of the Word of God and with the counsel of the persons of God, when we come out of it we experience a clarity that has not been there before. It is not merely the calm that comes after the storm, but a step further in one's maturity, a state deeper in one's self understanding, as the person relearns the basics through the experience. St. Paul affirms this, in the Second reading as he reminds us of the 'abundance of grace' and the 'gift of justification' that comes from Jesus Christ! In and through the moments of temptation, if lived with the help of the Spirit, we RELEARN TO LOVE GOD ABOVE ALL, as Jesus exemplifies. More than the needs of food and drink, more than proving himself powerful to the world and more than having the dominion of the world, Jesus chose God, chose to remain faithful to God, chose to love, serve and worship God and God alone! The lesson is clear to us: Give God the central place in our lives, the prime place in our lives, come what may. 

Let us live our lives in the presence of the Spirit and live every moment. specially the moments of difficulty and crisis, inspired by the Spirit, strengthened by the Word of God and nourished by the Sacraments. During our moments of temptation, let us turn to the Spirit, and the Spirit will remind us to return to our Origins and we will relearn to love God above all. A clean heart create for me O God, and a steadfast spirit renew within me! Amen.

WORD 2day: 8th March, 2014

RETURN TO YOUR ORIGINAL GLORY

Note the terms that appear today in the readings: Remove, Renew, Repair, Restore, and finally Repent! It is a clarion call to RETURN to our original glory, the glory of the children of God. The Lord invites us to return to the wholeness, with which the Lord created us. The image and likeness of God, the fullness of life and happiness that the Lord is, the glory and the brilliance that reside in God, the love and forgiveness that mark the nature of God - this is what we are called to return to. Cold wars and coups, cross border terrorism and international crisis, the luxurious spoils of the first world and the empty crying stomachs of the unfortunate sections of the globe... the disparities and the disdain - they arise from the fact that we have lost our original innocence and glory. A prophetic invitation today is to return to that glory of oneness, of unity, of brotherhood and sisterhood, of love, of mutual concern and of true peace. Let us return to our original glory, the glory of the Children of God. 

WORD 2day: 7th March, 2014

TURN TO INTEGRITY

What you do matters, of course. But why you do it and how you do it matters more. What you do receives its true value from who you are as a person and it is not the other way about! 

The prayers said, the rites performed, the sacrifices undertaken, the vows made and fulfilled, the practices kept up - all these will have their value, depending on the quality of daily life, types of ordinary choices and the respectful interpersonal relationships that one has in life. What a scandal it is to have a wide gaping space between one's beliefs and one's practices, between one's religious practice and one's personal relationships, between one's religious convictions and moral values. The readings today invite us to turn to integrity - to preach what we believe and to live what we preach; to stand up for what we believe and to live personally what we stand up for. Integrity gives one the authority that comes from Truth, in a way, it comes from God! Real godly persons are those who live a life of integrity says the liturgy today, urging us to turn to integrity.

WORD 2day: 6th March, 2014

TURN TO LIFE

Life and Death : both are present right in front of us! 

The choice is ours. Let us beware, choosing to live may not always be a choice for Life; neither does choosing to die for a cause mean a choice for death! In the name of a happy life, a comfortable life or a prosperous life the world today runs after false guarantees: Money, Pleasure, Power, Domination, Ego and Social Status... and the result - promiscuity, exploitation, loss of self and human dignity, lack of respect for life... in short, a CULTURE OF DEATH. That is what the world is battling against today. Instead if we choose love, sacrifice, mutual respect, empowerment of the other, wishing the good of the other, universal brotherhood and sisterhood in the One God who has created us all - it would cost a lot personally - but it would be definitely a TURN TO LIFE. Let us not tread the beaten path towards the culture of death, but resolve to turn to life, in every way, every day.

LENTEN PROJECT 2014

With wishes for a HAPPY LENT...

Holy Father Pope Francis has given in his message for Lent 2014 a beautiful project for us to trace...

The Holy Father's message when read with an eye to grasp what he wants to impress on us, can thrust forward these three imperatives, as a project for us during these weeks of Lent.

TURN

First imperative is to turn to the Grace of God. However much we try with our own human efforts we cannot really attain the heights of a child of God. It is the work of Grace. And that is why the holy father selects the verse from the letter to the Corinthians which reminds us that the Son of God became like us to make us like him, sons and daughters of God! When we turn to Grace and surrender our lives, we are sure to make strides that would make us happy and the Lord, proud!

RETURN

The second imperative is to return, to return to the Lord no matter how far we have strayed. Some of our wrong choices, unbalanced priorities and miscalculations could have led us astray, inspite of our good will to remain with the Lord. The call is to Start Afresh! Those lines of the hymn, they always fill my heart with hope and my eyes with tears: 

Let me start again, 

pick the pieces of my brokenness, 

fill the spaces in my emptiness, 

let me start again... Let me start with you Lord!

The Holy Father quotes L. Bloy saying, 'the only real regret lies in not being a saint' and concludes - the only one real kind of poverty is not living as children of God and brothers and sisters of Christ. 

RELEARN

The third and the most proactive imperative is, to relearn what it means to be a christian, what it means to live as a child of God! It is not too difficult...for our original nature is that! We have only to relearn, and how do we relearn - we learn by doing! Yes, begin with a life of Witness says the Holy Father. To create a counter culture in this world which abounds in persons who live in material, moral and spiritual destitution - that is the call, that is the Witness we are challenged to live. Let us begin today!

To turn, to return and to relearn - that is the project that the Holy Father presents to us this Lent. 

We shall keep this project in mind all these days, as the Word inspires us everyday to consciously choose a life of constant conversion and daily faithfulness. 

Wish you all a HAPPY LENT...and wonderful experience of the Grace and Mercy of the Lord!

Read the entire message of Pope Francis here: Lenten Message 2014

WORD 2day: 4th March, 2014

The choice to be Holy!

From yesterday's call to remain within the parameters of the Reign, follows today's call to remain holy! Holiness is not merely an act, but an attitude; it is not doing a few things in a manner that is holy, but living our life, every moment of it, in a manner that is Godly. We are called to be holy because the one who has called us is Holy, reminds St. Peter today, resounding the call given in the book of Leviticus. When we decide for ourselves and choose to embark upon a sincere journey of holiness, Jesus promises us beautiful things - things that make us secure, persons who love and admire us, protection of God almighty that would guide us - but along with this, persecution... and ofcourse eternal life, of which we partake already by virtue of our Baptism! Hence, the choice is ours: to choose God, remain in God and persevere through all trials or to give up, choose the desires of ignorance (1st reading), and lose our original identity and dignity of the children of God! Salvation is not some magical act that the Lord performs for us, but it is our 'growing into heaven'. It is our daily maturity, by our constant faith, persistent hope and unfailing love. 

WORD 2day: 3rd March, 2014

Reign of God: Entering or Remaining?

How hard it is for one to enter the Reign of God, wonders Jesus in the Gospel today! It is very true: once we are out of it, it is so hard to enter it! But the goodnews is that we form part of it; we are called and made members of it - it does not matter we merit it or not! This is exactly what St. Peter explains in his letter today. We are called in our faith, made co-heirs with Christ, given new birth to a living hope! We belong to the Lord and we are heirs to the Lord's Reign; infact we are the protagonists of the Reign on earth, here and now. But what can restore its saltiness, when the salt loses it saltiness? What can make it a light, if its flame is quenched! The challenge we face is to remain forever the members of the Reign that we are; the co-heirs that we are; the children of God that we are called to be. It is not so much about entering the Reign of God that we should be concerned but remaining forever within its parameters, that is remaining for ever the agents of the Reign of God in and through our daily life!