WORD 2day: 31st October, 2014

Busy about our Father's business?

Phil 1: 1-11; Lk 14: 1-6

Jesus went about doing good! Doing good was his way of being the Son of God. This work that he started nobody could stop, because his Father was leading it towards its completion! The so-called religious heads or the oppressive political heads nor the discouraging responses of the people - nothing deterred him; because he was not doing his work. "My food is to do the will of the One who sent me!" Infact, the very things that the people wrongly understood as holy and sacred were posed in opposition to the goodness that Jesus wanted to spread. A very timely lesson for those of us who are passionate about doing something for God, and find that we are not able to... because of whatever reasons it may be... if it is God who has initiated it in us, God will bring it to its completion. Let us not fret! Let us be busy about Our Father's business.

WORD 2day: 30th October, 2014

Being a Christian today: is it simple?

Eph 6:10-20; Lk 13: 31-35

Our struggle is not with flesh and blood but with principalities, with the powers, with the world rulers of this present darkness, with the evil spirits in the heavens (Eph 6:12). Yes, our life is a struggle! Yes, we are the Militant Church...the church that is fighting its way through, towards the eternal life, the sure crown that is promised. The Triumphant Church, who are the saints who have gone before us, is our shining model and an inspiring example.The message that the latter gives us, and the clear tone of the Word today, is that of Lk 12:4 - Do not fear those who can kill your body, but can do nothing to your soul! And Jesus lives that teaching in the Gospel today: 'Go tell that fox'...meaning Herod...'that I will be here today, tomorrow and the third day!'.

Jesus feared no one, because he was certain that God was with him. St. Paul today gives us a whole armour to put on; every kind of protection against every kind of danger. The Lord is our stronghold, the Lord is our refuge; whom should we fear? All that we need to do is stand firm in faith. Let us not deceive ourselves saying, being a Christian today is simple or natural; it is not! Neither shall we lose hope saying, we cannot! Jesus teaches us by his example today the technique of a Christian fight: Keep alert, stand firm in your faith, be courageous, be strong! (1 Cor 16:13). 

Remembering Blessed Michael Rua

The first successor of Don Bosco...29th October, 2014

Just to list a few things 
that are significant about Don Rua...

1. He was a strict man but was a fitting successor of Don Bosco with his true love for persons!

2. He was the one who sent first Salesians to India, in 1906.

3. He was Don Bosco's boy, grew and took the reins from Don Bosco!

WORD 2day: 29th October, 2014

To be saved...any shortcuts?

Eph 6: 1-9; Lk 13: 22-30

Will only  few be saved? Who will be saved and who will not be? Will so and so be saved? These are questions we hear more often than not. Jesus not even once when he was asked, answered these questions direct. He always gave an explanation that made them think more and think of something else! Once he said the parable of the camel and the eye of the needle and another time he explained to them that it is possible with God, and impossible with merely human effort. However today, he says there are no categories of people who would enter, neither are there selected races who would enter! Anyone can enter and everyone is invited to enter the Reign of God, provided they had the right disposition and the right life style!

St. Paul in the first reading explains what this disposition or life style has to be. It is nothing but living our life wherever we are, in a manner that is pleasing to God. It is easy to blame the others or the situation for a life lived below the standard that is expected of us and the Lord today challenges us to 'strive to go through the narrow door'...that is the door that leads to the Reign! In Paul's words, we are called to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling (Phil 2:!2); it is not about fretting and fidgeting but about being diligent and dedicated in whatever we are called to be, wherever we are! 

Remembering Sts. Simon and Jude

28th October, 2014

Today we celebrate the feast of St.Simon and Jude... 

Simon was called the Zealot; it is the lesson that he has to give us all: we as the militant   church should always fight the battle for the will of God to be done and the Reign of God be established here and now.                                                       

Jude, called Thaddeaus in two of the four Gospels, is the considered the hope of those who are on the verge of giving up in life. The message is clear: there is nothing that is beyond God.

May our call to be apostles, sent by God, be filled with the same zeal and the unswerving faithfulness of these saints!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

WORD 2day: 27th October, 2014

Be compassionate because...

Eph 4: 32- 5: 8; Lk 13:  10-17.

'Children of Light', that is how St.Paul addresses us in the first reading today. Tbe reading also paints a clear picture of what it means to be children of God...it means to be kind, compassionate, forgiving, filled with love... in short being like God, simply because we are children of God. Love and compassion have to be the defining characteristics of our personality. Nothing can stop us from being compassionate... no difficulty should hinder us from being compassionate... no rule or regulation, no tradition or custom, no practice or policy can stop us from being compassionate; because it should become our very nature  as we are children of the Compassionate Father and Mother, God who has loved each of us into existence. 

It's Love allover again!!!

30th Sunday in Ordinary Time: 26th October, 2014

Exo 22:20-26; 1 Thes 1: 5c-10; 22: 34-40

"What is the central theme of the readings this Sunday?" asked a friend of mine. And when I replied, "it is about loving God and loving your neighbour", instinctively he sighed: 'oh the same love allover again!' Some times we might sound totally redundant speaking of love. In fact the fact is, in Jesus' message, Love is the sole dominant theme, and everything else is only a footnote to it.

Love spoken of in today's Word, as ever, is not a mere sentiment or a feeling! It is a choice, a concrete choice for good. It is a serious matter of the HEAD. It is a decision made, a rationale adopted, a perspective that affects all other decisions and choices in life. The ultimate good is God, hence love is basically a choice for God! Loving God with all my heart, with all my soul, with all my strength, is the basis of this choice for good. I choose good, because I choose God. How foolishly contradicting it would be to say I choose to love God and therefore I kill or harm my brothers and sisters! Is the choice really coherent? Is the choice really rational? Is the choice really good or Godly? Choosing God, is choosing the absolute good; it is choosing life not death; it is choosing the other not the self, that leads us to the second dimension.

Love is a choice for the other, a matter of the HEART. It is only through the heart can we place the other before us, because it is only through the heart can we hear the unsaid sorrows of the other; it is only through the heart we can see the unseen pains of the souls; it is only through the heart we can touch the unexplored depths of a person! Love has to be a concrete choice for the other, specially the afflicted, suffering 'Other', who cries out from the agony of the everyday life. Can we open the eyes of our heart; can we sharpen the ears of our heart; can we extend the hands of our heart... yes...

Love is a matter of the HANDS... it is a choice to act, to act on behalf of the needy. Love cannot remain a mere sentiment, it has to be translated into concrete decisions and transforming acts, on behalf of the needy. The first reading lists the widows, the orphan, the children, the poor, the needy... that is a broad indication of a whole lot of persons who are close to the heart of God: the exploited, the enslaved, the maltreated, the manipulated, the oppressed... It has to be active, affecting the life of the person who claims to love and transforming the life of the one who is  loved!

Love is the crux and the essence of Christ's message and it will never be redundant. Specially seeing the world that is growing increasingly selfish and menacingly might-oriented, love will ever be wanting and if you and I do not offer it abundantly wherever we are, it would be a serious deficiency of God in the world today!

WORD 2day: 25th October, 2014

Let us Grow Up!

Eph 4: 7-16; Lk 13: 1-9

The first reading today will lend itself so well for an interdenominational war and a catholics-protestants feud, one calling the other a human trickery and deceptive scheming. Let us grow up dear friends! St. Paul challenges us to grow into the full stature of Christ and that is nothing but love. Let us grow in love, love for God, love for each other, a patient acceptance of each other and loving fellowship of brothers and sisters. 

How long would we go on calling each other names and breaking the Body of Christ into non negotiable bits and pieces? If we go on like this, Jesus says that twice in the Gospel today: 'you will all perish!' It's high time we realise our call to grow up and bear fruit. God has given us enough and more chances. Let us equip ourselves, not with offences and defences, but with arms of love and feet of generosity. Let us prune our ego and till our arid hearts. Let us sow seeds of love and reap the fruit of brotherhood and sisterhood. Love is our identity and nothing else is: by this they will know that you are my disciples, by the love that you have for one another (Jn 13:35). There can be no worse scandal than a divided Church and of course, there can be no better proclamation of the Gospel than a loving and united community of faithful, who live together as brothers and sisters, one in the Lord and in the Spirit!

WORD 2day: 24th October, 2014

Oneness of Vision: Integrity

Eph 4: 1-6; Lk 12: 54-59

Recently discussing their problem with a couple, we could see no way out of the problem no matter how much we tried making sense of what was happening. Finally I had to tell them, 'we can arouse a person who is sleeping, but not the one who pretends to sleep!' It is true: for most of the problems today, it is not that we do not have a solution, but we do not want to arrive at it. 

Jesus give his piece of mind to the pharisees and scribes, because he finds in them the hypocrisy of not choosing things that were so obviously towards the right. Its like a group of people, here in our context, in spite of knowing that their leader was at fault, were making a hue and cry about the leader's conviction. The problems in the world are due to the lack of oneness of vision that afflicts us...each one with a selfish agenda, or groups with unfounded prejudices, classes with insensitive urge for advancement, persons with inhuman tendencies of manipulation and exploitation...these are persons who could not care less about the golden rule. They have a set of rules for themselves and a completely different one for others. These are people filled with discrepancies and disparities, and will be the least likely to enter the Reign of God. Are we in any chance among those in that list?

WORD 2day: 23rd October, 2014

Reasons to BE GOOD

Eph 3: 14-21; Lk 12: 49-53

Speaking to a group of families yesterday, on our call to be light to the world, I remarked, "People are afraid to be good these days!" Fear of manipulation, exploitation and being taken for granted are so live and real that we hesitate to be good and hold on to what is good. The Word today gives us three reasons why we cannot afford to be afraid of being good:

1. Because we take on our heredity from none less than the Almighty Lord: The Lord is our banner; the Lord is our identity, it is from the Lord we take our name, as a family of God. How can we be other than good?

2. Because the Love of God is poured into our hearts: A love whose measure, we can never comprehend to the full  - the length and breadth and depth and height of it so immense that we cannot but be concerned about being worthy of that love; which entails that we are good in our very being!

3. Because we have a Vocation to be a Community of Counter Culture: Jesus commissions us to be the People of the Reign, which is to be a people of counter culture, proposing a culture that is opposed to the culture of social sin, the culture of injustice and exploitation, the culture of imbalanced growth and inhuman development, a culture of total human insensitivity. When we intend to be such a community of counter culture, the rest of the world may turn against us. Jesus makes it clear today: if you choose me, choose be absolutely!

WORD 2day: 22nd October, 2014

Lite it up! Live it up!

Eph 3: 2-12; Lk 12:39-48

God has given us a special identity, observes St. Paul... the identity of the people of God, that of the people of light! We are brought to light! It does not stop with that but we are called to take that light to all. We are made stewards of that light and it is both a privilege and a pressing duty that we carry this light far and wide. Carrying this light, or bringing people to the light would take shades of various kinds: the best of those is to let my light shine!

Letting my light shine, is an obligation I have, because no one lights the lamp and puts it under the bushel. A light is rather kept on the lampstand that it may give light to all who enter the home.  Being the light, shining as light or bringing the light to the world would mean, to become aware of the great privilege of being known as ambassadors of the Gospel and of our duty to announce the Gospel. In short, the call we have is to live it up! On a daily basis to understand the dignity of being called God's people and to live up to that dignity.

The message goes well and coincides with the festival of lights celebrated all over India today: to lite it up! to live it up!

Lord, let my little light shine!

WORD 2day: 21st October, 2014

The Fear of Examinations?!?

Eph 2:12-22; Lk 12: 35-38

All of us have had, or have still, a fear of examinations! And the usual remedy proposed by teachers is, learn your subjects on a daily basis, revise your classes everyday and when the exams come you will be better prepared. The point is, examinations are not something for which we need to prepare, they are just an end of a process of learning. At times when we do not have the right study attitudes, the exams become a separate entity and a great hurdle to be crossed and not merely a formality to be undergone. Now, that was not for a Study-skill session...but to bring out the crux of today's message.

The Word reminds us how the Lord has chosen us and given us an identity that is entirely a grace: the identity of being the people of God, of being the offsprings of God, of being God's beloved children. When we are conscious of that identity, on a daily basis and conduct our affairs accordingly, we would not need to prepare, or be afraid of, or fret about what is called the judgment moment! Every choice that we make is a judgement we bring on ourselves... whether it is monitored or not; when I know that I am a child of God, that I am a son or daughter of God and I live, believe and behave worthy of that identity, why should I fear? It is like the Master who was asked as he was having his cup of tea, 'what would you do, if the world ends this moment?' The Master said: "I would continue having my tea."

WORD 2day: 20th October, 2014

Living the tomorrows at the cost of today

Eph 2:1-10; Lk 12: 13-21

The message from the Word today follows from that of yesterday. We belong to God, who has made us God's people in spite of our human tendencies and wordly inclinations. We are raised up to the status of sharing the new life that the Risen Lord offers, sheerly because of the boundless mercy of God. The life that we have is a gift, a gratuitous gift that the Lord gives us to live! Yes, life is to be lived, lived to the full knowing well that it has been given free, absolutely free.

The tendency today is to fend so much for the tomorrow that today is totally sacrificed. People are so busy photographing the present moment for memory, that they fail to live the present in its entirety. There is so much of worries about the future that we infact are all the time living our tomorrows at the cost of today. Life is given to us to live, and not to worry. If only we are convinced that we belong to God, our worries about tomorrow will be mellowed down, to allow us live our present to the full. If today we are called to render an account of our life, would we be able to say we have lived it fully?

ME, GOD AND WHAT BELONGS...

29th Sunday in Ordinary Time: 19th October, 2014

Is 45: 1,4-6; 1Thes 1: 1-5; Mt 22: 15-21

The readings today have a theme that is very difficult for the world today to accept. It brings out the absolute sovreignity that God has over reality. The post-modern mind and the new age spirituality clamours for an autonomy that sometimes borders on an absolute independence of the human person and a meaning made in total isolation. The episode of the tower of Babel is a specimen event already in the beginnings of Biblical prehistory. Today we are called to pay attention to three facts:

1. Everything belongs to God

The first reading recalls the role of Persia and the Persian king Cyrus, in the emancipation of Israel. It was possible because Persia was first able to grow into a super power. And the reading from Isaiah points out that even though Persia seemingly has nothing much to do with Yahweh, it was infact the Lord who was preparing Persia in view of emancipating Israel.

The Lord is seen as the Lord of history, and not merely the Lord of Israel. Everything belongs to God and God is in control of everything. At times when things may not be going the way we would want them to, all that we need to do is remain calm believing that God is working out a history. A surrender into the hands of God and a patient wait on the Lord would bring us to an experience that would be absoutely awesome.

2. God belongs to everyone

That Cyrus was raised to power by God comes as a special learning for the people of Israel. They were being challenged on their claim to monopolise Yahweh as their own. God slowly opens them up to the reality that God belongs to everyone. What matters was to have what it takes to be called God's own. The Gospel brings it out subtly in the reflection that Jesus makes on the coin, saying it belongs to Ceasar as it bears Ceasar's image. Hence the condition to belong to God is to have God's image imprinted on our selves.

No one, absolutely no one, can monopolise God and it is not Christian to think of it that way. God cannot belong to a particular group of people. It can be true the other way about, that we belong to God. But to claim that God belongs to a group would be human folly without doubt. Hence, we need to respect every person with genuine search and yearning for God or with an experience of God.

3. Render and don't hold back what belongs to God

All that we have belongs to God. What is that you have, which you have not received? (1 Cor 4:7) asks St.Paul. We are called to render to God all that belongs to God : our talents, our skills, our learning, our abilities... everything we are called to render unto the Lord... that is, unto the cause of the Lord; unto establishing the Reign of God. All that we say, think or do, has to be unto the Reign of God. Thus we will totally belong to God and have the mark of belonging to God: the Holy Spirit.

But for St.Luke...

Remembering the Evangelist St. Luke: 18th October, 2014

2 Tim 4: 10-17b; Lk 10: 1-9

Today we celebrate St. Luke, an evangelist par excellence who has an irreplaceable contribution made to the Scriptures. If it were not for Luke, we would have no Magnificat -the song of praise sung by our Blessed Mother, no Benedictus -the song of praise by Zecharaiah, no song of Anna,no account of John's birth or no account of the Ascension! 

But for St. Luke we would not have met Zachaeus in Jericho, the ten leprosy patients on the way, or the Women disciples who followed Jesus, or the good thief on the Cross or Jesus on the way to Emmaus. But for St. Luke we would have missed the greatest of stories ever told -the Prodigal Son and other inspiring stories of the Good Samaritan, the Rich man and Lazarus and Jesus' walk to Emmaus after resurrection.

There is yet another speciality of Luke, which is his way of making sense of the Reign of God. Though even the other Gospels, be it the synoptics or that of John, they speak of the Reign of God. Luke, in his turn speaks of the Reign of God as being amidst us. "Reign of God is amidst you", says Lk 17:21. The same is recorded in Lk 10:9, which we hear today: "the Reign of God has come near to you". This specific message of Luke invites us to recognise in action our call to be the agents of the Reign of God. It is a call to live our life as the people of the reign thus ushering in the reign of God here on earth. May St. Luke inspire us to get in touch with the Word of God more and more and help us towards making the reign of God felt, present and flourish wherever we are. 

WORD 2day: 17th October, 2014

The Spirit of Courage: Remembering St. Ignatius of Antioch

Eph 1: 11-14; Lk 12: 1-7.

Ignatius of Antioch whom we remember today belongs to the earliest of the Christian communities, right during the Apostolic times. He is said to have been a student of St. John the Apostle. He was the Bishop of Antioch and is a representative icon of the first Christians who were persecuted and killed. The readings of the day bring out the very theme that the memoria too stands for - the Spirit of power and love and self-disciple (cf. 2 Tim 1:7), with which we are sealed. Where does this Spirit of Courage and fearlessness come from? From a life that is lived founded well on true convictions and absolute commitment. Jesus brings it out in radical terms in the Gospel today.

Do not fear, do not be afraid... Jesus repeatedly assures us not to be guided by fear. When we filled with true convictions and not convenient compromises, when we are taken up with absolute commitment to the life task entrusted to us, we will be truthful to God who has created us, chosen us in Christ and commissioned us to be the people of God. That truth will indeed set us free (cf. Jn 8:32). When we live by truth, we will not fear anyone or anything. The martyrs are shining witnesses in this regard and we are called to emulate that fearlessness in our witness too. We will be enabled to do it by the Spirit of Courage, that is poured into our hearts, that which we hold on to as the mark of our belonging to God. 

WORD 2day:16th October, 2014

Before God and God alone...
Eph 1:1-10; Lk 11:47-54

It is not an impossible task to make people think that I am good, virtuous and honourable. That actually is the predominant concern for many and that has proved the root cause for many wrong decisions made and later regretted. We are not called to create images around us and bask in the opinions we construct among others.

The crux of the problem is that we have the responsibility to account for every special blessing that the Lord has showered on us. As St.Paul today points it out, it is between God and me, and public opinions and image creation will not suffice. "To be holy and blameless before God in love"... that is the task given to us and can there be make-believes when it comes to the fact that God Himself is the judge!

5th Centenary of the birth of Teresa of Avila

It's Jesus of Teresa!

15th October, 2014

Today we celebrate the feast of St. Teresa of Avila. It is the 500th year after her birth. The Carmelite family all over the world begin today the fifth birth centenary year. Just reminded of a wonderful episode from St. Teresa's life...Teresa was fond of introducing herself to everyone as Teresa of Jesus. Infact that is another name by which she is known, apart from Teresa of Avila. She loved Jesus as her own spouse; she referred to him as 'beloved' - so romantic a faith. It is said that in one of her visions,when Jesus appeared she asked,"who are you?" And Jesus replied, "I am Jesus of Teresa". Nothing can replace a personal love that we ought to have for Jesus. St. Teresa of Jesus, inspires us to an ardent love for our Saviour. Needless to say, we would be repaid with a love several times deeper and in fact, we love because he loved us first (1Jn 4:19). 

WORD 2day: 14th October, 2014

Integrity matters
Gal 5:1-6; Lk 11: 37-41

Integrity is one virtue that Jesus never compromised on. Dichotomìes and discrepancies between words and actions, between belief and life: they were immediate disqualifiers according to Jesus, in the pursuit of eternal life.

Even a simple life-practice backed up by a strong conviction can become an entry pass to the Reign. Be it the 2 pennies dropped by the widow, or the vial of perfume broken by the 'sinner' woman, the simple prayer made by the thief on the cross beside Jesus... they were reasons enough for them to inherit the Reign of God.

Let us believe in what we pray and practise what we preach or hear preached... lest we become "fools"in the eyes of the Lord.

WORD 2day: 13th October, 2014

Freedom is not free!

Gal 4: 22-24, 26-27, 31 -5:1; Lk 11: 29-32

Freedom, is not an all sweet gift. It was Jean Paul Sartre who made that provocative but profound statement, "we are condemned to be free". Freedom comes with the duty attached. We are free, free to choose and the responsibility of the choice is laid entirely upon us. It would be childish to clamour for freedom but shy away from responsibility. We are free children of God, declares Paul. With that comes the condition that we are to be held responsible for all the choices we make. Just this morning, as I was speaking to a group of youngsters, I raised a query: who decides I should be happy or not? And they refused to answer, with a knotty smile on their faces! Yes, it is our choice, or rather our choices. The free choices we make amount to the consequence we face. 

The Lord grants us the greatest gift of freedom, and leaves us with the responsibility for our choices. That is why, when we choose not to see the presence of God, when we choose not to find the moments of grace, when we choose not to realise the opportunities to do good, when we choose not to identify our brother or sister in the person next to us, we are choosing to rush towards a state that is so sad and so inhuman. We are free children of the promise (cf. Gal 4:22-24); yes we are given the great gift of freedom. But Freedom is not free; we have to pay for it with our personal responsibility!

A FITTING FAITH FOR TODAY

28th Sunday in Ordinary Time: 12th October, 2014

Is 25: 6-10a; Phil 4: 12-14, 19-20; Mt 22:1-14

Faith is the way we live our daily life in relation to God. It would be a dry and futile understanding to look at faith as a set of doctrines or principles to be known, learnt, memorised and repeated on occasions. Faith instead has to affect every day life and every moment of it. Faith, in theological terms, is explained as one's personal response to the self revealing God. But to make it simple we can just understand it as the way we live every moment of our life, within the perspective offered to us by God who created us and has called us to a specific vocation in life.

Today, the readings invite us to a clear understanding of what this faith is all about. The faith that the Lord invites us to, is a specific way of life, a mode of organising our life worthy of our call to be children of God! Here are three adjectives that the readings offer us on a Fitting Faith for today:

Faith is Festive: a life of faith is a call to celebrate. God has set up a feast and invites us to come and celebrate it! God has created us a wonderful world, filled it with persons to love and let us enjoy it all in freedom and cooperation. But what do we do? We choose to see the negative things that are around, we choose to take them in and be filled with them, we choose to have and spread negative feelings, we choose to hate, envy and ruin each other's life; in short we REFUSE TO CELEBRATE. We refuse to attend the feast, that the Lord has prepared! If only we live our life in relation to God, that is, with the perspective of God, we will find out how much we can celebrate. When St. Paul says, he knows to live in want and in plenty, he is not boasting of his capacity to endure; it is more about that mindset which looks at everything from the perspective of God. 

Faith is Focused: a life of faith is a call to fix our eyes on God. Pressures, stress, problems, confusions, struggles, misunderstandings, competitions, disappointments, distractions, temptations, tears, treason...these are experiences that come our way sometime or the other. What would our point of reference be: luck, skills, human efficiency, proving oneself? 'Behold our God to whom we looked to save us', presents Isaiah. God will provide everything declares St. Paul. Our focus has to be on Christ. Look to Him and be radiant says the Psalm (34:5). 

Faith is Firm: a life of faith is a call never to compromise. Today, the culture is such that there is a big confusion whether there is anything that is unacceptable. Every thing seems permissible and every thing seems 'alright', if not 'normal'! There is a justification for everything. It is growing to be a culture of 'what-ifs' and 'why-nots'...but faith provides us with a firm foundation, firm criteria to make our choices. "My friend, how is it that you got in without the wedding garments?"..."My friend how is it that you expect to be with me without making a choice for me?"..."My friend, how is it that you had chosen something, but lived totally another life?"...we have to be prepared to face these questions, if at all we compromise! Our faith is an 'yes' that we say to the Lord, which would involve a number of small yes'es and no's... and any compromise in it will make us unfit for the Feast of the Reign. 

On a daily basis...let us evaluate our life and our choices...are they truly festive? fully focused? and really firm on the way to God? 

Malala: a throbbing inspiration for today's young

The news that the young girl Malala Yousafai shares the Nobel Peace prize with Mr. Kailash Sathyarthi comes as a luminous inspiration to the youth of today. I have been following the news about this girl, ever since she was shot in her head (in 2012); she was then 15. She had shaken even the stern silence of the Talibans who began blaming her that she making her appearances into popularity stunts. The speech that she gave at the UN saying, I am not angry with the Taliban... spoke volumes of her determined state of mind. In spite of all the comments that she is managing it because of the media glare or she has some political motivations and she is well backed up etc., having done their rounds, I cannot but admire this girl and the cause for which she stands.

I am looking at her Indian counterparts...my young friends in India... what are your priorities. At 17...what matters to you? How informed are you? How courageous are you? How criticaly aware are you of the system around you, be it political or social or cultural. How liberating, how transforming, how challenging are your perspectives. And how determined are you to stand by them?

This 17 year old has set you a model. I am not calling you to idolise her...just wondering if your hearts and minds are disturbed by this throbbing precedence!

WORD 2day: 11th October, 2014

Belonging to Christ
Gal 3: 22-29; Lk 11: 27-28

'We are Christians for the past 4 generations'; 'I belong to such and such a  Church or denomination'; 'oh! I am born again' or I am born thrice!!!... nothing of this will make us acceptable or blessed in the eyes of God. Whether Jew or Gentile, male or female, slave or free...it does not matter, says St. Paul in the first reading today. What matters is, that we clothe ourselves in Christ, that we become one in Christ, that WE BELONG TO CHRIST (cf. Gal 3:29).

Belonging to Christ would mean 3 things according to the readings today: having faith in God (inspite of anything that happens or does not happen, like Abraham); hearing the Word attentively (like St. Paul); and observing the directions given by the Lord (like our blessed mother).

WORD 2day: 10th October, 2014.

Daily Faithfulness and Constant Commitment

Gal 3:7-14; Lk 11:15-26

One who is righteous, by faith shall he or she live, says the first reading! Being God's or belonging to God means a life full of daily choices. It is not a change that happens once and remains for ever, but it is a daily faithfulness on our part to remain in the same state of grace. Faith, therefore, is not a set of truths that are proposed or discussed; but it is a personal commitment lived, a relationship that is established, a rapport that is built between me and my God!

Because God loved me so much, Christ stoops down to such an extent to initiate that relationship between me and God... Christ became a curse for my sake, reminds St.Paul. It is not enough that such a relationship is initiated by God, a gratuitous gift given to me. It is essential that I keep that relationship going, on a daily basis, filling my life with God and all that pertains to God. If not, there are myriads of other things that are waiting to take possession of my heart. As St. Peter warns, 'your enemy the devil, is prowling round like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour' (cf. 1 Pet 5:8). The key is: daily faithfulness and constant commitment.

WORD 2day: 9th October, 2014

Supplying the Spirit

Gal 3: 1-5; Lk 11: 5-13

One who supplies the Spirit to you: that is an identity that the Word reveals of God, in both the readings today (Gal 3:5; Lk 11:13). 'To supply the Spirit'...what would that mean? It would mean that we are given the assurance of the continued presence of the Lord perennially. 'The Spirit is the mark of God's ownership on us' (cf Eph 1:13), St. Paul would declare elsewhere. It is God's definition of our identity, our call and the meaning of our life. We are called to be sons and daughters of the Spirit and the Spirit does not leave us even a moment. We are accompanied all through. 

But when doubts assail us, when we fall into temptations, when we lax into lower standards of human living, give into the vile pressures of the evil one and the vices of the distraught world, we are shunning the Spirit of the Lord. Asking, knocking, seeking are acts of faith, they are not acts of some desperate effort to get something by all means. They are acts of faith by which we live our convictions that, even before asking the Lord knows my needs; to knock is to surrender oneself totally, come what may; and to seek is not a call to seek in vain or in all-emptiness but to seek the person who lives within us, who dwell within us, who makes us the dwelling places of God (cf 1 Cor 3:16; 6:19).Once we possess the Spirit, we would need nothing: Seek ye first the Reign of God, and everything will be given unto you.

WORD 2day: 8th October, 2014

Of God's great big family!

Gal 2:1-2, 7-14; Lk 11:1-4

I have heard of a wonderful definition for prayer (most probably from Martin Luther), which says: prayer is not saying lies to God! It is a spot-on definition, because it gives us the crux of it all. In the letter to the Galatians today, St. Paul is narrating that incident when he had to challenge Peter on his integrity: "If you, though a Jew, are living like a gentile and not like a Jew, how can you compel the gentiles to live like Jews?" What does it matter what name you bear or to which denomination you belong or which saint is your patron, when your life does not reflect what you believe in?

If I believe in Jesus Christ, the only Son of God and my Saviour - then every person around me is my brother or my sister! What has to be there between us is merely love and love alone! How can I ever think of hating, fighting, judging, competing, ruining, maligning, envying, calumniating, belittling, trampling, exploiting... how can I do these if I truly believe what I believe! It is a reminder again from Jesus in the Gospel today: Accept God your Father and Mother from on High and live in love, like Children of one family, God's great big family!

WORD 2day: 7th October, 2014

Listening to God: Remembering Our Mother of the Holy Rosary

Gal 1: 13-24; Lk 10: 38-42

The Readings today insist on our need to listen to God. The credit that has to be given to Saul, in his turning into Paul is fundamentally his readiness to listen to God. If he were as stubborn as he always were, he would not have heard the Lord's voice from his horse! He himself reiterates his capacity to listen to God, by narrating his initial journey in the Lord, preparing himself to be an apostle: that was to the major part, an attentive listening to the Lord and to all that the Lord wanted to reveal.  

Mary at Bethany, is yet another icon of listening to God. She knew where the life giving source was: "to whom shall we go Lord, while you have the words of eternal life" were the words of Peter to the Word made flesh. Today we are called to discover the life giving Spirit in the Word that comes across to us on a daily basis. 

Our Blessed mother is the epitome of silent listening, for she kept everything in her heart and pondered, says the Gospel. The practice of the Holy Rosary, is a wonderful lesson that Mary teaches us to listen to God. Yes in praying the rosary, we listen to God speaking, God speaking in and through the sacred mysteries that are contemplated. From annunciation to coronation, we cannot find proofs from the Bible for every one of them, but in silent contemplation, we will come to realise the Divine Plan of salvation unfolding slowly but steadily.

WORD 2day: 6th October, 2014

The Gospel of Christ

Gal 1: 6-12; Lk 10: 25-31

The Gospel of Christ is love: that God loves us and that we are God's when we love each other. Anything other than this is a deviation... division, hatred, selfishness, exploitation, cheating, manipulation, party politics, false propaganda, character assassinations, judgments, prejudices, categorising persons, branding people...anything that is against love, is against the Gospel of Christ. 

At times suffering, cross and sacrifice are presented as typical traits of Christ's gospel. They could be, provided they are taken within the framework of love. It is not suffering in itself: it would become sadistic! It is not cross in isolation:it would still remain a symbol of shame! It is not sacrifice for its own sake: it would lead to unnecessary ego trips! Suffering out of love one has for the other, Cross as an expression of God's love, Sacrifice as a language of genuine love - those are CHRISTian and those are gospels (good news!).

There is no other Gospel than this, says St. Paul today! Anything that teaches anything contrary would be unchristian. Anyone who needs me, becomes my neighbour. Irrespective of whether I need him (or her) or not, I am expected to play the neighbour. Am I really ready to reach out to the other without considerations of whether or not I know him, or whether or not I like her, or whether or not the other has done anything good to me in the past? 

SALVATION BY DEFAULT?

27th Sunday in Ordinary Time: 5th October, 2014

Is 5: 1-7; Phil 4: 6-9; Mt 21:33-43

'Are you saved?' - this is one disturbing question that I have often witnessed on the lips of the non-catholic brethren, specially those of the varied denominations other than the mainline churches. That question, kind of, intrigues me at the same time that it challenges me! Let me explain myself. Salvation: as sons and daughters of Christ, we should be confident of it, because the Lord has saved us by his blood. That is why that question intrigues me! But can I take 'being saved' for granted, that whatever I may do or not do, I will be saved? That is a true challenge that this question inspires, but the answers have to be sincere and genuine; such a sincere and genuine answer will of course lead to transformation, both personal and universal! Though not in its entirety, the point that these denominational brethren try to make is the second. In today's computerised language we can explain it as follows: there is no Salvation by default!

It is true that there is an Auto-save Option at work - Yes, the very fact that we are the chosen children of God we are automatically saved! God has chosen us and named us after Godself, and made us God's own people. As Peter would say "once you were not a people; but now you are God's people" (1 Pet 2:10); we are made "children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ" (Rom 8:17)! This is what we refer to as our Auto-save option, but for auto-saving, something should have been done which could be saved. The Lord had made us the Lord's vineyard, but have we proved to be vineyards or are we merely a plot of useless thistles? What we sow, that we reap; the Lord has sown and looks forward to see vines; is it not justified and mandatory that we put forth our fruits? What is there will be saved...that is the auto-save option! Our efforts to live-up to our calling and our identity is what will define us.

It is also true that there is an Auto-Recovery Option at work - at times we fail, we hang up, we crash, we shut down without warning! But we need not panic. There is auto-recovery option that is on. "For you did not receive a spirit slavery to fallback into fear" (Rom 8:15), and that is why St. Paul advises us, "do not worry about anything" (Phil 4:6)! Everything will be recovered, everything will be brought back, reconciled in Christ our salvation; he is the auto-recovery option that is on (cf. Col 1:20). But if something has to be recovered, it should have been there! Again our efforts to belong to Christ (cf. Col 2:20), our efforts to bear fruit, to make most of the short time we have (cf. Eph 5:15,16)... all these count. 

That is why, though auto-save and auto-recovery are options, salvation is never by default! We have to work it out, on a daily basis! "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling", says St. Paul (Phil 2:24). We are called to live in a situation that is surrounded by all sorts of choices; what choices do we make? A tree will be known by its fruits, it is said; what fruits do we put out? The Church initiates from today till the 19th of this month, a synod of Bishops to discuss on the situation of Families today! The Christian families: what identity do we have, living amidst others? What are those which mark us out as being different, being models, being examples and being witnesses? We are weak, we are limited and we have our shortcomings - no one can deny that. But in spite of these, are we prepared to "overcome evil with good" without being "overcome by evil" that is around? (cf.  Rom 12:21). We need to show it by our efforts and by the fruits, however small, that these efforts produce. We have to be transformed into the image of the one after whom we are fashioned. Salvation is never by defalut; it is by our choices (of what is true, what is honourable, what is just, what is pure and so on), and by our faithfulness to the call that we have received. Let us take stock of our daily living and be transformed into true vineyards of the Lord.

Celebrating St. Francis of Assisi: 4th October, 2014

Francis of Assisi...

An ever-green saint...

not merely because he is linked much with the eco-spirituality

but because right until today, he remains so relevant and current in his challenges.

A saint considered closest to Jesus, in his lifestyle,

A saint who places simplicity of a child much ahead of any virtue,

thus proving the best suited to enter the Reign of God, in Jesus' parameters!

Renunciation, Surrender into the hands of God, 

Proclamation as personal witness... aren't these the need of the hour?

St. Francis of Assisi...pray for us!

WORD 2day: 3rd October, 2014

Grasping the sense of God's plan
Job 38: 1, 12-21, 40: 3-5; Lk 10: 13-16

'From Knowledge to Ignorance' is a famous title of one of the Spiritual thinkers of India. It may sound a bit odd but there is deep truth in the perspective and that is the message of the readings today. We run the risk of getting too used to the great things that God keeps doing for us. At times, due to some setbacks that we could possibly experience, or due to some troublesome moments, we might tend to forget all that has gone by so well.

In the first reading, God challenges the attitude of questioning the eternal designs of God. We lack the Wisdom to understand the plans of God in all its details but with the little that we are capable of, we pretend to be masters of everything! It is important that we realise our limitedness inspite of our great acomplishments, that we acknowledge the wisdom in God's plan inspite of our nothingness. If our eyes are truly open to what is happening around, if our ears  are genuinely open the Words that come from above, if our hearts are absolutely open to the promptings of the Lord, then we would open our lives to the Lord and we grasp the eternal sense in the mind of God.

WORD 2day: 2nd October, 2014

Learning to See - Celebrating the Accompanying God!

Job 19: 21-27;Mt 18: 1-5, 10

Feast of the Guardian Angels is an invitation to see, to see and perceive, to see and acknowledge, to see and experience the accompaniment of the Lord in a concrete manner. Every moment of our lives, we are being watched over and protected in love. We believe in an accompanying God, a God who has promised, never to leave us and to be with us till the end of this world. 

The reading from Job insists that the Lord exists, and has always existed, right beside us! We become aware of it progressively, we begin to believe in it as we experience things that happen around us. We learn to see, to see God present with us unceasingly. The Gospel instructs us against taking anyone for granted; because no one is alone! Every one is accompanied, by none less than our God itself. We celebrate today the accompanying God; may we grow to be more and more perceptive to the presence of God with us and see God accompanying us on our life journey.