WORD 2day: 1st May, 2014

Work - the likeness of divinity within humanity

Gen 1:26-2:3; Mt 13:54-58.

May day, for a Christian holds much more than mere glorification of work. This is because of the very nature of God that sanctifies this essential aspect of human existence. The first reading underlines the fact that the work of creation is an essential image of God and goes on to imply that it form part of humanity, which holds the likeness and image God. 

That St. Joseph, the working hand and leader of the Holy Family, is not merely an imagination but a practical possibility and the Church today capitalises on this possibility to draw inspiration from a saint who reminds us of this essential element of our human existence.

Work is a participation in the Creative initiative of God. Work can never be a slavery; it can never be carried out solely for an external gain or out of external pressure. Today, let us promise to respect the dignity of labour and look at our opportunity to contribute through work as a personal participation in the image and likeness of God.

WORD 2day: 30th April, 2014

Conformity or Conflict? Conviction or Convenience?

Acts 5:17-26; Jn 3:16-21

For everyone who does wicked things hates the light; whoever lives the truth comes to the light! 

The world contains four categories of people in relation to right things. The first category are those who do the right, the second category are those who assist those who do the right, the third are those who hinder anyone doing the right and the worst are those who are involved in doing the evil! We find all the four categories referred to in the readings today. 

The first call to us is to analyse our choices, our preferences and our priorities and see sincerely to which of these four categories we would belong. The second lesson for us is that while we strive to be people of the light and do the right, we can come across persons of all the four categories. What would our reaction be? Conformity? or Conflict? or Conviction? or Convenience? What would guide our response in situations such as these?