WORD 2day: 15th September, 2014

Remembering the Mother of Sorrows

1 Cor 11:17-26, 33; Lk 2: 33-35 or Jn 19: 25-27

A heart pierced with an arrow is a famous symbol today, a symbol very romantic. But there was a heart that was once told: one day a sword shall pierce you! And that heart remained patient and bore that piercing for the sake of that one "yes" that was pronounced at the beginning of the string of those events. The Mother of Sorrows is an icon that challenges us to understand the meaning of Christian living. As St. Paul would say, 'the reign of God is not a matter of food and drink, enjoyment and fun, a romantic feeling or a colourful happening'. It is a matter of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (cf. Rom 14:17). Righteousness, requires a hunger and thirst for it (cf Mt 5:6); Peace and Joy in the Holy Spirit consist of doing the will of the God, come what may. 

Following immediately the Exaltation of the Cross, the feast of today, establishes the truth that, in living a Christian life, there are a certain things clearly difficult and demanding. It requires an absolute choice to live a truly 'Christian' life  to the full. Mary made that choice and stuck to it right up to the end and that is what we celebrate today. She has shown us what it means to be a disciple of Christ, the Lord of the Cross! May our Blessed Mother, strengthen our spirits, increase our endurance and deepen our faith. 

Look up to the Lord and be Loved

14th September 2014: Exaltation of the Cross

Num 21: 4b-9; Phil 2: 6-11; Jn 3:13-17

We have today a beautiful remembrance, the celebration of the Christian symbol of Love: the Cross. The Cross is taken more often than not, as a symbol of suffering! Yes, it was a symbol of suffering, until the loving Lord took it into his embrace, on his shoulders and climbed on it to give his life for us...all this out of the limitless love he had for us! He changed its meaning and ever since, the cross has come to symbolise love, the unconditional, limitless and boundless love that the Lord has for us.

Hence the feast that we celebrated today gives us a fundamental lesson for living our daily life: Look Up to the Lord and Be Loved!

Look Up: 

At times we are lost in the troubles that we have, in the daily struggles and everyday chores; so lost in those that we have time only to murmur, to lament and to complain. We do not have the patience and the capacity to look up! Look Up, look beyond, look upon high and you will see the horizon that will give you hope. Our troubles are big, our concerns are challenging, but the horizon is there, the silver lining is there...we have to look up to notice that. Hope is the key to Christian way of life. 

Look to the Lord:

Let us look to the Lord; it is from the Lord that our help comes! The Psalms further insist: Look upto Him and be radiant (34:5). 'Looking Up' alone is not enough, we can be deceived or distracted or misled. Looking to the Lord is the key to Christian Problem Solving. Unless through the Son of God who has come down from heaven, no one can go to the Father who is in heaven, says the Gospel today. The real solutions to our problems lie in the hands of God: it is in looking to the Lord that we will have life, life in all its fullness. It is a call to refrain from telling the Lord that our problems are big; but a call to tell our problems that our Lord is big and mighty!

Be Loved:

The Lord is filled with love, a total self emptying love that does not count the cost! God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that we have eternal life. The Son so loved the world that he gave everything up, and showed his love in the total self-giving on the Cross. We are promised a measure of love that no human mind can comprehend, because it is eternal and limitless. Such is God's love for us, but nothing can be done if I keep myself away from it. When I claim that love, in total obedience and surrender unto the Lord, I feel loved! When I rebel and keep myself away, I prevent myself from experiencing that love which is so present all around me. The key is allowing myself to be loved by God, seeing myself as being loved by God, identifying myself as the beloved child of God. 

As we exalt the Cross today, as we sing praises to the One who is lifted high for our salvation, let us resolve to Look Up, to Look to Him and to Let ourselves be loved!