WORD 2day: 20th September, 2014

Sowing, Growing and what is in between

Remembering Martyr St. Andrew and companions: I Cor 15: 35-37, 42-49; Lk 8: 4-15 

The readings today speak of sowing and growing, and what goes on in between these - dying and being reborn! In the context of celebrating martyr St. Andrew and companions , or any martyr for that matter, the aspects of dying to ourselves and being reborn in Christ is a criterion for Christian living (cf. Rom 6). Many of us who claim to be followers, disciples and apostles of Christ, still refuse to die to certain tendencies and elements within our self, which militate against the Spirit who wants to dwell within us, for we are called to be the temples of the Holy Spirit (cf. 1 Cor 3:16, 6:19).

Of course there are situations that are against our becoming totally the dwelling place of God: like the parched land or the scorching heat or the choking thorns. That is everyone's experience and cannot be ever a valid reason for our personal lack of commitment to belong to God and for our lagging in efforts to grow closer to God. God has sown, God has called us and chosen us and appointed us each, in our life and in our own context. What matters now is our personal commitment, perseverance and loving decision to belong and to grow into the image and likeness of the One who has caused us and called us! 

WORD 2day: 19th September, 2014

The Resurrection Community

I Cor 15: 12-20; Lk 8:1-3

The Readings today point to an identity that is so fundamental to a follower of Christ. First of all the effects that Christ has on his followers is the Resurrection effect: that is a life filled with hope! If Christ were not raised from the dead, our faith would be in vain - declares St. Paul today. We are filled with a hope so great that nothing, not even death can take away the meaning of our life. Secondly, we find today Jesus amidst the first community that he himself had initiated - the Twelve, and some women! That is another Resurrection effect - the fruit of rising above all the pettiness of the world, discarding the divisions, despising the differences of gender or geography, and becoming one community, one people! 'We are all baptised into the one Spirit - Jews or Greeks, free or slaves, we are all filled with the same Spirit', St. Paul would instruct ( cf. 1 Cor 12:13). Today, let us look at our faith community: is it one body? is it united in the Risen Lord? Is it "following" the Lord? Does it have the "mind" of Christ? Are we really Resurrection Community?