WORD 2day: 4th July, 2015

Crooked lines and Straight stories

Saturday, 13th week in Ordinary Time

Gen 27: 1-5, 15-29; Mt 9: 14-17

The first reading today has a story that is so typical of the manipulating exploitative society of today. But the irony is, it is Jacob who cheats who finally receives the blessings and becomes the chosen one in the lineage! This is not the only one of such cases... David episode with Bethsheba, Solomon the weakling...these are truly speaking, crooked lines, but the final outcome is a straight story, a story that can never be told so neatly, with every little thing in its place; no patches, no cloggings, no spillings, no ruins...in God's plan everything is perfect. There can be any number of crooked lines but the outcome is always a straight story! The capacity we need is, to put up with the crooked lines long enough, that we stay strong until the straight stories emerge!

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

My Lord and My God!

Feast of St. Thomas, the Apostle

It is a special grace given that a person is concretely offered a proof for his or her faith. Otherwise faith is a personal experience that is inspired within a person and expressed in daily life. Thomas, the Apostle occasions an event that became a unforgettable experience for even the rest of the apostles, and for the whole original community of believers. Apart from focusing on the fact that Thomas doubted and hesitated to go by others' experience, his awe and total acceptance of the Master is a great inspiration for us. That statement he makes, My Lord and My God, was a such a spiritually matured statement that could not have come merely on the spur of the moment. It is definitely a relationship that Thomas shared with Jesus, a conviction he grew in and a declaration that summarised his faith experience. Thomas excels in taking the belief in Jesus to the next level, as he addresses Jesus for the first time as "God"!

May this holy apostle inspire us to yearn for more and more personal experiences with the person of Christ that we may ever grow in our identity as the children of God.