PROMISING 2017

What is the Lord promising in 2017?

Celebrating the Mother of God in the New Year

Num 6: 22-27; Gal 4: 4-7; Lk 2:16-21

We celebrate a triple feast today: the birth of a brand new year, Mary - Mother of God and the World day of Peace! On this auspicious day, we have something that the Lord promises us - again a triple promise: Blessing, Grace and Peace, as we listened to in the first reading. 

BLESSING: The Lord promises first of all, Blessings. How do we understand blessing? The antonym is a curse, that is wishing the destruction of someone. Blessing therefore is wishing that something good happens to the other. The Lord wishes that we receive, experience all that is good. Sometimes we may think that the Lord fails to send anything good our way. Blessings abound when waiting is long. Let me share with you a forward that I enjoyed recently on a social network. There was a dog and an elephant which got pregnant together. In 60 days the dog delivered some ten puppies! It got pregnant again and delivered another 10 in 60 days...then again...and after half a dozen such cycles, the dog happened to meet the elephant. The elephant was still go around with the first baby in gestation. The dog laughed at the elephant and asked, "did you check if you are really pregnant? I have already given birth to some sixty kids. Look at you!" The elephant with a solemn smile said, "when I deliver my kid, he would draw everyone's attention. When he crosses the road, everyone will stop in awe. When he stops and turns around humans would run for their life." The longer the wait, the greater the blessing! The Lord has great things in store for us. Let us never get impatient and frustrated. Even amidst the toughest darkness, we need to keep our eyes fixed on the Lord and wait on the Lord with faith! The Lord promises blessing and they will surely come our way!

GRACE: The second promise is Grace. What greater witness than the Mother of God, Mary who was called 'full of grace'. Understanding grace is another task we have today. What is grace? -Is grace a thing? an intention answered? a healing?...No. This is the misunderstanding we have when we speak of more graces and less graces, as if we count or weigh graces on scales. Grace is fundamentally the presence of God with us, the relationship that God establishes with us, the way that God enters our ordinary lives! That is why Mary was full of Grace: she bore the Son of God, the second person of the Trinity, the Word made flesh, God made human in her womb. Mother of God, is what God made her! Theotokos - the bearer of God. In the fullness of time, God sent God's only son, born of a woman, declares St. Paul in the second reading. Why should God send God's Son? It is the way that God fulfilled God's own desire of being with God's people. I will be with you. I will never leave you; I will never forsake you nor forget you, my people! Wasn't that the promise that the Lord had given always?

PEACE: The third promise is Peace. Celebrating as a Church the 50th World Day of Peace, Pope Francis gives us the following theme: Non-Violence: a style of politics for peace. Non Violence is a time tested weapon of global well being. Meeting violence with violence would mean accelerating the destruction of the world and humanity. Just two days ago there was a tensed moment when the US expelled the Russian diplomats alleging that they interfered in the Presidential Elections. The Russian Foreign Ministry wanted to expel the US diplomats in a tit for tat reaction. But wisdom prevailed when the Russian President Putin declared against it. He did not stop with that he invited the American Children in Russia for a Christmas Celebration too! Not a move to extol him and all his policies, but this responsible act of this world leader is a clear sign of non violence, a proactive pursuit of good will. The Holy Father expresses concern over a quasi world war being fought in piecemeal, all over the world today. He says over 50 nations are involved in some form of war! The Prince of Peace is with us - the Son of God who has come into the world, pleading us to love, embrace and grow together towards fullness of life - only peace can do that. The Lord alone can give us that peace!

Blessing, Grace and Peace - that is what the Lord is promising in 2017. Let us claim that promise for ourselves, for our families and for the entire world. 

The Lord BLESS you and keep you;

The Lord make his face shine upon you and be GRACIOUS to you;

The Lord lift his countenance upon you and give you PEACE!

Amen.

WORD 2day: 31st December, 2016

To be Christ amidst Antichrists - the Last days?!

The last day of the year

1 Jn: 2:18-21; Jn 1: 1-18

Do you get a feeling of tearing the last leaf of the calendar, or turning the last date on your diary or opening the last page of a novel...that is very dramatic! But the truth is, life goes on! It is good to end something and start something anew. That should begin from our mindset. 

Today as we look back at 2016, we find so many events and happenings that in a way disturb our minds - the political roller coasters, the economic manipulations, the legal tragedies, the social calamities, the religious inhumanities...all of them pose a big question in our minds : is the end near? Yes, the end is here, for the year; but yet another will be born anew. And nothing will change if our mindsets don't. 

John speaks of the antichrists who have already come - there is no doubt about it. It is no useful task for us to start investigating who is the antichrist that has come. What matters is to believe and to make it true that the Word has become flesh and has come to dwell amidst us. In and through us, the Word has to live on, even amidst the antichrists who are possibly all around us. That is the call: each of us, to be Christ amidst the antichrists in the society. It means a challenge, a personal, social, communitarian, ecclesial challenge for us to make Christ present here and now. That alone will amount to the mindset of the last days, not fear nor recklessness. With discernment and determination let us resolve to be Christs amidst the antichrists today.

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

Family - School of life and love

Celebrating the Holy Family, as a family

Sir 3:2-6,12-14; Mt 2:13-15,19-23

The Holy Family is usually celebrated on the Sunday that falls within the Christmas Octave. This year, since Christmas itself fell on a Sunday, and because the next Sunday would be the Solemnity of the Mother of God, we remember the Holy Family today! That said, let us dwell on the strenna for 2017 from the Rector Major of the Salesians of Don Bosco. There has been a great insistence on the importance of the family from the moment Pope Francis decided to convene two synods, one extraordinary and the other ordinary and his encyclical Amoris Laetetia. Keeping with this spirit, the Rector Major proposes: We are a Family - every home a school of life and love.

Our life is one long learning; the first school is home and the first teachers are parents. Everything that happens is a learning experience, provided we take time and assistance needed to make sense of the events in the right perspective. Life and Love are connected - life begins out of love and only a life that is filled with love makes sense to the person and to the world. Family is the first place and the constant place where this meaning making can happen. Love is born in a family and it is nurtured right there. That is why we can confidently say, family is the first place where a person encounters God; if he or she fails to encounter God there, it is tough to do it elsewhere, be it a church or a basilica! Holy Family today inspires us with the right model - the birth of love into the Holy Family is a symbolic mystery for us to understand, what our families should become.

Finally let us raise a pertinent question: what really makes the Holy Family, holy? Apart from Sanctity and Simplicity, there are three other S's that we can notice, admire and follow from this Family of Nazareth: Spirit-filled personal lives, Selfless relationships, and Silence. These three qualities are essential for any family to grow in its holiness. May the Holy Family assist us and fill our families with love.

WORD 2day - 29th December, 2016

Light and darkness, Love and hatred!

5th day in Christmas Octave

1 Jn 2: 3-11; Lk 2: 22-35

Christmas is not over yet, we are still in the Octave! There is a gradual revelation of the Son who has come into the world - Simeon today identifies the Light that has come into the world: a light of revelation for the gentiles and glory for Israel (Lk 2:32). The light, which makes us see the right facts, the light which helps us understand the real meaning of our life, the light that Christ is, the light that Christ brought into the world - that is LOVE: whoever claims to be in light but hates his brother or sister, is still in darkness (1 Jn 2:9)...they have still not seen the light, the true light, the Christ, the Son!

Light and darkness, Love and hatred...everything is around us today in every situation. What is our choice - to accept the light and to behold the Christ? or to abide by the world and remain in darkness? Light is love, hatred is darkness. Amidst the vast crowd that does not mind being in darkness for reasons known only to them, let our light shine - because we have beheld the Lord, because we have seen Love!

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

Innocents - Massacred even today!

Feast of the Holy Innocents

1 Jn 1:5 -2:2; Mt 2: 13-18

Innocents - those who are unaware of anything wrong, those who are unaware of the evil that surrounds them, those who are untouched by the sinfulness that threatens to swallow them. The feast today is a remembrance of millions of innocents who are sacrificed even today on the altars of selfishness, licentiousness, irresponsibility and insensitivity! The Church remains so strong with regard to abortions, because of the inviolable dignity that life possesses, right from its very beginning. The world is running swift into a dungeon of selfishness and cruelty, which does not even think of the others, leave alone wishing the good of the others. There are persons and systems which work together to exploit the innocent and the ignorant. As a people of God, we need to stand against such systems and uphold the inalienable rights of every child of God. Can we open our eyes to the innocents who are massacred even today!

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

Why Proclaim?

Celebrating St. John the Evangelist - 27th December, 2016

1 Jn 1:1-4; Jn 20: 1a,2-8

Evangelisation has been a commission given to us by the Lord himself - through the disciples and apostles that Jesus had and handed over to us in time. The world today is beset with a terrible problem of religious violence - killing, persecutions, attacks and wars in the name of God! Is evangelisation needed today? Is it so important to proclaim one's God at the cost of life, peace and harmony? Don't you get that question very often in your heart? If you do so, you are one step closer to understanding what evangelisation means.

John today so simply puts it: I write this, that your joy may be complete! He would put the same words into Jesus' mouth(eg. Jn 15:11): I say these things, that your joy may be complete. We are called to share our experience with the world, so that the joy of the world, the joy of each person around us, the joy of the entire humanity be complete. Why proclaim: that the joy that God truly wills be complete! But that requires that those who proclaim, possess that joy and then share it! Called to proclaim, do I possess that joy? Having experienced that joy, do I feel the urge to share it? My joy becomes complete when I share it.

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

Feast of St. Stephen,  the first Martyr

26th December, 2016Acts 6: 8-10,7:54-59; Mt 10:17-22
As I sat to reflect on this day's Word and the Saint...the last year's post captured my eyes after I read it, I decided I shall repost the same!

I was amused when I looked at this picture of St. Stephen when I was looking for something to post... amused because the picture spoke what came to me as a reflection of the readings today.

If anyone read the Gospel of today and complained that they did not understand what exactly it meant, they could be directed to the first reading and that would make an elaborate and concrete explanation with example, of what Jesus says in the Gospel. 

Holding the Book (the Word) and the Stones together, with such serenity in the face and an olive branch in the other hand... portrays Stephen to the detail. Accepting to be a disciple, to belong to the apostolic community and to proclaim Jesus through service (Stephen was a deacon), was a bold acceptance of the consequences that Jesus spoke of already. Stephen seems to have accepted that demand, along with a firm faith in the promise of the Lord : do not search for what to say or what to do...the Spirit will enlighten you as to that! Stephen, enlightened by the Spirit, does exactly what Jesus did on the Cross: prays for those who persecuted him! 

To celebrate the feast of St Stephen immediately after the Christmas day also brings out a sharp message: yesterday was the birth of Christ, today is the birth of Christians...first time some one died to belong to Christ forever.

HE IS BORN !!!

He is Born! Come let us Understand Him!

Christmas Vigil 2016

Is 62: 1-5; Acts 13: 16-17,21-25; Mt 1: 1-25

We are gathered here to celebrate a birthday, a birthday that initiated a new birth to the entire humanity, a birthday of a very special person! We are not here to celebrate the birth of a helpless infant or a chubby child who would be playing with a globe in its hands...It is not just a child who is born today!

We are here to celebrate the birthday of the One of whom Isaiah spoke: for unto us a child is born, a son has been given to us...he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace (Is 9:6) 

If it were a mere child, why should the King be so alarmed? Why should the world fear? Why should the world wonder what is in store? The Kings are in fright because the one who is born is a Prince, the Prince of Peace! It was 1914, this very same day, the Christmas eve, it was a friday, the morning was noisy with bombshells and bullet rounds but the evening came and there was a total silence. The darkness thickened as the silence deepened, with Germans on one side and the British and French on the other. But something strange was happening...something was breaking through that darkness - a small lit candle appeared on the German horizon...what a foolish thing to do in the war front - betraying your location making oneself vulnerable to the guns of the enemy! As the British rose to an alert yet another strange thing happened breaking the silence of the night - a solemn orchestra began a lovely hymn : Stille Nacht, Heil'ge Nacht... It took just a few seconds for that beautiful sound to reach the opposite camp! The British were wonder struck and the guns went down while the voices rose singing the same hymn - the beautiful carol Silent Night, Holy Night. Very soon the French began in their language Douce Nuite, Sainte Nuit...One carol followed the other and more candles appeared. The Germans walked over the fence and the British and the French did the same and soon they were in the No Man's Land shaking their hands, embracing each other, exchanging gifts - strange gifts like their buttons and cigars, pipes and lighters - there was an unofficial, unauthorised and unarranged ceasefire! Not a shot was fired all night...In one of the zones the ceasefire continued for the next one week! The whole battalion had to be reassigned another region inorder that the war be continued in that place. This is called the Great Christmas Truce in history. The next year in many zones on the border they tried to observe this truce and it was not as successful as in 1914. In 1916 there was a strict and deliberate prohibition for the truce! It's 100 years since then...the world is afraid of this prince of peace! If he can bring peace to the warring factions - can he not bring peace to your hearts, to your families, to your relationships...make peace, allow the prince of peace to be born!

If it were a mere child, why were the shepherds notified and why is it that they were given such a prominence in the story? Because the One who is born is a shepherd, true shepherd who is born to die, born to lay down his life for his sheep, the Divine Shepherd! Why should God  be born to die! Why? God could have made one of his prophets die for us - why should he die himself? A friend asked another this question and the argument went long...the friend was not convinced. They went their way. The other friend one day invited the former to an outing and asked him to bring his beloved little son along. The outing consisted of a boating on a lake and in the middle of the water, the friend pushed his comrade's son into the water. Shocked and angry the friend jumped into the water got his son brought him to safety and was about to charge on his friend...he stopped him and asked him, why did you jump? You could have asked me to save your son, or the boatman to save or called for a security personnel...while the man shouted back - because he is my son and I love him more than anything in this world! He concluded - that's the same with God. For God so loved the world that God gave God's only son. For God so loved the world that God decided to come into the world in and through God's son. That is the Shepherd we have -who is not worried about making laws that are merciless and insensitive, who is not worried about establishing his own ego and prove to the world that he is capable of things that no one can imagine, who is not power mongering or money minded... he is a shepherd who is love and compassion, who decides to be born to die. Every one is born to live, there was only one who was born to die and that was God's only son! In his death he brought us life!

If it were a mere child who is born today, why should the world fear this child? Why should everyone look at this Child and the philosophy that this child brings into this world, as a threat? Because the One who is born is a wonderful counselor. If only we heed to His counsel! The world has a counsel, an advice - make sure you get your share and a little more if can be, never less than that. Make sure you get and get, and keep getting without anyone cheating you! Doesn't matter what you do, make sure you succeed, you gain, you stand to win! The Child born today has a different counsel. Have you heard of these two brothers - one was married and had two kids, the other remained single. They had a common farm, their inheritance. And they worked together on the farm producing every year grains in abundance. They shared equally the produce. One night the married brother thought on his bed, 'it is not fair that we share halves. He is single and he needs a future that is secure. After all, I have my family to stand by me if anything happens in case!' So, from that day he would get up in the middle of the night take a sack of grain from his barn and quietly slip it into his brother's barn. The single brother thought to himself one day, 'it is not fair that my brother and I share the produce equally. After all I am single while he has three more people to fend for." And he began to transfer quietly a sack every night into his brother's barn from his own. Both of them on their own, were wondering why after all these nights of transferring sacks of grains there has been no difference...until one mid night they bumped into each other, each one with a sack on his shoulder walking towards the other's barn. They dropped those sacks, embraced each other and cried in love. That is Christmas giving! Can we bump into each other with sacks of what we want to give the other? What a place this world would be if we were to take this counsel seriously: Give! Christmas is giving...that is the Christmas advice - give and give and give. That is the most fundamental form of love.

The One who is born is the Prince of Peace, the Divine Shepherd, the Wonderful Counselor - are you ready to accept that birth? Then, Merry Christmas to you!

THE WORD IN ADVENT - DAY 17

Kingdom Task: Renounce the deceitful tongue

Tuesday, Third week of Advent, 2016

Zep 3:1-2,9-13; Mt 21:28-32

What is so serious about a deceitful tongue? And is it deceitful to say a lie? Why is it regarded so unkingdomly? 

Just go deeper and reflect, why do we say lies? Is it not to win the favour of those around? Winning the favour of human beings works against winning the favour of God and God's kingdom. Let your 'yes' be 'yes' and your 'no' be 'no', anything more than that comes from the evil one, said the Lord (Mt 5:37). Seeking human favour leads to compromises, loss of dignity and loss of identity as children of God. How then can we belong to the Kingdom of God?

THE WORD IN ADVENT- DAY 18

Kingdom Task:  Acknowledge the Doings of the Lord

Wednesday,  Third week in Advent, 2016

Is 45: 6-8,18,21-25; Lk 7:18-23

The question that John asks today... is that you Lord?... has always been there in history.  When there is an untoward happening, we readily attribute it to God  and complain. When some thing good happens we tend to take the credit totally to ourselves and bloat in our ego. The Kingdom will  come only when we are ready to let it come,  only when we as one human community wish to have it amidst us.  As long as we do not acknowledge the goodness of the Lord and the awesome doings of the Lord,  the Kingdom hardly has any chance.

THE WORD IN ADVENT - DAY 16

Kingdom Task: Rely on the Real King

Monday, 3rd week in Advent, 2016

Num 24:2-7,15-17; Mt 21: 23-27

Balaam asserts, affirms and reaffirms on whose authority he speaks; the Jewish leaders and priests ask Jesus on whose authority Jesus does all that he does. Both Balaam and Jesus, we see in the Word today, were fearless. Balaam was faced with a furious whole race and Jesus was faced with a powerful top brass of the society. They make it clear to themselves and to those around, that they rely not on their power, or eloquence, or skill, or talent but they rely on the Lord! An authority that will never be questioned...is the Lord who reigns over all and submitting myself to that Reign and inspiring others to submit to the Reign is the way to establish the Reign of God. It is not Reign that expands by conquest and battles, but by submission and surrender, by a personal choice to absolutely rely on the real King!

THE JOY OF WAITING FOR THE REIGN

11th December, 2016: Third Sunday of Advent

Is 35: 1-6b,10; Jam 5: 7-10; Mt 11: 2-11

An expectant couple, a lover on the park bench, a child on the birthday eve, a starved person on a set table... these are vivid snapshots of the joy of waiting! There is a pain involved, but a pain that is part of the joy. There are myriads of reasons to be disturbed and be restless about, but they are all overwhelmed by the joy that resides beneath. That is the picture that the Church wants us to contemplate this Sunday: the Joy of Waiting, for the Reign. 

This Sunday is called the Gaudete Sunday (Gaudete in latin simply means 'Rejoice')... taking off from the entrance antiphon which invites us to REJOICE, because the salvation of the Lord is near. Note the colour of the vestments today...they are not merely the violet, but purple...to add the necessary element of joy to the waiting! A Christian waiting should be joyful, the liturgy reminds us today.

The whole creation groans as with pangs of childbirth...for a peaceful, prosperous, perfect world. Every religion and every spirituality is a yearning towards that state of existence, called in various names. We believe it to be the Reign of God; "We are seeking God's Kingdom" reminds the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium(180) of Pope Francis. This waiting, this Christian waiting for the Reign of God is a joyful waiting, not a miserable waiting, not a servile waiting. The readings today bring to our attention the marks of this waiting: 

The first mark is the Assurance of Faith. The first reading is full of words like, gladness, joy, exultation, rejoicing, shouting, leaping, singing... all these words are used by Isaiah, when the people of Israel are still in Exile...but they know their liberation is imminent. What fills their hearts and their lives is faith - a joyful and total abandonment into the hands of God, one who creates and directs history. A total assurance that the Lord is for them; the Lord stands in favour of them and the Lord will lead them to the prosperity that they are waiting for. Our life, to be truly Christian, to be truly worthy of the Reign, has to be based firmly on this assurance of faith, that the Lord is with us and the Lord is for us. When God is for us, who can be against us!

The second mark of a joyful waiting is the Aspirations of Hope. The first reading, the responsorial psalm and the Gospel are filled with imageries of the lame walking, the blind seeing, the deaf hearing, the dumb speaking... the aspirations of a heart, the desire for a better world, the yearning for a bright tomorrow, the thirst for justice and truth, these are infallible signs of the Reign. That is what we are invited to hope for, and only that hope will thrust us into action, into doing our little bit, our essential part in making those dreams come true! We need to be filled with that vision, to reach the promised land, each and every one of us hand in hand.

The third mark is Associations of Love. The second reading touches upon a crucial point: yes we wait, but in the meanwhile what do we do? how do we comport ourselves? There are various modes of waiting... angry and restless... anxious and nasty... irritated and tensed... But the joy of waiting for the Reign has to be a wait that is filled with a "prophetic patience", says St. James. An abundance of patience that cherishes every moment that is spent in waiting. A patience that is expressed in our loving rapport with every brother and sister. Our relationships have to express to the world that we are people with a difference, we look for something that not everyone is looking for, that we are people who have our gaze fixed on the Lord and the Lord's Reign that everyone around seems beautiful and precious in our eyes!

We are waiting... we are waiting for the Reign... but the Reign is already here, the wait is to make it more and more visible! Hence, each of us has the responsibility, to make the Reign of God felt, here and now, through living with an abundance of assurance of faith, with limitless aspirations of hope and divine associations of love with each other. The joy of waiting for the Reign, has to radiate that joy to every one, everyday in every way.

THE WORD IN ADVENT - DAY 14

Kingdom Task: Renounce Arrogance

Saturday, 2nd week in Advent, 2016

Sir 48: 1-4,9-11 ;Mt 17: 9a, 10-13

One of our formators at our early stages used to repeat this so often that it can never leave my mind: you can wake up someone who is asleep, not the one who pretends to be so. The question of Elijah comes up and Jesus responds more than a bit like the aforesaid formator. Jesus lays bare the arrogance that the Jews had, which was instrumental in doing away with such numerous prophets. Jesus knew all the while  what awaits him with such stiff necked people. Before we go ahead to blame those people, let us direct the question to ourselves: how prepared are we to receive the revelation from God, even from and especially from the poorest sections of the population. In our arrogance, we would miss the Lord passing by, we would miss the words that can give us new life, we would remain stunted and dwarfed in our spiritual life. Renounce arrogance to receive the Lord!

THE WORD IN ADVENT - DAY 13

Kingdom Task: Realise, you have nothing to prove

Friday, 2nd week in Advent, 2016

Is 48: 17-19; Mt 11: 16-19

The world insists on proving yourself to everyone around and that is where all frustrations arise. We are given with a great gift, that is our life. And every one of us has come into this world with a purpose, however small or big you judge them to be...the Lord however and as always has a new insight into the entire journey. The more we consider people's opinion as leading criteria or directions to decision making, we cease to live our life. The Word instructs today: the vindication shall be from none other than the Lord! All that we need to do is, as St. Paul would suggest in 2 Thes 3:12, just go on quietly doing your work and earning your living. May the grace of God make us see, feel, observe and live for ever in the presence of the Lord who vindicates those who place their trust in Him.

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

Celebrating the Immaculate Conception

8th December, 2016

Gen 3:9-15,20; Eph 1: 3-6, 11-12; Lk 1:26-38

3 Lessons from the Feast of Immaculate Conception of Our Blessed Mother:

- In God there are no Compromises: Mercy of God does not mean compromises. In our normal parlance, God does not make adjustments. God sets things right, expiates and blots of offences in God's mercy but when it comes to being in the presence of the Lord there can be no compromises. I remember in our early seminary days, there used to be a way of saying, going back to Don Bosco's times, that this day Mary will sweep the salesian house. Though we used to poke fun saying we need not do our daily chores, we all understood the point. The purity and integrity of the persons in the house will be put to check by our Blessed Mother - that was the trust. Just to say, this feast is all about an absolute choice for God.

- In God there are no Impossibilities: Giving an unassailable justification a Doctor of the Church would say about Immaculate Conception God could do it and God did it! Keeping a person totally safe from the trace of original sin is purely grace! Mary received this grace for the sake of and by the merits of the Son of God whom she was destined to bear. It was a choice of this person called Mary, as St. Paul puts it, 'before the foundation of the world'.

- In God there are Wonders: God has great wonders in store for us. All that we need to do is give our humble and total assent. How many graces we miss with our stubbornness and selfishness. Though it was grace that kept Mary away from Original Sin, it was Mary's choice of God and God's purposes that kept her pure in her day to day life. That was her 'Yes' to the call of God. 

Mary herself proved the veracity of this truth taught by the Church through the great progress of events. It was in 1850 that the dogma was defined by the Church and Mary made an uneducated, little peasant girl Bernadette use the same words merely four years later - at the series of apparitions in Lourdes in 1858. May our Blessed Mother continue to inspire us to remain pure, joyful and grace filled.

THE WORD IN ADVENT - DAY 11

Kingdom Task: Soar on the Lord's wings

Wednesday, 2nd week in Advent, 2016

Is 40: 25-31; Mt 11: 28-30

Those who hope in the Lord will soar like the eagle,  the Word underlines. Those who seek the Lord in their weariness and helplessness will find the rejuvenating wings of the Lord uplifting their spirits.  The Kingdom is a promise of lifting the spirits is the drooping hearts. Kingdom  task is to take responsibility for those who grapple with life for meaning and purpose.  The Lord stands by those in a special way:  will  you?

THE WORD IN ADVENT- DAY 10

Kingdom Task: Surrender to the Shepherd

Tuesday, 2nd week in Advent, 2016
Is 40:1-11; Mt 18: 12-14

The imagery that is  common to both the readings  today is that of the Shepherd.  The shepherd who is promised by the Lord through Isaiah and the Shepherd who is presented as a model by Jesus.  The promise is  the Shepherd will carry you... I was reminded of that icon we have been seeing for one whole year... the icon of the year of mercy, where  Christ the Shepherd carried Adam on His shoulder. Explaining its significance the Holy Father said, the Shepherd is ready and willing to carry us;  are we willing to allow ourselves to be carried?

The message to Israel through Isaiah and to us  today is the same:  allow yourself to be carried.  From drudgery of life to fullness of life;  from a world of compromises to a world of true convictions; from a culture of death to an experience of resurrection... allow yourself to be carried.  The Shepherd is just round the corner,  get set.

THE WORD IN ADVENT - DAY 10

Kingdom Task: Surrender to the Shepherd

Tuesday, 2nd week in Advent, 2016
Is 40:1-11; Mt 18: 12-14

The imagery that is  common to both the readings  today is that of the Shepherd.  The shepherd who is promised by the Lord through Isaiah and the Shepherd who is presented as a model by Jesus.  The promise is  the Shepherd will carry you... I was reminded of that icon we have been seeing for one whole year... the icon of the year of mercy, where  Christ the Shepherd carried Adam on His shoulder. Explaining its significance the Holy Father said, the Shepherd is ready and willing to carry us;  are we willing to allow ourselves to be carried?

The message to Israel through Isaiah and to us  today is the same:  allow yourself to be carried.  From drudgery of life to fullness of life;  from a world of compromises to a world of true convictions; from a culture of death to an experience of resurrection... allow yourself to be carried.  The Shepherd is just round the corner,  get set.

THE WORD IN ADVENT- DAY 9

Kingdom Task:  Anticipate the Incredible

2nd Monday in Advent, 2016
Is 35:1-10; Lk 5: 17-26

When the Lord comes you witness the incredible!  The Lord is around and when you let the Lord into your life,  things you consider incredible just happen from nowhere.  It's Isaiah's prediction and made true by the event in the Gospel and the reaction of those high priests and scribes.

In our lives too the Lord stands knocking at the door to change things and to change the way we see things... it is upto us to let  the Lord in.  We would let him in when we are able to anticipate the incredible things that are possible and at times not possible too!

THE SPIRIT OF THE REIGN

Righteousness, Peace and Joy in the Holy Spirit

Second Sunday in Advent, 2016
Is 11:1-10; Rom 15:4-9; Mt 3: 1-12

Repent, for the Reign of God is near! A clarion call from the prophets today, to prepare ourselves in a worthy manner to receive the King. This king someone different, some one unique, and has a style and outlook totally different from all other rulers that we know of! He does not force himself on us; when he passes by if we are worthy to receive him, he will enter, remain with us and rule in our hearts, our homes and our land! If not, he passes by, and we are the losers...for the axe is kept at the roots and the worthless shrubs will stand no ground. The readings today instruct us through the great prophets Isaiah and John the Baptist and Apostle Paul, as to our disposition to receive the Reign; they invite us to possess the Spirit of the Reign!

The Spirit of wisdom, understanding, counsel, strength, knowledge, piety and reverence of the Lord - that is the Spirit we should possess to be people of the Reign. The Reign will come, the Ruler will appear, but the question is, you and me: will we be prepared to receive it today! The Reign is not merely plenty and prosperity, it is not merely a state of pleasurable feeling with nothing to worry, at times we imagine so. As St. Paul would define to the Romans, the Reign is Righteousness, Peace and Joy in the Holy Spirit (Rom 14:17); it is this Reign that the prophets announced; it is this Reign that Jesus inaugurated through his life and mission; it is this Reign that we are commissioned to make present in the world today - it is Righteousness, Peace and Joy in the Holy Spirit!

"Bear fruits worthy of Repentace" cries the voice in the desert. Our King is a righteous king, righteousness shall be his girdle says Isaiah. Unless we turn to righteousness, make our paths straight, leave the acts of darkness and live as people of light, going about our daily duties with diligence and dedication. The Spirit of Righteousness, will show us the right way, the right sense and the right direction to take in life.

"Live in harmony with each other" reminds the Apostle. In his days righteousness shall flourish and peace abound, because our King is the Prince of Peace. We are challenged to be peacemakers in our daily life - when so much of competition and corruptions abounds, while people deceive and denounce each other, amidst the political forces that want social unrest and antisocial elements that brood over hurt and harm, we are called to hold together the frail humanity, in peace and serenity, by our thoughts, words and choices all governed by love, the love of God. The Spirit of Peace, will hover over our days, healing the hurts and binding us in forgiveness, to build up the Reign of peace and serenity.

We shall give praise to the Lord among the peoples and Sing to the Lord's name, for the Lord comes to Reign, and we are called to be part of the Reign. Righteousness and Peace fills us with joy, the joy of the Lord, the joy of the Spirit, the joy that comes from an endless hope that the Lord fills us with. It is not merely a situation of having no problems, but a sense of inner strength to face everything with the help of the God of endurance and encouragement. That is the Spirit of the Reign. That is why the Holy Father Pope Francis repeats so often - a Christian can never be sad, a Christian has to be joyful, because inspite of all the problems of our life, we have the Lord with us! The Spirit fills us with joy, a joy that wells from within us, from that core of our being where God dwells.

Righteousness, Peace and Joy in the Holy Spirit - that is the Reign of God... that is the Spirit of the Reign. The Ruler comes...let us make the paths straight, let us imbibe within us the Spirit of the Reign...and we shall welcome the King, we shall inherit the Reign!

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

The Call, the Mission and the Surrender

Celebrating St. Francis Xavier

Jer 1: 4-8; 2 Cor 4: 7-15; Lk 10: 1-16

Today we celebrate a call that was lived to the full, a mission that was accomplished with all the hardships involved, a surrender that was total, absolutely total! Francis Xavier, felt his call quite late in his life, he accepted the mission that was entrusted to him and surrendered to the purposes of the Lord. His surrender was such that he was ready to give up his entire life for the call and the commission. He was just 46 when he died, a short life but an extensive mission accomplished. He chose to surrender to the Lord so late in life but the surrender was so intense that the intensity made up for all the time that was lost. 

He could have excused himself as a young fellow, for when he received the call when he was merely a young ambitious college student. He could have called himself unworthy with all the priorities he had then, as a young fellow at the university. The Lord does not relent, but goes after him because we know today he deserved all the  attention that he was given. He fits in perfectly to the instructions given by Jesus in the Gospel today. 

May Francis Xavier assist us to be faithful to the call we have received, inspire us in our commitment to the mission entrusted to us and challenge us to surrender our entire selves to the Lord's purposes. 

THE WORD IN ADVENT - DAY 6

Kingdom  Task:  Bring Light,  Give Sight

Is 29:17-24; Mt 9: 27-31

The year of Mercy just concluded invited us to a series of activities that are essential for a Christian to involve in ás spiritual and corporal acts of Mercy.  Some of the spiritual acts are to bring the light of knowledge to the ignorant,  give the sight of counsel to the confused.  Yes these are kingdom tasks... the task of making the blind see.  The prophets prophesied,  the Lord did it and invites us to do it. 

 Can we take it upon ourselves to stand by the ignorant and sustain the confused?  The world today might wish to create a section that is ignorant and keep the majority confused-  that is the style of domination and arrogance. The Kingdom instead,  creates a solidarity of mutual respect and complete transparency.  Are we truly agents of the Reign of God? 

THE WORD IN ADVENT - DAY 5

Kingdom Task: Feel the Rock

Is 26:1-6; Mt 7: 21, 24-27

We speak of God as we speak of so many other things in life; we refer to God as we do to so many other persons around; we give God a special place in our lives and leave things at that - do you think we are doing well in all these? The Word today reminds us that the Lord has to be the Rock of our life - the foundation, the stronghold, the ground, the very source and the strength of a meaningful life. 

At times we need to feel the Rock of our life to set ourselves right. We may lose sight of the Rock and take it for granted because it rests there unmoved, underlying our lives and sustaining us as the Acts would say, "we live, move and have our being in Him" (Acts 17:28). If we have to become the people of the Rock, we need to become more and more aware of the Rock holding us even while we tend to go wrong. Only then can we would be mindful that we belong to the Rock and we need to remain with the Rock. So the primary call is, listen to the Lord, experience the Lord's presence, feel the Rock!

THE WORD IN ADVENT - DAY 4

Kingdom Task:  See the Lord

Celebrating Apostle St. Andrew

Rom 10: 9-18 ;Mt 4: 18-22

Come follow me,  he said and they did.  Andrew and Peter,  James and John,  they saw the Lord in that person who called them.  The Lord calls us today - to follow him closely... can we see the Lord coming in search of us.

We are lost in our daily duties,  family concerns,  debt issues,  social crisis and personal plans.  But the Lord comes:  can you leave these and come with me,  to live a life after my purposes.  Can you see the Lord calling you today?

THE WORD IN ADVENT - DAY 3

Kingdom Task: See beyond what you see

Is 11:1-10; Lk 10:21-24

If the Lion has to eat hay with the ox, it has to see beyond the ox as its prey; if the cow has to be neighbours with the bear, it has to see beyond the bear as a threatening beast; If we have to see the Lord amidst us today, we have to see beyond what we apparently see: Look at our brothers and sisters and see people who seek our love; look at the poor around us and see the hearts that yearn for warmth; look at those who may be in disagreement with us and see people who may be right or who may need to be affirmed.

The task is to see beyond and that is a challenge! Waiting for the Lord does not mean we wait doing nothing, we wait with our eyes wide open to see things which we have not seen thus far, to see those aspects of our brothers and sisters that will allow us to perceive the Lord.

THE WORD IN ADVENT - DAY 2

Kingdom Task: See God's Glory

Is 4: 2-6; Mt 8:5-11

Waiting for the Lord is not merely a passive waiting; it is seeing God's glory manifest in everything that surrounds us, seeing God's glory in the persons and events around manifested with such radiance. 

Seeing God's glory is a spiritual task, a task that is preceded by a disposition that is favourable. The Coming of the Lord is not merely a job of the Lord; we need to be awake to experience, express and share this wonderful fact of the Lord's nearness.

RETURN to the REIGN of God

First Sunday of Advent 2016

Is 2: 1-5; Rom 13:11-14a; Mt 24:37-44

Let us begin with wishing each other a blessed New liturgical year! And right at the outset the Lord invites us today, to RETURN to the REIGN of God. The Church is the sign and the sacrament of the Reign of God. We are the Church, the people of God! Therefore we are expected to be the signs, the bearers, the heralds of the Reign of God today to the world. And how can this happen if we are not people of the Reign, if we are not mindful of ushering in the Reign of God here on earth, or making the Reign felt concretely, if we do not really believe in what Christ said: 'The Reign of God is amidst you!' (Lk 17:21) Hence, the invitation today, to return to the Reign is basically a wake up call, to wake up to the reality, to wake up to our real identity, to wake up to our dignity as the People of the Reign and to live up to that identity on a daily basis.

It is an invitation to CLIMB the mountain of the Lord... yes, to walk in the way of the Lord, to walk in the light of the Lord...as the first reading repeats in different words. It is fundamentally an invitiation to climb, to go up, infact to grow up. We are invited to go up, grow up, above our tendencies of conflict and our feelings of rivalry and jealousy, above our petty considerations of ourselves and self centered striving for pleasure. It is a call to transcend what is popularly considered to be 'desirable' and reach the thinking worthy of the Reign - where swords can turn into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks; where all manipulation and exploitation will give into genuine love and sincere goodwill for the other.

It is an invitation to CONDUCT ourselves worthy of the Reign. Put on the Lord Jesus Christ, invites us St. Paul. And in doing it, let's not wait for an opportune moment... for "now is the acceptable time, now is the time of salvation!" (2 Cor 6:2). Waiting for another moment will be a mistake, a blunder, a foolishness on our part. Let us make the choice, a choice for God, a choice for the light, a choice for the good, a choice to be awake, a choice to be the people of the Reign. Let us not blame the world, the society, the times... the choice is ours, and let us make it now - To accept the invitation of the Lord and "walk in the light of the Lord"(Is 2:5). We will find the joy that the Lord can give, the joy that the Light can shed, the joy that cannot be taken away from us, and in that joy we will find the Reign of God amidst us!

It is an invitation to CELEBRATE the Reign of God amidst us, not waiting to reach the end but celebrating it all the way. Advent is not a preparation towards a celebration, it is a celebration in itself, a celebration of the peace, the prosperity, the security and the salvation that the Lord brings us. The Reign of God becomes a reality when we celebrate our love and joy together as brothers and sisters in the Lord. This is the meaning of the phrase, All the way to heaven is heaven! As we pray in the responsorial psalm, we are walking, walking towards the Reign, but all through the way we are called to celebrate the Reign of God..celebrate the love we share, celebrate the equality we have, celebrate the justice we stand for, celebrate the brotherhood and sisterhood that we work to establish forever - that celebration is returning to the Reign!

As we begin the year, and the wonderful season of Advent, let us pay heed to the invitation from the Lord - to Climb the mountain of the Lord, to Conduct ourselves worthy of the Reign and in that joy, to Celebrate the Reign of God, every day in our relationships in our family, in our communities, in our parish, in our localities and wherever we are. May the joy of the Gospel, the joy of the Reign, fill our hearts all through this new year. 

WORD 2day: 26th November, 2016

Alarming but Life-giving!

Saturday, 34th week in Ordinary Time

Rev 22: 1-7;  Lk 21: 34-36

We are on the last day of the liturgical year, from tomorrow we begin a whole new cycle. Last day, last days, last chance and last moments...these are words with a bit of alarm inbuilt. Jesus does shake us up a little, warning of things that will happen in the last days. Alarming yes, but at the same time life giving says the Word today. 

If we are prepared, holding on to the Lord and living in perfect communion with the Lord, then we need not be alarmed, we can remain firm with our heads high, we can rest assured whatever time it be, our experience will only be life giving. When there are, or there have been, compromises in our way of life and our choices, then the alarm is natural and eventual. With a filial love in the Lord, let us continue to live our daily life worthy of our Lord and we shall encounter Him with love not fear. 

Remembering Ven. Mamma Margaret

25th November, 2016 -
160th Anniversary of the death of Mamma Margaret, the Mother of Don Bosco.

This day is traditionally set apart to pray for the deceased parents of salesians. 

This year this practice makes an all new difference to me...

For all the deceased parents of Salesians and those in the Salesian Family...

Eternal Rest grant unto them O Lord; 

May the Perpetual Light shine upon them. 

May they rest in peace - Amen

WORD 2day: 25th November, 2016

Heaven, Earth and the Word

Friday,34th week in Ordinary Time

Rev. 20: 1-4,11- 21:2

We have heard the usage in english, 'he moved earth and heaven to achieve something'. Moving heaven and earth is symbolically used as doing even what is impossible. Heaven and earth become a kind of immovable reference points naturally. Physics, Kinetics, Geography, History ...all of these subjects and others take heaven and earth as reference points to make possible an explanation for their theories and principles. Today the Lord says, these are not truly the unchanging reference points, they cannot be. 

The true reference point for our life, for our actions, for our choices has to be the Word. For those who hear the Word, keep it in their heart and live by it will find a place in that New Heaven and New Earth... the heaven and the earth may keep becoming new and newer, it does not matter, as long as what matters to us is the Word and being faithful to it. That is our constant, unchanging and never ending  reference point!

WORD 2day: 24th November, 2016

Victory and Power to Our Lord!

Thursday, 34th week in Ordinary Time

Rev 18:1-2,21-23,19:1-3,9; Lk 21:20-28

Reacting to the first reading of today, many take off with imaginations and guesses as to who is the whore and who is the condemned. There are so many of the non-catholic denominations today who point an accusing finger with a heartless judgement : the Catholic Church is the Babylon of the Apocalypse! That is definitely not the purpose of the descriptions in the book...not solving some mystery puzzle!

The simple message is a challenge to make a choice, a choice for God. Amidst all the dreadful things that happen around, we are called to remain firm in the Lord. Amidst all the inexplicable evil around, we are called to side with the truth and fearlessly face the consequences. Amidst all the dark powers that seemingly dominate the scene, we are called to firmly believe that the victory and power belong to Our Lord!  

WORD 2day: 23rd November, 2016

Perseverance...Ready!?!

Wednesday, 34th week in Ordinary Time
Rev 15:1-4; Lk 21: 12-19

Perseverance in terms of targets and achievements in the world is holding on endlessly. The same, when it comes to our relationship with God is giving up limitlessly. It is to give up totally into the hands of God, regardless of the successes or failures, gains or losses, happiness or sadness, prosperity or misery! 

Faith is all about giving up everything and walking with our hands in the hands of God. Indeed it's a challenging feat. Specially considering the fact that today there is a great pressure laid on people to hoard up things, keep striving to prove oneself, ensure one's career or well being in competition with each other...the times are difficult. It takes true faith and strong hope, to remain calm and unperturbed even amidst such tribulations. That is true perseverance! Ready?