WORD 2day: 30th January, 2016

The Storm and the Calm

3rd Saturday in Ordinary Time
2 Sam 12: 1-7, 10-17; Mk 4: 35-41

"It is you!" - the famous finger of God against David, is the picture we are left with today by the Word. The Lord loved David, but David slipped into godlessness but when God pointed it out to him, like an inamorata clinging back to the beloved after a split, David comes back with remorse and love so tenderly balanced. Even when David realised he had sinned, he never panicked or never gave into guilt... he felt sorry and bounced back to the love of God, because he knew and he was convinced that the Lord was with him and the Lord loved him above anything else.

The storms may rage all around us, but we can still remain calm if only we realise the Lord is with us and the Lord loves us above all else. When the Lord is for us who can be against us? The Storm and the calm go side by side for an authentic Christian!

WORD 2day : 29th January, 2016

Beware of the slide more than the fall

3rd Friday in Ordinary Time
2 Samuel 11:1-4,5-10,13-17; Mk 4: 26-34

Jesus today gives us a parable to understand the subtle way in which the Reign of God grows in the earth - so gradual and slow but steady and strong!

It seems to be true even with regard to situations that take us away from God's ways. It is not so much a fall that is dangerous but the slide.

Some times we fall into sin but most of the time we slide into sin! David little by little slipped into sin but very soon he was in deep trouble. He lost all that he had built up by way of his faithfulness and dedication to the Lord.

The call is that we be warned of sliding into sin... to be careful of the subtle ways that lead us to deep troubles.

WORD 2day : 28th January, 2016

To be given more

3rd Thursday in Ordinary Time
2 Samuel 7:18-19,24-29; Mk 4: 21-25

David acknowledges the amount of good that the Lord has done on his behalf, the way the Lord raised him up from nowhere! He realises too that to be given so much means that much more is expected of him. Though he failed in some ways,  his love and dedication to the Lord never ceased.

The Lord chose David to raise him up and David proved worthy of that choice inspite of his weaknesses: doesn't it look like the story of anyone among us- the Lord has chosen us and we need to live worthy of that choice inspite of our weaknesses and limitations.

The more we live humble and aware of the fact that we are chosen the more we would be blessed. The more we would be blessed the more we have to grow worthy of it. What a lovely way to sanctity!

WORD 2day : 27th January, 2016

The Word made sense

3rd Wednesday in Ordinary Time
2 Sam 7: 4-17 Mk 4: 1-20

The Word comes to us everytime with a specific call and life changing challenges. We would make it dead if we do not make the real sense out of it. The Lord provides us the possibility of making sense too,  only that we have to be ready and open.

We see David so open and eager, as Samuel makes sense of the Word to him. The disciples ask Jesus to make sense of the Word to them and Jesus does it so impressively.

Receiving the word and making sense of it should lead us to concrete changes in life. If not the Word would be dead as the seeds picked by the birds or scorched by sun or suppressed by the thorns. Let us be spiritually fertile giving fruit in abundance.

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

A JOURNEY OF CONVERSION

The Conversion of St. Paul: 25th January, 2016

Acts 22: 3-16; Mk 16: 15-18

Some thoughts from the Word on this feast:

1. Conversion is a life Journey: We need this grace of conversion, which the Lord inspires within us.

2. Conversion begins with a Bolt: We seem to be going in great pace with our life, when suddenly strikes a bolt. We call that a misfortune, a shock or a setback. But we need to be conscious of the fact that these experiences are messages, invitations for a transformation we need to effect within us.

3. Conversion definitely involves falling to the ground: Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground, it will not bear fruit. When Saul fell from his horse to the ground, he rose as Paul, enquiring 'who are you Lord'! And from then his life changed...for no longer did he live, Christ lived in him.

4. Conversion is fundamentally a new vision: Nothing of Saul changed...he was the same determined, stubborn, hardliner. But his vision had changed and that changed everything else. When he got back his sight, he did not only see anew, but his vision was totally new! He now saw everything from the point of view of Christ. That is the conversion expected of us: to see everything as Christ does.

BEING GOD'S PEOPLE

3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time: 24th January, 2016

Neh 8:2-6,8-10; 1Cor 12: 12-30; Lk 1:1-4, 4:14-21

Jesus came and lived here on earth amidst us to remind us about our call to be God's people and to show us how to do it! 

There are three tasks outlined in the readings today:

1. Beginning with the Word

Building up the people of God has to be done on the foundation of the Word of God. We see Nehemiah doing it in the first reading and Jesus himself teaching in the synagogue for the first time. In our families or in our communities, we need to found ourselves on the Word. 

2. Building up the Word

The Word was made flesh, the flesh was given to us and we were made One Body in Christ. The Word invites us to build up our communities of faith, in communion and sharing, thus building up the Word into a formidable challenge to the ways of the world. This task is to build up our believing community, the Body of Christ, the Body of the Word.

3. Becoming the Word

The word you have heard is fulfilled today in your hearing, declared Jesus. He was the Word personified...and we are today called to model our lives after him, to become the Word, to grow into the Word, living Word, images of Christ for the world today. Can our daily lives be fulfillments of the Word, here and now?

WORD 2day : 23rd January, 2016

Sanctity and Insanity

2nd Saturday in Ordinary Time
2 Sam 1:1-4,11-12,17,19,23-27; Mk 3: 20-21

There is quite a list of saints who were considered out of their minds... Paul, Francis of assisi, Bro. Juniper, Symeon of Emessa, Don Bosco... they were considered so because they were fools, fools for Christ as Paul calls himself (cf.1Cor 4:10).

Why were they considered so? What made them'out of their mind'? Infact they were not out of their mind but they went out of their way for others sake and the world calls it madness. Isn't it a folly or madness on the part of God to have done all that God did for humanity inspite of their infidelity and weaknesses? Jesus was a chip of that block and we are called to follow his footsteps... growing to be more and more mad: getting out of ourselves and loving people genuinely.

Sanctity and Insanity seem to have more than little that relate them... give it a thought.

WORD 2day : 22nd January, 2016

Beware of the people with you

2nd Friday in Ordinary Time
1 Sam 24: 3-21; Mk 3: 13-19

Saul had his men with him,  David had his own men with him and Jesus gets his own men ready today! Each of us has a group of people who surround us. A backup group that suggests,  supports and sustains us in the life journey. But it is important that we beware of the group! It can make or mar us... depending on the level of importance given to them. The group with Saul assisted him in his pursuit of irrational vengeance. The group with David instigated murder of the reigning king. Though Jesus picked and chose the group with him, there was a traitor right amidst them.

Fill your atmosphere with God fearing persons and your life will be doubly blessed. Allow God above all to guide you, not those who wish their own gains and glory. Beware of those around you who create an opinion within you. Seeking guidance and support is great, but beware from whom!

WORD 2day : 21st January, 2016

Demons don't dare compare!

2nd Thursday in Ordinary Time
1 Samuel 18:6-9,19:1-7; Mk 3: 7-12

As Jesus chases the demons away from the persons possessed with them, the demons acknowledge the Son of God and give him the rightful place. Not even the demons dared compare themselves with the Son of God. They knew, any comparison would only make them more frustrated than they were. Saul failed to learn this lesson and that spelt his doom. He compared himself  with David and forgot the good that he himself was able to do with the help of God. Comparison is a poison and it will surely kill you someday.

WORD 2day : 20th January, 2016

Not spear or javelin, mere pebble will do.

2nd Wednesday in Ordinary Time
1 Sam 17:32-33,37,40-51;  Mk 3:1-6

A mere pebble was enough for the young David to bring down the mighty Goliath. The whole sanhedrin and the entire ruling class plotted against Jesus but no one could do anything till the appointed time, though Jesus had no spear or javelin to defend himself. No one can stop us from the good we do if that good is ordained according to the holy will of God. If it were for my own gain or glory I cannot blame God if it brings strife and suffering alone. A small reason is enough to topple the entire edifice so carefully raised. When I have my selfish mileage to make and manipulate persons and situations placing my trust in my might then I should realise I am far far away from the Lord.

WORD 2day : 19th January, 2016

The Blue-eyed of God
1 Samuel 16:1-13; Mk 2: 23-28

David is chosen over and above the rest of his brothers... all of them stronger and fitter. David proved so worthy of the choice. He loved God so much that God saw in him someone lovable. David could do anything because he knew he had won the special favour of God. Jesus seems to refer to that fact,  the fact that David was a blue-eyed boy of God and that we too can grow to be blue-eyed of God,  if we love God with all our heart, trust God with all our soul and surrender to God all our life.

WORD 2day : 18th January, 2016

Compromise Kills

2nd Monday in Ordinary Time
1 Sam 15:16-23; Mk 2: 18-22

Saul defends himself, 'did I not do what the Lord wanted me to? ' Yes, he did. But not the way the Lord wanted. He tried compromising with what the people wanted along with what God wanted. Jesus warns compromising kills... don't compromise with the old ways and the new, with what God wants and what the world wants! What one builds through small tough steps towards perfection can be pulled down in one simple compromise. Compromise Kills!

WHEN OUR LIVES RUN DRY

2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time: 17th January, 2016

Is 62:1-5;1 Cor 12:4-11; Jn 2:1-11

Today the Word establishes the beginning of the public ministry of Jesus. After the Baptism where Jesus is seen in public this is the incident that can be interpreted as the beginning of his life and work among people. The Word also defines what the purpose of the ministry is. It is to replenish the rapport between  God and God's people.

The imagery that holds the common thread between the readings today is that of marriage. Often the relationship between God and God's people is spoken of in terms of the faithfulness between the bride and the groom, as in the first reading from Isaiah. God wishes an intimate relationship with God's children but at times our lives run dry. It's also a pastoral concern that after all the weeks of Advent and Christmastide the ordinary season might seem too ordinary and eventless. As the wine ran short our lives too will run dry at moments.

We may have the jar and we may have them filled but it is Jesus who makes it wine! We may have all it takes to make this life meaningful and fruitful but be wondering why it isn't really working out... Jesus renders it fruitful; the Spirit makes our abilities true gifts.

When our lives run dry... let's take our jars filled to Jesus and he will turn them into wine;  let's surrender to the Spirit and the Spirit will make us God's children again.

WORD 2day: 16th January, 2016

The choice and the call
1 Sam 9 : 1-4, 17-19, 10 : 1; Mk 2 : 13-17

Saul and Matthew... two shining exemplifications of God's choice and call. God chooses God's messengers in ways known only to God,  Saul went in search of the assess and he returned as King of Israel. God has a unique set of criteria to select the messengers, a tax collector was not exempt from Jesus' choice of disciples. The qualifications to be God's messengers is rather strange- Saul was handsome and strong,  his successor David was a small and simple boy! The message is simply one: don't be carried away with what you have nor be buried because of your inabilities. God's ways are wonderful; the right way to experience it is surrender!

WORD 2day: 12 January 2016

Authority - who has it?
1 Samuel 2:1,4-8; Mark 1:21-28

Eli is too fast to judge Hannah... what permits him to do that? Hannah points out to him that he need not be true merely because he is in authority...nor is it taken for granted that he is better because of that same fact. Eli was wrong and Hannah was there standing tall in her total fidelity to God who had mercy on her. In the Gospel the pharisees wonder from where Jesus got his authority: ofcourse from the total fidelity to the One who sent him. With that absolute fidelity and uncompromising surrender to the Lord,  Jesus could say anything and it would happen!

In Water, the Spirit and the Word - BORN AGAIN

The Feast of Baptism of the Lord: 10th January, 2016

Is 40: 1-5,9-11; Tit 2: 11-14, 3:4-7; Lk 3: 15-16,21-22

Baptism - a moment when one is reborn, reborn through the waters, in the Spirit and by the Word.

The Water: Living in Chennai, water has a special meaning! There have been moments that I have stood still in front of that immensity of water, on the Marina beach looking on the Bay of Bengal, wondering what a power that lies there. It showed its true power with Tsunami that hit in 2004...and again a month back with the devastating floods. Water is not merely refreshing and renewing, but it is resetting. If that vocabulary from the e-world can be used, it would mean starting from the beginning once again. The waters of baptism claims exactly that effect on us. Being born again is not merely to undergo a ceremony and start judging the rest as damned; it is to reset my life, restart it with virtues and convictions that give me a new existence altogether.

The Spirit: The Mark of Ownership, the seal of the covenant between the Father and me, the One who makes me the dwelling place of God and the One who makes me call God, Abba Father! Being born again is to possess this personal sanctity and interpersonal sensitivity: personal sanctity of purity and sinlessness; the interpersonal sensitivity of accepting each other as brothers and sisters, born of that One Father! 

The Word: The Word, made flesh, who speaks to us and invites us to a life that is modeled after him. To be born again is to be transformed into the image of Christ, to put on the mind of Christ and to bear his likeness. I was amused by the sharing of my elder sister who teaches in a Government School in a village on the outskirts of Chennai. She said about her children in class, who do not know terms like Christian or Catholic, telling her - 'teacher neenga Jesus thaane, appadina leavu mudinji varum pothu sweet eduthuttu vaanga!' (Teacher you are Jesus isn't it? then bring sweets when you come after holidays). That set me thinking- Aren't you Jesus? Am I not Christ? Have I become another Christ - alter christus? The Word challenges us towards that... to be born again, is to be reborn in the image of Christ. 

Let us remember today the great gift we have been given in our Baptism and resolve to live that call to be Born Again - in water, the Spirit and the Word.

WORD 2day : 9th January, 2016

Who should increase?
1 John 5:14-21 ; Jn 3: 22-30

I came across a poster highlighting the first reading of today which read: whatever we may ask, the Lord hears us! It is an assuring statement and a very strong affirmation but I am afraid it is not true to the Word. Yes... there is a small but a crucial phrase that is left out in between. That is,  "if it is in accordance with His will" - that is where we falter.

We think, all that we ask has to be given. True faith would say, 'not necessarily'. Even when I don't seem to be receiving what I am praying for (prayer anyway is not merely asking), I am calm and serene for I trust in the will of God. This will happen only when I decrease and God increases in me. At times even in our prayer and God deeds we concentrate so much on what we do and what we achieve that there is no much place for God and God's will. John the Baptist seems to offer us a wonderful lesson,  inviting us to allow the Lord to increase, and making our own self, or ego, decrease.

Even in our so called spiritual exercises let us beware who really is increasing. ..the Lord or me?

WORD 2day : 8th January, 2016

Our Life in the Son
1 Jn 5: 513; Lk 5: 12-16

Anyone who believes in the Son has life... our life is in the Son. Elsewhere we read too, "And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent" (Jn 17:3). The basis of a blessed life is not our achievements or our accomplishments, our hoardings and our savings, but our relationship with God, the Source of that life! How truly and sincerely are we connected to the Lord? Jesus is seen today drawing himself alone to pray... and it is reported every now and then by the Gospel writers.

Connecting to the Father and staying in touch with the Son is the work of the Spirit within. We are chosen in not merely water and blood but in the Spirit above all. Our life in the Son is our life in the Spirit and according to the will of the Father.

WORD 2day : 7th January, 2016

Compassion: the command and the commission.

1 Jn 4:19-5:4; Lk 4: 11-18

The Word speaks of two important aspects of a disciple: the command and the commission. The command is given in general and the commission is given to a specific individual or a small group. For a disciple the command is to love and the commission is to reachout,  to heal, to serve. Putting all of these and both the command and the commission together,  the call is towards Compassion. Compassion is the call of a disciple, the call for which the Lord has anointed you and me,  the call to genuinely love!

WORD 2day: 6th January, 2016

Love, the loaves and the waves!

1 Jn 4: 11-18; Mk 6: 45-52

The Gospel passage today raises a strange question within us... what is the connection between the loaves and Jesus walking on the water? How is it that Mark says they were dumbfounded at seeing Jesus walk on the turbulent waters because they had not still seen what the miracle of the loaves meant. Feeding the hungry in the wilderness was a Messianic Sign: and what is it but a child's play for the Messiah to walk on the water or calm the sea! Walking on the waters too resembled the walking through the waters, yet another messianic sign. But for Jesus none of these signs mattered. If they did,  he would have taught his disciples to walk on water and to multiply loaves. 

What mattered to Jesus was only one and that is what he taught them. That is the mind of Christ that is so vividly pictured in John's words: one who loves,  lives in God and God lives in him! Love alone matters,  neither the loaves nor the waves! 

WORD 2day: 5th January, 2016

Love is love in action

1 Jn 3: 11-21; Mk 6: 34-44

God is love, not only because we believe so, but because we have seen that love in action. In fact God's love, true Love, is love in action. That is what John explains in the first reading. Because of that Love, God goes to the extent of sending God's own son into our sinful existence...the folly of God's love! Jesus in the Gospel today, is no exception. He decides to feed the multitude, because they were in need. It looked too silly to be practical for the apostles. But Jesus does it, because he had compassion on those people. Be merciful as your heavenly Father!

Today I cannot stop with talking and expressing my views on behalf of the people on whose side I have to stand and whose life I have to enhance. I cannot content myself with telling people in words that I love them...I have to love in action, my love has to be seen in what I do, the choices I make, the options that I take seriously and the principles I stand by. Those who love are born of God, for God is love!

WORD 2day: 4th Jnauary, 2015

Love, Life and the Lord

1 Jn 3:22 - 4:6; Mt 4: 12-17, 23-25

Testing the spirits, apostle John speaks of in the first reading today! Today this is so important a task for us to do, for so many of our own children of God are drawn away by spirits that are so selfish and ungodly. Just yesterday a youngster came to me vociferous telling me, 'I saw a video of a preacher of one of the denominations spreading calumny against the Holy Father and calling him names! How can he do that?' I only smiled at her and said, 'there were those who calumniated against Jesus himself, they killed John the Baptist and thwarted the first Christian community with the same calumny...so my dear, why worry?'

But however the Word today gives us a special task: to test the spirits...and not accepting everything that seems to be showy. How do we test? There are three criteria that can be culled out from today's readings: 1. Love: Is what is told and done, done out of  true, genuine and authentic love, or for selfish motives? 2. Life: Is what is spoken and what is initiated, life promoting, life enhancing and life giving? 3. Lord: Is what is being aimed at truly Lord oriented, or is it self oriented, or purse oriented, or kith and kin oriented? 

Don't be deceived by flowery words and fiery speeches; don't be carried away with the show of crowd and technological cloud... be guided by the One True Spirit of the Lord: be firmly founded on Love, Life and the Lord.

God made Known: the star, the house and the detour

Solemnity of Epiphany: 3rd January 2016

Is 60: 1-6;  Eph 3 : 2-3, 5-6; Mt 2 : 1-12 

The Word became flesh and came to dwell among us; today the world gets to see its Messiah. The feast of Epiphany has three important symbols carrying three crucial messages for us disciples of Christ. 

The first symbol is the star : the guiding star which led the magi to the Lord. Everyone who claims to be a follower of Christ has to be a star that guides people to Christ. Are your thoughts, words and decisions shining enough to lead people to Christ?

The second symbol is the house: the star  might have been magnificent but it rested on a simple manger. The signs and events might have been grand but the Messiah was found in a stable. What we are and what we have does not matter as much as who we are. Whether simple or sophisticated, whether learned or ordinary, whether rich or poor... we are called to possess the Lord,  we are called to be one home that houses the Lord. People who come to us should be able to see, feel and experience the Lord and praise the Lord through and for us. That is true Epiphany.

The third symbolic event is the detour: the magi who came were asked to leave on a different way back. They had to make a detour. ..because they had truly seen the Messiah. Even we,  if we truly see the Messiah,  we would not be able to go back the same way that we came. We would have to make a detour for sure. That detour could be our sign of repentance,  our change of ways, our going out of our way for the sake of someone else, our new life because we have come to know the Lord.

God is made known... it is upto us to become God's guiding stars, true dwelling places of God and people who are ready to arise and shine!

WORD 2day: 2nd January 2016

The Misleading Messiahs

1 Jn 2:22-28; Jn 1:19-28

Just recently we have beheld the Messiah in the manger, and the Word today warns of the Misleading Messiahs the world abounds with. We are not unfamiliar with this phenomenon so common today: the flashy flexes, the facebook pages, the media menace, the crowd pullers, the miracle workers, the oracle givers, the soothsayers and the trumpet blowers... I am reminded of a witty statement from an atheist: you can trust a fellow who says there is no God, you can even trust a fellow who says there is God; but never trust a fellow who says he is god! At times things reach this sorry state: in doing the so called work of God, we forget the God of the work! Worse still, we slowly project ourselves as the gods of the little work that we accomplish!

I am not the one, declared the Baptist! Recognise the True Messiah, the only One who reconciles you with God, invites John. Right orientation as we begin the year and set off with our regular routine. May we never be misled by the self made messiahs and more seriously, let us never shape up ourselves to be misleading messiahs today!