THE FAITH FOCUS

18th Sunday in Ordinary Time - 31st July, 2016

Eccl 1:2, 2:21-23; Col 3:1-5,9-11; Lk 12: 13-21

There are techniques in photography where they communicate merely out of the way an image is clicked into to the camera. It all depends on the Focus! For a happy and serene life too, we need a focus - the right focus, the faith focus!

A life Out of Focus:

At times today persons live a life that is out of focus. They do a whole lot of things, thinking they are taking their life ahead towards a finer point, while everything go wayward. Even as I share this, I have in mind a youngster known to me, who is struggling in life, not because he is incapable nor because he is bad; he is just out of focus with his life. He takes up a lot of things one after the other, only to find himself dissipated and frustrated, every time starting from ground zero. What is the problem?

A life with a Wrong Focus:

This is a more dangerous phenomenon. If being out of focus with life is a pitiable condition, living life with a wrong focus is a fearful condition. There are three wrong focuses that ruin the world today: Me, Money and Might! Focus on oneself, one's ego, one's own betterment even at the cost of the other, makes this world a loveless place - from this arises all the violence and crime that we witness today. Focus on Money, possession, pleasure and prestige, makes human beings turn into animals with absolutely no conscience and common sense. Focus on being powerful, on domination and hegemony, wipes out races as we have seen in history. 

The Faith Focus:

The right focus is the faith focus! It is not against me, neither is it against money nor against might. Everything from the point of view of the One who has given it to me! Qohelet in the first reading speaks of a condition of life that is lived out of focus...doing a lot of things without knowing for what and upto what! Jesus tells us of a life that is lived with a wrong focus - hoarding wealth for a tomorrow that never exists. 

St. Paul invites us to look for the things that are heavenly. Let your thoughts be on heavenly things, not on the things that are on the earth, says the Word. A serene way of life would be to live our life to the full at any given point of time, with a sense of gratitude to the one who has given us this life, with a sense of search that makes this life better for me and for everyone around me, with a sensitivity towards all those around me who are in some need or the other taking responsibility for their well being. The world has gone far, far away from this kind of a thinking to a point of no return. That leaves us with just one option: Create a brand new world...every day, in every way, live and inspire people to live with this focus. Let me begin with myself, inspire others and create a world within this world, a world where life is lived with the right focus - the faith focus!

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

The Pot and the Store room

Celebrating St. Alphonsa: 28th July, 2016

Jer 18: 1-6 ; Mt 13: 47-53

Being a pot in the hands of the potter gives me the hope that I will never go waste. The potter knows me and knows the world that is around. God will make certain that I am relevant and needed in God's own time and design and use me as God's store room for others!  Saints are such instances!

St Alphonsa was merely 36 when she died and half of that short life was spent in sicknesses of varied nature. But the Lord used her powerfully to bring out the best in her in keeping with the purposes the Lord had defined. She was a simple pot, weak and humble but holding the best of gifts as the store room puff the grace of God.

WORD 2day: 27th July, 2016

Who is with whom?

Wednesday,  17th week in Ordinary Time
Jer 15: 10, 16-21; Mt 13: 44-46

We see Jeremiah saying I am always for you Lord. The Lord says to Jeremiah,  I am with you. The Lord also says that Jeremiah should not go with the people but people must go with Jeremiah. A lot of discussion on who is to be with whom!  The Lord himself gives the final answer in the gospel today.

The highest of the treasures that we can think of in our daily life of strife is the presence of God with us;  God being with us. The problem with us is we don't realise it. Once we realise that presence and experience its sweetness,  we will give anything for it, even all our possessions!

THE WORD AND THE SAINTS

Celebrating Sts. Joachim and Anne: 26th July, 2016

Jer 14:17-22; Mt 13:36-43

The discussion is still on about the darnels among the grains in the field. Jesus speaks as a matter of fact and belittles the question who had sown those darnels. It is immaterial. The fact is that they were there and the grain stalks had grown even amidst those darnels! The merit has to be given to those and Jesus assures it will be given.

Reflecting on personalities such as Sts. Joachim and Anne who stand as symbols of the elders who have kept the faith, we are challenged to emulate their lives, their commitment and their dedication to the Lord.

We are called to remain faithful inspite of and amidst the faithless crowd that looks at everything in terms of gains and benefits. Even the elders in the families are considered and valued according to their worth in terms of income and expenditure. People have no time for persons in this world that absolutises productivity. 

Can we take a moment today and look at our attitude towards elders? Are we grateful or are we calculative? It is time to be grains among the abounding darnels. 

Prayer - Question 1

Prayer... 

is it changing the mind of God? 

It looks like that. 

At times we make God look like 

an ill informed teenager running the issues 

that we need to be constantly giving directions

as to what to do and what not to.

WORD 2day : 23rd July, 2016

Harvest is cutting

Saturday,  16th week in Ordinary Time
Jer 7:1-11; Mt 13: 24-30

Harvest is not merely fruit bearing; it's also cutting. It is a sign that enough time has been given to an individual to make up one's mind. Compromises and life's conveniences abound in today's life style and it does not disturb a casual conscience.

There is the other extreme of a conscience which pictures the Lord of the harvest as a tyrant, a heartless landlord and a stringent due collector. It makes life look like a misery,  every bit of it so precarious.

Why not we look at the Lord as a merciful father and a compassionate mother who is leading us every moment by our hand and wants us to bear fruit. It is  our choice to bear fruit or not. But that harvest is cutting, we cannot  forget or change!

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

Being the Ark 

Celebrating Mary of Magdala: 22nd July, 2016

Jer 31: 10-13; Jn 20: 1-2, 11-18

No one shall ask, "where is the Ark", says the Lord. The promise gets embodied when a person begins to build his or her life on such a promise. We are a people who stand on the promises of the Lord.  Right from the Old Testament experience we see that the Lord made promises and the Lord kept them too! Today we celebrate a person who is given a great revelation of this promise, the revelation of the Risen Lord which continues to be the greatest of all hope giving promises. 

Mary of Magdala had the privilege of receiving the promise for the first time from the Risen Lord. She becomes the Ark that had to take this promise to the rest of the disciples. When we whole heartedly receive the promises from the Lord with hope, we become the ark, holding out those promises to the rest of our brothers and sisters. 

The very presence of some persons fills those around or the situation around with enormous hope. These are the Arks of the Promise, who have the Spirit of the Risen Lord within them, holding it out to everyone.

WORD 2day: 21st July, 2016

Cisterns that hold no water

Thursday, 16th week in Ordinary Time
Jer 2: 1-3,7-8,12-13; Mt 13: 10-17

The Word warns us today of allowing our lives to becoming leaky cisterns that hold no water! It gets filled only to let go of everything in no time. It looks promising hiding within it the cracks that give away all that it is filled with.

Our life can look filled with things and with persons but suddenly when we look back it seems empty and dry. It is only the Lord who is constant and ever present. When we lose the Lord we run the risk of becoming leaky cisterns.

Our daily practices and our regular religious habits may not be absolute guarantees too!  They can become water stored in a leaky cistern if our interior disposition and personal convictions do not match the external behaviour.

WORD 2day : 19th July, 2016

Mercy and Faithfulness

Tuesday,  16th week in Ordinary Time
Mic 7: 14-15,18-20; Mt 12: 46-50ay

The most concrete expression of God's faithfulness is God's mercy which is so boundless and plentiful. Our concrete way of  living out mercy is being faithful to the biddings of the Lord.

Being faithful to the biddings of the Lord would consist of being attentive to everything around me, being truly concerned about everyone around me and being open to the promptings of the Spirit within me.

Mercy is not about doing some charitable acts here and there and now and then. But it is becoming like God, growing in our godliness and being signs of God's faithfulness to those who are in need of it.

WORD 2day: 18th July, 2016

To Act, Love and Walk in the Lord

Monday,  16th week in Ordinary Time 

Mic 6:1-4,6-8; Mt 12:38-42

The Lord has given a lot to us, beginning with God creating us in God's own image and giving us our life to enjoy the wonder of being human persons. Right up to this moment the Lord continues to guard us and sustain us in ways known only unto God. What does God expect in return? Nothing but a just, kind and gentle relationships among us. Is it not fair that a father expects this among his sons and daughters? Is it not right that a ruler expects this among his subjects?

Let us review our doings : are they just?

Let us analyse our love: is it for kindness or for dominion?

Let us watch our walk of life: is it gentle or trampling others?

Let us be pleasing sons and daughters of the Lord!

CHRIST AMONG US

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

The plotters' plight

Celebrating our blessed mother of Mount Carmel
16th July, 2016: Mic 2:1-5; Mt 12: 14-21

The common element on the two readings today is that of the plotters. Plotters are a common sight and have been so all the time. Right from original episodes of humanity as found in the Holy Word, we have this group of people making their mark. The serpent, Cain, Jacob, Joseph's brothers... and the list goes on. In spite of these great plots God has powerfully shown that God's mercies and love is always with the lowly, the humble,  the simple and the integral persons who not only make their mark but create history.

Celebrating the memory of our blessed mother we  are invited to behold how she shone in her life as a simple and humble person, defeating all plots even without her knowledge but with total surrender in the Lord.

None of the plotters have been protagonists of history as long as they remained so. All of them have been antagonists and they will be always considered so. The protagonists are always those who stand by God and suffer all these plots without giving way to doubt or despair. The plotters... woe to them says the Word.

WORD 2day : 15th July, 2016

Mercy of the Master

Friday,  15th week in Ordinary Time 

Is 38: 1-6, 21-22, 7-8; Mt 12:1-8

The Lord is the Master of everything,  the One who made everything and maintains order in them. Everything obeys the Lord and everything goes according to the Lord's bidding. Human beings alone revolt and rebel and the Lord loves that because it is through that the human beings prove to themselves and the entire reality that they are special, that they are made in the image of God with freedom and responsibility.

It is the mercy of the Master that allows us to go on living even if do not comply with all that the Lord lays down. The Word reminds us today that we live by that mercy. How good it will be if only we understood the mercy of God and live it in our daily interactions: staying far from judging people,  giving everyone an endless second chance and compassionately accompanying the weak and the needy!

Let the mercy of the Master spur us on!

WORD 2day: 14th July, 2016

Longing for God... True Longing...

Thursday, 15th week in Ordinary Time

Is 26: 7-9, 12, 16-19; Mt 11: 28-30

Longing for God is a wonderful and never ending theme in the spiritual realm. Today the Word presents to us again the theme calling our attention to the right understanding of an authentic longing for God. 

Everyone longs for God in some way or the other. At times,I feel even the so-called atheists are those who are longing for a more personal and concrete experience of God to arrive at that point of surrender. 

At times this longing is exaggerated to extents where encountering God becomes purely human venture and we take too much of a credit for the experiences that come our way. There is monopoly and domination here which leads to a great celebration of the experience but leaving alone the true nature of that erstwhile longing.

True longing is remaining open to the experience of God, staying patient and enduring every moment and when that experience happens, understanding that it is a pure gift from God. This understanding arises from two great spiritual virtues: Faith, that God is longing to be closer to me too. And the second, Humility, that allows me to relate with everyone in the same gracious manner that God has dealt with me! 

WORD 2day : 13th July, 2016

God is In-charge

Wednesday, 15th week in Ordinary Time
Is 10: 5-7, 13-16; Mt 11: 25-27

Just yesterday we were having a chat on certain political developments in our part of the country. After a while of listing so many things evil and harmful, one among us exclaimed, "how can God ever allow this?"

Today reflecting on this account from Isaiah,  we tend to think that the people then would have asked the same question: how can God permit this.

Jesus answers these questions with just one expression... God knows it all and God alone knows it all. We will understand things only when it is time for us to and when it is revealed to us. Until then we need to remain faith focused and hope filled, assuring ourselves and each other: God is in charge!

WORD 2day: 12th July, 2016

Standing by to Stand on

Tuesday,  15th week in Ordinary Time
Is 7: 1-9; Mt 11:20-24

Standing on and Standing by are the two terms the Word speaks of today. The world is worried  about only one of them- standing on. We wish to stand on for as long as possible but we could not care less whom we are standing by. It does not matter,  the world today seems to say. It does not matter whom you stand by provided you stand on. But when standing on becomes problematic we wail and complain.

Should we not find out in the first place whom have we been standing by... the Lord says if we stand by the Lord,  we need not worry about standing on.  Whatever eventualities,  the Lord will see us through.

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

The gift of giving to the Lord

Celebrating St. Benedict: 11th July, 2016

Pro 2: 1-9; Mt 19: 27-29

Choosing the noble things in life, choosing those that really matter in life, choosing God as priority in life... that is wisdom! Benedict whom we celebrate today, chose God to be everything in life for himself and not merely that, he taught it to the world. He started a whole order of religious minded persons who would choose God above all else!

Everything we have is a gift from God; and we need ask nothing from God, for God gives all that we need! Persons like Benedict, and many such other great persons of God teach us an important lesson: if at all we need to ask something from God, that would be the gift of giving everything to the Lord. Giving to the Lord... is something that we need to learn when we wish to mature in our spiritual life, not being concerned merely of asking and receiving from the Lord. What have I given the Lord today?

LIVE LIFE CHRIST-LIKE

15th Sunday in Ordinary Time: 10th July, 2016

Dt 30: 10-14; Col 1: 15-20; Lk 10: 25-37

The statutory call that all of us Christians have is to live our life Christ-like. And that call is repeated today in the Word, with a step by step guide towards making it a reality. 

LISTEN TO GOD, to God's life giving Words

Moses invites us to listen to the Word of the Lord, the commandments of the Lord, the life-giving principles that the Lord holds out to us. Not that we do not know them, not that they are impossible, not that they are beyond our strength. They are well within our daily decision making; they are totally possible and practically inevitable. If we are serious about living our life Christ-like, we have to begin from there: listening to the Lord, listening to the Word of the Lord. But when we listen to the Lord and the Word of the Lord, many a thing seems so difficult to follow! But we have some one who showed us that they are not impossible: Jesus, the Son of God

LOOK AT GOD made manifest in Jesus our Lord

Jesus' life is one showcase of how the Lord wants us all to live our life. Talking to the young these days about the Christ-like love that we need to practice, there is an inescapable feeling of helplessness at the end of each session, where the youngsters look at me and ask, 'is it really possible?' Every time my reaction is the same: Look at that man on the Cross - If it were possible for him, it should be possible for us. Looking at Christ is looking at God! He is the image of the unseen God as St. Paul says. Looking at Christ is also looking at ourselves! We cannot forget both these dimensions which come so well merged in the person of Jesus. When we look at Jesus and learn from his life, we are faced with the challenge: to imitate Christ, to live our life Christ-like.

LIVE GODLY - that is the challenge

Do not be conformed to the standards of the world, but conform yourselves to Christ, to his life so godly! The parable of the Samaritan we meditate on today is a clarion call that tells us, being like Christ, living like Christ is the only way of living our life to the full. 

I wish to narrate these two stories that always fill my mind when I think of this call to live like Christ, be like Christ. First, is about this blind girl who was walking out of a crowded railway station with a basket on her head filled with oranges. The train was whistling away alerting all of its imminent departure. There was a man who had to board that train and was running with his eyes fixed only on the train and in his hurry he never realised as he elbowed this girl and ran past her. The basket fell and the oranges ran helter skelter. Blind as she was, she was helplessly sitting and groping for the rolling oranges. Every one was busy with their business and she had hardly any empathisers. Suddenly she felt some one sit beside her and pick up every orange that was scattered and collect them all back in the basket. Once done, he bent down to the girl and whispered, 'take care'. The girl held his hand and with tears trickling down asked him: by the way are you Jesus Christ?

The second is about this group of people in a tribal village where an evangelist entered. He asked them, do you all know of a man who lived on earth going about doing good, he loved everyone, he cured the blind and gave sight to them, healed the sick and brought the dead back to life and gave his entire life for others? He was meaning Christ all the while but the villagers said, "yes, we know him. A few years ago he passed by our village and stayed with us for a few months." Then the evangelist understood they meant a Christian Doctor who had made a medical tour of those villages. How beautiful that the people saw Jesus in him!

That is what we are called to: to live our life Christ-like. How we wish that the world may see in us the person of Jesus, that we may be truly CHRIST-IANS.

WORD 2day: 9th July, 2016

Fear of Following

Saturday,  14th week in OrdinaryTime
Is 6: 1-8; Mt 10: 24-33

When the Lord calls,  as God infact does with regard to all of us, we invariably have some objection or the other. It can be of two types.

One could be due to the fear that I am not worthy... but can anyone be really worthy?  So the Lord says we should not be worried about that, as the Lord would do the needful to make good for our want and unworthiness.

The second and more dangerous mind set is one of pride. Looking at the fact of my chosen-ness as something that I can work and qualify towards. Can I?

It is with these at the background that the Lord invites us to steer clear of fear and put our trust in the Lord. The Lord is our rock,  our strength!

WORD 2day: 8th July, 2016

Coming back... but who?

Friday,  14th week in Ordinary Time
Hos 14: 2-10; Mt 10: 16-23

The first reading repeatedly speaks to us an important term: coming back! "Come back," the Lord urges the people. Hosea brings out the tender compassion of the Lord insisting on the relationship we have with the Lord or rather the relationship God has with us.

Though the Lord keeps saying again and again 'come back', finally one who comes back is the Lord himself. Through the prophets and holy men and women, through the only Son and even today in various means, it is the Lord who comes back to us how many ever times we go away from God.

The year of mercy is a reminder of this fact and a challenge to live up to the unconditional love the Lord showers on us.

WORD 2day: 7th July, 2016

Give because you are given

Thursday,  14th week in Ordinary Time
Hos 11: 1-4,8-9; Mt 10: 7-15

We are loved, loved by God, loved extremely and unconditionally. Like a child, without having to pay back we have been loved by God.

If we really experience that love, drink it in deeply, we cannot but give it because our cup overflows. We give because we are filed with it. We give because we are given. We give by our very nature,  that is being godly.

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

Compromises and Christian Focus

Celebrating Maria Goretti - 6th July, 2016
Hos 10: 1-3,7-8,12 ; Mt 10: 1-7

The Word continues from where we left yesterday... the discussion on a commitment devoid of all compromises. There is an added illustration today with Maria Goretti proposed as a model for it. Her's was one life of determined focus on the Lord and the ways of the Lord. There is yet another saint whose shadow passes us by as we discuss this -Dominic Savio whose feast we celebrated precisely two months back - one who decided he would die rather than sin.

The compromises of Israel were way too high but still the Lord stood by them because the Lord is in no way a person who would compromise. The Lord is the Lord of promises! It is on this faithfulness we are called to build our life. 

Maria Goretti was firm in her focus and today that firmness is dubbed as conservatism or dominant moralism. The world stands in need of liberation, true liberation, a liberation that arises from truth and integrity.

WORD 2day: 5th July, 2016

The Right Belief

Tuesday, 14th week in Ordinary Time
Hos 8 :4-7,11-13; Mt 9: 32-37

We widely practice religion but rarely do we truly believe! Practices of piety, fulfilment of the so called ritual requirements, attendance at the Church - these would merely be religion if they do not arise from a belief that is right and real.

Placing our trust on things, relying  entirely on what we perform, thinking in  terms of appeasement and satisfying sacrifices are modes of religion practiced and do not lead to  the right belief.

Our belief is in a person not in a power; it is not about some legalistic fulfilment of requirements but about a loving relationship.

Take a moment during the day  today to evaluate how right your belief is!

WORD 2day: 4th July, 2016

What has betrothal got to do with faith?

Monday, 14th week in Ordinary Time

Hos 2: 16, 17-18, 21-22; Mt 9: 18-26

I will betroth you to myself, says the Lord in the Word today. It set me thinking on the various elements of a relationship of betrothal! And the more intriguing part came by when in the Gospel Jesus speaks to us of an unconditional and unwavering faith! Now the question became more complicated in my mind - what has betrothal got to do with faith!

Betrothal is mostly a traditional, conservative concept of giving a couple-to-be some confident space to move in. It is an organised and formal mode of courtship. It is an enamouring phase of a wedding - where there should be utmost confidence, striving to impress each other and vying with each other to shower love! Faith is all about that - a feeling of having been enamoured by God, that I feel so confident in the Lord, I strive to please the Lord, I accept anything from the Lord and never even for a moment doubt that the Lord is all for me!

Does my faith measure up to such a personal attachment to the Lord?

PEACE - THE GOOD NEWS

14th Sunday in Ordinary Time - 2nd July, 2016

Is 66: 10-14; Gal 6: 14-18; Lk 10: 1-12, 17-20

Happy Feast of St. Thomas. We would not dwell on that wonderful theme of faith that St.. Thomas stands for. But the Word speaks to us of another theme that is very closely connected to St. Thomas, or for that matter to all the apostles. The theme is Good News... the Good News that Jesus sent his apostles to proclaim.

What could be Good News today to the world? These are days of unrest. Unrest at all levels - Global, National, Local - at all levels there is a sense of acute unrest, a feeling of insecurity and anxiety.

At the global level news like the Brexit - the United Kingdom opting to get out of the European Union -one of the most promising gestures of solidarity in the last millennium - is a sign of unrest, a sign of  dissatisfaction, a sign of loss of hope in humanistic solidarity!

At the National level, the various uprisings, the suicide of Rohit, the arrest of Kanhaiya Kumar, are just the tip of the iceberg of unrests that are aggressively active underground.

At the local level, the recent killing of a helpless girl in the broad day light in a place as public as a railway station, the suicide of the girl whose morphed images went viral on facebook, these are another set of events laying bare the unrest that rules the minds of persons in today's society.

Just to add to these instances one opinion that is being considered as newly practical these days: there are people who seem to say, 'it is alright to be selfish'! What a stage we have reached where people not only justify selfishness but propagate it as if it is a virtue, a virtue of the pragmatic school!

What would be the good news for a time that is marked by such unrests: the good news is PEACE. "Peace" is the term that is common to all the parts of the liturgy of the Word today. The Lord promises a peace of comfort to God's people; the psalmist hopes for the peace of the Lord; St. Paul wishes and blesses the people of God with peace; and finally Jesus highlights good news as a sharing of peace!

What kind of a peace is the Word speaking about?

A peace that promises... Comfort but not Compromise

                Though the Lord time and again promised the people of God peace in their borders and the justice in their homes, the Lord does not compromise on anything. The comfort that the Lord promises does not consist of any compromise. What matters to the Lord, matters truly and matters always. When we are clear of what the Lord expects of us, and when we make a conscious choice for it, we are filled with a peace that comforts us, even amidst difficulties and pressures.

A peace that is born out of... Convictions and not Convenience

                The Lord as he sends his messengers ahead of him puts them through a rigorous drill, to learn to put up with inconveniences for the sake of the convictions they would live by. The conviction of a provident God, the conviction of the ever loving God, the conviction of the ever present God... leads to a peace of mind that defeats all consumer crazy claims of the day. Like St. Paul, we would be able to say, I have learnt to live in want and in plenty (cf. Phil 4:12)

A peace that is experienced through... Commitment and never Compulsion

Peace is the good news that the Lord offers, but the bad news is that it is upto me to accept it or not. It is not all that too easy to accept that offer because it involves quite a bit of discipline and sacrifice! But the choice is always mine. Behold I place before you life and death: remember those words that the Lord said in Deuteronomy? It is the Son of that God who speaks to us today and he will never be less demanding.

In summary, the good news that the Lord wants to offer us today is peace...a peace that flows from personal integrity and interpersonal solidarity. 

WORD 2day: 2nd July, 2016

Rebuilding the Ruins

Saturday, 13th week in Ordinary Time

Amos 9: 11-15; Mt 9: 14-17

I have heard many a builder say, it takes double the effort to rebuild something that is already built vis-a-vis building something fresh. It is true. Rebuilding or restoring is a work of an expert. The Lord when he promises to rebuild Jerusalem, restore the Lord's people, proves Godself to be an expert. Not all can manage. It takes completely a different aptitude to build up people. It is easy to find fault, criticise and break people but to build them up, more so to rebuild them from their ruins, it takes God to do it. 

Those who rebuild are Godly, those who rebuild have the touch of the Master's hand, those who rebuild have a quality that is so close to the quality of the Creator. Let us be renewed in the Lord to see the good in others, those traits that will build them up and build the community of faith.Let us beseech the Lord for the gift to build up!