THE WORD AND THE SAINTS

The Family of the Apostles

Celebrating Simon and Jude: 28th October, 2016

Eph 2:19-22; Lk 6:12-16

You are no longer alien, no longer strangers, you are part of the family that the Apostles belonged to, the family that was initiated as the starting point of the Reign of God. This familiarity is the greatest gift according to Paul, as he insists that we could have been no people, but God made us God's people through Christ. That is what we are, God's people!

Of Simon and Jude who we celebrate today, Judas Thaddeus, is said to be close to Jesus in his family ties and in his appearance. However, Jesus would not have made a big issue of it - for him those who listen to God's word and put it into practice are more familiar than anyone else! There is tendency even today, when we have the possibility of doing some favour to someone, how do we pick and choose as to whom to extend that favour to! 

Simon and Jude, as all other apostles, teach the lesson that Jesus wants us to learn: it does not matter which tribe, or clan or caste I belong to - the only thing that matters is I belong to God, I form part of the family of God, the family of the Apostles!

WORD 2day: 27th October, 2016

Fearless with the Armour of God

Thursday, 30th week in Ordinary Time
Eph 6: 10-20; Lk 13: 31-35

Even those who act and show themselves as bold and courageous  at times of slight troubles betray their fear and trembling.  Moments like disease, debts and difficulties lead people to despair when they lack firmness in faith.

Jesus was fearless,  as all prophets always were! The prophets' fearlessness came from the fact the Lord was with them. They felt guarded by the armour of God, the armour that Paul enumerates today.

The call is clear today:  to live fearlessly in the Lord, with the armour that the Lord provides.

WORD 2day: 25th October, 2016

Being in Christ is all that matters

Tuesday, 30th week in ordinary time
Eph 5:21-33; Lk 13: 18-21

The other day I was speaking to a group of young couples regarding the attitudes spouses should have towards each other... when some tough statements came around,  one of them jokingly remarked. 'these things coming from Paul,  it's difficult to accept,  given the fact that he was an unmarried man!' And immediately another one added looking straight at me, 'Paul writing it  and you quoting it... both are difficult to accept'. There was a big roar of laughter.  That aside,  there can be heated debates on issues that Paul speaks of today-  who has to be subordinate to whom!  That is not my focus. Whether I am subordinate or  head,  I am called to be IN Christ - that's the focus.

Whether I am a subordinate or a head,  or an apostle or a servant, a renowned person or a so-called nobody... I am called to be  in Christ. Being in Christ,  even if I am just a mustard seed I can grow into a mighty tree.  Being in Christ, even if I am just pinch of yeast I can make a difference for entire dough.  Being in Christ is all that matters.

WORD 2day: 24th October, 2016

Being children of Light

Monday,  30th week in ordinary time
Eph 4:32 - 5:8; Lk 13: 10-17

There are a set of values that the Word proposes today, to be considered children of light. 

Personal purity that makes one shine amidst darkness.  The endurance that keeps  one from any compromise merely for the reason  that they are not seen is foundational to this.

Interpersonal simplicity that makes one godly and does not give into to complications such as ego, discrimination and revengeful rancour.

Spiritual ìdentity that makes me convinced of my link to the Lord,  so convinced that I am always conscious that it is  the Lord's image that I carry and manifest.

With these,  personal purity,  interpersonal simplicity and spiritual identity, we are challenged to be children of light. Are we growing to be?

EMPTINESS - WHERE GOD ENCOUNTERS

23rd October, 2016 : 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Sir 35: 12-14,16-18; 2 Tim 4: 6-8,16-18; Lk 18: 19-24

You cannot fill a cup that is full ...

God is not partial, God knows no favourites says the first reading but all the while speaking of a God who takes his stand by the poor, the widow and the orphans, the oppressed and the lowly. There is no paradox here, neither is there a partiality. It is natural that water flows where it is low. Isn't it true that we can fill only that which is empty! 

Today we are reminded of the Spirituality of Emptiness! Emptiness, is not merely an absence of things. Emptiness is not merely a state of something not being there. If it were so, it is so easy to reach that state - all that you need to do is remove what is there! Instead, emptiness is a positive reality. Emptiness is where God encounters us!

Emptiness can be due to a lack! The first reading speaks to us of the oppressed, the widows and the orphans...persons who lacked, who lacked their rights, who lacked someone to lean on, who lacked people who cared. God encounters us in that state...that is a condition! A condition in which one knows that one lacks, when one knows that he or she is not complete. In our inabilities, in our lacks when we turn to God, and accept God as the one who can fill me... God fills me! 

Emptiness can be a lifestyle! One can have, one can possess, but still can decide to live in a state of emptiness, not giving into attachments and bonds that can cripple one's existence. God encounters him or her there, in that emptiness. That is not a condition, but a choice! St. Paul, speaks in the second reading of how he had emptied himself for the sake of the Word, for the sake of the Lord, for the sake of the Lord's people. It is a lifestyle ... a mindset...the mindset of Christ... For he did not consider equality with God as something to be held on to,...but emptied himself (Phil 2: 5-7) - the lifestyle of Christ, the Son of God! Emptying yourself is a choice to allow God to fill you!

Emptiness is liminality! Liminality is a word that is used to mean, 'to stand at the threshold', a state of passage, a state where one is changed from what one was, but has not yet become what one is yet to become! One is not complete yet, but he or she is well on the way to being complete. We can be reminded of the words that St. John writes, 'We are children of God, what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, because we will see him as he is' (1 Jn 3:2). When we empty ourselves, we are moving towards being complete. When we are too conscious of being so complete and perfect, we actually are closing ourselves in and we become dead. The more we empty ourselves, the more God fills us!

O God, who alone is complete...

behold my emptiness, and make me ever conscious of it,

that I may be filled, filled by you, 

to become complete, just as you are...

... so ready to empty myself for the others, 

that I may be once again be filled by you, who alone is complete!

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

Living by truth and in love

Celebrating John Paul II - 22nd October, 2016

Eph 4:7-16; Lk 13: 1-9

The downfall of others is not a justification of our selves. The difficulties that we face are not curses we experience. Everything that happens in life has to be seen from the perspective of God, and the holistic plan of God and the obedience or breach of God's will and its consequences. When people struggle and live life in unbearable conditions we are tempted to say that God has taken them to task - is this truly a Christian attitude? 

John Paul II who was a long reigning Pontiff of the Church and a person whom we have seen in our own times, was a great witness against such kind of thinking. Those who have seen the last years of Pope John Paul II, would vouch for the strength of will that this great person possessed. With his Parkinson ailment and his age, he was losing that strong traveller image that he had built up in his tenure for two decades and more. But he did not mind it, he put his trust in the Lord who was leading him and went on with endurance till the end. He never gave up - not just this but even his stand as the conscience of the world - he was firm on living by truth and in love! No one or nothing could stop him from that. That is the challenge to us today: to live by truth and in love in order that we grow into Christ... Are we ready?

WORD 2day: 21st October, 2016

The sign of being ONE

Friday, 29th week in Ordinary Time
Eph 4:1-6; Lk 12: 54-59

Looking at the situation around filled so much with hatred and violence, vengeance and treachery, gruesome competition and heartless development...should we not easily decipher what our call is as people of God? If we add to the number of those who perpetrate such a situation or even if we remain silent without questioning their logic, we are 'hypocrites' as Jesus calls today! We are challenged to stand up to the situation and give the world a sign that we can be ONE, One people, One heart, One mind, One society, One humanity, One family...united by the ONE LORD. In our own simple ways we are called to bear witness to this fact, beginning from our interior mentality and the inner circle of the family.

WORD 2day: 20th October, 2016

The Spirit, the fire and the division

Thursday, 29th week in Ordinary Time
Eph 3:14-21; Lk 12:49-53

We are children of one Father... the Father from whom we all receive our identity.  The father places a mark and a condition.  The mark is  the Spirit and the condition is the fire... that we live for the Lord in union with each other not in competition with each other.  The division that the gospel speaks of today is standing away from any kind of consideration that militates against the Spirit. It should be marked with the fire within us,  for the Reign of God.

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

18th October,  2016
Celebrating St Luke the evangelist

2 Tim 4: 10-17; Lk 10: 1-9

Luke is an evangelist with a difference.  Luke's speciality consists,  they say in very many things,  but certainly in the following three elements.

The Gospel of the Mother:  Luke has some special portions for our blessed mother in his narrative.  The anunciation, the visitation,  the Magnificat and the blessed mother with the apostles.

The Gospel of Mercy:  Luke 15 is the compendium of the mercy of God as proclaimed by Jesus.  Apart from this chapter Luke has some very special and prophetic pieces of the teaching of Jesus about the mercy of God, the least to say Lk 6:36.

The Gospel of the Meek: Luke's would be considered the gospel with an absolute choice for the poor,  the meek, the lowly,  the gentiles and the sinners! Luke manages to capture the compassionate heart of the father to the best.

The call is... let us be human, compassionate,  merciful and loving;  that's a true Christian living.

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

It's all God's doing

Monday, 29th week in ordinary time
Eph 2: 1-10; Lk 12: 13-21

The good work we do and the great achievements we hoard up,  the wealth we gather and the treasure we store up, the so-called good name we insist and the status we rave upon... nothing is truly ours  and it has never been so. Yesterday as I preached at a funeral of a person just three years elder to me and just as healthy as me, this thought precipitated more in my heart and today the WORD holds it out for our reflection.

Can we become more loving?  Can we become more caring? Can we become more merciful?   Can we become more faith filled?  Can we become more human?  Can we become more godly?

Ignatius of Antioch gives us a beautiful example of a life lived for Christ. One of the early fathers of the Church, he  invites us to rely on Christ and Christ alone.

WITH HANDS RAISED

16th October, 2016: 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Exo 17: 8-13; 2 Tim 3: 14-4:2; Lk 18:1-8

Work as if everything depended on you; Pray as if nothing depended on you, goes the popular saying. Today we have a wonderful image to place before us, as we go about our daily life. Moses on the hill overlooking the battle, with hands raised unto the Lord! The Battle belongs to the Lord... all that we need to do is keep still, the Lord will fight for us says the book of Exodus (14:14). 

We are called to live our life with our hands raised unto the Lord! 

Living with hands raised unto the Lord is a gesture that means to abandon everything into the hands of God. It is a total personal abandonment to the Lord, that the Lord may guide us and that the Lord may fight the battle for us! Many grow weary of struggles and temptations in life... when Moses' hands were raised, Israel won! The book of Proverbs tells us, 'the horse is made ready for the battle; but the victory belongs to the Lord!'(Prov. 21:31). When we learn to abandon ourselves in the hands of God, we will see the wonders that can happen.

Living with hands raised unto the Lord is to reach out to the Lord with all our heart. It is like the antenna that stretches to connect, to receive and to communicate. That is in short, 'prayer' - to connect, to receive and to communicate. Let us pay attention to the term that seems common in today's readings: pray without ceasing tells Jesus presenting to us the image of the widow; proclaim in season and out of season instructs St. Paul; and the first reading presents to us Moses unwilling to grow weary of having his hands raised unto the Lord. A two fold call here: first, not to grow weary... like the widow to go on in trust, with our hands raised unto the Lord; second, when a brother or sister seems to grow weary, to rush to their side like Aaron and Hur and to be with them and to raise our hands in unison unto the Lord. A praying person builds a praying community of brothers and sisters, genuinely concerned about each other!

Living with the hands raised unto the Lord is to be filled with hope in the Lord. Like it happened to the widow, it may look like you might never get justice. Like it happened to the Israelites, it might look like you are losing the battle. Things may continuously go wrong, people might endlessly misunderstand you, nothing might seem to be going the way you wished it would..."But as for you, continue, in what you have learned and firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it"...from Jesus himself who hoped in the One who sent him, from our Blessed mother who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken by the Lord! "Let us not allow ourselves to be robbed of our hope" reminds Pope Francis.

Every day of our life, every moment of our day, let us resolve to live with our hands raised unto the Lord in a holy abandonment, in a loving union and in an unfailing hope... so that when Our Lord and Saviour comes he will still find faith here amidst us! 

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

The Head, the Body and the Uniter

Celebrating St. Teresa of Avila - 15th October, 2016
Eph 1: 15-23; Lk 12: 8-12

We have a head, none less than the Son of God; We are a body nothing less than the very body of Christ; what a reminder from Paul! Let us not be lost in petty problems and needless anxieties - ofcourse someone will respond saying, 'only when you go through it you will know which is petty and which is needless'! But in Paul's parlance and in Christ's thinking every problem is petty and every anxiety is needless. Because we have an existence, a body, a being so deeply significant! Teresa of Avila whom we celebrate today, witnesses to an experience as such!

The Head: Let us be worthy of the Head we possess. As the head directs so the body goes, atleast such is the understanding in the mechanical world. But for us as people who have Christ as our head, we have the freedom with which we can decide to act out of our personal choice - let those choices be worthy of our Head.

The Body: Let us be one body in Christ.The Church being a body of Christ is not in the hands of the Head...it is in the way the Church and its every member identify themselves to the One body, instead of claiming differences of origin, status and everyday operations!

The Uniter: The Head-body rapport is not automatic, it is an act of the Spirit, the Uniter, the one who unites them both. It is the Spirit who relates us to the Lord and it is the Spirit who sustains us in that relationship. St. Teresa was someone who felt this Spirit so strong. close and active! We see in her life that she had a relationship with the Lord that was so intimate, meaningful and a matter of day-to-day experience. Her mystical writings came from a source so divine, that they disturb many, challenge them and invite us to an understanding of our life that is intimately connected to our relationship with the Lord.

WORD 2day: 13th October, 2016

Identifying Christ today!

Thursday, 28th week in ordinary time
Eph 1: 1-10; Lk 11: 47-54

What would you do if some one comes around today and starts claiming himself to be the son of God and warns you of  dire consequences if you don't believe in him?  Yes there are characters of such sort today. If you have some time to kill and hard up for some serious entertainment check out on the YouTube for a person called Sadhu Sundar Selvaraj... a self proclaimed visionary and evangelist today.  You would be astounded by his claims - something like visiting heaven for regular council meetings and getting reviews from God  the Father for his TV shows etc.

At times we would also react as the Pharisees and the Scribes did with Jesus-  as angry as wishing to get rid of him. The question, is how do  we identify the right message and the right messenger.  The criterion is given by Paul in the Word today: our call to be holy and blameless in love before God in Christ! Holy and blameless, not merely in what we put up as our appearance before others, but before God.
Identifying Christ and Christ's message today is not that difficult...  in this regard, holiness as integrity and expressed in love,  is the touchstone.

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

Faith,  Love and Christ 

Celebrating John XXIII - 11th October, 2016 

Gal 5: 1-6; Lk 11: 37-41

When the Pharisee invited Jesus to come home, Jesus did not mind at all going over and dining with him. In spite of feeling honoured by his invitation having been accepted, the Pharisee was more worried about Jesus washing or not washing his hands, rituals followed or not, circumcision or no circumcision, laws and fulfillment of laws...Jesus gets upset over it. The happiness of having a guest is lost in the judgements that the host was passing on the guest. The joy of togetherness is lost in the the insistence of legality. The true sense of love is lost when one picks and chooses whom to show his or her love. Paul redifines faith in Jesus' terms - it is to acknowledge that Christ has set us free! We are not under any yoke anymore. Nothing can bind us except the love of the Father made manifest in the Son and poured into our hearts through the Spirit. Why do we want to give into that yoke again by equating our faith to 'doing' something, 'performing rituals' instead of relating to God with a free heart. That freedom is born only out of love.

Pope St. John XXIII brought this very strongly into the Church. In celebrating him we are celebrating a great icon of the year of mercy, for the following reasons.

- He was the one who convoked the Vatican Council II to ensure that the Church lives upto what Jesus said: what I want is mercy and not sacrifice.

- He was a loving person, known as a loved bishop and a smiling Pope! He was mercy personified and in his personality he upheld faith and love, and thus Christ.

- He was someone who showed what mercy in concrete term would mean...he stood by the poor, the marginalised and the working class, as a Bishop and later as a Pope.

Pope St. John XXIII has for long been an inspiration to Pope Francis, right from the time he was a seminarian Mario Bergoglio. And ofcourse we see the signs of this in Pope Francis' life. His simplicity, radicality and down-to-earth spirituality is a great replication of John XXIII. 

WORD 2day: 10th October, 2016

Generation of freedom or slavery?

Monday,  28th week in ordinary time
Gal 4: 22-24,26,27,31 -5:1; Lk 11: 29-32

There is so much of craving for freedom in today's world but freedom understood in terms of doing what one likes. One is so attached to one's own wish and desire that it amounts actually to a slavery rather than freedom. The over dependence on the need of being affirmed and being recognised,  on the need to be respected and praised,  the need for the personal desires to be fulfilled make the generation today not only weak but also enslaved.

Jesus calls us to a superior mode of living,  trusting in the beyond,  respecting the space for the other and being able to take a distance from one's own needs and opinions. That is a liberated way of living,  a corrective so necessary for the world today. 

THE GREAT ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE

9th October, 2016: 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time

2 Kgs 5: 14-17; 2 Tim2: 8-13; Lk 17: 11-19

Spiritual life is made of a set of attitudes that make up who we are! The touchstone of an authentically spiritual person lies in the virtue that the Word of God speaks to us of today: the great attitude of Gratitude... gratitude for every goodness that one experiences, gratitude to the Source of all that one has and one is - God! "What do you have that you did not receive?" asks St. Paul in his letter to the Corinthians (1 Cor 4:7).

Gratitude is born of a Humble Recognition of God! Namaan was asked to dip in river Jordan and he felt offended because his pride ruled his will. But when he listens to that word from the Man of God, humbling himself for that moment, he recognised the presence of the Mighty God. It is only when I am humble, I recognise God and that recognition of God makes me more humble! 

Gratitude is expressed in Grateful Submission to God! An authentic outcome of immense gratitude is total submission to God for the marvels that God has done to us. We see the man in the Gospel, just one out of the ten of them - "he fell on his face at Jesus' feet, giving him thanks" (v.16). What happened to the rest? Either they did not realise they were healed or they did not realise that the healing was a gift! This Samaritan heart realised the gratuitous miracle and recognised the hand of God - and the result was, a grateful submission at the feet of Jesus.

Gratitude leads to a Faithful Perseverance in God's ways! "Rise and go your way, your faith has made you well" (v.19) says Jesus, commissioning him to be an apostle to the World. That is the commission we receive every time we experience the grace of God in our personal lives - to go into the world and share the word of God, 'that the word of God may not be fettered' (cf. 2 Tim 2:9). It is the gratitude for the goodness that we have experienced in the Lord that makes us persevere, amidst all troubles and trials we might face. Our perseverance is not so much because we are faithful to the Lord, as because the Lord is faithful to us, reminds St. Paul in the second reading (2 Tim 2:13). 

A grateful heart is a humble heart and a humble person will ever be a faithful person and faithfulness gives one the courage and strength to persevere. Learning to look at our daily life and recognise the miracles that happen in abundance; putting up with daily crosses with the image of the Crucified Saviour in our hearts; placing ourselves each day at the feet of Jesus to be sent into the world as messengers of his loving Word - that is growing into Spiritual Persons. Let us heed the call of the Word today, to increase our sense of gratitude and grow into authentic spiritual persons! 

WORD 2day: 8th October, 2016

Being Children in faith

Saturday,  27th week in ordinary time
Gal 3: 22-29; Lk 11: 27-28

Being related to God is a faith experience.  I do not call you servants but friends,  declared Jesus.  Remain in my love,  he said. I shall be your God and you shall be my people,  was the mind of God when God made the covenant with people.  Being related to God is a need, a longing,  and a recognition that gives me my identity.

But this does not come by default.  Merely because I am baptised I don't belong to Christ or I don't become a child of God.  Paul says, I need to clothe myself with Christ.  My mentality has  to change and be transformed.  That is what Jesus means when he says it is more important to hear the words of the Lord and put them to practice than to go around saying I am a Christian.

We need to become Children of God not merely by title but in faith.

WORD 2day: 12th October, 2016

Directed by the Spirit

Wednesday,  28th week in ordinary time
Gal 5: 18-25; Lk 11: 42-46

Our doings need to flow from our being.  Our being should be guided by the right spirit,  for our doings to be dignified and desirable.  When our being and our doings do not synchronise with each other,  the person turns out to be either evil or evitable.

Integrity is the most respectable of all virtues.  This is what we meant when we spoke of our being and our doings synchronizing with each other. A person who is directed by the Spirit comes out to be an integral person.

Integrity costs,  it costs a considerable bit.  Some times it costs one's comfort zone,  at times one's opportunities vis-a-vis the others who manipulate situations, and at other times it costs one's image as being successful. It is the Spirit who alone can prepare one to pay such costs.

OUR LADY OF ROSARY

7th October, 2016

Celebrating a Childlike Prayer

Celebrating the feast of the Holy Rosary,  we can dwell on three reflections highlighted by the occasion. 

1. The Simplicity of the Prayer:

One of the prominent reasons this prayer has swept the heart of so many down the centuries is the simplicity. Not merely the repetition that is involved, but even the concentration that repetition enables, is a help for those who are not experts in praying to make a reasonable effort to pray. At times, personally I feel the presence of our blessed Mother so mysteriously close as I pray those beads...am certain this is an experience of many.

2. The Profundity of the Prayer:

The simplicity not withstanding the profundity of the prayer draws our attention. Pius V would summarise Rosary as the Synthesis of the Gospels. Infact, in meditating the four mysteries - the joyful, the luminous, the sorrowful and the glorious - we contemplate the entire salvation plan of the Father. The love of the Father comes so overwhelmingly filling our hearts as we contemplate each of those decades.

3. The Prayer of Victories:

The history of the Holy Rosary has a clue for us to understand the prayer better. This feast that celebrates the victory gained over enemies through prayer, was initially celebrated as Our Lady of Victories. Within a short while it was renamed the feast of Our Lady of Holy Rosary. The Holy Rosary is a weapon of victory over the enemies, especially the original enemy the devil, who wishes to win us over from the Eternal Love. 

Blessed Mother of the Holy Rosary, pray for us.

WORD 2day: 6th October, 2016

The folly of forgetfulness

Thursday,  27th week in ordinary time
Gal 3: 1-5; Lk 11: 5-13

Forgetfulness can lead to embarrassing situations, sometimes to unfortunate predicaments too. No, we are not talking about the Gospel where the man in question forgets that his friend is going to visit him or the friend who forgets to inform him about his visit,  maybe. We are talking about the Galatians who forgot so prematurely their true identity and Paul gets so angry with them.

At times when we forget our true identity,  the identity that we inherit in the Lord,  we end up so foolish, lost in our egoism, legalism and materialism. All these three will disorient us from who we really are and make us unable to approach the Lord with a childlike trust to ask,  seek and to knock.

WORD 2day: 5th October, 2016

The Reign Mentality

Wednesday, 27th week in Ordinary Time
Gal 2: 1-2, 7-14; Lk 11:1-4

We continue to hear from Paul the beginnings of  his ministry in the Church.  Both his account and Jesus' teaching in the Gospel speak to us of a set of qualities that can be called a Reign mentality. Let's highlight just three of them:

Personal integrity that gives Paul an extraordinary power when he presents his case to the people or to the apostles.  Unless I am an integral person,  I cannot speak of the Reign with authority.

Fearlessness that comes from the absolute dedication that a person has.  Nothing matters more than the Reign and hence there is nothing that can stop me from holding on to it,  not even a threat to my life.

Forgiving Confrontations which help one to avoid self righteousness and compromise at the same time.  At times our very idea of standing for truth and siding with the right,  though an absolute reign-requirement,  can drive people far from us. I need mercy not sacrifice,  says the Lord.

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

Listening to the Lord

4th October 2016-  celebrating St Francis
Gal 1: 13-24; Lk 10: 38-42

What strikes us in Paul's narration of his Christ experience is his readiness to perceive Christ inspite of his totally opposed prior experience.  That was possible because of his capacity to Listen.

Mary was considered wiser than her sister Martha in her choice because she chose to listen to the Lord inspite of all the excitement involved.

Today we have another great example of someone who listened,  who listened with his entire heart... and transformed his life so radically that he became the inspiration for multitudes to transform themselves.  St. Francis of Assisi underwent an experience of Christ that was no less than that which Paul had. Francis opened his ears,  his heart and his mind so willingly,  readily and sincerely that he became a light burning so bright already in his life time.  Today he continues to be a challenge to the consumeristic and materialistic world... standing for a life of love and simplicity.

May St.  Francis inspire us  to listen with all our heart to the Lord and to each other!

WORD 2day: 3rd October, 2016

Get the gospel right

Monday,  27th week in Ordinary Time
Gal 1:6-12; Lk 10: 25-37

Recently I got an opportunity to speak to a group which had equal number of Catholics and Non Catholics making up its total.  At the beginning I was a bit conscious of that fact but within a few minutes I resolved the issue within me and stuck to my spontaneity and finally there were so many of those Non Catholic friends who came up to express their gratitude for the insights shared. It was an experience that taught me recently that getting our Gospel right is what matters most.

Jesus speaks of it today.  The right elements of  any Gospel are love of God and love of one's neighbour. When both of these are not compromised for any thing else, however good or desirable they seem to be,  then  we are well on our way to the Reign of God.