MERCILENT 2016 - 8th March

BE LIFE-GIVING: flow from the Sanctuary!

Tuesday, 4th week in Lent

Ezek 47: 9-12; Jn 5: 1-3,5-16

The River was life-giving and wholesome.  The reason: it flowed from the Sanctuary. Jesus was life-giving because he flowed from the Eternal Sanctuary,  his Father and our Father! We are called to be rivers that flow from the Sanctuary... to be life giving. 

I am fond of repeating a story that I read a long while ago, about the man who bought a new hunting dog which could surprisingly walk over the water. He wanted to flaunt the special capacity of his dog before his neighbour and took him along once when he went hunting. He shot a game which fell across the river and the dog ran over the river and picked the hunt and returned. Looking at his neighbour he asked,  did you notice anything? Yeah, I see that your dog does not know to swim, said the neighbour. We are sometimes experts in picking up whatever is negative. They could not even see that the man who was a vegetable for the past three decades could walk now;  they only saw that he was carrying a mat which he should not. 

The more we get in touch with our inner Sanctuary where the Lord abides,  the more we respect the living Sanctuaries that is our brothers and sisters in the Lord, and the more we long for the chosen sanctuaries where the Lord deigns to wait for us,  the more life giving we should turn. Our very presence should enhance joy, hope and life wherever we are. It will happen only if we flow from the Sanctuary,  living our life from the deep. 

The Mercilent Attitude for today : Live to the full,  give life to all. 

MERCILENT 2016 - 17th March

BE ETERNAL: belong to the covenant.

Thursday, 5th week in Lent

Gen 17: 3-9; Jn 8: 51-59

Today we have the account of the Abrahamic Covenant - I will be your God and you shall be my people. And Jesus completes that account in the Gospel saying, 'whoever keeps my word will never see death'. The one who believes in the Son and does the will of the One who sent the Son, will have eternal life - this is what Jesus meant and said in various terms at various instances. 

Eternal can have three meanings: 

Endless (anantha), that is what we are called to: though we have a beginning we are destined to an existence that is endless as we will become one with the Lord, and not just perish. 

Beginningless (anaadhi) that is what God is: One who is without a beginning or an end.

Beyond these two meanings there is a third meaning which is very difficult for the human mind to understand. That is, Timelessness. Eternal means timelessness, beyond time, beyond all categories of before and after, earlier and later, and all other chronological considerations. This is what confuses the Jews. How can Jesus speak of Abraham as if he were someone who still lived? 

We can become eternal when we become one with God. We become timeless. We have nothing much to do but just obey, just carry out orders, just live on in the way that the Lord says, make choices for the Lord and the Lord's will, reject anything that detracts our life's paths. Our eternal life can begin right here, when we belong to the covenant.

The Mercilent Attitude for today: What does God want of me at this moment? - let that be a constant question on your mind.