WORD 2day: 2nd August, 2016

The Courage to Wait

Tuesday, 18th week in Ordinary Time

Jer 30: 1-2,12-15,18-22; Mt 14: 22-36

Waiting seems an undue demand on persons these days. Traffic, queues, public modes of transport...everywhere this is the feeling I had recently - people resent to wait. With the Lord, there is no other way to peace than to wait... for God lives in eternity!

Jeremiah today speaks of an imminent and wholesome intervention by God on behalf of the people of Israel. All this while he would be taking to task those people who spoke of a positive change of the times, he would find fault and challenge them. But now they are all silenced, but Jeremiah speaks of it: restoring, rebuilding and raising Israel back from its dust, to be God's people.

Jesus' intention was to state without doubt the fact that whatever happens the Lord never leaves us- be it storming sea or the threatening world around. The last word is the Lord's and we need to wait till the last word is said! It takes enormous courage to do that. Our patience runs dry, our ground appears to give way, our trust shifts focus and our minds begin to question. When every thing around us seems to be going wrong, can we just hold the hands of the Lord and keep walking come what may... that requires the courage to wait!

WORD 2day: 1st August, 2016

The False Comforts

Monday, 18th week in Ordinary Time

Jer 28: 1-17; Mt 14: 13-21

We have an interesting episode from prophet Jeremiah today - he speaks of one of the self-appointed prophets who stood against him. Like today where we have people who try to make of the Word of God a means of business or use it to attain their ends or play with it to fill their coffers, so were there persons who pleased the people and won their favour, vis-a-vis the message of warning and call to conversion from the true prophets! One such we have in the Word today - Hananiah who offers people a false comfort that they will soon be out of the bondage they found themselves in. God's message was not that, but to change their ways so that they could find a divine favour. Hananiahs who offer easy happiness, instant makeovers and magical moments abound even today.

The Prophets of the Lord, the persons of the Lord, the true message from the Lord solicits from us a total surrender. We might at times find ourselves even far far away from where we wish to be and with nothing in hand - but we need to go with the Lord all the way, be with the Lord all that while. Then the Lord would offer us that food, which will give us eternal happiness, a bliss that can be replaced by absolutely nothing else!