THE WORD AND THE SAINT

A Prophet of the Reign

31st July 2017: Remembering St. Ignatius of Loyola
Exo 32: 15-24,30-34; Mt 13: 31-35

We are reading these days at the Eucharist about Moses and the interventions that God made through Moses, the great prophet of God. Today we celebrate another prophet, Ignatius who has some characteristics that he shares with Moses.

Moses was a timely intervention that God had prepared for the sake of God's people. Ignatius was a timely intervention too; he comes in at the disturbed times of Reformation and initiates a Counter Reformation that revolutionises the whole Church and calls her to renewal.

Moses had a history of killing a person; but that was an outcome of the fundamental feeling for the oppressed people that was hidden in his heart and God makes use of that to raise him up as a prophet who would stand by God's people. Ignatius was a soldier, who had ambitions of rising in power and position; but God makes use of that warrior's spirit to raise a soldier of God, who would combat the wiles of the evil one and defend the Church, the people of God.

Moses gives rise to a new community of people, the hebrews who were bound by the Ten Commandments, the sign of their covenant with the Lord. Ignatius gave rise to a new company called the Company of Jesus, later called the Society of Jesus, who bound themselves to total obedience to the Holy Father and resolved to stand by the Church and defend the Church at all cost. 

Today Jesus speaks of the Reign of God as a mustard seed that grows, and we have a beautiful example of the Society of Jesus or the Jesuit Order, which we have seen grow from the six people that they were to the biggest of all Religious Orders in history. They have upheld the cause of the Reign of God, proving to be prophets in the world. The Reign and being prophets of the Reign involves struggles which one cannot imagine.  Are we ready for those struggles?

WHAT DO YOU CHOOSE?

30th July, 2017 - 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time

1 Kgs 3: 5, 7-12; Rom 8: 28-30; Mt 13: 44-52

Have you lived these moments:

- Someone defrauds you and takes away from you whatever you have, though it might not have been much, but that is all what you had! You let go of it, for you have no other go.

- Someone requests you for a help and you render it most willingly, only to later come to know that the person never deserved that help, or the person actually has been exploiting you! You shrug your shoulder and go your way.

- Someone is in dire need and you very generously lend a hand; but as soon as the person got to a better state of affairs, the person turns indifferent to you. You begin to wonder, why on earth in the first place, did you choose to help! Anyway, you did what you did, you would do it further too.

- Someone whom you know is against you or has no corner soft in his or her heart for you, but you continue to do good, help out and remain charitable, however feeling bad that nothing returns. You keep doing it anyway.

Have you lived an experience of this nature? Can there be a rational explanation for these ...however hard you try they will only remain empty excuses. But the world considers foolish what these persons consider valuable whereas, that which matters the least to these, matters the most to the world. The choice of Solomon, the attitude that St. Paul speaks of and the act of the man Jesus speaks of in the parable, they are of this kind. They seem to be losers in the eyes of the world. But in fact they gain something that the world knows nothing about, even if it knows it values it for nothing!

It is like that girl about whom the story is narrated - the girl who was asked to choose whatever she wishes in the palace of the king. Whatever she touched, it was told, would belong to her. While everyone else with her was running helter skelter touching what they could imagine was precious, this girl stood her ground filled with thoughts. They asked her, 'haven't you made your choice?' She said, 'in fact I have and walked up to the king and held his hand'. What could be more precious than the king in the palace of the king - she became the crown princess! 

We may have everything, but if we lack God on our side, soon we will feel the emptiness all around. When we choose God we choose everything! What do you choose? 

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

29th July, 2017: Remembering St.  Martha

1 John 4: 7-16; John 11:19-27

Woman called Martha,  she had a sister called Mary and a brother called Lazarus...these are the details given to us by the Gospels taken together.  

Three elements highlighted by the Word in her life:

1. She invited Jesus... there was a woman who invited Jesus to her home, reads the episode at Bethany. Inviting Jesus into our homes,  is a Bethany theme we can reflect on today.

2. She loved Jesus, she loved her sister and her brother. Martha was a person of love. Her hospitality to Jesus,  her missing of Lazarus and her relationship with her sister Mary. ..these are imitable signs of God's love made tangible in her life.

3. She believed in Christ. She did not take Jesus for granted. Her familiarity with Jesus did not make her forget the fact of who he was. She held Jesus always high and believed in him.

The point that comes out in short is the importance of our personal relationship with Christ, our eagerness to do all that we can to make Jesus feel at home in our hearts and our mindfulness of who Christ is to us: the one who comes in the name of the Almighty!

WORD 2day: 28th July, 2017

The Right-Living People

Friday, 16th week in Ordinary Time

Exo 20: 1-17; Mt 13: 18-23

Jesus speaks of the four types of seed ground, viz., the pathway, the rocky, the thorny and the good ground, and compares them with four kinds of people. His story remains open ended throwing the challenge to us: which ground are you? Extending the same analogy with respect to the laws that the Lord gives us, today we find the same four kinds of people.

Those who do not know what is right and deliberately keep away from understanding it: they are like the pathway; nothing remains in them. They are the ruthless inhuman beings whom we find on earth who are a burden to the planet and scourge to humanity.

Those who know what is right but do not do it: they are like the rocky ground. There is a chance of correcting them, but it takes a yeomen effort - to break them, fill them will more sand and convert them.

Those who know what is right but are unable to do it: they are like the ground with thorn bushes. They know and wish to do what is right but find themselves too weak before the temptations and struggles and they give in easily. They need a lot of mercy and compassion and they can be set right by a bit of cleaning.

Those who know what is right and strive to do it, come what may: they are the good ground and they are rare to find. In fact they are the Lord's true sons and daughters. They need no external pressure or internal force to do what is right. It comes naturally to them and the others find it too unrealistic. These are the Right-Living people!

Which of the four types do I belong?

WORD 2day: 27th July, 2017

Seeing and Hearing - Lightening and Thunder!

Thursday, 16th week in Ordinary Time

Exo 19: 1-2,9-11,16-20; Mt 13: 10-17

Happy are your eyes for they see what they see; happy are your ears for they hear what they hear! Israel encountered the Lord, just as Moses did. Moses saw God, the people saw the lightening; Moses heard the Lord speak, the people heard the peals of thunder. They were frightened to the core, while Moses was not. Seeing and hearing are two great faculties that the Lord has given us! 

Even spiritually seeing and hearing are wondrous gifts of God. God wishes that we may see: but do we look at God's presence as an illumination of life and its meaning or merely as fearsome lightening? God speaks that we may hear: but do we hear those words or only a noisy thunder?  It is not destroying the traditions that Jesus is intent on, but finding the right rationale behind so many things that we see and hear. 

Are we ready to meet the Lord, to see and to hear...- not out of fear, but in awe, respect and love!

HAPPY GRAND PARENTS' DAY

Celebrating Sts. Joachim and Anne: 26th July, 2017

Joachim and Anne, are the grand parents of Jesus. Are they Biblical figures - in themselves they are not. But by virtue of their role in the life of Mary who was chosen to be the Mother of God, they draw their importance. Did Jesus get to live with them...we do not know for certain, but probably yes! The way they brought up their daughter guarantees that they would have been great sources of inspiration in Jesus' life. Grandparents have a unique role to play in our lives, specially spiritual lives. Grand parents stand for the all important phenomenon of transmission of faith, from one generation to the next. 

The transmission that the grandparents effect is a practical and concrete transmission of lived faith. It deals with right practice and right living. Faith in its very essence has an all-embracing quality of transforming the entire life of a person and the community to which the person belongs. 

Let us treasure our traditions, transform our todays and thus pave way for meaningful tomorrows. Let us pray for our Grandparents specially today and honour them in some little way.

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

Jesus' School of Servant Leadership

Remembering St. James - 25th July, 2017
2 Cor 4: 7-15; Mt 20: 20-28

Feast of any Apostle reminds us of the wonderful words that St. Paul utters today: "we hold this treasure in earthen vessels". Every apostle has his own weakness, nevertheless the gift that they are and they possess, surpasses everything as God's power and might is revealed in it.

Feast of St. James (with the Gospel that we are given to reflect today) reminds us of this more strongly and adds another specific teaching, a teaching from Jesus' School of Servant Leadership. In Matthew's and Mark's versions of the Gospel, we find that every time Jesus foretells about his passion, he follows it up with the discourse on servant leadership (as we see in Mt 16:24ff; 18:1ff; 20:20ff). James and John took time to realise that the only thing we can inherit from Jesus is his identity as Suffering Servant!

Eventually they wanted to bear the crown that Jesus mentioned and that is what they did. James led the community of Jerusalem... humble and service minded as the Master himself; and his blood shed like the Master's (Acts 12:2). Let us praise the Lord for the apostle St. James and be prepared to witness to the Lord till our last breath!

WORD 2day: 24th July, 2017

Stand up, Cry out and Carry on!

Monday, 16th Week in Ordinary Time

Exo 14: 5-18; Mt 12: 38-42

Look at the images given to us today - the raging waters, the pressing enemy forces, the stone hearted beneficiaries, the swallowing sea monster, the gulf that separates the south and the north, the hard headed wicked generation - there is everywhere threat and the so-called evil stands out. What are you going to do?... Stand up, Cry out and Carry on!

Stand Up against the evil: Jesus never feared the pressurising crowd. He was able to stand up and call a spade a spade. He was able to chide them on their face - you evil generation. A person of God needs that spirit to be bold, to stand up against the evil and to stand up for the truth.

Cry Out to the Lord: It is never by my own power that I can fight the powers of evil. No I cannot. I need to cry out to the Lord, just as Moses did. Moses was mindful of the fact that he was about God's business and it belonged to God to accomplish whatever has to be, in and through God's servants. In whatever we do, we need to acknowledge the presence of God and the workmanship of God.

Carry On with the Lord: Never give in to the pressure of pleasing the clamouring crowd. The world will keep shouting at you, criticising you and giving you easier and more pragmatic alternatives. But what matters is to carry on with the Lord. That is what we see with both Moses and Jesus - they never obeyed the crowd, they never gave in to the expectations of the world. They carried on with the One who had called them: their Father!

THE JUST JUDGE

A Judge Merciful, Patient and Forgiving

16th Sunday in Ordinary Time: 23rd July, 2017

Wis 12: 13, 16-19; Rom 8: 26-27; Mt 13: 24-43

One thing that is certain about anything is, that it will end. Our life too will end! However not necessarily at the end of our life, but at every moment of our life, as we make decisions, as we go through actions, as we choose our words to speak and our opinions to make, we are liable for judgement. The one who judges us is not anyone who is placed above us (our superiors or bosses) or those who are around us (the people whose opinion we depend so much on); but it is Lord God, the Just Judge!

The Lord alone can judge, for it is the Lord alone who knows our innermost thoughts and fundamental attitudes. When the Lord judges, the Lord judges not our actions but our attitudes, not our decisions but our dispositions, not our choices but the underlying intention and the priority. Nothing can escape from the all knowing, ever present God who knows us through and through. That is both a challenge and a grace: a challenge because we cannot deceive God; a grace because the Lord can never judge us rashly - the Lord is a Just Judge.

The Just Judge is Mighty but Merciful. The book of wisdom, in the first reading, so beautifully brings out the fact that the Lord is mighty but merciful as a judge. The Lord knows everything and sees through everything, but treats us with mercy and kindness. As St. Paul expresses in the second reading, the Spirit of the Lord knows us and inspires us from within. At times we fail repeatedly in our daily life, with tendencies that overpower us and with temptations that make us fumble. The Lord knows it all, but the Lord's mercies never cease! The Lord has perfect control over us and can decide to pull out the weeds at anytime, but that is not who God is! God is merciful and loving, slow to anger and abounding in love!

The Just Judge is Particular but Patient. The Lord is not satisfied with any mediocre life. The Lord is particular about the way we are to live our life. The Lord has set an ideal as the acceptable way of life and wants us to live up to that. Nothing short of perfection is acceptable in the eyes of the Lord; but the Lord is patient. The Lord endures the wait. The Lord walks with us, step by step as we proceed towards this perfection. When we lack in perfection we actually are not testing the patience of the Lord, for the Lord's patience is endless, but we are running the risk of not being "gathered into the Lord's barn" (Mt 13:43). There is no end to the Lord's patience, but our possibilities are limited and it is we who have to feel the urgency!

The Just Judge is Firm but Forgiving. The Lord is demanding but absolutely understanding. The Lord's firmness never belittles the readiness to forgive. The justice of the Lord is guided by love, the absolute love that characterises the Lord alone! Firmness of God is in the very nature that we have inherited as sons and daughters of God. We are called to be plants, giving fruit, blossoming flowers and putting forth the yield, because we are children of God. We would belong to the Reign when we give fruit, however small or negligible it be: just a small mustard seed can give rise to a tree that houses hundreds of birds, a bit of yeast can leaven a bunch of dough. The Lord gives us chances but never relents from the demand to bear fruit. Forgiveness is never a compromise, it is always another chance to start anew, firm in conviction to reach the perfection.

The Lord is a just judge, loving and merciful, patient and kind, understanding and forgiving! Yet it is our duty to realise our call and bear fruit, grow into plants and not into weeds!

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

Faith is not just clinging

Celebrating St. Mary Magdalene: 22nd July, 2017

Song 3:1-4; Jn 20: 1-2, 11-18

At times those who wish to show themselves as being faithful and pious have recourse to practices like spending time and energy to appease God, pilgrimage, fasting or other forms of self denial. The feast of Magdalene reminds us of the fact that the love of God is totally gratuitous and greatly challenging. 

The Lord teaches Mary Magdalene, that faith is not merely clinging on to him, but going ahead of him, announcing the Lord's presence to the world, bringing the great news of hope to all around and waiting for the command from the Lord for further action. A mere sentimental attachment to the Lord is an easy alternative while an integral living, a courageous announcement and a personal transformation, makes oneself the message to be shared with all! 

This is true faith: a personal transformation that leads to a convinced proclamation, through a compelling witness. Let us not look to cling to Jesus; let us take Jesus to others by becoming ourselves so filled with Jesus, just as Mary Magdalene was. 

WORD 2day: 21st July, 2017

The Bloodshed and Mercy

Friday, 15th Week in Ordinary Time

Gen 11:10 - 12:14; Mt 12: 1-8

It is popularly spoken of that there is a constant warfare going on in the world between good and evil. Today looking at the situation around: the gau-rakshak craze, the hindutva rising, the ISIS phenomenon, the growing terrorist outfits, the sans-value clamour for world supremacy...all these seem to establish that the evil is mightily powerful. But can we leave it at that? Is there no place for the good? 

The Lord is there, standing by and always standing for the innocent and the good. There seems to be an ongoing contest between the Mercy of God and the bloodshed of humanity. This bloodshed will not stop until every one on earth stops everything, listens to the Lord and experiences the mercy of God! It is the Mercy of God that can save us from all bloodshed, because it is out of this mercy that God chose to shed the blood of God's only son. Will that Mercy stop all bloodshed today?

WORD 2day: 19th July, 2017

The real sign!

Wednesday, 15th week in Ordinary Time

Gen 3: 1-6,9-12; Mt 11:25-27

The story of Moses unfolds, or the story of Israel with Moses at the head. The Lord gives Moses a sign. Read carefully the first reading today: the sign is not about the changing water, festering frogs and buzzing flies, the actual sign the Lord gives is people serving the Lord on the Mount. We cannot get lost with intermediate signs and temporary glamours - like the crying statues, the bleeding icons and so on. The actual sign is in serving the Lord as a people of God. I remember a movie called Joshua, where a new prophetic man enters a community. Everyone thinks he will do great things and develop the society, but all that he does is touch individual hearts and build up the community and every thing else follows! That is what the Lord wants of us today - to touch each other's heart and build up true communion. Once that is done everything will follow. Those who see will exclaim like Jesus does in the Gospel today, giving praises to the Lord. Let us grow in genuine relationship, true mutual concern and sincere care for each other - that is the real sign!

After a Break...

It has been quite some time I blogged...
due to an important chain of events.
Am back in Rome now after 3 years...
And this movement from India to Rome 
took some time, effort and concentration.
I reached Rome on 14th of July...
And here we are...
Let us resume our journey on!

THE WORD AWAITS...

To be Receptive, Perceptive and Productive

15th Sunday in Ordinary Time: 15th July, 2017
Is 55: 10-11; Rom 8: 18-23; Mt 13: 1-23

“The Word is active and alive” says the famous words from the letter the Hebrews (4:12). Isaiah today, presents the same theme drawing our attention to the Word that comes from the Lord and does not return until the Word has accomplished the purpose for which it came! There is no doubt that the Word is active and alive, effective and efficient, powerful and purpose filled… but an unforgettable fact is that producing fruits depends on more than one thing! First and above all, it depends on the receiver, clarifies the Liturgy today. It is not that the Word will be automatically powerful and change-causing, independent of the one who listens to it. Right at the origin when the Scriptures deal with the creation narration, there is a difference made about the way the Word acted in relation the human persons vis-à-vis the other creatures.

The Word awaits the response of the person in order to create in and through the person the desired effect. This is due to the Personal Freedom that the Lord empowers us with. The readings, the first and the Gospel, presents a beautiful analogy…the Word as Seed. The analogy is exceptional because it takes into account this crucial aspect of the readiness of the concerned person to respond, in order that the Word may bear fruit. The Word requires that the receiver is a Good Soil, so that the Word may have its way!

To be good soil, we have to be Receptive:

Unlike the pathway that gives the seed away so easily, and does not have any room for the seed to penetrate, we need to be receptive in order that the Word may have some effect in us. The receptivity consists in our readiness to listen, our love to understand and the willingness to retain.

To be good soil, we have to be Perceptive:

Receiving is not enough, states the parable. The rocky ground and the land covered with thorns did receive the seed, but were not deep enough or prepared enough to send down its roots. Being perceptive consists in spending time with the Word. Allowing the Word to sink into us, to spark insights within us and to challenge our present style of life… these are the qualities that a real listener of the Word will have. Otherwise we would be, as James warns us, fooling ourselves (cf James 1: 22-25).

To be good soil, we have to be Productive:

The yearning for the Reign of God, that St. Paul refers to in the second reading as the mark of being children of God: that is a longing for a change, the eagerness to grow, the energy with which the seed bores the soil to put its head out into the world. We have to moan with the pain of a woman in childbirth; we cannot be complacent with our ordinary, below average spiritual life, if we really want some change to happen within us. The Word challenges us towards this change. It is left to us, to our personal freedom and to our yearning for perfection, to make solid resolutions and follow it up with concrete actions.

The Word awaits such productive grounds, that it may accomplish the task for which it was sent by the Lord. A receptive, perceptive and productive person, is the good soil on which the Reign will germinate, grow and spread into a great tree where birds of all kind will come, reside and rest.

WORD 2day: 13th July, 2017

God sends me before...
Thursday,  14th week in Ordinary time

God sent Joseph before the other brothers to save the tribes of Israel in time of dire need. Jesus sent the apostles two by two to prepare the way before him. God  sent God's only son born of a woman that we may be saved. Today God sends me before God could enter into any social reality or phenomenon to do my best to it, by that preparing the way for the Lord and the Lord's Reign.

WORD 2day: 12th July, 2017

Wednesday,  14th week in Ordinary time

We are all sent... sent to proclaim, sent for others, sent to bring back.

Sent to proclaim the Reign of God, all our life irrespective of opportunities we have or not.

Sent for others, not for ourselves though we have our own life to live. My openness and my other oriented thinking should manifest utmost selflessness.

Sent to bring back, to bring back the lost not by force or fright, but with gentleness and example. First I need to come back to the Lord if I have to bring others to the Lord.

Sent, sent with a purpose, let us me mindful as we go.

THE POWER OF MEEKNESS

9th July, 2017: 14th Sunday of the Ordinary Time

Zech 9: 9-10; Rom 8: 9, 11-13; Mt 11: 25-30

To be powerful, to be the leader, to be dominant, to be in command... these are the dreams people always grow with and crave for. The world advocates it as "normal" ambition of "normal" persons. I know of a priest, who when he comes to a religious house will invariable go to the kitchen and eat with the kitchen staff who cook for us. There is another person whom I know of who owns a property worth a few crores, but eats every meal with the orphan children who live in the orphanage that he runs! These are choices, choices for the weak, the meek, the humble, the powerless and it is here that there is real power! 

The choice of Yahweh in the Old Testament was for such people. God was, God of the poor, the God of the oppressed, the God of the suffering. The concept of 'Anawim Yahweh', that the prophets speak of: the vulnerable, the suffering, the poor, the bowed-down, the people in submission - the Lord stands by them; they are the privileged people of God. The definitive choice of God is seen absolutely in the choice that God makes, to become a human person, go through all that a human person goes through and accept death, even death on the cross (cf. Phil 2). The First reading says the Lord comes not on great splendid chariot or with the power of the horses or powerful weapons. The Lord comes on a colt! "Learn of me for I am meek and humble of heart!"

The readings today present us with three challenges, to be people of God. 

The first is, the challenge to create a counter culture: the people of the Reign are called to be prophets who challenge the present order. The Lord repeatedly instructed during the past week through prophet Amos: Do not be conformed to the world! Challenge the culture that justifies domination and subjugation. Challenge the world that idolises wealth and power and prominence. Do not succumb to the culture of craving for power.

The second is, to challenge one's own ego: the more you do away with your ego, the more you give space to the spirit of the Lord within you, says the first reading today. It is very logical, the less space I give to my ego, the more space I can give to the other; the more space I give the other, the more space I am able to set apart for God.

The third challenge is to create a society that is meek, humble and peaceful. The Lord promises, all those who are tired and heavy laden, 'come to me and I shall give you rest'. But in the very next verse, he says: take my yoke upon you and learn of me - and you will find rest! The conditions placed for the real rest, is taking the yoke from the Lord and learning from the Lord to be humble and meek. 

It is in this meekness that a person is strong. Meekness is not weakness; it is the mighty weapon that Jesus taught us to use to the best of results. Creating a peaceful world, creating a warless society, creating a just and egalitarian society, the change has to begin from within: having a heart that is founded on the balanced ground of the Lord; developing within, a spirit that is unscathed by jealousy and rancour; nurturing a soul that is sweet and filled with love! This sweetness, love, forgiveness, mercy and serenity is the real power of meekness!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

WORD 2day: 8th July, 2017

Some questions we can never pose

Saturday, 13th week in Ordinary time
Gen 27: 1-5,15-29; Jn 9: 14-17

There are some questions we should never pose, for we will have no answer. Why do the evil prosper? Why do the good suffer? What would be the destiny of the plotters? What does a reward mean when the innocent struggle all their life?

How many ever times you ask that question or how many ever explanations you hear... you will never be satisfied. Because these are types of questions you can never pose within the purview of faith. What is there for you is to surrender yourself to the eternal design of God and collaborate to þ full. Behold the Lord is making something new!

WORD 2day: 4th July, 2017

Everything in our own terms? 

Tuesday, 13th week in Ordinary time 

Gen 19:15-29; Mt 8: 23-27

Why do storms occur in our life? Or why do storms threaten our lives unprecedentedly? With this question raised in the Gospel, let us have a look at the first reading. When the Lord revealed his will to act against evil in Sodom and Gomorah, first Abraham tried negotiating with the Lord a way out of destruction. The Lord permits it. Then the messengers of God tell Lot, his wife, daughters and his household to flee Sodom but they still linger on. The Messengers of God take them out of the city to make sure they are safe. Now they are asked to run to a  hill country a little away, Lot asks for a nearer place! He is granted this favour too. After all these, they were asked only to flee, without looking back - Lot's wife looks back and invites her own end! We want things to happen in life, just like we want and everything in our own terms! We wantonly bring in evil and suffering into our lives, without being aware of it, because we want everything in our own terms and finally blame God for it. This is how storms brew in our lives and there will be a moment we will cry out to God, whom we did not care to engage till then. Can we grow to take things from God, as God wants them - that is the challenge we have today!

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

A Model of Faith - so human and so consoling!

Celebrating St Thomas, the Apostle - 3rd July, 2017

Eph 2: 19-22; Jn 20: 24-29

St. Thomas always comes across as a saint so human and so close to us in his experience! He is not of that crop of saints who prove so super natural that, though we esteem them, we find it difficult to emulate them in our day to day life. Thomas, like Peter, is one saint who comes very close to us in our daily experience of limitation and struggle. There are three elements in Thomas that stand out for us to consider and imitate.

Thomas was burdened with doubts, we too are. At times of struggle and pressures of life, we begin to doubt if the Lord is truly around. How many people have this kind of a feeling, a long list of questions and endless issues they are battling with - are they to be entirely blamed for the doubts that arise in their minds?

Thomas was attached to Jesus, what about us? Thomas, the Apostle placed all his trust in the person of Jesus. Though he was not very sure of who or what Jesus was, he was able to say, 'come let us go with him and die'. It was this attachment to Jesus that pulled him out of all the mire doubts that surrounded him. When Jesus appeared to him, after the Resurrection, he surrendered absolutely. The presence of the person of Risen Jesus was an overwhelming experience for Thomas and he confesses his faith profusely. 

Thomas saw the Lord, as we wish to0! You believe because you have seen; Blessed are those who have not seen yet believe. Seeing the Lord is a special gift anyway. To see the Lord in our daily experience, in our moments of doubts, in our dire needs and difficulties, is a special gift of faith we need to grow in.

In all these, Thomas seems to give us an example that is so human because it is so filled with limitations and struggles. His example is a great source of consolation letting us feel the Lord close to us, in spite of our unworthiness. Let us celebrate our faith!

READY TO WELCOME GOD?

Welcoming God, God's Message and God's Messenger

13th Sunday in Ordinary Time

2 Kgs 4: 8-11, 13-16; Rom 6: 3-4, 8-11; Mt 10:37-42

I remember the first days when I heard the hymn, 'Welcome Holy Spirit' - I was amused at those lyrics...I believe it was inspired by Benny Hinn's book Good Morning Holy Spirit (or was it the otherwise)... anyway, the words tickled a smile in my heart those days. Though now we have got used to that hymn, the words are still very homely and down to earth. Infact welcoming God, is a beautiful attitude. 

Welcoming God would mean an entire life style, a totally unique priority list, an entirely unworldly mindset if we can use that phrase! That is what Jesus says. The other day I had a very interesting conversation with one of my friends, who lost his father too, as I did recently. He said, for him it was an obligation to stay home, losing a few prospects of his future to ensure his mother felt safe and secure. I said, I couldn't do that! And that is a matter of fact. With my call and commitment as a Religious, I cannot prioritise the care of my mother. In fact when it comes to giving priority to God and God's call, nothing can claim precedence. This is the message that the Lord wants to communicate. Welcoming God would mean prioritising God over everything and all.

Welcoming God's Message is another daily disposition of welcoming God. It would be hypocritical to say I need God and live as if I dont. I do things that show others that I need God. I speak to others about me and my life giving an idea that I value God. But if that is not translated into my daily life and regular choices, I am failing to live a life that is integral. Accepting God's message is changing my life according to that message; it is dying to sin and being alive for God in Christ. 

Welcoming God's Messengers, is a disposition of openness and humility - being open to God and God's marvellous and mysterious ways of revealing Godself to me - through persons, events and signs. A new person we come across, a poor person we see suffering, a hapless person we exploited...all these are messengers of God! And being humble is to receive God's message from anyone, even those from whom we least expect it! The Shunammitess we come across in the first reading had a special eye for this observation! She spotted the Messenger of God in Elisha and the consequence of it, we know so gladly. 

Today, the readings ask this precious question: Are you ready to Welcome God - it is not that easy to welcome God, to welcome God's message and to welcome God's messengers!

WORD 2day: 1st July, 2017

Meeting the Lord passing by

Saturday, 12th week in Ordinary Time

Gen 18: 1-15; Mt 8: 5-17

Have you witnessed thick black clouds just pass by over your head without even a drizzle while you are dry, parching for want of water. That is exactly the experience when you let the Lord pass by without claiming for yourself all the blessing that the Lord has in store for you. You will surely not know, even if you knew you would hardly believe, the blessings the Lord has in store. Hence an attitude of openness and total surrender, ever  connected to the Lord and perennially relying on the Lord's directions is a way of life that would take you to moments of thunderous grace! 

It is a very special disposition to be able to meet the Lord passing by...if Abraham did not have it, he would have missed being the father of the Covenant; if the Centurion did not have it, he would have lost one of his treasured servant; if Zacchaeus did not have it he would have missed salvation entering his house; if the disciples to Emmaus did not have it they would have missed that life-changing encounter with the Risen Lord. A new month, and a new day, today, are you ready to behold it, without missing out on it?