BEING SAINTS

1st November, 2017: All Saints Day

Rev.  7: 2-4,9-14; 1 Jn 3: 1-3; Mt 5: 1-12a.

O when the saints, 

go marching in, 

I want to be in that number! - 

... a simple but profound thought in those familiar lines of the song. To be saints: that is God's call to each of us. At times we think, becoming saints is reserved for a select few. May be the long and tedious process of canonisation of a person in the Church, makes us feel that way. But the fact is, each of us, all of us is called to be saints. St. Paul states that in clear and unequivocal terms in his letter to the Ephesians (1:4), Thessalonians (1 thes 4:3), and other places. 

The question sometimes is, whether it is, being a saint or becoming a saint! We are created in the image and likeness of God (says Genesis 1:27) and this image and likeness of God is a "given", a nature that we have within us, as a gift. We are reminded of this image and likeness at our baptism. All the we need to do is to remain with that image in our lives. The beautiful symbol used in the rite of baptism, where the priest hands over a white cloth to the child and entrusts the task of bringing it, as it were, unsullied, intact in its purity to the end of days.That, dear friends, is the call - "to be saints"...and not merely to 'become' saints.

The readings today, develop the same thought in three wonderful dimensions:

Being Saints means... being aware of who we are! O Christian, realise your dignity! We are children of God, reminds St. John in his letter, in the second reading. God has chosen us from eternity, before the foundation of the world! This is an initiative from God our Father and Mother, who creates us and wishes that we share in God's love and ever remain in God's image and likeness, as children of the loving God.

Being Saints means... being washed by the blood of the Lamb! The Image of God within us, sometimes is disturbed, smudged, smeared or sullied by the choices we make misusing the human freedom that is granted to us. The evil one will be more than happy when we lose heart at such moments and give up. The Son of God, our Saviour Jesus Christ shed his blood that we may have victory over sin and death. In that blood we are saved, and in that blood we are made clean, each and every time we turn to the Lord in genuine repentance and willingness to regain our original image. Saints are those who have their garments washed in the blood of the Lamb, says the second reading.

Being Saints means... being 'blessed' in the eyes of the Lord! And the only way to be 'blessed', is to live by the promptings of the Spirit who dwells within us. Paying attention to the indwelling Spirit, we will know what it means to be blessed - to be poor in spirit, to be meek, to hunger and thirst for righteousness, to be merciful, to be peace-loving - these are ways of being persons of the spirit. In the ordinariness of our daily life, we have to be persons of the Spirit, looking at the reality different from the way the self seeking world teaches us to. 

God's initiative in the call that I have received; Christ's redeeming act of Salvation; the Spirit's indwelling presence that guides me on a daily basis - these are compelling reasons why I need to think seriously about, not merely becoming a saint one day, but being a saint everyday, in my own way!

Hope - the confidence in the Goodness of God

WORD 2day: 31st October, 2017

Tuesday, 30th week in Ordinary Time
Rom 8: 18-25; Lk 13: 18-21

Longing for a brighter future is a human reality. Within the framework of faith this ordinary human reality takes the form of Hope. If faith is a total childlike surrender to God, hope is the blind joy that fills the heart. Even in a moment dark and grim, this joy lights up life. Haven't we seen persons who have faced years and years of struggle, who have experienced tragedies after tragedies, but still strong and serene? Those are real saints for they live in a spirit of hope, in holy patience that St. Paul speaks of. 

We need a very special spiritual capacity to behold the Reign of God - it is patience in problems, endurance in trials, optimism in setbacks ... a certainty, that in everything, simple little things or great grand events, it is God who is in charge. That in one word is, hope!

Hope is not a great sign or a grand manifestation. It is a subtle disposition and a tiny little spark. Like the mustard seed or the yeast in a dough, it is an elusive attitude, but inevitable to become truly children of God. Yes, it is hope that makes us truly children of God because Hope is the unassailable confidence in the goodness of God.

NOT SLAVES BUT HEIRS

WORD 2day : 30th October, 2017

Monday,  30th week in Ordinary Time

Rom 8: 12-17; Lk 13: 10-17

The point of discussion in the Word today is the difference between slaves and heirs and their respective traits. 

A slave is governed by fear, is ruled by law and bound to restrictions. A slave cannot think beyond oneself and gaining favours by pleasing the one in command. A slave, even when he or she is doing everything for the other, is all the time self centered.

An heir is governed by freedom, is guided by love and empowered with spontaneity. Freedom rules out restrictions, love transcends fear and spontaneity despises calculations. An heir never schemes!

Jesus proves to be the rightful heir,  experiencing God as the Abba and feeling the need to render a child of God wholesome. Laws and regulations did not matter to him;  threats and warnings looked despicable in his sight. The greatest of all good news is,  Christ has given us the same Spirit that was in him,  that in our spirit we may be convinced that we are rightful sons and daughters of the merciful God.

Thank you and love you!

29.10.2017

It's one year since you left us,
a thought that still eludes us all,
how like a whiff you left us,
to heed to your Master's call.

Remembering you with love today
though I could in my heart say
how I wish you had a longer stay
in our life in your own unique way...

Thank you!
Thank you is all we wish to tell you,
May the Lord grant you eternal peace!

HEAD, HEART AND HANDS

It's love all over again

30th Sunday in Ordinary Time: 29th October, 2017
Exo 22:20-26; 1 Thes 1: 5c-10; Mt 22: 34-40

"What is the central theme of the readings this Sunday?" asked a friend of mine. And when I replied, "it is about loving God and loving your neighbour", instinctively he sighed: 'oh the same love allover again!' Some times we might sound totally redundant speaking of love. In fact the fact is, in Jesus' message, Love is the sole dominant theme, and everything else is only a footnote to it.

Love spoken of in today's Word, as ever, is not a mere sentiment or a feeling! It is a choice, a concrete choice for good. It is a serious matter of the HEAD. It is a decision made, a rationale adopted, a perspective that affects all other decisions and choices in life. The ultimate good is God, hence love is basically a choice for God! Loving God with all my heart, with all my soul, with all my strength, is the basis of this choice for good. I choose good, because I choose God. How foolishly contradicting it would be to say I choose to love God and therefore I kill or harm my brothers and sisters! Is the choice really coherent? Is the choice really rational? Is the choice really good or Godly? Choosing God, is choosing the absolute good; it is choosing life not death; it is choosing the other not the self, that leads us to the second dimension.

Love is a choice for the other, a matter of the HEART. It is only through the heart can we place the other before us, because it is only through the heart can we hear the unsaid sorrows of the other; it is only through the heart we can see the unseen pains of the souls; it is only through the heart we can touch the unexplored depths of a person! Love has to be a concrete choice for the other, specially the afflicted, suffering 'Other', who cries out from the agony of the everyday life. Can we open the eyes of our heart; can we sharpen the ears of our heart; can we extend the hands of our heart... yes...

Love is a matter of the HANDS... it is a choice to act, to act on behalf of the needy. Love cannot remain a mere sentiment, it has to be translated into concrete decisions and transforming acts, on behalf of the needy. The first reading lists the widows, the orphan, the children, the poor, the needy... that is a broad indication of a whole lot of persons who are close to the heart of God: the exploited, the enslaved, the maltreated, the manipulated, the oppressed... It has to be active, affecting the life of the person who claims to love and transforming the life of the one who is  loved!

Love is the crux and the essence of Christ's message and it will never be redundant. Specially seeing the world that is growing increasingly selfish and menacingly might-oriented, love will ever be wanting and if you and I do not offer it abundantly wherever we are, it would be a serious deficiency of God in the world today!

THE WORD AND THE SAINTS

The Family and Household

Remembering the Apostles Sts. Simon and Jude: 28th October, 2017

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

The memory of the Apostles takes us back to the original experience that gave rise to a new movement, a new family around the person of Jesus of Nazareth and the wondrous experiences with him. Being Christians does not only mean to have a set of beliefs and practices related to them. It means, that we belong to that movement, that family, that household... we are all members, fellow citizens, brothers and sisters with the apostles and saints. 

Jesus called the Apostles by name, that they may pass on that experience of belonging to the household of God, to others right to the end of the world! And we have been the beneficiaries... we have been built together as the dwelling place of God, the Temple of the Spirit. United in our hearts, with genuine love that goes out to each other, as brothers and sisters we are invited to become Temples, where persons can come in to feel the presence of God. 

Celebrating today the feast of Sts. Simon and Jude, we are called to feel one with each other, under that experience that unites us - the experience of belonging to Christ. When we stand united, we are built into the dwellings of God, for the Lord had assured: We shall come to them and make our home with them (Jn 14:23).

ALERT AND AWARE, HUMBLE AND HOLY!

WORD 2day: 27th October, 2017

Friday, 29th week in Ordinary Time
Rom 7: 18-25; Lk 12: 54-59

For I do not do the good I want; but I do the evil I do not want - we all know well when we falter, as the psalmist words it, "for I know my transgressions and my sin is ever before me" (Ps 51:3). Sin, that St. Paul speaks of today, is something that I do, or I give into consciously. 

None of us can feign ignorance and Jesus explains precisely that today in the Gospel: knowing exactly what is coming up the horizon! If only I am more sensitively aware of what happens within me at a moment, to what I am committing myself to, of what I am giving into, of what I am permitting into my mind, my thinking and my life... I can preserve myself from so much of pain and patch up. 

The statutes are present within me in my heart, the Saviour abides ever at my side...all that I need to, is turn to the Lord and to the Word of the Lord to be assisted, strengthened and saved! 

Let us be ever alert, not to fall prey to the evil; let us be humble to accept it when we actually fall; the fall may be slow and gradual but 'we will not be released until we pay the last penny!'

WITH HEARTS SET ON FIRE

WORD 2day: 26th October, 2017

Thursday, 29th week in Ordinary Time

Rom 6: 19-23; Lk 12: 49-53

With hearts set on fire... that is the way to live an authentic Christian life, declares the Gospel today. Fire can symbolically mean light that dispels darkness; one can choose either to live in the light or slumber in the shade - "the work of each will become visible,...because it will be revealed with fire"(1Cor 3:13) says the Word. 

Fire can symbolise the purifying fire which tests the genuineness of our faith, faith which is more precious than gold(1 Pet 1:7). It is all about choices! The choices we make, define the persons that we are. 

Every moment of our life, in our words, in our acts, in our thoughts, in our priorities, in every little decision that we make, we are making choices, we are continually defining who we are, to ourselves first of all and then to the world. Its a choice fundamentally - for death or for life! When we choose things that are ungodly we choose death. When we choose righteousness, the way of the Light, the fire of the Lord, we choose eternal life in Jesus Christ. 

The question is, are our hearts on fire?

INTEGRITY: BEING SLAVES TO RIGHTEOUSNESS

WORD 2day: 25th October, 2017

Wednesday, 29th Week in Ordinary Time 

Rom 6: 12-18 -18; Lk 12: 39-48

Jesus continues his instruction as to how we need to be prepared for that hour of reckoning at any point of time in our life. Infact Jesus is ridiculing all the funny discussions and calculations about when that hour will come - some self proclaimed eschatalogical quacks make much ado of the end and its timings and miss the entire point that Jesus is driving home here.  No matter when and where,  you know what to do and why to do it. Take care how you do it - not seeking human attention but going by merely God's approval.

There is a discussion in the world today, who is more corrupt and who is less corrupt. This is the kind fallacy that Jesus is questioning. You are either corrupt or not corrupt! Where does this more and less corrupt come from? When we speak so much against people of corrupt nature, it could be politicians or leaders or officials or persons in authority, we may be stating facts but are we justified to speak so? Aren't we corrupt too in our own way? Even doing something good for the sake of being praised is a form of corruption.

This is what we call Integrity where I don't need an external recognition; I have developed an internal system of convictions and criteria that makes me almost a "slave" to Righteousness... doing nothing but good, speaking nothing but good,  thinking nothing but good, no matter how unlikely the returns are, or what the consequences would be. I am good and righteous and there is no because!

BE AWAKE! BE PASSIONATE!

WORD 2day: 24th October, 2017

Tuesday, 29th week in Ordinary Time
Rom 5: 12,15,17-21; Lk12:36-38

Be Awake! says the Lord today. St. Paul reminds us, that death has come from sin; Sin comes through disobedience and disobedience does not, for sure, come all of a sudden. It comes, either from a conscious rebellion or a habitual disregard. Conscious rebellion is not as dangerous as a habitual disregard. 

A feeling of monotony, getting used to things done on a regular basis, fixed schedules of prayer and customary acts of piety, usual persons and daily routines - these are the sources of habitual disregard. It is a kind of a slumber, a slumber with which we carry out our tasks and duties... be they spiritual or otherwise. 

The Lord invites us today, to be alert, to be awake, to be diligent even in the most ordinary of the daily tasks that we carry out - so that when the Master comes we are prepared to receive, whatever time it is. Keep alert, warns St.Peter, the devil your adversary is prowling round like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour (1 Pet 5:8).

Just a curious thought to add: the easiest way to keep awake is to refuse to sleep! To refuse to sleep is to keep busy. What keeps you busy is what you are passionate about. And so, being passionate is keeping awake!

FAITH VERSUS FOOLISHNESS

WORD 2day: 23rd October, 2017

Monday, 29th Week in Ordinary Time
Rom 4: 20-25; Lk 12: 13-21

Ultimately it is my faith that is going to make a difference, says the first reading and the Gospel corroborates the fact saying, 'if i don't realise that, I am getting more and more foolish!' In the face of death, what would anything other than my relationship with God mean to me. The source and destiny of my existence is God and God alone can make any difference to my being in the final analysis. 

Many not only fail to recognise this fact but they refuse to, deliberately. Pride and Selfishness makes one see nothing but himself or herself. Lack of profound understanding of things that happen around, makes one think he or she is capable of anything in this world, until that bubble is burst in a tragic moment!

A bit of realism and humility will bring every one to this thinking but the sad fact is that it takes a whole lifetime for some to come to that realisation. If we have it already, it is a reason to thank God for having inspired us early. Let us grow in the realisation, become more and more founded on our faith and less and less foolish in our life.

ME, GOD AND WHAT BELONGS

29th Sunday in Ordinary Time: 22nd October, 2017

Is 45: 1,4-6; 1Thes 1: 1-5; Mt 22: 15-21

America, North Korea, the ISIS or ISIL, the Soviet Russia... which of these is the super power today? Aren't they vying with each other to prove to the world that they are the dominant force on the globe today? Where will all these end?

The readings today have a theme that is very difficult for the world today to accept. It brings out the absolute sovreignity that God has over reality. The post-modern mind and the new age spirituality clamours for an autonomy that sometimes borders on an absolute independence of the human person and a meaning made in total isolation. The episode of the tower of Babel is a specimen event already in the beginnings of Biblical prehistory. Today we are called to pay attention to three facts:

1. Everything belongs to God

The first reading recalls the role of Persia and the Persian king Cyrus, in the emancipation of Israel. It was possible because Persia was first able to grow into a super power. And the reading from Isaiah points out that even though Persia seemingly has nothing much to do with Yahweh, it was infact the Lord who was preparing Persia in view of emancipating Israel.

The Lord is seen as the Lord of history, and not merely the Lord of Israel. Everything belongs to God and God is in control of everything. At times when things may not be going the way we would want them to, all that we need to do is remain calm believing that God is working out a history. Today we are well aware of the madness human beings are wreaking on the world and humanity - the eco crisis, the nuclear crisis, the religious fundamentalism... all these are fear inducing but not for a true Christian. A surrender into the hands of God and a patient wait on the Lord would bring us to an experience that would be absoutely awesome.

2. God belongs to everyone

That Cyrus was raised to power by God comes as a special learning for the people of Israel. They were being challenged on their claim to monopolise Yahweh as their own. God slowly opens them up to the reality that God belongs to everyone. What matters was to have what it takes to be called God's own. The Gospel brings it out subtly in the reflection that Jesus makes on the coin, saying it belongs to Ceasar as it bears Ceasar's image. Hence the condition to belong to God is to have God's image imprinted on our selves.

No one, absolutely no one, can monopolise God and it is not Christian to think of it that way. God cannot belong to a particular group of people. It can be true the other way about, that we belong to God. But to claim that God belongs to a group would be a human folly without doubt. Hence, we need to respect every person with genuine search and yearning for God or with an experience of God.

3. Render, and don't hold back, what belongs to God

All that we have belongs to God. What is that you have, which you have not received? (1 Cor 4:7) asks St.Paul. We are called to render to God all that belongs to God : our talents, our skills, our learning, our abilities... everything we are called to render unto the Lord... that is, unto the cause of the Lord; unto establishing the Reign of God. All that we say, think or do, has to be unto the Reign of God. Thus we will totally belong to God and have within us the mark of belonging to God: the Holy Spirit.

FAITH THAT SPEAKS AND ACTS

WORD 2day: 21st October, 2017

Saturday,  28th Week in Ordinary Time

Rom 4:13,16-18; Lk 12: 8-12

Jesus assures us, true faith speaks for itself. We need not hunt for ways and means of explaining and defending our faith;  it has to be self evident and self explanatory. We don't need mighty big formulae to hold on to a faith...all we need is the realisation of the constant and unceasing presence of the Lord with us. 

When I am convinced of this presence I can hope against hope as Abraham did. Such a faith speaks on my behalf, clarifies things for me and others and acts in my favour in the ultimate analysis.

There is a beautiful insight we hope none of us miss from the readings today, taken together. While Paul speaks of God as one who raises the dead to life and calls to life those which do not as yet exist, Jesus speaks of that one sin that cannot be forgiven, the sin against the Holy Spirit. They both are referring to the same, while the former cites a positive explanation, the latter provides a note of clarification. The sin against the Holy Spirit is the lack of Hope, which is a concrete expression of lack of faith leading to a life that lacks any love! Let nothing perturb you, if you are really a person of faith!

Let our lives be filled with a faith that speaks and acts!

FAITH AND WHAT FOLLOWS!

WORD 2day: 20th October, 2017

Friday, 28th Week in Ordinary Time

Rom 4: 1-8; Lk 12: 1-7

Faith is a gift, a gratuitous gift from God! My part is to grow in it. The more I grow in it, the more I realise how undeserving I am of it. Abraham was granted this gift and he grew tremendously worthy of it. Paul was granted this gift and he fought a brave fight to become worthy of it. Jesus accuses those who throw those pearls of faith to the swines of their ego and self centered thinking. If I have received this gift of faith, should I not be grateful for it and mindful enough to keep growing in it. Can I be boasting about it and mindlessly acting contrary to it? Jesus is warning us about something that would not look apparently like an aberration of faith, but in fact leads us gradually away from what true faith is all about - 'the yeast' of the Pharisees, that Jesus mentions in the Gospel today.

At times people think they are treasuring that faith, but actually trashing their faith by becoming self righteous and so judgmental about others. They grow so intolerable towards others that they think they possess the whole truth and no one can dare differ from them.

Taking my faith to be a reason for my pride, judging everyone else who does not partake of it; calling names at people who have a faith different from mine merely because of the difference and treating them with despite; making faith a means to make my living instead of making it my life and journeying genuinely towards my eternal life...these are somethings that I need to be on the guard about! 

Faith is a gift given to me and I need to grow in it every day, every moment.

REFRAIN FROM BLOODSHED

WORD 2day: 19th October, 2017

Thursday, 28th week in Ordinary Time

Rom 3: 21-30; Lk 11: 47-54

One is justified by faith apart from the works of law - this was, is and will ever be a point of contention. In the Old Testament times it was a contention between the 'conservative' and the 'progressive' rabbinic schools; in Jesus' times between him and the Jewish religious heads; in the times of the early Christians it was a contention between those who followed the Pauline theology and those who believed the theology of James; today it continues between the Catholics and the non Catholics! 

Needless to say our point of reference is Jesus: 'Don't put your trust in your capacity to achieve things and to gain control or dominance, in violence or in silencing people through your vilifying judgementst', warns Jesus. All these are blood shedding..., not only literally killing people by the sword. Your words and your judgments can kill people long before they actually die. You will be demanded to account for this!

What Jesus taught against was, empty ritualism, legalistic spirituality and hypocritical religiosity, that allows one to compromise between inhuman behaviour and an unbelievably pious image, the coexistence between unjust thought process and a sweet religious conversation, the unholy alliance between dirty politics and pompous spirituality. St. Ignatius of Antioch, whom we celebrated a couple of days ago would say, "it is not that I want merely to be called a Christian, but to actually be one. Yes, if I prove to be one, then I can have the name."

Let my faith and my works go together, only then can I truly refrain from bloodshed!

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

THE CHOICE FOR GOD

Remembering the Evangelist St. Luke - 18th October, 2017

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

Luke alone is with me...writes Paul. One salient feature that is often pointed out about St.Luke's gospel is the contrasting images that he uses in his narration...the beatitudes and the woes, Martha and Mary, the prodigal and his brother, the rich man and Lazarus, the good thief and the bad thief... these are typical to Luke! Today's Gospel too highlights one: a person of peace and a person who is not of peace; those who respond to the Lord and those who do not.

The message is obvious: Luke challenges his readers with absolute choices - for or against the Lord; with or away from the Lord! A value that he seems to have dominated his own life - he chose to remain with Paul in his difficult ministry! The radical choices that a disciple has to make according to Jesus in the Gospel today, were very clear for Luke and he made those choices his own! 

The memory of St.Luke invites us to make an absolute choice for God: on a daily basis, at work and at home, on the streets or in a public transport; in company or alone - we are what we choose to be! Let us fearlessly choose to belong to the Lord, always!

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

No Excuses... Just Integrity! 

Remembering St. Ignatius of Antioch - 17th October, 2017

Rom 1: 16-25; Lk 11: 37-41

The terminology used by Paul today sounds very practical, warning us that there are no excuses one can give for not recognising the hand of God in and through the immensity of the reality around. And added to that when it comes to me and God, I don't need to have proofs and justifications and evidences that I believe in God or not. Because God knows the innermost thoughts of mine and I need not be bothered about my presentations and formulations. This is the fundamental element of what we call 'integrity'...Having the least discrepancy between my inner self and my external behaviour, between my convictions and what I engage myself in on a daily basis, between what really matters for me and what I present myself as to others! 

Jesus uses simple terms for that in the Gospel - inside and outside! Let both be clean he says... I can have no excuses when it comes to my inner self, for I stand convicted before God who knows the innermost thoughts. 

The saints like the one whom we remember today, St. Ignatius of Antioch, were people who were incomparable in their integrity. They were ready to give of their whole self to God - not just part time and not just a stage show or a dramatic performance. When I do all that I do, with true consciousness and sincere acceptance of why I do it, I am on the first step towards integrity. I need to constantly purify myself towards that integrity that will reveal God's image within me. 

In spite of the beasts of this world, the attractions and the pressures that surround me, help me Lord to grow in my personal integrity! 

THE CALL AND THE REMINDER

WORD 2day: 16th October, 2017 

Monday, 28th Week in Ordinary Time

Rom 1: 1-7; Lk 11: 29-32 

The first reading today speaks to us again about our call to belong to Christ, our call to be holy, our obedience of faith. At times we forget this fundamental call and live our daily life in the way we like, giving into our whims and fancies. We lose track of our fundamental call and go after things that matter nothing to our salvation, some of them even detrimental to our salvation. We become so callous to our failures and disorientation that we do not even realise we are going farther and farther away from our destined goal: our sanctification.

We can never justify our act, our choices or our priorities when they go against this call. We are given reminders after reminders, through persons, situations, events and interventions. The models given to us today: the people of Nineveh and Queen of Sheba, are people who were so attentive to these signs and reminders that they instantly picked up the message that God was giving them. They took the utmost effort to respond to their specific call. That is the reminder given to me today: how much have I grown in responding to the call that the Lord has given me personally? The call to belong to Christ, the call to be holy, the call to my personal sanctification! 

A FITTING FAITH FOR TODAY

Festive, Focused and Firm!

28th Sunday in Ordinary Time: 15th October, 2017
Is 25: 6-10a; Phil 4: 12-14, 19-20; Mt 22:1-14

Faith is the way we live our daily life in relation to God. It would be a dry and futile understanding to look at faith as a set of doctrines or principles to be known, learnt, memorised and repeated on occasions. Faith instead has to affect every day life and every moment of it. Faith, in theological terms, is explained as one's personal response to the self revealing God. But to make it simple we can just understand it as the way we live every moment of our life, within the perspective offered to us by God who created us and has called us to a specific vocation in life.

Today, the readings invite us to a clear understanding of what this faith is all about. The faith that the Lord invites us to, is a specific way of life, a mode of organising our life worthy of our call to be children of God! Here are three adjectives that the readings offer us on a Fitting Faith for today:

Faith is Festive: a life of faith is a call to celebrate. God has set up a feast and invites us to come and celebrate it! God has created us a wonderful world, filled it with persons to love and let us enjoy it all in freedom and cooperation. But what do we do? We choose to see the negative things that are around, we choose to take them in and be filled with them, we choose to have and spread negative feelings, we choose to hate, envy and ruin each other's life; in short we REFUSE TO CELEBRATE. We refuse to attend the feast, that the Lord has prepared! If only we live our life in relation to God, that is, with the perspective of God, we will find out how much we can celebrate. When St. Paul says, he knows to live in want and in plenty, he is not boasting of his capacity to endure; it is more about that mindset which looks at everything from the perspective of God. 

Faith is Focused: a life of faith is a call to fix our eyes on God. Pressures, stress, problems, confusions, struggles, misunderstandings, competitions, disappointments, distractions, temptations, tears, treason...these are experiences that come our way sometime or the other. What would our point of reference be: luck, skills, human efficiency, proving oneself? 'Behold our God to whom we looked to save us', presents Isaiah. God will provide everything declares St. Paul. Our focus has to be on Christ. Look to Him and be radiant says the Psalm (34:5). 

Faith is Firm: a life of faith is a call never to compromise. Today, the culture is such that there is a big confusion whether there is anything that is unacceptable. Every thing seems permissible and every thing seems 'alright', if not 'normal'! There is a justification for everything. It is growing to be a culture of 'what-ifs' and 'why-nots'...but faith provides us with a firm foundation, firm criteria to make our choices. "My friend, how is it that you got in without the wedding garments?"..."My friend how is it that you expect to be with me without making a choice for me?"..."My friend, how is it that you had chosen something, but lived totally another life?"...we have to be prepared to face these questions, if at all we compromise! Our faith is an 'yes' that we say to the Lord, which would involve a number of small yes'es and no's... and any compromise in it will make us unfit for the Feast of the Reign. 

On a daily basis...let us evaluate our life and our choices...are they truly festive? fully focused? and really firm on the way to God? 

THE SON - THE SHELTER AND THE STRONGHOLD

WORD 2day: 14th October, 2017

Saturday, 27th week in Ordinary Time

Joel 4: 12-21; Lk 11:27-28

I had a very interesting experience as I began the reflection on today's Word. Started reading Joel and there were so many questions that were shooting forth in my mind. The day of the Lord - is it going to be pleasant or is it going to be terrifying? Is the Lord vindictive or is the Lord truly merciful? Is this good news or a fearsome prophecy? As I read those long verses, made longer because of my ruminations, and I reached the Gospel, before I realised that I had begun to read it, it ended! Such a short Gospel for such a long reflection before: but that is the message! 

One may ask a thousand questions, or raise a hundred doubts...one truth never changes: Jesus is the Answer! The Son, is the stronghold, the shelter for the children of God. There is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus (Rom 8:1). Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, for the Son has made us all children of God, provided we stick to him. Let us hold on to Christ, in our words, in our actions, in our relationships and in the way we look at the entire world and its daily events. When we have the mind of Christ and look at everything in that perspective, we are sheltered and we have a stronghold, nothing can assail us. 

At times our weaknesses and our human tendencies can take the better of us, but all that we need to do is, accept in all humility our failures, get ourselves together back again and reunite ourselves to Christ, clinging on to the Lord, the Son, the Shelter and the Stronghold!

FATIMA 100 - Closing Day of the Centenary

13th October marks the sixth time that Our Blessed Mother appeared to the three children - Lucia, Jacinta and Francisco, in the year 1917. How blessed we are to commemorate its 100th year today!

Let us pray a special Rosary today... Mary appeared under the special title: Our Lady of the Rosary

Click on this link for more information: 

https://www.ewtn.com/fatima/sixth-apparition-of-our-lady.asp

CATCH UP WITH THE REIGN

WORD 2day: 13th October, 2017

Friday,  27th week in Ordinary Time 

Joel 1:13-15,2:1-2; Lk  11 : 15-26

The easiest way to get rid of someone from the world is to demonise that person! This is what the Political Super Powers today keep trying. They feel like eliminating someone, they feel like demolishing another nation, the easiest way they demonise them - call them names like evil, violent, terrorists, outlaws, rebels and so on - and get the whole world look at them as being personification of evil. Then what remains is to get rid of the so-called evil. 

It happens in all walks of life. Why do you think the fundamentalist pentecostal groups keep calling the Apostolic Catholic Church names and comparing it to the Antichrist? The sad thing is, there are those who care about nothing but rules and rigour, not about true faith and real experience of God, within the Catholic Church who at times start such demonising acts,creating schismatic sentiments within the Church, opposing the Holy Father or finding fault in whatever is proposed towards more meaningful living of the Church. 

The Lord warns today: you will be lagging behind, while the Kingdom of God would have overtaken you. Catch up with the Reign. Revelation is progressive, everyday the Lord keeps revealing to us, the way to get closer and closer to the Lord. Everything that happens, all the situations of humanity are but signs of God's revelation and a call to get closer to the Reign, by becoming more and more like the Merciful Father, Observant Son and the Illuminating Holy Spirit. If we lose track of it, we shall certainly lag behind. Come on, catch up with the Reign!

AT THE RIGHT TIME

WORD 2day: 12th October, 2017

Thursday, 27th week in Ordinary Time

Mal 3: 13-20; Lk 11:5-13

Just yesterday we reflected upon waiting for the answers from the Lord and today the Word insists on the same: at the right time, everything will be set right! If I want it right now, it does not mean it is the right time. If I insist on having what I want, when I want it, where is the space for the Omniscient God, the God who has a plan for eternity. Within God's eternal plan everything will have its place. 

Our confusion regarding the thriving evil ones, our compassion for the suffering righteous ones, our helplessness before the conniving shrewd ones, our anger before the insensitive powerful ones...all these should not frustrate us, if we take the God-perspective seriously. If only we can look at everything that is happening from God's perspectives we will be filled with that serenity that God alone can give.

This serenity is not inactivity or passivity or incapacity... it is a hopeful surrender to the Lord that truth and righteousness alone can triumph because God is in charge! Nothing can ultimately go wrong, for a while some forces can be at play but the final victory belongs to the Lord. This is the hope of Resurrection and we are a Resurrection People!

PRAYERS, QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

WORD 2day: 11th October, 2017

Wednesday, 27th week in Ordinary Time

Jon 4: 1-11; Lk 11: 1-4

A person approached me a few days back with a load of sadness on the face. Sharing all the difficulties that caused the sadness the person said, 'I am ashamed of myself. I ask the Lord so many questions when I have difficulties!" And I immediately said, "you need not! and you should not!" The person was a bit confused and what I shared then, seems perfectly fitting as a reflection on the Word today.

Can I question the Lord? Is that prayerful at all? 

What else is prayer then? 

It is not wrong to ask questions to the Lord. But it is important to wait for the answer. What is wrong is, we ask questions and move away from the Lord, abandon the Lord, quit the presence of the Lord. That is the problem most of us give in to. 

Ask whatever question you want to, because the Lord is your Father and Mother who loves you above all. But after asking the question, remain there till the Lord answers you, as the Lord answered Jonah today. The answer will come, now, later, much later, God alone knows when, but it will come. Because God answers prayers, that is, God answers the question your raise in prayer! God will surely answer...wait!

Praying can very well be asking questions, but only when you are determined to get an answer from the Lord, whatever time it takes! For God's is the kingdom, God's is the power, God's is the glory for evermore!

LISTENING AND DOING

WORD 2day: 10th October, 2017

Tuesday, 27th week in Ordinary Time

Jon 3:1-10; Lk 10:38-42

Is listening better than doing? What about that young man that Jesus spoke to, who came to Jesus and asked a question about being saved and Jesus looked at him with compassion and explained? He listened...was that enough? Or what about that son, in Jesus' parable, who listened to his father with such eagerness, saying 'yes' even before he could finish telling him to go to work in the vineyard? He listened too... was that enough? Today Mary is listening...is that enough?

Is Martha less than Mary for doing so many things, all for Christ? What is the problem here? Martha's doing was like the doing of the Hebrews, all for God but nothing with God! Whatever you do, do it with God... Listen and do! That is the point Jesus was arriving at. Like the people of Nineveh, who listened and acted, Mary was listening to act, listening to do, listening to transform herself!

Neither listening alone nor doing alone will make a difference in our lives, says the Word today. Listening and Doing is what we need to learn. Listening alone will make us useless. Doing alone will make us place the work of God prior to the God of work. So the right Christian attitude will be listening and doing - a doing that is born out of listening and a listening that moves us towards doing!

LOVE ALONE IS THE ANSWER

WORD 2day: 9th October, 2017

Monday, 27th week in Ordinary Time

Jon 1:1 - 2:1, 11; Lk 10: 25-37

Humanity has so many questions - why are the evil people thriving; why are the innocent suffering; why are there exploitations in the world; who is cause of the misery of the poor; why is there so much of violence and killing; what makes people turn against each other... how many questions we face in our daily life in today's world. Yes, Humanity has all these questions, but Love alone is the answer!

People may turn evil, but they were created out of love and they are called live with that love, in joy and fulfillment. When they make mistakes, it begins to affect the other, finally there will be a time when it comes back to them. Self centered exploitation of the other is a deprivation of love and violence and killings are but inevitable consequences of these. 

If Love is felt to be present around, if Love is felt in each one's heart, if Love is found to animate every relationship, if true Love of God governs the whole world, misery, violence, killing, poverty, suffering, injustice, exploitation and every shade of sadness and grief will be wiped out. Will it happen? Let us remember, to every single problem on earth, Love alone is the answer!

SALVATION BY DEFAULT?

There can be no Salvation by default!

27th Sunday in Ordinary Time: 8th October, 2017

Is 5: 1-7; Phil 4: 6-9; Mt 21:33-43

'Are you saved?' - this is one disturbing question that I have often witnessed and shared about, found on the lips of the non-catholic brethren, specially those of the varied denominations other than the mainline churches. That question, kind of, intrigues me at the same time that it challenges me! Let me explain myself. Salvation: as sons and daughters of Christ, we should be confident of it, because the Lord has saved us by his blood. That is why that question intrigues me! But can I take 'being saved' for granted, that whatever I may do or not do, I will be saved? That is a true challenge that this question inspires, but the answer has to be sincere and genuine; such a sincere and genuine answer will of course lead to transformation, both personal and universal! Though not in its entirety, the point that these denominational brethren try to make is the second. In today's computerised digital language, we can state it as follows: there is no Salvation by default!

It is true that there is an Auto-save Option at work - Yes, the very fact that we are the chosen children of God we are automatically saved! God has chosen us and named us after Godself, and made us God's own people. As Peter would say "once you were not a people; but now you are God's people" (1 Pet 2:10); we are made "children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ" (Rom 8:17)! This is what we refer to as our Auto-save option, but for auto-saving, something should have been done which could be saved. The Lord had made us the Lord's vineyard, but have we proved to be vineyards or are we merely a plot of useless thistles? What we sow, that we reap; the Lord has sown and looks forward to see the vine; is it not justified and mandatory that we put forth our fruits? What is there will be saved...that is the auto-save option! Our efforts to live-up to our calling and our identity is what will define us.

It is also true that there is an Auto-Recovery Option at work - at times we fail, we hang, we crash, we shut down without warning! But we need not panic. There is the auto-recovery option that is on. "For you did not receive a spirit slavery to fallback into fear" (Rom 8:15), and that is why St. Paul advises us, "do not worry about anything" (Phil 4:6)! Everything will be recovered, everything will be brought back, reconciled in Christ our salvation; he is the auto-recovery option that is on (cf. Col 1:20). But if something has to be recovered, it should have been there! Again our efforts to belong to Christ (cf. Col 2:20), our efforts to bear fruit, to make most of the short time we have (cf. Eph 5:15,16)... all these count. What truly counts is our sincere and persevering effort.

That is why, though auto-save and auto-recovery are options, salvation is never by default! We have to work it out, on a daily basis! "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling", says St. Paul (Phil 2:24). We are called to live in a situation that is surrounded by all sorts of choices; what choices do we make? A tree will be known by its fruits, it is said; what fruits do we put out? 

As Christians, what identity do we manifest? The Christian families: what identity do we have, living amidst others? What are those which mark us out as being different, being models, being examples and being witnesses? We are weak, we are limited and we have our shortcomings - no one can deny that. But in spite of these, are we prepared to "overcome evil with good" without being "overcome by evil" that is around? (cf.  Rom 12:21). We need to show it by our efforts and by the fruits, however small, that these efforts produce. We have to be transformed into the image of the one after whom we are fashioned. 

Salvation is never by defalut; it is by our choice (of what is true, what is honourable, what is just, what is pure and so on), and by our faithfulness to the call that we have received. Let us take stock of our daily living and be transformed into true vineyards of the Lord.