THAT WHICH SHALL NEVER PASS AWAY

WORD 2day: 1st December, 2017

Friday, last week in Ordinary Time

Dan 7: 2-14; Lk 21: 29-33

Where is your hope, your strength, your assurance? Money, it shall liquidify. Power, it shall drift away. Things, they shall pass away. Persons, they shall abandon you someday. Today, it is used as a pain reliever statement: 'this too will pass'. But beware! That shall be your sad predicament too - everything shall pass away!

That is why, the need for something, something that will never pass away. The recurring theme of today is a reference to something that is here to stay, never to pass away... the Lord's Word,  the Lord's Reign,  the Lord's sovereignty.

The final word will always be the Lord's! Calamities, Persecutions, Demoralisations these are what we see in the case of all those who had to pay with their blood, the price for their faith in Christ. The first reading foretells the same, finishing however with a note of hope on the eternal dominion of the Son of Man. 

The Gospel reaffirms the hope, from the mouth of the very object of that hope: the Word made flesh. Perseverance is a virtue in imitation of the faithfulness of God. 'Let us never grow tired of doing what is right' (2 Thes 3:13), as the Lord himself who never gets tired of loving us!

Things may appear to be going totally out of sway, or nothing may seem to be under the control of anything spiritual...but never lose heart,  God is in charge; God is in control. However bad the signs of the times are, your saviour knows you and to his Reign there is no end. Be firm in faith...and cast your hope on that which shall never pass away: the Holy Will of God!

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

The feet of those who bring Good News

30th November, 2017: Remembering St. Andrew

Rom 10: 9-18; Mt 4: 18-22

"How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!" St.Paul quotes this word from the scripture (from Is 52:7), to insist upon the blessedness of being an apostle of the Lord, being sent to bear forth the word to the others. 

St. Andrew has played a special role during the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. Andrew as a disciple of Christ always had the role of bringing good news to persons... he brought the good news of having found Christ to Peter (Jn 1:41); along with Philip, he brought the Greeks to meet Jesus (Jn 12:22); and he brought that boy who gave the five loaves to feed the five thousand (Jn 6:9). Amidst all the opposition and threat, the apostles bore witness to his name: they were the beautiful feet which brought the good news to the world. 

Today Andrew is proposed as the patron of social network...because he used every opportunity to make Christ known to people and to bring people to Christ. Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI had described social network as the modern day pulpit and invited us to proclaim Christ not merely from the housetops but also from the laptops...and here we have a great role model for it. 

May we dedicate today every effort of ours to proclaim the Kingdom through the social network. May we dedicate the social network which offers us such a great promise, that it may forever be an instrument in the hands of God, to bring God's will to fulfillment. 

WHAT IS THE WRITING ON YOUR WALL?

WORD 2day: 29th November, 2017

Wednesday, 34th week in Ordinary Time

Dan 5: 1-6,13-14,16-17,23-28; Lk 21: 5-11

"The writing on the wall" - the familiar phrase in English, has its origin in the first reading today. The meaning is very clear and that is precisely the message of the Word today. It is clear to all of us even as we choose things on a daily basis, to what consequences they will lead us. None of us can claim a total ignorance while most of us do not want to really accept the fact that we do know the consequences of our choices; unfortunately we feign ignorance and desperately look for someone or something to blame it on. In all sincerity we know, what we sow, we reap. 

Our choices, unfortunately, are conditioned by events and experiences that are momentary - the instant, the immediate, the current, the here and the now! Those are obviously not enough. There are perspectives of life which we do not respect at all - the ultimate, the eternal, the essential - these are considered despicable. The result, our choices and their consequences become so sad and dangerous in the long run.

Our choices of negative tendencies like manipulation, disrespect, abuse, violence and exploitation cannot but lead to situations of hopelessness, darkness and death - King Belshazzar is sadly made aware of it today by Daniel. 

But there is yet another writing on the wall that is presented: Jesus says, if you choose to belong to me, if you choose to be called my disciples, if you choose to respond to my call, you will be derided, persecuted and even killed, but do not fear; in your endurance you would have won life, life in all its fullness, life from the very author of life, life everlasting!

The key is to become aware of the writing on the wall...even as we make choices that are regular and usual. Look at all the universal phenomena we talk of today: the global warming, the rising totalitarianism, the threatening fanaticism, the crazy arms proliferation...where did all these arise from, if not from our active or passive choices? Yes, let us grow more and more conscientious and aware of the writing on our walls!

To destroy and to build; to stop and to proceed!

WORD 2day: 28th November, 2017

Tuesday, 34th week in Ordinary Time
Dan 2: 31-45; Lk 21: 5-11

This week's readings have a bi-dimensional orientation - a preparation towards advent (a new beginning) and at the same time a reflection on the end times. This is the real Christian disposition: a bi-dimensional approach to life. A reflection on the end times has to be radically open to the new beginnings, lest it becomes a vain curiosity. 

A focus on the new beginnings, the new earth and new heaven, on the definitive coming of the Reign should have a mature openness towards the end time perspective, lest it remains a simplistic dream of an all-bright future, without any personal commitment to it. 

There is no use raving about the last days, the end of the world, the Armageddon,  the judgement and so on and so forth, as if talking about a football match or a cricket tournament. Dreams, visions and extra natural phenomenon have no value in themselves, unless they help a better living here and now, and a preparation for a more holistic future. 

The first reading and the Gospel today remind us of this need - the need to question ourselves on our life style, our criteria and choices in daily life - whether they are really worthy of the Reign, that we are called to announce to the world as disciples of Christ!

The call that today we are given is to be daring enough to accept a break down in your life and an eventual restart; to effect a rupture from the old habits and to begin anew; to  destroy the old and to build anew; to stop and to proceed. Am I ready?

Choosing God in little things!

WORD 2day: 27th November, 2017

Monday, 34th week in Ordinary Time

Dan 1: 1-6,8-20; Lk 21:1-4

The world has stereotypical criteria of what is good and what is better; social standards of what makes one good and what makes the other better! The temptation to conform to that social stereotypes is very high and dangerously subtle. Many a times we fall into the trap, though the Word very often warns us, "Do not be conformed to this world" (Rom 12:2), because, "the Lord does not see as the mortals see" (1 Sam 16:7). 

That is why, the two tiny coins that the widow drops quietly into the treasury seems more valuable to Jesus than the bags and bags of wealth that the others dump there. To be his disciples, "let the same mind be in you, as it was in Christ Jesus" (Phil 2:5) instructs St. Paul. We begin to read from today from the book of Daniel, every day increasingly reminding us of the imminent choice we have to make for the Lord and not for the convention of the world.

Daniel was special because of this, that God's mind was in him, the wisdom of the Lord was in him, that made him shine to the rest of the world. He knew what to choose and what to let go. He knew what really mattered and what did not. He knew what it meant to be faithful to his Master, the Lord, the Almighty. 

Maybe, I need to ask the Lord today, to give me that wisdom to see things as the Lord does, with the same mind that was in Christ Jesus and choose the right things and let go of those that are immaterial. Choosing the little that truly matter, will win me all that I need - the all, that is God!

THE KING: In Him we have the Victory

The Solemnity of Christ the King

26th November, 2017

Ezek 34:11-12,15-17; 1 Cor 15: 20-26,28; Mt 25: 31-46

To proclaim Christ as King today, is not an easy task - while nations wrestle with each other for supremacy and individuals do anything to keep the crown to themselves! It is a challenge to a true Christian flock today to identify its shepherd as the King, and not just that, King of all kings! The Solemnity of Christ the King reminds of the fact that it is in this King we have the victory. 

The King, in Him we have the victory! That is the song on our lips today, but can that be truly meant? This what I wish to share today. Can we truly and fully mean it, when we say, In Him we have the Victory? If we have to, then we need to understand fully what we say by that proclamation.

The King = The Thorns + The Crown.

When we call him the King, we know that he is a king of a different kind; but are we conscious of it? Are we conscious of whom we are proclaiming as king and the consequences of it. He is not a merely a king with a crown and a throne, but a king with a crown of thorns! Yes, it is only through his thorns did he finally win over the kingdom. If we call him our king, we need to look at the priorities of our life - success, dominance, honour and power: can they be my priorities? They are... for most of us. Shouldn't we become a little more conscious of it. Let us not think of some distant political leader or a disdained pastoral minister. Think of you and me - our little successes, our dominance in our own small relationships, our seeking of honour and recognition, our secret lust for power...these are all priorities against our type of the King! This king will ask us to look at not success but justice, not dominance but service, not honour but humility, not power but sacrifice as our priority! Can we... if we accept that we are of his flock, if not we are on the other side!

In Him = Through Him + With Him.

In Him we have the Victory, we say. But what does it mean - In Him. In Cristo, is a very specific term that we need to understand. We see its depth of meaning in the Paul's assertion: "There is no condemnation for those in Christ" (Rom 8:1). No condemnation is what we mean by victory! The term can be understood in the other two terms: through Him and with Him. 

First of all, we need to understand that we are, through Him. Everything is, through Him. When we declare Christ the King of the Universe, we are affirming the fact that Paul teaches: through him everything was created and for him they exist (see Col 1:15-17). When we feel we are doing everything by ourselves, when we begin to attribute all the good to ourselves and all the ills to God, we forget that fact that we are what we are, through Him. The world is full of that tendency today - anything they achieve they take the credit. A problem crops up, they start questioning God and everything that is related!

Secondly to say we are in Christ, we have to be basically with Him. With Christ, is to make the choices that Christ would make, to speak those words that Christ would speak, to do those actions that Christ would do, in short to have the mind of Christ in us. To be with Christ means to step into his shoes, to follow his footsteps, to step on to his feet and be carried in sync with it. 

When we are aware of the fact that we live through him and with that consciousness decide to be with him, we are in him and the victory is certainly ours!

Victory = Righteousness + Salvation

In Him we have the Victory, we say. But what is this Victory? Is it comfort and prosperity? Is it shining lives and glamorous future? Victory we speak of here is righteousness on our part and the gift of salvation that the Lord confers. Righteousness is our life of truth and love, without counting the cost. Yes, at times we think of being righteous as a means to winning something from the Lord - no, it is not! Being Righteous is our call and it is our very being, because we are created in the image and likeness of the Lord. Salvation comes as we get closer and closer to God and in that intimate oneness with the Lord, salvation happens. Salvation is not to be procured - as some keep asking that dumb question: 'are you saved'? Everybody is! But I need to make that salvation my lifestyle, my daily experience, my oneness with the Lord! That is the Victory that Christ makes so natural and easy for us, when we are IN HIM. 

Yes... we have a wonderful, majestic and compassionate King, in Him we have the Victory!

BEHOLD THE GOD WHO IS LIVING

WORD 2day: 25th November, 2017

Saturday, 33rd week in Ordinary Time

1 Mac 6: 1-13; Lk 20: 27-40

It is easy to glory in a God of the past, recount miracles and remember feats. It is also not difficult to think of a God of the future, dream dreams of prosperity and share stories of great tidings. The real challenge is to believe in the God of the present, the God of the moment, the Lord of my life, the God of the living. 

The strength of my spiritual self is seen in my ability to relate to God on a daily basis, on a momentary basis. When Jesus today reminds us of the God of the living, and not a God of the dead, he is inviting us to experience God and live with God every day, every moment! 

We are fond of living on a spiritual nostalgia of an experience 'once-upon-a-time' or we are fond of looking at a bright light some time, some day. Like the people we see in the Gospel who thought of their ancestors or thought of a future splendour, but missed the great and moving presence of the Lord amidst them, in their daily events and difficult moments. 

Let us not end up making up stories and throwing questions at the Lord. Let us be still and experience the presence of the living God, the God of the living, living right next to us!

PURIFY AND DEDICATE YOURSELF TO THE KING

WORD 2day: 24th November, 2017

Friday, 33rd week in Ordinary Time

1 Mac 4: 36-37,52-57; Lk 19: 45-48

Zeal for his house will consume him - Ps 69:9 - that is what John refers to when he recounts the event that we hear in the Gospel today from Luke! Judas Mattathias in the first reading and Jesus in the Gospel are presented as burning with zeal for God, for God's house. Both of them want to purify and rededicate the Temple to the Lord.

When we accept God as our king (the theme of this entire week) we should be burning with zeal for God, for things that belong to God, for values that stand for God, for persons and their dignity that directly springs from God, for life and love that signify God...we should burn with zeal to preserve, promote and uphold these! 

Today there are forces that are bracing threats against the Church, persons who want to see the downfall of the Church, people who call names and insult the Church and all those who stand for the Church - now the question is, what is your response? Fear and withdrawal? Compromise and justification? Or stand up for what you believe and purify yourself and rededicate yourself unto the truth?

If we think of our faith in terms of king-subject relationship, it is our allegiance to our King...let us be filled with zeal for our king, that is if we accept our Lord as our King! Let us purify and rededicate ourselves to the King.

WHO IS MY KING?

WORD 2day: 23rd November, 2017

Thursday, 33rd week in Ordinary Time

1 Mac 2: 15-29; Lk 19: 41-44

Who is your king? – that is the crucial question that is being repeatedly asked these days of the week running up to the Solemnity of Christ the King. The parable we heard yesterday of the return of the king who demands an account, the siege of Jerusalem that Jesus speaks of today in the Gospel and the call of Mattathias to gather in his leadership against the persecuting forces… all these present a crisis situation; a situation demanding a definitive choice. 

Sometimes external pressures like the work ambient, the political milieu, the personal addictions or the overpowering temptations can present a crisis situation to us… a situation to make a radical choice for God or against God! Even a simple affair like the choice of words we use, or an ordinary decision we make on a daily basis, can determine the radical belonging to or rejection of God in our lives! 

How many times we stand convicted by our choices which contradict the principles we claim to stand for! How many times we eat our own words to justify ourselves and save our face before others! How many times we compromise on true values and make convenience a criterion for our decisions! 

Our choices would demonstrate more than to us, to the the world who our king is! If my king is my Lord -my daily choices would reflect that. May our everyday choices be such that the Lord would never need to weep over us, as he did over Jerusalem!

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

MY CHOICE FOR GOD

Remembering St. Cecilia: 22nd November, 2017

2 Mac 7: 1,20-31; Lk 19: 11-28

The urge to be faithful to God is never a question of maintaining the status quo. As spiritual masters always warn us, not to progress in spiritual life is to regress! Faithfulness to God is not lived or manifested in remaining where we are or merely in moments of legal fulfillment of rules and routine practices of piety. It takes fundamental radical choices at crucial moments to tell not just the Lord but the world too, that I belong to the Lord, to the One who has created me, the One who has called me and commissioned me.

Like the young lad, as his mother and 6 brothers, in the first reading chooses God over everything that the king promises and over his very life; like Saint Cecilia whom we remember today who chose to give of her whole self - her body, soul, spirit and very life for God, our choices need to speak for themselves. 

Not just the choices of life and death, but the choices of what we want to do with the talents, the gifts that the Lord has given us, the choices of what we want to do with every moment of life that God has gifted us with. We can choose to enrich them and enhance them, or to just bury them and be inactive! 

My choice for God has to be seen in my daily little choices - Cecilia is often celebrated as patroness of musicians (by the way, let us pray for all the singers and musicians and wish them well), and at times her heroic sacrifice and choice for God has been eclipsed. She decided to giver her whole self to God and she kept that choice till her death. 

Just like the mother in the first reading today, Cecilia saw her husband and her brother in law die, but remained unmoved in her choice for God. In my daily events and ordinary tasks, I have to manifest this choice for God, if only I wish to inspire the world today. The choice today, is mine!

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

The Primacy of God and Quality of our Faith

Remembering the Presentation of Mary in the Temple - 21st November, 2017
2 Mac 6:18-31; Lk 19: 1-10

Zacchaeus' episode in the Gospel is an evergreen example of an encounter that transforms a person. As St. Paul would say, 'if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation'(2Cor 5:17). When we allow the Lord to really encounter us, the Lord transforms the whole person. Nothing remains the same, everything is new because we begin to see everything from the perspective of the Lord. 

As Pope Francis said in his first encyclical Lumen Fidei, Faith is not just to see Jesus, it is to see with the eyes of Jesus (LF 18)! When our faith is authentic, the whole perspective changes. What seems to be important, what seems to be necessary for someone may seem totally secondary to me, because I see as the Lord does, because I think as the Lord does, because I love as the Lord does. 

Eleazar in the first reading demonstrates the same to us - 'such pretense is not worthy of our time of life' (2 Mac 6:24), he says, caring the least to preserve his life, because he did not want to lead the others astray from God. 

Today we remember the event of Mary being presented in the Temple - why does the Church remember this event though it is not part of the Biblical account. There is a very important reason - highly spiritual and simply logical. Mary, as far as we see in the Gospels, seems to be totally resigned to God's will and absolutely obedient to God's voice. Where does this begin from - the answer is the memory we celebrate today. The parents offered her, thus inculcating within her mind and heart that she belongs to God and that is reflected all her life. 

Even for us the message is same today: the primacy of God in our life defines the quality of our faith.

TO SEE THE REIGN

WORD 2day: 20th November, 2017

Monday,  33rd week in Ordinary Time 

1 Maccabees 1:10-15,41-43,54-57,62-64; Lk 18: 35-43

Personally I stand much for Interreligious dialogue and inculturation of faith. Some persons have found fault with me at times saying, 'you stand for interreligious dialogue and inculturation, but you do not allow such and such a thing. Is it not a discrepancy? '

It is important to realise what is an integral process of dialogue and inculturation. If only 'all becoming one' is the objective, then today we should be comfortable with what is happening around... all, in every field, everyone is becoming one in their selfishness and self seeking tendencies! It is our call to become one, but which one? Not anyway one... but One in just one way! 

Becoming one as a humanity, bound by true and wholesome values, standing for real freedom, dignity and solidarity, that is our task. That is what the Reign is all about. At times it will look impossible and totally a dream, an utopia, a fable and a fairy tale. But in faith, it is not! We are going to hear of the end times beginning from now for the next two weeks - not about the end of the world or end of the times but it is the end of hopelessness and end of misery. Because we are convinced the Reign is at hand. 

That conviction requires an eye of faith; let us cry out for it and the Lord will grant us! Jesus Lord, have mercy on us, that we may see, that we may see the Reign!

A 3G ON THE WORLD DAY OF THE POOR

GRATITUDE, GUILT AND GIVING - The 3 sensibilities provoked!

33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time: 19th November, 2017

This Sunday is commemorated as World Day of the Poor, heeding to the request of Pope Francis at the end of the Year of Mercy, calling us to keep alive the sensibilities that were provoked during reflections of that entire year! Here this Sunday's Word brings home to us the same sensibilities and we shall dwell on them in 3Gs.

Gratitude - because what I have is given by God! 

The parable that Jesus narrates speaks of each one having what was given them by the King and what they do with that is what the story is all about. Whatever I have, I have it because it is given by God. You may protest - no, I earned it, I merited it...could be. But the opportunity, the contacts, the success...do all have it? If I had it, I was more fortunate than so many. Without giving into a boisterous 'theology of prosperity', I need to admit that if I am blessed with comforts, with conveniences that many do not have today, I have to be grateful. When I complain, I cannot be grateful. We know of that famous saying - I complained of not having shoes until that day when I found one not having his legs! Gratitude is one important sensibility that we are called to possess - Gratitude is a sign that I acknowledge what I have received and I realise the value of what I have received. The last man was not grateful, he was afraid, lazy and crooked and that is why what he received did not fructify.

Guilt - because what I have is not only mine!

Some may not like this word used here - I am sure! It is not even to alliterate with the G's that I chose this as the second sensibility but with a lot of consciousness. Pope Francis when he invites the world to observe this day as  World Day of the Poor - do you think he is saying, now all of us rich get together and pool in some money to give to the poor? No! He is raising a big question - why are they poor? At times I feel so, when I travel around, when I encounter poor people with nothing to eat or nothing to wear or nowhere to stay! I feel guilty of the well pressed clothes that I wear, of the well presented recipes that I enjoy, the well planned travels I make, the well guarded house that I live in. Am I going to leave all these and go to the streets - it may not happen! But that little feeling of uneasiness within me, that has to be there. That uneasiness drove Francis of Assisi to sanctity; that uneasiness dragged Mother Teresa out of the confines of her convent to the peripheries of the world. I don't wish to soften the word to 'being sensitive' or to 'being aware'...it is being guilty! I don't want to get into poetic discussions like. 'everyone is poor is some way' and so on. It should pain me to see people poor; it should pain me to see persons suffer. The world today has to feel that guilt of having pushed its children to poverty and misery. When that third servant failed to be fruitful, the worst fact was not that he was not fruitful, but he was not even guilty about it. That was the most miserable fact. The king just could not digest that!

Giving - because that is why I have!

If I have anything, it is a clear sign that I am called to give! That is what a Christian life should be - Christian life and hoarding wealth for its own sake cannot go together! Oh what a statement that is to make - I am aware of it. But that is the fact. I cannot say, God has blessed me and therefore I am going to be happy! Yes I am happy with the blessing - but I am given to give! The beautiful philosophy of Stewardship that God has been insisting on right from creation, has widely been forgotten, negated and dumped down the drains. How can I not give when I know someone needs it and I have it. To add to that, I have it more than I need! In a country like India for an instance, or wherever in the world, we can see the rich getting richer and the poor becoming poorer - can things remain the same? How long are we going to be happy collecting something from somewhere and giving it elsewhere? Giving has to be a duty! Giving has to be our essence! Giving has to be our being! I should give, if I want to be seen as a child of God, because God gives.

Not merely in words...in deeds let us show our conviction to eradicate poverty. Not merely in deeds...but in convictions let us challenge the world against poverty. Not merely in convictions... but in our solidarity and integrity let us get down to fight for justice that every child of God has what he or she needs!  

Pray...Trust...Live your life with God

WORD 2day: 18th November, 2017

Saturday, 32nd week in Ordinary Time

Wis 18: 14-16, 19:6-9; Lk 18: 1-8

Our help is in the name of the Lord, proclaims Psalm 124. The Lord alone is our refuge and our strength. The Lord knows when we sit and when we stand, even before a word is on our mouth, the Lord knows it all. This trust is called the attitude of prayer - a total abandonment into the hands of the Lord! 

At times when we pray, we sound like knocking at the door of the Lord as the last resort...'I have tried everything Lord; and now I have nothing more to try and so I come to you!' Instead, it has to be from the first moment: "You are everything Lord and I surrender myself to you; guide me along and accompany me, that I may never stray from Your will and guard me from all those which plot to take me away from You and Your holy will." 

How many wonders we have seen, all worked by the Lord! If the Lord is so powerful, can he not look at the suffering we are going through. If in spite of that I am in the midst of an agony, can I not trust in the Lord and think of those splendid days I had experienced in the presence of the Lord! Will not the same presence guide me on! Why do i moan and why do I complain - is it not because I have given up trust?

Let us live our life with the Lord - every bit of it - our duties, our desires, our trials, our preoccupations, our sufferings, our agonies, our temptations and even our failures; let us live them all with the Lord and be prepared always to say: Not mine, but Your will be done, O Lord! (Lk 22:42)

Do I relate to God in the core of my being?

WORD 2day: 17th November, 2017

Friday, 32nd week in Ordinary Time

Wis 13: 1-9; Lk 17: 26-37

'Fools say in their heart, 'there is no God',' goes Psalm 14:1. Though it is not the spirit of the times to get into an argument with people with variant religious convictions, sometimes it is important to challenge the insincere ones regarding some opinions that are held and promoted with hidden motives and contrived plots. 

The readings today are quite strong against those who probably have religious choice of convenience, than conviction. Many manipulate their or other's religious sentiments to their own convenience and comfort, to achieve their ends and to exploit others. These are the worst kind of human beings one can imagine of - not true even to themselves!

But leaving alone the tendency to point a finger at someone, it is important for me to evaluate my faith! Faith is not merely saying 'yes' to a set of truths, but it is a personal relationship with the person of Jesus Christ, with that Merciful God that he revealed to us, with the Spirit who lives on with us and within us. 

Is it not an ample opportunity for me today to raise this question in my heart: What does my faith mean to me? What are the SIGNS of real faith in my day to day life? Do I really relate to God in the core of my being?

ME - the core of the Reign!

WORD 2day: 16th November, 2017

Thursday, 32nd week in Ordinary Time

Wis 7:22 - 8:1; Lk 17: 20-25

The Reign of God is within you! (Lk 17:21) - this was the statement, they say, that provoked, sustained and gave meaning to Liberation theology in the 70s. Not only that. This was also the teaching that took Jesus to the cross. 

What is so provocative about it? To answer that question from the Gospel, we need to listen to the first reading and the psalm. They speak of the Wisdom of the Lord, the Word of God, that abides with us and within us, the Lord who has come to live amidst us, the whole grace of incarnation. Look at those attributes given to that indwelling Lord: in the form of Wisdom, the Word, the Spirit who is intelligent, holy, unique, manifold, subtle, active, incisive, unsullied, lucid, invulnerable, benevolent, sharp, irresistible, beneficent, loving, steadfast, dependable, unperturbed, almighty, all-knowing, penetrating, all-intelligent, pure and most subtle! The Indwelling Spirit, the Lord who dwells within me, making me the core of God's Reign.

Jesus' proclamation of the arrival of the Reign, or the year of the Lord or the fulfillment of the Word (Lk 4:19,21) was looked at as an offence, because Jesus underlined the proximity, the closeness of God to human beings. Jesus declared every common person the beholder of the Reign, you and me as the core of the Reign!

Even today, if I choose to, I can see God as some one far, distant, removed and isolated. But if I am sincerely observant, I can feel the presence of the Word, the Wisdom, the Incarnate Son walking beside me and I can feel God close and intimate to me because, "God loves nothing so much as the man who lives with wisdom" (Wis 7:28). We need to look at the Reign of God residing within us, at the core of our being. We are indeed the core of the Reign, we need to evolve into it, by our daily choices and lofty ideals.

Faith is to respond!

WORD 2day: 15th November, 2017

Wednesday, 32nd week in Ordinary Time

Wis 6: 1-11; Lk 17: 11-19

The readings seem to converge on one thought today... that the Lord wishes, expects, and demands a response from us! Our God is a self revealing God... through signs and wonders and prophets and wise persons and finally through God's only Son, and continuously even today in and through God's Spirit, God continues to reveal Godself to us in various ways.

The more we are given, the more we are expected to respond! It is not that God gives, so that we would repay! No! But it is that, we are given so much, we are filled with such goodness, we receive "grace upon grace" (Jn 1:16), that we realise it is right and just to give God thanks and praise! 

To know the right thing to be done at the right time and choosing to do it, is a gift of the Holy Spirit...we would be blessed to possess it. And the Lord says today, "set your desire on my words; long for them, and you will be instructed!" (Wis 6:11). Doing the right thing, at the right time, is a response that we give to the Lord and that response is what is expected from me! When I don't respond, I waste what was entrusted to me, as a gift, a treasure! 

Our response to the self revealing God - that is our faith. Growing in faith is learning to respond more and more adequately. Failing to respond is dwindling in faith. Let us grow in faith everyday - let us be attentive to respond to the Lord in every way!

Remaining true to our Salvific Core

WORD 2day: 14th November, 2017

Tuesday, 32nd week in Ordinary Time

Wis 2:23 - 3:9; Lk 17: 7-10

The first reading today states a tremendous truth - we are made for eternity, incorruptible by nature, because we carry the image of God within us! That is the fundamental truth of salvation. We are all saved in the core of our being, none of us is destined to destruction, none of us is rushing towards perdition! But we have a responsibility to keep that truth alive, because it all depends on the choices we make. 

By nature we are God's own children, but if we by our daily decisions and life choices, resolve to break away from God and from the gifts that God has placed within us, we are ruining our own salvific core. We are called every day, every moment to go on living in faith founded on hope and guided by love, to live a life of love and mercy; and at the end of it say, 'we are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty!' 

God who loves us will never desert us, unless we decide to break away from God. It is so important for us to repeat to ourselves - God is with us, that is what God has so clearly promised. The real question is are we with God? By our choices and priorities, are we really with God? We are all saved in the core of our being, because our core is God. Our responsibility is to remain true to that salvific core!

Holiness: Faith lived at the Core

WORD 2day: 13th November, 2017

Monday, 32nd week in Ordinary Time

Wis 1:1-7; Lk 17: 1-6

Holiness is a matter of the innermost being. It does not consist merely of the external signs and shows. Words not said, thoughts not expressed, acts merely contemplated, reactions withheld... these determine my holiness more than what the world around perceives me to be. That is why the strange link between faith and forgiveness in the Gospel today. 

While Jesus teaches the disciples to forgive brothers and sisters, they respond saying - 'increase our faith!' Can sound strange, but only apparently so! One cannot consider oneself to be a person of faith, holy and spiritual, if one's relationships with others is not right. If faith is relationship with God, forgiveness is relationship with my fellow beings! If the latter fails, the former is meaningless. If we want really to be spiritual, we have to forgive, accept, and love our brothers and sisters, as God does with us! 

Lets ask the Lord to "Increase our faith" (Lk 17:5); increase in faith means what the first reading tells us: honesty, simplicity of heart, shunning deceit, being truthful, in short: being godly at the core of our being, not merely in the external show! Yes, holiness is faith lived at the core of our beings. Faith is our daily life lived in the presence of the Lord. The more we grow conscious of the continuous presence of the Lord the more holy we shall grow!

Authentic Faith and Right Relationships

WORD 2day: 11th November, 2017

Saturday, 31st week in Ordinary Time

Rom 16: 3-9,16,22-27; Lk 16: 9-15

Note those words used in the first reading today - friend, fellow workers, fellow prisoners, compatriots, brothers and sisters - it is all full of relationships! Faith without relationships is empty. In fact faith in itself is a relationship, a relationship with God that defines every other relationship in life. Yes, it is all about relationships, but the right ones.

Faith and Right Relationships are connected to each other. Faith creates right relationships and right relationships mark authentic faith. How do we understand right relationships - they are relationships that are centered on God. They are not relationships that turn out to be possessive, selfish, self centered, self seeking, materialistic and mundane. They are relationships that center on God, that promote true selfless love, that respect the mutual dignity and freedom and that edify each other towards the spiritual maturity. These are Right Relationships, nurtured by Authentic Faith. 

When Jesus speaks of choosing one master and letting go of the other, this is what he means. By "money" he means all that is mundane, all that is materialistic and all that is merely utilitarian. By "God" he meant, all that is spiritual, faith centered and truly Divine. Relationships, if they are right, will surely lead us to this Spiritual Edification!

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How long yet that they taste the Lord!

WORD 2day: 10th November, 2017

Friday, 31st week in Ordinary Time

Rom 15: 14-21; Lk 16: 1-8

A couple of days back, a few of us priests had gone for a programme out and were returning by bus! As always, we were enjoying each other's company with cheer and laughter. I noticed an old lady who was sitting by a window and staring at us. She was quite stern faced and gloomy and before I could notice it fully, her eyes caught mine and she asked, 'are you all priests'? (ofcourse, we were in civil clothes and not clerical). No sooner than I nodded in response to her question, she began to curse - you are all liars, the church is finished, it will no longer stand, you are all living in the name of god! Though it was bad that all who were around were looking at us with pity, I could only look with pity at that old lady, and her bitterness that was so vividly portrayed on her face! Certainly she has some experiential baggage that makes her resent so badly. This event instantly popped up in my mind as I sat with the Word today.

How long yet that the bitter people of the world turn around and taste the love of God? Just like the pagans that Paul speaks of and the steward in the Gospel who suddenly discovered his insecurity, the proud and the arrogant, the resentful and godless of today need to come back to the Lord. The role that you and I are called to play here is to be reminders, signs, pointers, of that love and meaning that God alone can offer. For that we need to first take in that love as much as we can and hold it out to the world. For as St Paul affirms, 'those who have never been told about him will see him, and those who have never heard about him will understand.' 

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

Feast of the dedication of the Lateran Basilica: 9th November, 2017

THE ARCHBASILICA OF ST. JOHN AT THE LATERANS, is the oldest, not only among the four Major Papal Basilicas of Rome, but among all the Churches in the West. And this is the most important of all Catholic Churches, even more than St. Peter's because it is the Cathedral of the Bishop of Rome, that is the Pope's Cathedral. That is why it is called the Archbasilica and it is known as the Mother of all Churches. When a Pope is elected and consecrated, he takes possession of this Holy Seat at a formal occasion, making himself the Bishop of Rome. The Basilica is named so, because it was originally the palace of the Laterans, a family of Royal Administrators. It was confiscated from them during the rule of Nero. But when Emperor Constantine married Fausta, the sister of Marcus Aurelius, the Domus Faustae (Fausta's Palace) came into Constantine's hands who in turn gave it to the Bishop of Rome. Later in 324 CE, Pope Silvester I transformed it into the Cathedral of Rome and dedicated it to Jesus Christ the Saviour. Later  in 10th century it was rededicated to St. John the Baptist and once again in 12th century rededicated to St. John the Evangelist. Thus the Church has a principal patron Jesus Christ the Saviour, and two additional patrons, John the Baptist and John the Evangelist. Hence the name, Archbasilica of St. John at the Laterans. 

We celebrate the dedication of this Basilica today and the message is clear: that we are called to become the dwelling places of God, sources of life and wellness to whole humanity. 

BEING FORSAKEN AND MOVING AHEAD

WORD 2day: 4th November, 2017

Saturday, 30th week in Ordinary Time
Rom 11: 1-2,11-12, 25-29; Lk 14: 1,7-11

At times we dare ask that question: has God forsaken me? All the expression of an endless love on God's part notwithstanding I ask that question, and wait for an answer - how cheeky!! 

Forsaking, is not within the precincts of God. Being Forsaken -is an absolutely human parlance! God never forsakes, not even if it is the worst of beings that God is faced with. Because when God creates someone, God does so out of love! That love never changes, as does God's righteousness never change. 

God's righteous love, accepts me whatever state I might be in. But at times, I reject God, keep myself away from God and remain indifferent towards God. I look for other things - human respect, worldly success, material affluence, social status and mundane glory! God is sideline and forsaken. Jesus challenges us: move ahead my friend!

Grow up and realise that it is not God who forsakes you; you forsake God! Realise it... and then you will be truly able to move ahead and get on with God.

Hope - that makes us Christian!

All Souls Day - 2017

What is the difference between a Christian and an unchristian outlook on anything? 

Hope! The difference is hope. It is hope that makes us see a possibility even in the worst of our daily problems. Hope gives one the serenity and tranquility to approach every day problems with grace. One big unsolved question for the whole humanity is how to understand the end of life and beyond. 

For a Christian, life is changed, not ended; it is transformed not terminated, explains the preface of the Mass for the dead. Jesus' resurrection fills us with hope and that hope does not disappoint us. The hope is towards eternal life, it is the eternal destination that characterises the culmination of this journey on earth. 

Death is just the horizon beyond which we are not able to see what really exists; for if we see, there is no more place for hope (Rom 8:24). All that we see is the Risen Lord, who lives with us and lights our path. And in the Risen Lord is our hope. We hope to see every one of our brothers and sisters gone before us, united in the Risen Lord, as do the saints we celebrated yesterday and our prayer today is that these brothers and sisters of ours join their ranks and that we, at the end of our journey, join that wonderful family, the family that is founded on faith, united in love and kept alive in hope!

It is hope that makes us truly Christian!