WORD 2day: 20th June, 2017

Generosity - growing towards Christian perfection

Tuesday, 11th week in Ordinary Time

2 Cor 8: 1-9; Mt 5: 43-48

Being Generous is an essential element of Christian perfection and this generosity has a few existential elements that make a Christian more and more God-like. 

First, generosity in forgiveness. It helps me look the faults of others as something that can be ignored, and the person as much more important than their faults.

Second, generosity in giving. It helps me not to keep the count, being unconditional in giving.

Third, generosity in sharing. It makes me ignore the fact whether I have much or not; making me ready to share even the little that I have.

Fourthly , generosity in praying. It makes me wish everything good for all, even those who do not wish the same in return.

Fifthly, generosity in loving. It makes me embrace the other without expecting anything in return. 

Looking at these dimensions, can we not say, they make us grow in our perfection and become like God?

WORD 2day: 19th June, 2017

The Mystery of Now

Monday, 11th week in Ordinary time

2 Cor 6: 1-10; Mt 5: 38-42

NOW is the watchword today - the post modern gurus and self help specialists insist on the now, the here and now. Though it has its great value, this kind of a thinking can have its own set of problems. The Now is reduced to either an insensitivity to the past or carelessness of the future. That is, a society that does not bank on its true past and the rich heritage is insensitive to its past and it misses to reap the fruits that have been initiated long ago. And the other is a mindset that cares for nothing that is yet to come, concentrating only on the moment that is there and making the most of it, draining it of its inherent potency and losing out on the great lessons a moment can offer.

When Paul says, Now is the favourable time and today is the day of salvation, he does not mean to disregard the past or neglect the future. He invites us to unravel the mystery of the moment, the mystery of now. The present moment contains within it the fruit of the past and the seed of the future, and a conscious living of present can make my life so wise and wealthy. Forgiveness and Generosity are the two values upheld today: Forgiveness relativises the past and Generosity relativises the future - both emphasising the mystery that is treasured in the present. 

Living the present with the mindset of Christ - absolutising the space for God and the space for the other, will make us understand that the present is given to us to forgive the past and generously give the future - that is the mystery that is embedded in the present. That is what Christ did, the Apostles proclaimed and we are called to live!