PRESENCE, PEACE AND BLESSING

January 1, 2020: The Solemnity of Mary, Mother of  God

Numbers 6:22-27; Galatians 4:4-7; Luke 2: 16-21

It is a fresh start, a new year, a treasure of 365 days! 

It is a Gift, a gift in all ways: precious, beautiful, wrapped and presented. First of all, it would be too rude not to receive it as a gift. Secondly, it is wrapped...and it is important that we receive it with a sense of wonder, surprise and gratitude. Trying to know everything, in the name of predictions and presumptions, would strip it of its wonder! To approach it with a wry and dry mentality will make it devoid of its surprise. Let us approach it with gratitude and a sense of childlike curiosity, prepared to receive the gift on daily basis, one day at a time!

The greatest gift we can have, that with which we begin every new year, is the loving presence of God! The babe in the manger is a the highest gift that we can have. The Emmanuel, God with us, is the most precious gift that we can behold. That the Lord is with us fills us with hope: that whatever it be as the year unfolds day by day, we would never be alone facing it. We have the Lord with us, all the time, every day and every moment. 

The gift of the new born Saviour is what we celebrate today: Mary, the Mother of God! The Mother of God is a gift, a reminder and a challenge to us. The Mother of God, is a gift: God gives her to us as a protector, a guide, a refuge as we begin this new year, with all its surprises. The Mother of God, is the reminder of the Word made flesh, the Lord who has cast away all distance and difference and become one like us, just to show us how much God loves us. The Mother of God is a challenge, a challenge to give, to give endlessly. She gave herself, when the Angel approached her! She gave the world the Son of God, born of a woman, when the fullness of time came. She gave that child to the Lord, offered him in the temple and offered him to the Father's work! She gave her young son, for the sake of the salvation of the world. She gave up everything and gave everything! She stands as a challenge for us today, to give, to give and never to count!

The gift of an year! This year, which is given into our hands today, as a gift hamper, will be filled with peace if we live it in the way that the Lord wants us to; after the example of our Blessed Mother. She said that yes, and she said that for her whole life, not knowing what it meant and where it will lead her. All that she was assured was, the Lord was with her. We are assured too that the Lord's presence will go with us, that the Lord's countenance with shine on us. Let us begin with hope and that will give us peace.

May the Lord bless you and keep you!

May the Lord let his face shine upon you, and be gracious to you!

May the Lord look upon you kindly and give you peace!

May your New year 2020 be filled with God's presence, peace and every blessing!

Sing to the Lord a NEW song!

WORD 2day: December 31, 2019

1 John 2: 18-21; John 1: 1-18.

Oh what a day to sing a new song! When everyone thinks of something that is ending, the Word calls us today to sing a new song! Not that the liturgy does not take note of the last day...it does! The first reading indeed, speaks of the last days and the things that pertain to the last day! But the responsorial invites us to sing a new song! 

That is truly a Christ-ian spirit! To sing a new song when every one thinks everything is coming to its end, for our hope has no end. It is a beginning for us... a new beginning, in the Lord, in whom we have "received grace upon grace" (John 1:16). Interesting to listen to the Gospel, which begins, 'In the beginning there was Word.' It is indeed a moment of faith.

Today is a day to thank the Lord for everything, for everything that we have walked through this year. Some, we may label 'good', and others we may label 'bad'... but invariably everything has happened with the knowledge of God and there is nothing more blessed than to offer everything up into the hands of God this day, as we await an all new grace from God's hands... a new year that begins at the end of this day. 

With all the increasing hate mongering and violence inducing event around, it could be that the uppermost feeling today is one of a painful sigh or a yearning cry, but let us not let that happen. Let us not give into any hopelessness today. Let us not allow ourselves to be surrounded by some fearful darkening recall of disturbing experiences from the year passing us by. 

Let us decide and choose to prepare ourselves in thanksgiving to receive an all new grace from God's hands - a brand new 2020!

One who does the will of God, lives for ever

WORD 2day: December 30, 2019

1 John 2: 12-17; Luke 2: 36-40

The feast of the Holy Family is just over, but the theme lingers on in today's liturgy - the first reading addressed to various categories of persons in the family, the psalm inviting the families to offer themselves to the Lord and the Gospel referring to the holy family at the temple, to offer the first born to the Lord! The cue to the message is prophetess Anna and the last verse of the first reading which says, "one who does the will of God, lives for ever" (1 Jn 2:17). 

What does a family do to you? It helps you grow, grow physically, emotionally, relationally, in short, into whole human persons! 

In the family, we are all called to 'grow and become strong', and to be filled with wisdom...wisdom which tells us what is God's will for us; what is acceptable and what is not, in the eyes of the Lord! What is that which helps us stay with God's will and what is that which takes us away from it.

There is yet another growth that has to be underlined: our growth in faith. Faith is not acquired once for all; every day we grow, we grow to the full into persons that God wants us to be. We have no excuse, because God's favour is upon us all as chosen children of God; if I do not grow and become strong in faith, it is me who is to be blamed, is it not? 

The key to all these is perceiving, knowing and following God's will, which is simply deciding and desiring to do what would please God and God alone. That difficulties would crop when we do so, yes, it is true. But the one who does the will of God, shall live for ever!

LESSONS FROM THE HOLY FAMILY

December 29, 2019: Solemnity of the Holy Family

Ecclesiasticus 3: 2-6,12-14; Colossians 3: 12-21; Matthew 2:13-15, 19-23

Increasing number of Homes for the Aged, Orphanages, Day care centres and Night shelters for the kids on the streets, alarming rate of divorces and split families, the ridiculous family feuds and meaningless stand offs among the relatives within a family... these are no strange scenes today in a Christian Community! And much more, these are vivid testaments of a collapsing Christian faith. 

Christian faith is a faith of a Community, from the earliest times known it is experienced, lived and shared in a community; and the basic unit of the community is the family. That is the reason for using the beautiful term, 'domestic church' referring to the family. It is there, that the Church grows from a seed to a seedling and then to an orchard of God's love. The Solemnity today, intends to rekindle in us our respect for families, our commitment to living our faith in our families and as families to become the nuclei of God's love that can give birth to a whole new world, a world of love, peace, joy and fellowship.

The Holy Family of Nazareth presents to us a wonderful project towards this dream:

To the Families: BE GOD CENTERED! The first reading invites us to reflect on the fact that a Christian Family is constituted by God. It is not merely the man and the woman who come together to make the family, but it is the Lord who brings them together. The second reading affirms the same in the words of St. Paul, who elsewhere points out that marriage should lead to mutual sanctification of the partners (1 Cor 7:14). As long as God is the centre of a family, the family will remain united, bonded in the love of God.

God was at the centre, in the Holy Family... God commanded, the family carried out. They listened to God, obeyed God and took directions from God. There were difficult commands to carry out, but they carried out. There were terrible issues involved, they stuck together. There were challenges to face, they did it all without losing their serenity. All because they had God, right at the centre of their family...they listened to God and took directions from God! Do we as a family, listen to God and take directions from God?

To the Individuals: BE FAMILY CENTERED! The individualistic and materialistic tendencies of the society at large, have begun to affect the individual families drastically. Individuals within a family, far from thinking of the well being of the other, have begun to calculate the gain they have from the rest of the family and stoop to dirty levels of hurting the other for one's own good! 

The Good of the Family was the uppermost criterion in the Holy Family... Mary did not mind the running around, be it when she was still carrying or after the delivery; Joseph did not mind taking up the burdens of transferring them every time; all that was in their mind was the Good of the Family and Jesus was no exception as Luke says in his Gospel, "he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them' (Lk 2:51). Do we as individuals, place the good of the others in the family before my own interests?

To the Churches: BE COMMUNION CENTERED! The Local Churches, that is the parishes, are essentially God's Family of families. In the wise and eternal plan of our loving Lord, the Universal Church in the world is the communion of Churches in various nations, namely the dioceses; the Diocesan church is the communion of the local parish churches; the Parish church has to be the communion of the domestic churches, that is the Family! All of us united in the name of the Father, Son and the Spirit, who invite us to form one, big, universal family of loving hearts - that family which is called the REIGN OF GOD. 

The Holy Family did everything with just one objective in mind: that God's will be done. Mary said that to Angel Gabriel: Let it be done unto me according to your will, and ever since she did nothing but obey the Lord with thanks, praise and reflection in her heart. Joseph carried out every command that was given to him without speaking a word of doubt or objection - all for the will of God to be done. Do we as part of a parish church or a faith community, do our part to grow in our communion with each other, towards forming one, big, God's family - the Reign of God?

Let us take to heart the lessons from the Holy Family today...and as families be God centered, as individuals be Family centered and as a Parish be Communion centered.

The Innocents die, even today!

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

December 28, 2019: The Feast of the Holy Innocents

1 John 1:5 - 2:2; Matthew 2: 13-18

The innocents die, even today! 

Due to the malice of minds and the avarice of various kinds, innocents die even today. 

At the hands of the oppressive forces with heartless greed for power and dominance, innocents die even today. 

By the selfish acts of the conniving perverts and the corrupt bigwigs, innocents die even today. 

Owing to the insensitive governments and consumeristic forces of global power who kill culture and destroy humanity, innocents die even today.

Because of the brute force of money and the rule of the lawless, everywhere in the world, caught between two equally maddening inhuman extremes, innocents die even today.

Let us pause a while and ask ourselves, where is enshrined the true greatness of a culture? In proving its millennia of existence? In making its arrogance felt by dominating others? In making sure everyone else is under its control? NO! The authentic greatness of a culture of a society can be understood by the way it treats its children, its elders, its weak and helpless members, that is its innocents!!! That is why the Holy Father Pope Francis keeps insisting on our care for the children, the elders, the sick and the weak. 

Let not just our prayers be raised today, but our commitment too, towards protecting the rights and the well being of the helpless innocents! 

Joy - the true sign of Christian life and ministry!

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

December 27, 2019: Remembering St. John

1 John 1: 1-4; John 20: 2-8

The Christmas joy continues, even as we commemorate St.John the Evangelist today. 

"The Joy of the Gospel fills the hearts and lives of all who encounter Jesus," says the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, no.1. Though the Gospel reading draws our attention to the scene of resurrection, the message is all about an encounter with Christ that redefines one's life. When a person encounters Christ in all one's earnestness, there is a choice, a categorical choice for Christ and Christ's mission! 

As St. Paul affirms that it is no merit that an apostle proclaims the Word, but woe to him if he does not (1 Cor 9:16), today we see John explaining in the first reading: I am called to announce Christ, not merely because others will benefit from it; but primarily that my joy may be complete (1 Jn 1:4). 

For a Christian, a joy-filled proclamation of Christ is the only way to live his or her life - joyfully proclaiming Christ in every word, every action and every choice that is made, at every moment of one's daily life. St. John teaches us that and inspires in us to become beloved disciples of Christ, in joy!

The Reign Dream

THE WORD AND THE SAINT 

December 26, 2019: St. Stephen, the first Martyr

Acts 6: 8-10, 7: 54-59; Mt 10: 17-22

Persecutions and Martyrdom have never been alien to Christian Faith. St. Stephen is the first Biblical evidence to it. Continuing in the line of the prophets and persons of God who have been treated at will by the world in the Old Testament, we see Jesus and most of his disciples facing the same end in the New Testament. 

Religious fanaticism and the consequent discrimination and communalism is dangerously being justified these days as patriotism and conservatism! Be it the 'islamophobia' that is spread globally, or the anti-secular system that is being forced through the fabric of tolerance and conviviality in great enviable traditions, the hate speeches and hidden agenda... these are signs of anti-Reign elements in the world today. 

St. Stephen knew what it meant to suffer for the Reign and die for Christ; it meant suffering for the things that really matter; it meant standing for true beliefs and convictions that can elevate your spirit to the heavens open and the angels coming down!  

It was Stephen who also imitated his Master literally: While Jesus prayed for those who crucified him and offered his spirit into the hands of his loving Father, Stephen prayed for those who stoned him and surrendered his spirit into Jesus' hands. What an example for us to emulate! Not only praying what Stephen prayed but seeing what he saw: the open heavens - that is open hearts, high ideals, profound humanity, in short, the Reign dream!

HOPE, LOVE, JOY & PEACE

Holy Christmas 2019

Christmas means Hope: the Hope of a second chance, an endless second chance that God gives me. God has never expected me to deserve God's mercy! How blessed am I! To all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God (Jn 1:12). That is Hope! I receive hope as I receive the Lord today!

The fact of migration of persons was once upon a time an international issue, later it became a national issue with various nations taking diverse stands and deciding what they would do. Today it has become a communal issue people divided and polarised, in many cases by forces that are evil minded. There is a need to keep the hope alive, that there is a new world somewhere, a new humanity, a true Reign of God, for every person on earth. 

Christmas means Love: God so loved the world that he sent his only son (Jn 3:16). There is no end to the Love that God has for me. The Mercy of God abounds all around me! When I receive this love, when I truly receive this love, I will be transformed into love. If I am not transformed into love, I have not received that love. Today the task for me is to receive that love truly... become merciful, as merciful as the loving Father.

Look at the cases of abuse of persons, abuse of all kinds, including that of the women, children and the weak. They are all because of the reduction of an understanding of love to merely liking and pleasure than true love and good of the other. The incarnation is the epitome of love, love which is essentially giving and just giving, a total self giving, and not receiving or exploiting! Can we give true love a chance today? 

Christmas means Joy: The joy of the Saviour...the joy that cannot be taken away from me, the joy that I have in coming to understand that I am never alone. That your joy may be complete (Jn 15:11). A joy that comes from the right perspective to life, right priorities in life and the Lord's principles for life : a life of true mercy and forgiveness.

People who are oppressed due to do many inhuman conditions arising out of innumerable socio economic policies and practices, people who have nothing and no one to rely on... What kind of a joy can we expect them to have? What role am I playing to further the cause of their joy? What kind of sacrifices am I ready for, in order that they may have joy, the real joy that the Lord has given me. 

Christmas means Peace: The Lord be with you is synonymous to Peace be with you! Where the Lord is there is peace. Let our hearts not be troubled (Jn 14:27), for the Lord is always with us. That is the message of Christmas, that the Lord came to be with us, to stay with us, to live amidst us, to dwell among us. Peace comes where Mercy resides.

Understanding and dialogue leads to peace, while pride and egoism leads to strife. Celebrating the coming of the Lord would make no sense of I am not ready for dialogue as my way of living. It has to become the basic perspective of life. Only a person ready for dialogue can truly understand the mystery of incarnation for it is basically a dialogue between the glory of divinity and the longing of humanity. How prepared am I to set aside my prefabricated ideas and truly listen with an open heart and mind to the other?

Christmas is hope, love, joy and peace - those experiences humanity longs for today. The Lord brings it to us, provided we are prepared and ready to receive them.

May your life be filled today with hope, love joy and peace. Merry Christmas. 

CHRISTMAS NOVENA - DAY 9: O Morning Star!

24th December: O Morning Star...

The 7 O-Antiphons are over with yesterday...
but the Novena ends today...with the rising of the Morning Star!

O Morning Star, Radiance of eternal light
Sun of Justice, come and enlighten those who live in darkness
and in the Shadow of death.

Morning Star, actually is the star that is seen in the east shining bright just before the dawn! It is considered the imminent sign of the morning that is already rising.

The Lord is not just near...but the Lord is here!!!
We celebrate the Rising Star, the Morning Star that announces the break of day!
The Lord comes to rule in our hearts, not just in the world...
Let us prepare ourselves..for the Lord is here.

Needed traits to Receive the Lord #3: AWE

THE WORD IN ADVENT - 24th December

2 Samuel 7: 1-5, 8-12, 14, 16; Luke 1: 67-79

Translated as fear of God, or an awe towards God, or the sense of spiritual wonder, the capacity to be open to the doings of the Lord...Awe is the third and most important trait to receive the Lord. Without a sense of wonder, no one can even perceive the Lord, let alone receiving the Lord.

Very often we think of our spirituality as doing something for God - going to the Church, saying prayers, going for Mass... they are all important, yes! But more important is our openness to God, allowing God to work in us, listening to God, looking to understand what God communicates to us here and now! Is it you who would build a house for the Lord, asks prophet Nathan to David... God would build you a house!

David who was a simple shepherd boy was built into a house - the House of David: about which both the first reading and the Gospel speak of today. God built David into a house, a house, a lineage in which the Saviour of the humankind would be born. What an awesome feat of God. Imagine if David had rebelled and said, 'No I would by all means build a house for God', after all building the temple of the Lord was a noble thing. Doing a noble thing is good, but more important and crucial is doing what God wants us to do and the the most noble thing is surrendering to the Lord and allowing the Lord to do what the Lord wants with us, with a sense of awe!

At times in our busy 'doing'...we forget 'to be' in the presence of God. Let us keep this as the highest priority today... as we are just a few hours from celebrating the awesome mystery of incarnation, let us stay in awe, remain in wonder at the marvels of the Lord, the immensity of the Love that the Lord shares with us this Christmas! Let us open our heart and our mind, that we may receive the Lord in awe!

CHRISTMAS NOVENA - DAY 8 : O Emmanuel!

23rd December: O Emmanuel

O Emmanuel, our king and our lawgiver,
the hope of the nations and their Saviour:
Come and save us, O Lord our God.

Based on the famous prophecy of Isaiah 7:14, the title Emmanuel is the key to the mystery of incarnation. The presence of God with the people was the greatest of the promises that they could experience. Be it with Abraham or with Moses or with Joshua or with the people who were walking in the desert, one of the prominent promises that God gave was to be with them! Christ comes as the fulfilment and the most complete expression as that promise: as God among us.

The symbol is the virgin with the child in the manger. It is not just any child, but the promised salvation of the God of the universe, the king who has come to meet his subjects to make them co-heirs to his throne. The manger is a lovely symbol that unites the heaven and the earth, the Divine and the human!

The presence of the Lord is salvific; one who has experienced it cannot remain silent - he or she has to go out and share it, make every one else experience that presence! This is the crux of evangelisation: it is not proselytisation, not sheep stealing and increasing the numbers within a fold. It is sharing that salvific presence that one has experienced, from the Lord. The first call is to experience the God-with-us, the presence of the Lord with us, and the call that follows is to share that presence with those around - that is salvation.

The prayer is to the Lord our God to save us by God's saving presence... in simple words it is a beseeching to stay with us, to live with us. to sanctify us, to make us worthy of God and of God's great big family.

Needed traits to Receive the Lord #2: READINESS

THE WORD IN ADVENT - 23rd December 

Malacchi 3:1-4,23-24; Luke 1: 57-66

Let us continue with the necessary traits to receive the Lord who comes to visit us...the second trait necessary is, Readiness. 

Readiness does not mean a mere passive waiting... it is an active preparation, without which one would miss the moment of truth.  The preparation would consist, first of all,  of knowing. It's the message we reflected this Sunday... Knowing and understanding, they form the first level of preparedness. 

Being prepared may not be enough. Speaking to a group of graduating students, Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, made an enlightening statement, God bless him. He said, it is not enough to be prepared, but one needs to be ready. 

The coming of the Lord is a moment of truth for us, and we have to be ready - which is, to be prepared in heart and mind, of course. But along with that, to be ready in spirit and in action. To know and to live by what one knows, to believe and to live by what one believes - that is being ready! 

The first reading calls us to exactly to this - to be well disposed, to be refined as silver is refined in the furnace, to make our life worthy of the sacred mysteries we are about to celebrate. It is like the period of pain that Elisabeth and the time of muteness that Zachariah had to go through. The sacrament of Confession is a wonderful moment of refinement, a great sign of our READINESS to receive the Lord, this Christmas!

Have you made your confession yet? 

CHRISTMAS NOVENA - DAY 7: O King of Nations!

22nd December: O King of Nations

O King of the nations, and their desire,

the cornerstone making both one:

Come and save the human race,

which you fashioned from clay.

Based on Isaiah 9:6, 2:4 and 28:16, the King of the nations is a yearning of the people of Israel. They wanted Yahweh to be their king always, even when they had a human king ruling them. That is why they did not give in to the Emperor worship that was so widespread in the dominant cultures of their times. God is the king, forever and over all!

The Symbol is the crown, and some times even the sceptre, that signifies the central place that God has in our personal and universal history; and the authority that rests solely with God. Remember the feast we celebrate just before beginning the advent, that is on the last Sunday of the Ordinary time - that is the adaptation of the same theology of Israel, into the Christian way of life.

Today power is misused for manipulation and arriving at hidden agenda; power which is given to certain persons for the sake of furthering the care of humanity is used to destroy the very humanity. Who is to be blamed? Those who manipulate it? Yes, of course. But what about those who let them do it? those who keep silent when it is done? If it is true that we have accepted God as our King, Christ as our King, it means we have accepted Truth, Justice, Love and Peace. Anything that, or anyone who goes against these, just cannot be sided with - it would be a wrong allegiance, a slavery!

The prayer is to save the human kind, from slaveries of sin and death to the freedom of the children of God, for that is what we are, children created in the image and likeness of God. It is to grow in this identity and dignity that the coming of the Lord invites us.

BEHOLD THE PROMISES OF THE LORD

THE WORD IN ADVENT

December 22, 2019: Fourth Sunday of Advent
Isaiah 7: 10-14; Romans 1:1-7; Matthew 1: 18-24

Promises, prophecies and prodigies fill the history of our Christian faith. Promises are from the Lord, prophecies are from persons of God and prodigies are for all of us to see, provided we are ready to see it. One thing is God revealing Godself, it is entirely another thing that we receive it! We are at the threshold of the feast for which we have been preparing for the past three weeks, and today we are in fourth Sunday of Advent, just two days away from the event - but are we ready to Behold the Lord, are we disposed to behold the promises of the Lord? This is the question that the Word wants us to raise within ourselves. 

The drama of the God-Human interplay begins with a promise from the Lord: let us consider that promise from the Old Testament - when the humankind fails miserably and disobeys God, God instead of disowning the humankind, chides the evil one who led God's children away, something which the prince of lies continues to do even today. God does not only just chide the evil one but challenges to save the humankind to eternal life - against the wish of the evilone to lead them to eternal damnation. The challenge was in the form of a promise: I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offsping and hers! That was a promise which amounted to say to us: I shall never leave you at the mercies of the evil one! But has the human kind always lived up to it? In other words, has the human kind always beheld that promise?

The Lord renews that promise once again as we read in the first reading today, the propehcy of Isaiah: The Lord himself will give you a sign; the maiden is with child and will soon give birth to a son, whom she will call Immanuel, a name which means 'God-is-with-us'. The woman, the maiden, the girl of Nazareth -is with child and in two days we shall celebrate the event when she gave birth to that child. And then there were so many prodigies, did they really behold it? The promises were given, they were prophesied about, and prodigies brought those promises to life - but they ignored it, they rejected it... let us say, WE rejected it, we ignored it, we failed to behold it. 

Today the promises are being fulfilled, revealed with prodigies all around, are we ready to behold it? The capacity to behold the promises of the Lord - that is what Christmas is all about. We are about enter into the festivities, but hold on, let us have a look at ourselves, our dispositions: are we ready to behold the Lord? Have we developed the capacity to behold the promises of the Lord. That capacity consists of three levels and this is what the Word instructs today about.

The first level is the level of knowing! To know first of all that we have great promises from the Lord and secondly to know what they are! One of the promises that God has never ceased to give is that of God's never failing presence! I am with you until the end of times - this was Jesus the Christ. But that is only a reflection of what God the Father had promised the people of Israel - through Abraham, through Moses, through Joshua, through Jeremiah... and finally through God's own Son who would be coming soon among us, as God made human, Word made flesh! The promise - if only we truly know them and understand them! This is what St. Paul reminds us, writing to the Romans today - to know and to understand the promises of the Lord and those of Christ.

The second level is the level of believing! To know the promises is one thing, to believe in them is another. At times we know God has promised to be with us, but whether we believe in it all the time, is a serious question. We think God is up there and distant from us at times, when we go through things in our life with our own calculations and hidden agenda, with external justifications and completely different internal motivations, with appearances that totally deceive others from what truly goes on in the depths of our hearts - does not God know it? Whose patience are we trying to put to test, asks Isaiah in the first reading. God knows the innermost thoughts of our minds - do we really believe in the promises of the Lord? Do we believe that God is faithful and God will never fail in keeping up to God's promises? If not, how will we behold them at all?

The third level is the level of experiencing! To know the promises and to believe in them actually means, experiencing them in our daily life, in every day chores, in every person we meet, in events that happen around us, in miracles that surround us, in wonders that keep happening and in the signs and splendours that mark the history that we are living and creating everyday. At times we are lost in seeing what the powerful decide that we see, we are too occupied in sensing what those who manipulate us want us to sense, we are too busy perceiving things from the perspective of those who want to lead us astray or at least to their own perspective. We consider some strangers, because we are taught to consider that way. We consider some as low, because we are conditioned to think we are higher. We consider some as superior because we are brought up to look down on ourselves...we fail to truly experience the reality, the real beauty in God's creation - with all its diversities, with all its varieties, and with all its peculiarities. How can we them see the richness of the revelation of God? God reveals Godself on a daily basis, how can we really see it if we are not disposed to behold it? Look at Joseph in the Gospel today: he was able to look at Mary with compassion and accept her. Look at Mary: she was able to accept that strange call, trusting in the presence of God with her. Look at the saintly couple, Mary and Joseph: they were able to carry on with every thing that was happening between them, because they trusted in the promises of the Lord. They lived it!

Today, let us take it upon ourselves to get to know the promises that God wishes to give each of us. Let us believe that God would always be faithful to God's promises. Let us prepare ourselves to experience those promised in our daily life, because let us remember, Miracles abound for those who are prepared to see them around!

CHRISTMAS NOVENA - DAY 6: O Rising dawn!

21st December: O Rising dawn

O Morning Star,
Splendour of light eternal and sun of righteousness:
Come and enlighten those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death.

Based on Isaiah 9:2 and Isaiah 60:1-2, the title in Latin O Oriens, actually means literally O Rising Sun or Dawn, but for poetic sense translated as Morning Star, refers to the power of God's light to lead us from ignorance to knowledge and from mere knowledge to enlightenment. 

The Symbol is the Rising Sun, which dispels the darkness of the night and wakes the light of the morning, inviting all to life and activity. The coming of the Lord for us is a wake up call, an invitation to live as people of the light and not of darkness!

Today we see people disputing with each other, clamouring to be right in contrast to another, remain divided among themselves because of their allegiance to someone or some ideology - are they really certain where lies the real truth? Even within the Church today we see people polarising themselves, unnecessarily for the sake of some ideologies and philosophies - Apostle Paul warned us long back - do not be deceived by all these ideologies and philosophies, cling on to Christ and Christ alone is the enlightenment of God, who can clarify the real truths of our life.

The prayer is for enlightenment, that in these times of confusion and crisis, confounding choices and staggering philosophies, we might remain always in the light of faith, that not only helps us see the Lord, but see with the eyes of the Lord (Lumen Fidei).

Needed Traits to Receive the Lord #1: EAGERNESS

THE WORD IN ADVENT: 21st December

Song of Songs 2:8-14; Luke 1:39-45

Starting today the Word shall point out to us three needed traits to receive the Lord... Is it not for that we have been preparing ourselves? 

Looking forward to meet the love of your life - that is the kind of disposition required if we really want to behold the coming of the Lord. The Song of Songs expresses the longing that one has for the beloved. It's like that innocent sweet child who asked her father at the end of her busy day of birthday celebrations, "Daddy, when will my birthday come again?" 

Imagine you are sitting with a gift box well wrapped... How eager you would feel to open and see what waits inside... How many ways you would try to guess what is there - checking the weight, seeing if it moves, listening to the noise when you shake... All these are ways of atuning yourself to the gift, isn't it? 

It is one thing to know that the Lord would come; it is entirely another thing to go out and meet the Lord. To receive the Lord would mean to be eager to observe every way that the Lord chooses to encounter us, not missing out even on the smallest of the signs.

That eagerness, that longing, that yearning like the parched land for water, like the deer for the running streams, like the drowning person for a breath above the waters... that is the requirement if we really want to encounter the Lord who visits us this Christmas!

It would be important to ask overselves today, how eager are we to encounter the Lord in our daily expediences? 

CHRISTMAS NOVENA - DAY 5: O Key of David!

20th December: O Key of David

O Key of David and sceptre of the House of Israel;

you open and no one can shut;

you shut and no one can open:

Come and lead the prisoners from the prison house,

those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death.

Based on  Isaiah 22:22, Isaiah 9:7 and Isaiah 42:7, the reference is to the sovereignty of God's Reign. That the throne shall have no end is a Messianic prophecy that, God will be established the Lord of history! Liberation of the oppressed and the fullness of life of all, is the sign of the Reign.

The symbol is the key to signify the authority that the Lord has, in creating, changing and structuring the whole history. It also signifies the perfect control that God has over time and space, life and being, but all these understood not in terms of domination but a love that creates and sustains.

Evil is real! Let us not deceive ourselves thinking it is imaginary, no it is real and the evil one is prowling round like a roaring lion, looking for someone to eat. This is not a matter to be worried about, as long as we commit ourselves to the One key, which alone can open or close time, space or history - the Lord! Liberation, we think has to come from afar. But it is already given to us by the Lord, we just need to choose it! When we choose the key to liberation, we choose liberation!

The prayer is for liberation... to be led towards fullness of life that is the experience of the Reign on earth. It is also a commitment to work towards, to contribute one's might and mite, to choose with all our heart and our strength, the Lord, the key to fullness, towards establishing the Reign here and now!

Keys to the Kingdom: Behold God as God

THE WORD IN ADVENT - December 20

Isaiah 7: 10-14; Luke 1: 26-38

When troubles surround or challenges abound, we try to manage our lives with our own strength or seeking those who can give a solution, notwithstanding the fact that they themselves are persons with similar problems and puzzles. This is what it means by blind leading the blind... and there are scores and scores who manipulate this to their advantage.

Fortune predictions, numerical calculations, geographical adjustments, material omens, magical powers, supernatural promises... how many substitutes we run to! The outcome - those substitutes get to exist, grow stronger, become richer and more and more adept at exploiting. How many examples we see in our world today!

When finally nothing else works, we turn to the Lord, instead of right from the beginning surrendering ourselves to the Lord almighty who alone has the ultimate power! God remains a stand by, when nothing else works! Ahaz represents that world which reduces the Lord God to our thinking, our calculations and our predictions! 

It is against this background that Mary stands out, a model for silent acceptance of the marvels of God which are beyond any of our imagination, even at the most trying moment of our lives. She surrendered right from the first instant - did not wait for more clarity and did not look for back-ups and other alternatives! That was an instant and total surrender because, she saw as God, she encountered God as God, not as some means to well being or an instrument to goodness!

The readings today warn us against reducing God to some magical powers or an ATM of grace... no, God is God - almighty, all powerful, all-knowing... and above all, all Love! Let us behold God as God and enjoy the splendour and wonder of God's presence.

CHRISTMAS NOVENA - DAY 4: O Root of Jesse!

19th December: O Root of Jesse

O Root of Jesse, standing as a sign among the peoples; 

before you kings will shut their mouths,

to you the nations will make their prayer:

Come and deliver us, and delay no longer.

Based on  Isaiah 11:1, Isaiah 11:10, the title Root of Jesse, refers to the promise of the Lord to raise the Messiah from the line of David (the son of Jesse). It is a promise of deliverance that the Lord gives the people of Israel, and to everyone who believes in the Lord. 

The Symbol is that of the shoot flowering... signalling the hope that the Lord offers in times when everything seems dark and dead. Look at the exodus event, the miracles in the desert, the water from the rock, the guidance by day and night - everyone of these was a sign of God's promises being fulfilled. The final fulfillment and the pinnacle of everything was - Incarnation, that which we are preparing to celebrate.

Promises of the Lord will never fail... it may look like it, but things will change. There may be enemies plotting around, there may be situations that go out of control and there may be evil all around me - I will give up and compromise when I think there is no hope. But when here is hope, when I stand on the promises of the Lord,  I will never give up!

The prayer today is to reinforce that HOPE...that we may always look forward to the deliverance that the Lord can offer! Note that the readings of the liturgy too relate to the same sense of hope in the Lord who accomplishes marvels for us! Never let anyone rob you of your hope, reminds our Holy Father. 

Keys to the Kingdom: To hope without limits

THE WORD IN ADVENT - December 19 

Judges 13: 2-7, 24-25; Luke 1: 5-25  

Two women, considered and categorised as 'barren', miraculously bear their firstborns, dedicate them to the Lord! The two newborns even before they were conceived were meant to be God's messengers! Let us say we have clear cut examples of - 'I chose you before you were born, from your mother's womb, when you were being formed in there!'

What the world considers impossible, the Lord proves possible; what the world cannot even think of, the Lord has planned from eternity and executes in God's own time. The coming of the Lord towards which we are preparing ourselves was punctuated with such events - virgin conceived, name pre-announced, infant saved...how many events we shall be recalling - all of them hope inspiring! The Reign too is a similar perspective of life: that of hope without limits.

When moments seem troublesome and weary, dark and dreary, confusing and out of control... we tend to give up hope, become desperate and fall into the danger of hopelessness! With the sense of desperation, one can miss the most obvious and grand signs of the magnificence of God that appears on a daily basis! 

The key that is offered today is a direct warning against hopelessness or desperation. it is to hope without limits, in the greatness of the Lord. It is Hope that will make the Reign present for a battered world. 

CHRISTMAS NOVENA - DAY 3: O Adonai!

18th December: O Adonai...

O Adonai, and leader of the house of Israel

who appeared to Moses in the fire of the burning bush

and gave him the law on Sinai:

Come and redeem us with an outstretched arm.

Based on Isaiah 11:45 and Isaiah 33:22, the title Adonai, refers to the Lordship of Yahweh, that the people of Israel always stressed on. From a generic universal history that yesterday's "Wisdom" reminded us of, today's "Adonai" comes down to the particular experience of Exodus, the watershed of the Spirituality of the people of Israel.

The Symbols are burning bush, to remind the experience when Moses surrendered to Yahweh and the stone tablets of the commandments, the symbol of Israel's surrender to Yahweh. What is stressed is the Lordship of Yahweh, which is the key to the God-experience of the Israel and our faith-experience today.

The Lord of Israel, our God is Supreme over all beings of the earth or the heavens, the Lord of history and the Lord of the future. This is nothing that God would insist on holding on to, because God stands to gain nothing whether we accept or reject God's losrdship; it is we who stand to gain or lose! When we accept the Lordship of the Creator, we find meaning, significance and purpose in everything that happens in our life; when we do not surrender, every bit of what happens can become a concern and a cause for sadness and dissatisfaction. Hence the call is to Surrender, to the lordship of the Lord.

The prayer today is that of a SURRENDER into the redeeming power of God, to be led by the Lord's hands always - from darkness to light, from folly to wisdom, from death to life! 

Keys to the Kingdom: Feel the Spiritual Restlessness

THE WORD IN ADVENT - December 18

Jeremiah 23: 5-8; Matthew 1: 18-24

Joseph was a righteous man. His rectitude consisted of an incomparable combination of the Justice of Yahweh, that we see in the first reading and God's predilective love for the poor and the weak, that is exalted in the Responsorial Psalm. 

The Righteousness of God is an uncompromising stand for the truth, because of which Joseph thinks of divorcing Mary; it is also a unparalleled love for the poor and the weak, or in Pope Francis' words, love for those in the periphery - that is what makes Joseph search for ways to spare Mary the disgrace! 

This prophetic righteousness causes a spiritual restlessness within Joseph, in which he is taught to see things from God's perspective. If he were a self centered, egotistic person he would have never learnt to see it that way, he would have done what he wanted and things would have been drastically different. 

In all the things that are happening around us, do we feel that spiritual restlessness within us - so many people robbed of their dignity, humanity deprived of its peace and tranquility, persons denied their rights and due respect, communities oppressed and weak and feeble trampled under foot: does that in anyway make us spiritually restless - does the righteousness of God and predilection for the weak, in anyway impel us to take a stand?

The Lord comes to visit us on a daily basis in these experiences, as the Angel came to meet Joseph. We will miss it all, if we are filled with only ourselves, our ideas and our perspectives! Joseph inspires us towards the third key to the Kingdom - to feel the Spiritual Restlessness within!

CHRISTMAS NOVENA - DAY 2: O Wisdom!

17th December: O Sapientia...

O Wisdom, coming forth from the mouth of the Most High

reaching from one end to the other,

mightily and sweetly ordering all things:

Come and teach us the way of prudence.

Based on Isaiah 11:2-3 and Isaiah 28:29... the antiphon recalls the most popular attribute given to the Spirit of the Lord and the Word of God which is seen active in creation and order of the universe. It is this Word, who becomes flesh to dwell among us (John 1:14). 

The Symbol used is often...the eye within the triangle, which symbolises the Omniscient God...the Wisdom of God. The Jewish or the Davidic lampstand (with 7 sticks) is used to refer to the Wisdom of God which has accompanied the people of God right from the origins of history!

Wisdom, we know is slightly different from knowledge and could be even considered a level higher, because even a person who lack the so-called knowledge may possess the finest wisdom, while a person with all possible knowledge may prove miserably unwise! Wisdom would be that capacity to not just know, but to use what we know at the right moment in the apt manner. In our daily decision-making it amounts to actually, prudence!

The Prayer today is for PRUDENCE...to be guided always by the Lord, the Lord who dwells among us.

Keys to the Kingdom: Take no one for granted

THE WORD IN ADVENT - December 17

Genesis 49:2,8-10; Matthew 1: 1-17

The first reading speaks of the sons of Jacob, and among them Judah who has to rule! The Gospel reading gives us the whole lineage of Jesus, the Christ who is to come! In both these, there is a reference to the so-called little ones who make a difference at the level of global history. 

We look at those who are around us... we know them all - their history, their geography, their background... and with all these, we think we know them so much... that we can miss the

 Lord who wants to encounter us in them, in their words or gestures! 

Even as the whole world is becoming just a little village with everyone getting to know about every other, we are getting so far away from each other. The irony of our times is that the social network which claims to take communication to the optimal levels, is stopping us from true existential encounters with each other. We are becoming happy with profiles, statuses, likes, shares and comments on the virtual world, failing to really get in touch with persons in flesh and blood. 

And even where we get to live with persons on a daily basis, there is a big danger that we look at some persons so regularly, that they no longer really mean anything to us. That's really a danger of missing the Lord who comes and his Kingdom. The key to the Kingdom that's presented to us today: every person in your life is sent on purpose by God, so, take no one for granted.