God so loves!

WORD 2day: 2nd Wednesday of Easter

May 1, 2019: Feast of St. Joseph, the Worker
Acts 5: 17-26; John 3: 16-21 

Acts of the Apostles, beginning with the Ascension of the Lord, contains as many wondrous events that took place as in any of the Gospels. We see a totally different kind of persons in the apostles. They were confident, truly courageous and absolutely committed - this was never the case when they were going around with Jesus. What made the difference? The difference was that they realised, 'God so loved the world...'!

"God so loves", is such a powerful realisation that it can make many things happen even in a heart that appears to be the most arid of all. The disciples realised what Jesus did to them only after the Lord had left them! They also realised the immense plan that God had for humanity and for themselves, in and through the Christ event. They were so filled with the Holy Spirit that they felt the effect of it all over their selves. The fundamental of all these: the realisation of how much God loved them and us!

Today we have another great person that we celebrate - St. Joseph the Worker. The work that he carried out did not consist only of the carpentry that he supposedly involved in, but primarily, all the running about that he had to do for the sake of the Holy Family! That was within God's plan! If we go to look at it from the standards of the world: Joseph had nothing to gain from it! But he did it all, because he realised how much God loved humanity, how much God loved him and how much God wanted to share God's love with the humanity through God's Son!

On this occasion when we focus on the rights and recognition of the Working classes and their contribution to the common well being of humanity, we are called to realise that true commitment to the Lord and any real conversion can happen only where there is a personal realisation of how much God loves me! And all that I do has to become a fruit of that realisation!

Meditate everyday on the love of God for you personally and you will see the change of perspective it can offer!

From oneself to ONE SELF

WORD 2day: 2nd Tuesday of Easter

April 30, 2019: Acts 4: 32-37; John 3: 7-15

We have today a picture perfect explanation of the First Christian Community. What an inspiring life they had lived, that in no time thousands joined them. The Apostles led by example! But one thing that we need to keep in mind: they were not always the same. Peter did not like Mathew joining the band; James and John wanted the posts of authority and cut a bad figure among the rest; Judas always aimed at the coffer; Thomas cared two hoots for the opinions of others...they were all fundamentally and unsurprisingly a selfish lot. The beauty and the challenge from them is, how they were transformed from their self centered lives to a selfless communion. That was a transformation from oneself to ONE SELF. They could not have done it all by themselves.

This transformation to One Self, is what Jesus means in the Gospel: being born of the Spirit. Being born of the One Spirit, they were all transformed into One Self, One body in Christ, One community of believers, One in heart and mind.

Today we are called to examine our lives - both personal and that in common - whether we are ruled and guided by selfish interests or by the overarching Spirit that makes us One. People filled with the Spirit can give up anything for the Communion that makes the presence of the Lord felt here amidst us.

Let us embark upon this journey, from oneself to ONE SELF.

The Spirit Rocks!

WORD 2day : 2nd Monday of Easter

April 29, 2019: Acts 4: 23-31; John 3:1-8

The Spirit rocks and the Early Christian Community experienced it in concrete. The Spirit rocks, rocks in two ways: one, it rocks the complacency of an individual's or community's heart; second, it rocks the entire thing around that every one experiences something that he or she has been dreaming about. 

There have been people in history who were rocked by the Spirit in their heart...right from Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, Moses and the prophets, right upto John the Baptist and Nicodemus today, they were rocked in the spirit and they began searching for the eternal truth. 

When the Spirit raised people, it rocked the entire world and history. Things were changed as they were never before. Today the Spirit awaits to rock the world through you and me. Being instruments in the hands of the Lord is to rock the world in the Lord's name - the Spirit will do it if only we are ready to yield! 

Are we ready to rock... let us let the Spirit within us really rock!

THE MERCY, THE MERCIFUL AND ME!

Divine Mercy Sunday - Second Sunday of Easter

April 28, 2019: Acts 5:12-16; Revelation 1: 9-13, 17-19; John 20: 19-31 

The Risen Christ is the face of the Mercy of God;  the Risen Lord appears to strengthen the Faith of his disciples. They see and they believe. They bore witness to this belief and passed it on and a community was built around. Today we are the continuity of that community, which has the call and the command to make present this mercy... making the Reign of God possible here and now!

CHRIST, THE MERCY: Thanks to Pope St. John Paul II, we have a great feast to celebrate today! The Mercy of God is essentially that aspect of God accepting us as God's children without any conditions. 'If you should see our guilt O Lord , who can stand before you', exclaims the Psalmist. God chooses not to see our limitations and our failures. Just look at the way Jesus overlooks the incredulity of the apostles - we have an illustrious example of Thomas today in the Gospel. The blood and water that flowed from the heart of Jesus is the proof that Jesus is the face of the mercy of God. As the true Son of God, Christ made present God in his words, works, choices and priorities. He lived as the face of the Mercy of God here on earth.

CHRISTIANS, THE MERCIFUL: You believe because you have seen, blessed are those who haven't seen yet believe. Faith is not having to see, not having to look for proofs, not having to rely on evidences but accepting in the depths of our beings the merciful presence of the Risen Lord with us, all our life. The fundamental message of resurrection consists in the hope of the presence of the Lord with us; it experiencing the mercy of God in and through Christ, in such a deep manner that we become personifications of that mercy. Only the merciful can deserve to be called Christians. The disciples knew it. The Apostles were convinced of it. That is why they became extensions of the presence of Christ... they were living testimonies to what Christ had promised: 'those who believe in me shall do what I do, and even greater' (Jn 14:12). They made Christ's presence felt, they became the face of the face of the mercy of God, here on earth. Just as the Father sent me, so I send you... be merciful as your heavenly father is, says Our Lord.

CHRIST'S MERCY AND ME: Relying on the Mercy of God and basing ourselves on the faith we have in Christ, we are called to live a life of trust and mercy. We are called to grow more and more merciful, like the Father Himself. Today we have the call and the way to live it, both outlined in the readings. It is a special gift to grow in that sensitivity with which we readily notice the hand of God in the developments that surround us. Mercy is not merely an emotional momentary response to something that happens. For instance, an event such as the Srilankan Easter Carnage would instantly draw us to an emotional outbreak but that would not sufficiently amount to mercy. Mercy would be a determined convinced choice to stand by the affected, the suffering, the oppressed, the weak, the voiceless, the lonely, the marginalised, the deprived, the exploited, the innocent, the righteous, in short, a choice for the Reign here and now! Am I truly prepared for such a choice? 

Christ, the Mercy of God makes us Christians true instruments of the Mercy of God and it is my choice to make of myself a true Christian, that is a person who is truly Merciful.

May our hearts and our lives be filled with the Mercy of God!

Easter People - the command and obedience

Easter Octave - Saturday

April 27, 2019: Acts 4: 13-21; Mark 16: 9-15

The Apostles in front of the elders and the high priests were not saying anything untrue, nor were they speaking figuratively. They were stating a fact: that they have received a command from their Master and their obedience to that command is absolute. The Gospel presents to us that scene where the command was given. There is something very important to note here. That command was not for the apostles alone!

I remember an experience from our Scout Master's Training days (it is still fresh though 20 years have passed). The Leader-Trainer would demonstrate the drill standing in front of the troop and he would announce: "the Command is only for me" and then proceed with the demo. When Jesus lived with his disciples he was in the command-is-only-for-me mode. But once he demonstrated what it means to take the good news of the Reign of God to the people, he opened the command to the rest of his followers. The command was not for the apostles alone, but for every person who wanted to follow Christ. In fact, it is not that the command is for the apostles but that every one who receives the command becomes an apostle! 

He has shown us by example what it means to live that command on a daily basis, and become truly his apostles. The way to become his apostles is evidently, to realise today, that we have received the command too. 

The threatening circumstances and ruthless fanaticism, like that of the Srilankan Easter Carnage which is still so fresh in our minds or scores of other forms of inhuman realities all around, can warn us as the elders and the high priests did: do not speak of the good news from Christ. But whom are we going to obey? These threatening subhumans? Or the Divine Master who became human and showed us what it really meant?

Let us remember, Easter People know the command and they know whom to obey!

Easter People - Cornerstones...

Easter Octave - Friday

April 26, 2019: Acts 4: 1-12; Jn 21: 1-14

Annas, Caiaphas...we are still familiar with these names because we have just a few days ago heard those characters speak. They are back again... not with a similar case as Jesus whom they crucified recently but with the same case. They should have ended up with a fear as to how far it is going to take them. Rightly so, because it has been over 2000 years and that one single case is not yet written off. This is what Jesus wants to impress upon with his disciples.

They thought they had discarded him; they had in fact buried him as the cornerstone on which the whole edifice would rest for ever. The Cornerstone joins two walls: the jews and the non jews, the living and the dead, the sinners and the righteous...all these binaries are dissolved in Christ. In Christ, we become one people, one Church, one Body, one heart and one mind.

Today, Jesus makes it a point to prove to his apostles that he is not yet over! The haul of fish, the breakfast set up and the words of proof that Jesus gave them - it was all meant to tell the apostles who thought everything was over, that it is not yet over! Jesus wants his presence to continue. The responsibility is on our shoulders. The more we become one people, one in heart and mind, we would make the presence of Christ more and more felt in our midst and we shall rest forever as cornerstones!

Let us remember, Easter People grow to be Cornerstones!

Easter People - Real Witnesses

Easter Octave - Thursday 

April 25, 2019: Acts  3: 11-26; Luke 24: 35-48

"You are witnesses", declares the Lord in the Gospel and "We are witnesses", proclaims Peter before the people! 

We are Witnesses! We would become witnesses only when we have seen, we have experienced, we have been touched and we are so affected that we want to shout it out! 

Can I claim that I have seen the Lord? Do you think it is difficult to see the Lord?

Can I say that I have experienced the Lord? Have you really capitalised on the continuous presence and protection of the Lord? 

Do I feel touched by the Lord? What does the Lord mean to my daily life?

How much am I affected by the Lord? How are my priorities and principles shaped and transformed by the Lord?

These are some self ruminations that can make us true witnesses. Are we ready to take up the challenge of being witnesses to the Lord? It is an interesting proposition to know that the Greek root word for witness is, 'martyria' which is also the root word for Martyrs! This is only to say that the zenith of a witnessing life is being ready to even lay down our lives for the sake of the Lord and the Lord's Reign. Amidst the tough situations of today's world, how prepared, ready and eager are we to be real witnesses?

Let us remember, true Easter People are by nature real witnesses!

Easter People - Upgrade Post-Resurrection

Easter Octave - Wednesday

April 24, 2019: Acts 3:1-10; Luke 24: 13-35

The Apostles and Disciples discovered their real selves post-resurrection: it was not just a continuation but a graduation, an upgradation. From doing what Jesus said, they began to do what Jesus did and what Jesus would do! When they were with Jesus around Galilee and Judea, whatever Jesus wished they carried out - Jesus sent them on errands, on missionary journeys, he directed them at every step as to what to do, and they carried out orders. Now, when Jesus is with them after Resurrection, they seem to know exactly what is to be done! This did not happen all of a sudden... they were schooled... they were prepared... they were transformed and they were Upgraded and they Graduated!

They learnt things from Jesus, they learnt things about Jesus and they learnt to be Jesus! The Gospel presents to us the methodology that Jesus followed to educate his followers: the methodology of walking with them ("pedagogy" sounds so close to this meaning). Jesus walked with them and they learnt to grow into Jesus. They were able to understand what Jesus had spoken till then, they were able to do what Jesus did in their presence and they did it all, in the name of Jesus!

We are disciples and apostles of the Post-Resurrection era and we cannot behave still like those before. Let us graduate, from merely obeying rules to becoming like Jesus, from merely carrying out orders to understanding the mind of Jesus, from merely doing what Jesus wants to acting in the name of Jesus! We should make Jesus present today wherever we are.

Let us remember, Easter People upgrade post-resurrection!

Easter People - Where do we go from here

Easter Octave - Tuesday

April 23, 2019: Acts 2: 36-41; John 20: 11-18

We were out celebrating the pasch with a group of youngsters during the Easter Triduum and at the end of the 3 days of experience the group was exuberant in their gratitude and vociferous in their admiration of all that was done during those days. Without throwing a wet blanket on their normal exuberance and the expected exhilaration, we had to ask them this crucial question : WHAT NEXT?

Many of our faith experiences and adventures of spiritual nature will go worthless, if we do not ask ourselves, 'where do I go from here?' This is what the people ask Peter, and this is what the Risen Christ directs Mary about. You have seen the Lord, you have experienced the Lord, you have tasted his living presence... do not stop with it... think, listen and discern: where do you go from here? 

Go all out and share it with the others. Go all around and fill the earth with that love. Go to everyone and speak to them of what your Father and their Father has done to the whole of humanity. We are people with a spiritual experience. We are people with a never dying faith. Let the world know! 

Let us remember, Easter People constantly ask a question to themselves: where do we go from here?

Easter People - Grow amidst struggles

Easter Octave - Monday

April 22, 2019: Acts 2: 14, 22-33; Matthew 28: 8-15

There has been no dearth of conspiracies and controversies right from the beginning of the Christian Faith. The Word today brings out the very first controversy, a controversy about Christ's resurrection itself. But the same passages point also towards the fact that there was a constant increase in the number of people who wanted to be part of this new found faith! That is the message, both of today and of the season of Easter!

We will grow amidst struggles, if we are convinced that we are growing out of the will of the Father. We would be stifled by even the smallest hurdle if we are growing out of our own necessity, and for the sake of proving our own selves!

At times in our personal lives, or in our life of ministry, or in our professional lives, we feel like pushing our way through with plans and projects. Sure, they will see the light of day, but only to soon find its way out - may be due to failure or lack of true significance. If we want something to be established, we are taught today: we need to allow things into God's hands! Amidst all controversies and calumnies, judgments and prejudices, we are challenged to be founded on Risen Christ, grow in our faith and deepen ourselves in hope!

Let us remember, Easter People grow amidst struggles!

Holy Week 2019: The Silent Saturday

THE TASK: REMAIN

April 20: No Eucharist Celebration this day!

The Lord rests in the tomb this day...everything is silent! There will be a dawn very soon...but until then we are invited to Remain Silent, Remain Patient and Remain Waiting.

Discussing, a youngster once asked, what happened after Jesus died and before he rose? What was he going through? What did he do: He was silent! He was waiting! He just remained! This is the call of this unique day of the year in the Church: this is the only day in the whole of the Church when no Eucharist is Celebrated...the altar remains stripped, the tabernacle remains empty and the Church remains silent: waiting in patience to see what is going to happen next.

It is not so easy to remain silent in a moment of crisis. Multitudes of questions, thousands of thoughts will pass by our mind breaking our silence. Only the one who has an unwavering faith in the Lord can remain silent at these moments.

We have grown slaves to instant results. We seem to have have lost the natural patience of our forefathers, in the name of development and technology. Only the one who hopes in Someone greater than oneself, can remain patient and see things happen.

Compare waiting for a public utility, may be a transport or one's turn in a crowded office, with waiting for one's beloved! While former seems irritating, the latter looks exciting. The difference is the love that is involved: Only the one who loves the Lord immensely, remains waiting, for the Lord to act on his or her behalf.

Today is the day to remain...to remain silent, to remain patient, to remain waiting, because the Lord is getting something beautiful ready for us!

Holy Week 2019: The Good Friday

THE TASK: SURRENDER

April 19: Isaiah 52:13 - 53:12; Hebrew 4: 14-16, 5: 7-9; John 18:1 - 19:42

Into your hands Lord I commend my Spirit... that was not merely words said by Jesus at the end of his life, it was an attitude with which he lived his entire life. That is precisely why even his death proved to be a triumph. The first and the second readings bring out the hand of God the Father of Jesus Christ and our Father and Mother, in the salvific plan that was unfolding in the life, suffering and death of God's only Son! Yes, death was not an end, it was a passing stage within the plan; not a foiling of Christ's project on earth but an unfurling of the Eternal plan of God to which Christ had totally surrendered himself, while he lived.

Surrender, is the task presented to us today, by Jesus from the Cross!

Surrender is not an inaction or a passive submission, it is an active assumption of a role or mindset that makes me look at purposes higher to my personal ones. Today we have so many personal plans, future dreams, expectations and aims that what God wants from us, what is God's plan for us, the purposes that God wants to achieve in and through us, mean almost nothing to us. Jesus throws a challenge at us today, lifted high on the Cross - if we look up to the One who is lifted up we shall live. The challenge is: Surrender, Surrender wholeheartedly to God our Father and Mother.

Jesus is the High Priest, the Sacrificial Lamb and the Sacrificial Altar at one and the same time. The Sufferings of Christ become the salvation of our beings. The Cross becomes the sign through which we are saved.

Sufferings in our lives have to be faced with a sense of surrender, that they may serve to be instruments that reveal the very significance of our life to us. The call is three fold: At times of struggles, to Surrender to the Lord and learn the ways of the Lord; at times of others' struggle to Surrender ourselves in the service of the Lord, by empathising with, remaining with and sustaining our brothers and sisters so that they begin to learn the goodness of the Lord; and at all other times to Surrender to the Lord's ways that we may be convinced that what matters most in life is God's will, even if it means to face hardships.

God, my Father and Mother, I surrender into your hands my spirit, my mind, my entire self, that I may live always giving glory to your Most Holy Name and making you known to all around me. 

Holy Week 2019: The Maundy Thursday

THE TASK: SERVE

April 18: Isaiah 61:1-3,6,8-9; Revelations 1: 5-8; Luke 4: 16-21

Maundy Thursday - the very name reminds us of the mandate we have from the Lord and Master, a mandate that is so compelling because it was not given merely in words, but in and through a life that was lived! All the three events we remember today have the same message in different forms!

THE LORD'S SUPPER:

The First event is the Lord's Supper...not so much what and how they did it, but what transpired in the mean time becomes the first mandate to us. It is the same with our families and communities too... not so much what we have at table and the variety of the spread that really matters, but what transpires around it. How many of us enjoy our table-time, in contrast to merely respecting time-table! The former concerns persons and the latter, programme. 

Jesus uses the encounter at the table, not merely here, but with Zacchaeus, with Simon the Pharisee, with the disciples of Emmaus and so on, for a spiritual encounter, an encounter that would transform the life of the other. How many of our table encounters have ended up as spiritual enrichments? Here again he uses this table-time to bring a strong lesson to the disciples: LOVE IS SERVICE!

THE EUCHARIST:

The second event is Jesus giving us his body and blood... an anticipation of what is about to happen on Calvary. Jesus anticipates the blessing of the sanctifying act, the salvific self-giving in inviting his disciples to eat his body and drink his blood. What gruesome agony he underwent on those following days - all for the love that the Father has for us; all for the love that Christ wanted to manifest to us. Jesus infact exemplifies the mandate that he gave just a while back. The lesson is so clear: LOVE IS SELF-GIVING!

THE PRIESTHOOD:

The third event is the institution of the Priesthood... as the ministry of making present this mandate given and exemplified. Priesthood is a gift to the Church, a gift that makes present the mercy of God to God's people. It is a ministry that perpetuates the self emptying of God. The Son of man who came to serve and to be served, continues to minister to his beloved flock. Priesthood becomes thus a standing reminder to serve and offers a splendid lesson: LOVE IS LIVING FOR THE OTHER. 

The task that is given to us is loud and clear: to serve! Being a Christ-ian is to serve and not to be served!

Holy Week 2019: The Spy Wednesday

THE TASK: TRUST

April 17: Isaiah 50: 4-9; Matthew 26: 14-25

Today can be called the Spy Wednesday within the Passion week... because it would have been this day that Judas approached the Jewish authorities and offered to hand Jesus over to them. The plot is darkening here!

Let us have a look at the key player today: Judas. He can easily be presented as the epitome of the ills that the present society is infected with. There are three tendencies in Judas that we are called to beware of:

- What will you give me? Looking for a gain, a personal gain, a sordid gain, a material gain, from whatever the situation be! The society today is growing in this tendency, that not only persons see each other as potential gain or loss, but they manipulate the other towards one's own gain!

- Is it I Lord? Not really getting the grips of oneself. The society today is quick to blame the others for all evils, unable to point to oneself and get in touch with the personal limitations that add to the social scourge! Issues that affect our society like corruption, caste, creed and other discrimination... aren't they arising from individual insensitivities?

- It was dark outside... because he did not have God in his heart, he had only the money bag in his mind. As John symbolically adds at the end of his account of this episode, it was dark outside. When Judas left, it was not only dark outside, but much more dark within him! He was going through a tough time: whether to trust God or to take things into his own hands and push it forward - a likely temptation that many of us undergo: to trust God or push our way forward! 

At times we think we are more practical than God, we are more precise in responding to a situation than God and so we make hasty decisions and then lament when we face the repercussions! This is a common tendency we see in the world. The lesson is clear; the Lord knows best and the Lord has a plan for everyone and everything! Why don't we allow the Master of the creation to take control of things and situations?

Let us learn to Trust God and wait on the Lord's will.

Holy Week 2019: The Preaching Tuesday

THE TASK: LISTEN

April 16: Isaiah 49: 1-6; John 13: 21-33,36-38

After Jesus cleansed the Temple and drove the money changers and vendors out of it, he did not hide himself somewhere safe, but he intensified his preaching among the people. He was seen talking to people, instructing his disciples and challenging the folks. This day he went around preaching amidst the people and probably this was the last day that he was seen preaching, because tomorrow, that is Wednesday things would already begin to develop towards the end!

As the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah spoke of the people, in spite of all his passionate preaching, the people did not really understand what they heard, though they were hanging on to the lips of the Lord. He spoke to the disciples about the imminent things to come, but they were equally unprepared when things began to happen. Jesus did not want them to be caught by surprises, but they were not keen enough to grasp all what Jesus said.

The invitation is also to us today: to Listen. 

To listen and not merely hear. We hear the Word so much but nothing in us changes. We hear and speak and discuss but fail to grasp the essential meaning of the Word or fail to see the transformation that it can create within us and to yield to it.

To Judas, to Peter, to the disciples, to the people, Jesus speaks his heart out but they are all so occupied, or rather so preoccupied, with their own thoughts and plans that nothing of what Jesus says really makes sense to them. They only come up with insensitive doubts and unrelated questions. They were hearing all that Jesus said, but were finding it so difficult to listen to.    

To listen and to be truly transformed, to listen and to understand the Word in its essence, to listen and to put it into practice in our daily life - that is the task entrusted to us today!

Holy Week 2019: The Cleansing Monday

THE TASK: CLEANSE

April 15: Isaiah 42: 1-7; John 12: 1-11

This is the day that the conflict between the Jews and Jesus erupted to its peak. Jesus enters the Temple and begins to cleanse it! The zeal for his Father's House set him afire, and his disciples were obviously enthused about it. Against the background of the triumphal entry into Jerusalem the previous day, the disciples thought it was the beginning of some kind of a revival of Israel. They never imagined that would be the beginning of the end of Jesus' life! Jesus himself would soon become a victim of the evil social order, that Jesus picks the whip against today. 

The task entrusted to us today is to Cleanse... as Jesus cleanses the temple!

We are called to cleanse our lives, cleanse our social lives of the unjust order, cleanse our family life of unholy priorities, cleanse our personal lives of sordid impurities. Cleansing is saying 'yes' to the Lord, allowing the Lord to have control over us, choosing to be transformed and built once more into the Holy Dwelling Place of God!

The readings point to us the thickening plot, where the Jews intensely turn against Jesus and everything that is connected to Jesus. They find Jesus as challenging their very existence and they cannot wait to get rid of him. But the Beloved Son of God is upto his duty, come what may! 

The judging looks of the rest of the guests, the personality branding of the society, the hypocritical priorities of the so-called righteous, the unspiritual values of the self proclaimed spiritual leaders...these are what Jesus speaks against in the Gospel and appreciates the humble disposition, profound love, sensitive demeanour and childlike submission of the woman, whom everyone else considered and condemned as a sinner and an untouchable.

Cleanse, the Lord calls us today... cleanse yourself of all your judging attitudes, prejudiced outlooks and prefabricated reactions to events in life: be sincere, loving and non judgemental, you will be declared by the Lord as, the Lord's beloved!

Holy Week 2019: The Palm Sunday

The Task: ENTER

April 14: Luke 19:28-40; Isaiah 50:4-7; Philippians 2:6-11; Luke 22:14 - 23:56

Today we begin the Holy Week and as Jesus makes a solemn entry into Jerusalem, the task given to us by the Lord is to ENTER... just as he enters the city of Jerusalem! 

Jesus entered the city knowing well that it is going to lead him to trouble. When we decide to take it upon ourselves to be like the Lord, there will be problems from all sides. There will be those who wait to kill us; there will be those who long to see our downfall; there will be those who criticise us; there will be those who stand by and watch us suffer; there will be those who take pleasure in remaining unconcerned about the cause we stand for! But I am called to enter into that life that the Lord calls me to live, for God and for God's mission.

Jesus entered the city, with joy and enthusiasm of the people. A sad Christian is a sorry Christian. The task that we take upon ourselves to build the Reign of God may be demanding but that cannot take away the joy and enthusiasm from within us. I have to be the cause of joy and enthusiasm for the people, I cannot be an hindrance to their joy and happiness; much more, I cannot be the cause of the grief of the people! I am called to take up the tough task of standing up for the Lord, but with a joyful heart and a glad spirit. 

Jesus entered the city, to complete that task that was entrusted to him. He had his task clear cut, and he was aware of it. He had shared that with his disciples time and again: that he would go to Jerusalem and suffer and be handed over to those who will kill him. Though he prayed that the bitter chalice should pass away, finally he submits himself to God and that is how he becomes our way to the Father. In his obedience Jesus paves a way to our salvation. How far am I prepared to go all the way in obedience to the One who has called me!

The challenge is to enter the life that the Lord wants us to. It may cost our comfort zone, our close acquaintances and even our life. But that is not going to be for too long. I have to go a long way...but the Lord God is with me, and his Word shall protect me. Neither the glories of the present nor the sorrows of the times can in anyway be compared to the glory we have, prepared for us from eternity! The mentality we need to have today is to dare to enter the life with all its demands from the Lord - Hosanna in the Highest!

Be Gathered

Journey to Holiness: Let go of your pride and your selfishness

April 13, 2019: Saturday, Fifth week in Lent

Ezekiel 37: 21-28; John 11: 45-56

'It is better for one man to die for the people, than for the whole nation to be destroyed': this is a classical self centered mode of thought that we see in the world, whether of today or of any day! 'It is better for that person to suffer', 'it is alright for that group of people to be exploited', 'it is normal for a category of people to be denied their rights', 'it is no big issue to consume nature beyond a limit'... and how many other versions of this inhuman selfishness expressed in words, works, policies and practices in our society today. 

Added to the fact that this is inhuman, this is totally and drastically unacceptable in the eyes of the Divine. The Lord had created everything and everyone with a purpose and when that purpose is not sufficiently understood or upheld, there arises a crisis that is unsolvable! Almost all of the crises that the whole universe is faced with these days are due to exactly this callous attitude of the humankind - exclusively, humankind! It is they to whom the Lord entrusted everything in this world and precisely they went berserk in their values and priorities.

The only solution to the issues that are ravaging the universe is to realise that we are God's people, God's flock and be gathered into that flock once again, rediscovering the purpose of our creation and going by what the Lord wants us to. Instead of looking for scapegoats to blame it on or shirk our suffering on to, we have to own up our responsibilities and look for means to be gathered. The Lord invites us to gather under the Lord's wings: what better place than our very origins! I shall be your God and you shall be my people!

Holiness tip for Today: Let go of your pride and selfishness; recognise God as one Lord; submit in all your deeds!

Be Dependent

Journey to Holiness: Remember, it's no loss of your self image!

April 12, 2019: Friday,  Fifth week in Lent

Jeremiah 20: 10-13; John 6: 63-68

The days are such that people clamour for recognition and go a long way to hold on to their self image and their "due" credits. It is not anymore rare to hear of conflicts for credits - that someone usurped it from someone else and so on. It goes even to an extent where one even claims credit for what has been gifted so gratuitously by God!

The good that we accomplish is not totally our own for us to claim absolute credit for it. First of all it is the Lord who gives us the opportunity to do that good. Secondly it is the Lord who empowers us to do that good. Thirdly it is the Lord who clears the hoards of hurdles that could possibly arise in accomplishing the said good.

That is why Jesus gives the people the work that he accomplishes as testifying to his origin from the Father. And Jeremiah is not stifled by the enormous attack on him... because he is totally convinced that what he does is God's work and not his own.

The key is to acknowledge dependence on God and to be convinced that it is no loss of one's self image or autonomy or self esteem. As St. Paul would challenge,  'what do we have that we have not received? ' (1 Cor 4:7)

Holiness tip for today: Let us express our dependence on God repeatedly and with real conviction.

Be Eternal

Journey to Holiness: belong to the covenant.

April 11, 2019: Thursday, Fifth week in Lent

Genesis 17: 3-9; John 8: 51-59

Today we have the account of the Abrahamic Covenant - I will be your God and you shall be my people. And Jesus completes that account in the Gospel saying, 'whoever keeps my word will never see death'. The one who believes in the Son and does the will of the One who sent the Son, will have eternal life - this is what Jesus meant and said in various terms at various instances. 

Eternal can have three meanings: 

     Endless (anantha), that is what we are called to: though we have a beginning we are destined to an existence that is endless as we will become one with the Lord, and not just perish. 

     Beginningless (anaadhi) that is what God is: One who is without a beginning or an end.

   Beyond these two meanings there is a third meaning which is very difficult for the human mind to understand. That is, Timelessness. Eternal means timelessness, beyond time, beyond all categories of before and after, earlier and later, and all other chronological considerations. This is what confuses the Jews. How can Jesus speak of Abraham as if he were someone who still lived? 

We can become eternal when we become one with God. We become timeless. We have nothing much to do but just obey, just carry out orders, just live on in the way that the Lord says, make choices for the Lord and the Lord's will, reject anything that detracts our life's paths. Our eternal life can begin right here, when we belong to the covenant.

Holiness tip for today: What does God want of me at this moment? - let that be a constant question on your mind.

Be Free

Journey to Holiness: Hold on to One, True God

April 10, 2019: Wednesday, Fifth week in Lent

Daniel 3: 52-56; John 8: 31-42

Freedom of the Children of God - is a phrase that we are used to hearing. What a tremendous sense it makes when we seriously think about that fact, that we are children of God. It makes us free, secure and sincere!

'Free', because we need not think of pleasing anybody else, we need not compromise to favour someone else other than my God who is beyond anybody or anything. All the furnace around me cannot consume me. All the predators around me cannot prey on me. Because I am a child of God and even amidst the fire, the Lord walks beside me!

Secure because the one who is with me is the most trustworthy one you can ever think of - One who keeps promises, One who keeps back nothing from me for the sake of my happiness, One who treasures me having written my name on His palm.

Sincere because I have no necessity to hold on to anything that is not true. I need not put up an appearance, I need not prove myself beyond what  I really am, I need not be anxious about whether I will be rejected or sidelined, I need not bother how dire the consequences will be. I have come to bear witness to the Truth, said my Master. That is the same vocation I share.

My Lord is my Master and I am liberated, I am free and I don't have to fear anything!

Holiness tip for today: Do not fear; Just feel Free and act Sincere!

Be Drawn

Journey to Holiness: Lift up, look up and live on!

April 9, 2019: Tuesday, Fifth week in Lent

Numbers 21: 4-9; John 8: 21-30

Falling is a daily experience in our life and that is why we need to constantly rise up and move on! It is not falling but remaining fallen, out of laziness or stubbornness, that renders a person 'lost'. However the same experience of a fall, when approached with true humility and a broken heart, can become uplifting and enthuse one to live on. The difference is, we need to be drawn by the Lord, towards the Lord! No one can come to the Father, unless the Father draws them!

How can we be drawn to our God? The Word today gives us the formula: 
lift up, look up and live on. 

Lift up Jesus, as your Lord and Saviour, as the one who alone can rescue you, as the one who has the ownership over you. Declare it from your heart and surrender.

Look up and gaze at that power drawing you to himself, realise you need the Lord and confess your dependence on the Lord. Allow yourself to be drawn into his eternal love and merciful forgiveness! 

Live on; when you lift up the Lord and look up to the Lord, you will live on; you will find meaning in life beyond all the pressures around you; you will find an inner peace inspite of the turbulence that surrounds you; you will have that joy that the Lord alone can give!

Holiness tip for today: Turn to the magnificence of the Lord every now and then and surrender yourself completely.

Be Illumined

Journey to Holiness: Remember, the Light is with you!

April 8, 2019: Monday, Fifth week in Lent

Daniel 13:41-62; John 8: 12-20

We have a dramatic episode in the first reading today. Though the innocent Susanna being blamed is a lent-worthy theme, the point of reference today is Daniel. Daniel, who was illumined by the light of the Lord and filled with the Spirit, delivers Susanna from the treacherous plotters and the mindless mob. 'To instruct the ignorant' and 'to illumine the confused' are spiritual acts of mercy and that is the call that Daniel's episode offers us today.

We are called to fight against the treacherous plotters, deceivers who lead people astray, people with hidden agenda who manipulate the weak and the vulnerable. We fight them by throwing light on the truth and standing by it amidst threats and treason. How relevant a call this is, as we near the all important elections nationwide in India. 

Tougher still is the other task: that of illumining the ignorant and the mindless, who do not have clear thinking of their own, who swallow all that they are told, who follow the mob so blind that they do not even know what they live for. At times our faith choices too become such a following of the mob and that is a crucial element we have to be careful against. 

Jesus is the Light that illumines our minds, reveals the falsehoods and bears testimony to truth. Jesus sheds light on what we need to do, where we need to journey towards, and where we are at this moment!

Holiness tip for today: Surrender to the Lord and pray for his illumination, that you can understand God's ways and share it with others.