Moral Code or Spiritual Integrity?

February 8, 2019

Friday, 4th week in Ordinary Time

Hebrews 13: 1-8; Mark 6:14-29

Is following a moral code enough to be a Christian? Moral codes are temporal and spatial- that is, what is wrong at one time may not be so at another time; what is right in a place may not be so elsewhere! If all of us are formed from and moving towards the same Divine Being, then can our life style be so subjective? That is why Jesus always stood by Spiritual Integrity rather than a set of moral precepts. 

Jesus is same, yesterday, today and tomorrow! No time can change what Jesus stood for. The letter to the Hebrews presents to us a set of values which are not merely moral codes but are frameworks for spiritual integrity. Spiritual Integrity is knowing what is right to be done, being convinced of it and living by it, come what may. 

Even if we have to face extinction from this life, our stand shall not change. Just as John the Baptist who was ready to give up even his life. But how do we know what we are holding on to is right? 

The Lord is our light and all that we need to do is stay in that light - never desert the Lord! When we are with God, we are in the light and the Spirit of the Lord directs us on. Just as the Lord promised us through Isaiah, we would hear the whisper of the Teacher, 'this is the way, walk in it', 'this is right, choose it', 'this is good, strive after it' and so on. (see Isaiah 30:20,21) In simple words, we need to be divinely informed, we need the grace, the help of the Holy Spirit to hold on to truly and eternally life giving perspectives.

The Urgency of the Reign

February 07, 2019

Thursday, 4th week in Ordinary time

Hebrews 12:18-19, 21-24; Mark 6: 7-13

Right at the start, Jesus initiated the Reign with a sense of urgency. It was very true because Jesus was not an isolated reality or a mere solitary person. Jesus was the climax of God's self revelation to the world... the fullness of revelation and the summation of it. And in the second Reign was already there in their midst and Jesus was perfectly justified in saying: the Reign of God is in your midst (Lk 17:21). 

The Indian Church singles out a martyr from the list of martyrs that we celebrated yesterday: Gonsalo Garcia, the first Indian to be raised to the altar. He was a third order Franciscan friar and he went about in his simplicity and fervour and joined the missionaries to Japan and they were crucified at Nagasaki. All that mattered to them was the Reign and making it known to everyone!

If it were so 2000 years ago, and if it were so in the recent centuries, what do we make of today and our responsibility here and now? Do I have a sense of urgency about making present the Reign of God here and now?