God's Presence, Peace and Every Blesssing

New Year and the Solemnity of the Mother of God

January 1, 2021: Numbers 6: 22-27; Galatians 4: 4-7; Luke 2: 16-21

We celebrate 2021: 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! Specially in the context of the pandemic that is still threatening us  around, to reduce the upcoming year to a set of predictions and chances would be an injustice to the core. To approach it with a wry and dry mentality will make it devoid of its surprise. Let us behold it with gratitude and a sense of childlike curiosity, prepared to receive the gift on a daily basis, one day at a time!

We celebrate the Lord: 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 the highest gift that we can ever have. The Emmanuel, God with us, is the most precious gift that one can ever 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. Days and days of confusion and frustration, months and months of restriction and helplessness - they are all at the back of our minds as we begin this new year. But let them not crowd out from our minds the recognition of God's presence, a presence that gives us strength and positive outlook on life - that which we call, hope!. 

We celebrate the gift of the Lord: given in and through 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. A reason to be grateful to God and a treasure to be used all through the year, the accompaniment of our blessed mother, who walks with  us and leads us by example.

    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. She remains a constant sign of the fact that we need to be ever grateful to God, that we are what we are - thanks be to God. She is the epitome of God's salvation history and its bountiful effects on our human existence. 

    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 up 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!

This year, which is given into our hands today, as a gift pack, 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 will 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 2021 be filled with God's presence, peace and every blessing!

Thank You Lord for 2020

WORD 2day: The last day of the year

December 31, 2020: 1 John 2: 18-21; John 1: 1-18

There is a discussion of the last days, in the readings today and indeed it is the last day of this year! As we begin this day, let our hearts be filled with thanksgiving! The light, the true light, the Word, the Eternal word is here amidst us! Let this day be dedicated to thank the Lord for all the experiences of the year that is just passing by, though it has been apparently tough and trying.  

There is another interesting detail that we can notice, if we are a little attentive to the readings. The first reading begins with the expression that these are the last days, while the Gospel reading begins with the affirmation that in the beginning there was Word. The last days and the beginning, spoken of together. That is the norm of life - something ends and something begins. But in Christ-ian parlance - it is a matter of hope. There are times when things seem gloomy and dark - but we can never despair. The Lord is constanly making new things for us: behold I make things new (Rev 21:5)!

We would do well today to list everything that we have received from the Lord. It would do good also to list the moments of anxiety and pain that we, and the world, have been through during the year, and find out what they have to offer or teach us for our lives. It would be wonderful if we review our lives once again today, affirm to ourselves the marks of the people of God; and resolve to do away with those that do not fit in to that definition of our identity.

There is one message that the Word wants to leave strongly in our minds, as we end this year and get ready to start a new one, and that is: "The Word has become flesh; and dwells among us!" The Lord is with us and that is the note of hope with which we await the new year! Good bye 2020...!

Our disposition - surrender or manipulation?

WORD 2day: 6th day in Christmas Octave

December 30, 2020: 1 John 2: 12-17; Luke 2: 36-40

'World' or 'things of the world' as opposed to the love of the Father: by now it is considered an outdated way of thinking. Indeed, the dichotomy that is involved and implied is a bit old fashioned but the difference between the two choices, is real and concrete. Even our prayer for example could have within itself a hidden sense of excessive importance to the world and the things of the world instead of our love for God our Father and Mother.

There was a last minute preparation going on for a mega event, while unfortunately the forecast was for a likely cyclone showers! Immediately a group got down to pray and say, 'please stop the rain'! Praying, here is something wonderful, but a subtle point to be noted here is: how prepared are we to accept the will of God in things that we have planned; instead of asking the Lord to adjust to our designs? 

Whoever does the will of God remains for ever, reminds St. John in his epistle today (v.17). Prophetess Anna, or even Prophet Simeon for that matter, waited for years together, in relentless patience towards the will of God. The people of Israel waited for Godàs promised redemption...but were unable to behold it, when it came - may be because they were more preoccupied with what they wanted, than with what was within Godàs plan. 

Can we really abandon ourselves to the will of God: a surrender so beautifully symbolised by the Divine Kid in the manger these days! The year is running the final bit of its last lap...can we make an examination of conscience today? What is our disposition: surrender or manipulation?

Love - the light of life

WORD 2day: 5th day in Christmas Octave

December 29, 2020: 1 John 2: 3-11; Luke 2: 22-35

Hatred, violence, vengeance, aggression and terrorism abound today in forms varied and vicious. The talks of conversion and reconversion rob faith of its fundamental essence. The underground efforts, the camouflaged agenda and the strategic polarisation that happen make religion and spirituality quesstionable. 

The readings today give us a clear cut criterion to judge who is right and who is not. The one who loves one's brothers and sisters is in light. And whoever says he or she is in light, yet hates one's brother or sister, is still in darkness (Cf. 1 Jn 2: 8&9).

Jesus the light can never cause hatred or division. The light literally makes things lucid and nothing can escape - there can be no pretentions, prejudices or presumptions. Everything has to be candidly seen, discussed and decided upon. Especially, the internal motives of actions and decisions, render the person and the process involved, integral or not! 

There can be people who claim to be interpreting the Light but causing divisions and hatred and rivalry. Let them be certain, says the Word, that they are still in darkness. Let love, the light of life, guide us on as we come to the close of this year!

Innocents! Massacred even today!

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

December 28, 2020: Feast of the Holy Innocents

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

Innocents - those who are unaware of anything wrong, those who are unaware of the evil that surrounds them, those who are untouched by the sinfulness that threatens to swallow them. The feast today is a remembrance of millions of innocents who are sacrificed even today on the altars of selfishness, licentiousness, irresponsibility and insensitivity! 

The Church remains so strong with regard to abortions, because of the inviolable dignity that life possesses, right from its very beginning. The world is running swift into a dungeon of selfishness and cruelty, which does not even think of the others, leave alone wishing the good of the others. There are persons and systems which work together to exploit the innocent and the ignorant. As a people of God, we need to stand against such systems and uphold the inalienable rights of every child of God. Can we open our eyes to the innocents who are massacred even today!

Just two days ago we were presented with St. Stephen as the first martyr... but is Stephen truly the first martyr? What about the innocents who gave their life up for the sake of Christ! Yes, they did not make a choice to, but they did not have a choice! At times there are those who are not given even a choice...but in their innocent death are revealed great and profound truths.

The Innocence of the children and the innocence demanded of us: the difference is what is underlined in the first reading today. The innocence of the children was forced on them, they were helpless and vulnerable, but they were all for the Lord and the Lord's Reign. The innocence expected of us has to be of our choice, a choice that is well informed of one's own goodness and limitations. I am expected to make a choice for the Lord in spite of the weaknesses within me, overcoming them with a sense of total surrender to the Lord and the Lord's Reign.

FAMILY: WHERE GOD ABIDES

The Solemnity of the Holy Family

27th December, 2020 - Genesis 15:1-6, 21:1-3; Hebrews 11: 8, 11-1217-19; Luke 2: 22-40

Celebrating the feast of Holy Family... we are given a challenging model, a role that we have to play as families in today's context.

The Holy family offered the Lord to the world: 

Do we offer the Lord to the world as families? 

Do we offer the Lord to wherever we live? 

Do our way of life offer the values of the Lord to our surroundings? 

Do the families and individuals around us have the Lord to take home from us, when they visit us?

The Holy family brought the Lord to Jerusalem: 

The Lord said he lives where two or three are gathered in the Lord's name! What about our families...aren't we gathered in the name of the Lord and by the holy will of God? If so, aren't our families responsible of bringing the Lord to the community, the gathering of the families? Are our Church gatherings, our communities real union of families or some mass of people congregated?

The Holy family created a space for the Lord to live with them: 

Have we created a concrete space for the Lord in our homes? It is not about the altars we have at home, neat and decorated. It is not about the pictures we hang or the calendars we stare at. It is about the living space, it is about a membership in the family!

The Holy family does more than just standing around and blessing us today! 

They challenge us to be bearers of the Lord to the world. Can we accept that challenge?

Persecuted Christians - the epitome of the Reign to come

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

December 26, 2020: St. Stephen, the first Martyr
Acts 6: 8-10, 7: 54-59; Matthew 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. 

Some time ago, a person posted on the facebook saying he (or she?), was offended when the Churches all over the world were praying for Christians in Iraq and the person questioned: "Why only Christians? Why not others?" Today Christians in Iraq or Syria or Lebanon or China or India... all these 'persecuted Christians' should by now be a collective term for us...it should stand for and remind us of every person persecuted for truth, every person tortured unjustly, every person discriminated and trampled under the tyranny of violence and force! It is not merely Fr. Stan Swamy who is in prison, but every person who is unjustly held, tortured without cause and taken to task for standing by truth, has to be prayed for and sustainted.

St. Stephen knew what it meant to suffer 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! The other message, strong and clear, is the fact that it is an integral part of being a Christian, to suffer for what is right, for what is expected of me and for the cause of the Reign, which is justice and truth.

In fact, the crux of Christian identity in the pluralistic context today, is standing up for the Reign - that is, for justice, truth, peace, integral joy of all and the uplifting of the down trodden. Let our Christmas be extended, all through our lives - in becoming ourselves, epitomies of the Reign. 

CELEBRATING GOD'S LOVE

The Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord

December 25, 2020

Today, we celebrate love! Christmas is a festival of love, the love that God has for us! This love is not something that we can easily understand, not a love that we can easily explain nor a love that we can easily imitate! Because it is a scandalous love! Yes we celebrate a Scandalous Love today! What makes this love so scandalous are the three negatives that this love is characterised by. Let us dwell a bit on those...THREE SCANDALOUS NEGATIVES...each negative more scandalous than the previous.

The first negative is: UNCONDITIONAL. This love has no conditions, absolutely no conditions. That is why even after repeated failures and faithlessness on the part of the people with whom God had made the covenant, God still continues to love humanity. Christmas, the mystery of incarnation, is an ample exposition of this 'unconditional' love; a love without any conditions absolutely. Infact, with conditions it would not be love, isn't it? 

How many conditions we pose to love a person: he or she has to avoid this or do this or that; he or she has to take me seriously; he or she has to love me in return to the same extent I do, if not more; he or she has to fulfill a list of duties and measure up to the responsibilities given to the person... and what not. As you keep following those lines, I am sure you were wondering if you can just relieve a person of all these binds. As humans we feel, we cannot. These conditions seem legitimate and necessary. But God's mind would respond in the negative: whether you keep to your call or not, whether you live up to your identity or not, God loves you and there can be no second thoughts to it. It disturbs our mind to think of such a love: that is the scandal involved in this love. God loves us scandalously! God's love is Unconditional!

The second negative is: ILLOGICAL. There is no logic to God's love. In the love that God has for us or in the love that the Lord teaches us to have for each other, there is no logic whatsoever. Humanity takes God for granted and abandons God's ways at the first occasion that presents, God draws ever nearer and sends more prophets and finally even God's own Son! For God so loved the world, that God sent God's only Son, that all who believe in him will be saved.

The world teaches us a flawless logic: some one is good to you, try to be good to them, but it may not be absolutely necessary, because what matters is what you will gain. If something leads to gain, choose it; if something leads to a loss refrain from it, reject it: whether it is a person or a thing. This is the logic of the day! Without this logic one would be considered, unfit, incapable, useless, impractical, loser, inefficient and so on! But God's love is illogical and it is the same love that God manifests today at the manger, that Jesus taught us: love your neighbours; love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. Today, seeing the insane stand that the present political faction is taking against the minorities in our nation, we may be inclined to hate them, wish their ruin and see their end. We may be harbouring hatred and praying for their downfall. First command that the Lord gives: Love them. "It is illogical", you may shout! Yes, that is what it is: God's love is completely illogical. And we are born of that Love (Jn 1:13). If it is so for the society at large, take our families! Your brother may be doing everything against you; your sister may be totally ungrateful for all that you have done; your mother-in-law may be the worst for understanding you; your daughter-in-law may be totally disrespectful towards you; your spouse may not care for you at all...You are called to love that person! Love that person truly! That is the call of Christmas. 

The third negative: UNREASONABLE. God's love has no Why? True love has no why! Ask God why God should love humanity...there is no reason for it. God made humanity and that warrants that God could deal with humanity in any manner, as tyrant task master or a domineering boss, but God gives us absolute personal freedom and loves us every moment! But why? That question can never be answered. 

There should be reason to whatever we do, says the world today. I love my children, I love my parents, I love my spouse...because they are what they are to me! But why should I love my neighbour, why should I love a stranger, why should I love a person who is far away on some other part of the planet, why should I love the next generation to come, why should I love the child which is yet to be born, why should I love the nature: should I demand a reason for these, I would not be truly 'Christ'ian. The love that Christ stands for or the love out of which Christ is born today, is an unreasonable love. This is the highest of the scandals we have: a love without reasons! God had so many ways of manifesting God's saving prowess in the past: Abraham, Moses, Joshua, Samson, Deborah, Gideon, David...and so many who were such great powerful instruments of God. But why should God finally decide to send God's son? Was there a need to send the Son and get him killed! Why couldn't God find some other person in the line of those prophets and kings? Any number of those why...would only meet with silence; the Silence of this holy, calm, mysterious night, where God is made Man! Such an unreasonable love. 

The question: Are you prepared to imitate that scandalous love of God, so Unconditional, Illogical and Unreasonable? If you do, your life would be a daily Christmas - mysterious, miraculous and meaningful. If not, we would miss the point of today's celebration: the celebration of God's Scandalous love!

O Emmanuel - God is with us!

THE WORD BECAME FLESH

December 24, 2020: 2 Samuel 7: 1-5, 8-12, 14, 16; Luke 1: 67-79

The Lord takes flesh, takes a home, comes into a human family, as a human being... God becomes human and stays with us, forever. The Lord's home is not made of bricks and sand, but of flesh and blood, of heart and soul, of persons and relationships. That is the true home into which the Lord shall be born. 

The first reading speaks of the home that David wants to build and the home that the Lord wishes to have built. It is the house, a generation, a progeny, a people, a nation, a humanity that belongs to God, remains united to God and finds meaning in the Lord.

The Gospel presents the prophecies that were coming true in the events around the birth of John the Baptist. The tongue of Zachariah gets loosened and he sings of the prophecies, the plan of God unfolds itself, the revelation of God unravels itself. 

The atmosphere and the Word today, creates the mood of Christmas... inviting us to create a home for God becoming flesh. It is in our flesh,in our heart and in our lives that we have to house the Lord. It is not merely crib or the church buildings, but our hearts and the bindings of our heart that have to truly house the Lord. 

God is with us! Becoming aware of it and becoming worthy of it is the urgent call,by now. It's the hour and the day! 

O Rising Sun...the illumining fire

THE WORD THAT ENLIGHTENS

December 23, 2020: Fourth Wednesday in Advent
Malachi 3:1-4, 23-24; Luke 1: 57-66

The Morning Star announces the break of day, the transition from darkness to light. The Lord's coming is like the coming of the morning star - an announcement of the break of day, the awakening of light, the rise of knowledge, the enlightening of our existence.

He shall turn the hearts of the children to the Father and the heart of the father to the children - the verse has a profound significance seen against the background of the forthcoming solemntiy of Nativity, where the concrete experience of Incarnation unfolds in progression. It is not that the father begins to relate to the children, or vice versa, but it is that the relationship that exists already from time immemorial, is beginning to reveal itself. Life with the Lord is beginning to enlighten our existence. This is what Christmas is all about - that the Lord's coming amidst us, teaches us the real meaning and significance of being human persons on earth.

The Morning Star refers to the experience of revelation, so mysterious and so plain, so tremendous and so profound. Our everyday life has to be conditioned, animated and enriched by this revelation. That is what happens in the family of Zachariah - there is a miracle that takes place. The choice of the name, John - it was no coincidence that Zachariah and Elizabeth chose the same. It was a miracle, a revelation which had been given to them. An additional brilliance is the meaning of the name: the gift of God.

The more we prepare ourselves to recieve the Lord, and to recieve the gifts of the Lord, we shall see the revelation of God enlightening every bit of our life and experience. May the Christmas be a time that enlightens our life everyday in and through the illumining fire.

O Root - the root of true joy

THE WORD IN EXULTATION

December 22, 2020: Fourth Tuesday in Advent

1 Samuel 1: 24-28; Luke 1: 46-56

The Root of Jesse is not merely recalling history, it is projecting a sense of hope and and anticipation and aresultant exulting in the Lord. The Lord Reigns! And that is enough reason for us to exult.

Against the background of the current pandemic and the newest escalation of the same crisis, the Word clarifies to us the role of hope that the Lord gives us. Mindful of it, every person in the Lord is called to exult in the coming of the Lord. 

The Lord came, in history, to ensure that humanity knew its roots, the image and likeness in which it is made. 

The Lord comes in every experience and person which acts as the root of meaning to life and life's choices.

The Lord shall come wherever and whenever there is a search for the roots that can offer hope and meaning to life that is ahead. 

The Word made flesh was the root of Jesse, a descendent of David, the Son of Man, who identified with us - a great reason to rejoice and exult. True joy comes from the fact that we are united in the root, from where comes the real meaning of life. No success or failure, no social status or title, no accomplishment or lack can define me. It is only the deep rooted image of God within me that can give me true joy! This day invites us to contemplate this image of God, made flesh, become human and nourishes as the root  of our very being and of its true joy.  

O Key of David - Saving Assurance

THE WORD THAT SAVES

December 21, 2020: Fourth Monday in Advent

Songs of Songs 2:18-14; Luke 1:39-45

Blessed assurance, we sing! The assurance is born of love, the love of God which comes down from centuries to centuries! This is the message from the Word for this day, taking us closer to the celebrations of Christmas. 

People of God are not merely persons or families, it is progenies...generations after generations. That says so much about the community dimension of Christian faith. Christian faith is lived in communities, in interpersonal communication, in intercommunity communion and universal communion. The salvation that comes from the Lord, comes as an assurance, amidst all our unworthiness!

Assurance, yes...but not without a natural and due prerequisites - that which tops them all is the eagerness and readiness to behold the Lord. The first reading speaks to us of the yearning and the eagerness in the heart of the beloveds of God, for God! The Gospel highlights the readiness, preparedness and promptness in recognising the Lord and beholding God's presence. 

Reaching out to the other, gratefully recognising the service of the other as God's intervention, and finding God's presence in every event of life, is a sign of beholding God's presence. What the Lord opens no one can close, and what the Lord closes no one can open. The Lord is the key to understand the real meaning of our lives... that is our saving assurance! 

H.O.M.E

Prepare a dwelling for the Lord

December 20, 2020:  4th Sunday of Advent
Judges 27: 1-5, 8b-12, 14a, 16; Romans 16: 25-27; Luke 1: 26-38

We are in the last Sunday before the all important feast we have been preparing ourselves for! Just 4 days to go for Christmas. Today the readings speak of the importance of getting ready with a home for the Lord. David in the first reading is concerned with building a home for the Lord and in the Gospel we see God preparing a worthy home for God's son to be born into this world, the worthy home being Mother Mary's immaculate womb. And it leaves us with one pertinent question: have I prepared a home to receive my saviour yet?

How do I prepare a home, a worthy dwelling for the Saviour who visits us? We can prepare a home by growing within us and among us the four qualities that are exemplified for us in the readings, by the persons involved.

Humility: Being humble is the first quality we are required to have. Mary is presented to us as the epitome of this humility. She acknowledges her lowliness before God and thus she is exalted high above all. The Lord teaches humility to David,through Nathan. The king David as a humble son, learns from God and accepts his state of unworthiness. We are called before the Lord to realise our state of mind and state of life, to be grateful and to acknowledge the goodness we have felt from God.

Obedience: Being obedient is the next important criterion for God to visit us. 'Be it done unto me, according to your word,' said Mary. She knew the best thing that could happen to her was the Will of God for her life and so she submits herself totally to God's will. David too may have been rebellious at times but he was an obedient son, who always returned to listen to God and obey God's commands. We need to be obedient to the Lord to really receive the Lord into our lives- there can be no doubts about this!

Mercy: Being merciful, is the third important quality towards making a place for the Lord, worthy of the nature of the Lord. St. Paul brings out how the eternal mystery of God's love and mercy, was being manifested in the coming of the only Son of the Father. It is because the Lord is merciful, that in God's eternal mercy, God deigns to reveal Godself to us and thus come and dwell amidst us. 'Be ye merciful as your heavenly father is merciful', invited Jesus. Yes,that is the only way we can invite the Lord and make the Lord's presence felt among us.

Empathy: Being empathetic towards the needy, the suffering, the homeless, the lonely the least, the lost, the last, the hurt and the broken, is the most apt way of welcoming the Lord home! That will be the home that the Lord best loves, rather than homes that are merely spic and span because no one has entered that home; than the homes that are elegant because there is so much of money spent merely on external pomp and splendour; than the homes that are closed and secured, out of reach for the poor and the dirty, the needy and the clumsy. The Lord comes to identify himself with the poor, the sinners, the outcasts, the least, the marginalised; it is there the Lord would dwell. If we empathise with these, we would as well receive the Lord!

Humble, Obedient, Merciful and Empathetic, we can make a HOME for the Lord and there is no much time left: let us get into action NOW!

O Great Lord of All

THE WORD WHO IS LORD

December 18, 2020:  Lord - the Lord of All

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

O Adonai, the Lord of all...that is how the people of Israel experienced YHWH...the Lord of everyone, the Lord of everything, the Lord of time and the Lord of history, Everything that happened, happened not only with the knowledge of the Lord, but within the great plan of salvation. 

There were things going wrong, they considered it a punishment. There were things going just well, and they knew it was God who ordained it for them. There were things getting slowly into shape and they knew it was God was making things happen for them. God was their Lord, not just their Lord, but Lord of everything, Lord of all...the Lord of Lords.

In waiting for the Lord, the Word wishes us to grow in this attitude of accepting the Lord, as the Lord of all...Our Lord in everything...Lord of every dimension of our life! Without reserving for ourselves nothing, absolutely nothing in our life. The Lord knows us and therefore whatever we experience it is from the hands of the Lord - be they joys or sorrows, challenges or victories!

Shall we grow in that attitude...let the school of the Word in Advent teach us!

O Wisdom of God Most High

THE WORD TO BE BORN

December 17, 2020: Wisdom - the Word made flesh

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

This day marks the beginning of the seven special days of preparation towards the great feast of the Word becoming flesh...the Word eternal, when enfleshes itself, becomes Wisdom, the concrete manifestation of  God's knowledge. 

The Wisdom of God Most High, has been witnessed to from time immemorial, from all eternity. The Gospel's genealogy account, is to establish this eternal plan coming to its fulfilment in Christ, in incarnation and in the very act of God choosing to intervene in human history in a manner that cannot be paralleled to any.

God's Wisdom is manifest in justice that flourishes and peace that flows like an ever flowing river. Where there is justice and peace, there is Wisdom. When I become a source of peace and champion of justice, I become the Wisdom of God, that is, the manifestation of God made human! When I do nothing to further the cause of justice or peace, I cannot claim to be wise, nor to be in the vicinity of Wisdom, that is God who comes to dwell amidst us. 

Much worse, when I am the cause of injustice even in the least of ways, or the reason for destruction of peace whether consciously or unconsciously, I am against the Word, against the Wisdom, against the Reign of God that every Christmas very specially indicates. 

Today, let us resolve to behold the Wisdom of God, be filled with that Wisdom and share that Wisdom so that, we may create wherever we are, a community of justice and peace, concrete revelations of the Wisdom of the God most high.

Open your eyes and make Him seen!

THE WORD IN ADVENT

December 16, 2020: 3rd Wednesday in Advent

Isaiah 45:6-8,18,21-25; Lk 7: 19-23

We begin the novena to the great feast of Christmas this evening! And the Word today inaugurates the immediate preparation to receive with Lord, with the question: are you the one to come? And look at the answer given , not merely by Jesus also by the first reading and the responsorial psalm. Open your eyes and see!

John the Baptist who identified Jesus and proclaimed him to the people, begins to have his doubts. Maybe, he too, just like the other Jews, expected Jesus to come out with a plan and a programme drastically different - a rebellion, a revolution, a protest, a challenge to the status quo! All these were happening, but in a much different plane altogether, from what everyone was trying to see!

The dumb speak, the deaf hear, the crippled walk, the sinners are forgiven, the diseased are healed, the lonely are accompanied, the poor are fed, the jobless are sustained, the weak are strengthened, the oppressed are freed, the voiceless are empowered, the least are lifted, the lost are respected... these are the signs of the coming of the Lord. 

Are you the one to come? The Lord would say...I have already come! Are you ready to make me seen? Are you prepared manifest me to the world in your words and attitudes, in your choices and priorities, in your criteria and discerments? It is important to open your eyes and see...but as sons and daughters of God, we have an added duty! Apart from opening our eyes and seeing, we need to open our eyes to all the suffering and the needy, and make the Lord seen! That shall be true Christmas!

Truly God's Children?

THE WORD IN ADVENT

December 15, 2020: 3rd Tuesday in Advent

Zephaniah 3: 1-2, 9-13; Matthew 21: 28-32

At a point in the first reading the Lord says: 'you need not be ashamed of all your deeds...'. Not to be ashamed of myself is a life of dignity and honour; that I am myself and I am proud of it. True love and true regard for each other will give one this dignity and honour. The Lord fills us with this dignity and honour as God's sons and daughters. 

In our moral integrity we are challenged to remain worthy of that calling we have, that is, to be sons and daughters of God our loving father and mother. It consists of the decision we make to hear the voice of God, listen to it, realise the call within it and act on it with love. 

Not hearing the voice would be a total insensitivity to God - a rejection or a shutting out of God from our lives. Not many of us dare to it, atleast not for long in life. Hearing but not listening would be a disrespect - this is more often than not, seen in our attitudes. Listening but not realising the call involved in it, would be foolishness - because why all the effort and attention to listen but finally only to throw it away in the air. Is it not a waste of time and energy? Finally, Realising the call that is involved in the Word listened to, but not acting upon it, would be a deliberate choice that would negate our very belonging to the Lord - that is we telling ourselves and the world, that we are not really, truly, in actuality, children of God!

When we are ready to hear, listen, realise and act on God's word, we would be true sons and daughters of God; and we would never need to be ashamed of ourselves, our deeds or our lives. The point is, are we really God's children!

It's all around you!

THE WORD IN ADVENT

December 14, 2020: 3rd Monday in Advent

Numbers 24: 2-7, 15-17a; Matthew 21:23-27

In all ages and times there have been people who make of religion, a fairy tale or a horror story! The recent times have seen bands and bands of such people, writing, preaching, proclaiming and shouting at the top of their voice about signs and events, mysteries and milestones...all exciting but so shallow and Un-Christ-ian! Specially in the pandemic times, the reactions of the so-called people at the helm of Christian communities, have been so much challenged and many a times wanting! However leaving those responses aside, we can reflect on the stimulus that calls for that response!

It is not for us to know the time and the hour...but the call is to be prepared and alert, watching and praying constantly, that we may never miss when the Lord visits us. The Lord visiting us is not an extraordinay event...it happens regularly and daily...provided we are ready and willing to behold that visit.

That visit is not something about which we would shudder and shiver, if we live our every moment according to the will of the One who has commissioned us. If we are true and honest about our experience with God, we would find God and Godly signs and God's call to act, every moment of our lives! It is all around us... in faces that surround us, in events that envelope us, in experiences that beckon our choice and in persons who challenge our priorities. 

That visit is not something waiting to happen....no it is something that is waiting to be beheld, because it is already and constantly happening. All that we need to do is open our eyes, ears and above all our hearts, to observe and behold that presence of the Lord. Let us be convinced of the fact that the Lord is present in our days, living with us, walking beside us all the way! And let this be our prayer that we may never miss the Lord who visits us: Lord teach us your ways!

REJOICE! BE JOYFUL..

A Joy that comes from right priorities!

Third Sunday of Advent: December 13, 2020
Isaiah 61: 1-2 a, 10-11; 1 Thessalonians 5: 16-24; John 1: 1-6, 19-28.

Rejoice...again I say rejoice! Today is the Gaudete Sunday, asking us to celebrate in foreboding joy of the Lord and his coming. Rejoice...again I say rejoice, cries out Paul!My soul rejoices in the Lord sings the Psalmist. I exult for joy declares Isaiah! The reason for all these: the Gospel reminds us: the One for whom the whole creation longs is already amidst us! All that we need to do is, take note of the Lord present. And it is only in a holy joy that we can take note of the presence of the Lord.

Joy is the key Christian value. Especially, in today's world, it is an essential message that a Christian is called to give, repeats strongly our beloved Holy Father Pope Francis, every time that he can! He says a christian should be able to convince the world that one can be filled with joy and live one's life inspiring the same joy in those around and in the world at large. With all the crisis this pandemic has created and the resultant factors, it is possible that one gets confused as to what this joy really means. But as to Christian joy, there should be no doubt what it means.

J-Jesus... the first priority and the foundation.

Christian Joy is to place Jesus first in life. When the Lord is given the first and the central place in life, every thing else falls in place. Relativising every thing else in relation to God is a source of an immense serenity. John the Baptist knew that well and bears witness to this serenity! When he gives himself an identity in relation to the Lamb, as the voice crying out in the wilderness, John the Baptist is not belittling himself, but identifying the role assigned to him. And it is in terms of that role, the kind of treatment that was meted out to him, became tolerable to him. His joy was in waiting for the Lord and identifying the Lord, when he came! 

The foundation of Christian Joy is the Lord himself. It involves a grateful recognition of all that God has done to us. When we are mindful of it, like our blessed mother we would break into a song of praise and thanksgiving: my soul magnifies the Lord; for the Lord has done great things for me. Like Isaiah today and like Jesus himself who would quote the very same verses of Isaiah... we would acknowledge the working of the spirit on our behalf. Our joy comes from the Lord and the Lord alone!

O-Other... prior to me and the principal criterion.

The other... has to come prior to the self in true joy. True Christian joy would take into consideration the other immediately after the Lord, who is the source of joy. Selfishness and avarice, pleasure and exploitation cannot form part of Christian joy. The corporates who find means to profit at the cost of the multitudes, the powerful giants caring nothing about the little poor ones being trampled upon, the institutions fending for their own existence caring nothing about the truly needy and the suffering...these can never be signs of true joy and the other does not matter to them at all.

The very principle of Christian joy is the community and the sense of the people of God! The Don Bosco Youth Centres in Chennai have this tag line attached to them: No one has the right to be happy alone. The call "rejoice" today, comes to the community as a whole to rejoice in the Lord who has willed to act on their behalf. Not just in seasonal acts of kindness, or sporadic events of reaching out, but constantly the other has to be placed before 'me'...the other has to become the criterion that guides my choices and my decision making. What the prophets insisted and what Jesus lived out was this: that nothing mattered to them, when the other was in need, when an other was suffering, when an other was unjustly crushed by selfishness, insensitivity and indifference. The Other has to lead me to act...that is true joy in Christ-ian terms.

Y-You... of course last but not the least

You come at the end nevertheless "you" matter much to the Lord. You come at the end because, you are the protagonist. You should not get lost in your need and suffering, your worry and burdens, your problems and plans... Yes... you have your need, problem, issue, challenge... but the other draws your attention more and the Lord becomes the constant support, that you are able to transcend the troubles and struggles...logically, the fruit is joy, an incomprehensible joy that comes from within. People who see will wonder how you are able to be serene regardless of what you are going through...but you know it...it comes from the Lord and from the priority you give for the other.

You matter much to the Lord. It is not true to think that Christian spirit requires that you negate yourself to the extent that you think your self is evil! No, it cannot be; it is not! You are precious in the eyes of God and you form an integral and important part of God's salvific plan. That is why the Lord comes in search of you, comes to your heart, comes to your home! Recieve the Lord! Experience the Lord! Rejoice in the Lord and you will see, how things can change in life! Your tears shall change into joy...not because the situations around you change...but because your heart changes, with the Lord coming! That is true JOY.

Rejoice... is the call today. Let's rejoice in the Lord and prepare ourselves more intensely with that joy, to receive the Lord when He comes.

Face the fire!

THE WORD IN ADVENT 

December 12, 2020: 2nd Saturday in Advent

Sirach 48: 1-4, 9-11; Matthew 17: 9a, 10-13

Elijah arose like a fire, the Word says and John was the expected Elijah! Elijah was a mighty big challenge for the people of his times - the people revered, the kings trembled, and the other false prophets fell flat before him. This is why, the powerful people in the time of Jesus wondered why Elijah should come back, because for them Elijah meant trouble. Obviously, they could not, rather they did not want to see Elijah in the Baptist. And Jesus pointed it out on their face. 

For us today 'Elijah' would be those persons and situations that challenge us to greater commitment and total dedication. And 'John' would be those people who put us into a spiritual uneasiness by their witnessing life. At times we do not want to have anything to do with them. Worse still, we try to interpret their actions and attitudes to be too rude or pretentious,  thus writing them off from the public face. The worst, when we try to get rid of them, whatever it takes.

Look at the scenario today: the increasing compromises in Christian living and the senseless alienation of daily life from the Christian belief; duplicity of motivations in what we speak or do in the public domain; the underground discussions and partnerships that aim at toppling the righteous persons who burn with the fire of the Reign!

Let us keep the figures of Elijah and John in our minds for a practical and concrete dedication towards our call to be people of the Reign. Let us recognise willingly people with such fire within them! Even if we are not one of them, at least let us  learn to face them... let us learn to face the fire, with holy awe!

To find your depth...

THE WORD IN ADVENT

December 11, 2020: 2nd Friday in Advent

Isaiah 48: 17-19; Matthew 11:16-19

If only you were... we use this expression very often when communicating our disappointment over someone. Today the Lord uses it in relation to the people of Israel...if only you had listened to me, and proved a little more faithful! There is a spark of an inspiration from the first reading today, speaking of faithfulness to God being like waves! In fact the Gospel too takes off from there. 

Waves ebb and flow, come and go, rise and fall, proceed and recede...but look at them at their origins - the deep sea. There they are calm like a sleeping giant. That is what faithfulness to God is all about. Though you may be involved in frenetic activity and never ending responsibilities, never lose that inner serenity where your being truly resides. 

Jesus gives a beautiful allegory - like children who play, we live our lives with numerous expectations on the other and disappointments within. We expect and get disappointed; or we get anxious to meet the expectations of the other or others, and feel stressed out. Jesus is simply suggesting to us: can you just stop and ask yourself, what are you up to? What are you toiling for? What are you stressing yourself out for? What are you really trying to prove and to whom? 

Jesus has this to tell us today: you have nothing to prove! You are what you are in the depth of your being. Discover that, realise that, and try to live that to the full. Do not get lost in the externals of show and appreciation or disappointments and critiques. You can do that only when you are able to find your depths. That is why the key to a truly 'happy' life, is finding your real depth and getting truly in touch with it.

The Reign suffers!

THE WORD IN ADVENT

December 10, 2020: 2nd Thursday in Advent

Isaiah 41: 13-20; Matthew 11: 11-15

Jesus speaks of the Reign that suffers at the hands of the violent. It follows from Jesus' assertion that the Reign of God rests amidst us. Yes, the Reign lives in those who live the values of the Reign. Most of the times our discourses and discussions on the Reign of God, end with a dubious note, a never answered question: "are all that we speak of, possible?  Is it not merely Utopian to think of such ideals? Can we really establish such a Reign in our context?" 

Jesus would today tell us: it is not all about establishing the Reign. The Reign already exists, in the persons who stand for love and mutual care, in persons who thirst for justice and truth, in persons who are ready to give up even their lives for the sake of fullness of life for all. The question is, do we form part of that Reign already in our life or not. And if we do form part of it, it would be seen in our everyday choices, our priorities and the causes we stand for and speak out for. 

When we do it, we will surely not be left in peace. Look at persons who are taken to task, in different parts of the world, merely because they insist on living the values of the Reign - the values of justice, equality, and fraternity! Jesus himself is our model who went right up to the cross and eventual death, for the sake of the values of love and sacrifice that he held on to. Living these days of crisis, this life style of Jesus is a big challenge to us. 

When we intend to live as Christ did, we will certanain have troubles from every corner and the Lord assures us in the first reading today: 'Fear not! I will help you!' Because the Reign of God is the Lord's doing and we are all agents of that the Reign here on earth - and we have the Reign right within us! When we fail to realise that, the Reign suffers!

To never grow tired!

THE WORD IN ADVENT

December 09, 2020: Second Wednesday in Advent

Isaiah 40: 25-31; Matthew 11: 28-30

To run and not to grow weary, to walk and never to tire... that is the call that the Word has today. That is clearly a sign of God's people. Think of a person like Mother Teresa, she fought all her life against everything that drains humanity of its dignity, did she succeed? Or a person like Nelson Mandela, who spent 27 years in the prison to stand for equality and political freedom, did he totally succeed? Succeed... that does not matter. They never grew tired - that was the sign of their greatness, their godliness! Nothing could break them. They were putting out their wings like the eagle, every time the oppressive powers tended to curtail them.

It is like the techniques that are taught to the sprinters... having just a hundred or two hundred meters at their disposition, to prove themselves, they cannot afford to look back, compare with the other or console oneself in comparison with the other! Till the very last moment the person has to keep the pace up, because even in the last moment, one can be easily overtaken! 

Yes, we have this course to run, called life. But we cannot become tired of it, we cannot complain about it. There are difficult moments and tiresome experiences. But there are also precious treasures that the Lord has in store for us - wonderful experiences, inspiring people, captivating values, sanctifying virtues, everything is there. We cannot grow tired. 

The Lord assures his sons and daughters that God will be with us strengthening us in this life and all its  trials...you will run but will not grow tired, you will walk but will not grow faint...if and only if you have God with you! The Lord expresses God's wish to comfort us and assist us, it is upto us to receive this grace and accept his accompaniment. 

We are God's people, only in as much as we develop our capacity to never grow tired!

God's Plan: Not Magic but Mystery!

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

December 8, 2020: Immaculate Conception of our Blessed Mother

Genesis 3: 9-15, 20; Ephesians 1: 3-6, 11-12; Luke 1: 26-38

Today's feast is not so much to celebrate the Blessed Mother of God, as to celebrate the Eternal plan of God. God has a plan for each of us, from before the foundations of the world, reminds us the Liturgy today. At times we look at this plan as something magical and try to guess it through means of mediums and methods of all sorts: palmistry, star signs, fortune tellers and prediction professionals! God's plan is not a magic for us to manipulate; it is a mystery to be lived. God's plans unfold moment by moment, as and when we live. 

Today we see, in time immemorial the promise that God made that God will set a woman and her offspring against the evil tempter of the world. And we celebrate how this plan at the foundations of the creation, unfolded in total obscurity, in the womb which bore the womb that would bear the Son of God. What a great mystery!

It is not for us to guess God's plan or calculate God's moves: that is a radical impossibility. But we are called to believe in the God's plan, accept it and cooperate with it! God has chosen us before the foundation of the world and therefore we are not here by chance; God has willed us into existence! It is our task to discern what God's plan is for us at any particular given time and carry it out, as did our Blessed Mother all her life. 

The aspect we celebrate in our Blessed Mother today is the total cooperation that she offered to the plan of God, because of which she lived all her life, holy and blameless. Let us fix our minds on the Word today: that we are chosen before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before God in love.

Strange things or Miracles: learn to see

THE WORD IN ADVENT

December 7, 2020: 2nd Monday in Advent

Isaiah 35: 1-10; Luke 5: 17-26

When things happen in an unexpected way, we exclaim - 'what a coincidence!' A worse expression is to say, 'how strange!' A truly Christian outlook would be to cry out 'it is a miracle!' Yes, at times people think miracles are few and far between...no they abound. Miracles abound for those who are ready to see them around.

The Gospel today says the people said: we have seen strange things today. Worse still, there were those who were finding fault with Jesus who was the reason for things that were happening. Who were truly disciples of Christ: those who were, from the beginning able to see what Jesus was upto...his compassion, his love for the crippled man, his passion for God and God's children and finally the act of forgiveness and healing...every bit of it was a miracle for them!

The first reading speaks of deserts flowering, wilderness turning a haven, wild beasts disappearing and glory of God filling all the earth...it would sound strange for some. Worse still, for some it would sound foolish and infantile and too spiritualising. For true disciples of Christ, it will be a miracle to be expected, prayed for, and beheld when it happens. 

In all these what is the difference between the outlooks: the capacity to see, observe and behold miracles. Miracles abound for those who are ready to see them around. 

Let us learnt to see miracles, on a daily basis they keep happening to us in our ordinary lives. A smile from a person when you just need it; a tap on your shoulder when you are all down in spirit, a call from a dear one when you feel you are totally down and out, a glad news from someone when you are gloomy and blue, a surprising encounter with a person when you least expected it...all these account for miracles, of only we learn to see in them what the Lord wants to accomplish through these and communicate in them. It is a special capacity we can acquire only in the School of Jesus...let us learn to see!

W A I T

Prepare the way!

December 06, 2020: 2nd Sunday in Advent
Isaiah 40: 1-5, 9-11; 2 Peter 3: 8-14; Mark 1: 1-8

One fourth of the Advent is gone; and soon it will be Christmas! The Lord will be here anytime, warn the readings today. Last week liturgy invited us to watch, and this week it invites us to WAIT.

Waiting can be of two fundamental kinds. The first type is a passive indifference - you wait helplessly; you wait doing nothing, because you think you can do nothing about it! You are passive and you are inactive...whatever you are waiting for, has to happen by itself and you feel you have no part of it, until it really begins to happen. The other type of waiting is, an active preparation - you are totally involved in the expectant events. Though you know you cannot do much about what you are waiting for, but you can do all the preparations for it, and you do it with such enthusiasm, that when it really happens you begin to live the moment to the full. 

A Christian waiting can never be an indifference or a passive helplessness regarding things that happen. That is what the world calls fate. The difference between the concepts of fate and will of God, is the love that is involved in the latter. A love with which a person lives to the full the moments of preparation, in order that the event itself could be meaningfully experienced. Yes, a Christian Waiting at advent is an active participation in the historical events that announce and usher in the Reign of God.

What does this WAIT concretely consist of? The liturgy today offers a clarity on this.

To wait is to Wish the coming of the Lord. True Waiting begins with a real wish, a want, a true desire that the Lord comes. It cannot be based on a dubious or a half hearted acceptance of an inevitable situation. A truly Christian waiting for the Lord should begin from an ardent desire that the Lord should visit us. Sometimes this wish or desire can be half hearted because of the fear of the changes that the Lord can effect with the coming.

There were those who did not wish the coming of the Lord - just imagine Herod becoming troubled at the news of a child being born. Recall those people of the Gerasenes (Mk 5), who did not want the Lord to come into their village. Let us not take this condition for granted - the condition to wish the coming of the Lord. At times, even we may tell that Lord, 'please do not enter my life...I cannot afford to change anything there right now!' 

To wait is to Allow the hand of the Lord. Isaiah today speaks of the changes that we need to look forward to; that the valleys be filled and the hills be leveled! It cannot be a true Christian attitude to want the Lord to come but not being ready to do anything or give into any change personally or as a community. It is a readiness to allow the Lord to challenge us to perfection.

Yes, if we truly wish the coming of the Lord into our lives, we need to allow the Lord to have his way! Today I want to dine with you the Lord said to Zacchaeus; and the very moment he began climbing down that sycamore, Zacchaeus started planning his itinerary already...I will change; I will become better; I will repent; I will restitute what I have unlawfully taken from others; I will relinquish my comforts for the right way of living. That is allowing the hand of the Lord to work on me, on my life, on my daily decisions.

To wait is to Inhabit the dwellings of the Lord. The second reading speaks to us of the need to conduct ourselves in holiness and devotion. The Gospel presents to us a people who went in search of the man of God that they may get closer to God, purify their ways and dwell in holiness and devotion. How eager are we to dwell in the courts of the Lord? How prepared are we to inhabit the new heavens and the new earth that the Lord promises us?

The coming of the Lord is a figurative phrase! It is not that the Lord has to come from somewhere, as if the Lord is not already with us. But it is a fact that we need to come home to the Lord. We are busy elsewhere, while the Lord waits at home, with arms wide open. We have neither the time nor the patience to recognise the Lord present and the arms that wish to console us, calm us, enthuse us and energise us. We need to inhabit the dwellings of the Lord - the Lord's favourite dwelling is our being...our inner being where the Lord resides...let us come home to this dwelling and get in touch with the Lord there.

To wait is to Tremble at the presence of the Lord. Let each one work out one's own salvation with fear and trembling, St. Paul would instruct elsewhere (Phil 2:12). John the Baptist personifies the need to prepare oneself in earnestness for the day of the Lord. He gives the ways and means of being prepared for the Reign of God. When the people looked for a saviour in the Baptist, he admits it with trembling before the Lord that the One who comes after him is mightier than him. And not just that, but that we need to prepare with haste for the day of the Lord.

There are no fixed formulae nor some short cut pathways to reach the salvation that God has in store for us..it is something that we need to work out on a daily basis: it is working out to be fit for the Reign. As John the Baptist indicates, each of us, depending on the state of life that we are in and the daily commitments that we have and the context in which we live our lives - we need to plan our itineraries. The journey we began last week is fast running its course out. We cannot take it at ease, or wait inactively for an opportune moment. We need to make decisions here and now...to change, to grow, to prepare more in concrete for the coming of the Lord.

Lets WAIT... wish heartily the coming of the Lord, allow the hand of the Lord to change our lives, inhabit the dwellings of the Lord and tremble at the presence of Lord. Let us take stock of the journey so far and continue in earnestness.

Presence - the greatest gift

THE WORD IN ADVENT

December 5, 2020: First Saturday of Advent

Isaiah 30: 19-21, 23, 26; Matthew 9: 35 - 10:1, 5a, 6-8

The greatest gift of God, is God's continual presence with us!

Life, food, water, protection, healing, assurance, sustenance, love and care...these are given to us gratuitously by God. All these are gifts that we have received, whether we acknowledge it or not. The greatest of all and the gift beyond all these is God's continual presence with us. More precisely, the fundamental gift of all is the presence!

God's presence is manifested to us in various ways: as providing presence that fulfills our needs; protecting presence that safeguards us from dangers; probing presence that challenges us on our life's journey; and above all, guiding presence that accompanies us on a constant basis. The last of these, is a bit different presence because, all others will be taken care of by God, even if we are mere passive receivers. But the accompanying presence of the Lord can be experienced only if we actively acknowledge, accept and allow the Lord to act on our behalf.

A second challenge that we have is, as persons who have experienced that presence, the call we have to become that presence for the others...the accompanying presence of the Lord. We give it when people need it, we dont force ourselves on them. We give it even when it means that we sacrifice much of our time, energy and attention. We give it when others need, not when we feel like! We give without looking for anything in return...just being there for the other!

Advent is a spiritual exercise precisely to grow in our capacity to become aware of this accompanying presence of God with us, and become one such for others! Personally, it is a moment when we learn to see, practice to understand and be prepared to allow God to have God's way in our life. Are we on that journey?

The Gift of Seeing

THE WORD IN ADVENT

December 4, 2020: First Friday of Advent

Isaiah 29: 17-24; Matthew 9: 27-31

Seeing is a gift, a great gift indeed. Not seeing is a sad thing. It is difficult to really understand where we are and what is around us! We would not know the imminent danger and we would be unaware of the risk that lies at the next step. 

If 'not seeing' is a sad thing, not knowing that you cannot see is still worse! It is more dangerous than not seeing itself...because when you know you cannot see, you will learn to be cautious; you will feel like getting help; you will know that you are vulnerable.

When you do not know that you cannot see, you think that you see everything, when in fact you do not see! It is a dangerous situation and you are all the more vulnerable. You would be treading a risky path but you will never know when you will be trapped. There will be help available just beside you, but you will not make use of it, because you wouldn't think you need it.

The Lord is our light and he is there right beside us - both in person and in and through other persons! Depends on us to cry out: "Son of David, have mercy on us!" Let us then pray for a threefold grace: to know it when we are unable to see; to know that there is just beside us the Lord, who is the light; and  the grace that we may see!

The Missionary of the Millennium

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

December 3, 2020: Remembering St. Francis Xavier, the Patron of India

1 Corinthians 9: 16-19, 22-23; Mark 16: 15-20

3 Messages that Francis Xavier can teach us from the Word today:

1. GO TO THE ENDS

One of the many representations of St. Francis Xavier, has the saint holding his heart in his hands and the heart burning! Indeed, a perfect image for this great missionary who not only dared to go to the ends of the world, but yearned to. He was burning with zeal for the Lord and for the proclamation of the Word. 

2. PROCLAIM THE GOSPEL

Proclaiming the Gospel, as Paul would say, for Francis Xavier was a God-given duty, not merely his fancy hobby. That is the reason for the zeal and the dedication that he had. Today we are called to proclaim too, as a duty! But let us take the inspiration from the other Francis, the one from Assisi: 'Proclaim the Gospel always; use words when necessary!' The very zeal that Francis Xavier had for the Lord and the Word, was already a proclamation... then followed his missionary trips.

3. SEEK GOD BEFORE EVERYTHING 

What would a person profit, if he gained the whole world, but lost his soul! That was the Word that shook Francis Xavier towards sanctity, a sanctity which is so concretely observed even today in his remains, that stand testimony to the whole world! Can we just sit down and list out today, how many things are rated before God as priorities in our lives... may be, we will do well to work on that list and reduce the number of those things in our life that tend to take a priority over and above, the Lord.

Happy feast of the Missionary of the Millennium!

MAY FRANCIS XAVIER FILL US WITH THE SAME ZEAL THAT HE HAD.

Hope in God

THE WORD IN ADVENT

December 2, 2020: Wednesday, 1st  week in Advent

Isaiah 25: 6-10; Matthew 15: 29-37

Hope... what a time to think of this! The pandemic is almost getting one year old...and the whole of the globe has been visited by this treacherous virus... sicknesses, deaths, loss of jobs, lack of means, migrants stranded...how many things have happened within this one year. And added to this the usual ills of humanity!

At these kind of moments, despair can get the better of us. The whole heated discussion of the rising level of intolerance in India (and even elsewhere), the neglect of the poor, struggle of the farmers, the plight of the middle class and the insensitive politics and all that is happening in the society is yet another despair inducing scenario. The increasing conditions of inhumanity and violence in the world and the lack of transparent and righteous coalitions against evil, is an alarming state of affairs! 

It is against this background that the Word speaks today: the Lord will wipe the tears from every cheek and will feel God's people to fulfillment. That is hope... to say, God will act on my behalf. Just imagine what it means to say that...

God... to think of God, feel God's nearness and relate to God from the depth of one's heart.

God will... yes, God will...it may take time, it may delay, but God will. It is part of the hope to say, God will act in God's own time.

God will act... God is not a passive onlooker...God acts on my behalf and I need to let God do so, to act on my  behalf, to direct me, and to take me along, like a Shepherd, with love and care!

God will act on my behalf...I am loved and I am cared for. My God, my Shepherd does not abandon me any day in any way! God will act on my behalf, all I need is to wait in hope, on the Lord

Christian living and thinking is all about hope. Waiting for the Lord is all about hope. Hoping in the Lord is not a leap in the dark, it's seeing the light that comes through or being determined to pick up the first streak of light that pierces through. Hope makes us authentically Christians... fear strips us of it!