FAMILY - THE UNIVERSAL CALL TO GODLINESS

Presence, Plan and the Patron

December 26. 2021: Solemnity of the Holy Family
1 Samuel 1:20-22,24-28; 1 John 3:1-2,21-24; Luke 2:41-52

We celebrate today the feast of the Holy Family... a reminder to every Christian family about the universal call that we have towards Godliness. Yes, we are called to be the people of God, in families. The People of God were always called as families - the people of Judah, the people of Israel... are some ways in which the people are referred to. And when people referred to God they used titles such as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob...these were not just persons, but households, families! We are not only families that belong to God, we have a God who identifies with our families.

Celebrating the Holy Family today, we are invited to look at three prominent constituents of a family... parents, children and the Almighty!

Parents are the presence of God in the family! When the Lord wills to create a family, God chooses a man and a woman to form that family...and deigns to form them into parents! This has three implications to pay attention to: being parents is a call, a God-given mission; being parents is a responsibility; and being parents is a course of maturity. The call is to participate in the salvific mission of God; the responsibility is to make God present and discern God's will in the daily events of the family; and it is a journey of growth and maturity that the parents are called to!

Children are the plan of God in the family! Children are gifts and tasks; they are the dreams and the designs; they are the plans that God has for the future of a society. They are gifts and tasks - as they are given as gifts to the family and as they have the task of making the family feel sustained. They are the dreams and desings - as every child born is a sign that God still loves the world and has a design for the salvation of the whole humankind. They are the plans that God has for humanity, as God sends every child into this world with a purpose and a project - if the particular person does not accomplish it, it is left undone and it affects the entire humanity!

God our Father and Mother, is the patron of every family on earth! God needs to be given the rightful place in our homes; the parents learn from the Lord and exercise the authority that God gives; the children see the Lord in the parents and love the Lord in return for all the good! God remains the patron of every family as the parents offer their children back to God and the children heed to their parents as the representatives of God! God plans everything for the family, in as much as the family together kneel before the Lord in discernment and decision making. Raising a question as to who is important in the family - the husband or the wife, the father or the mother, the parents or the children - is an anomaly, as God Almighty is the most important in the family. A family that prays together, stays together, grows together, and experiences God together.

Can we not observe these three qualities in the Holy Family: Mary and Joseph become the immediate presence of God for Jesus; Jesus becomes the core plan of God for the salvation of humanity; and God remains the patron of the family, directing them, guiding them and animating them in every way!

May our families take after this splendid model, and learn at the School of Nazareth to become really the people of God amidst the world today!

The Lord comes to Visit us - let us be Prepared...

THE WORD IN ADVENT

December 24, 2021: Day in Preparation for Christmas

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

The Lord has visited God's people; the Lord visits God's people; the Lord continues to visit us: are we prepared to behold that visit of the Lord? We have been preparing all this while for this moment, to prepare ourselves for the visit of the Lord. The Lord continues to visit us and we can have three major dispositions.

The first is being totally unprepared,  letting the moment pass by without really making any impact on us or on our daily lives. This could also take the milder version of being prepared somewhat, or partially, just to take note of those aspects that we wish to, those aspects that are convenient to us and those aspects that wouldnt demand too much from us.

The other disposition is to be over-enthusiastic about the visit and misinterpreting it from my own perspective and not from that true perspective that God wants. David made that mistake - in his over enthusiasm, he thought he would do a great favour to God by building a Temple for the Lord! Whoever can do a favour to God? But at times we think so, when we do something good, something noble, something admirable...as if it is all our merit. Awareness is to be mindful of the presence of God that results in whatever is true, noble and beautiful.

The third is the ideal disposition, that reminds me to be aware of the visit of the Lord, here and now, every day and every situation, all the days of my life. Celebration of Christmas every year is not merely a celebration of an annual event but a reminder of a disposition that I need to live all my life - mindful of the visit of the Lord and being prepared to receive the Lord, in events, persons, and experiences. 

The Lord comes to visit us, let us prepare ourselves! 

The Rising Dawn: His name is John

THE WORD IN ADVENT

December 23, 2021: Fourth Thursday in Advent

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

I send you a prophet, to prepare the way before the One who is to come - John was prefigured by Elijah and so many other prophets. Another way of saying is, John brought to climax and completion, the work that was entrusted to the numerous prophets sent to the people of Israel - to call people's attention to the path of life that lies before them.

Behold I place before you, life and death, it depends on you what you choose! This has been the warning that the Lord has been giving us, right from the beginning, to remind us of the great gift of personal freedom that we possess and of the important task entrusted to us. 

The Rising Dawn is a great symbol of the enlightenment that the Lord offers for our life and life choices. We are called to see clearly, choose rightly and live freely, our faith and all that pertains to our Christian faith. Prophets abound even today: they could be around us, just beside us, working with us in our work places, living with us in our homes, walking with us on our daily journey... anyone could be sent to bring God's light into your lives: just pay attention - his or her name could be John!

King of Nations: Offering back to God

THE WORD IN ADVENT

December 22, 2021: Fourth Wednesday in Advent

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

Hannah offers the child given to her by God, back to God; Mary is promised a child and told already that the child will be offered back to God and God's purposes! Speaking of the King of Nations, we are tempted to think of a majestic and independent personality, commanding everyone around, with extraordinary powers. But in the case of the new born whom we are awaiting this season - the kingliness consists something totally different.

This King of Nations offers himself to God, rules with kindness, acts with justice, deals with mercy and witnesses to truth! What king do we see in this definition - who does not seek his will but God's will; who fends for the people of God and not for himself; who gives of himself and does not expect anything in return! 

The call to us is this: that we recognize the lesson that the festivities of Christmas give us: the lessons of giving back to God what God has blessed us with, of placing in priority God's will and God's plan and not our own, and finally in offering back to God everything that God has given us, becoming a blessing to everyone around, in the name of the King of Nations, the Prince of Peace, the Wonderful Counsellor, our Saviour and Lord. 

Key of David - The Joy of Faith

THE WORD IN ADVENT

December 21, 2021: Fourth Tuesday in Advent

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

We are given to reflect on three personalities today: the first and second from the readings, especially the Gospel - Mary and Elizabeth, both of whom were so eagerly and joyfully waiting for the coming of the Lord.  To their list is added David, for whom it was an irreplaceable joy to be united with the Lord. 

In and through these personalities the key element of reflection offered us is the Joy of faith and the faith of true joy!

Faith which is a personal relationship with God, inspires great joy obviously, when the Lord comes to visit us. It is the joy of being united with the one whom we love; it is the joy of counting the blessings that God has showered on us; the joy of standing on the promises of God. The joy doubles when we know the Lord not only comes to us, but comes for us and comes to be with us. This is the joy of Faith.

Joy, in its purest form, has its source in the Divine; every other pleasure or good-feeling, is but a faint copy of this true and profound joy. When it comes from some other thing, or event, or experience that is transitory, the joy itself becomes transient! Whereas, the Lord promises, the joy that I give, cannot be taken away by anyone or anything! And it is this true joy, that binds a soul to God; the longing for that true and unsurpassing joy, the eternal joy that draws the soul to the Divine! This is the faith that is born out of true joy!

Finally, it is faith and joy that makes us people of God... and we shall dance before the Lord, regardless of the world that stands around cynically! 

O Emmanuel - the Servant life-syle

THE WORD IN ADVENT

December 20, 2021: Fourth Monday in Advent

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

We are getting very close to the great feast of the mystery of incarnation, and our respobsibility thickens too! Today we have two terms to pay attention to.

The first is the maiden who would bear and give birth to a child and the reference to Mary as the handmaiden who accepts the will of the Father as the plan for her life! The term that is suggested by these elements is Servant. Servant, not in the sense of a slave or a dependent, but in the sense of someone who takes up the cause of the One who orders everything. That is what we are called to be: behold I come to do your will - we heard that passage just this Sunday. Just like Jesus became  servant, so are we called to become. Just as my Father sent me, so I send you out, said Jesus.

The second term is inspired by the experience of Emmanuel - God with us. Emmanuel is that experience of God as someone very close to us, someone living and moving with us, someone who is one among us. 'God with us' need not be only an experience from elsewhere, it can and it should become a life-style! That is, it becomes the way we  live our daily life.

Bringing the two terms together: Servant lifestyle is a crucial experience of God and an experience of a person of God! 

FAITH - THE BLESSED ASSURANCE

Obedience of faith, promise of love and trust in the Lord

December 19, 2021: Fourth Sunday in Advent
Micah 5: 1-4; Hebrew 10:5-10:Luke 1:39-45

Faith is the ultimate celebration of Advent and that is what we begin this Sunday! We celebrate our faith - the promise of love from the Lord and our obedience of faith in trust!

The Obedience of Faith is signified in the purpose with which Jesus came into this world - here I come to do your will! That is the purpose of our lives too and it adds meaning to our existence!

The Promise of Love is the blessed assurance that is given by the Lord - a promise that comes right from the origin of creation, when we were promised a redeemer, a never-ceasing care for our fullness of life.

Trust in the Lord is the source of peace, hope and joy that we have been celebrating all these weeks... and our Blessed Mother is given as the highest of examples: blessed is she who beleived in the promises of the Lord. 

The blessed assurance that we have in our life is faith: the relationship that we have with the Almighty who created me and the continued presence of the Lord.  

Adonai, Lord our Integrity

THE WORD IN ADVENT

December 18, 2021: Jeremiah 23: 5-8; Matthew 1: 18-24

The Lord of history, Lord of all generations and Lord of the entire universe, is our Lord. It is giving up on all this majesty that the Lord chose to be Emmanuel, God with us. Though all the titles - the Lord of might and power, the Lord of glory and honour, the Lord of hosts and dominions - are all perfectly fitting for the Lord - the title most preferred by the Lord: Emmanuel, the Lord with us! 

This is the Lord of Integrity, the Lord who is with the little and the weak, with the poor and the simple, with the opressed and the down trodden. Where there is truth, justice and righteousness, there the Lord is; when we opt for these, we opt for God. The moment one searches for power, wealth, popularity and prestige at the cost of values and righteousness, he or she ceases to be a presence of God. 

The Lord our integrity, inspires us to understand our call to be people of God, in all senses. In our way of life, in the choices we make and in the decisions that we make, we are called to be persons of integrity, persons of God and persons who build up the community into a people of God. Let our prayer today be: O Adonai, Our Lord and the Ruler of the house of Israel, who gave the law to Moses on Sinai, come and save us with outstretched arm. Amen.

The Sceptre of Wisdom

THE WORD IN ADVENT

December 17, 2021: Genesis 49: 2,8-10; Matthew 1: 1-17

The Word today orients our attention to the faithfulness of the Lord from generation to generation; it is basically an account of the relationship, the covenant between God and God's people. That relationship on our part is a privilege that we experiece, whereas on the part of God, it is in fact an authority that God has on us, God's children!

It is in fact the sceptre that God wields over us, a sceptre that would not end, a sceptre that would not bow down before any forces, a sceptre that would make everything new, a sceptre that would order and govern everything in the world and in our lives. It is indeed a sceptre of rule and governance!

But beyond all these, it is a sceptre of Wisdom... the eternal Wisdom that ordains everything for good, according to the Holy Will, the everlasting plan of God. Within this eternal plan everything has its place - and specially we, we have a place. The reminder at Christmas, when the eternal Word became flesh, coming into time and space, is that we become persons who bring God into this world, into our time, into our space, into wherever we are!

That which helps us do it, is the Wisdom of God... and we therefore exclaim to the divine Wisdom:  O Wisdon of the Most High, ordering all things with strength and gentleness, come and teach us the way of truth! Amen!

The Joy of choosing God's love

THE WORD IN ADVENT

December 16, 2021: Third Thursday in Advent
Isaiah 54: 1-10; Luke 7: 24-30

For the mountains may depart, the hills be shaken, but my love for you will never leave you - the most consoling words that one can hear from God! Yes, the love of the Lord gladdens our heart, it gives us a reason to rejoice! It is said, every tiny child that is born into this world is a sign that the Lord has not given up on us. And the child born, whom we are preparing to celebrate, is not only the sign of God's love, but God's love itself made flesh.

This great joy that the Lord gives, does not depend only on God. If it were so, we would have no problem in experiencing it. But not all experience it and definitely not all in the same level or degree! Hence, there is another variable involved here and that is: my personal choice for God!

Joy is ensured by the Lord and the Lord's love; but it has to be chosen by me, freely and willingly - not grudgingly and half-heartedly. When you went to see the Baptist, Jesus says, you knew it would be difficult to digest who he was, what he said and what he demanded from you! But still you went - why? Because it was a choice, a choice for what is godly. 

This is the criteria to enter the Reign: to experience and witness for the joy of choosing God's love, over anything else. You could be famous, talented, popular, sought after, admired and respected, but that does not in anyway take away the importance, the significance and the absolute need for a personal choice for God and all that is godly. This is  the joy of choosing God's love!

The Joy of Seeing the Lord

THE WORD IN ADVENT

December 15, 2021: Third Wednesday in Advent
Isaiah 45:6-8,18,21-25; Luke 7: 19-23

I am the Lord - reveals the Word...and the Lord, as we know has always been and is a self-revealing God. God has multiform ways of revealing Godself to us. The highest form of revelation has been the Word becoming flesh in the great mystery of incarnation that we are preparing ourselves to celebrate. 

The greatest good that can happen to us is, beholding the revelation of God - to get to know God, to get to know who we are in the eyes of God, to get to know what God wants of us. But all these begins with acknowledging the revelation of God, seeing the Lord who is revealed!

Seeing the Lord involves a lot of discipline in life and a sense of true focus - discipline, because we need to train ourselves to avoid all other distractions and grow towards fuller understanding of God; focus, because there are so many situations and experiences that can take us away from the right sense and meaning of life. 

True and deepest joy of life consists of knowing the Lord and being prepared to see the Lord in our daily life - in the other, in the events and in the experiences that come our way on a daily basis. The Lord we have is a self revealing Lord, may we grow in the joy of seeing the Lord. 

The Joy of Simplicity

THE WORD IN ADVENT

December 14, 2021: Third Tuesday in Advent

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

This Sunday we were reflecting on the joy of simplicity as the joy of the Reign. It refers to the peace and serenity that would govern the life of a person who lives what he or she talks, the courage and authority that would mark the personality of the one who proclaims what one is conviced of and the righteousness of the one who never compromises on what is right, just and acceptable in the eyes of the Lord.

It is easier to look for honour in the eyes of the world and live a false life, deceiving every one around with compromises and appearances; but what a sad life it would be - ensuring peace and tranquility only in the short life that we have here and now. However, even that is not ensured, because the person has to live all the time cautious of not being exposed!

True joy comes from integrity, from simplicity of life - that is a life that is lived from the heart, a life lived at the core of our beings, a life that is lived in the presence of the Lord, totally open and transparent. The Joy of Simplicity gives us the foretaste of the joy of the Reign!

The Joy of Wisdom

THE WORD IN ADVENT

December 13, 2021: Third Monday in Ordinary time

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

The Joy of the Spirit is guaranteed when we know the ways of the Lord... the wisdom of the Spirit lets us grow in the quality of discernment, to get to know the right thing to be done at the right moment! When we are guided by this spirit of discernment, we shall not be answerable to anyone, other than the One who has sent us. 

When the Pharisees and the Scribes questioned Jesus or even threatened him, Jesus never trembled or feared. He was certain about what he was and who he was; and above all these, he trusted in the One who sent him and did everything that his Father commissioned him to do.

The message is simply this: that we develop within us the joy of the Wisdom of the Lord. The Wisdom of the Spirit fills us with three specific capabilities - to know the right thing to do; to do the right thing at the right time; to take responsibility without any diffidence for all that we choosee to do.

The Joy of Wisdom, is to possess the light of the Lord and dare to walk by it all our life

JOY OF THE REIGN - THE LIFE IN THE SPIRIT

Sharing, Simplicity & Sincerity

December 12, 2021: Third Sunday in Advent
Zephania 3:14-18; Philippias 4: 4-7; Luke 3: 10-18

Gaudete Sunday... the call is to Rejoice! Rejoice, Rejoice in the Lord, shouts St. Paul today to us and that is what the first reading calls usto do - to shout in joy! Why all these Joy? Because the Lord is near; and we are half way through the preparation that we began towards encountering the Lord, who comes to meet us. 

The call to Rejoice comes to us in a time that may not so easily concede us the possibility to rejoice... with the pandemic fears still looming, with new virus threat that is keeping the world still quizzing, the increasing uneasiness with regard to immigration and climate crises...these are some urgent concerns that may instill more fear anxiety than joy, naturally speaking! Exactly... naturally speaking, it is so... but spiritually speaking?

Spiritually speaking, we are called to Rejoice! And it is possible to rejoice, whatever be the situation around us! And not just that, as Pope Francis says, "The Christian life is “joy in the Holy Spirit” (Rom 14:17), for “the necessary result of the love of charity is joy; since every lover rejoices at being united to the beloved… the effect of charity is joy” (Gaudete et Exultet 122). Pope Francis instills in our minds the centrality of Joy in Christian vision of life - the Joy of the Gospel, the Joy of love, Rejoice and be glad... these exhortations of the Holy Father reminds us what it means to live as Christians in these times.

The Word this Sunday explains to us, we are called to rejoice and it is not merely having all fun. It is as reflected in Rom 14:17, joy in the Holy Spirit. It is the Joy of the Reign! The Joy of the Reign is all about, Sharing, Simplicity and Sincerity.

The Joy of the Reign is about the joy of Sharing! It is not having all the fun, as we reflected already. It is spreading happiness, making people smile, standing with the poor, joining hands with the just, fighting for the exploited, seeing the weak strengthened! That joy is not a selfish hedonism. The tendency to hoard on, the selfishness of grabbing, the wickedness of exploiting... these are diametrically opposed to the sense of joy in the holy Spirit. When the Baptist was asked to counsel the people about what to do, for the imminent coming of the Lord, he said - Share! To share what one has is to feel for the other, to give up what one has for the other, to feel compassion for the other - what else is the Reign of God, but this! To Share...not from our abundance, but from our love and care for the other. Once we begin to care for the other, the Reign begins to flower!

The Joy of Reign is about the joy of Simplicity! Simplicity is being without complication; being straightforward; being what you are without pretence. When the tax collectors asked the Baptist for what they should do, there was a bit of pretence in it...they were not in anyway ready to leave their jobs as tax collectors. But just because they wished to show their enthusiasm of the moment, they dared ask him that counsel. And he spared no one: you need not be what you are not! You are tax collectors, collect just tax and no more, he said. In our jobs and life situations, we are in a particular context and within that we have the choice to be righteous or not! The choice that we make there, clear and straight forward, would give us a peace of mind, out of which shall be born true and simple joy, the joy of the Reign.

The Joy of the Reign is about the joy of Sincerity! John the Baptist had every opportunity to enjoy a popularity and recognition that really did not belong to him. He need not have claimed to be the Messiah, enough to have been silent, they would have given him all the honour and respect. But what mattered to him was, his sincerity and that is what made him a person of the Reign, and one who was greater than anyone born of a woman! Sincerity is all about knowing the truth, sticking to the truth and daring to live by it. Sincerity is the source of true joy of the Reign. 

There is a baptism that we are called to, invited to, challenged to: the baptism of the Spirit. The Baptism of the Spirit leads us to a life in the Spirit: a life of sharing, a life of simplicity, a life of sincerity! The Joy of the Reign is what the Lord promises us, provided we are ready to wait on the Lord, behold the Lord's promises and live by the Spirit. Let us rejoice, we have the Lord with us!

Peace... and the fire within us!

THE WORD IN ADVENT

December 11, 2021: Ecclesiasticus 48:1-4,9-12; Matthew 17: 10-13

Elijah is taken up in fire...Elijah was gone! But the glory that was involved in the event, made people believe that he would come back! And Jesus explains what it means: that Elijah would come back... in fact he had come back! And he would come back again... in us!

The fire within Elijah that was seen all his life when he lived a prophet amidst his people, was seen also when he returned to the Lord at the culmination of his life time - he was taken up in fire! Whenever the same fire returns in someone, the Elijah returns! That is why Jesus idenitified in John the Baptist, the Elijah who had to return.

While John identified Jesus as the Lamb of God and pointed out to the people, Jesus identified John as the Elijah who had to return according to the traditional prophecy! People of God identify each other, in the Lord and the Lord-given mission. 

Each one takes on oneself the responsibilities that the Lord entrusts, with all the difficulties and with all the sacrifices involved. The readiness and the eagerness with which one takes up these sacrifices, is the fire that burns within! As long as this fire burns within, there will be perfect peace too! There would be no anxiety or fear, even when the worst of experiences have to be encountered.

The real preparation for the Reign is to kindle and sustain that fire within us! It would fill us with peace within and inspire peace all around us, a peace that glows with the fire within us!

Peace is born in the Light!

THE WORD IN ADVENT

December 10, 2021: Isaiah  48: 17-19; Matthew 11: 16-19

We are a privileged people, not because we have a special status or that we deserve it... it is because we have a Lord who sheds light on our daily life on a constant basis. While there are so many persons who have great trouble deciding what to do when, we have a clear and focussed light on our life that guides us, and helps us make choices.

One might disagree with this statement, saying, 'no sometimes even we are not certain what to do!' But just take a minute and reflect... should we really have a confusion? If the confusion because we do not know what to choose or are we not ready to choose what we know to be right? At times we reason in such an infantile way - I like, I dont like, It is very pleasing to me, something does not give me pleasute - are these truly the right way to discern?

This is what Jesus complains against: we act and think like children! Our desires, wishes and pleasures take more importance than what is right, just, pleasing in the eyes of the Lord and the most loving thing to do at a point of time. This is where we falter and fail. The Lord keeps revealing to us, as the first reading tells us, the will of God. What is right and what is proper to be done is always clear right before us, in the light of the Lord; and Peace is born exactly in this light!

Peace comes from that presence

 THE WORD IN ADVENT

December 9, 2021: Isaiah 41,13-20; Matthew 11:11-15

We fret and frown when we helplessly witness violence and wickedness in the world and ask, where is God! When things similar were happening, Jesus said I am here! The first reading is not to be interpreted as something like every thing will drastically change when God comes into our lives. There are two issues here: God never leaves us whether we acknowledge it or not, so we need not foresay an auspicious moment when God shall be there. Secondly, even while we are going through hard times, especially in those times, the Lord stays close to us - blessed are those who realise this, they will have peace! 

God's Plan: Not Magic but Mystery!

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

December 8, 2021: 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 he 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.

The ultimate peace - in those arms alone!

 THE WORD IN ADVENT

December 7, 2021: Second Tuesday in Advent

Isaiah 40: 1-11; Matthew 18: 12-14

As individuals, as communities or society and as humanity as a whole, we are constantly in search of something; either we are in search of, or we are made to be in search of! It is sad when a person is constantly in search of something which he or she thinks can give happiness in life, but repeatedly comes to realise that it really does not give that happiness that was longed for. The more sad part is this: that some are made to be is search of, by the mainstream society, the so called majority...but slowly they forget the fact that they are pushed into that predicament, but begin to fully immerse themselves in that inutile search. 

We search for things that we think will give us that peace and joy in life, but in the bargain we lose ourselves! Someone has to come in search of us! The Lord does search for us - through sacraments, seasons and special moments of renewal. We are searched for, but do we let ourselves be found by the Lord... if we are lost, we shall be found; but if we hide ourselves, we would not be found, isn't it? 

When will I really let myself be found by the Lord...only when I realise that I am running behind things that will not last, things that may not give me exactly what I am looking for, that unending joy! Indeed that eternal joy, that sense of fullness, that ultimate peace can be attained in those arms alone!

The voice that speaks of peace - Get up and Walk!

THE WORD IN ADVENT

December 6, 2021: Second Monday in Advent

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

The Word of the Lord is voice that speaks of peace, and the Lord comes to heal and save us, giving us peace and integrity. And that is why the psalmist exclaims that mercy and faithfulness have met, justice and peace have embraced,  and we have peace that follows our steps! The first reading too, brings us so many hopeful promises of peace and tranquility, serenity and prosperity that comes from the God who comes to meet us. But what are we to do?

We need to take the paralysed humanity to the Lord, just as those men carried that paralysed men to the Lord who was waiting with words of eternal life: your sins are forgiven, Get up and Walk. There are three things we are focus on: 

First, to Get up...never to be bogged down by the struggles, difficulties, crisis, hardships and sometimes, even losses! We cannot let these situations get the better of us, instead we need to get up every time we are pulled down.

Second, to Walk...to keep walking with our hand in the hand of the Lord; the Lord is aware of all that we are through on a daily basis - we need never to doubt that! With all the things that weary us out, let us keep walking!

Third, to carry to the Lord...just as those men carried the paralysed to the Lord, with so much faith on which the Lord himself marvelled, so are we called to do. The Lord is ready to tell us too: Get up and Walk, but first we need to learn this great way to cope with challenges in our life (as that famous hymn suggests) - carry everything to God in prayer!

PEACE - THE FRUIT OF TRUE COMMUNION

Integrity, Justice and Faith

December 5, 2021 - Second Sunday in Advent

Baruch 5: 1-19; Philippians 1: 4-6, 8-11; Luke 3: 1-6

After the week of hope that we celebrated, today we initiate the week of Peace! Peace be with you, was the constant salutation that the Prince of Peace preferred to use at most of the moments... and Shalom was an expression very close to the biblical people, even during Jesus' times, and it remains so, for us too! We are indeed awaiting and preparing these days for the prince of peace, the highest good and happiness that we can ever think of!

Peace... how much we lack in the world today! With the anxieties of every day that one witnesses we find peace far far away, not in the light of any vicinity. At all levels, personal, interpersonal, communitarian, social and global, peace seems to be an endless dream that eludes invariably everyone! In the season of expectation and wait, the Word today offers us a lesson on what true peace is all about! 

Peace is fruit of Communion! The Lord is the Prince of Peace, because the Lord who comes is the God of Communion! The perfect communion that exists between the persons of the Trinity, is the communion that is placed within the core of the human being. When the human being can discover the worth of that core, humanity will find its true meaning and there will be peace everywhere! All that is happening these days, the human greed and craze of materiality, the social problems and mutual exploitations, the international conflicts and warmongering... all these keep persons away from that possibility of communion that exists within themselves!

Reflecting on this communion that the Lord is, the communion that the Lord brings and the communion that the Lord offers us, we are given with, three key terms to understand the peace that the Lord offers.

Peace is fruit of communion, communion within oneself: we call that integrity! Where there is balance and equanimity within, there is peace. Between my wants and my situation, between what I think and what I speak, between what I say and what I believe, between what I am and what I do, when there is a consistency and coherence, it results in peace. This is personal integrity, a core characteristic of God. As long as I am torn within myself between conflicting tendencies, I cannot find peace, not only within me, but nowhere in the world. This is one reason why some persons, wherever they are, in whosever company they are, in whichever situation they are, they always find themselves in the midst of conflict and tension - may be the problem is within! I need to mend my ways, fill the pitfalls and level the mounds of pride and that will my personal integrity. Where there is integrity, there is peace!

Peace is fruit of communion, communion with each other: we call that justice! It is not merely  compassion or mercy, it is not some individual virtue or goodness that is at the fount of mutual communion. It is justice! Being just is a key element of Divinity...and that justice invites and challenges me to be just in my ways, in my ways of thinking, speaking, acting and the ways of making decisions. The more I am in communion with the other, the more I contribute to common peace. Individual mutual relationships are the schools at which we learn universal harmony. Without the former the latter will remain always a wishful thinking! Justice is respect of the other; it is valuing the significance of the other and pledging my role in the well being of the other... in short it is promoting the true communion with each other, thus promotion of peace.Where there is justice, there is peace!

Peace is fruit of communion, communion with God: we call that faith! Peace seems such a costly and rare experience to create for oneself and offer for others, because it springs from the relationship that I have established with the source of my being - my Creator. The world today seems to be making the utmost effort to wean itelf from its Creator! It wants to do away with faith; it wants close the churces down; it wants to put an end to all spiritual affiliations that the society has had throughout history - simply because times are changing and we are growing! But there is an increased restlessness and inquietitude in the human soul, for it shall never rest unless it rests in the Divine, who is the source of its very being and meaning. The Candle of Bethlehem that we have lighted this week, reminds us of two persons who were totally in communion with the Lord and because of which the great mysteries of heaven came down to earth: Mary and Joseph...the most perfect couple who  on earth. Their faithfulness to the Word, their faith in God brought salvation not only to their family and their people, but to the entire world, to the entire human race. Only when humanity learns to give the space and honour due to its Creator, ultimate communion would be born; where there is faith, there is peace!

May the call to prepare the way of the Lord, be a strengthening of our commitment to respond to the Lord of communion, to promote communion, and thus give peace a chance!

Our Hope towards Fullness - In the Lord and Lord alone

THE WORD IN ADVENT

December 4, 2021: First Saturday in Advent

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

Happy are they who hope in the Lord - just imagine what happens when we hope in someone else or something else!

When we place our hope in the powers and authorities of this world, we know how we shall be taken for a ride! Just look at the way the world is going today...so battered and confused, taken for granted and exploited to the core. When we place our hope in money and riches, we know the dismay we would bring on ourselves, possessing things but so far from serenity and true joy.

In the Lord there is compassion and love. The Lord wishes my good, and gives me freely. The Lord comes in search of me, offering me the fullness in life which I do not ask, I cannot ask, or I do know know to ask for. Cures, healings, signs and miracles are just indicators to the fullness that God wishes to offer me! How prepared am I to receive them?

When will I receive this fullness that God has prepared to give me: on two counts. One, when I place my hope in the Lord and surrender myself totally to the Lord and Lord's ways! Second, when I become the bearer of this hope to others. The harvest is plentiful, the need is tremendous, the work to be done is so much... but there are very few who are ready to join hands with Jesus. This part is the concrete expression of my faith - that is where I reach the fullness of life; in every good we do to the other, with an unassuming sense of gratitude to God, we progress to that state where we hope in the Lord and Lord alone.

Hope is Change - but change is personal!

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

December 3, 2021: Celebrating St. Francis Xavier

First Friday in Advent: Isaiah 29: 17-24; Matthew 9: 27-31

The first reading today presents a hopeful picture for the people who were so much in suffering and oppression. Today this reading can really mean a lot for a world that is so burdened under pain, stress, suspicion and fear! Would this present situation of crisis and confusion change? The first reading tells us, it will! But in the Gospel Jesus, asks a question: do you think I can do it for you? 

What would be our answer to that question of Jesus: do you think I can do it for you? They, those persons with vision impairment, said, "Sir we do, we do believe that you can do it!" That is the sign of hope! Do we really believe that God can do it for us! There are more and more voices of hopeless despair who keep repeating things like - things are never going to be normal again; this is the end of everything and so on! What is my disposition? Hope is Change! 

Hope is Change! When they said they do believe that the Lord can change, the Lord can cure, Jesus said: 'let it be done to you according to YOUR faith'... Jesus seems to say, "Yes, hope is change; but change is personal! It begins from you!" If at all we wish to see a positive change in humanity, in the world and in the universe, it has to begin from every individual. The first reading too lays that down: the erring spirits will learn wisdom and the murmurers accept instruction!

This is what is witnessed to by St. Francis Xavier - a man who changed himself, who transformed himself from an ambitious young man to a passionate soldier of God. That conversion, that change was translated into hope for multitudes, specially in Asia, who came to know the Lord through him. Hope is change, but change is personal. It depends on each of us, what becomes of the world around us. Are we ready to take that responsibility upon ourselves?

Enter the gates - if you are founded on the Rock

THE WORD IN ADVENT

December 2, 2021: First Thursday in Advent

Isaiah 26: 1-6; Matthew 7: 21, 24-27

There are two words that link the first reading and the Gospel, and they are the key to understand the message of the Word today.  The two words are: to enter, and the Rock!

To enter the gates, to dwell in the house of the Lord, to inherit the Reign of God - that is our destiny. All that we do here on earth and all that we wish to accomplish with our lives, however short or limited they may be, is to prepare ourselves to enter into that eternal communion with the Lord; nothing else matters more! The desire to enter and the dream to enter is expressed in the first reading while the Gospel explains how! How to enter those gates, those gates which are narrow but ever open! How to enter them? 

Being founded on the Lord, our Rock, is the only way to enter those gates, not merely crying out Lord, Lord. Our so called prayers become empty words if we do not have a lasting relationship built with the Lord. When we have a loving and passionate relationship with the Lord, every thing we say or do, becomes a prayer; even a simple sigh becomes an extraordinary communication with the Lord, because we are founded on the communion with the Lord! Calling out 'Lord, Lord' may not be needed, because we shall feel the Lord ever present and so near! 

This is the simple and strong message that the Word gives us today, as a directive for advent preparation: Trust in the Lord your Rock, listen to the Lord and do what the Lord wants you to do, and you shall find yourself in front of those gates, the beautiful and brilliant gates of heaven, which shall be opened to you by the Lord your Rock! 

Hope and Promise - In the presence of the Lord

THE WORD IN ADVENT

December 1, 2021: First Wednesday in Advent

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

This is the Lord, our God in whom we hoped! The Lord is the only one in whom we can hope! For hope is not merely the passing away of a troublesome experience here and now. It is not the disappearance of the difficulties we have at a given moment. Hope is about the sense of eternity; it is an experience of salvation; a dwelling forever in the house of the Lord. 

The promise of the Lord to prepare a banquet of rich food and fine wines, is not merely a promise of food and drink. As the Acts of the Apostles clarifies the mind of Christ to us: Reign of God is not food and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. In short, it is Shalom! The fullness, the sense of tranquility, the sense of no-want, the sense of stillness where there is no anxiety of looking for one's needs, where there is no suffering of having to go through experiences of hurt and pain, where there is no craze to prove oneself or dominate the other for the sake of hogging limelight.

Jesus who multiplies the bread today to satisfy the people with him, does not consider it as some kind of an ultimate good that he is doing for them. He does it as a matter of fact... he cured the sick, he consoled the suffering, and he fed the hungry! For him all these were important...not just the food which mattered a lot to the people! That is why Jesus had to chide them once: do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life. He had to instruct them, time and again: a person does not live by bread or food alone! But these signs and miracles were exactly signs, signs that pointed to a reality more profound that Jesus wanted to introduce them, and wants to introduce us to.

The ultimate reality towards which the Advent preparation guides us, and the only lasting reality that can make us really fulfilled, is the eternal dwellings of the Lord - that is precisely where our hopes lie and what the promises of the Lord consist of... the promise and the bountiful grace of the Presence of the Lord.  

A Lesson from St. Andrew's Cross

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

November 30, 2021: Celebrating St. Andrew the Apostle

Romans 10: 9-18; Matthew 4: 18-22

We celebrate St. Andrew today! Though it could be a digression from the Advent journey that we have begun, still it offers us a special occasion to reflect on our life of discipleship and apostleship! St. Andrew is known in the Gospels for two important things - firstly for being the younger brother of St. Peter, and secondly as a person who brought people to Jesus (in fact John records in his Gospel, that it was Andrew who brought Peter to Jesus).

Apart from these, Andrew is known for his Cross - the Andrew's Cross. Incidentally, both the brothers had a similar request to the persecutioners  - Peter asked to be crucified in an inverted cross and Andrew asked to be crucified in a saltire cross (or a X shaped cross); both of them had the same reasoning: that they are not worthy to die on the Cross, just as their Master and Saviour did. 

By the way the inverted cross which was traditionally referred to as St. Peter's Cross, nowadays has come refer to the Cross of the Anti-Christ - this is totally false, ambiguous and absolutely a misrepresentation of facts! Certain antichristian occult groups use it with disdain against the people of God. Now coming back to St. Andrew's cross, we can have atleast two messages to learn from therein.

The first lesson is the absolute dedication and total submission that the apostles had towards their MAster Jesus Christ. They were ready to suffer to any extent - as the Acts of the Apostles reports, when they had to suffer more for Christ, they were more joyful! It reminds us of the immeasurable abyss that lies between the way we reflect and theologise on suffering and in the way we face them in our concrete experiences! 

The second lesson is the true spiritual humility that governed the Apostles' way of following Christ. Today when Pope Francis speaks so much against clericalism, against the so-called Christian faith sans compassion, against closing ourselves within the Church as a fortification instead of opening up the vistas, the Holy Father is challening us towards finding every means of witnessing to the message of Christ, in all its fullness, among the most incredulous of persons.

May St. Andrew who brought so many to Christ, help us to be instruments in this modern world to bring hearts to the One Saviour and Lord.  

The Advent Journey - walking in the Light!

THE WORD IN ADVENT 

November 29, 2021: First Monday of Advent
Isaiah 2: 1-5; Matthew 8: 5-11

We have begun our Advent journey for this year... come let us go up to the mountain of the Lord! That is a perennial call that we have as people of God: to go up to the mountain of the Lord. Lord who can climb your mountain, who can dwell in your tent - those who walk blamelessly and do what is right, and speak the truth from their heart, says Psalm 15:2.

We begin this journey as said yesterday, with hope on the promises of the Lord. The Lord's promises are consoling: I will come myself and cure, says the Lord. It is the centurion who said those inspiring words, which we repeat everyday - Lord I am not worthy to have you under my roof, but only say a word and the healing shall take place! That is Hope! How beautiful to become aware of the promise and the hope!

A beautiful imagery that the Centurion speaks of today: the imagery of the servants who carry out the will of their master. That is what we are - servants of the Master of the Universe, humble children of the Father of all creation, the One who created us and calls us to be God's children, in our image, in our likeness, in our life and in our very beings. That is a hope and a promise together: the hope that the Lord is there with us telling us what to do and when to do! It is our duty to promise our obedience, that this hope will lead to the fulfilment of God's promises, that one day we will find ourselves on that Holy Mountain of the Lord!

Let us accept this call, pledge our obedience and begin our journey with hope, walking in the light of the Lord!

HOPE: THE PROMISE THAT DEMANDS

Promise, Project & Prophecy

First Sunday in Advent - November 28, 2021

Jeremiah 33:14-16; 1 Thessalonians 3:12 - 4:2; Luke 21: 25-28, 34-36

 

A very happy new year! May the new liturgical year that unfolds today, bring us closer to the Lord, in and through an ever-increasing love for the Word, the Word become Flesh, the Word become human, the Word who wishes to dwell not only amidst us, but within us! That is the promise; a promise that leads to the hope that everything will be reconciled in the Word; a promise that is consoling but at the same time demanding!

The Word and the Liturgical significance of this day, give us three key terms to reflect on: promise, project and prophecy!

PROMISE: The first reading brings to our mind, the theme central to the new liturgical season that we begin today. Advent is all about promise! Blessed is the one who believes in the fulfilment of what the Lord has promised. The book of Jeremiah, just as any other book of the prophets, enshrines within itself the promises of the Lord, and Jeremiah as one of the latter prophets underlines the imminence of the promises of the Lord.   

The promise of Salvation comes from the Lord of Integrity, the Lord who values truth and justice more than mere pacifying sacrifices and empty rituals. That is where the promise gets exigent – because I am challenged to measure up to the Lord who has created me and who has called me. The Lord promises salvation to me, salvation that comes with my dedication and commitment to integrity; that quality which makes my faith and my daily life one and the same, my words and my works coherent with each other, and my expectations from the other and my disposition to them corresponding to each other. The promise attains fulfillment only in as much as I am committed to the process in the core of my being.

PROJECT: A promise is an element of hope, in as much as it sets in motion a project! The Lord has not given me only a promise, but a project as well. The second reading from the letter to the Thessalonians, reminds me of this project that the Lord has initiated in me. The project of becoming holy and blameless in the sight of God, is a life-long project and on it depends so much the fulfillment of the promises given to me!

The project of holiness, involves love – loving each and every one, the entire humanity, and especially those who do not have anyone who could give them this love! That is the type of life that we are called to live – ‘make progress in the kind of life that you are meant to live’, says St. Paul. As people of the promise, we have a life that we are meant to live, when we fail in living up to it, we fail to be people of the promise! We can have a myriad of reasons – that everyone out there is so selfish and greedy, that everyone is trying to plot and exploit, that no one deserves my love, that no one really loves genuinely as each one has a hidden reason to all the goodness they manifest… none of these reasons can stand their ground before the love of the Lord who has given us the promise and who has given us this project. Because the Lord loved us even when we were sinner; and when we were still sinner, God deigned to send God’s only Son, that we may be saved and loved forever. That is the source and the summit of hope: God’s love.

PROPHECY: Apart from the Word, the liturgical significance of the day today, adds a splendid element – the prophecy! We have lighted the candle of the Prophets this week, and it suggests that the event we are preparing to celebrated was not one isolated event that took place on a particular cold night in Bethlehem. No, there lies a long history, in fact the entire story of humankind, behind that event in that starry night.

The prophecy of the Coming of the Reign, requires that we stay alive, active and alert! That we watch ourselves, our words and our works, our choices and our priorities, our wishes and our prayers! When we pray, ‘your kingdom come’, what do we mean? Do we really mean what Jesus meant: that we be protagonists of the Reign and not those who are surprised by its coming! When problems arise, crises spring up and injustice seems to have its sway, we are called to remain alert to notice it, to remain ardent to denounce it, and thus remain apostles of the Reign who propose a counter culture. By our very lives and our daily choices, we are called to propose a counter culture to this world, and not helplessly and slavishly conform to this world. It is there we see the coming of the Reign and out lives become a prophecy. That is what Advent calls us to: to live lives of prophecy that would announce to the world that is tired and wearied, that the Lord is coming; that the Lord of salvation is coming; that the Lord of integrity is near!

We are called to be prophets of hope today, persons and communities who behold the promises of the Lord, who live by a project of life from the Lord and who hold out a prophecy to the world, that the Lord and our salvation is near! Come Lord Jesus, may your Kingdom Come!  

Stay Awake... in every sense!

WORD 2day: Saturday, Last day of the Ordinary time

November 27, 2021: Daniel 7: 5-27; Luke 21: 34-36

Stay awake!, shakes us up the Gospel today... and the first reading explains, why to! Let us begin with the latter part...that is, why to stay awake? Then we shall see what it means to stay awake!

Why to stay awake - because there is so much happening around me! There are those who are conniving and plotting against goodness and godliness; there are things happening that are fast ruining the little good that has been built up by traditions of ages; there could be impacts created within me wherein I, even without my knowledge, unwittingly giving into fear, psychosis and pessimism! I need to Stay Awake. 

Staying awake is Seeing: seeing within me, around me and into others, that I am observant about the changes happening and am conscious about the effects of these changes on myself. Without really seeing, I cannot understand what is being communicated to me, by the Lord in and through time. 

Staying awake is Syncing: syncing with the whole reality - with the Divine, with the cosmos, with the neighbours, with the entire humanity and all that is! We are not created as isolated beings, nor are we created above everything else! The Creator has given us a privilleged place within the creation, yes! But that is no license to destroy, nor an excuse for dominance; it is a role of care, concern and compassion! To the extent I am able to sync, I shall be godly, for our God is a God of communion!

Staying awake is Standing up: standing up against all the odds that are perpetrated by the godless with disdain - those who are heartless, merciless, senseless, shameless in siding with injustice and truthlessness! How can we stand up against them without staying awake; how can we call ourselves awake, if we really do not stand up againt anything that militates against truth, justice and love!

Let us strive to stay aware, stay awake in every sense! 

Never to pass away!

WORD 2day: Friday, last week in Ordinary time

November 26, 2021: Daniel 7: 2-14; Luke 21: 29-33

A pain reliever statement suggested by many in today's world is, 'this too will pass'. Specially these days battling against the pandemic, every one, whether he or she believes it or not, whether one is convinced of it or not, atleast as a hopeful wish, keeps repeating that mantra: 'this too shall pass'! But, though it may seem contrary, a more stronger promise is the recurring theme of today's Word; it is a reference to something that is here, never to pass away... the Lord's Word, the Lord's Reign, the Lord's sovereignty.

Things may appear to be going totally out of sway, or nothing may seem to be really under the control of anything that is spiritual... but never lose heart, God is incharge; God is in control. There are people who make statements about this pandemic, saying, we shall never return to what was 'normal'; even if we return to normal, it shall be a 'new normal'! As children of God, however bad the readings of the times is, we cannot be too anxious!

The Word speaks to our hearts today: your Saviour knows you and to the the Lord's Reign there is no end. Be firm in faith. Hold on to the One who has formed you, One who has called you and One who loves you infinitely - the One whose Words will never pass away; the One whose Reign shall never pass away, the One whose will shall never pass away...let your faith too never pass away.