To see or not to see?

WORD 2day: Tuesday, 9th week in Ordinary time

June 1, 2021: Tobit 2: 9-14; Mark 12: 13-17

Tobit loses his sight and lives so for four years or so. Even that did not disturb his wife much but the judgements that Tobit asks her puts her totally at unease. She questions Tobit on his charity lived thus far in life. His tendency to judge the actions of his wife, puts his entire life of charity into doubt. The question that she asks him, 'where is all your charity?', brings out the crux of the message today. 

It is truly charity that helps us see persons as they are. In charity we decide whether to see or not, persons as they are, instead of fixing them into the peg holes we have made for each of them. We are fond of categorising persons, fit them into our scheme of judgements and label them according to our mental make up! This happens much in our daily life, be it in our families, among collegues at work, or religious communites that we live in. Judgements are the first enemies of charity and that is why saintly Mother Teresa of Kolkata made that statement: if you are busy judging, you have no time to love! 

The Pharisees and the Scribes hated Jesus to the core because he was exposing their hypocrisy, their stubbornness of heart, their decision not to see, because they wanted to prove their judgement that Jesus was a fake messiah! Even after reports and experiences of the goodness of the Lord, they refused to see, or decided not to see! In fact, it is not that they did not see, they did not want to see! They wanted to be comfortable with their judgements and thoughts, more than with the real truth.

The questions raised by the Word today are very pointed: how far do you really see? does the sight-giving charity reside in your hearts? do you really want to see, or have you decided not to see?

To be reminders of the presence of God!

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

May 31, 2021: The Feast of Visitation

Zephaniah 3: 14-18a; Luke 1: 39-56

We celebrate the feast of the Visitation of our Blessed Mother to Elizabeth. When Mary entered Elizabeth's household, there was a sense of God that was felt, for two reasons. The first, Mary was carrying Jesus within her and the effect was felt! The second, Mary herself was transformed into the presence of God for Elizabeth!

The first reading today turns our attention to the words of Zephaniah explaining what the Lord in our midst is doing: God exults, God renews and God dances! God exults in the wonderful gifts that we are in the eyes of  God. God renews those parts of us that are not as good as they can be! God dances with joy over everything that we are able to do in God's eternal plan. Anyone who expresses this exultation of the Lord, this call for renewal and the rejoicing of the Lord for God's children, he or she is a formidable reminder of the presence of God.

In fact when Elizabeth says, 'what have I done to deserve that the Mother of my Lord should visit me!', she becomes the reminder of the presence of God to Mary! When Mary turns to Elizabeth and says, 'My heart exults in the Lord and my soul rejoices in the Lord my saviour', she becomes the reminder of the Lord's presence to Elizabeth and to the entire household!

We are called to be reminders of the presence of God, to be the presences of God to those around us. When we exult in the Lord, when we do our part to renew those around us, correcting them with care and love, when we rejoice in the goodness of others and the good things that happen to them, we become reminders of God's presence amidst God's people!

Can we be today, Reminders of God's presence wherever we are!

COMMUNION THAT COMMISSIONS

God who communicates, chooses and commissions

May 30, 2021: Trinity Sunday

Deuteronomy 4: 32-34,39-40; Romans 8: 14-17; Matthew 28: 16-20

We celebrate today one of the fundamental truths of our Christian faith and experience: the truth and the mystery of the Holy Trinity, the Triune God, who is the Communion that Commissions each of us, to be God's children and God's people. The Revelation of God as Trinity, come right from the beginning of creation and that is why the reference to the Creator-God in the first reading today, comes right in place. God created, through God's Words as the Spirit was moving on the waters; the reference to the Wisdom of God and Word of God active in the care and guidance of God's people is another experience of the Trinity and finally, the Christ-event where Christ declared that he came from the Father and would go back to the Father, sending us the Spirit as advocate and counselor, is the ultimate revelation of the Trinitarian God, we live, move and have our being in. 

How do we come across, see and experience the Triune God in our personal lives - the Word today invites us to reflect on this fact and create within us convictions that can inspire our lives. 

God who communicates: The first experience is that of God who communicates! Moses today reminds the people of God how God had been communicating to them, continuously and for their good. The commandments were not to be looked at, even now are not to be looked at, as a control exercised on us by God, but as a communication of God's will to us, so that we can feel always liberated and godly. Communication, is the key here! What does it mean? It means making something common, making something shared, making something commonly understood. God makes us understand what is expected of us and makes it very clear to us...making it a common place knowledge, so that we can go ahead live our lives to the full. 

The first implication of the communication of God, is that we are made God's children, that is those who share the identity with God, those who belong to God, those who form part of the common heredity of God. The call is here that we are called to communicate, to be communicators, those who make things common, those who create that common space where all of us feel as one people of God, one family of children of God. This is also the second experience of the Trinity.

God who has chosen us: The second experience of the Triune God is that of being chosen! We are chosen...God has chosen us, signifies that we are empowered by the Spirit! The Spirit makes us children of God, inspiring and enabling us to call God, Abba Father! We are made heirs to God, co-heirs in Christ, by the Spirit! It is the Spirit who enables us to understand our true idenity, as chosen people of God, which is certainly a privilege, but a privilege that comes as a package - with the call to share in the sufferings of the sole Heir, with whom we are co-heirs. The sufferings of Christ, is our way to becoming children of God; the sufferings of Christ is our guarantee of the title as people of God. 

The implication here, of the fact of being chosen by God, who has chosen us by name: is that we imitate Christ, inspired by the Spirit, that we stand for the values that Jesus stood for, the lifestyle that Jesus promoted, the relationships that Jesus treasured, the searching mentality that Jesus had, the total submission that he expressed to his Father, the fundamental yearning to bring the flock together as one people of God, as one family of chidren of God. Are we following the footsteps of Jesus... doing so, we shall become his heirs, if not, we shall miss that golden opportunity.

God who commissions us:  The third experience of the Trinity is God who commissions! God communicates, chooses and, sends or commissions us to be God's ambassadors in the world today, wherever we are and in the times that we live. Jesus, the missionary apostle of the Father, makes of his own apostles missionaries too: go to the ends of the world, he commissions them. Go and do what? Baptise...in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit...that is go and unite the world into one family, into one people of one mind and heart...it is not about bringing everyone into one mould, but making everyone belong to one fold...people who think of the other, people who think together, people who care for each other, people who love each other genuinely, as God does. Love one another as I loved you, he said.

The implication of this commission, is that we go, go as ambassadors of God and of God's peace, love and unity! We need to be people who bear God to others, specially in these moments of crisis that is making people suffer personally, in families, in the society, as nations and as a global community. Can we meaningfully communicate God! Can we really live up to our identity as chosen people of God! The commission, or the call, we have received lies there, where we really become persons and children of God who can make God present to the afflicted, to the suffering, to the bereaved, to the broken, to the depressed, to those in agony and anxiety, to those who have lost familes, to those who are at a loss where to go from here! We are called to make God present to them, because the Lord has promised us: I am with you till the end of times. 

The Holy Trinity is an experience, the experience of a God who communicates, chooses us and invites us to communicate... in order that we may create one big family of people of God, creating the Reign of God present here and now!

Jesus, the Word and Wisdom

WORD 2day: Saturday, 8th week in Ordinary time

May 29, 2021: Sirach 51:12-20; Mark 11: 27-33

The Second person of the Trinity is the Word; the Wisdom which is personified as God's guiding presence for the people of the Old Testament. The readings taken together give us a twin perspective of Jesus and Jesus' relation to the figure of Wisdom! 

1. Jesus has Wisdom: the Gospel presents to us the way Jesus tackled the trap that was laid for him by the shrewd pharisees and scribes. Jesus proves that he had the Wisdom, a great gift from the Lord. Wisdom is fundamentally knowing what to say and what not to say at a particular point of time and saying what is to be said in the best way possible with the choice of the right verbal or non verbal language! Now that was Jesus' forte. Be it in the event we come across in the Gospel today, or the incident of the woman caught in adultery, or the case of the Samaritan Woman, or the discussion with the disciples asking for power and position... everywhere, we see that Jesus knew the right thing to be said at the right time. Above all, even when Jesus had to point out some one's fault or be critical about someone, he chose the right sense of doing it. He had wisdom in its fullness, even as a human person in daily experience.

2. Jesus as Wisdom: the way the first reading presents Wisdom, we come to clearly understand what the Old Testament speaks of as Wisdom is not merely a quality or a faculty, but a person, a personal presence of the Almighty! When Jesus lived and moved around, people readily and without much difficulty saw the Wisdom that he was. Jesus was, and is, the Wisdom that fills us with light and shows us the way. 

If only we accept the Wisdom of Christ in contrast to the folly of truth claims of the world, we would find that joy that is complete, that joy that Christ alone can give.

Being Godly...

WORD 2day: Friday, 8th week in Ordinary time

May 28, 2021: Sirach 44: 1, 9-13; Mark 11: 11-26

The readings today speak to us of an essential dimension of human life: being Godly. If we can showcase some indication of difference between human beings and the so-called 'lower' beings, it has to be the dimension of being Godly. Because, it is only when God created the human persons, does God say, 'let us create human beings in our own image'. 

However these days the social network seems to present us with cases of many of these animals, the so called 'lower' beings, with qualities and actions much more edifying than those of the humans - feeling for the other, caring for the suffering, mourning for the dead, helping those in need, and so on! They seem to excel in their show of love and affection too, some times! Aren't we therefore obliged much more to manifest this Godliness in our lives, as human persons?

The Word today outlines 2 signs of being Godly...

The first is, being rooted in God - finding one's solace and fulfillment in nothing less than God, finding the hand of God in every bit of one's well being, being grateful for and conscious of the good that God continues to do, standing by to find out God's will and accompaniment in daily journeys of life. ..these are signs of being rooted in God.

Another sign is, bearing forth God's fruits - one who bears forth God's fruits will bear it forth for others and not make a living out of it as it was happening in the Temple; he or she will bear it forth in season and out of season, in abundance and always mindful that the fruits belong to God.

Let us become more and more aware of the fact that we are created, to be Godly!

The splendid gift of seeing

WORD 2day: Thursday, 8th week in Ordinary time

May 27, 2021: Sirach 42: 15-26; Mk 10: 46-52

To truly see the nature and observe all that it points to, to truly see the creation and the creatures and all the marvels they possess, to truly see the process of change and rejuvenation inbuilt in the nature and drink in their splendour, to truly see all that happens around and sense the lessons that they offer... it is a splendid gift! Not all do possess it.

The pandemic we are suffering and the waves it is making...is it something that happened just over night? No it has been something that has taken its time to get itself formed and fortify itself and cause this havoc to the entire humanity! If only all of us had been attentive to indications from nature, if only all had been concerned about well being of all and entire humanity, if only even now everyone is worried only about the common good...it could have been averted or it could be better handled. It is the case with many so-called natural disorders too...if only we see things in time and truly understand what is being communicated to us!

Today, we can without exaggeration join Bartimaeus and ask the Lord that we may see, see truly, observe clearly, listen intently, understand deeply and find the splendour of God's presence with us and within us. Without God's grace we cannot see God's presence and receive God's directions for our daily life. 

To see a teary eye and read the helplessness in it; to see the troubled spirit and hear the cry for understanding; to see the disturbed minds and understand the yearning for true love, it is an essential and lovely gift that we can ask God for. At times we speak, we write and we forward lofty ideals, but we are so concentrated on ourself and our own concerns that we fail to see the need, the feeling, the yearning of the one beside us. 

How we need to ask today from God the splendid gift of truly seeing!

A Lord with a difference

WORD 2day: Wednesday, 8th week in Ordinary time

May 26, 2021: Sirach 36: 1-2, 5-7, 13-22; Mark 10:32-45

The Lord: that is how the disciples and the early community began to interpret their Christ-experience. But for generations this Lordship had been a common experience of those people. They knew their Lords who were ruling them...they knew the Lord God who demanded their awe and respect. We see the first reading picture that experience quite vividly.

But when they began to call Jesus, Lord - they had a different kind of an experience at the back of it! They were looking at what they had experienced first hand, with Jesus. There was something radically different about Jesus being their Lord. He served, he loved, he self-emptied, and the height of all, demanded that all be so. Loving each other, serving each other and not 'lording over others'. That was his lifestyle, and the lifestyle that he prepared his community for. 

Very unfortunate, that the community willed and desired by Jesus, the Lord, did not always abide by this experience that Jesus wanted to offer: not lording over, but an authentic self-giving! Within a few centuries it began to grow its own hegemonic system of Lordship, so much a counter witness to a Christ-like living. These systems created got to be reified to such bizzare levels, that any trace of Christ's leadership became a bolt from the blue!

However, there were at every epoch, persons and groups which remained a reminder to the authentic lifestyle of Christ, and constantly challenged the people of God - take persons like Thomas Becket, Francis of Assisi and such saints who were considered misfits, but true sanctity consisted in that: to imitate the Lord with a difference!

Giving joy that is complete, peace that the world cannot give, and love that is life giving, Jesus proves to be a Lord with a difference, and invites us to be the same. To rule over this world in love and self-giving, as people of God and persons of the Lord, with a difference!

Honest and Unattractive Marketing!

WORD 2day: Tuesday, 8th week in Ordinary time

May 25, 2021: Sirach 35: 1-12; Mark 10: 28-31

Buy one get two; pay less get more; paisa vasool, festival discount, saldi, clearance sale... these are popular and widespread marketing techniques followed by great business brands or simple local shops! At the most the attempt to be sincere would be marked with an asterisk in smallest possible font size and stated "conditions apply" - all an attempt to hide what it really costs, to make people take it by all means. 

Look at what Jesus does today in the Gospel... he seems to be inviting people promising them 100 fold of what they give up...a marketing technique, but wait! He adds and means it when he says: 'persecutions and death' too shall abound, as inevitable part of the package - so ridiculously plain and clear! Who will take up such a life style? But that is Jesus... so frank and clear. 

The First reading too promises sevenfold of what we offer to the Lord, but insists: 'offer no bribes, these God does not accept! Trust not in sacrifice of the fruits of extortion.' What you give to the Lord is important, it says, but from where you give (truly from yourself?), why you give (to compensate for the unacceptable part of your life?) and with what mind you give (really to give or actually to get?)...these are important too! And they define the quality of your relationship with God. 

These are typical unattractive marketing, but they are honest; brutally honest. The fruits of discipleship is all made known to us, but along with it, also what it truly costs. What will be the price that I really have to pay, without any hidden charges or indirect hooks, is plainly stated! Would I pick up this lifestyle, the disciple-lifestyle for myself? 

It is really a question to ask: will that kind of a propaganda manage to attract many? Yes, many among those who honour honesty and dare to pick up the cross - are we among them?

Mary the Mother of the Church and Help of Christians

THE WORD AND THE FEAST  

May 24, 2021: Mary Mother of the Church and Mary Help of Christians

Genesis 3: 9-15; John 19: 25-34

It is a meaningful coincidence this day - Mary Mother of the Church and Mary Help of Christians - both opening up the vistas of proclamation and evangelisation and that of sustained growth in faith, all one's life! Both these titles to Mary seem a bit problematic at the outset...but infact made sense of from the right perspective, they can be useful ways to understand the precious identity we share as people of God and in relation to the the world at large. Problematic because it could be interpreted in an exclusive sense, for Christians and for the Church! But the scope is much larger. 

Help of Christians  - the title which was historically inspired, stands good in as much as the Church in the world today, does need a powerful intercessor and protector, looking at the challenges that exist from within and without. From within, there are forces which in the name of be it progressiveness or be it adapting to the rest of the world, seem to weaken some fundamental basis of Christian values today. From outside today, as ever, there are those who consider the Church their firm enemy because the Church has stood formidable for two millennia upholding the Reign principles handed down by Christ. The Blessed Mother as she once protected the Church from the ravaging enemies, today has to continue to protect the flock.

Mother of the Church - the recent feast, but one of the most ancient titles to Mary, is a challenge to the people of God, towards forming themselves into people who wait on the Lord, who are filled with the Spirit of the Lord, who proclaim the Lord to the rest of the world, who are united in prayer even if the situation around seems so fearsome or unpromising, who know that the Lord will never let them down, who never leave the side of the Lord come what may and who find solace in each other building themselves up into the living Reign of God, here and now.

These two titles of our blessed mother celebrated together this day present to us a fundamental identity that the Church gives to Mary within our Christian faith: an INTERCESSOR who protects and a MODEL who inspires us, to live our faith to the full. 

Mary our Mother and Help, pray for us!

COME HOLY SPIRIT...WE NEED YOU!!!

Fire, Fruits and Friendship

May 23, 2021: Pentecost Sunday
Acts 2:1-11; Galatians 5: 16-25; John 20: 19-23

Welcome to the birthday celebrations of the One Holy Apostolic Church! Thousands of small communities of the people of God, chosen by God, saved by the Word and animated by the Spirit might exist in the world today - the origin is the One Holy Spirit, the One Spirit of communion and courage, the One Spirit of conviction and consolation who underlies every good thing that comes from God. Hence... let us wish each other today a happy birthday, because we were reborn in the Spirit as the people of God. When Jesus said, unless one is born again in the Spirit of God, one cannot enter the Reign of God - this is what the Lord meant: to receive the Spirit - in concrete it means to feel the fire, bear the fruits and grow in the friendship that comes from the Spirit.

We need the Holy Spirit, now more than ever! Look around us... there is pain and sorrow, fear and weariness, disease and death, grief and confusion, suspicion and conspiracies... the pandemic has pushed not just some parts of the world, but the entire humanity into this situation today! In spite of this predicament, there is still injustice, inhumanity, cruelties, insensitivities, insincerity, exploitation, corruption, dehumanisation, abuse, sexual perversion, self seeking, money mindedness, materialism, relativism, consumerism, egoism, fundamentalism, fanaticism, hegemonism, totalitarianism... every thing working against Truth and Justice! Sinfulness has become the order of the day and every day the level of sinfulness keeps rising and nothing matters anymore than the capacity to fend for oneself. Worse still, it looks like a handful who are affluent and moneyed, could control the entire globe and have their way, come what may. They are able to bulldoze even the so-called transnational organisations and all sorts of historical attempts at setting up neutral watchdogs for human rights and dignity. What a state of gloom the human race is pushed into!

We need the FIRE of the Holy Spirit to give us the courage to face the Truth! When things go wrong or go in the way we would never want them to, we need the courage to accept it. When things seem to be dark and so in incomprehensible to us that we are lost in our life's ways, we need the light to decide our next steps. When we look around and see everything around us justifies what the Lord considers 'evil' and perpetrates darkness and doubt, we need the fire that burns the evil away, the fire that lights up the true Christian way! That fire that was lit in our hearts (though when we were still in our mother's womb, yet concretely and externally) at our baptism; the fire that we were commissioned to keep burning till we return to the Lord, that we may see clearly the way set out for us and show it to our brothers and sisters, friends and neighbours.

We need the Holy Spirit, now more than ever! When selfishness is justified and glorified as success mindset, when violence is looked upon as a way to make one's dreams come true, when money and wealth come before humanity and peace, when politics means nothing but dominating the masses in whichever inhuman means possible, when happiness means pleasure and excitement at the cost of anything and anyone, when love means possessing and marriage means merely a contract, when the suffering persons become just numbers of cases and people dying become merely masses to be dealt with,  what difference are we called to make today as people of the Spirit? 

We need the FRUITS  of the Holy Spirit, that we may live true love and teach it to the world, that we may have the inner joy and show it to those around, that we may spread peace that creates heaven where we are, that we may have the patience to endure the evils holding firm to the good, that we may possess the kindness to see beyond the failures of people, that we may have the generosity to give of ourselves for the good of the other and the entire humanity, that we may ever be faithful to the One who has called us and commissioned us, that we may challenge the violent world with our gentleness, that we may possess the self control that puts us in control of everything else - this is the difference we are called to make - can we?

We need the holy Spirit, now more than ever! How do we picture ourselves today: As people of the Spirit, people of God, people of Redemption...if so, our identity has to be different from that of the world. The world identifies itself with power, possession and prestige. Persons are ready to do anything to have power - power over others, power over means of wealth, power over systems and power over everyone else! The craze to possess, ruins any humanity that could be. To possess things and to possess persons have come to mean the same and the world differentiates no more one from the other. Prestige and ego, seem to rule everything and the society seems ready to sacrifice anything for it. Today the experience of the pandemic proclaims so loud the fragility and the vulnerability that lies under the covers of our claim to know everything and be in control of everything! 

We need the FRIENDSHIP of the Holy Spirit, to understand the true identity that we have. We are friends - made friends of God, called to be friends to each other, commissioned to be friends to the needy, the broken, the afflicted, the suffering, the discouraged, the lonely, the grieving, the weak and the downtrodden! It is the Spirit that gives us the heart and the capacity it takes to be friends... the Spirit unites, makes us understand each other, synchronises our thoughts, synergises our capacities and moulds us together as One People of God. Where there is division and hatred, there is no Spirit because the Spirit of God, is the Spirit of love and wisdom, communion and friendship.

Yes, let us pray together this day:
Come Holy Spirit, we need thee!
We need your Fire to burn and to light up,
We need your Fruits to raise this world up,
We need your Friendship to truly grow up!
Come Holy Spirit, we need thee!

With the Holy Spirit - it starts all over!

WORD 2day: Saturday, 7th week in Easter time

May 22, 2021: Acts 28:16-20, 30-31; John 21: 20-25

Don't you find a sense of winding up in the readings today? A type of 'and-they-lived-happily-everafter' narration! Paul seems to settle down for good in Rome as an honoured guest in house arrest, while Jesus seems to be bidding his final bye and the book of John comes to an end, with the concluding note of the author... But the end is for a new beginning... because the Church awaits the all important feast of the Pentecost tomorrow, an outpouring of the Spirit that led to a renewed life and radical witness.

With the Spirit, everything begins all over! It may look like an end, or as if everything is done and dusted. But the Holy Spirit is someone who renews the face of the earth, renews it constantly, with new life, new vigour, new enthusiasm, new power and new energy! All that we need to do, is resolve to follow Christ, to remain in Christ and be open to the Spirit.

Yes, the message today is our call to 'follow Christ' in season and out of season, whether we are free or captive, whether we live or die, whether we eat or drink! Good news has to be announced by all means and the responsibility is ours, irrespective of our state of life or situation at present. Our readiness and submission to God is sufficient, the Spirit is there to renew, energise and recreate  us!

Come Holy Spirit! Come renew us! 

Christian Leadership - a crucial gift of the Spirit!

WORD 2day: Friday, 7th week in Easter time 

May 21, 2021: Acts 25: 13b-21; John 21: 15-19

Jesus seems to be preparing the second level of leadership. Peter he appoints already before he goes and Paul he seems to be taking to all the ends of the earth that he may bear witness, true to his promises. These leaders prepared by Jesus, and the way they are prepared and the qualities expected of them can also be contrasted with the other leaders who are implicitly present in the readings today - Festus, Felix and Caesar, the Roman officials and the Jewish leadership which did away with Jesus and now wants to do away with Peter, or Paul or anyone else who has got something to do with Jesus.

In his mode of preparation and commission of his second line leaders, Jesus offers us an insight into Christian leadership: it does not consist in power and position but in bearing witness and serving the community of faith. Infact, in such a perspective, every baptised person is called to play a role as a leader in their own level - witnessing to the goodness of the Lord and serving the people of God.

Today, taking a look at the context - our communities, be it parish communities where the laity scheme their way to positions of honour and fame, or the members of religious congregations or the clergy playing political games and construing divisive plots... true understanding of Christian leadership seems to have taken a back seat. With the pandemic wrecking an havoc, we are getting to see the colours of true Christian leadership and self-centred pseudo leaderships! 

The Gospel Acclamation reminds us today that the Spirit will teach us the truth and all the truth. May the Spirit of the Lord rekindle our faith and lead us towards true sense of Christian leadership, because it is indeed a crucial gift of the Spirit!

Spirit, the love dwelling in us!

WORD 2day: Thursday, 7th week in Easter time 

May 20, 2021: Acts 22:30 - 23: 6-11; John 17: 20-25

As in Jerusalem, so in Rome! Just out of one danger in Jerusalem, Paul is promised more of them, in Rome! Courage! says the Lord. We can live our life with courage and confidence because the Lord dwells in us, or atleast wants to dwell in us! He prays to his Father, 'that I may be in them!' 

Jesus is praying for us, as he says... I pray for these and those who will come to believe through the words of these. We have come to believe and the Lord wishes to dwell in us - the sign of his dwelling, is the love of the Father: that the love with which you loved me may be in them, and so that I may be in them. The love that exists between the Father and the Son, is the Holy Spirit...the indwelling Spirit.

The most concrete sign of the indwelling Lord is not so much performing miracles or speaking in toungues, as living united to the Father in Christ, it is being united to each other in love! The more we grow to be one, as Jesus prays today, the more we become people of the Spirit. All that we need to do is remain united, remain one, witness to the oneness we see between the Father and the Son. 

Jesus prays that we may be one because, that would be the first witness to the Reign that he longed to establish on earth - that we live to be one, that the world sees us one! Jesus promises us the glory that God alone can give, that comes from the perfection of being one! That determination, that decision to remain before the world one and bold, will be the work of the Spirit who is the fellowship between the Father and the Son. 

Wherever we are, let us be aware and convinced that we possess the glory that the Lord has promised, and live up to that glory, to that gift, to that person who has called us to be one; one, in the Spirit, the love that dwells within us!

The Spirit that makes us One!

WORD 2day: Wednesday, 7th week in Easter time

May 19, 2021: Acts 20: 28-38; John 17: 11b-19

From parting mood to prayer mode... the Word today captures both Jesus and Paul praying for and praying with their beloved followers. They invoke the Spirit who unites, and they warn the followers of the spirit of discord. Both those, the invocation and the warning, are a lesson for us today!

How we can discern the right direction to take in the face of differences among us - that is the question that the Word answers today. Be it in a family or in a community of faithful, given the fact that we are thinking individuals, there is bound to arise differences of opinion. First of all, the conviction to grow in, is this: that differences of opinoins are not a problem. They are a richness! They enrich the point of view, but as along as the motivations are right and well oriented. 

The differences, as long as they are from the Spirit, they shall lead only to growth and renewal, enrichment and empowerment. Hence we are invited today to invoke the Holy Spirit on ourselves and on our communities, not to abolish all differences and make us monocultural and monolithic in nature, but to help us see the oneness through the difference, to discover the harmony that exists in the diversity that we celebrate. 

We are warned here against the differences caused by the ravenous wolves and treacherous beasts. Ruled by ego, dominated by envy, and animated by competition, these differences are aimed at destroying the unity of the people of God. It does not enrich, impoverishes; it does not empower but enfeebles the community; it does not harmonise and build but breaks and destroys! It is clearly from the evil one.

Anything that comes from the Spirit unites us, for the Holy Spirit is the Spirit that makes us one! Let us remain in the Spirit and remain united in love above everything else. May we live worthy of the prayer that Jesus made for us: that they may be one!

The Spirit of Extraordinary Courage!

WORD 2day: Tuesday, 7th week in Easter time

May 18, 2021: Acts 20: 17-27; John 17: 1-11

We see both Paul and Jesus in a parting mood; Paul is sensing an imminent trouble and Jesus is sure of a fast approaching end. But both have a sense of having completed the task given to them. I have glorified you on earth and finished the work that you gave me to do, says Jesus praying to his Father (Jn 17:4); Paul is seen to be speaking of finishing the race and having done the task of proclamation entrusted to him. 

Besides this parting sentiment, both have a note of passing on the mission to those around them - Paul to the presbyters and elders, and Jesus to the apostles.They both are seen to be challenging the followers, to a life of commitment and endurance. And here it is that one thing can be found common to both cases of encounter that ensures the continuity: the One Spirit, a Spirit of extraordinary courage.

The same Spirit that was in Jesus, he gave to his apostles, to Paul and then Paul to the elders...the Spirit of courage and strength. As Paul would explain in 2 Tim 1:7, the Spirit of power, of love and of self discipline. Power, which makes us fearless; love which makes us feel for the others; and self discipline which enables us to do the will of the One who calls us, come what may!

Amidst difficulties and struggles, oppositions and spirit-dampening events, with persons around who wish our downfall and our discouragement, if we have to go on with courage and strength, we cannot do it by our efforts alone! It takes what the Spirit can offer us: courage and strength, power and authority, love and empathy, and composure and serenity! This is what we need to learn from Jesus, as did Paul. Let us continue our journey, preparing ourselves to celebrate that Spirit of Extraordinary Courage, promised us by Christ.  

The Spirit of the Conqueror

WORD 2day: Monday after Ascension Sunday

May 17, 2021 - Acts 19:1-8; John 16: 29-33

No one probably understood Jesus when he was around. They were only making their guesses, putting together things that they saw, the things they heard and the things that were being reported. Today, in the Gospel, as many other times Jesus confronts them with the truth! When the disciples presume that they knew and understood what Jesus was saying, Jesus makes them realise their folly and their weakness - not out of despise - but out of genuine concern and fraternal love.

We are beginning a new phase of our liturgical year, a short but very important phase...when Jesus has ascended and the Spirit has not yet descended...it is the interim phase when the disciples had to be patient and strong, holding on to the teachings that they have heard from their Master. They still had not known the Spirit, just as those persons of Ephesus whom we come across in the first reading. 

Jesus begins to introduce to them and speak to us of the continuous presence of God, which is the indwelling Spirit. It is with the coming of the Spirit that the apostles come to understand Jesus and all that Jesus said while he was with them... it is only with that they became conquerors, because the Spirit they received was the Spirit of the Conqueror - the one who had conquered the world and even death!

Beginning today, we are invited to contemplate on this Spirit of the Lord, who will make of us too, conquerors of the world and all its wiles. The Spirit will make us understand things plainly - with a lot of things happening around us today, we are unable to understand anything in life! We need the Spirit all the more to plainly understand the meaning of all that is happening and be calm and serene, because the Spirit promised to us, the Spirit who lives in us, the Spirit that awaits to take control of our lives, is the Spirit of the Conqueror....let us be brave!

LOOK UP, BUILD UP & RISE UP!

The Solemnity of Ascension

May 16, 2021: 7th Sunday of Easter

Acts 1:1-11; Ephesians 4: 1-13; Mark 16:15-20 

Why do you people stand here looking up into the sky, asks the Messenger of God... and we still stand there looking up to the Lord, ascending to his Father! In fact, looking up, we grow! Looking up to the Lord, we learn, we understand, we receive and we grow! 'Looking up,' as a phrase can mean to find, to discover, to search to arrive at... these are the cues we have today, about the relationship that we need to have with the Risen Lord. To look up to the Lord and find an inspiration in him, to look up to the Lord and understand the meaning of our life, to look up to the Lord and realise what we are called to and what we are made of. 

At times we get lost in a puddle of water that we have created with our tears, thinking we have the worst of situation in the whole world. All it takes is just to look up, see the others who are suffering, those who are going through times so much more tough than ours, and then we will realise our folly! If this is the case with those around us, looking up to the Lord, is the ultimate hope-giving, and meaning-making exercise that we can ever do in our lives, that we may have meaning in life. Look up at the Lord who, as Paul reminds us in the second reading, came down, reached low, descended...that is why we can speak of ascension! 

From the sky to the earth, from the earth to the cross, from the cross to the grave, and from the grave to the skies...a lovely lesson from the Lord. We are destined for greater heights, we are called to be the people of God, we are called to be part of that eternal banquet, and nothing else matters more! Everything is passing, and the Lord alone is the constant in our lives...we are bound to that permanent abode and Jesus goes before us as we look up to him!

How do we follow there? We cannot follow there alone! We reach there by building ourselves up, building up the Body of Christ, says the second reading today. When we build up the Church, the People of God, the Mystical Body of Christ, we are paving our way to where we are destined, the presence of God. We are not at times, disposed to build up because we have lost track of our destination. We lose our sight, we lose our focus, we lose our way and think this world and this life is all we have! That seems so factual, justifiable, rational and concrete - to say, this world is all we have! The Lord and the Word today remind us of the fallacy that is involved therein. Looking up is understanding that fallacy.

Building up is working on what we see when we look up! Looking up alone is not enough, at times it can lead to an endless procrastination and escapism from acting here and now. Looking up has to be followed immediately by efforts to build up. Looking up at the Lord would instantly beckon us to turn towards our fellow believers...and that is what happened with the first Christian community...as soon as they began to follow the Way, they sold everything they had and brought it to the Apostles and gave it for the community (see chapters 2 to 5 in Acts of the Apostles). Building up is not merely an extra commitment we have, but a fundamental call as a baptised child of God. It does not also mean doing some extraordinary things for the good of the other, but as fundamental as living a life that is worthy of  one's own call. And that call is to rise up!

Rising up, to be truly children of God. To rise up from the selfishness of daily life, from ego driven choices in life, from pleasure governed practices of the society today, from comfort centred concept of life, from satisfaction based outlook of life, one is called to rise up to an other-centred life, to truth driven choices in life, to virtue governed practices in daily life, to righteousness centred concept of living and to vocation based outlook on life! Jesus goes before us, to show us the way!

Jesus lived a life that was other-centred, truth-driven, virtue-governed, righteousness-centred and vocation-based. Casting out devils, speaking in tongues, picking up snakes, healing persons...these are gifts that are experienced when one rises up. Jesus goes up, challenging us to rise up, and promises us a help, an advocate who will counsel us to rise up in our personal life and our life as a community of faith. When we rise up, our very lives become a proclamation to the world. We need say no words, our life shall shout out loud by itself, to the whole world. 

Look up to the Lord, build yourself up and build the Body of the Lord, and rise up to be true follower of the Lord...that is the parting message that the Ascending Lord gives us this day. May the Lord ascended into heaven, strengthen us in our daily journey in life!

God's Venture

WORD 2day: Saturday, 6th week in Easter time 

May 15, 2021: Acts 18: 23-28; John 16: 23-28

Apollos, Priscilla, Aquila, Paul... there is a band of apostles, all working in the name of the Lord. Among themselves and when in company of others, they did not consider their ego as something inviolable. They were ready to give in, to be corrected and to be taught. We see this lived out beautifully in the first reading today. Priscilla and Aquila as elders in the Lord, take Apollos an upcoming preacher aside, and give his further instruction!

This reminds us of the fact that five days ago (on May 10), Holy Father Pope Francis has come out with a Motu Proprio, Antiquum Ministerium, which institutes the Ministry of Catechists in the universal Church, that is giving an official recognition in the hierarchy of the Church, for those who involve in the minstry of Catechesis. Priscilla and Aquila were probably exceptional catechists in their community! However, the point is - how the Church, the faith community, is God's venture! God willed this faith community, so that the Reign of God can be made present here and now. This is accomplished in the very fact that the members of the Church lived in union of heart and mind.

Jesus in the Gospel too, offers himself and the Father as an example of living in union of spirit. They were one and the same - one who sees me sees the Father, one who accepts me accepts the One who sent me, those who love me will be loved by the Father, for the very fact that you love me! Exceptional statements of Christ on the importance of our relationship with him and with each other. 

The first christians, the disciples and the apostles understood this perfectly well. They lived united in heart, mind and spirit. They were able to think alike, plan alike, protect each other, provide for everyone and thus they formed a worthy part of the salvific band of God. 

Have we, you and I, the readiness and the will to be united in heart and mind, to be single-mindedly concerned about God's ventures?

I Chose you!

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

May 14, 2021: Celebrating St Mathias, the Apostle

Acts 1: 15-17, 20-26; John 15: 9-17

Every relationship is a response! Relationships can never be forced upon persons. I wish to relate to a person, I choose to relate to the person and then I leave the response of the person, to the freedom of that person! Only then there is a healthy relationship that blooms. It is the same with God's choice too!

You have not chosen me, I chose you!, reminds Jesus today. With the beautiful example of Mathias and Barsabbas, Jesus brings out another element of the election theology! When God chooses, God chooses individuals (not masses), for a unique purpose and specific plan. As God reminds us through Jeremiah, God has a plan for each of us (Jer 29:11) and God alone knows what the plan is and how it would come through. All that we need to do is submit, surrender to that plan and walk by it.

And when God chooses, God chooses not for merely conferring a privilege, or a position or power; but for commitment, suffering and for giving one's life for the other! As the readings of the past Sunday reminded us, we cannot stop with thinking we are chosen therefore we are special! We are chosen, we are special... but it entails further, that we are specially chosen to strive, fight, struggle, suffer and thus, usher in the Reign of God, wherever we are. 

Mathias is today counted into the band of apostles. Of course a privilege, but with that came the burden of being a Messenger of the Word, the burden of being the Elder in the Community and the burden of being a Shepherd of God's flock. St. Mathias is an inspiring example which tells us, the Lord counts on us... the Lord has chosen us and wishes to count us into the number of his apostles!

Yes, the Word and the Saint of today speak to us: You are chosen! Are you ready for all that it entails?

Sorrow or Joy... your choice?!

WORD 2day: Thursday, 6th week in Easter time

May 13, 2021 - Acts 18: 1-8; Jn 16: 16-20

What would be your choice, your natural spontaneous choice: sorrow or joy? Of course, we would all choose joy or at least that is what we think. Today, there is so much sorrow in the world, because we think we choose joy, while in fact we are constantly adding to our sorrows. Is that confusing? Not really. It is an easy perspective that the Word offers today, to understand our situation today. Let us contrast these as the perspective of the world and the perspective of the Word.

The perspective of the world says, with a faulty understanding of the phrase 'here and now', choose what gives you utmost happiness at any given moment and that will add to your joy. This is why people end up frustrated, ruined and wrecked in their life, making all the wrong choices possible, adding to their own woes and to the others'. The disciples could not understand what Jesus was telling them, because they only had a limited perspective of the here and now, until the Spirit arrived to open the eyes and their hearts.

The perspective of the Word says, have the ultimate Joy, the Joy that the Lord alone can give, in your mind. You would then be ready to choose at a given moment even a bit of pain and struggle, because you know you have a joy, a glory, an eternal happiness that awaits you! Look at Paul, Aquila, Priscilla, Titus Justus... they were wantonly choosing trouble and opposition, because they had their ultimate joy in perspective. Paul said that emphatically: I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us (Rom 8:18).

With all the situation around us in perspective, now let us consider that question again- what is our choice: sorrow or joy?

The Spirit of Truth

WORD 2day: Wednesday, 6th week in Easter time 

May 12, 2021: Acts 17:15,22 -18:1; John 16: 12-15

The Spirit of the Lord convicts because the Spirit leads us to the truth. We have all the truth right in front of us. We fail to see them and understand them; or we are tempted not to see them or understand them; or we choose not to see them and understand them!

When we fail to see, the Spirit gives us the wisdom and leads us to see it, leading us to light, as St Paul tries to lead the Athenians. The grace comes through the Spirit to overcome our inability to see and observe God present in a situation that is not so obviously manifest of that Divine presence. It is like an ordinary day, when everything seems 'normal' and 'ordinary', that we do not get to observe anything out of the ordinary or anything extraordinary!

When we are tempted not to see, the Spirit fills us with the courage to see it, making us free and bold as children of God, as Jesus promises his disciples. The light comes with the Spirit illumining the darkest moment of our lives. It could be a crisis, a loss, a failure, a disappointment, a delusion that comes up in life and we are tempted to question the presence and real mercy of God. More than ever, we need courage at those moments and it is the Spirit of Truth who can give us that courage and light.

When we choose not to see, the Spirit convicts us, as we heard yesterday and makes us understand how mistaken we are. Peter, Paul, the other apostles and everyone who owes his or her rapport with God to a dramatic conversion, would vouch for this role of the Spirit. What is at play is more stubborness, insensitivity and arrogance of human mind to rebel against the presence of God, than an inability or a genuine crisis. This is a sin against the Holy Spirit and the person here keeps oneself deliberately away from God.

The crux of the message is: that I need to open my mind to the Word, failing which I will laugh at the Word or postpone listening to it, to another convenient moment, as the people do in the first reading today. Then I shall be the loser; a tragic loss at that. 

The Spirit that convicts!

WORD 2day: Tuesday, 6th week in Easter time 

May11, 2021: Acts 16: 22-34; John 16: 5-11

Jesus wishes that his disciples moved on to the next level. He is pushing them to it, goading them to make them not merely servants but friends, not merely working hands but leaders, not merely followers but inspirers. He is trying his best to introduce them to the Advocate, the Divine Counselor! This week, the Word presents to us, the varied aspects of a Spirit-filled Christian life... today's readings bring out one important aspect of this advocate, promised by Jesus: the aspect of the Spirit which convicts individuals, communities and all those who truly believe.

The Spirit when around makes things clear - about sin, righteousness and judgement, says the Word. No one can escape from the omniscient Spirit of the Lord, for even the innermost of the sinful tendencies are known to the Spirit. One who is righteous is sustained by the Spirit, that amidst even the worst of oppositions and criticism, the one who is conscientiosuly righteous, knows nothing can affect him or her. One who is in the Spirit knows that the judgement is at hand and lives not by fear, but by righteousness and in abhorrence of sin! In fact, receiving the Spirit, thus becomes a mode of equipping oneself to live a truly Christian life.

Receiving the Spirit is not an ordinary task. It is a divine mission that the Lord promised to those who sincerely ask for it. For when the spirit comes... the Spirit would convict the person. The person automatically goes into a self-examination mode, evaluating and appraising oneself on, how worthy one is, of the life to which he or she is called.

"What should we do to be saved" ... that is the question that would fill our hearts, when the Spirit overshadows us. What should I do to be acceptable in the eyes of God? What should I do to reject sin? What should I do to be righteous in the eyes of God? What should I become to face judgement with hope? We have a great help to answer these questions: the Spirit that convicts!

Help love prevail !!!

WORD 2day: Monday, 6th week in Easter time

May 10, 2021: Acts 16: 11-15; John 15:26 - 16:4a

Speaking of the new believer in the Lord, a lady of considerable renown, Paul says she prevailed over us! It is true love that prevails, a selfless love inspired by the newly accepted Good news! The Lord opened her mind to listen to the Word and her heart to be the consolation for the messengers of the Word. The Lord provides through her.

Today, providing for the messengers of the Word, in ways truly numerous, is one way that we can make love prevail. We may have troubles from every corner, opposition from all sides and forces waiting to devour the simple and innocents, the fear-inducing situation around, the hope-draining experiences and information - as we see Jesus telling us in the Gospel today. But nothing of this will block us from going ahead in our task and the challenge entrusted to us, if only we allow love to prevail over us. 

The Lord will open minds, inspire hearts and remove blocks, that we may have all the back up needed to take the message far and wide, the message of hope and life, the message of God's love and unconditional accompaniment. This could have been, or could be at present, the experience of many of us: how many ways and moments, we would have felt the providence of God, at the exact right moment! Persons coming to our aid, friends pitching in their bit, and so many other unbelievable ways in which the Lord provides, or numerous ways in which Love prevails!

The call is simple: that we allow love to prevail and we become ourselves means and instruments for love to prevail. Can we and shall we help love prevail!!!

QUALITY CHRISTIANS

with Christ-ian qualities!

May 9, 2021: 6th Sunday of Easter

Acts 10: 25-26,34-35,44-48; 1 Jn 4:7-10; Jn 15: 9-17

Being Christian today, for that matter anyday, is a demanding task. It is not a simple automatic membership to a community, but a serious, sincere and self-conscious dedication to living the faith that one has received as a gift, firstly from God and without doubt from the community - which includes family, the faith community and every one who stands by the person in his or her faith life. Today, amidst the confusions of the present world dominated by heartless science and selfish designs, this task becomes more challenging! More than a year and a half now, the world has been languishing in disease and death, grief and helplessness, fear and meaninglessness, due to the pandemic that is still ravaging certain parts of the world, India being at the peak of it. What does it mean to live a life that is truly Christian at this point of time - being Quality Christians would consist inevitably of certain Christ-ian qualities, that is, qualities lived, passed on and required by Christ, our Saviour, Master and Model. The readings of this Sunday, point to three qualities that are currently relevant and ever demanding.

1. Catholicism versus Exclusivism:

The First reading declares, 'God does not have favourites'! For long this tendency has haunted the spiritual beings and communities - being close to God or feeling the presence of God in the life experiences, has made people in history, not only holy and righteous as God would desire, but also proud, haughty and self-righteous! The Jews were very particular about their 'chosenness' and considered and treated everyone else as lesser beings, calling them 'pagans'! The Muslim mindset (the generalisation regretted), even today considers everyone else as an 'infidel' and wishes to bring everyone to their way of looking at reality! The sad fact is...in between these two major traditions the so-called tradition of Christianity too, considered itself 'saved' and the rest of the world rushing towards perdition, took a paternalistic attitude and gave into so many mistaken measures. How hard it is to forget the historical errors like the inquisitions and other similar vindicative ventures of the catholic church! However, we have learnt lessons and we cannot fall back into that error! And the fundamental correction is in the very name we have given ourselves - Catholic!

Catholicism is not merely a name, it is an attitude! It has to become our lifestyle as Christians - it is simply being "all-embracing"...it is to believe that God has no favourites...God loves every child of God. And those who hold on to God, feel the presence of God more and those who wish to move themselves away from God, feel it less. And therefore, as true chidlren of God our call is to look at everyone as a loved child of God, and create situations where everyone can feel and get closer to the presence of God, and not judge and place blocks on their way to God. We cannot write off someone as 'condemned' or 'damned' or 'hell-bound'. That is totally un-Christ-ian. Just the other day, someone forwarded on the social network, a video of someone who calls himself a preacher and a prophet, warning and threatening those who are of other faiths that they are all going astray from true God! Do you think, a blatant judgement of this sort will bring them to God? Does one have to threaten people in order to make them run to God? Is it not better to show love, share love and spread love, that those who feel that genuine love, feel the presence of God? That is catholicism...to embrace everyone as friends and share love.

2. God's versus gods:

All-embracing, does not mean we say, believing in any God is the same, it does not matter! Then my faith becomes meaningless and pointless. What we are saying is, be sincere about being God's people. When I am serious and committed to being a person of God, people will see it in my life. If I am friends with God, it can be seen in my daily life - a friend of God! As it is said of Moses, that God related and spoke to Moses as a friend would - so does God speak to each of us everyday. Are we aware, conscious, attentive and responsive to that? The more  we grow to be friends of God, the more we shall grow to be friends with every one else, because the love that we experience from God shall get translated into the love that we have for others in our concrete daily life. Just think of those persons who call themselves to be persons of God, but are totally inaccesible to the others around them - either due to their character and temperament, or due to the system they create around themselves and so on! The difference can be understood in the simple fact: whether they are truly God's, or are they making of themselves petty gods?

Specially in a time like today's, when there is so much misery and pain, a person of God reaches out, goes to the most suffering, empathises with the grieved and strives to offer relief to the wearied hearts. They cannot be those who stay up there and judge, pose as great visionaries and cast spells and warnings, make of themselves little gods and exploit the moment for their popularity and glory! That is the worst lifestyle that can be witnessed in any context, much worse in a Christian context! Being God's means being loving - God begets those who love, says John in the second reading today.We are God's as much as we love! When we make of ourselves gods, or when we make for ourselves gods of our name, our popularity, our branding, our riches, our comforts, our safety, our profits, our pleasure, our plans, and so on... we are being counter-witeness to God...instead of being God's, we are being anti-God! Is it not high time we look at the core motivations and intentions we have in our hearts, so that we truly grow more and more loving, thus grow to be persons who are God's own.

3. Chosen versus choosy:

At times we get too choosy in life...we wish to choose whom to love and whom not to, we want to choose what kind of experiences we should have and what not, we want to choose what should happen to us and what should not, we want to choose in which we will follow the will of God and in which we want God to follow our wish and wants! If we are chosen, we just cannot be choosy! We think being chosen is a privilege; yes, of course it is! It is a privilege to be chosen people of God. But at the same time it is an obligation, a demand, a challenge, a call, a task that is given to us and we have so many things involved which we cannot choose! We cannot choose whether to love or not; we cannot choose whether to be truthful or not; we cannot choose whether to forgive or not; we cannot choose whether to reach out or not! It is infact a bit on the reverse - if we choose to love all, we are chosen people of God; if we choose to reach out those who are suffering, we are chosen people of God; if we choose to embrace all in fellowship and solidarity, we are chosen people of God!

Our chosenness is not a status statement, but a mission...You have not chosen me, I have chosen you... the Lord has chosen us and sent us, to bear fruit - fruits of love and compassion! Love is the mission that the Lord has entrusted to us. This I command you: that you love one another! The chosenness has to be revealed, manifested, lived out, in love. Quality Christians are those who in their thought, word and deed, their choices and priorities, in their fundamental perspectives and life-governing principles, are moved by love and love alone! 

Love is the secret key that would inspire and empower a person to move from exclusivism to catholicism; from the tendency to create one's own gods to being truly God's, from being choosy to realisation of being chosen by God! It is the fundamental of the Christ-ian qualities that can render a person, a Quality Christian. 

GPS Enabled?

WORD 2day: Saturday, 5th week in  Easter time

May 8, 2021: Acts 16: 1-10; John 15: 18-21

Almost gone are those days when people bound for a place that they have never been to, find their destinations with the help of people on the road, bystanders, fellow passengers etc. Those who are in their forties now, don't you still remember your childhood days, when you were travelling, asking people for directions to reach a spot, or person asking you for such directions? Those of this generation, the teens of today, may look at that as a nuisance, an invadent behaviour, and uncultured, to disturb a person who is a stranger! This is because, nowadays with the smart phones in all hands, everyone is GPS Enabled: Global Positioning System!

Why are we talking about GPS... because, today in the first reading we find the apostles too, GPS Enabled. They are instructed where to go and where not to go. Only that the GPS here is... God's Powerful Spirit. Some time ago we read about Philip, reaching out to the Ethiopian court official in his carriage, so accurately... that was with the help of the GPS too: God's Powerful Spirit. 

Jesus warns his friends, wherever they go there will be people against them, because they are his disciples. But he also says, nothing to worry,  because they were all GPS Enabled: God's Protecting Spirit. They need not prepare their cause, they need not be anxious and they need not be afraid of the powers that can harm them, because they all had with them their GPS: God's Protecting Spirit.

And we see the disciples, no less daring than their Master. They were schooled so well and nothing could stop them from proclaming the Gospel, because they were all GPS Enabled: God's Propelling Spirit. The apostles, the disciples and the first christians, were unstoppable. Come what may, with all the troubles and persecutions they went on, even to the level of giving up their lives, because they were powered by GPS: God's Propelling Spirit.

Today, amidst all the confusions and troubles we are having all around us, the invitation to us is to be disciples of Christ in our daily life - in spite of all its struggles and temptations -  that is to be true disciples of Christ, who are GPS Enabled!

We, the Holy Spirit and Love!

WORD 2day: Friday, 5th week in Easter time 

May 7, 2021: Acts 15: 22-31; John 15: 12-17

It has always been a fascinating formulation that we see in the first reading today; the apostles when they communicate their decision after a long discussion and discernment on the crisis, they say, "it has seemed good to us and to the holy spirit"... To us and to the Holy Spirit!

What happens really when this link is truly strong: me and the holy spirit, we and the holy spirit! The gospel speaks to us of this: when the Holy Spirit takes hold of us, all that we do, all that we choose, all that we decide will be guided by love and love alone! We see that the apostles and the first christians, were ready to give up their tradition, their heritage, their laws, all because they loved their new brothers and sisters in Christ. They did not want to over burden them. 

Jesus had already gone a step further, when he said: not just traditions and laws, but even your life; you should be ready to lay down even your life for the sake of the other, because that is true love. If the Son of God had given up everything for the love that he has for us, why do we hesitate to give up anything...especially our ego, our selfishness, our vain glory, in response to that love that we have received, so underservedly!!!

Now coming back to that formulation we started with, we and the Holy Spirit, if we are in constant rapport with the Spirit of the Risen Lord, we will be filled with true love! If we are filled with true love, then we would make of ourselves true disciples to Christ, the Son of God who is Love! 

We, the Holy Spirit and Love, we will together make a wonderful "Christ"ian Community. Shall we?

A joy that is complete!

WORD 2day: Thursday, 5th week of Easter

May 6, 2021: Acts 15: 7-21; John 15: 9-11

The ultimate wish of the Lord is our joy, not a joy as that which the world promises, but a joy that is complete, wholesome, flawless. The so-called joy that the world gives is conditional, limited and time bound. It lasts for a while and leaves a vacuum when it disappears due to some reason. It comes from what we do, what we achieve, what we prove to the world...after the noise of the celebrations are over, the emptiness is back, the meaninglessness resumes and everything rests in its precariety. Isn't this the reason we find some unexpected persons, like those who have been success stories and celebrities, deciding to end their lives themselves because they found it unbearable?

The joy that the Lord gives comes from what we are; it comes from the fact that we are loved, that we are accepted unconditionally and that we are united to the One who never changes! It does not come from what we do, what we observe as obligation or what we put up as our appearance. This is what the first Christians, led by the apostles, understood as one of the first lessons of being the People of God. 

The Christian Community understood from theSpirit of the Risen Lord, that  it is not the various rules and regulations that we uphold that truly matter but love! Love is all that matters! Knowing how much the Lord has loved us, and knowing how much we are indebted to that love; knowing how unconditionally we have been accepted by the Lord and knowing the folly of the conditions that we place for loving others; knowing how close the Lord is to us every moment of our lives, and knowing how we tend to remain so far away from the Lord in our thought, word and deed! It is in knowing that love, accepting that love and responding to that love wholeheartedly that we can find our true joy, a joy that is complete!

Uniting in the Lord

WORD 2day: Wednesday, 5th week in Easter time

May 5, 2021: Acts 15: 1-6; John 15: 1-8

The responsorial psalm invites one to go to Jerusalem with rejoicing! And we see two people going there in today's first reading: Paul and Barnabas, however, not with rejoicing but they go with a crisis. A noble fact is that they are insistent that they wouldn't burden the people unnecessarily. The forward thinking, right priorities and empathy for the believers are a few of the salient qualities that stand out in this passage. Apart from the crisis and the solution that they sought, the clear cut lesson is to understand the method of facing and resolving a crisis in 'Christ'ian terms. 

Banners and posters, anonymous letters and abusive posts, indecent demonstrations and political insinuations... none of these were used when the crisis arose; much less, stopping masses half way through, walking out of liturgical assemblies and other un-Christ-ian ways of showing protest. It is not to point a finger at someone and accuse them of impropriety. It is simply to draw attention to how the first Christian community handled crisis!

They simply got together. They united in the Lord, to find out what the Lord willed for them as one family of God. We cannot bear fruit apart from the Lord; we cannot bear much of them without uniting as one heart and one mind in the Lord! That readiness to unite gave a moral authority to the Early Christian Community and made them true and attractive witnesses (cf. Acts 2:47). They believed in what they heard from Jesus: away from me, you cannot bear fruit. But today...some have ideologies and personalities, which and who seem greater than Christ; much more truthful than the Truth himself; much more light giving than the Light himself; much more life-giving that the Life himself....what a sad situation! It explains why the Church is no more as attractive as it was in the initial days of the First  Christians!

Come a crisis or a situation of doubt, what do we tend to do? Spread opinions, malign the other and gather a support team for ourselves? Or, get together as persons of God, unite in the Lord and find out what the Lord wants from us, as ONE people of God? 

What importance do I attach to uniting in the Lord?