LIVE THE CHRISTIAN DIFFERENCE

Feel, live and make that difference!

August 1, 2021: 18th Sunday in Ordinary time

Exodus 16: 2-4,12-15; Ephesians 4: 17, 20-24; John 6: 24-35

Feel the Difference – the Lord is around! The Lord with you makes all the difference for you. How important it is to feel the difference. The famous reminder of Pope St. Leo the Great says it all: O Christian, Realise your dignity! How important it is for me to know the dignity and the greatness that the Lord has invested in me. That I have been given life, is the first gift given to me. That I am given human life, is a greater gift, knowing the image and the likeness in which I am created. And that I am called to live a Christian life, is such a great treasure that is placed within me, however undeserving or incapable I am! That is the difference that the Lord is making and with the never ceasing presence of the Lord, the Lord continues to strengthen and empower me towards living this call, with a difference!

Live the Difference – let them see who are around! If you truly feel the difference, you will live it, and the world around you will see it. Is it not the best mode of proclamation – to let the world see the difference, that you feel within? As they say, a flower does not bear a placard to invite the bee in search of honey, nor do the ants need a google map to reach the source of their sweet feed. It is seen; it is felt; it is sensed; it is obvious. Your daily life has to hold out to the world the difference that you feel within! That is what the great saint from Assisi meant when he said, ‘preach unceasingly; use words only when necessary!’ Our life has to manifest the difference that we feel within, due to the Lord’s presence with us. If we fall into the same category as the rest of the world, if our lifestyle has nothing much different from what the rest of the world has to offer, if our priorities are nothing different from what the consumeristic world holds on to, then I don’t live any difference! It is unfortunately a sign that I really feel no difference within me, being with the Lord and belonging to the Lord. But if I really be with and belong to the Lord, it will be seen in my life!

Make a Difference – wherever you are around! The Word today invites us to make a difference wherever we are, in the lives of whoever we are with and in the world at large! The Reign of God is all about difference, the difference that we make in other’s lives, the difference we make in the humanity at large and the difference we make specially for those who are suffering and are oppressed by various forces of the power centred systems. Making a difference would happen through our words, through our deeds and through our commitments – but at the foundation of all these, difference will happen when we have the Lord in our lives! Making a difference without really feeling the difference within us, would become an empty promise given to others and would prove short-lived. Making a difference without living the difference in my own life would be so artificial and meaningless that it would soon be resented by others and resound the emptiness within us.

We have a call this Sunday from the Word to feel, live and make a difference, the difference of the Reign of God here on earth. And the Word gives us three important injunctions to achieve the task:

    - If you wish to make a difference, Stop Complaining... and start feeling the presence of God says the first reading.

    - If you wish to make a difference, Stop Running after passing things... and prioritise God in your life says the Gospel!

    - If you wish to make a difference, Stop following the crowd... and as a Christian, make the crowd turn to follow you, says St. Paul.

We need to feel the presence of the Lord who makes a difference for us! We need to start living that difference in our life, on a daily basis, by showing to the world that our value systems are different, that our priorities are different and that our foundation is different. We will then surely make a difference, wherever we are!

The Difference is God! Make God felt, in and through all that you are, and you will certainly make a difference!

A Righteous Celebration

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

July 31, 2021: Remembering St. Ignatius of Loyola 

Leviticus 25:1,8-17; Matthew 14: 1-12

In spite of all the talk about recession and tough times, crisis and economic slowdown, and even the pandemic, celebrations do not seem to have reduced or ceased! Especially in the religious realm, celebrations find their importance and significance intact, though there do exist a number of restrictions and the rest. At times these celebrations are exaggerated too, to the extent of being detested. Should we, or should we not, celebrate? 

 

The Word today presents us two modes of celebration: one, an exploitative celebration that is irresponsible, insensitive and a mere show of arrogance; indifferent to the other and absolutely self centered, with no thought of contributing to the good of the other or the common good. The other mode is a righteous celebration. Let none of you wrong the neighbour but fear the Lord your God, instructs the first reading today, which is all about jubilee among the people of God.

Ignatius of Loyola whom we remember today, was a man of that logic, who would do everything according to the mind of God! From the thirtieth year of his life, when he came to know the Lord and fell so madly in love with Him, he was ready to do anything "FOR THE GREATER GLORY OF GOD" (ad majorem Dei gloriam) – a passion that led to the great movement of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) and so many other movements related to that; a celebration of God’s glory for the sake of the people of God, that has produced scores and scores of holy men and women in the last 5 centuries, right up to the present Holy Father our beloved Pope Francis! 

A celebration that is godly should not be at the cost of the other, but for the sake of the love for the other. A true Christian celebration should reaffirm the meaning and joy of living. That is why everyday eucharist is a celebration, a reminder of the life that we are called to live in the Lord, in communion with our brothers and sisters!

Do you see Jesus?

WORD 2day: Friday, 17^th week in Ordinary time

July 30, 2021: Leviticus 23: 1,4-11,15-16,27; Matthew 13: 54-58 

 

Due to their lack of faith, Jesus did not work many mighty deeds among them, says the Gospel today. Someone might argue, “but if God could not do a miracle, be it for whatever reason, is it not a limitation or a weakness?" Let us pay attention, it is not God's weakness, but the strength that God has shared with us. What do we mean? 

God created us in God's image and likeness and this likeness ensures that we are hardly different from God (Ps.8)! That makes us also persons with inviolable freedom, a freedom which not even God would take away. Though many resent it saying it is the cause of scores of evils in the world, it is that which makes us human, and gives us the dignity as the images of the Creator. Without the 'personal freedom' we would be no more than the animals. 

Faith and Freedom have a great deal to do with each other. Faith is a response given in freedom, a total absolute freedom of the inner being of a person. Jesus in his freedom chooses to enter the synagogue to pray with his people and the people with their freedom choose to see only the apparent facts of Jesus, as the son of the carpenter and a son of their soil. They were not able to see the divine import of his actions, his words and the signs that he was accomplishing. 

Today, it can happen so if we look at Jesus as someone kept aside for Sundays, special days and some particular moments of other days! It is an oft repeated warning from the Lord, not to make our spirituality legalistic and our piety pharisaic! 

Are we able to see Jesus in our everyday life?

Celebrating Home-makers

THE WORD AND THE SAINTS

July 29, 2021: Remembering Sts. Martha, Mary and Lazarus 

Exodus 40: 16-21; John 11: 19-27 (or) Luke 10: 38-42

 

Let us begin with an interesting fact that today's feast (till now feast of St. Martha) is a fruit of a mistake... a mistaken identity in history which equated Mary Magdalene with Mary, the sister of Martha. If you remember exactly a week ago (on 22nd) we celebrated the feast of Mary of Magdala, calculating a week from there, in history they wanted to celebrate the alleged sister of Mary, that is Martha!?! Though a mistake, a happy mistake and we should be happy to celebrate today the feast of this person, who was all preoccupied to express her love for Jesus Christ in every way that she possibly could. Ironically, her sister Mary, whom the Lord said chose the right part, has had no celebration specific to her... of course, from this year we celebrate the siblings together - the two sisters and their brother Lazarus, together on this day!

Focussing a little on Martha, in today’s Gospel from St. John, we have the scene of Jesus' arrival after three days of Lazarus' death. Thanks to this passage of John, it redeems the image of Martha as a workaholic and helps us identify in her a person who had a deep understanding of who Jesus was. 

The affirmations that Martha comes out with shows how practical her faith in Christ was; that she set out and ran towards Jesus indicates the eagerness she had to meet him; and the openness she had towards the Lord and the Lord's power over any circumstance shows how deep her faith was. An active love for God and an unwavering faith in the Lord - these are the two lessons that Martha teaches us. 

How relevant they are for the world of today, which is characterised by a godless spirituality, inhuman development and unethical rationality! However, on a practical note, it is a good day to express our gratitude and felicitate the home-makers (the so-called house-wives!!!) who make our lives so pleasant! It could also be a great day to celebrate the sanctity of the siblings together - sanctity in a family!

The need to cover your face!

WORD 2day: Wednesday, 17^th week in Ordinary time

July 28, 2021: Exodus 34: 29-35; Matthew 13: 44-46

 

The need to cover your face! In the first reading today, we have an interesting account of Moses who would cover his face with a veil because, it shone after the meeting with the Lord. We see in the television newscast and other dailies where people cover their face, when taken into police custody or arrested for some malpractices! Two extreme reasons which can lead us to cover our face - one, shame and the other, a holy embarrassment - it all depends on one fact - where lies your treasure or which is the pearl you are in search of? 

Many of the saints who found their treasure in the Lord, were found to act crazy! They gave up everything - their wealth, their prospects, their career, their comfort, their health, even their life - because they found the Lord and the Lord's will for them! Some of them were even considered lunatic and taken to asylums. As St. Paul says, they have behaved like "fools for Christ"(1 Cor 4:10). 

 

Look up to him and be radiant, says the Psalmist (Ps 34:5). In whatever we do, in whatever we choose, if we have the Lord ever before our mind and always as our priority and criterion, we will never have the need to cover our face in shame. Instead, if we continuously grow in our union of intention with the Lord, we will reach a moment, when we would be forced to cover our face – out of sheer radiance!

 

Let us fix our eyes on the Lord, from whom all richness and light come. All that matters is that our treasure, our pearl remains forever, the Reign of God!

Looking for the Tent of Meeting

WORD 2day: Tuesday, 17^th week in Ordinary time

July 27, 2021: Exodus 33:7-11, 34: 5-9, 28; Matthew 13: 36-43

 

Let your light Shine - is a constant invitation from the Saviour to all those who profess their faith in him. What do we do for the light to shine - of course we have to do things right, just and loving! But more fundamental than that - before we DO anything, we need to BE. Like Moses, we need to be in the presence of the Lord, in the Tent of Meeting - then our light will shine, as the face of Moses shone so much that the people of Israel were afraid of gazing at it (2 Cor 3:7). 

The Gospel today, gives us the same invitation, in and through the explanation of the parable of the weeds explained to us by Jesus. "The righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father" says the Gospel, underlining the circumstances in which we will shine to the world! In fact, many of us are in search of this Tent of Meeting (Exo 33:7)... in places of pilgrimage, in events of miraculous nature, in our practices of strenuous personal piety and so on! 

Understanding all these appreciable efforts, the readings today give us two possibilities of spotting this tent: 

One, the Inner Sanctuary of personal integrity, that Jesus speaks of in the parable of the weeds. The Lord has blessed us with goodness within us, it depends on our use of personal freedom to retain that goodness or contaminate it with baser tendencies. 

The second is the Mobile Tents of the persons around us, where God encounters us at every moment of our day. Living as Moses did for the others and in total dedication to their wellbeing, is an unfailing means to encounter the Lord. 

Let our hearts be tuned to the Tent of Meeting that we may encounter the Lord today!

Finally the Grandparents' Day!!!

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

July 26, 2021: Celebrating Sts. Joachim and Anne

Exodus 20: 1-17; Matthew 13: 16-17

 

The first setting in which faith enlightens humanity is the family, declares Pope Francis in his encyclical Lumen Fidei(52). It further explains that passing of faith in the family happens in the process of shared expression of faith within the family, helping children to become aware of their faith and grow and mature in it. 

Christian faith is always communitarian and it is passed primarily in the family. Recently someone observed to me, sharing on the level of faith being lived (or practiced) in Europe vis-a-vis in India, that one major reason for the degeneration in Europe is the weakening of the institution of the family. Those who hand on faith to us are really God-given. Most important among them, our parents and grandparents who not only give us life but show us also how to live it, from their own experience. 

Celebrating a day to remember the parents of Mary, the Mother of God and our Mother, provides us an opportunity to remember with thanks these our fore-runners in faith, as the first reading suggests, 'let us praise famous persons, our parents in their generations. These were persons of mercy, whose righteous deeds have not been forgotten' (Sir  44:1,10). Infact, thanks to them, we are in a position better than them due to their hard work, great example and their dreams for us! Jesus acknowledges that in his words (Mt 13:16-17) and exhorts us to live up to our blessedness, our giftedness, worthy of the faith and tradition that is transmitted to us, from our predecessors. 

For a few years now, I have been sharing this reflection, that maybe, a grateful remembrance of our grandparents dedicating this day to them would be in place. And finally Pope Francis, this year had announced the World Grandparents' Day in the Church to be celebrated to the closest Sunday to the feast of Sts. Joachim and Anne. Accordingly, the first World Grandparents' day in the Church was celebrated yesterday! How lovely it is to think of these loving persons in our lives! And you, if you have the fortune of having them still with you, give them a bear hug and say a big thanks! And if they are no more, remember them with love and gratitude! Whatever be the case, let us celebrate them!

HAND IN HAND WITH GOD

Facing the World Crisis today!

July 25, 2021: 17th Sunday in Ordinary time

2 Kings 4: 42-44; Ephesians 4: 1-6; John 6: 1-15

The times are bad...those are words that we hear from almost all quarters today - economic or cultural or sanitary or moral or political or religious or ecclesial... every corner of human existence seems to echo this judgement invariably. Need, misery, unbalanced growth, neglect of the majority middle class, domination of a few, the gross problem of the migrants, resistance and revolts all over, a general sense of loss of meaning and a sort of helplessness that fills the minds of every person of good will, and added to all these the Pandemic that is still having its sway over humanity at large... that is what the scene looks like today!

How do we revive the earth, and the humanity... it is by acting hand in hand with GOD. We are presented with three mentalities to grow in, for the revival of this world today. Three mentalities that can be called GOD mentalities - Giving oneself, Other centred and Doing one's part!

GIVE... a heart to give - that is the essential correction needed for the humanity today. We need to have a heart to give, to give with all our heart. That is what God does. God gives, and gives, and gives! When we begin to grow within us a heart to give, to truly give not merely of what we do not want, nor of what is excess with us but of ourselves and of what we actually need and of all that we have, that is Giving after the heart of God. God is essentially a Giver! Elijah is ready to Give, Jesus wants to Give, God is ever ready to Give! Do I have the heart to Give? We know the tendency to Give today...calculations of gain and profit, returns and publicity dominate the act of giving. They become more personal statements of polpularity and establishing what one wants to achieve. True Giving that is divine has to be an authentic self-giving, as the Lord gives and never counts.

OTHERS...an eye for the others - is the radical perspective that needs to guide humanity today. People have ceased to think of the other. Whether a daily scene of jostling in the public places like railway stations or bus terminus or the national politics and policy lobbying...everywhere humanity has grown cold to the other, thinking only of the self, only of the petty private interests. Even when they think of the common good, they think of what is common to a small circle to where they belong, and not the Greater Common Good...the good of the whole humanity, the good of the whole world - Lokasamgraha (the welfare of the world), Sarvodhaya (the rise of all), vasudhaiva kutumbaka (the world-family spirit), Universal brotherhood and Sisterhood, the care for the Common Home...these have become merely wishful thinking! Humanity needs to revive its other-centered existence - with the conviction that when the whole humanity is well, I shall be well too. It cannot be definitely the other way around! 

DO... a mind determined to do - this is the fundamental mindset that can redeem the situation today. At times the good willed persons can lose heart seeing the enormity of the opposition. The Word today presents to us the determination of the man who brought the barley loaves to Elijah, Philip who brought the boy with the few loaves to Jesus... they knew what they were doing actually is nothing before the task that lay before them, but they were kind of determined about what they were doing. The Lord will provide the change that is needed for the times, but the times require that we act hand in hand with God. Lamenting and cursing the times would do no good, unless we do on each of our part, whatever little that we can, joining hands with as many as we can, in doing which we shall be acting with God hand in hand. There is no point in waiting for the opportune time or the best ocassion to rise to - but wherever we are and in whichever mode we can, we need to make the little difference that we can: that will be making present the Reign of God wherever we are. 

In Giving, in being sensitive to the Other, and in being determined to Do..., we act hand in hand with God, in fact we initiate the very "new thing" that God wants to do - the new heavens and the new earth, the Reign of God here and now!

You cannot surprise the Master

WORD 2day: Saturday, 16th week in Ordinary time

July 24, 2021: Exodus 24: 3-8; Matthew 13: 24-30

 

You cannot surprise the Master; you can never surprise God! With all the goodwill, as the people of Israel said a loud 'yes' to the ordinances of the covenant and made that solemn ceremony of swearing by the sacrificial blood which God instituted as the blood of the covenant. We too make promises galore. When everything seems to be going well, we find ourselves unwittingly giving into something we would rather not. We can call it infidelity to God, breakaway from God, sin, or merely a mistake!

Certainly we have heard people explaining the reason for not approaching the sacrament of Eucharist or reconciliation for years, saying that they feel they are not worthy, that they feel they are too weak or that they keep falling into the same sin again and again, that they don't want to disrespect the sacraments. Here lies the trap of the enemy! A subtle but dangerous trap... the trap of self-pity! 

Who is not unworthy? Who is not weak? And who does not have limitations! It is while we are still in sin, that God loves us, affirms St. Paul (Rom 5:8). It is while the weeds are still present the Lord permits the crop to grow, in the parable that Jesus narrates today. You cannot surprise or shock God; God knows everything, absolutely everything (Ps 139). God is patient and kind; with all our impurities, limitations and infidelities, God still loves us and waits for us to grow in our hearts, strong good crops that would outdo the weeds. 

Every day is an opportunity to suppress a weed and allow a good crop to grow in our hearts and become more and more worthy of the gratuitous gift of love that we receive from God. Let every day be a sacrifice of praise that we offer to the Lord!

The Right-living People

WORD 2day: Friday, 16th week in Ordinary Time

July 23, 2021: Exodus 20: 1-17; Matthew 13: 18-23

 

Jesus speaks of the four types of seed ground, viz., the pathway, the rocky, the thorny and the good ground, and compares them with four kinds of people. His story remains open ended throwing the challenge to us: which ground are you? Extending the same analogy with respect to the laws that the Lord gives us, today we find the same four kinds of people.

 

Those who do not know what is right and deliberately keep away from understanding it: they are like the pathway; nothing remains in them. They are the ruthless inhuman beings whom we find on earth who are a burden to the planet and scourge to humanity.

 

Those who know what is right but do not do it: they are like the rocky ground. There is a chance of correcting them, but it takes a yeomen effort - to break them, fill them will more sand and convert them.

 

Those who know what is right but are unable to do it: they are like the ground with thorn bushes. They know and wish to do what is right but find themselves too weak before the temptations and struggles and they give in easily. They need a lot of mercy and compassion and they can be set right by a bit of cleaning.

 

Those who know what is right and strive to do it, come what may: they are the good ground and they are rare to find. In fact, they are the Lord's true sons and daughters. They need no external pressure or internal force to do what is right. It comes naturally to them and the others find it too unrealistic. These are the Right-Living people!

 

Which of the four types do I belong?

Weeping blinds you... listen and look!

THE WORD AND THE SAINT 

July 22, 2021: Celebrating St. Mary Magdalene

Song of Songs 3: 1-4; John 20:1-2,11-18

Today we celebrate Mary Magdalene, the first apostle of the Risen Lord. It may be a surprising title to give her, but factually it is so! An apostle is someone who is sent, sent with a message... and the first one who was sent, sent with a message by the Risen Lord was Mary of Magdala! Isn't it true that she was the first apostle of the Risen Lord?

Mary Magdalene loved Jesus intensely. She was delivered by Jesus from seven demons, the Gospels tell us. And after that, for her Jesus, her Master meant everything in life. The first reading is given to make us understand how intimately she had loved Jesus. She had encountered, experienced and cherished her relationship with Jesus, while he lived, in such close quarters but now the Risen Lord stands right beside her and she is unable to identify him...  the reason: she is too preoccupied with her weeping and complaining.

At times in our lives when troubles come by and trials abound, we fumble and falter as if we are all alone. We fail to recognise the Lord who sticks so close to us, because we are too busy weeping and complaining. If only we opened our eyes and saw; if only we opened our hearts and listened; if only we believed in the words of the Lord, “I have conquered the world"... we would leap for joy and love to cling to the Lord. 

Mary Magdalene gives us a clear message: stop weeping; weeping blinds you. Look, listen and you will leap for joy, for the Lord is with you now and always! 

To become fertile soil

WORD 2day: Wednesday, 16th week in Ordinary time

July 21, 2021: Exodus 14:21 - 15:1; Matthew 12: 46-50

Those who have ears, let them hear; those who have eyes, let them see; those who have a heart, let them feel... how pained Jesus would have been to say this! The people saw him cure the sick, give sight to the blind, make the deaf hear and the mute speak, drive the demons out and raise people from the dead! In spite of all these the people were not ready to believe him! He was wondering what kind of a heart they had... rocks, or thorny bushes or sandy sidewalks... how he wished they were good fertile soil.

However Jesus knew what kind of people he was dealing with - the children of the people who saw the plagues one after another in Egypt, but still readily murmured when they saw the Egyptians pursue them; the people who saw the Egyptians perish right in front of their eyes, but still readily murmured when they had nothing to eat; the people who saw the manna fall from nowhere and the quails that fell right into their mouths, but still readily murmured that they would die for want of water; the people who saw water gush forth from a rock in the middle of the desert, but still readily murmured that manna was tasteless and the quails were stale!

Hard and stubborn as they were, nothing pierced their hearts to make it bear fruit as God wanted from them... the warning to us is clear! How prone we are to murmur against God in times of trouble, forgetting the abundance of graces we have received! The capacity to see God's presence in our daily life will decide, whether we are sandy sidewalks or rocky ruins or thorny bushes or as God wants, fertile soil!

The Will or your whims!

WORD 2day: Tuesday, 16th week in Ordinary time

July 20, 2021: Exodus 14:21 - 15:1; Matthew 12: 46-50

 

The first reading sets us thinking... the greed of the king and his adamant decision to exploit the people led him to destruction! However, the reading is clear, he did not die, his own people did! The Egyptians, the horsemen and all who followed him died! We can be very sure not all of those who died wished to pursue the people of Israel; it was not their wish, they did it because they were enrolled, they were commissioned by the authority. But all the same, the destruction was theirs. 

How close it seems to what is happening today in the world... the leaders who mislead, the leaders guided by warped politics and selfish interests who lead the whole people astray, the partisan mentality of the people who destroy themselves, following the leaders who however remain in their zones of security! Wars, civil clashes, terrorist attacks, border conflicts, nuclear craze, killings in the name of caste and creed - how many of these we find today because of a group of leaders who manipulate everything for their ends! This can end only when every individual is able to think for himself or herself and have the freedom to say 'no' to what one thinks is not right, or what one thinks does not enhance humanity and its existence. 

The unfailing criteria for such decisions and discernments, as Jesus points today, is the Will of God! When human beings are too concerned about having their will established at all costs, be it in personal lives or in social settings, it leads to autocracy or hegemony and subsequently varied forms of exploitation and destruction. The only way to enhance life to its fullness is to do the Will of God, and that is the only way to become 'the mother, the brothers and sisters' of Jesus, the Son of God.

Stand up, cry out & carry on!

WORD 2day: Monday, 16th week in Ordinary time

July 19, 2021: Exodus 14: 5-18; Matthew 12: 38-42

 

Look at the images given to us today - the raging waters, the pressing enemy forces, the stone hearted beneficiaries, the swallowing sea monster, the gulf that separates the south and the north, the hard headed wicked generation - there is everywhere threat and the so-called evil stands out. What are you going to do?... Stand up, Cry out and Carry on!

 

Stand Up against the evil: Jesus never feared the pressurising crowd. He was able to stand up and call a spade a spade. He was able to chide them on their face - you evil generation. A person of God needs that spirit to be bold, to stand up against the evil and to stand up for the truth.

 

Cry Out to the Lord: It is never by my own power that I can fight the powers of evil. No I cannot. I need to cry out to the Lord, just as Moses did. Moses was mindful of the fact that he was about God's business and it belonged to God to accomplish whatever has to be, in and through God's servants. In whatever we do, we need to acknowledge the presence of God and the workmanship of God.

 

Carry On with the Lord: Never give in to the pressure of pleasing the clamouring crowd. The world will keep shouting at you, criticising you and giving you easier and more pragmatic alternatives. But what matters is to carry on with the Lord. That is what we see with both Moses and Jesus - they never obeyed the crowd, they never gave in to the expectations of the world. They carried on with the One who had called them: their Father!

THE 4G SHEPHERD

Gathers, gives, gladdens and governs

July 18, 2021: 16th Sunday in Ordinary time

Jeremiah 23: 1-6; Ephesians 2: 13-18; Mark 6: 30-34 

The Lord is our Shepherd, our eternal Shepherd, the Shepherd of all shepherds. The Word this Sunday presents to us a Shepherd par excellence, a Shepherd for our times - in the times that speak of 4G - yes, a 4G Shepherd.

While the power conscious of today seek to divide people, stratify them and polarise them to gain their own benefits, the True Shepherd GATHERS all. Specially in the context of immigration, rising right-wing nationalism worldwide, fight for the position of super power in the world, the economic bigwigs trying to have the sway over everything in the world, the majority, ordinary people are disheartened, disillusioned and divided! The first reading and the second underline this grace that the Lord brings us - the grace of unity and peace! Yes, this is the sign of the True Shepherd. Gathering the remnant, gathering the different people, gathering all into one is the task that Jesus took upon himself - to gather everyone, to reconcile everything in God! We are called to be persons who gather, not divide, not polarise, not scatter.

While the self-centred generation of today thinks about oneself and one's own possessions, growing evermore avaricious and insensitive to others, the True Shepherd GIVES himself to us. Paul's central message has always been that: that Christ gave himself up that we may be brought to the state of being children of God. Endless greed and craze for pleasure, extreme consumerism and the use and throw culture, the craze to have and possess, blind the generations of today and we cannot belong to the flock of the True Shepherd if we follow the trend. We need to stand up for truth, stand out in our choices and sometimes even stand alone, and be ready to give of ourselves to stand for the good and for God.

While the grief struck mentality of the world is all the time striving and chasing after the comforts and in the meanwhile accumulating grief and depression, the True Shepherd GLADDENS the spirits of those who come to him. Specially these days, still reeling under the misery of the pandemic and all the issues related to it directly and indirectly, there is a multitude of hearts looking for respite and consolation. Come to me, rest in me, learn from me, be nourished of me, grow in me and become like me, calls the Lord today. The Shepherd knows the struggle that we are involved in, the problems and pains that we are facing on a daily basis - that is why he tells us today: Come apart and rest a while!

While the craving to dominate others becomes the force that moves persons to action today, the True Shepherd, who has the entire universe under his command, GOVERNS us with love, a love that is sensitive, a love that is delicate, a love that is selfless, a love that is ever-giving, a love that reaches out, a love that works marvels for our good and not for its own glory...a love that is God. That is the principle that governs the entire reality, the principle that is the foundation of everything that is good or godly: the principle of LOVE, which has to characterise the life of everyone in this flock. The call is to receive this love from its source, the Lord, the True Shepherd and grow in it, and learn to give it to all, little by little! 

Our Shepherd gathers, gives, gladdens and governs; let us seek to grow into his loving flock!

Keep Walking...

WORD 2day: Saturday, 15th week in Ordinary time

July 17, 2021: Exodus 12: 37-42; Matthew 13: 14-21

 

Reading passages like that of today's first reading, where it says 'that was for the Lord a night of vigil, to bring them out of Egypt'... that the Lord watched over the people of Israel as they walked into that night of freedom towards the broad day light... there is a longing in our hearts that cries... Will there not be a day when the people suffering today would walk into their freedom; the oppressed innocents, the trodden poor, the cheated multitudes, the neglected lots, the exploited masses - will there not be an end to evil in the world? Will not the Lord keep watch over these my suffering brothers and sisters to walk into their freedom, into their life of peace, into their days of tranquillity? 

The response is right there in the reading too... the number of years that the Hebrews lived in Egypt was four hundred and thirty! The Lord is still working on the solution, and we are all part of the process! There are many who create hindrances and blocks, but despite all, the humanity will one day see the eternal goodness, the Reign of God established forever! 

Our role in the plan, is as that of the people of Israel - Keep Walking... Jesus was cornered, plotted against... he moved on, slipped through, and went ahead doing good to the people - for he knew his time had not come, he knew the One who sent him had a proper plan and the right time - and Jesus kept walking, 'and many followed him'. 

Let us wait on the Lord, in the Lord's own time everything will happen according to the design; but on our part we are called to do the little that is ours to do, and keep walking. As Matthew quotes Isaiah, 'In God's name will we hope.' And the sign of hope is - to keep walking!

Sacrifices or Self-understanding?

WORD 2day: Friday, 15th week in Ordinary time 

July 16, 2021: Exodus 11:10 - 12:14; Matthew 12: 1-8 

 

The Liturgy of the Word today traces for us an eventful journey of the understanding of God and the self-understanding of the people in relation to their God! From an importance attached to sacrifices as necessities, demands and requirements for relationship with God, to a liberating understanding of God that was brought by Jesus, who presented a God who says, "I desire mercy and not sacrifice". 

The point is not that the Old Testament's understanding was faulty; neither is it to say that Jesus negates all the understanding of the Old Testament! As Jesus himself explained, he came not to abolish the law, he came to bring it to its fulfilment. That fulfilment is achieved when we understand not just the letter but the spirit of the law and try to live it to its details. 

The sacrifices, the sanctifications, the consecrations that were prescribed were all for one reason: to bring the people closer to the Lord! To make the people understand how good the Lord has been... in order that they may lift the cup of salvation, a thanksgiving sacrifice to the Lord, as the Psalm invites us today. 

Having moved a long way from the understanding of the people of the Old Testament, the challenge is much greater for us today - to prioritise our relationship with God, in all that we carry out in the name of our spirituality, in the name of practices of piety. It is not merely a fulfilment of a duty or a necessity, for God needs nothing from us; but a thanksgiving to the ever-present Lord, a grateful beholding of the loving presence of God with us, is what really matters!

The Name of God

WORD 2day: Thursday, 15th week in Ordinary time

July 15, 2021: Exodus 3: 13-20; Matthew 11: 28-30

 

The Word presents the name of God to us today. Reflecting on the name of God, every time I narrate this experience of mine a few years ago when I was doing my licentiate in Rome. I was in a parish in the north of Italy, to substitute a parish priest during his days of Spiritual Retreat. There were a few elderly ladies who were regular for the daily Eucharist and after the celebration every day. They would spend some time every day after Mass talking to me. They loved to hear things about the Bible and one day the most vociferous of them asked - "Is there a name for our God!" Before I could say, "Yes, it is Jesus!", she intervened and said, "I mean, God the Father! Does God have a name?" And I quoted to her today's reading and said, "Yes, our God is I AM. Or when we say it...Our God is WHO IS". She was thrilled to know the name of God, and was going around telling everyone the discovery that she has made. When the Parish priest returned a week later, one of the first things she told him was, "Fr. you know, I know the name of our God. Our God is, WHO IS, or I AM, or YAHWEH"...And the Parish Priest was a bit upset; he turned to me and said - "No Father... That is the God of the Hebrews!"

YAHWEH, One who IS… It is not just a name - it was an experience. It has to be our experience today: the God who IS, who is with us, now, always, all the time. Especially in tough times as we are living today, we need to yearn for and draw strength from this experience of God with us, the God who IS with us. Yahweh, O God who IS with us, help us feel your presence and share the same with those who are in need of it. 

I did not want to pick a theological argument with the Parish priest...but thought to myself - "Yes...that is the God of the Hebrews, and therefore the God of Jesus too...the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ as St. Paul would say (2 Cor 1:3; Eph 1:3; Col 1:3)."

 

Who am I, really?

WORD 2day: Wednesday, 15th week in Ordinary time

July 14, 2021: Exodus 3: 1-6,9-12; Matthew 11: 25-26

 

What do people think of me? How do I come across to people? What kind of an image do I give of myself to others? Will this make or mar the opinion others have about me? ...these are some popular considerations we have before we decide to do something! At times this consideration of human respect keeps me back from being who I am! The Lord declares in various ways today that it does not matter so much who I am as who is with me, who is for me!

 

God identified Godself through Moses that God is WHO IS (I am), and Jesus the Son of God revealed to us a God WHO IS ALWAYS WITH US... One who is concerned about us, journeys with us, leads us by hand and wants to be with us always, especially when we are tired and heavy laden, especially when we are through the lowest moments of our lives, especially when we feel we are abandoned and all alone. Yes, Our God is who IS!

 

Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh? - I will be with you, says the Lord! What makes the difference is that, the Lord was with Moses. Who we are is important, but more important is who is with us! We may be merely children, but if God is with us, we can be worth all the wisest and powerful put together. Do not say you are merely a child, the Lord told Jeremiah.

 

The Lord promises to be with us, what else do we need! If God is with us, what do we lack! If God is for us who can be against us! 

Where do I belong

WORD 2day: Tuesday, 15th week in Ordinary time

July 13, 2021: Exodus 2: 1-15a; Matthew 11:20-24

Yesterday we reflected on the situations of injustice in the world and the readings drove us to a reflection on it. Today, the readings issue a warning to us! The Lord is patient and merciful, but at the same time just and righteous. The Lord has a predilection for the poor, the oppressed, those who are sinned against, those who are denied of their rights, those who are constrained to live in conditions that they actually do not deserve to suffer. The warning is this: that we take care to see where we actually belong! 

July 16, 1945 – we shall be commemorating it shortly… it was the day that the atomic bomb was dropped, bringing the World war II to an end. We are not called merely to judge who is right and who is wrong and give a verdict on persons. We are called to remain on the side of the right, the truth and justice. It is not that we may be oppressors, but even if indirectly by our inaction and silence we allow the oppression of a person or a people go scot-free, we are on the wrong side, on the side of injustice! As the famous holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel says, "We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented." 

 

Our help is in the name of the Lord, affirms the Responsorial Psalm today. When we are a help to the oppressed, we are acting in the name of the Lord. The Lord raises Lord's judgement, Lord's Hero from where and when, we know not. But surely our help is in the name of the Lord, and let us strive to be always on the side of the Lord. If we fail, the Lord warns us today, "I tell you that it shall be more tolerable on the day of judgement for the land of Sodom than for you."

People who forget their stories

WORD 2day: Monday, 15th week in Ordinary time

July 12, 2021: Exodus 1:8-14, 22; Matthew 10:34 - 11:1

  

One cannot but think of the prevailing situations of inhumanity, cruel hegemony, political manipulation, socio-economic oppression and human right violations all over the world, when we read the first reading today! When we find ourselves in front of these suffering brothers and sisters, we cannot close our eyes or switch off our minds. No one can be neutral, in our own way we have to take our stand - if we try staying neutral, so many memories will come crowding into our minds: the world wars, the holocaust, the hiroshima-nagasaki, the Srilankan tamil carnage... how many of these can we ward off from our minds? 

Not only did the Pharaoh not know the history of Joseph and things that happened in his predecessors' times, even the people seemed to have forgotten their origins - of how they reached Egypt and why they reached there and that they were there only for a while, that the Lord had said they will move to "their" land later! They began to think Egypt was their land and they would be there for eternity. They forgot their story. The Lord had to remind them. The world today too has this spiritual amnesia! 

 

That is why the Lord comes with the sword, with fire... that we may wake up and wake up the world, and bring ourselves back as people who are mindful of our stories, our experiences, all that we have enjoyed from the Lord and all that we have promised the Lord and all that we have neglected so far. At times when we face turmoils, we need to turn back to our stories thus far and draw consolation and inspiration from there. In those moments of struggle, as people of God we need to realise that we are afflicted but not crushed,  perplexed but not driven to despair,  persecuted but not forsaken (cf. 2 Cor 4:8)... let us pay heed that we do not become people who forget their stories.  

CHOSEN

To be holy and blameless in love...

July 11, 2021: 15th Sunday in Ordinary time

Amos 7: 12-15; Ephesians 1: 3-14; Mark 6: 7-13

 

To begin with, God chose us! We did not choose God! So, deserting God, or switching allegiance, looking for greener pastures, blaming monotony, seeking thrills and demanding signs are totally unbecoming of a chosen one. Situations that are trying, opportunities that are attractive, offers that are tempting might often come our way, but the one who endures till the end takes the crown. God has chosen us in Christ. As Amos in today's first reading makes it clear: it is not in our greatness or in our credibility-status or in our self-worth, that the Lord has chosen us, but in Christ did God choose us.

The reason I am chosen is because, Christ died for me! Let us clarify it further… I am chosen, because Christ died for me…it is not that Christ died for me because I am chosen, but because Christ died for me, I have become chosen. Therefore, being chosen is not out of merit, we can never merit the unconditional love of God. Being chosen is because of the love that God has for us. Anyone can become, ‘chosen’, because Christ died for all…and all that one needs to do is become aware of the fact that Christ died for him or her, that God loves him or her, that he or she is a chosen son or daughter in the Spirit of the Lord.

Secondly, when did God choose me? In baptism we were buried with Christ says St. Paul (Rom 6:4; Col 2:12). Were we chosen at our baptism? But Isaiah says before I was born, while I was still in my mother’s womb, the Lord called me (Is 49:1). So, was I chosen when I was in my mother's womb? Jeremiah explains, before the Lord even formed me in the womb of my mother, the Lord knew me, called me and has a plan for me (Jer 1:5), to set me up as the so-called light of the world and prophet to the nations. So, was I chosen, before I were being even formed in my mother’s womb? St. Paul in his letter to the Ephesians, beats it all: God chose us before the foundations of the world. Right from the earliest moment that one can think of, or one cannot even think of, I belong to God!

            The greatest of gifts that chosenness gives me is the sense of purpose! Purpose, reason, motive, mission, meaning…are various words to mean one fundamental truth: God’s will for us, God-willed destiny for us, God’s plan for us in eternity. For I know the plans I have for you, the Lord promises us (Jer 29:11). Whether I understand it or not, or accept it or not… in God’s own eternity I have been chosen and I have a purpose for my life!

Thirdly, if the Lord has chosen me, for what has God chosen me: to be holy and blameless in love. To be in love, and through that being holy and blameless - that is the plan that God has for me, that is the invitation that the Lord offers me. The most important call that a Christian has, or to say the defining call that a Christian has, is to love – for by that they shall know you, that you are my disciples, by the love that you have for each other. It is love that can give me the identity of being chosen! It is not any great achievement, or big diplomas and degrees, or posts and positions, or buildings or projects, or massive gathering or expensive celebrations, that will determine the ardent Christian that I am…but it is love and love only, that will define my status as chosen to be a follower of Christ.

Love and do what you like, said Augustine. When we live our lives in love, we are sure to be holy and blameless. There is no other criterion as fool proof as love, to be considered chosen or not. By this they will know that you are my disciples, by the love that you have for one another (Jn 13:35). It is only love that can make me whole. It is only love that can lead me to a life that is absolutely blameless. It is only love that can lead me to be holy! 

The Call of the Lord is to holiness and God has chosen me; when I walk thought it, I fulfill my life’s purpose. It would be sad to think otherwise! It is never God who is going to miss it when I don’t realise my chosenness and live to bring it to fulfilment; it is always I who lose my meaning, peace of mind and fulfilment in life. Gratefully today let us re-embark on this journey of chosenness.

A Challenge and an assurance

WORD 2day: Saturday, 14th week in Ordinary time

July 10, 2021: Genesis 44: 18-21, 23-29, 45: 1-5; Matthew 10: 7-15

I know of so many youngsters who are so inspiring by the absolute choice that they have made for God and the will of God.  People who have had great ambitions and plans, but  have just thrown them into the air for the sake of a vision that God inspired. Persons who have had prospects so promising, but have ignored those just because they felt they have been called for a specific mission, a mission in the footsteps of the Master-saviour. Daring individuals who have made choices for which they are being derided, called names and have suffered worst experiences of want and willful deprivation. A challenge! 

When this challenge is taken up, one could find oneself on a tossing sea or a troubled sky, but nothing would disturb the person, for he or she has found a ground so firm, a base so strong, a root so deep - the Lord who calls, commissions and walks one through. At the end of all the tribulations, pervades a serenity, a sense of accomplishment, the same sense with which Jesus gasped on the cross, "It is accomplished." That is the tone in which Jacob aka Israel speaks today of his end and what should come after. 

The Lord does not leave us merely with the challenge, he attaches an assurance! The assurance of God's caring presence with us! Pope Francis in his first encyclical Lumen Fidei called this 'the accompanying presence of God' (LF 57). It is an assurance that arises from the fact that God loves us, that God values us, that God cares for us, and above all, that God counts on us!

The challenge is to belong to God, come what may. It is not an easy task considering the prevailing atmosphere today. 

To stick till the end

WORD 2day: Friday, 14th week in Ordinary time

July 9, 2021: Genesis 46: 1-7, 28-30; Matthew 10: 16-23

 

Enduring till the end is the test of the strength of one's faith. Israel (Jacob) today expresses that great satisfaction in having endured till the end, on seeing Joseph alive..."Now let me die!" - a sense of fulfilment! As later we would hear Simeon exclaiming in the Temple of Jerusalem on seeing the child Jesus, "At last all-powerful Master, let your servant go in peace. For, my eyes have seen the salvation you have prepared for the nations!" 

Jesus teaches the same to us his followers, "the one who endures till the end shall be saved" (Mt 10:22). Endurance that Jesus demands is for two reasons - first, because all the troubles that a follower of Christ faces is for such a noble purpose, a cause so great, that anything can be given up for its sake - the Reign of God on earth. Seek first the Reign of God... even if you have to give up your home, your dear ones, your belongings or even your life, for you will be rewarded hundred percent, says the Lord, here on earth and in the eternal life! 

Secondly, because the mission entrusted to us is so vast and so immense that these troubles can measure nowhere in comparison to it. He says with a tinge of humour, even if you have to run from one town to the other due to persecutions, "you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel, before the Son of man comes." Such was the determination of the early Christians and the Apostles who led them from the fore - to stick till the end, the very end.

To proclaim through our daily lives the Reign of God and if we have to face hard consequences due to it, to be prepared to endure it all the way - that is the call for me today. 

Shalom - Carrying God's message...

WORD 2day: Thursday, 14th week in Ordinary time 

July 8, 2021: Genesis 44:18-21, 23b-29, 45:1-5; Matthew 10: 7-15

 

The theme of yesterday continues still - Being sent, and sent on a mission! The Lord sends the twelve to carry his message to all the people of Israel, a message of gladness, healing, restoration, peace and joy... in short Shalom! 

As Joseph notes in the last verse of the first reading today, "it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you". It was with a mission that Jesus was sent to us and it is with a mission that Jesus sends us today - he says to each of us: "As the father sent me, so I send you"(Jn 20:21). 

Each of us is sent! Sent with the promise of Shalom; Shalom which is fullness of blessings that we wish for every brother or sister in the Lord, or for that matter that is what we wish for the whole world as sons and daughters of the Good Lord. We may wonder, why the whole world... is it not only those who are good to me; those who are my well-wishers? But the Lord and the Word today have it otherwise.

We are presented with the example of Joseph who in spite of all that they did to him tells the rest of the sons of Jacob, “I am your brother"! Isn't that the true Christian attitude expected of us? This is possible only if we look at everything from the perspective of God as did Joseph, and of course Jesus! That is shalom... not just being good to those who are good, but being good and... period - irrespective of what others are and what the world is.

Let this day be another opportunity for us to carry the Lord's message today: Shalom to you! 

 

His band... of brothers and sisters

WORD 2day: Wednesday, 14th week in Ordinary time

July 7, 2021: Genesis 41:55-57, 42:5-7a, 17-24a; Matthew 10: 1-7

 

The Twelve... that is the common element in the two readings today. The 12 tribes and the 12 apostles, was not a mere coincidence, it was more than that. It was a choice to resemble because the Lord was raising a new people of God, the New Israel, a new band of brothers and sisters. 

Jesus had a big following, that is, his disciples and from them he sends these 'Apostles'; we are among his disciples already by our Baptism and he wants to send each of us with a specific mission. And each of us sent, exactly to where we are - to our homes, to our neighbourhoods, to our parishes, to our societies... to establish the Reign of God, that is, to assure the needs of all, to stand by the neglected and guarantee them their rights, to stand against the ungodly forces, the unjust systems, the corrupt and inhuman dominations, to empower the people towards a peaceful, serene and human existence. 

The naming of the Apostles - with a function given to them: to chase the evil spirits and to heal the sick! Apostles are those who are 'sent' (literally too, 'apostolos' in Greek); sent in the name of God with a specific mission. Joseph of the Old Testament, was an apostle too - sent ahead by God to Egypt in order to provide for God's people at a later time! So, providing for God's people, liberating them from the ungodly forces and giving them a life in all its fullness - those are the duties of an apostle, on behalf of the Lord who sends him or her.  

Have I made real efforts to understand my call and my mission as an apostle, the Lord's band of brothers and sisters?