A NEW YEAR PRAYER AND WISH

 

A New Song to the Lord!

WORD 2day: Last day of the year 2022

December 31, 2022: 1 John 2:18-21; John 1:1-18

Oh what a day to sing a new song, one may think! When everyone thinks of something that is ending, the Word calls us today to sing a new song! Not that the liturgy does not take note of the last day...it does! In fact, the first reading speaks of the last days and the things that pertain to the last day! But the responsorial, that is the response to that Word, invites us already to sing a new song! That is truly a Christ-ian spirit! 

To sing a new song when every one thinks everything is coming to its end, for our hope has no end. It is a beginning for us... a new beginning, in the Lord, in whom we have "received grace upon grace" (John 1:16). Today... is a day to thank the Lord for everything, for everything that we have walked through this year. Some, we may label 'good', and others we may label 'bad'... but invariably everything has happened with the knowledge of God...there is nothing more blessed than to offer everything up into the hands of God this day, as we await an all new grace from God's hands... a new year that begins at the end of this day. 

Let us prepare ourselves in thanksgiving to receive an all new grace from God's hands... and in the meanwhile, come, let us sing a new song to the Lord!

Lessons from the Holy Family

Feast of the Holy Family
December 30, 2022 : Sirach 3: 3-7,14-17a; Colossians 3: 12-21

Increasing number of Homes for the Aged, Orphanages, Day care centres and Night shelters for the kids on the streets, alarming rate of divorces and split families, the ridiculous family feuds and meaningless stand offs among the relatives within a family... these are no strange scenes today in a Christian Community! And much more, these are vivid testaments of a collapsing Christian faith. The Christian faith is a faith of a Community, from the earliest times known it is experienced, lived and shared in a community; and the basic unit of the community is the family. That is the reason for using the beautiful term, 'domestic church' referring to the family. It is there, that the Church grows from a seed to a seedling and then to an orchard of God's love. The Solemnity today, intends to rekindle in us our respect for families, our commitment to living our faith in our families and as families to become the nuclei of God's love that can give birth to a whole new world, a world of love, peace, joy and fellowship.

The Holy Family of Nazareth presents to us a wonderful project towards this dream:

To the Families: BE GOD CENTERED!
The first reading invites us to reflect on the fact that a Christian Family is constituted by God. It is not merely the man and the woman who come together to make the family, but it is the Lord who brings them together. The second reading affirms the same in the words of St. Paul, who elsewhere points out that marriage should lead to mutual sanctification of the partners (1 Cor 7:14). As long as God is the centre of a family, the family will remain united, bonded in the love of God.

God was at the centre, in the Holy Family... God commanded, the family carried out. They listened to God, obeyed God and took directions from God. Do we as a family, listen to God and take directions from God?

To the Individuals: BE FAMILY CENTERED!
The individualistic and materialistic tendencies of the society at large, have begun to affect the individual families drastically. Individuals within a family, far from thinking of the well being of the other, have begun to calculate the gain they have from the rest of the family and stoop to dirty levels of hurting the other for one's own good!

The Good of the Family was the uppermost criterion in the Holy Family... Mary did not mind the running around, be it when she was still carrying or after the delivery; Joseph did not mind taking up the burdens of transferring them every time; all that was in their mind was the Good of the Family and Jesus was no exception as Luke says in his Gospel, "he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them' (Lk 2:51). Do we as individuals, place the good of the others in the family before my own interests?

To the Churches: BE COMMUNION CENTERED!
The Local Churches, that is the parishes, are essentially God's Family of families. In the wise and eternal plan of our loving Lord, the Universal Church in the world is the communion of Churches in various nations, namely the dioceses; the Diocesan church is the communion of the local parish churches; the Parish church has to be the communion of the domestic churches, that is the Family! All of us united in the name of the Father, Son and the Spirit, who invite us to form one, big, universal family of loving hearts - that family which is called the REIGN OF GOD.

The Holy Family did everything with just one objective in mind: that God's will be done. Mary said that to Angel Gabriel: Let it be done unto me according to your will, and ever since she did nothing but obey the Lord with thanks, praise and reflection in her heart. Joseph carried out every command that was given to him without speaking a word of doubt or objection - all for the will of God to be done. Do we as part of the parish church, do our part to grow in our communion with each other, towards forming one, big, God's family - the Reign of God?

Let us take to heart the lessons from the Holy Family today...and as families be God centered, as individuals be Family centered and as a Parish be Communion centered.

Light and darkness; Love and hatred!

WORD 2day - 5th day in Christmas Octave

December 29, 2022: 1 John 2: 3-11; Luke 2: 22-35

Christmas is not over yet, we are still in the Octave! There is a gradual revelation of the Son who has come into the world - Simeon today identifies the Light that has come into the world: a light of revelation for the gentiles and glory for Israel (Lk 2:32). 

There is come amidst us the light, which makes us see the right facts, the light which helps us understand the real meaning of our life, the light that Christ is, the light that Christ brought into the world - that is LOVE. Whoever claims to be in light but hates his brother or sister, is still in darkness (1 Jn 2:9)...they have still not seen the light, the true light, the Christ, the Son!

Light and darkness, Love and hatred...everything is around us today in every situation. What is our choice - to accept the light and to behold the Christ? Or to compromise with the world and remain in darkness? Light is love, and hatred is darkness. It can fill us - either light or the darkness of hatred. 

Yes, light is love, hatred is darkness. Amidst the vast crowd that does not mind being in darkness for reasons known only to them, let our light shine - because we have beheld the Lord, because we have seen Love! We can shine as light or we can get stifled by darkness - the choice is ours!

Innocents die even today!

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

December 28, 2022: The Feast of the Holy Innocents

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

The innocents die, even today! Due to the malice of minds and the avarice of various kinds, innocents die even today. At the hands of the oppressive forces with heartless greed for power and dominance, innocents die even today. By the selfish acts of the conniving perverts and the corrupt bigwigs, innocents die even today. 

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

The authentic culture of a society can be understood by the way it treats its children, its elders, its weak and its helpless members, they say. That is why the Holy Father Pope Francis keeps insisting on our care for the children, the elders, the sick and the weak. And the Church has always remained so strong with regard to abortions, because of the inviolable dignity that life possesses, right from its very beginning - the innocents who are yet to see the light.

The world is running swift into a dungeon of selfishness and cruelty, which does not even think of the others, leave alone wishing the good of the others. There are persons and systems which work together to exploit the innocent and the ignorant. As a people of God, we need to stand against such systems and uphold the inalienable rights of every child of God. Let not just our prayers be raised today but our commitment too towards protecting the rights and the well being of the helpless innocents! The call is that we open our eyes to the innocents who are massacred even today!

Joy - the sign of Christian life and ministry

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

December 27, 2022: Remembering St. John, the Evangelist
1 John 1:1-14; John 20: 2-8

The Christmas joy continues, even as we commemorate St.John the Evangelist today. "The Joy of the Gospel fills the hearts and lives of all who encounter Jesus," says the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, no. 1. Though the Gospel today draws our attention to the scene of the resurrection, the message is more focused on the all important encounter with Christ that redefines one's life. When a person encounters Christ in all earnestness, there is a choice, a categorical choice for Christ and Christ's mission!

As St. Paul affirms that it is no merit that an apostle proclaims the Word, but woe to him if he does not (1 Cor 9:16), today we see John explaining that in the first reading: I am called to announce Christ, not merely because others will benefit from it; but primarily that my joy may be complete (1 Jn 1:4). That is the Christmas joy too, the joy of beholding the revelation of God's love and sharing it with the other. 

For a Christian, a joy-filled proclamation of Christ is the only way to live his or her life - joyfully proclaiming Christ in every word, every action and every choice that is made, at every moment of one's daily life.

The Reign Dream

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

December 26, 2022: St. Stephen, the first Martyr
Acts 6: 8-10, 7: 54-59; Matthew 10: 17-22

Persecutions and Martyrdom have never been alien to Christian Faith. St. Stephen is the first Biblical evidence to it. Continuing in the line of the prophets and persons of God who have been treated at will by the world in the Old Testament, we see Jesus and most of his disciples facing the same end in the New Testament.

Religious fanaticism and the consequent discrimination and communalism is dangerously being justified these days as patriotism and conservatism! Be it the 'islamophobia' that is spread globally, or the anti-secular system that is being forced through the fabric of tolerance and conviviality in great enviable traditions, the hate speeches and hidden agenda... these are signs of anti-Reign elements in the world today.

St. Stephen knew what it meant to suffer for the Reign and die for Christ; it meant suffering for the things that really matter; it meant standing for true beliefs and convictions that can elevate your spirit to the heavens open and the angels coming down!

It was Stephen who also imitated his Master literally: while Jesus prayed for those who crucified him and offered his spirit into the hands of his loving Father, Stephen prayed for those who stoned him and surrendered his spirit into Jesus' hands. What an example for us to emulate! Not only praying what Stephen prayed but seeing what he saw: the open heavens - that is open hearts, high ideals, profound humanity, in short, the Reign dream.

CHRISTMAS WISHES AND PRAYERS

 

கிறிஸ்து பிறப்பின் வாழ்த்துகள்

 

Morning Star - saving us from death and darkness!

The WORD in ADVENT - December 24

Christmas Novena - Day 9
2 Samuel 7: 1-5, 8-12, 14, 16; Luke 1: 67-79

Awe is the third and most important trait to receive the Lord. Translated as fear of God, it is a sense of spiritual wonder, the capacity to be open to the doings of the Lord. Without a sense of wonder, no one can even perceive the Lord, let alone receiving the Lord.

Very often we think of our spirituality as doing something for God - going to the Church, saying prayers, participating in Mass... all these are important, yes! But more important is our openness to God, allowing God to work in us, listening to God, looking to understand what God communicates to us here and now! Is it you who would build a house for the Lord, asks prophet Nathan to David... God would build you a house!

David who was a simple shepherd boy was built into a house - the House of David: about which both the first reading and the Gospel speak of today. God built David into a house, a house, a lineage in which the Saviour of the humankind would be born. What an awesome feat of God. Imagine if David had rebelled and said, 'No I would by all means build a house for God', after all building the temple of the Lord was a noble thing. 

Doing a noble thing is good, but more important and crucial is doing what God wants us to do and the most noble thing is surrendering to the Lord and allowing the Lord to do what the Lord wants with us, with a sense of awe! At times in our busy 'doing' that we forget 'to be' in the presence of God. Let us keep this as the highest priority today... as we are just a few hours from celebrating the awesome mystery of incarnation, let us stay in awe, remain in wonder at the marvels of the Lord, the immensity of the Love that the Lord shares with us this Christmas! 

Let us open our heart and our mind, that we may receive the Lord in awe! The Lord is not just near... but the Lord is here!!! We celebrate the Rising Star, the Morning Star that announces the break of day! The Lord comes to rule in our hearts, not just the world... let us prepare ourselves... for the Lord is here.

Readiness to receive the Lord who is with us!

The WORD in ADVENT - December 23

Christmas Novena - Day 8
Malacchi 3:1-4,23-24; Luke 1: 57-66

Let us continue today reflecting on the necessary traits to receive the Lord who comes to visit us...the first trait we had said, was eagerness and the second trait that we see today is, Readiness! 

Readiness does not mean a mere passive waiting... it is an active preparation, without which one would miss the moment of truth. The preparation would consist, first of all, of knowing. It's the message we reflected this Sunday... Knowing and understanding, they form the first level of preparedness. 

Being prepared may not be enough. There is an interesting saying: it is not enough to be prepared, but one needs to be ready! There are many, for instance, who keep preparing themselves for a special moment but are never ready to really live the moment! 

The coming of the Lord is a moment of truth for us, and we have to be ready - which is, to be prepared in heart and mind, of course. But along with that, we need to be ready in spirit and in action. To know and to live by what one knows, to believe and to live by what one believes - that is being ready!

The first reading calls us to exactly to this - to be well disposed, to be refined as silver is refined in the furnace, to make our life worthy of the sacred mysteries we are about to celebrate. It is like the period of pain that Elisabeth and the time of muteness that Zachariah had to go through. For us, the sacrament of Reconciliation is a wonderful moment of refinement, a great sign of our READINESS to receive the Lord, this Christmas!

The antiphon of the Novena today, O Emmanuel (based on the famous prophecy of Isaiah 7:14), is the key to understand the mystery of incarnation. The presence of God with us is the greatest of all the promises that we can think of. Christ comes as the fulfilment and the most complete expression of that promise: as God among us. The symbol given is the virgin with the child in the manger. The manger is a lovely symbol that unites the heaven and the earth, the Divine and the human!

The prayer today is that the Lord our God, save us by God's saving presence... in simple words it is beseeching the Lord to stay with us, to live with us, to sanctify us, to make us worthy of God who is always with us! 

Our King - the source of joy and meaning!

The WORD in ADVENT - December 22

Christmas Novena - Day 7

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

The spirit of exultation is in the air, we are close to the celebration of the joyful event of the incaration. The Lord came, in history, to ensure that humanity knew its the image and likeness in which it is made. The Lord comes in every experience and person which acts as the source of meaning to life and life's choices. The Lord shall come wherever and whenever there is a search for signifcance in life, a search that can offer hope to life that is ahead.

The Word made flesh who identified with us - a great reason to rejoice and exult. True joy comes from the fact that we are united in the Lord, from where comes our identity, the real meaning of our life. No success or failure, no social status or title, no accomplishment or lack can define me. It is only the image of God within me that can give me true joy! 

This day invites us to contemplate this image of God, made flesh, become human and nourishes as the source and spring of our very being and of its true joy.

The antiphon of the Novena today, the King of nations, based on Isaiah 9:6, 2:4 and 28:16, is a yearning of the people of Israel. They wanted Yahweh to be their king always, even when they had a human king ruling them. That is why they did not give in to the Emperor worship that was so widespread in the dominant cultures of their times. God is the king, forever and over all! The Symbol presented is the crown and the sceptre, that signifies the central place that God has in our personal and universal history; and the authority that rests solely with God.

The prayer today is to save the human kind, from slaveries of sin and death, and to lead to the freedom of the children of God, for that is what we are, children created in the image and likeness of God. It is to grow in this identity and dignity that the coming of the Lord invites us. Let our soul glorify the Lord, forever and ever.

Light - to see with the eyes of the Lord

The WORD in ADVENT - December 21

Christmas Novena - Day 6

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

If we had noticed, we would be aware that we have been seeing some dangers of missing the Lord these days in the Word. From today, we shall reflect from the Liturgy, on some necessary dispositions to behold the coming of the Lord and to behold the Reign amidst us. 

One of the needed traits to receive the Lord, pointed out in the Word today, is Eagerness! Looking forward to meet the love of your life - that is the kind of disposition required if we really want to behold the coming of the Lord, counsels the liturgy of this day. The Song of Songs expresses the longing that one has for the beloved. Waiting for the Lord is not a passive waiting, but an active preparation, an active seeking, an active going towards the Lord. Waiting for the Reign too, is not an inactive procrastination, but an involved collaboration towards the Reign. 

The eagerness that we need to have for the Lord, is like that innocent sweet child who, at the end of her busy day of birthday celebrations, asked her father with a broad smile, "Daddy, when will my birthday come again?" That eagerness, that longing, that yearning like the parched land for water, like the deer for the running streams, like the drowning person for a breath above the waters... that is the eagerness we need to have, if we really want to encounter the Lord who visits us this Christmas!

The antiphon of the novena today is based on Isaiah again (9:2 and 60:1-2). O Oriens... the latin term literally means O Rising Sun or Dawn. For poetic sense translated as Morning Star, it refers to the power of God's light to lead us from ignorance to knowledge and from mere knowledge to enlightenment. The Symbol is the Rising Sun, which dispels the darkness of the night and wakes the light of the morning, inviting all to life and activity. The coming of the Lord for us is a wake up call, an invitation to live as people of the light and not of darkness!

The prayer today is for enlightenment, that in these times of confusion and crisis, confounding choices and staggering philosophies, we might remain always in the light of faith, that not only helps us see the Lord, but see with the eyes of the Lord (Lumen Fidei).

Liberation: the way opening to fullness of life

The WORD in ADVENT - December 20, 2022

Christmas Novena - Day 5

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

When troubles surround or challenges abound, we try to manage our lives with our own strength or seeking those who can give a solution, notwithstanding the fact that they themselves are persons with similar problems and puzzles. Fortune predictions, numerical calculations, geographical adjustments, material omens... how many substitutes we run to, instead of the Lord almighty who alone has the ultimate power! 

Ahaz, in the first reading, represents that world of reducing the Lord God to our thinking, our calculations and our predictions! How many times we keep pressurising the Lord, with our clamour for signs and demands for favours, all in the name of prayers! It is in this context that Mary stands a great a model and a challenge who is remarkable in her silent acceptance of the marvels of God which are beyond any of our imagination, even at the most trying moment of our lives.

The Word today warns us of yet another danger of missing the Lord who comes to visit us: It is reducing God to our own petty thinking, our human thinking, that when God acts in history we do not even notice the wonder of God's presence. We want God in our own terms, not in God's own terms!

The antiphon of the Novena today, based on prophet Isaiah (22:22, 9:7 and 42:7), makes a reference is to the sovereignty of God's Reign. That the throne shall have no end, is a Messianic prophecy that God will be always remain the Lord of history! Liberation of the oppressed and the fullness of life of all, is the sign of this Reign. The symbol of the key to signifies the authority that God has, in creating, changing and structuring the whole history.

The prayer today is for liberation... that the Lord opens the way that leads towards fullness of life, that is the experience of the Reign on earth. It is also a commitment to work towards, to contribute one's might and mite, towards establishing the Reign here and now!

To hope without limits

The WORD in ADVENT - December 19, 2022

Christmas Novena - Day 4: Judges 13:2-7,24-25; Luke 1: 5-25

The Word today presents to us two women, considered and categorised as 'barren', who miraculously bear their firstborns and dedicate them to the Lord! There is Manoah's wife, the mother of Samson and thereis Elizabeth, the wife of Zecchariah. The two newborns, Samson and John, even before they were conceived were meant to be God's messengers! One was a nazirite from the mothers womb and the other was capable  of identifying the One who comes in the name of the Lord, right from when he was in his mother's womb! 

What the world considers impossible, the Lord proves possible; what the world cannot even think of, the Lord has planned from eternity and executes in God's own time; what the world thinks natural and normal. the Lord manifests how spectacular and wonderful it is... life - a great gift from the Lord to each of us. 

When moments seem troublesome and weary, dark and dreary, confusing and out of control... we tend to give up hope, become desperate and fall into the danger of hopelessness! With the sense of desperation, one can miss the most obvious and grand signs of the magnificence of God that appears on a daily basis! This is a real danger that can push us to the state of missing the Lord who comes: a sense of desperation, the tendency to Hopelessness!

The Symbol is that of the shoot growing on a dry bark... signalling the hope that the Lord offers in times when everything seems dark and dead. The exodus event, the miracles in the desert, the water from the rock, the guidance by day and night - everyone of these was a sign of God's promises being fulfilled. The final fulfillment and the pinnacle of everything was - Incarnation, that which we are preparing to celebrate.

The prayer today is to reinforce that HOPE...that we may always look forward to the deliverance that the Lord can offer! Never let anyone rob you of your hope, reminds our Holy Father.

BEHOLDING THE PROMISES

The Reign amidst us

The WORD in ADVENT - Christmas Novena - Day 3

December 18, 2022: Fourth Sunday in Advent

Isaiah 7: 10-14; Romans 1:1-7; Matthew 1: 18-24

Promises, prophecies and prodigies fill the history of our Christian faith. Promises are from the Lord, prophecies are from persons of God and prodigies are for all of us to see, provided we are ready to see it. One thing is God revealing Godself, it is entirely another thing that we receive it! We are at the threshold of the feast for which we have been preparing for the past three weeks, and today we are in fourth Sunday of Advent and we are already in the novena - but are we ready to Behold the Lord, are we disposed to behold the promises of the Lord? This is the question that the Word wants us to raise within ourselves.

The drama of the God-Human interplay begins with a promise from the Lord: let us consider that promise from the Old Testament - when the humankind fails miserably and disobeys God, God instead of disowning the humankind, chides the evil one who led God's children away, something which the prince of lies continues to do even today. God does not only just chide the evil one but challenges to save the humankind to eternal life - against the wish of the evil one to lead them to eternal damnation. The challenge was in the form of a promise: I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offsping and hers! That was a promise which amounted to say to us: I shall never leave you at the mercies of the evil one! But has the human kind always lived up to it? In other words, has the human kind always beheld that promise?

The Lord renews that promise once again as we read in the first reading today, the propehcy of Isaiah: the Lord himself will give you a sign; the maiden is with child and will soon give birth to a son, whom she will call Immanuel, a name which means 'God-is-with-us'. The woman, the maiden, the girl of Nazareth - is with child and in two days we shall celebrate the event when she gave birth to that child. And then there were so many prodigies, did they really behold it? The promises were given, they were prophesied about, and prodigies brought those promises to life - but they ignored it, they rejected it... let us say, we rejected it, we ignored it, we failed to behold it.

Today the promises are being fulfilled, revealed with prodigies all around, are we ready to behold it? The capacity to behold the promises of the Lord - that is what Christmas is all about. We are about enter into the festivities, but hold on, let us have a look at ourselves, our dispositions: are we ready to behold the Lord? Have we developed the capacity to behold the promises of the Lord. That capacity consists of three levels and this is what the Word instructs today about.

The first level is the level of knowing! To know first of all that we have great promises from the Lord and secondly to know what they are! One of the promises that God has never ceased to give is that of God's never failing presence! I am with you until the end of times - this was Jesus the Christ. But that is only a reflection of what God the Father had promised the people of Israel - through Abraham, through Moses, through Joshua, through Jeremiah... and finally through God's own Son who would be coming soon among us, as God made human, Word made flesh! The promise - if only we truly know them and understand them! This is what St. Paul reminds us, writing to the Romans today - to know and to understand the promises of the Lord and those of Christ.

The second level is the level of believing! To know the promises is one thing, to believe in them is another. At times we know God has promised to be with us, but whether we believe in it all the time, is a serious question. We think God is up there and distant from us at times, when we go through things in our life with our own calculations and hidden agenda, with external justifications and completely different internal motivations, with appearances that totally deceive others from what truly goes on in the depths of our hearts - does not God know it? Whose patience are we trying to put to test, asks Isaiah in the first reading. God knows the innermost thoughts of our minds - do we really believe in the promises of the Lord? Do we believe that God is faithful and God will never fail in keeping up to God's promises? If not, how will we behold them at all?

The third level is the level of experiencing! To know the promises and to believe in them actually means, experiencing them in our daily life, in every day chores, in every person we meet, in events that happen around us, in miracles that surround us, in wonders that keep happening and in the signs and splendours that mark the history that we are living and creating everyday. At times we are lost in seeing what the powerful decide that we see, we are too occupied in sensing what those who manipulate us want us to sense, we are too busy perceiving things from the perspective of those who want to lead us astray or at least to their own perspective. We consider some strangers, because we are taught to consider that way. We consider some as low, because we are conditioned to think we are higher. We consider some as superior because we are brought up to look down on ourselves... we fail to truly experience the reality, the real beauty in God's creation - with all its diversities, with all its varieties, and with all its peculiarities. How can we them see the richness of the revelation of God? God reveals Godself on a daily basis, how can we really see it if we are not disposed to behold it? Look at Joseph in the Gospel today: he was able to look at Mary with compassion and accept her. Look at Mary: she was able to accept that strange call, trusting in the presence of God with her. Look at the saintly couple, Mary and Joseph: they were able to carry on with every thing that was happening between them, because they trusted in the promises of the Lord. They lived it!

Today, let us take it upon ourselves to get to know the promises that God wishes to give each of us. Let us believe that God would always be faithful to God's promises. Let us prepare ourselves to experience those promised in our daily life, because let us remember, Miracles abound for those who are prepared to see them around!

Wisdom - to take nothing for granted!

The WORD in ADVENT - December 17, 2022

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

The first reading today speaks of the sons of Jacob, and among them Judah who has to rule! The lineage already foretold to bring the Messiah into the world. The Gospel reading gives us the whole lineage of Jesus, the Christ who is to come! Starting from Abraham and passing through Judah, arriving at David and all the way to Jesus. The discourse on lineage is an underscoring of how relationhsip holds a pride of place within the covenant of the Lord. 

Let us look at those who are around us... we know them all - their history, their geography, their background... and with all these, we think we know them so much, that we run the risk of missing the Lord who wants to encounter us in them, in their words or gestures! Can we take our relationships for granted: that is the central question today.  

There is a practical danger in our life, that we look at some persons everyday or meet them so regularly, that they no longer really mean anything to us. This is one of the blocks that can lead us to miss the Lord who comes to us - taking persons with us for granted. 

The antiphon of the Novena today inspires us to call upon the Lord as the Wisdom from on high, that enlightens us towards prudence and true knowledge. Based on Isaiah 11:2-3 and Isaiah 28:29... the antiphon recalls the most popular attribute given to the Spirit of the Lord and the Word of God which is seen active in creation and order of the universe. It is this Word, who becomes flesh to dwell among us (John 1:14). The prayer today is for Prudence, to be guided by the Wisdom of the Lord, that we may take nothing, particularly no one, around us for granted!

House of Prayer and House for all!

The WORD in ADVENT - 16th December, 2022

Christmas Novena - Day 1: Come, Lord, with your Peace!

Isaiah 56: 1-3, 6-8; John 5: 33-36

My house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples! It comes easier for us to emphasise this assertion from the Lord. But unwittingly we focus on the first part and leave the second as if it does not matter as much. But the Word today poses us precisely that as a challenge. 

The Lord is making a house of prayer, and not just that... a house for all. Foreigners, outcasts, others... these are no more relevant terms within this frame of thinking, about the house of the Lord. Because, it is a house of prayer for all, for all invariable of their creed or colour or category of social stratification. The Lord is calling our attention to the identity that we are given in the Lord who comes to visit us... in Christ, we are made one, one family, one brotherhood and sisterhood. We are One house of the Lord, a house of prayer, a house for all. 

It becomes so difficult for the world in practice to live this oneness - within the Church, within the faith communities, and even within Religious communities! It is not a fact to be taken for granted. Migration and openness to the realities caused by it seems so attractive a topic to discuss and debate, but when it comes to concrete decisions to make, it remains still a thorn in the flesh for the human community at large. The coming of the Lord challenges us towards this - that we see our oneness in the Lord. 

As we begin today the second phase of the Advent preparation, we begin the great tradition of the Church today - the Christmas novena. And within this novena... leaving out the first day and the last day... there are 7 verses from the prophecies from the Old Testament (Isaiah) which announce the coming of the Lord's Messiah... they are named "O" Antiphons, each of these antiphons, so meaningful and beautiful, with reaching meaning and challenge. 

Today the novena invites us to call upon the mercy of the Lord to grant us peace, a peace that comes from solidarity, when we are bulit up into one house, one house of prayer, one house for all. 

Open and Ready to Receive the Joy?

 The WORD in ADVENT - Third Thursday

December 15, 2022: Isaiah 54: 1-10; Luke 7: 24-30

The mountains may depart, the hills be shaken, but the love of the Lord shall stand forever, reminds us Isaiah. The covenant that the Lord has made shall never go in vain. These beautiful lines from the prophet are not merely some romantic lines or immaginary desires - this is a commimtment that God taken on our behalf... to be with us till the end of times. 

One of the enemies that would hinder us from expereincing that trememdous love of God, is a lack of openness to it and inability to recieve it when it is given actually. Openness is preparation and the act of receiveing it is celebration. We are moving fast into the moment of celebration and that is what this week reminds us - last week was preparation and this week is already a foreshadowing of the celebration to come. 

Jesus draws our attention to the need for this openness/preparedness and receiving/beholding the Lord at His coming - what did you go to see in the desert? He is making a cause of the way people missed John the Baptist, the Elijah promised to return. Today we are awaiting the coming of another - are we going to receive him or are we going to miss him? The urgency is well felt. 

The messengers, the message, the announcement - everything is here. All the remains to be ensured is our choice to really prepare and truly receive the Messiah. Are we doing enough to receive that visit of the Lord? Are we open enough to receive the message and feel the presence of the messenger? How disposed are we to make present the joy of the Reign where we are? 

To make the Lord seen

The WORD in ADVENT - Third Wednesday

December 14, 2022: Isaiah 45:6-8,18,21-25; Luke 7: 19-23

The Word today indicates the proximity of the great feast of Christmas, posing the question: are you the one to come? And look at the answer given, not merely by Jesus, but also by the first reading and the responsorial psalm. Open your eyes and see!

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

The dumb speak, the deaf hear, the crippled walk, the sinners are forgiven, the diseased are healed, the lonely are accompanied, the poor are fed, the jobless are sustained, the weak are strengthened, the oppressed are freed, the voiceless are empowered, the least are lifted, the lost are respected... these are the signs of the coming of the Lord - signs of joy; true, inner and deep joy specially of those who are broken in spirit and fear-stricken in life.

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

Truly God's Children

The WORD in ADVENT - Third Tuesday

December 13, 2022: Zephaniah 3:1-2,9-13; Matthew 21: 28-32

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

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

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

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

Relying on the Real King

The WORD in ADVENT - Third Monday

December 12, 2022: Numbers 24:2-7,15-17; Matthew 21: 23-27

Balaam asserts, affirms and reaffirms on whose authority he speaks; the Jewish leaders and priests ask Jesus on whose authority Jesus does all that he does. Both Balaam and Jesus, we see in the Word today, were fearless, and so was John the Baptist, who is referred to! 

Balaam was faced with a furious whole race, John the Baptist with a hard hearted set of people who felt in many ways self-sufficient and Jesus, with a powerful top brass of the society. The first two made it clear to themselves and to those around, that they relied not on their personal power, or eloquence, or skill, or talent but on the Lord whom they announced! Jesus made his identity and authority clear through his life and commitment to his Father, in every minute detail of his words and actions. 

Today when the very institutions like the governments and public services, which have to safeguard the common good, start working against equality, justice and human dignity, what do you do! Stand up, speak up and usher in the Reign! No authority can stop us! And we need to please no authority, except One. 

The key message today is this: that an authority that will never be questioned is the Lord who reigns over all. Submitting myself to that Reign and inspiring others to submit to the Reign, is the way we are called to establish the Reign of God, here and now. The Reign of God, is not a Reign that expands by conquest and battles, but by commitment and conviction, by submission and surrender, by a personal choice to rely absolutely on the real King, the Lord of the Reign!

JOYFUL WAITING FOR THE REIGN

Assurance, Aspirations and Associations

December 11, 2022: 3rd Sunday of Advent
Isaiah 35: 1-6,10; James 5:7-10; Matthew 11:2-11

An expectant couple, a lover on the park bench, a child on the birthday eve, a starved person on a spread out table... these are vivid snapshots of the joy of waiting! There is a pain involved, but a pain that is part of the joy. There are myriads of reasons to be disturbed and be restless about, but they are all overwhelmed by the joy that resides beneath, still hidden but already beginning to be seen. That is the picture that the Church wants us to contemplate this Sunday: the Joyful Waiting for the Reign.

This Sunday is called the Gaudete Sunday (Gaudete in latin simply means 'Rejoice')... taking off from the entrance antiphon which invites us today, to REJOICE, because the salvation of the Lord is near. If we note the colour of the vestments today...they are not merely the violet, but purple...to add the necessary element of joy to the waiting that we have begun some time ago! A Christian waiting should be joyful, the liturgy reminds us today.

The whole creation groans as with pangs of childbirth...for a peaceful, prosperous, perfect world. Every religion and every spirituality is a yearning towards that state of existence, called in various names - shalom, lokasangraha etc. Jesus revealed it to us as the Reign of God; "We are seeking God's Kingdom" reminds the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium(180) of Pope Francis. This waiting, this Christian waiting for the Reign of God is a joyful waiting, not a miserable waiting, nor a servile waiting. The Word today brings to our attention the marks of this joyful waiting:

The first mark is the Assurance of Faith. The first reading is full of words like, gladness, joy, exultation, rejoicing, shouting, leaping, singing... all these words are used by Isaiah, when the people of Israel are still in Exile...but they know their liberation is imminent. What fills their hearts and their lives is faith - a joyful and total abandonment into the hands of God, one who creates and directs history. A total assurance that the Lord is for them; the Lord stands in favour of them and the Lord will lead them to the prosperity that they are waiting for. Our life, to be truly Christian, to be truly worthy of the Reign, has to be based firmly on this assurance of faith, that the Lord is with us and the Lord is for us. When God is for us, who can be against us!

The second mark of a joyful waiting is the Aspirations of Hope. The first reading, the responsorial psalm and the Gospel are filled with imageries of the lame walking, the blind seeing, the deaf hearing, the dumb speaking... the aspirations of a heart, the desire for a better world, the yearning for a bright tomorrow, the thirst for justice and truth, these are infallible signs of the Reign. That is what we are invited to hope for, and only that hope will thrust us into action, towards doing our little bit, our essential part in making those dreams come true! We need to be filled with that vision, to reach the promised land, each and every one of us hand in hand.

The third mark is Associations of Love. The second reading touches upon a crucial point: yes we wait, but in the meanwhile what do we do? How do we comport ourselves? There are various modes of waiting... angry and restless... anxious and nasty... irritated and tensed... But the joyful waiting for the Reign has to be a wait that is filled with a "prophetic patience", says St. James. An abundance of patience that cherishes every moment that is spent in waiting. A patience that is expressed in our loving rapport with every brother and sister. Our relationships have to express to the world that we are people with a difference, we look for something that not everyone is looking for, that we are people who have our gaze fixed on the Lord and the Lord's Reign that everyone around seems beautiful and precious in our eyes!

We are waiting... we are waiting for the Reign... but the Reign is already here, the wait is to make it more and more visible! Hence, each of us has the responsibility, to make the Reign of God felt, here and now, through living with an abundance of assurance of faith, with limitless aspirations of hope and divine associations of love with each other. 

The joyful wait for the Reign, has to radiate that spirit of joy to every one, everyday in every way!

Holding His hands as we keep walking

The WORD in ADVENT - Second Saturday

December 10, 2022: Ecclesiasticus 48:17-19; Matthew 17: 10-13

News about violence everyday, cry of injustice and unfettered exploitation of the weak, persecutions in the name of religion and venomous maligning of persons and groups owing to the religious and moral values that they hold on to, the seeming victory of the evil forces - these are what we hear on a daily basis these days. And Jesus seems to tell us, "this is nothing new, since John the Baptist came upto this present time, the kingdom of Heaven has been subject to violence!" And the first reading adds hopefully, inspite of all these, "Do not be afraid, I shall help you."

The image that we are given today to ruminate, is that of a child holding the hand of the father or the mother, and braving the whole world around. Let us never forget that one quintessential truth of Christian faith: we are never alone! The Lord promises today: I, the God of Israel, shall never abandon you! 

We are in fact  preparing to celebrate precisely this truth; that God came to dwell with us. This is what incarnation is all about - God making that radical choice not only to be with us, but to be one among us and forever with us. And ever since, God has been with us; and God shall never abandon us. Let us celebrate that presence of God, not merely at special moments, but daily, and every moment of our lives - let us hold God's hands as we keep walking in our daily life.

Not to be childish, but Child-like

The WORD in ADVENT - Second Friday

December 9, 2022: Isaiah 48: 17-19; Matthew 11: 16-19

If we had noticed carefully these days, there is a constant reference in the Gospel this week to John the Baptist. From last Sunday, the Gospel and the preface keep presenting to us the figure of John the Baptist, to challenge us regarding how prepared we are for the Coming of the Lord!

Today's Word draws our attention to the difference between "being childish" and "being child-like."  Unless you become like a child you will not enter the Reign of God - but that in no way means you become or remain childish! Jesus gives a simple example - being childish is being so centered on yourself that you wish everything around you happens just as you wish and everyone does exactly what you wish... and said literally, that every one dances to your tunes!

Being childlike, instead, is being prophetic, being like the persons of God who abandon everything into the hands of God with total confidence in God and in God alone. 

Another typical quality of children - that they are single minded. You tell them, 'do this', they are all taken up with that until they do that - their entire mind is occupied with that. Look at the mindset of John the Baptist... or Jesus for that matter... so single minded in their faithfulness to the One who had sent them, and the mission entrusted to them respectively. Another prophetic character in them - like a child who is totally occupied with that one task entrusted to him or her!

Let us be like children, and grow to be more and more child-like; let us single mindedly walk in the path God has planned for us, with our hands in the hands of God. Let us not remain childish, looking for our immediate happiness but grow to be child-like, prophetic and God-loving. Let us distance ourselves from unutile childishness to a real spirit of the Reign, becoming more and more child-like!

Making ourselves worthy for our Lord to be born!

The WORD, The FEAST and ADVENT

December 8, 2022: Solemnity of Immaculate Conception
Genesis 3:9-15, 20; Ephesians 1:3-6,11-12; Luke 1:26-30

The Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of Our Blessed Mother - the dogma of faith that Mary, from the moment that she was conceived in her mother's womb, was preserved without the stain of original sin. The celebration of today has 3 reminders for us:

Reminder 1: God's plan for each of us is eternal! God chose to preserve Mary even before she was born, from the moment of her passing from non existence to existence! How true when the Word says, 'You know me even before my bones were being formed in the womb of my mother.' God knows each of us and has a mysterious plan for us from eternity. Is it not true that God has chosen us before the foundations of the world, as St. Paul says.

Reminder 2: It was indeed a grace that Mary was spared from the stain of original sin, but she on her part remained faithful, sinless and wholly belonging to God all her life that she brought this grace of holiness, right upto the end of her life when she was found worthy of another grace - that of Assumption. We were freed from the bond of original sin too, at our baptism. Is it not our duty to bring this baptismal innocence right through to the end of our life that we can find ourselves in the company of saints and angels in union with God almighty!

Reminder 3: For Mary it was a remote preparation to behold the Son of God within her in God's own time. The feast occurs during Advent and that reminds us that we are in that place too... waiting and willing to prepare ourselves to behold the Son of God, who wishes to be born in our lives this Christmas. How well is our preparation going?

The Message is simple and clear: God has chosen me from eternity to belong to God. It is my faithful response to this call that will determine my status as God's son or daughter. When I listen to God's word and live by it, God dwells in me, God's word will be born in me, making me the dwelling place, the tabernacle, the temple of the Living God!

Soar on the wings of Hope

The WORD, the SAINT and ADVENT - Second Wednesday

December 7, 2022: Celebrating St. Ambrose

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

Those who hope in the Lord will soar like the eagle, the Word underlines. Those who seek the Lord in their weariness and helplessness will find the rejuvenating wings of the Lord uplifting their spirits. The Reign is a promise of lifting the spirits of the drooping hearts. The spirit of the Reign is to take responsibility for those who grapple with life for meaning and purpose. 

St. Ambrose whom we celebrate today did that, and that is how we have St. Augustine today! Augustine was converted by the teaching and example of Ambrose. Ambrose himself was chosen in a miraculous way to lead the people of God. Everything amounts to show us that nothing is impossible for God. That is hope, the key to the spirit of the Reign.

Like Ambrose we are called to stand for hope. And when we do that the Lord stands by us! What a powerful imagery we are given in the Word, for this season of advent: to wait on the Lord! Those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles! The Word today is profusely filled with hope, a hope that comes from the abundance of love that the Lord has for us! It is strengthened by that love, that we can run but still not get weary. Even if we are weary, the Lord invites us to come to the Lord and rest in the Lord. 

Precisely when we feel burdened and stressed, we are invited by the Lord with his open arms, like the open wings of the eagle - to soar on the wings of hope! 

To surrender to our Shepherd

The WORD in ADVENT

December 06, 2022: Isaiah 40: 1-11; Matthew 18: 12-14

The image we are given to contemplate today is that of the good shepherd with a lamb in his bosom, caressing it with compassion and love! This is no strange or unfamiliar image for us... we have always imagined ourselves as a sheep in the hands of a shepherd. That is what we are in the hands of God. It is an humbling experience everyday to realise how much the Lord loves us - inspite of our weaknesses and limitations, repeated failures and endless mistakes. 

When we feel overwhelmed with struggles and surrounded by troubles, it is enough to contemplate this picture and we shall feel the warmth of his embrace and the consolation of his whispers. Despite the enemies that surround us, we will feel a sense of security; and there we will find the strength to begin anew and resume our walk with the Lord. We are called to prepare the way of the Lord and the first step is to know and realise that way, in our lives and our ways of living.  

At times we may feel a bit lost, with no clues as to how to go about, what is right, what is to be established and what is to be challenged, and above all, how! We may find hindrances and hurdles, at times tempatations and weaknesses from within too. But let us not lose heart. "The grass withers, the flower fades; but the Word of our God will stand for ever" and we will never be lost, for the good Shepherd will always come in search, will certainly find us and will gently lead us on! All that we need to do is, surrender to our Shepherd!

Anticipate the incredible

The WORD in ADVENT - Second Monday

December 5, 2022: Isaiah 35:1-10; Luke 5: 17-26

When the Lord comes you witness the incredible! The Lord is around and when you let the Lord into your life, things you consider incredible just happen from nowhere. It is not a mere imagination or a wishful thinking, it was a prediction based on concrete experiences. Israel certainly had experienced great things in history. 

Isaiah's prediction is made true by the event in the Gospel and the reaction of those high priests and scribes. Jesus was very subtle in making them understand that he had the power from God and with God anything was possible! Some were praising God for the experience, and there were others who were angry and upset about the same events - now arises the crucial question. What made the difference between these two sets of people?

One set of people were ready to expect the unexpected, anticipate the incredibe and praise God for what they say. The other set, the so-called learned and "theologically formed" set of people were so fixed in their ideas that they would impede even God from doing what they did not expect from God. What a presumptious way of living!

In our lives too the Lord stands knocking at the door, to change things and to change the way we see things and to change the entire experience of humanity... but it is upto us to let the Lord in. We would let him in when we are able to expect the unexpected, behold the unprecedented, and anticipate the incredible - for with God all things are possible, and nothing is impossible! 

THE SPIRIT OF THE REIGN

Righteousness, Peace and Joy in the Holy Spirit

December 4, 2022: 2nd Sunday of Advent 

Isaiah 11:1-10; Romans 15: 4-9; Matthew 3: 1-12

Repent, for the Reign of God is near! Last week, the first of the season, we had an invitation from the Lord! And today, as a sign of acceptance of that invitation, we are given a clarion call by the prophets, to prepare ourselves in a worthy manner to receive the King, to receive the Reign. This king we receive, is someone different, some one unique, and has a style and outlook totally different from all other rulers that we know of! He does not force himself on us; when he passes by, if we are worthy and ready to receive him, he will enter, remain with us and rule in our hearts, our homes and our land! If not, he passes by, and we are the losers...for the axe is kept at the roots, and the worthless shrubs will stand no ground. The readings today instruct us through the great prophets Isaiah, John the Baptist and Apostle Paul, as to our disposition to receive the Reign; they invite us to possess the Spirit of the Reign!

The Spirit of wisdom, understanding, counsel, strength, knowledge, piety and reverence of the Lord - that is the Spirit we should possess to be people of the Reign. The Reign will come, the Ruler will appear, but the question is, you and me: will we be prepared to receive it today! The Reign is not merely plenty and prosperity, it is not merely a state of pleasurable feeling with nothing to worry, at times we imagine so. As St. Paul would define to the Romans, the Reign is Righteousness, Peace and Joy in the Holy Spirit (Rom 14:17); it is this Reign that the prophets announced; it is this Reign that Jesus inaugurated through his life and mission; it is this Reign that we are commissioned to make present in the world today - and the way is, through Righteousness, Peace and Joy in the Holy Spirit!

"Bear fruits worthy of Repentace" cries the voice in the desert. Our King is a righteous king, righteousness shall be his girdle says Isaiah. The call is that we turn to righteousness, make our paths straight, leave the acts of darkness and live as people of light, going about our daily duties with diligence and dedication. The Spirit of Righteousness, will show us the right way, the right sense and the right direction to take in life.

"Live in harmony with each other" reminds the Apostle. In his days righteousness shall flourish and peace abound, because our King is the Prince of Peace. We are challenged to be peacemakers in our daily life - when so much of competition and corruptions abounds, while people deceive and denounce each other, amidst the political forces that want social unrest and antisocial elements that brood over hurt and harm, we are called to hold together the frail humanity, in peace and serenity, by our thoughts, words and choices, all governed by love, the love of God. The Spirit of Peace, will hover over our days, healing the hurts and binding us in forgiveness, to build up the Reign of peace and serenity.

We shall give praise to the Lord among the peoples and sing to the Lord's name, for the Lord comes to Reign, and we are called to be part of the Reign. Righteousness and Peace fills us with joy, the joy of the Lord, the joy of the Spirit, the joy that comes from an endless hope that the Lord fills us with. It is not merely a situation of having no problems, but a sense of inner strength to face everything with the help of the God of endurance and encouragement. That is the Spirit of the Reign. That is why the Holy Father Pope Francis repeats so often - a Christian can never be sad, a Christian has to be joyful, because inspite of all the problems of our life, we have the Lord with us! The Spirit fills us with joy, a joy that wells from within us, from that core of our being where God dwells.

Righteousness, Peace and Joy in the Holy Spirit - that is the Reign of God... that is the Spirit of the Reign. The Ruler comes... let us make the paths straight, let us imbibe within us the Spirit of the Reign...and we shall welcome the King, we shall inherit the Reign!