Lord, that I may see!

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

October 1, 2022: Remembering St. Teresa of Child Jesus

Job 42:1-3,5-6,12-17; Luke 10:17-24

Job lived on to see his children and the children of his children, upto the fourth generation, says the first reading. Happy the eyes that see what you see, exclaims Jesus in the Gospel to the disciples, indicating to them how blessed they were! The message of the Word today is: what we see is not merely what we see, but what we are given to see!

As Job observes so clearly what he came to see (now that I have seen you with my own eyes), we are given to see certain things in life which we would never see otherwise. It is a gift we need to ask from the Lord to see - to see what we need to see, to see what would give us the true repentance of heart, to see that which will offer us the fullness of the sense of our life, to see that which will clarify to us the true vocation we have from God.

Jesus explains it further. Not every one can see, but those who are destined to see and those to whom God reveals it - the humble, the obedient, the gentle, in short the true children of God - only they would be able to see what they are given to see. Not that it is not there, but the aggressive, the haughty and the self-centered will never get to see it.

St. Teresa lived her life as an exemplification of this fact - in her simplicity and in her little way to sanctity, she has overthrown all haughty claims of grandeur and self-glory. How important it is that the people who think of themselves too high, who look down on others, who think they can manipulate everything for their good, who take people for granted and oppress others without conscience, get to see truly what reality is and what their destiny would be! However, it doesn't depend on our wish, but God's will to reveal.

The call for us is, to be attentive to what God wants us to see, to see what God reveals to us and to be able to see what would give us the right sense of our life, here and now. As little children learning life at the School of our Lord, let our prayer today be, 'Lord, that I may see!'

Grasping the sense of God's Plan

THE WORD AND THE FEAST 

September 30, 2022: Remembering St. Jerome 
Job 38: 1, 12-21, 40: 3-5; Luke 10: 13-16

'From Knowledge to Ignorance' is a famous book written by one of the Spiritual thinkers of India. It may sound a bit odd but there is deep truth in that perspective and that is the message of the Word today. We run the risk of getting too used to the great things that God keeps doing for us. At times, due to some setbacks that we could possibly experience, or due to some troublesome moments, we might tend to forget all that has gone by so well. Or we are so filled with our so-called logical findings and scientific conclusions, that we do not expect anything different from what we think!

In the first reading, God challenges the attitude of questioning the eternal designs of God. We lack the Wisdom to understand the plans of God in all its details but with the little that we are capable of, we pretend to be masters of everything! It is important that we realise our limitedness inspite of our great acomplishments, that we acknowledge the wisdom in God's plan inspite of our nothingness. St. Jerome understood this well and impresses on our minds, by his life and his works, the importances of opening ourselves up to the living and active Word of God. 

If our eyes are truly open to what is happening around, if our ears are genuinely open the Words that come from above, if our hearts are absolutely open to the promptings of the Lord, then we would open our lives to the Lord and we grasp the eternal sense in the mind of God. These - the open eyes, the open ears and the open heart - are what we call the openness to receive, the humility to learn, the ignorance according to the so-called scientific standards. But it is in this ignorance or readiness to learn that the Lord becomes present to us, and we begin to grasp the sense of God's Plan.

See Angels; Be Angels!

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

September 29, 2022: Celebrating the Archangels
Daniel 7: 9-10, 13-14 (or) Revelations 12: 7-12; John 1: 47-51

Celebrating Archangels, Michael, Gabriel and Raphael gives us an opportunity to remind ourselves of the significance of the angels within the Christian tradition. Angels in the Old Testament were considered the extensions of God... when the angels came, they said, 'the Lord visited' them: take the case of the visitors to Abraham (Gen 18) or the case of Jacob fighting with the man of God (Gen 32) etc. Michael, as the strength of God; Gabriel as the messenger of God and Raphael as the healing of God, is a well known understanding of the Angels and their functions, from time immemorial.

Celebrating the Archangels today gives us two lessons - To See the Angels and to Be Angels:

To see the angels, is to see the hand of God at work in our everyday experiences, not to be blind to the daily miracles that happen around us. It is a special grace to perceive that God is active on our side all the time; it is left to us to acknowledge it and gain the advantages of it. It does not automatically happen that we see and acknowledge the presence of God; it needs a special consciousness and a humble openness to admit it. 

To be angels, is to be extensions of God's presence to the others, to be extensions of God's love to the others. When we stand by someone in trouble, when we side with the oppressed and the victimised, when we speak out for the truth and bring God's message to people, when we empathise with those who are suffering and bring healing to them, we are being angels to those persons. That is our call, to be angels to the others. 

A simple caution: it is relatively easy to see an angel in, and to be an angel to, those who are far away and from an outer circle of relationships. At times it takes more effort and courage to do so with those who are much nearer. Let us begin with those whom we usually take for granted, from at home! 

Following - looking back or going on?

WORD 2day: Wednesday, 26th week in Ordinary time

September 28, 2022: Job 9: 1-13,14-16; Lk 9: 57-62

Jesus gives us a hard lesson on discipleship today. If you have made a choice for God, you have made a choice for struggles and situations that will estrange you from the rest around you. So, what are you going to do? Look back and moan? Or look firm and go on?

Job's determination to please God was gradually being shaken by the conventional thinking friends who attributed human qualities of anger, dissatisfaction, expectations and disregard to God. Job declares from his heart that God is omnipotent and omniscient; he places all his trust and honour, but struggles to live his daily suffering, on par with that interior conviction that he had always had.

Jesus declares that it is precisely the determination to surrender oneself and one's total being into the hands of God, that is the hallmark of a follower of Christ. Jesus had a mighty share of suffering, struggle and strife. But that in no way deviated him from holding on to God and looking firm in his choice for God and God's purposes. His life was one long demonstration of what it would cost of you choose God in life!

Think of the numerous pressures that exist in our daily life and context... the social pressure, the economic pressure, the peer pressure, the pressure of the tradition, the pressure of the stereotypes and the pressure that we create with our own self definitions... What are we going to do?

The answer is simple but incredible difficult to live: if you and I have decided to follow Christ, would we look back and moan or look firm and go on?

A God who suffers

WORD 2day: Tuesday, 26th week in Ordinary time

September 27, 2022: Job 3: 1-3, 11-17, 20-23; Luke 9: 51-56

The Word today has a very curious kind of a message to give us! James and John wish to bring fire down from heaven to punish the people who did not accept Christ. Job's friends pressurise Job to curse God and get done with God, for all the suffering that God has caused him unjustly! Jesus rebukes James and John and Job refuses to give into the counsel of his friends. Job is presented as the prefigurement of the suffering servant that Jesus was to be!

It is not just a suffering servant's figure that we see here manifested in Jesus, but the image of a compassionate God who suffers on our behalf. It is not true that it has happened just once in history... it had always happened, and it keeps happening that the Lord feels so much when we are adamant, arrogant and whimsical: a compassionate God who is so madly in love with us!

It is 'Christ'ian maturity and 'Christ'ian mindset, to endure our suffering not blaming God or complaining to God, but seeking to find God during those moments of suffering. When we sincerely seek God, we will find God so close to us that we would understand that even God suffers along with us! "When you search for me you will find me; if you seek me with all your heart I will let you find me, says the Lord" (Jer 29:13). 

Our God is not a God who makes us suffer, but a God who suffers, when we suffer! It takes courage and faith to grow out of the infantile thinking that God is there to set right everything that goes wrong in our life, and to come to the understanding that God is there with us through the thick and thin, when we choose God with the freedom we are gifted with, and when we reject God in abuse of the same freedom! All the time, the Lord is there. Especially in our moments of struggle, let us remember the Lord is with us, the Lord suffers with us. 

The Naked Truth - God alone is!

WORD 2day: Monday, 26th week in Ordinary time

September 26, 2022: Job 1:6-22; Luke 9: 46-50

Naked I came into this world and naked shall I leave it! God gave and God has taken it back. Blessed be the name of the Lord... The Word today presents to us Job as a brilliant example of a child of God! His properties burned, he remained calm. His cattle were taken, he bore it all. His servants were killed he held on to the Lord. His children died altogether, he broke down but in the bosom of the Lord! That was Job, of whom the Lord was proud of - a true child of God.

Jesus teaches a similar lesson too in the Gospel... your ego, your social status, your position and power, your possession and your attachments, your so-called achievements and conquests... nothing can stand the test of time. God alone will. Whether we believe or not, the Lord is. Whether we praise the Lord or not, the Lord is worthy of all the praise in the world. Whatever we do and whatever we are involved in, even without our own full knowledge of it, we are serving the purposes of the Lord. Ultimately that which shall prevail over everything is God's will. 

God alone is almighty and God's purposes alone give meaning to anything that exists. The truth finally is, who ever we are and whatever we have, everything will pass. A child will never have a problem in admitting that he or she is dependent - the child has no ego to safeguard. A child will never scheme to put the other down or to usurp what belongs to the other, for the child everything belongs to every one. That is the logic of the child that Jesus wishes that we grow in. And in that logic there is simplicity and truth, sincerity and humility. 

How important it is for us to realise and recognise the naked truth: that God alone is, and God alone will forever be.

Live, love and experience God

WORD 2day: Saturday, 25th week in Ordinary time

September 24, 2022: Ecclesiastes 11:9 -12: 8; Luke 9: 43b-45

Life is short and life is limited, but it offers ample opportunity to do things that are remarkable. It never forces anyone, leaving far behind every one who complains of boredom and monotony. For a Christian, life cannot be boring because he or she has a life task to accomplish and daily directions to carry out, from the Lord. That is why St. Paul would write saying, "do not grow weary of doing what is right" (2 Thess 3:13). 

Doing right... it might in all probability invite criticism, jealousy, opposition, persecution and even crucifixion! But what matters is to do the will of God, and do it willingly. What example more impressive than our Blessed Mother (today is Saturday and the 24th of the Month), who did everything in life, for the holy will of God and for the "yes" that she dared to give to the call from the Lord. 

Life is short and life is limited; let's live it to the full, let us do all the good that we can to every one around. Let us not waste our life in envying, calumniating, gossiping, judging and spreading hate! 

Let us live to the full, love each other and experience God close to us, beside us and within us!

In God's own time

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

September 23, 2022: Remembering Padre Pio 

Ecclesiates 3: 1-11; Luke 9: 18-22

Two great enemies to spiritual health, as spiritual masters point out are: Anxiety and Curiosity! 

Anxiety is against faith because it points to a lack of trust in the Lord. It is an unrealistic worry about the future, in a particular way not helpful in anyway to prepare oneself towards a health encounter with that moment that is yet to come! Think of the times when we are wailing about a possible failure or a probable difficulty, although it is not yet a reality.

Curiosity is lack of patient acceptance of the present. It is trying in vain to pry into the time that is yet to come, in no way helping a peaceful experience of whatever is happening around at any given moment. Think of those moments when we are dying to know the results of somethings that we have not even started yet - all the craze from a playful guessing to a gamble-filled foretelling, fall under this category! 

To both anxiety and curiosity, as to many other spiritual ailments, the corrective offered is Surrender! In short, surrender can be described as the inner assurance that in God's time everything will happen, for good. Patience, trust and the unfailing confidence in God's goodness, are the ingredients of this mentality of surrender. Especially when things aren't going the way we would want them to, we need this quality to remain sane and secure.

In the Gospel today, we find Jesus as a personification of this quality. He was neither curious nor anxious about his mission on earth. That is why he was more interested about the personal conviction of everyone and not the mass public opinion; and he was stern that they don't go about frenetically spreading their conviction and forcing it on people, but to let people arrive at that conviction, each one through their own experience! 

The saint we remember today, Padre Pio, can be considered a great example in following on these footsteps suggested by our Lord. That serenity on Jesus' part and that sense of the Divine that we see in Padre Pio, came from the attitude of Surrender, an assurance that everything will be made beautiful IN GOD'S OWN TIME.

Seeking Christ is a vanity too!

WORD 2day: Thursday, 25th week in Ordinary time

September 22, 2022: Ecclesiates 1:2-11; Luke 9:7-9

Vanity of vanities, everything is vanity... says the first reading today. There is nothing new under the sun, what are we toiling for? What are we seeking and searching and anxious for? That is the wise question that the philosopher raises in the Word today. It is important to take note of this question - routine, monotony and boredom are not reality that are external... they are attitudes and dispositions that are internal. How we look at things, how they matter to us, how they affect us and how we relate to them - that makes all the change that is possible. 

Seeking Christ... today Herod seeks to see Christ. All of us have this wish; we seek and experience Christ. But is that a vanity too? Yes, that will turn out to be another vanity, vanity of all vanities, if we do not seek for an internal change, for a transformation of the heart. If we seek, see, pray and claim to experience Christ, but there is no change in our inner disposition and attitude to life and to others, then that seeking would indeed be a vanity too!

Vanity of Vanities... everything is a vanity, if we do not allow ourselves to be touched, transformed and continuously made anew in Christ!

In plenty and in want...

WORD 2day: Wednesday, 25th week in Ordinary time

September 21, 2022: Proverbs 30:5-9; Luke 9: 1-6

We have today persons who earn exhorbitanly high salaries, in some fields. There are otheres who put in a lot of work, even more than the former sort, but earning not even just enough for their upkeep and their family's. But no one bothers about the other! The one who gets more still aims for more and the one who gets less goes on slogging for more! People in want and people with plenty are living side by side, as two worlds that exist within one! There are those in want dreaming of  shortcuts to get rich; and those in plenty, who seem to have forgotten the one who gives.

Jesus instructs his apostles on being a messenger of God. The crux of his instruction is not merely about whether to have or not to have, whether to possess or not to possess, but it is all about depending on God or not! Poverty within the worldview of the Reign of God, in terms of Jesus' thinking, is a fundamental dependence on God. Being grateful for what God gives, and being expectant like a child to be given things in love.

It is more than what the book of proverbs suggests in the first reading today. While the passage from the proverbs carries a tinge of cynical realism, the Gospel offers a proactive sense of dependence out of true human freedom, that defines a true disciple and a dedicated apostle. This is the same as St. Paul suggests, to learn to live in want and in plenty, because we can do anything through the one who strengthens us (cf. Phil 4:12,13). In plenty or in want, what matters is how mindful we are for the true wealth of a Christian - not what we possess, but the One who gives that to us.  

The Right thing to do!

WORD 2day: Tuesday, 25th week in Ordinary time

September 20, 2022: Proverbs 21: 1-6, 10-13; Luke 8: 19-21

Doing the right thing is better than sacrifices says the first reading today. And the right thing... how do we know it? It is imprinted in our hearts. All that I need to know is listen to my heart, listen to that inner voice that instructs me, provided that voice is protected, promoted and purely cultivated. 

The Word of God, comes to us through various ways: direct proclamation is just one among these many ways! There are situations and persons whom we come across who bring us a challenge to face and respond to. The Word of God comes along, instructing us on what is right and what is to be avoided. There is the inner voice within us, that "sound of sheer silence" (1 Kgs 19:12), which tells us what is that right thing to be done at the right moment. 

What do we need to do? First of all, be attentive: attentive to the Word that comes across to us. Secondly, be sincere: sincere to admit that we have received the Word and to recognise the demands that it places. At times because of the demands that the Word places on us, we pretend not to have heard, or not to have understood the real meaning of the Word. It would serve no purpose and we in fact would deceive ourselves by doing it. Thirdly, our task is to be diligent in carrying out, amidst all struggles, what the Word tells us.

The Gospel today assures us that when we do all these three we would be considered not merely disciples, but mother, brother, sister, in short, coheirs with Christ to the Reign of God. But when we stop short of them, we would be deceiving ourselves warns the letter of James (1:22).

Think good; Do good; Be good!

WORD 2day: Monday, 25th week in Ordinary time

September 19, 2022: Proverbs 3:27-34; Luke 8:16-18

The first reading today has a wonderful set of practical tips for a happy living. Those tips can altogether be summarised in the phrase: think well of all; speak well of all; do good to all. This can be called the runway to happiness, but rarely taken by many! We prefer to complicate our lives, make it distrustful, enigmatic and suspicious, losing all the goodness that we can create, share and experience. Neither are we happy nor do we allow others to be happy.

To a person who was sharing about a problem in the family, I had to ask, "What is your choice: to be happy or not to be?" And the person said, "of course, to be happy!" and immediately added, "but I am afraid I won't be able to do the things that you told me to. The others would take me for granted and make me look more and more like a fool!" Then I had to conclude, "so, you choose to be unhappy!"

At times, that is the sad fact! We choose to be unhappy and we are experts at making ourselves unhappy over anything at all. Jesus today seems to tell us, "you want to be happy? choose it! manifest it! Let it be seen in your lives, in your choices!" Lighting the lamp and putting it on the stand, is the metaphor to living a life that is God-worthy and making it known to others that they may be challenged. 

The simple formula to begin with this kind of a life is, to live as said in the first reading. That can be summarised in simple words: think good of all, you will not have things to worry; do good to all, at least your heart will be light; and above all, be good within you! Let that goodness be your nature, not just your external show!

WWW: WEALTH, WELLBEING & WORLD

The Web of Life in today's World

25th Sunday in Ordinary time - September 18, 2022
Amos 8: 4-7; 1 Timothy 2:1-8; Luke 16: 1-13

We have needs, wants and desires... they are but human. One has to be attentive about the difference between these three- how many times we confuse among these! Our wants and desires fill our minds so much that we make of them much too big than what they ought to be - we are happy only when we get some desires come true, we are fulfilled only when we get things that we want... yes, we turn these ordinary wants and desires into needs! Just imagine today, the number of things that we have made necessities of life: are they really needs? or just wants and desires? Be what they may be, the fact is that, only when they are fulfilled we are happy and grateful; when they are not, we keep beseeching the Lord, sometimes requesting, sometimes begging, sometimes obstinately pressurising, sometimes fighting, sometimes complaining and so on! 

Prosperity, from the time of the theology of the promised land, has always been looked at as a blessing from the Lord. Even today how many preachers take up this as a way of alluring people - whether tey are alluring towards God or towards themselves - we are not here to judge! The focus here is on that so-called prosperity... in simple terms, Wealth.

Wealth makes our life easy and our living pleasurable. By the very fact that it is a blessing, it is obvious that it is 'given' and it is to be given. Wealth is a means provided for one not only to live his or her life, but also extend his hand to the needy, the unfortunate, the underprivileged, the have-nots, so that their life becomes blessed through someone's instrumentality. Wealth, is a blessing, and more over a means, to be a blessing to the others! Prophet Amos minces no words in the first reading today. Swindling the other, manipulating the other and hurting the other for one's own well-being, is not Christian attitude; and it is no well-being at all.

Well-being is not merely one's individual pleasure and possession! Even if one possesses everything, if there is no harmony in his or her surroundings, he or she cannot cherish those possessions. How many individuals who possess enormous riches but lack a internal serenity bear witness to this fact. How many nations today which seem rich and affluent but lack peace and security attest to this fact. Authentic Well-being is harmony in every sense, within oneself, around oneself and with the entire universe! It is the 'quiet and peaceable life, godly and respectful in everyway', that St. Paul speaks of in the second reading. Selfishness and Greed can never lead us to this well-being. Concern and Compassion, a collective thinking of 'all to be saved and to come to the knowledge of truth' - only such an outgoing spirit can grant the world, a real Well-being.

The World and the life we live today is an opportunity given to us, reminds Jesus in the Gospel with his intriguing parable of the prudent steward! Intriguing it is, because it seems to advocate slyness and fraud. But that is not the point. The focus lies on another perspective, and it is: however limited and burdensome, the present life we live is all that we have, here and now, to make our journey toward our 'eternal abode' pleasant and meaningful. It is said, how we live our life here will define and determine how we will exist hereafter.

We have the gift and the Giver: of these, what matters to us is the crucial question. It cannot be that both gift and the giver are important - one cannot serve two masters, warns Jesus. Once we give the first place to the Giver, the Eternal giver, the Loving giver, the Wonderful giver, everything else falls in place. Wealth becomes a means, Well-being becomes harmonious living and the World becomes an opportunity for us to create a paradise here and now, as we live our life in peace and harmony with our brothers and sisters!

INDIFFERENCE - THE MOST UNCHRISTIAN ATTITUDE OF ALL

From blindness and selfishness to malice

26th Sunday in Ordinary time: September 25, 2022

Amos 8: 4-7; 1 Timothy 2:1-8; Luke 16: 1-13

Indifference, the worst of all vices and the most dangerous of all attitudes, is one thing that can be considered absolutely unchristian, something that the Lord cannot bear! Woe to those who are indifferent, warns prophet Amos. And that is precisely what Jesus presents in his parable too. It is something that God just cannot stand - the Lord will 'spit you' out of his presence, if you are lukewarm (Rev 3:16) and indifferent. If you have a living faith, then fight the good fight of the faith, challenges St. Paul in his letter today. 

'Blessed' are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness (Mt 5:6), not those who remain in their safe havens caring nothing for anyone around. St. Paul recalls to our minds today, how Jesus bore witness to his faith and to the truth, right upto his cross! "For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth," declared Jesus with a courage that disturbed Pilate (Jn 18:37). When it came to bearing witness to truth and righteousness, or feeling compassion for those who were helpless, or reaching out to the sinners and the outcast, or speaking out for the rights of those who were oppressed - of their right to be healed as sons and daughters of God, of their right to dignity and of their closeness to the Reign of God - Jesus never hesitated; and his true disciples would never hesitate too!

Today we live in a world that has innumerable justifications for being indifferent towards others - one's duty and family, corrupt system and government, anti-people policies and laws, legitimate development and technology, rapid growth and advancement - the list can go on endlessly. And it is effortlessly easy to cast the blame on someone else and hide behind the mask of myself being part of the 'affected' and the 'left behind'. In simple terms, the Word challenges me today to place myself in the shoes of the rich man and look at the world around me! Have I done whatever I could in my context, for justice, righteousness, dignity of all and true freedom of the children of God. If I say, 'what can I really do?' - beware, that could be the visible trace of the Indifference within!

Indifference is the most unchristian quality one can have. The readings today outline the three levels in which INDIFFERENCE grows.

First Level: Indifference as a fruit of Blindness - the inability to see the suffering around, the incapacity to sense the heavy burdens that persons around me carry, the failure to feel the unseen tears of those crying out for help... these are unchristian to the core. LOOK says the Lord, perceive the sufferings in the eyes of your brother and sister... even if you cannot do much, atleast be there for them!

Second Level: Indifference as a sign of Selfishness - even after seeing the sufferings and the pain, if I fail to be moved, if I refuse stand by someone because I could get into problems, or because I could lose my opportunity to go ahead in life, or because I could earn enemies in the bargain, I am unworthy of being called a disciple of the Lord who died for me! THINK of others, and not solely of yourself, says the Lord. Can I think of anything other than Me, Myself and Mine? I am my brother's keeper!

Third Level: Indifference as a form of Malice - it is a sin! "Silence encourages the tormentor; never the tormented!" says Elie Wiesel an holocaust survivor, who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986. He continues,"the opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it's indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it's indifference." How perfectly Jesus would agree to these words! For, this is what Jesus meant by that parable! 

You just cant be a silent spectator, you just can't stand by the sidewalks and see things happen, not even sit in the stands and cheer! No... FIGHT the good fight of the faith! That means living our life to the full, living our life for the other, living our life in a prophetic sense of love and compassion for the other. Remember, that is how indifference grows and moves - from blindness to the other and selfishness of sorts to malice that makes you evil. 

Let us take care that no trace of indifference invades our lives... we are called to fight, fight the good fight of faith, until we reach the bosom of our loving Father and Mother, as one family in heaven! 

Sowing, Growing and what is in between!

WORD 2day: Saturday, 24th week in Ordinary time

September 17, 2022: I Corinthians 15: 35-37, 42-49; Luke 8: 4-15

The Word today speaks to us of sowing and growing, and what goes on in between these - between dying and being reborn! Our Christian history is so full of martyrdom, and it highlights in a vivid manner, the aspects of dying to ourselves and being reborn in Christ is a criterion for Christian living (cf. Rom 6). In fact, it is true of every Christian... our very life has to be one of daily martyrdom - dying to our ego and growing in a deep sense of being; dying to our petty desires and growing in the sense of the Will of God; dying to our pleasure-seeking tendencies and looking at the nourishing value of suffering and hardships in life. 

Many of us who claim to be followers, disciples and apostles of Christ, still refuse to die to certain tendencies and elements within our self, which militate against the Spirit who wants to dwell within us, for we are called to be the temples of the Holy Spirit (cf. 1 Cor 3:16, 6:19). When there is a resistance to death, there is a resistance to new life, a resistance to resurrection. Where there is resistance to dying, there is a big struggle against growth.

These are indeed instances that are against our becoming totally the dwelling place of God: like the parched land or the scorching heat or the choking thorns. They are everyone's experience and cannot be cited as valid reasons for our personal lack of commitment to belong to God and for our lagging in efforts to grow closer to God. God has sown, God has called us and chosen us and appointed us each, in our life and in our own context. What matters now is our personal commitment, perseverance and loving decision to belong and to grow into the image and likeness of the One who has loved us into existence. 

The Resurrection Community

WORD 2day: Friday, 24th week in Ordinary time 

September 16, 2022: I Corinthians 15: 12-20; Luke 8:1-3

The Readings today point to an identity that is so fundamental to a follower of Christ. The first of all the effects that Christ has on his followers is the Resurrection effect: that is a life filled with hope! If Christ were not raised from the dead, our faith would be in vain - declares St. Paul today. We are filled with a hope so great that nothing, not even death can take away the meaning of our life. 

Secondly, we find today Jesus amidst the first community that he himself had initiated - the Twelve, and some women! That is another Resurrection effect - the fruit of rising above all the pettiness of the world, discarding the divisions, despising the differences of gender or geography, and becoming one community, one people! 'We are all baptised into the one Spirit - Jews or Greeks, free or slaves, we are all filled with the same Spirit', instructs St. Paul ( cf. 1 Cor 12:13). 

Today, let us look at our faith community, the Church, the local church and our own family or religious community: is it one body? is it united in the Risen Lord? is it "following" the Lord, the Risen Lord in every way? Does it have the "mind" of Christ? Are we really Resurrection Community?

One of the infallible signs as we reflect today, has to be - the hope we have in persons: never giving up on persons, never judging persons and never descriminating persons on any count! In a world that is full of expectations and standards of descrimination and division, our challenges is to be this ideal community: the Resurrection community.

Teaching us to Suffer

THE WORD AND THE FEAST 

September 15, 2022: Remembering the Mother of Sorrows

1 Corinthians 15:1-11; John 19: 25-27

A heart pierced with an arrow is a famous symbol today, a symbol very romantic. But there was a heart that was once told: one day a sword shall pierce you! And that heart remained patient and bore that piercing for the sake of that one "yes" that was pronounced at the beginning of the string of those events. The Mother of Sorrows is an icon that challenges us to understand the meaning of Christian living. 

As St. Paul would say, 'the reign of God is not a matter of food and drink, enjoyment and fun, a romantic feeling or a colourful happening'. It is a matter of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (cf. Rom 14:17). Righteousness, requires a hunger and thirst for it (cf Mt 5:6); Peace and Joy in the Holy Spirit consist of doing the will of the God, come what may.

Following immediately the Exaltation of the Cross, the feast of today, establishes the truth that, in living a Christian life, there are certain things clearly difficult and demanding. It requires an absolute choice to live a truly 'Christian' life to the full. Mary made that choice and stuck to it right up to the end and that is what we celebrate today... the mother who stood right there, right up to the cross, right up to the last minute of the gruesome salvific sacrifice. She has shown us what it means to be a disciple of Christ, the Lord of the Cross! 

May our Blessed Mother, strengthen our spirits, increase our endurance and deepen our faith. 

Look up to the Lord and be Loved!

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

September 14, 2022: The Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross
Numbers 21: 4b-9; John 3:13-17

We have today a beautiful remembrance, the celebration of the Christian symbol of Love: the Cross. The Cross is taken more often than not, as a symbol of suffering! Yes, it was a symbol of suffering, until the loving Lord took it into his embrace, on his shoulders and climbed on it to give his life for us... all this out of the limitless love he had for us! He changed its meaning and ever since, the cross has come to symbolise love, the unconditional, limitless and boundless love that the Lord has for us.

Hence the feast that we celebrated today gives us a fundamental lesson for living our daily life: Look Up to the Lord and Be Loved!

Look Up:
At times we are lost in the troubles that we have, in the daily struggles and everyday chores; so lost in those that we have time only to murmur, to lament and to complain. We do not have the patience and the capacity to look up! Look Up, look beyond, look upon high and you will see the horizon that will give you hope.  Hope is the key to Christian way of life.

Look to the Lord:
Let us look to the Lord; it is from the Lord that our help comes! The Psalms further insist: Look upto Him and be radiant (34:5). 'Looking Up' alone is not enough, we can be deceived or distracted or misled. Looking to the Lord is the key to Christian Problem Solving. The real solutions to our problems lie in the hands of God: it is in looking to the Lord that we will have life, life in all its fullness. 

Be Loved:
God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that we have eternal life. The Son so loved the world that he gave everything up, and showed his love in the total self-giving on the Cross. We are promised a measure of love that no human mind can comprehend, because it is eternal and limitless. Such is God's love for us, but nothing can be done if I keep myself away from it. When I claim that love, in total obedience and surrender unto the Lord, I feel loved! 

As we exalt the Cross today, as we sing praises to the One who is lifted high for our salvation, let us resolve to Look Up, to Look to Him and to Let ourselves be loved!

Comparisons or Compassion?

WORD 2day: Tuesday, 24th week in Ordinary time 

September 13, 2022: 1 Corinthians 12: 12-14, 27-31a; Luke 7: 7-11

Each of us is given special gifts from the Holy Spirit, special gifts according to the particular calling that we have. If we become aware of the call that we have received, we would also become aware of the gift that is given to us, to live up to that calling. To be prophets, or to be apostles, or to be teachers, or to be leaders, or to be interpreters... these are all different calls which are lived out by means of various tasks that we are called to carry out. But the fundamental purpose of all these, the call underlying all these calls is just one: to be holy and blameless, before God in love (Eph 1:4). And we are indeed given with all the gifts needed to live that call out in our daily life. 

The Word today, taken together, explains this all important Christian lesson: be compassionate and do not compare! Our call makes us all, children of One God our Father and Mother. The diversity of the call we have recieved does not divide us; it unites us, makes us one people, one people in one Word, one Body of Christ, one heart and one mind in the Lord who has called us. As St. Paul would instruct in the letter to the Romans, to rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep (Rom 12:15), that is the way we can realise, that we are One People! 

Comparisons lead to jealousy and infights and make us enemies, and we would lose our very identity of being God's people! While compassion makes us one, one in the Lord, one in his love. 

The Communion and the Coming of Jesus!

WORD 2day: Monday, 24th week in Ordinary time

September 12, 2022: 1 Corinthians 11: 17-26,33; Luke 7: 1-10

The Word presents to us the two inseparable dimensions of every Eucharistic celebration we undertake.  The coming of Jesus Christ the Word made flesh and the communion in the Body of Christ, the people of God.These are not only two inseparable elements, but essential too. A lack of these is symptomatic of a serious decadence in the true meaning of a Eucharistic moment.

Hence the first real challenge today is to make our Eucharistic Celebrations, truly moments of communion of hearts rather than merely rituals or ceremonies. That challenge requires a bit of homework prior to the celebration itself - the Communion has to be built in the daily life situations and be celebrated at the Eucharist. If it had not been built already, how do we celebrate and what do we celebrate at all?

The second challenge is to recognise the coming of Christ, making the words of the Lord come true. Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist is a great boon given to our burdensome lives! The Lord is with us and that makes our life extremely beautiful, come what may. 

We may not be worthy but the Lord deigns to visit us. How blessed we are!

Differences, disputations and dialogue!

WORD 2day: Saturday, 23rd week in Ordinary time

September 10, 2022: 1 Corinthians 10:4-23; Luke 6: 43-49

We live in a world of pluralism today. Not just India, or countries like that, but almost every one, all over the world lives in a context and a culture of pluralism. Everyone finds one's neighbour different, different in his or her creed or convictions or value systems. In such a situation, what should be a true Christian disposition? Can it be one of disputation, debate or delirious defence? The result would range from a kind of disrespectful cynicism to a hateful dissent. Are those fruits proper to a tree that is Christian? How can anything be its fruit other than love:  for by this they will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for each other.

If so, what would be the right disposition? Compromise? Relativism? An anything-is-ok mentality? No! Never!, says St.Paul in today's first reading. Between Controversies and Compromise, there is something called Comprehension. That, and that alone, is the need of the hour today. An attitude of mature Dialogue. 

What is the use of talking so much of God as love and of Christ's teachings of a forgiving and forbearing love, if we dont begin to live it? Will we not be foolish builders, building our beach side castles? Let us form ourselves into solid bulidings of enduring love and never failing faith, that we may teach the whole world, the lifestyle of true love.

"Trained" to be Apostles

WORD 2day: Friday, 23rd week in Ordinary time

September 9, 2022: I Corinthians 9:16-19, 22b -27; Luke 6: 39-42.

The Word today insists on the need to be trained, in being an apostle. An apostle we are, each of us by virtue of our baptism. That call is not merely a privillege, it is an obligation, a duty and a demand placed on me. Considering it merely a matter to boast about leads to some unfortunate developments within the faith community, situations such as infights, ego clashes, jealousy, clericalism and unchristian 'politricks'. 

The Gospel calls these practices: blind leading the blind and both into the pit! Neither you know what it means to be a Christian, nor do you allow those who aspire to really understand what it takes to be a Christian; in living wrong values you bring judgement upon yourself and in the counter witness that you give you make people go away from the Word and Lord, rather than bringing them closer to Christ experience. Instead, taking the call seriously - the call to be a Christian, the call to be an apostle - leads one to a fuller realisation of the gift that it is and at the same time of the demands that it places. 

One of the important demands that comes up is, to be trained! Both St.Paul and Jesus, today speak of this training. It would consist of fundamentally three things: humble acceptance of the call to be an apostle; attentive listening to the Word that comes to us; and diligent practice of the Word that is heard. Falling short of these three steps would make us either arrogant bigwigs or pretentious bullies but never trained disciples. 

The need to be trained is in simple terms, growing grow gradually into the image of the Master who has chosen us, called us and sent us! 

Life and Vocation - a wonderful reminder

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

September 8, 2022: Birthday of our Blessed Mother
Micah 5:1-4a (or) Romans 8:28-30; Matthew 1:1-23

The readings prescribed for the day do not speak to us directly of Mary... but they have a truth which the birthday of our Blessed Mother teaches us very strongly. The truth is that of the choice that God has made of us! As St.Paul would say writing to the Ephesians, God chose us in Christ before the foundations of the world! 

The Birth of Mary signals in utter silence the beginning of the climax of God's plan of salvation. No one would have known when this girl was born, that she was destined to be that woman of whom the Son of God will be born in the fullness of time. Every life is a vocation - that is the wonderful reminder that we have from today's feast. In fact, that is the mystery we are. 

We enshrine within ourselves a marvellous design which we ourselves are not aware of. The design that is part of the mysetery that we are - our very life and the vocation that it enshrines within it. Mother Mary is a splendid example for us to learn from. She leaves us this strong lesson: from eternity God has chosen us for a particular purpose and each of us has to discern that purpose, to live our lives to the full.

Today as we sing a happy birthday to our Blessed Mother, will sing to the glory of the Lord for the great things God has done to her, and to us through her. Let us not lose sight of the same wonders that God continues to do for us and that God wants to do more! Let us respond just as our Blessed Mother with our readiness to surrender and our capacity to ponder in silence... on every wonder that happens around us. 

Never lose the Focus

WORD 2day: Wednesday, 23rd week in Ordinary time

September 7, 2022: 1 Corinthians 7: 25-31: Luke 6: 20-26

The first christian community in fact expected that they would see Jesus around in his second coming already in their time... they were preparing for it intensely. The moment they began to realise it was getting delayed, they began to grow lax in their life of virtues! It is in this context that Paul writes to them...about celibacy, purity and single minded dedication to the Lord. His call was: never lose focus, for everything will come to pass in no time!

The second coming may be at an appointed time which the Lord alone knows and we wait for it, with patience and focus. But, if we believe that the second coming is a moment of judgement, that moment is here and now... for our choices every moment determine the judgement that is going to be! Every time I choose something or avoid something, I am bringing upon me a judgement by myself. That is what Jesus tells us in the Gospel: I make myself blessed or unfortunate! I need to be informed, alert and categorical about my choices - they determine what I will be judged to be. The crux is that I never lose the focus, even as I am involved in my hectic activity of my everyday!

Conforming to whom?

WORD 2day: Tuesday, 23rd week in Ordinary time

September 6, 2022: 1 Corinthians 6: 1-11; Luke 6: 12-19

Do not be conformed to the standards of this world, but be renewed in spirit and create a counter culture, reminds St. Paul in his letter to the Romans (cf. 12:2). In today's first reading he chides the Corinthians for their behaviour which was no different from that of the others. He does not denounce them for the disputes they have, but loses his patience with them because they are not able to handle that dispute among themselves. 

It was a clear sign of the absence of something that was essential to their identity, according to St. Paul: mutual esteem inspired by love. Instead what dominates here is mutual competition provoked by ego. It is a reality, obviously, even today in our faith communities where there is an un-Christian understanding of authority and inhuman practice of domination!

Aren't there churches today that are closed down because of factions? Haven't there been clashes between different groups within the same community of faith? Aren't there leaders disrespected or rejected or maltreated just because of some differences, however flimsy and fiery those differences may be. The call is clear... as a son or daughter of God in Christ's footsteps, to whom do I want to conform... to the world or to my Lord?

Love! Do not Judge!

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

September 5, 2022: Celebrating Mother Teresa of Kolkata

1 Corinthians 1: 5-8; Luke 6: 6-11

The Word today speaks to us of the ills in Christian living... at times we consider sins like adultery, fornication and killing as serious faults, and rightly so. But the harm is when we consider habits like gossiping, judging others and criticising as less grave and so go on with it as if they do not matter much. That cannot be truly Christian... According to Jesus, looking with lust is equally evil as adultery; speaking ill of the other is equally brutal as assaulting the other physically; character assasination is as criminal as killing a person! It is not exactly in what we do that the seriousness of the matter consists, but in what we are aiming or intending to do through our actions or words or dispositions. The intention is what matters most!

The saint we remember today, Mother Teresa of Kolkata, understood this perfectly and that is why she always believed and taught: if you are busy judging people, you would have no time to love them. She lived that in her life! Even with those who were around her, maligning her name and wishing her evil or destruction, she was loving and kind, generous and sacrificing. She never grudged doing good for the very ones who were hating her and spreading malicious opinions about her. She was totally "Christ-ian" in this regard - animated by nothing else but love. 

Love, is both the fundamental and the supreme disposition of a true Christian. Love is patient and kind; it endures all things! At times when we have difficulties and tribulations due to the regretable disposition of the other, let us love, not judge! Let us be filled with compassion for the suffering and the weak, as did Mother Teresa, to be called truly Christ-ians and ultimately saints or persons of the true God!

FREEDOM OF THE CHILDREN OF GOD

A different kind of reasoning, relationship and renunciation

23rd Sunday in Ordinary time - September 4, 2022
Wisdom 9: 13-18; Philemon 1:9-10,12-17; Luke 14:25-33

Wisdom and Freedom have a lot to do with each other. Wisdom is a specific gift from the Holy Spirit to the children of God. And freedom is no less a gift, and very specific to the children of God. A true child of God is necessarily a person of freedom and a truly free person is very close to being a Child of God. This is the crux of the Word this Sunday - the meaning of the Freedom of the Children of God.

If we are really convinced of our identity as Children of God we would realise we are given with a freedom that makes us so different from what the world preaches. We think freedom is the ability to do whatever we think... but that is not what freedom is all about. Freedom instead is the capacity to do the right thing, without any external force. When we have this capacity, we would be totally different from the so-called majority in the society today. Because this freedom amounts to a different kind of reasoning, a different kind of relating and a different mindset of renouncing.

Freedom of the Children of God is seen first and foremost in a different kind of Reasoning that one possesses. Taking up the cross willingly, giving and forgiving without any compensations for it, looking at everything from the perspective of God... these make a different kind of reasoning that we are called to possess. The first reading speaks to us of an important fact - that we may not understand everything in life and we need not be worried about it. We need not understand everything. We need not feel obliged to be in control of everything. Let us leave that part to God and things will become clearer to us in the due course of time.

Freedom of the Children of God is manifested in the kind of Relationships we treasure. While everywhere, possession and entitlement, gain and profit, benefits and advancements rule the roost, we are called to think of giving up, forgiving, accepting, welcoming someone without any conditions and so on. St. Paul instructs Philemon to accept Onesimus as a brother in Christ and even tacitly asking Philemon to free Onesimus from his slave-ship. A redefinition of relationships is a natural outflow of the freedom of the Children of God. We cannot but be reminded here of the numerous cases of inequality and discrimination among and within the Christian communities... a clear sign that we have not yet truly experienced or even understood the freedom of the children of God.

Freedom of the Children of God is best seen in the Renunciation that seems so natural and far from being a deprivation. Have we not come across people who renounce a few simple things in life and are extremely mindful of that fact - reminding themselves of it so often, making sure others know that they have renounced (whatever it is), making up for the renunciation in and through other means (sometimes going to another extreme). Jesus presents renunciation not as an extraordinary means of following God, but as an inevitable means of being disciples. Renouncing something is important; but renouncing the so-called merits of the renunciation is the true renunciation!

Freedom of the Children of God permits us to live a life that is free, full and highly inspiring. It helps us reconfigure our way of thinking and our list of priorities. It helps us redefine our relationships, in terms of maturity and mutuality and not selfishness and exploitation. It helps us renounce not just a few things, but renounce the very merit of renunciation, that we may become truly free in our spirit. May we grow everyday in this great gift we have received from the Spirit of the Lord: the freedom of the children of God.

Blinded by ego and ruined by pride!

WORD 2day: Saturday, 22nd week in Ordinary time

September 3, 2022: 1 Corinthians 4: 6b-15; Luke 6: 1-5

It is better to be ignorant or deprived than to be haughty with pride, warn the readings today. The Pharisees and the Scribes constantly had a problem with Jesus, not because Jesus was wrong, and not even because they did not know what Jesus was upto! They knew what Jesus was hinting at every time he broke a law or a custom. They knew that Jesus had something to communicate and they even knew what he had to tell them! But the problem was, they did not want to listen to him, much less, accept his stand point. Simply because of the pride that ruled their minds and ruined their situation.

What the Pharisees and the Saducees needed was not a new knowledge, they knew it all. The unfortunate situation was that they did not realise what they knew, they did not live up to what they understood, they were not prepared to give up on their pride and glory and that prevented them from beholding the glory of the Lord that was present among them, in Christ Jesus. Just so with us. It is not that we do not know, but we are not ready to admit what we know, because with that we would have to make a lot of changes in our lives; we would have to give up on the comfort zones that we have created for ourselves. And worst of all, it is such a difficult task for us to admit that we need change, because our ego hurts.

Our sense of ego and our urge to prove ourselves can sometimes fill us with a prejudice so strong that we can miss the obvious, something that is present right in front of our eyes!  Not just the pharisees and the scribes in Jesus' time, but even for us, this is a real danger. With our preconceived ideas and over glorified ego, we would be so filled with ourselves, that we would not be able to see, feel with or love our brothers and sisters with us. We could grow so touchy, that no one can tell us what we really need to hear to change our lives. And that is where we run the risk of not beholding the Lord who is right beside us, blinded by our ego and ruined by our pride!

Mind your business!

WORD 2day: Friday, 22nd week in Ordinary time

September 2, 2022: 1 Corinthians 4: 1-5; Luke 5: 33-39

At times we mind everybody else's business, forgetting the all important business that we have, our own life! The Word today instructs us to mind just our business. How hard can one try to satisfy everyone around? Is it worth the effort at all? How many lives are made so boring and barren merely out of living up to the expectations of the world around! The secret of a truly fruitful and meaningful life is: knowing your business, and going about it.

Minding one's business could be interpreted negatively, as not interfering in others' business! There could be another important meaning and that is, to be clear as to what one's given task is and being convinced to go about it, come what may. It consists of knowing that I am here with a purpose and I have a task given to me and being at that task, without attaching too much importance to eventualities - whether they are good or bad, encouraging or displeasing. It consists therefore, first and foremost, in knowing who we are!

As St. Paul says in his letter today, what is expected of us good stewards is that each one is found worthy of the One, whose stewards we are! Knowing who we are and striving to be faithful to that identity, is the Christian meaning to our life. Christ did just that. He knew he was the Son of God and he lived his life to the full, worthy of the identity that he inherited from his Father. 

We are called to be his stewards, and we are called to live worthy of it, notwithstanding the praises or critiques, the affirmations and the discouragements that might come our way. If we try to patch up with unfitting elements merely because those around us are looking for it, if we mix up unblending elements just because the world around enjoys it... we may lose the true sense of our calling. The best thing, amidst all the mixed voices around, is to know and mind our business!