Christian Responsibility - a sign of the Reign

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

February 26, 2022: James 5: 13-20; Mark 10: 13-16

Praying for each other, confessing to each other, bringing back your brother or sister to God's ways, caring for the children... these are some Christian responsibilities that are pointed out in the Word today. In fact, Christian faith cannot be practised in isolation! Christian faith has to be lived in a community. 

The responsibility of the faith community towards every faithful  member is to create in them a sense of belonging and a sense of shared living. That is why a Christian community that is divided in itself is a contradiction at its core. No wonder, the Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, would repeat... the division in the Church is the greatest scandal to the world. Taking resposibility as a community of faith, for others, specially those who are in need and in in toruble,

The individual faithful has a responsibility towards the community, which is crucial too! He or she, in and through his own life and prayers, has to build the community, has to safeguard the good of the community and realise the motives and objectives of the community, as one people of God. It is the every individual who makes the Christian community possible. Apart from safeguarding the community and its purposes, the Christian has the duty of nurturing the future of the Community. 

How pleasant it is when brothers and sisters live together... this is the foundation of the Reign of God, that should be found in a Christian community. Promoting the Reign of God is to promote the togetherness of the community, towards a true spirit of communion and mutual responsibility. It is this task that indentifies a son or a daughter of the Reign, making us in our very nature, children of God.

The Yes-No Conflict

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

February 25, 2022: James 5: 9-12; Mark 10:1-12

We have today a challenging call from James, almost echoing the words of his Master, Jesus Christ - let your yes be yes and your no, no. The yes-no conflict is a day to day experience that we have to grow conscious about. Three situations that can arise from this conflict:

First, we say a yes, where we should have said a No! That is the moment of our failure. Take experiences of habitual sins and spontaneous reactions. If we become conscious of it and accept our weakness, we can certainly grow out of it, with the grace of the Lord. But if we try to justify it, blame it on someone else or on a situation, we run the danger of ruining ourselves and our lives.

Second, the situation where we say a no, while we should have said a Yes! This is a moment of negligence. We could consider the missed opportunities to do good, to stand for truth or uphold justice. If we repent of it, we sould immediate take a stand and declare it clearly to ourselves and to others, thus making the experience of the Reign of God present around us. But if we do not realise it, or if we seek to by pass any critical evaluation of it, we allow sin to prevail, injustice to rule and that is contrary to the Reign.

The worst of our stands is when it is not clear, if we really say yes or no to it. Look at the Ukraine conflict going on - how certain are we about who is right - the Russian Sovereignty or the US and the NATO or the other Powers which are silent? Who is saying what - whose is yes and whose is no, here? If only we say a unanimous YES to love and humanity, what is happening would not happen! Is our Yes always a yes? It is a very crucial question to ponder - to whom and to what is my Yes and how determined is it?