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.