Meeting the Lord passing by

WORD 2day: Saturday, 12th week in Ordinary time

July 1, 2023: Genesis 18: 1-15; Matthew 8: 5-17

Have you witnessed thick black clouds just pass by over your head, without even a drizzle while you are dry, parching for want of water. That is exactly the experience when you let the Lord pass by without claiming for yourself all the blessing that the Lord has in store for you. You will surely not know, even if you knew you would hardly believe, the blessings the Lord has in store. Hence an attitude of openness and total surrender, ever connected to the Lord and perennially relying on the Lord's directions is a way of life that would take you to moments of thunderous grace!

Meeting the Lord passing by, is a very special disposition...if Abraham did not have it, he would have missed being the father of the Covenantal people; if the Centurion did not have it, he would have lost one of his treasured servant and he would have missed witnessing a great miracle; if Zacchaeus did not have it he would have missed salvation entering his house; if the disciples to Emmaus did not have it they would have missed that life-changing encounter with the Risen Lord. 

When St. Augustine said, "I fear the Lord passing by", he summarised this experience succinctly. He knew what it means to miss the Lord, and he knew how much he made the Lord wait when he exclaimed, "late have I loved thee, O Beauty so ancient and so new!" Every day and every experience of ours is an opportunity to meet the Lord and the Lord is ever forthcoming! In this new month, and a new day, today, are you we ready to behold the Lord, the Lord who is passing by! 

Perseverance: Walking with the Lord

WORD 2day: Friday, 12th week in Ordinary time

June 30, 2023 - Genesis 17: 1,9-10,15-22; Matthew 8: 1-4

"Lord, if you will..." the Will of God is mighty, complex and all-encompassing. All that I need to do is submit to that holy will. Because it is mighty and complex, at times I don't understand it. When a little is revealed to me it already looks too big and marvelous, sometimes even difficult to believe in. 

At times the plans look too fantastic to be real and we begin to suggest to God something that is simpler and more feasible. Or as it happened to Abraham today, it may even seem ridiculous to believe in that will. But precisely in believing that will, we become chosen to behold the magnificence of God's doings! Sarai becomes Sarah, Abram becomes Ahraham - it is because they believed in the will of God and God's will transforms them into new persons who walk before the Lord and are blameless. 

What makes us covenantal people is our capacity to believe in God's will or God's plan that is eternal; the plan which is always towards our welfare. What it takes to believe in this Will on a daily basis, is the humility to submit to God, the patience to wait on the Lord and the perseverance to keep walking in way of the Lord.

Sent and Delivered!

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

June 29, 2023: Celebrating the Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul
Acts 12: 1-11; 2 Timothy 4: 6-8, 17-18; Matthew 16: 13-19

The Feast of Apostles Peter and Paul. Being an apostle is no privilege, it is a challenge; living my life as an apostle is no accomplishment, it is a duty! That is why Paul said, "Woe to me if do not proclaim the Gospel"(1 Cor 9:16) and Peter said , "we cannot keep from speaking about what we have seen and heard" (Acts 4:20).

They are apostles because they were "sent" in God's will to be the stones on which the communities of believers were to be built. Everyone baptised is called to be an apostle, and the way to be an apostle is outlined so vividly by Peter and Paul today... one, to proclaim the Gospel even to the point of death; and second, to be stones on which the community will be built and not be the cracks from which the community will be divided!

The Acts of the Apostles, as in the first reading today, reports that killing the apostles pleased the Jews - those were the times when the first apostles braced themselves to stand for the goodnews of Christ. They found themselves at the point of being sacrificed, but nothing discouraged them from bearing witness to Christ and his message! It is a fight, a race - not just a glamorous show to be an apostle today. The lion's mouth, the evil that surrounds and the powers of death are certainly to be found, when I begin to understand, accept and live fully my call to be an apostle... but at no point will the Lord's deliverance be lacking!

When I decide to run the race, to fight the good fight, 'the Lord will rescue me from every evil and save me for his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory for ever and ever. Amen.'

If you call yourself a Christian, live it!

WORD 2day: Wednesday, 12th week in Ordinary time

June 28, 2023 - Genesis 15: 1-12,17-18; Matthew 7: 15-20

The Tree and the Fruits - an interesting analogy for life! 

Abraham, was a man of God, he was the father of the covenantal people! Abraham listened, obeyed, believed and remained loyal to the Lord who called him. The Covenant the Lord made was the tree and Abraham's life choices were the fruits. The eternal covenant that is made in the blood of Jesus Christ, is the guarantee of the grace and the gift of faith within us. 

While it is God's action that God has transformed us into God's children in our baptism, our daily life and regular choices have to bear fruits that will make it visible to the world and to ourselves. An anonymous author reminds us, 'you may be the only gospel that some one reads! So be careful with the way you live your life!' I am a Christian not merely in my activities and responsibilities; but in every choice of mine, every thought and expression of it, every word and deed at every moment of my life. 

Consider this question once a preacher posed during a retreat: 'if today they detain you for being a Christian, will they find enough evidence in you to implicate you?' A powerful question, extremely simple in its categorical demand that before you call yourself a Christian, live it! You do not call yourself so and them expect everyone to know by that name; you live it first, and automatically people would call you by that name - the tree is known by its fruits!

Faith - the choice to walk with God

WORD 2day: Tuesday, 12th week in Ordinary time

June 27, 2023 - Genesis 13: 2,5-18; Matthew 7: 6,12-14 

Faith is a Choice: that is a theme that repeats itself over and over again; a theme that is fundamental to understanding what faith is. Abraham, often figured as the father of faith, offers us today a beautiful role model in two of his choices. The first choice was to give up his claim as the elder brother, and allow Lot to make his wish. Lot takes the greener, wealthier and the promising part! The second choice was to walk in the way that the Lord showed... and in these two choices we see the first steps of Abram, towards becoming Abraham! 

Faith is all about the choices we make on a daily basis! To fret or not to, to despair or not to, to forgive or not to, to love or not to, to give or not to, to proceed or not to, to let go or not to, to remain serene or not to - these are choices that we have to make everyday, at various moments of our waking hours. And at the end of the day, we can surely evaluate whether we have walked through the narrow gate or the broad gate during the day. And every "tomorrow" becomes yet another opportunity to begin anew, with all the choices once again in front of us! 

Our Faith is a habit of choosing to do what God wants, choosing to walk the way that God shows, choosing the narrow gate that is tough and less trodden, in simple terms, choosing to walk with God... it is in walking with God that Abram grew up to be Abraham!

The Spirituality of letting go!

WORD 2day: Monday, 12th week in Ordinary time

June 26, 2023: Genesis 12: 1-9; Matthew 7: 1-5

Beginning today, we will be presented with Abraham for our reflection for the next few days. What was so special about Abraham? From the very first moment the Word clarifies that for us. Leave your country and your people, calls the Lord and there he is, doing it with such confidence. He lets go of everything, everything that gave him an identity. His place, his people, his traditions, every bit of his comfort zone!

To let go... that is the spirituality offered to us, as a call to discipleship. If we are truly people of God, disciples of Christ, we should be ready to let go... to let go of anything that do not actually matter. Above all the challenge to let go refers to, letting go of our opinions is the most challenging of all.

The Gospel presents to this crucial and typical challenge: to let go... to let go of our opinions and judgements and prejudices of people and to be open minded. How many new experiences we would have lost because of our opinionated approach! How many enriching encounters we would have lost because of our prefixed judgements! How many growth experiences we would have lost because of our prejudiced mindset. How prepared are we to let go?

The spirituality of letting go involves not holding on to what does not matter truly in life. When I am able to decide firmly that it is only God who matters, and nothing more than that... not even my own thinking and opinions, dreams and projects, then I am guided by the right spirit, the spirit of the Reign... the spirituality of letting go! 

FROM FEAR TO FAITH

Challenging the culture of death towards a culture of faith!

June 25, 2023 - 12th Sunday in Ordinary time

Jeremiah 20: 10-13; Romans 5: 12-15; Matthew 10: 26-33

Look around and observe what is happening out there... there are these divisive forces at work who are determined to break humanity into pieces and make everyone suffer to the maximum; there are these moneyed who suddenly become experts in everything - in medical care, in artificial intelligence, in universal wellbeing, in common good and what not, and everyone finds it so compelling to nod to whatever they say; there are these who are blatantly selfish and greedy, but make everyone believe that they are the saviours of tomorrow; there are those who cause so much havoc for no reason, but are capable of threatening everyone to silence and do whatever they wish... what do they make a simple person like you and me feel? FEAR!

There is this fancy idea rather widespread, treating FEAR as an acronym, and expands it as False Evidence Appearing Real! In fact, fear exists only as long as darkness and falsity persist, isn't it? That is why Jesus says today, do not fear, what is in the dark will see daylight soon and then you will know well. Imagine your fear of a ghost, it disappears as soon as light comes on! Or think of how your fear of what you would trample on, just vanishes the moment some one switches on a torch or a search light! Fear is discarded by light, because fear is absence faith and faith is "the light that illumines our entire journey!" (cf. Lumen Fidei, n.1). 

The Word this Sunday calls our attention to the fears that surround us and the unfortunate impact they can have on us, if we are inattentive about them. Look at Jeremiah, a man with so much enthusiasm and dedication to the Lord, for a moment he seems to be weak and trembles before this terror, about to give into its powers! The call is to remember that fear is a product of darkness.

Fear is the product of darkness: The prince of darkness makes his presence felt in fear; fear is the sign of the presence of evil! It is the power that the evil one claims to have over us children of God. There are any number of irrational fears that the evil one instills in our minds: the fear of failure, the fear of pain, the fear of shame, the fear of loss... But if we are truly children of God, children of Light, we shall see the foolishness that is involved in these fears. Why should I fear? What shoud I fear? What can harm me? What evil can come over me? Jesus reminds us, with a clarity of perspective: what is the worst that can happen to you - death? But why should I fear death?

In fact the most powerful of the tools that the prince of darkness uses against us is death! And those who give into the influence of this evil prince, go on to become perpetrators of this culture of death! 

Fear spreads a culture of death: The culture of death is the culture of needless fear, the fear that makes one give into evil, give into sin, justify sinfulness and promote the rule of the evil. It is the entry of sin and justification of sinfulness and a submission to sinfulness to the extent of making it a norm for life - creating a culture that leads to death, an eternal damnation that leads to absolute meaninglessness here in our life and for all eternity. When Jesus differentiates between a death that ends our bodily existence and the death that strips us of our total sense of meaning, Jesus invites us to look at our real essence - our innermost being, that is the very element of God that resides within us. The culture of death denies this vehemently, laughs at it, belittles it and tries to shun it out of our lives and of this world. 

The sense of God within us - that is the light of Faith. That is the identity of the children of Light, the identity of the children of God, the identity of a culture of faith. 

Fear is overcome by a culture of Faith: In the apostolic letter, Lumen Fidei, Pope Francis (and Pope Benedict) present to us faith as the light that can illumine the entire human existence and experience - our daily life, our struggles, our pains, our temptations, our failures, our faults and weaknesses, our sufferings and even our death! Jesus died, that we may live; in his death he brought endeless life, not only to himself in resurrection, but to the entire creation that unites with him, the saviour of the universe. This is the culture of faith - a culture that promotes hope, love, righteousness, service and responsibility. It is in this culture that we can shine as lights, just as Jesus our inner light shines within us.  

Mother Teresa said once, "death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies within/inside us while we are alive." That is truly challenging the culture of death - not allowing death to reign over us, but overcoming death in the name of the One who has defeated death once and forever.  We are people of light, people of life, people of faith and ours is a culture of faith! Faith dispels fears! And the culture of faith, is to notice, recognise and celebrate the presence of the Light within us, in order that we can share and spread it to the farthest end of the existence. 

Let us heed to the call of the Word - to journey from fear to faith, to challenge the culture of death towards promoting a culture of faith. 

Celebrating the Mystery of Life

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

June 24, 2023: The Nativity of John the Baptist
Isaiah 49:1-6; Acts 13:22-26; Luke1:57-66, 80

There are no coincidences; there are only miracles! One constant and incomparable miracle in human life is birth! 

Let us just imagine, how before any of us was born our father, mother, home, family, everything was determined and prepared for. All that we had to do was be there and insert ourselves into that reality. And when a child is born, everybody wonders what would become of the child, but God has had a definitive plan already from eternity. If only one cooperated with those plans, one would achieve the purpose of his or her life to the full... which is not merely a pretty long life for its own sake, but immensely a lot more. 

Of course, many go rather early but that "early" is highly relative to the purposes achieved by those persons: for St. Francis it was 45 years, for St. Anthony it was 35 and for St. Dominic Savio it was just 14 plus! The real miracle is how things happen in such succession and correspondence that you can hardly account for. When we are mindful of a divine hand guiding us, we would find a great peace and serenity even amidst raging troubles and persistent problems.

The birth of John, which we celebrate today is painted in a manner that vividly brings out this miracle that every person is and every life is. What is important here is to be mindful of the call and be open to its ways. The feast speaks to us in these words: learn to look at yourself with a sense of mystery; open the eyes of your soul to see the mystery in every other who lives with you, or around you; keep your faith alive to realise and experience the Mystery present always with you and within you - the Lord who is leading you by your hand!

To treasure and to boast!

WORD 2day: Friday, 11th week in Ordinary time

June 23, 2023: 2 Corinthians 11: 18, 21-30; Matthew 6: 19-23

Look to Him and be radiant, inspires the Psalmist today. Eyes... Looking... Seeing... these are part of the glossary on the one hand in the Word today. It is about the perspective we have of life, that is, the point of view from where we wish to understand our life and everyday events. 

On the other hand we have two more terms that orient us to the theme - treasure and boasting! To treasure or to boast of something, means to value something dear! To value something dear, defines your perspective on life. What I value, what I treasure, what I boast about, will determine what I want to define my life as! Depending on that which I boast about, my life and its significance assumes depth. That is why Jesus invites me to guard my eyes, to be careful with my perspective on life, my way of looking at my priorities and things that I give importance to. 

There could be a great model in St. Paul who enumerates the possible things on which he can boast about, but chooses from them to boast on things that showed his weakness, because he would say in the very next chapter, 'when I am weak then I am strong' (2 Cor 12:10). The humble and saintly parish priest, St. John Maria Vianney would say, "if people would do for God what they do for the world, my dear people, what a number of Christians would go to heaven!" 

It all depends on what one's perspective is, what one sees to be important, what one sees to be one's treasure and worthy to be boasted about!

One people of One God!

WORD 2day: Thursday, 11th week in the Ordinary time

June 22, 2023: 2 Corinthians 11: 1-11; Matthew 6: 7-15

One cannot but admire the pastoral heart of St. Paul, in today's first reading. A heart that bleeds to see his own people, his 'children' as they were, being assailed by other preachers, other gospels and other attractions, so easily and so readily! What about today, when I see my brothers and sisters so readily falling for eloquence in preaching, vivacity in worship, emotional satisfaction, logicality in reasoning, the capacity for quoting from memory, the free flow of words and phrases that are so beautiful and soothing to hear... pastoral hearts bleed even today! 

It is all about calling God, OUR Father and Mother... being part of ONE REIGN OF GOD, doing as brothers and sisters TOGETHER the will of God on earth as in heaven; it is about forgiving the shortcomings of others in the community, the shortcomings of the community itself and staying on, as one community, facing the struggles and temptations as ONE community, overcoming all evil! 

Today, let us not today get lost in the beauty and the splendour of the Lord's Prayer - that is not the message of the Word... it is all about being a community that is worthy of praying that prayer! Evangelii Nuntiandi, the Apostolic Letter of Pope Paul VI (art.no.77) says, "the division among Christians is a serious reality which impedes the very work of Christ." Being of one heart and one mind, believing in the One Gospel that is handed down to us, is the highest witness we can give the world today, in every sphere of life!

A call to Sacred Interiority

WORD 2day: Wednesday, 11th week in Ordinary time

June 21, 2023: 2 Corinthians 9: 6-11; Matthew 6: 1-6,16-18

Interiority - that is the key to understand the Word today, while the world keeps shouting out to us, "Get Noticed!" Much of the Spiritual journey is made in the portals of interiority, that is why in today's culture there is so little space for true spirituality. 

The capacity to live on the basis of one's personal convictions formed out of concrete experiences and wise judgements, guided and illumined by the inner light of the Spirit of God, is what we understand to be Interiority. Cheerful giving, silent piety, hidden alms, secret sacrifices, serene spiritual life... these are a few signs of interiority that the Word points out to us today. A few more we could think of are, hopeful spirit, realistic optimism, humble gratitude, genuine fellowship, unconditional forgiveness, simple behaviour, reflective thinking, compassionate listening, and so on. 

A person of interiority is like a still spring and a silent stream, they appear still and silent, but there is life within them. They look quiet and ordinary, but within them resides the powerful Spirit of the all powerful God. I know, I have become a bit too philosophical in today's sharing, but interiority takes you by force, it drags you in and tethers your mind around something that you cannot speak enough about. That is why great sages of our tradition have spoken very little and mostly in aphorisms; that is why Jesus spoke always in parables and metaphors. 

Let this call guide our day today: the call to a sacred interiority!

Love even if it hurts!

WORD 2day: Tuesday, 11th week in Orinary time

June 20, 2023: 2 Corinthians 8: 1-9; Matthew 5: 43-48

St. Paul presents an example of the community of Macedonia to his beloved community of Corinth. He calls them to excel in their faith, to reach the heights of authenticity in their faith. And the way he proposes is, as the people of Macedonia, to be compassionate towards the others, generous towards those in want, and empathetic towards those in need! 

Paul is but reiterating the invitation of Christ to all his followers - be you perfect, as your heavenly father is perfect! And the way to perfection that Jesus proposes is in Love - a love that does not expect any appreciation in return, a love that does not expect anything in return, a love that does not expect even love in return. 

A tough call even for the saintliest among us - to love and expect nothing in return! Infact, when something is expected in return it is no love! That is why God's love is unconditional and every love that is genuine, is with absolutely no tags attached. Love is merely a giving, an offering, a self-offering. And obviously, it involves a great risk of rejection or depreciation, but that risk cannot stop me from loving. That is the exact point. 

How well said by Mother Teresa, 'Love until it hurts'. Truly Christ-ian!!!

A Life in Contrast

WORD 2day: Monday, 11th week in Ordinary time

June 19, 2023: 2 Corinthians 6: 1-10; Matthew 5: 38-42

The Beatitudes continue to inspire the Liturgy! As we reflected last week, the crux of the beatitudes, that is found in Mathew's fifth chapter, is the invitation to the followers of Christ to be a Contrast Community! 

We see that sense of 'contrast' flooding the readings today. Be it the first or the Gospel, the readings point to us the two choices we have in life always - inspiring the monumental words of Robert Frost - "two roads diverged in a yellow wood - and I took the less travelled by, and that has made all the difference". Mahatma Gandhi speaking of the Sermon on the Mount to Lord Irwin said, "when your country and mine shall get together on the teachings laid down by Christ in this Sermon on the Mount, we shall have solved the problems not only of our countries but those of the whole world." 

Let our life show if we are Christ-ians or not. Let my choices define who I am and what relationship I have with Christ. If I believe Christ is my personal saviour, the way I look at the world and all that happens around, will totally be in contrast to the way the mainstream of today thinks and calculates. St. Paul speaks of this in such powerful terms, a conviction that cost him everything - his career, his freedom and even his life! It takes courage for me today to accept, that even I have received the same saving faith, as St. Paul's, in the same Spirit!

The question to me is not whether I can justify my acts and my attitudes with the majority of the society around, but how prepared and how challenging is my life as a contrast!

HOLINESS = CHOSEN + HUMBLE

The Christian sense of Election!

11th Sunday in Ordinary time - June 18, 2023
Exodus 19: 2-6; Romans 5: 6-11; Matthew 9:36 - 10:8

Election Theology is a strong strand of faith interpretation for the Abrahamic Religions, sprouting without doubt from the Judaic belief and conviction. One of the fundamental self-understanding of the people of Israel in the Old Testament, even until today, is their identity as Chosen People, the People of Yahweh. This is what we know as Election Theology - does it have its place in the Christian thought? Certainly, yes! But with a reinterpretation that was strongly offered by Jesus himself. At times this reinterpretation of Jesus, got him into trouble, serious trouble. Let us understand that part of Jesus' Experience, first.

Jesus was undetered in his conviction that he belonged to the Father, and it was the Father who sent him and even that he and the Father were one! Can we think of a more stronger version of election theology? But what was the difference that his reinterpretation made? One of the original experiences or native experiences of the people of Israel and Judah, which gave them the identity as the Chosen people of God, was the closeness of God and the covenant from the times of Noah, Abraham and Moses. The people thought of themselves as chosen, but the problem began when they began to use that self-understanding in comparison with the others, when they started discriminating and despising the others! The despise of the others, went to their head and they began to take credit to themselves for the status of being chosen people of God - so much so that even when they asked for mercy they justified themselves as being better than the others who were pagans and sinners according to them! This is where Jesus differed! What was Jesus' reinterpretation of the Election Theology? We can understand that from the three messages that the Word presents us this Sunday:

Affirmation 1: We are Chosen!

We are a chosen race, royal priesthood, as Peter affirmed in his letter (Cf. 1 Peter 2:9). He made this affirmation from the traditional belief of the people, from the Old Testament, from the passages similar to what we listen to today. I made you a kingdom of priests, holy nation! It was a fact established by God, who called the people unto Godself. Chosenness was part of the identity of the people of God and justly so. No one can deny that fact, and Jesus on his part, never compromised on that truth - that we are chosen. He infact continued that teaching and wished that it continued as a teaching - in fact, he chose the twelve to represent the chosen race and today in the Gospel we have the names of the 12. Jesus affirms too that we are chosen. There is no doubt about the fact. But Jesus dared to differ on the point that we are chosen, not exclusively, not to to exclude the others judgmentally, but inclusively, as children of God chosen to spread that chosenness! Every person is a child of God and every child of God is chosen! We as disciples of Christ are made aware of our chosenness and we in turn have to spread that chosenness - that is already a reinterpretation. 

Affirmation 2: We are Chosen, it makes us Humble!

The second aspect that did not go well with Jesus was the fact that chosenness made people haughty and arrogant. Instead, Jesus was uncompromisingly convinced that our consciousness of being chosen has to make us humble, because we are painfully aware of the fact of how unworthy we are of the election we enjoy in the sight of God. God has chosen us, not because we are worthy, but because God is merciful and kind. In the second reading Paul reminds us through his letter to the Romans - even when we were sinners Christ died for us, even when we were sinners God loved us and chose to renew God's covenant with us in Christ. This chosenness, cannot make us proud or snobbish, but humble and recognizant of our unworthiness. This recognizance will determine our lifestyle, our mode of relating to others, our way of looking at life, our judgement of things that happen and our interpretation of the accomplishments that we are capable of. 

Affirmation 3: We are Chosen, for Holiness. 

When this conviction of chosenness and recognition of unworthiness are equally strong, there is a beautiful byproduct that we can see - Holiness. That is the Christian Holiness, a combination of joy in being the chosen people of God and the responsibility that our unworthiness places within us. We are unworthy, but the Lord has chosen us and hence we strive to grow in our daily life to God's likeness, that we gradually grow toward holiness. This is the reinterpretation of the Election Theology that Jesus offers us. In the Gospel when Jesus says, go proclaim that the Reign of God is near, heal the sick, liberate the possessed and announce the goodnews, he says: Go, although you are unworthy, in the goodness of God freely you have been chosen, freely make everyone else "chosen"! Make them feel loved, cared for, forgiven, liberated, saved, ... make them feel chosen!

The Spirituality of Remembering

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

June 17, 2023: Feast of Immaculate Heart of Mary

2 Corinthians 5: 14-21 (or) Isaiah 61: 9-11; Luke 2: 41-51.


To Remember is a Spirituality in itself!

Mary's heart is exalted today...
because she remembered...
she kept everything in her HEART...
Abraham, Moses, the Prophets... all of them were blessed because they remembered, they remembered the good that the Lord had done to them... they helped others remember it too. And God remembered them and blessed them more!

Just after the Sacred Heart of Jesus,
the Church proposes that we remember the Immaculate Heart of Mary...
because it was a heart that resembled
the heart of Jesus.

Learn from me,
for I am meek and humble of heart...
Mary observed that heart from close,
infact she had her part in forming that heart...
and she herself treasured a heart that resembled that meek and humble heart of the Lord!

She kept everything in her heart! To remember the goodness of the Lord, to remember the great things done to us by the Lord, to remember the mighty presence of the Lord ever in our hearts - that is the spirituality that Our Blessed Mother teaches us today!

When we remember all the good that the Lord has done to me, the hurdles and heart aches that come to me sometimes will look much smaller. 

All I need to do, as the Gospel says about our Blessed Mother, 
is to keep everything in our hearts and contemplate on them, to remember the goodness of the Lord, because, to remember is a Spirituality in itself!

Love made Flesh

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

June 16, 2023: Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
Deuteronomy 7: 6-11; 1 John 4: 7-16; Matthew 11: 25-30

Following the feast of the Body and Blood of Christ that we celebrated last Sunday, we remember today the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, the fount of love, the most symbolic expression of our relationship with God. The great devotion that we have for the Sacred Heart, has come from and passed through immense experiences of God's love in a concrete manner. Sr. Margaret Mary Alacoque was chosen as the champion and apostle for this devotion and today we have a treasure in its form, to reflect upon, to learn from, and to attach ourselves to.

The Sacred Heart symbolises...

1. The Covenant: God's initiative in love towards humanity, towards you and me. The heart reminds us of the covenant we have with the Lord - to belong to the Lord, to be people of the Lord! We see the indication of this in the first reading today and the key here is relationship - love made flesh and brought alive in every relationship we build, promote and sanctify in our lives. 

2. The Compassion: God's continued relationship filled with compassion towards us, reflecting the covenant that we have with God. The compassion which calls us to 'come and rest'; the wounded, scarred, pierced heart, offers to heal, soothe and fill our hearts. The call we find in the Gospel reading, is a call that continues for all our life. The Lord makes it clear that he has come to us rendering the love that God has for us real and concrete. It depends on us to go to that love or not - willing to taste that love made flesh and offered to us in ways without end.

3. The Commitment: God's invitation to imitate the total, self giving love of God. Loving one another is a commitment, not merely a sentiment or a wishful feeling. It is a concrete commitment towards the over-all well being of each other. Only when we love are we born of God's love, if not our very sonship or daughtership in relation to God becomes null and void. The second reading today reminds us of this call and invites us to relate to the love made flesh and be transformed each us in our lifes - into love made flesh! 

Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, fill us with the same love that your heart burns with - Amen.

Righteousness that liberates!

WORD 2day: Thursday, 10th week in Ordinary time

June 15, 2023: 2 Corinthians 3:15 - 4:1, 3-6; Matthew 5: 20-26

Righteousness that surpasses that of the scribes and the pharisees... that is an interesting perspective to look at. The readings of today would be very handy for the orientation that the Holy Father Pope Francis has been repeatedly offering the Church from the time he took up his papacy... the call to holiness, in concrete terms of personal integrity and community witness! 

Holiness is not some kind of an external showmanship, nor is it an imposed grandeur of a mysterious element that makes something or someone valuable; it is the simplicity of truth that is seen plainly in one's life and ways. Keeping our faith "unveiled" is the key to understand the challenge of the readings today. 

Let us live our faith... should we fail in the process now or later, it does not really matter! Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom! The sons and daughters of a liberating God cannot live in fear, not even the fear of making mistakes! Let us go out and live, and live our life to the full. Unveiled and Shining, Unfettered and Liberated, let us live a life of righteousness which does not consist of mere abiding by laws but consists in warm and mature relationships. 

A Christianity that cannot be translated in terms of loving, liberating and respectful interpersonal relationships, is nothing more than the righteousness of the scribes and pharisees! What difference do we make? Aren't we called to surpass that lame kind of a righteousness to a Righteousness that liberates?

The Spirit gives life!

WORD 2day: Wednesday, 10th week in Ordinary time

June 14, 2023: 2 Corinthians 3: 4-11; Matthew 5: 17-19

Commandments - Condemnation - Righteousness - Splendour: the glossary from the Word today! 

The earliest Christian communities were seen as contrast communities. They believed in commandments as did the Jews of their times, but their commandments were spelt differently. They knew there is condemnation, but their conditions of condemnation were formulated differently. They strove towards Righteousness but their righteousness was constituted differently. They had a splendour towards which they were drawn, but that was arrived at completely differently. It all boils down to another term: Covenant. The Christian community too focused on the Covenant, like the Jews of their times! But this was a new covenant, totally new! 

The key to all the difference was LIFE... the Life that was given by the Spirit... the Life that Christ brought... the Life to the full! I have come that you may have life...sounds well in continuity with today's phrase in Mt 5:17. Every little thing that is done, believed, taught or learnt, has to be life-giving, life enhancing... taking us towards Life in all its fullness, the promise that Jesus the Good Shepherd brought into this world. That is the right Christ-ian worldview. 

Hence the negligible corrollary would be: anything that enslaves, dehumanises, cripples life or tramples fullness, cannot be from the Spirit! The Spirit is life; anything from the Spirit is life-giving. That is what the new covenant is all about - about new life. It is a covenant of life, because it is the covenant of the Spirit and "the Spirit gives life"!

Salt, Light and the Yes!

THE WORD AND THE SAINT 

June 13, 2023: Remembering St. Anthony of Padua
2 Corinthians 1: 18-22; Matthew 5: 13-16

There is a close relationship between being salt, being light and saying an Yes to the Lord! 

To say Yes to the Lord means to be like the salt... totally dissolving oneself in the yes that is said, choosing to remain insignificant and hidden but making a difference in the entire reality! 

To say Yes to the Lord means to be like the light... remaining in your respect bright and burning, not counting the cost in melting yourself down or burning yourself up for the sake of the yes that you have given the Lord. 

These characteristics of the Yes to the Lord are exemplified without doubt in the life of St. Anthony of Padua. The first reading places it plain and clear in front of us, what it means to say an Yes to the Lord and St. Anthony has been one of those remarkable persons who have lived this call to the full. 

Jesus was never an yes and a no! He was always yes! And that is what he wants us to be - to entrust ourselves totally in the hands of God and be an yes always! That requires an enormous faith and relentless hope, filling us with a matchless love for God and God's ways. May St. Anthony intercede for us that we may in our daily lives be an yes that would make this world a better place, an yes that would inspire and illumine everyone around us. 

To be is to love!

WORD 2day: Monday, 10th week in Ordinary time

June 12, 2023: 2 Corinthians 1: 1-7; Matthew 5: 1-12

Comfort in affliction, blessedness in poverty, peace in persecution... there is a strange logic propounded by Jesus and seconded by Paul. But there is another simple, clear, direct and demanding logic too, that is spoken of in the liturgy of the Word today. It is the logic of 'Give-because-you-received.' This logic is a bit intricate, and leaves a lot of room for subjectivity! 

Subjective because it demands first of all that I realise that I have received, so that I am inspired to give. If I am really open to every little happening in my life and fundamentally grateful in my heart, I cannot but notice the amount of good that I keep receiving from the Lord! That is the intricate detail that I have to be aware of and acknowledge, to understand and practice the logic that Jesus presents to us. 

It is so simple - I have been loved by God first, hence I have to love my brothers and sisters! I have been forgiven immeasurably, hence I have to forgive! I have received comfort and been shown mercy, hence I am called to comfort others and to be merciful in all my ways! I am loved without measure, and therefore I have no other go - I have to love! If I have to be, I have to love! To be a Christian is to love; to be is to love!

THE SACRAMENT OF THE SELF-GIVING GOD

A parent, friend and a part!

June 11, 2023: The Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ

Deuteronomy 8: 2-3, 14b-16a; 1 Corinthians 10: 16-17; John 6: 51-58

It is a beautiful day to think of the most loving mystery of our faith: the Lord becoming our nourishment! God feeds his people and moreover, God feeds his people with his own self! What a mystery and how loving! One of the most beautiful and meaningful tabernacles that I have seen, I picture it so well in my mind, has a metal carving of a pelican mother, pecking her breast to tear her flesh open and feed her young ones with her own blood dripping from her body. Such a beautiful image to refer to Sacrament contained in that sanctum sanctorum. It is from a famous pre-Christian legend that made the early Christians adapt that symbol for Christ himself. (click here to read the legend)

Jesus' act of giving his body and blood to the believer is in keeping with the identity of the God whom the people of Israel always believed in and experienced. The God of their faith was signified in that act and that is why, when he declared, 'I am the bread from heaven, and those who eat of me shall not die', the people were shocked; some were enraged, many others deserted him! It was indeed a hard teaching for them. But it was a fact: Jesus did give himself, his body and his blood for the everlasting life of the whole world (cf. Jn 6:51). In this act of giving his body and blood, Jesus reveals to us three profound dimensions of God.

God as a parent: God as Father and Mother, is a fabulous revelation that Jesus has made of God. It was not entirely a new dimension; the people of Israel did experience it in an intense manner. Moses reminds them of that in the first reading... he reminds them of how God walked them through the desert and provided them with the food and drink that they needed. The provident God was actually a father, a mother, a loving parent, though the people preferred to look at him only as an awesome God and an almighty God. Jesus introduced God as "Abba", "Father", a loving parent, a lover par excellence. In giving his body and blood as food, Jesus highlights this element of God, the element of nourishment of the children, the element of feeding and the element of fending for the needs of the children.

God as a friend: There is no love greater than a person laying down one's life for one's friend (Jn 15:13). Jesus taught this model and lived it to the letter. As he shared that last supper with his friends he made it very clear to them, that it was a prefigurement of what has to happen on the Cross very shortly. The bread to become his body and the wine to become his blood... we do it in memory of him right until today, in memory of that friend-God who came down to live among us, be like us and give of himself to us. Every time we break the bread, we are challenged to be friends of God, to imitate his sacrifice, to burn with the same love for our brothers and sisters. The second reading elaborates this. Every time we raise that cup, we are reminded of that last drop of blood that came from his side, reminded us that we are called to live not merely for ourselves, but for others, for those who are in need of love and meaning in life.

God as part of us: The most difficult-to-digest dimension is this- God as part of us, God as dwelling in us! If you eat of this body, you will remain in me and I in you, says Jesus. God wants to remain in us, to dwell in us, to form part of us! God becoming part of us!?! Isn't that kind of scandalous? But that is the truth. What a difference it will make if only we realise and believe in that truth! We will come to you and make our home with you (cf Jn14:23), abide in me as I abide in you (Jn 15:4), you will abide in me and I will abide in you (cf. Jn 6:56)... we find these repeated teachings where Jesus reveals a unique dimension of a God who wishes, longs and seeks to abide, not just with us, but IN us. If we truly understand its implications and effects, we would have attained the eternal life that Jesus promises.

As we approach this greatest gift of all, today, let us strive to experience God as our Father, our Mother, our Friend, and above all... Our God as abiding within us. And thus we shall be transformed more and more into Him.

God sees you!

WORD 2day: Saturday, 9th week in Ordinary time

June 10, 2023: Tobit 12: 1, 5-15, 20; Mark 12: 38-44

St. John Bosco, a great apostle of the young in devising his method of working with the young, used what his mother Margaret taught him always at home when he was a boy: 'God Sees You,' she used to often repeat. Don Bosco later, in the Oratory, while living with those street kids and rest of the ruffian friends of his, wrote this truth in prominent places and instilled that feeling in his boys: God sees you!

The readings today seem to hint at this truth and call our attention to living our life conscientiously. The widow never realised that Jesus was looking at her or that he was praising her act in front of his disciples. But Jesus saw her, saw what she did, and more than that, saw what she was - the mind and the heart behind those 2 pences that were dropped in the box. Tobit, or even Tobiah, did not realise that the one who accompanied on the way was the Angel of God, the hand of God, the extension of God's presence. But God was there looking at everything that they were going through and the way they were living their life.

It is not pleasing the eyes of those around us, establishing a name among our fellow beings, publicising our goodness and generosity and things of that sort that will give us true and lasting happiness. It is only the watchful and undeceived eyes of God that see us, that will grant us meaning in life. 

It is a beautiful childlike spirituality, isn't it, to live mindful of the fact that God Sees You!

Right to be children of God

WORD 2day: Friday, 9th week in Ordinary time

June 9, 2023: Tobit 11:5-17; Mark 12:35-37

Anna was excited to see her son and felt she could even die in peace, since she had seen her son. Tobit was delighted in his son, as his son comes back from the journey. Tobias becomes the happiness of his parents. Both Anna and Tobit were almost reborn because of Tobias. Is this what the poet meant when he said, 'the child is the father of the man'! Tobias almost gave new birth to Tobit who actually wanted to die. That is the son giving a new life to his parents!

We have another Son who does the same, but to all. We see in the Gospel, Jesus wants to give that same new life to the people but they are still trying to make out for themselves who Jesus was, whose son he was and to whom they could link him to. They did not recognise the sonship that Jesus was claiming. We would do the same mistake, not only if we do not recognise the sonship of Jesus, but also when we do not realise the right to be children of God that we have received through Jesus. 

Jesus invites us to become aware of our sonship and daughterhood in God. He says the earthly fathers and mothers, the earthly generations we treasure, are but passing, and we need to have that eternal abode that sustains our journey. You are the children of God, when we hear Jesus telling us this, we would inherit the blessedness that he himself had, the salvation that he brought us - everything summarised in the right we have to be known as children of God. 

Love... can we ever understand it enough?

WORD 2day: Thursday, 9th week in Ordinary time

June 8, 2023: Tobit 6:10-11; 7:1bcde, 9-17; 8:4-9a; Mark 12: 28-34

There are too many heart wrenching stories we hear these days... not merely those of big accidents and wars, but above all, of persons who do not understand what it means to love! Think of a husband who decides to disown his wife just witin a year after their wedding, because she was diagnosed with a serious illness; or think of a religious or a priest, after years of life in ministry, just throwing away everything for some misunderstanding or similar temporal issues. Not just these, but many such experiences raise a fundamental doubt: how Christ-ian are we? Have we really immersed ourselves into the mystery that God is? God is love and if we are born of God, we should love - love God and love our brothers and sisters.

While the Gospel reiterates this call that each of us has received, in the first reading today we have a typical example in the person of Tobiah. Once he decides that he loves Sarah, nothing deters him from growing in that perfection. He is told how fatal it can be if he loves Sarah, but he does not hesitate. The reason is, he believed that Sarah was brought into his life by God.

Love is not merely a feeling; it is an act of faith. To look at every person around me and see and believe that God has given me that person, that brother or that sister, to love- that is the secret. That is true Christian love: does the world today, does every Christian today, do I today, really understand what it means to say, I love? Will the world ever understand that enough?

God is bigger than anything!

WORD 2day: Wednesday, 9th week in Ordinary time

June 7, 2023: Tobit 3: 1-11,16-17; Mark 12: 18-27

Holy Father Pope Francis is convinced of his saying, 'a sad Christian cannot proclaim the Good news!' Every one has one's own share of the baggage to be carried! For some it seems more, for some others less. But, more or less, actually does not make much difference; what makes the difference is how one looks at it. 

In the Gospel today, Jesus almost laughs at the Sadducees for their ignorance - you know neither the scriptures nor the power of God, he says. They behave like the mendicant who was asked, what if you won a ticket to France tomorrow, and he said instantly, I will go to France and beg! Jesus challenges them, and us, to think big! He warns us not to limit God to someone like us, out of our ignorance! 

Our God is God of the living, not of the dead...God is much greater than whatever I can think of, or imagine! All that I need to do is believe in that God, trust in the presence of that God and when I am aware of that overwhelming presence with me, all the troubles that I face today, becomes so negligible. Be it Tobit or Sara... their share of trouble was so heavy... little did they realise the mighty presence with them, which was there to deliver them and launch them into Salvation History never to be forgotten! 

When St.Augustine says " when I am completely united to you, there will be no more sorrow or trials; entirely full of you, my life will be complete", this is what he means... the Mighty Presence of my Living God, can make the worst of my troubles look so silly! God is bigger than anything I can every think of! 

To see or not to see...

WORD 2day: Tuesday, 9th week in Ordinary time

June 6, 2023: Tobit 2: 9-14; Mark 12: 13-17

Tobit loses his sight and lives so for four years or so. Even that did not disturb his wife much but the question she asks him, 'where is all your charity?', brings out the crux of the message today. It is truly charity that helps us see persons as they are. In charity we decide whether to see or not, to see or not persons as they are instead of fixing them into the peg holes we have made for each of them. 

Judgements are the first enemies of charity and that is why the saintly Mother Teresa made that statement: if you judge, you have no time to love! Inability to see, is in fact a lack of openness caused by lack of charity. Where there is love, there is no judgement; and where there is judgement, there is a lack of love obviously.  

The Pharisees and the Scribes hated Jesus to the core because he was exposing their hypocrisy, their stubbornness of heart, their decision not to see, because they wanted to prove their judgement that Jesus was a fake messiah! Jesus never judged them, for even when he criticised them, he continued to love them! Even after reports and experiences of the goodness of the Lord, they refused to see, or decided not to see!

How far do you really see? Does the sight giving charity truly reside in our hearts?

Prophecy - a core Christian call!

WORD 2day: Monday, 9th week in Ordinary time

June 5, 2023: Tobit 1: 1a, 2-3a, 2: 1c-8; Mark 12: 1-12

Prophecy, is part of our Christian calling, not just a part but the very core of it. Prophets are not merely soothsayers or fortune tellers or those who foresay events! The different shades of the literal meaning of a prophet are: pro-phetes - to speak for God, to speak before the people, to speak for the truth in front of the people, to stand alone for the 'right' before a multitude that may stand around and pressurise me against it. Tobias in the first reading and Jesus in the Gospel are doing just that! 

It is not a matter of belonging to a category called 'prophets' or to consider self righteously oneself better than all the rest - but it is knowing what is right, being convinced of what is right and being that. Yes, 'being' that, not just 'doing' that. 

Compromises and Justifications can be found for any issue, excuses and good reasons can be found for any lack... whereas, prophecy is that dimension of one's personality that remains itself at all times, looks at itself and judges oneself, with the parameters that makes sense only to a person who shares that state of life. 

May we grow more and more aware of ourselves, our convictions and our priorities that we may constantly check whether we are really living our call to prophecy in the ordinary circumstances of our daily Christian living.

CELEBRATING THE GOD OF COMMUNION

An accompanying, relating and self-giving God!

June 4, 2023: Solemnity of the Holy Trinity
Exodus 34: 4b -6, 8-9; 2 Corinthians 13: 11-13; John 3: 16-18

The feast of the Holy Trinity is an invitation to a life of communion, communion between persons, communion within the family, within the local church, in the universal Church and above all, an invitation to the ultimate and perfect communion with God! Communion defines what it means to be a Christian: and that is because we believe in a God of Communion!

Entering into the theology of the Holy Trinity will take us too far; but the verse from St. Paul in the second reading today (1 Cor 13:13), summarises it all. The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Love of God and the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit. Already in the early Church the understanding of the God they believed in, the idea of the God whom Jesus introduced them to, the concept of the God who has been with them all this while, was clear and concrete. 

What we believe in, affects what we live. If not, we either do not really believe or do not live our own life. If we really believe in the Holy Trinity as we should, we should be promoters of communion in our interpersonal relationships, in our family, in our faith communities and in the locality wherever we live, ultimately challenging the whole world to this communion of humanity. The divisive forces cannot really take the upper hand if each and every individual loves, longs for and promotes passionately this communion that the God we believe in stands for. 

The God of Communion is an Accompanying God. God accompanies not because we deserve that accompaniment, but because God takes responsibility over us, as God's people. That is the covenant that God has made: you shall be my people and I shall be your God. In the first reading today, when Moses asks God to be with the people, it is exactly this covenant that is invoked. An accompanying God is the basis of the communion between God and humanity, and it is our belief that God has kept this possibility open right from the beginning. 

The God of Communion is a Relating God. Communion is unreal, unless through relationship. And God relates to us continuously, God communicates constantly and wishes to remain in constant touch with us. If we realise, respect and recognise the role of this relationship, it will be reflected in our day to day relatioships: encourage each other; agree with each other; live in peace, exhorts St.Paul. Anyone who says he loves God and does not love his brother or sister, is a liar, warns St. James (1 Jn 4:20). 

The God of Communion is a Self-giving God. God is not merely almighty, God is all-loving and all-giving too! God gives and forgives, it is said; we get and forget! For God so loved the world that God gave the only Son, Jesus Christ, that we may have life! For Christ so loved his brothers and sisters that he gave his own life, his body and blood, that we may have life! For the Spirit so loves us that the Spirit dwells in our hearts, in our bodies, in our selves! The God of communion seeks communion with us, and seeks communion among us. 

The Trinity is the right corrective the world so divided and so threatened by hatred today. Killings, exploitations, corruption and manipulation are brass tacks manifestation of the lack of communion. Personal Intergrity, Christian Fellowship and Universal Brotherhood are the three fundamental forms of communion that we need to work towards these days. Let us begin with our personal selves and reach wherever we reach, so that we can rightfully say that we believe in the God of Communion and that we stand for the Accompanying, Relating and Self-giving God, the God of Communion, the Loving Father and Mother, the Life-giving Son and the Indwelling Spirit.

The Word and the Wisdom

WORD 2day: Saturday, 8th week in Ordinary time

June 3, 2023: Sirach 51:12-20; Mark 11: 27-33

Jesus is the Word made flesh... the Second person of the Trinity, the Wisdom signified in the Old Testament personified in the person of Jesus,  God's guiding presence that was with the people of the Old Testament and came alive in human flesh in the New Testament. The readings taken together today, give us a twin perspective of Jesus and Jesus' relation to the figure of Wisdom!

1. Jesus has Wisdom: the Gospel presents to us the way Jesus tackled the trap that was laid for him by the shrewd pharisees and scribes. Jesus proves that he had the Wisdom, a great gift from the Lord. It is fundamentally knowing what to say and what not to say at a particular point of time and saying what is to be said in the best way possible with the choice of the right verbal or non verbal language! Now that was Jesus' forte. Be it in the event we read in the Gospel today,or the incident of the woman caught in adultery, or the case of the samaritan woman, or the discussion with the disciples asking for power and position... everywhere Jesus knew the right thing to be said and he chose the right sense of doing it.

2. Jesus as Wisdom: the way the first reading presents Wisdom, we come to clearly understand what the Old Testament speaks of as Wisdom is not merely a quality or a faculty, but a person, a personal presence of the Almighty! When Jesus lived and moved around, people readily and without much difficulty saw the Wisdom that he was. Jesus was, and is, the Wisdom that fills us with light and shows us the way. If only we accept the Wisdom of Christ in contrast to rest of the truth claims of the world, we would find that joy that is complete, that Christ alone can give.