Know God that God may know you!

WORD 2day: Friday, 21st week in Ordinary time

September 1, 2023: 1 Thessalonians 4: 1-8; Matthew 25: 1-13

Pagans are those who do not know God, defines Paul and according to his definition when they do not know God, they do not know what God expects of them.When they do not know what God wants of them, they will be ill prepared in their life to meet God and respond to God's invitation. When they fall short of it and get left behind the closed doors, the Lord would declare that he knows them not too!

Struggling to measure up to the call that we have from the Lord, is perfectly human but making a farce of it by willful and unrepentant compromises is devilish. And the Lord will find himself so far away from these sort of people - that is the warning today. The Lord gives enough reminders and reprimands, that we may repent in time and turn to authentic response to God's call. 

If I say, I find it difficult to respond to the call the Lord has given me, I am being sincere! But if I say I do not know what God wants of me, I am being a liar. All of us know what the Lord wants of us at any point of time in our life - inspite of all the enormous challenges we may have. We may find it difficult to do what the Lord wants, or we may find ourselves in a pressure not to do what the Lord wants, but we know well what the Lord expects of us. It may be in details, but the ultimate call is to BE HOLY and I have no other option! We know that God wants! We know God! We need to admit that we know, that God may not say, "I do not know you!" Let us know God, that GOd may know us!

Small or Big - Progress is the Key!

WORD 2day: Saturday, 21st week in Ordinary Time

September 2, 2023 - 1 Thessalonians 4: 9-11; Matthew 25: 14-30

Spiritual Masters broadly agree on one maxim that they often repeat: in spiritual life not to progress is to regress. It is indeed true for any Christian call - complacency and lethargy are spiritual enemies that we have to fight constantly. They lead to dangers ranging from a simple spiritual stagnation to a serious self righteousness. That does not mean that we are forced to make giant leaps everyday in our spiritual journey. That would be an unreasonable burden!

Apart from the fact that Spiritual itineraries are made of tiny little steps in progression, there can be falls even frequent, slips and slides, dumps and accidents galore - but these do not matter so much to God as our willingness to rise and follow, our decision to remain firm with the original response, our determination to persevere incessantly. 

It does not matter whether we are fast or not; it does not matter we make tremendous changes or not, what matters is that we progress. Within the capacity that we are given with, within the circumstances that I find myself in, I should be able to account to myself a progress that I make from time to time. Then I am well on the right journey.

Finally, the message today is keep walking, mind your steps, whether they are small or big that is not what matters because ultimately, progress is the key!

Queenship & Being Riegn Worthy

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

August 22, 2023: Celebrating the Queenship of Mary
Judges 6: 11-24; Matthew 19: 23-30

Today's Word and the Feast are full of contrasts - the rich and the poor; the haves and the have-nots, the strong and the weak, the first and the last... it all boils down to one binary according to Christ: those who are worthy of the Reign and those that are not! 

We have some beautiful icons presented today. Gideon the weakling chosen amidst the strong ones; the young man who possessed abundance of wealth but failed to inherit the Kingdom, Mary the simple and ordinary girl who is crowned the Queen of heaven and earth, a feast we celebrate exactly a week after the Assumption. These are evidential proofs of the criteria of the Reign!

Mary's queenship is absolutely logical. Christ is the King and we have no doubt about it. If Christ were the king, the crown prince of the World, his mother Mary is logically the Queen - that is why Pius XII instituted this feast in 1954 to let us understand that we have a great mediatrix in this simple woman of Nazareth. 

Mary is the mediatrix in more than a few ways: one, by her intercession; secondly by her example; and thirdly by her challenging witness that tells us that it is possible to live as people of the Reign, the children of the Reign, worthy subjects of our one and only King, Christ our Lord. The Queenship, apart from being one of the glories of Mary that we celebrate, is a reminder to us, to remain Reign-worthy.

Better be a Pagan!

Pagan who knows God or a believer who knows not?

August 20, 2023: 20th Sunday in Ordinary time

Isaiah 56:1, 6-7; Romans 11: 13-15, 29-32; Matthew 15: 21-28

"Pagans" is a strong word! It can sound discriminatory and at times even derogatory. There was a time when religiosity consisted of making this stark distinction between the so-called believers and alleged pagans. We see that in Jesus' time and culture - in fact the Jews still consider the rest of the humanity as Gentiles, just as the believers in Islam look at the 'others' as "infidels"! So, if we condescendingly call someone a pagan, let us remember for some other group of people we are equally pagans too! 

Why this polemic here? It is just to bring out the central term of the Word today and the resultant lesson to attend to. The first reading speaks of how a person of the chosen people of Israel, cannot take his or her chosenness for granted. The Gospel presents how Jesus himself was a man of his times and was affected by the differential thinking - we and others! But Jesus seems to end up with a new understanding, which St. Paul in the second reading elaborates. 

There is a key understanding to be highlighted here: which is true - that, a pagan does not know God? or that one who doesn't know God is a pagan? These two statements are definitely different from each other. One is taking for granted the chosenness of a category of persons, while the other defines chosenness in terms of ones knowledge and rapport with God, that is, in terms of lived faith. 

Keeping this understanding in focus, we have three lessons to consider:

1. Faith makes us children of One God: When Jesus declares, "Great is your faith," he acknowledges that it is faith that makes one a child of God and the lack of it counts one out of that category. Only faith can distinguish someone as God's, nothing else...not some privileged birth or progeny!

2. What matters is knowing God - knowing or not knowing that is what makes one a believer or a pagan. First of all, it's not some brand name, franchise banner or magical formula. Secondly, the knowledge here is not knowing about God, but knowing God...knowing God personally and allowing God to encounter us.

3. We are called to grow out of all discriminatory thinking - in the name of creed, caste, colour, tribe, or anything of that sort. Especially today with so much of polarisation in the context, we have a bounden duty to uphold the Reign of God, in equality, dignity of all, and divine justice.

Isn't it better than to be a fake believer who knows not the God of the Reign, to be a so called pagan who knows and belongs to the Reign of God?

Choose to be little

WORD 2day: Saturday, 19th week in Ordinary time

August 19, 2023: Joshua 24: 13-15; Matthew 19:13-15

To choose God, to choose God as the absolute, to choose God above all - these would mean...  choosing to be little! What do we mean? 

Choosing to be little means choosing to be laughed at, choosing to be jeered at, choosing to be labelled 'conservative' or 'irrelevant'. This is becoming more and more real as days go by! The culture in general is growing increasingly cynical towards anything spiritual. 

In fact, the cultures which were once so dominated by the God-talk, are today turning, if they have not already totally turned, "Godless". However, it is not our task to be sitting in judgement on the people around. Our task here is to take into account our personal daily life, our personal choices and priorities, and the elements of our daily life that truly matter to us. There we will have a clue - do we want to be accepted by the world and found relevant to the times or do we want to choose to be little, to be that little flock that surrounds the Lord, like children who feel secure in the embrace of a mother? 

What would our choice be? If I say 'I choose to be little', I choose to stick on to the Lord in spite of the attractions of the dominant images of the world today, I choose to hold on to the values that are Reign-related and not what is trending, I choose to be called an "outdated boomer" while the rest pose themselves as a progressive and advanced generation of humanity. We cannot but be inspired by the dedication which we find in Joshua's declaration today: "it is the Lord our God we choose to serve; it is God's voice that we will obey!" 

Enjoying the fruits that we never planted

WORD 2day: Friday, 19th week in Ordinary time

August 18, 2023: Joshua 24: 1-13; Matthew 19: 3-12

When a brother of the Islamic faith speaks in public, or even in a simple familiar gathering, invariably he begins with terms like, 'Insha Allah' or 'Masha Allah'... Certainly we have seen this atleast on the media screens. These terms simply mean 'if God wills' and 'God has willed' respectively. As much as we admire them for this courageous reference to God in relationship to their daily life, we need to wonder at our own Christian brothers and sisters, our own children and ourselves! How much of this sense of God do we possess and propose to the world? 

It does so much good to realise that everything in my life comes from the Lord - in the name of the Lord, and for the will of God. "What do we have, that we have not received?" challenges St. Paul (cf. 1 Cor 4:7). If all that we are and all that we have, is received from God, why not acknowledge that at every event of our lives - not just at failures and difficulties where we readily point to God, but all at sucessess and peaceful moments when we prefer to live on our own.

Dedicating oneself for God, for God's will, for God's task is a matter of choice, not merely on our part, but on the part of the One who is at the root of everything. Every good that we are blessed to carry out is a gift from God - according to God's will and towards fulfilling God's will. At times we make choices that serve our own ego and our own personal plans. But what matters is to realise that we are eating the fruits of plants planted once upon a time and be one such - planters of the tree of blessing. 

The call is to realise that we are being blessed constantly by the Lord and to understand clearly what our own blessings lead us to. Challenging moments, let us get ready to brave them. Pleasant moments, let us be mindful of the fact that we are enjoying the fruits of the plants we never planted!

The "Dry Ground" Phenomenon

WORD 2day: Thursday, 19th week in Ordinary time

August 17, 2023: Joshua 3:7-11,13-17; Matthew 18:21 - 19:1

The presence of the Lord with the Israelites was a solid and concrete presence - the pillar of fire and the pillar of cloud that we have seen, and today, we see the splitting of Jordan when the bearers of the Ark step in. The presence made a great difference in the lives of the people and at times the Lord made it concrete because they were constantly forgetting the fact. 

Today we have the Jordan splitting itself - the upper Jordan and the lower; and they saw the dry ground. It is a repetition of the experience where they crossed the Red Sea with Moses, they had walked on dry ground even then. 

In our life too, there are experiences of dry ground - we walk through life's experiences without our feet getting wet or dirty or stained or soiled, not by our own merit but by the grand mercy of God. That is what Jesus is reminding us of - when you find fault with your neighbour, when you judge your brother or your sister, when you call them names, when you have your finger pointing at your fellow persons, remember the dry ground phenomenon. 

You are standing on a dry ground, your feet unsoiled because the Lord has had mercy on you. Remember, your dry ground is not your merit, it is God's mercy. When you are mindful of it, you will surely be a member of the Reign.

Neither Moses, nor Joshua, nor We

WORD 2day - Wednesday, 19th week in Ordinary time

August 16, 2023: Deuteronomy 34: 1-12; Matthew 18: 15-20

Today we listen to an account of the demise of Moses and the taking over of Joshua. Moses was a great prophet, an unparalleled leader, a person who related to God as if to a friend - but that does not mean he would go on forever. He faced his end. Joshua took over and there was an end to him too. None of us is indispensable - neither Moses, nor Joshua, nor you and me! 

We are all here to do the will of God, each one in our own way, in our personal life. And one thing that will remain to ensure continuity is the community, the faith community, the people of God! This is what Jesus teaches his followers today. The Faith Community, that is, my brothers and sisters in the Lord together as one, have an indispensable role to play. This is where the Church draws its importance. 

At times we belittle our faith, as if it is between me and my God. Yes, it is so, but it is between me and my God in the context of my brothers and sisters in the Lord. I cannot take the other for granted. I cannot be Christlike, if I claim my faith sans my genuine love for the other. 

Know the people of God whom you live with. Love your faith community. Be responsible towards the community around you. As a follower of Christ, I am called to express and live my faith, in and among a community, given to me by God. Let love reign!

Faith that Liberates

Favour, Faith and Freedom

August 15, 2023 - Solemnity of Assumption of our Blessed Mother and Indian Independence
Revelation 11: 19,12: 1-6, 10; 1 Corinthians 15: 20-26; Luke 1:39-56

Assumption of Mary into heaven is a celebration of the goodness, faithfulness and mercy of God and not that of an achievement of Mary. Though it is a Marian feast, we celebrate the mighty things that the Lord had done in her and for her! The celebration and the Word calls our attention to three important terms today: Favour, Faith and Freedom!

Favour... Full of grace, filled with favours - Mary was a predilected child of God, because wanted her to be an instrument to bring salvation to humankind through God's own Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ. She was granted favours in abundance. Assumption is one last favour that God showers on her at the end of her earthly journey, so occupied with doing God's will and nothing but God's will. We are filled with favours too - to be born, to have life, to be born as children of God, to be loved by God and to have the Lord's presence ever on our side. Are they not enough favours? But what we do with them is a more pertinent question.

Faith... Here is where Mary shines forth as a person. Mary was filled with favours but her merit is seen in the fact that she always remained worthy of those favours by an absolute choice for God. That is faith - that absolute personal choice for God, and God's will. Inspite of all her difficulties and struggles, she stood faithful to the Lord, choosing God above anything else. That makes her a great model for us today. This absolute choice for God, created in her an attitude that kept her totally away from anything that could separate her from God. That attitude is what we celebrate today.

Freedom... the ability Mary had to choose on her own things that were acceptable to God is that which set her apart. That is what liberated her. That is true freedom, to choose God on my own, without any force or pressure, without any fear or threat. That freedom is not merely a freedom from but it is a freedom to... freedom to live my life to the full come what may, freedom to stick to what is right in spite of the repeated despise of the world, freedom to remain with God forever! Mary used her freedom and she was liberated forever! In the context of the Independence day that we celebrate today, this freedom becomes a crucial value to be reflected upon! How much freedom is promoted in the society today - that would determine the true dignity of every person in the society!  

The call is simple - a challenge to grow in our faith, in a faith that liberates!

Half a Shekel or Life to the Full?

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

August 14, 2023: Remembering St. Maximilian Kolbe
Deuteronomy 10: 12-22; Matthew 17: 22-27

Celebrating St. Maximilian Kolbe, is a challenge we accept to dwell on - a man who did not do anything for the sake of a rule, but for the sake of what his heart prompted him to do for the Lord who loved him. Paying half a shekel was a duty of a slave, according to Jesus. That is not what is asked of a Son or a Daughter. While a slave intends to pay the half shekel that is expected of him, the Son gives the entire life to the Lord, surrenders the totality of one's life, bringing that life to its fullness thus.

God is not to be bribed, declares Moses. You don't try to appease God by being calculative in what you give, trying to pay your due, for your due is your life, not just some money or some fulfilment of a rule. The heaven, the earth, everything that exists therein and my very life belongs to God and what can I possibly give the Lord - nothing less than the whole of my life!

Maxmilian Kolbe, a saint of our times, lived the words that we reflect on in the Liturgy today. He took seriously 1 John 3:16 - "... we ought to lay down our lives for our brethren." That is the sign given to us to testify for true love - as Jesus himself states in the Gospel, Jn 15:13 - "there can be no greater love than to lay down one's life for one's friends." It is a choice that Kolbe made, knowing well what is going to be the fallout of that choice. Right enough, Pope John Paul II declared him as 'the Patron Saint of our Difficult Century'. A saint from the greatest of all tragedies of the just gone century in the concentration camp of Auschwitz, where Kolbe chose to die in place of another(Franciszek Gajowniczek, who was present at the canonisation of the saint). Let our love be genuine (Rom 12:9); but if it were really so, sure we will have to be prepared for hard times and painful experiences!

When Fr. Kolbe decided to die for a man whom he knew not, he did not consider that act a great feat. For him that was what he could do, all that he had to give at the moment was his life and he gave it - he loved his Lord with the whole of his heart, with the whole of his strength, with his very life. I am called to give not just half a shekel, but my life to the full.

GOD IS

The invitation to Meet God...

August 13, 2023: 19th Sunday in Ordinary time
1 Kings 19:9a, 11-13a; Romans 9:1-5; Matthew 14:22-33

It was a Religion class and the professor entered the class and wrote on the board: God is... and turned to the students and said, 'can some of you try completing that statement?' and asked them to come over to the board to complete it. Many tried replacing those dots with things like, God is ...love, Great, merciful and so on. Some ironically tried completing it with things like, God is ...absent, dead, forgotten, unnecessary, useless and so on! The professor at the end of it all smiled at them and said: 'I can complete that sentence even without touching a piece of chalk.' He went to the board and rubbed off the last two dots... and it read: God is. Not only grammatically, even theologically it is a perfect and complete sentence!

Whether joys or sorrows, trials or triumphs, celebrations or temptations, successes or struggles, THE LORD IS. God is with us! God is present with us and God walks beside our tossed boats. God speaks to us in gentle whispers and caresses in our moments of discernment and decision making. In moments of struggles and strivings he is there as our stronghold. 

How convinced are we about the Lord's presence with us at all moments: For all seasons... God IS.

However, it is our responsibility to meet God...

We are invited to meet God IN THE CALM OF OUR LIFE. At moments when everything is calm and quiet, serene and simple, we tend to miss the presence of God. Grateful hearts behold that presence instantly and childlike spirits rejoice in that quietude. The Lord invites us through Prophet Elijah to behold the Lord in the "sound of sheer silence" (as the NRSV translation phrases it 1 Kgs 19:13).

Isn't that true, when we enjoy good health we do not even think about out health, but when we are down with a simple fever or headache, our health is all the time on our minds! May be, when we are in good health, if only we pay attention to our bodily self, with balanced diet, sufficient exercise, good and regular daily habits... how much good it would do, even if a moment of sickness should come our way! Let us not extend that analogy too much, but the point is this: as the Ecclesiastes tell us - remember your creator, before the days of trouble come! God is... right there on our side, all our life. We need not wait for a trouble, or a crisis to call out to God.

We are invited to meet God IN THE STORM OF OUR DAYS. Of course, there are days of struggle. The specific crises of our lives apart, we never lack moments when storm clouds batter against our weak spirits. We shall not be moved, if we are sure of the Lord who is present with us. We shall remain strong and composed if we know that the Lord is around even if we are not able to 'see' God because of the darkness that surrounds and because of the deafening noise that threatens. At times we may be misled to look at God and suspect God to be a ghost, that is looking at things that are happening and villainise God, blaming God for every misery that is around. When things are settled, at hindsight we will recognise how good God is and how God has been with us all through those moments.

But our regular habits serve us at particular moments of need. Imagine if we have been feeling the presence of God close to us all through our regular routine of daily life, if we have lived the days with the Lord and surrendered our nights to God's protection every day, if we have been cultivating an ongoing relationship with God as a person who walks beside me everyday... will it be difficult for me to gather God's presence when I have a trouble? Will it be tough for me to hear the Lord whisper into my ears: fear not, I am around! How blessed it would be to feel the Lord close when there is storm all around, for the Lord alone can rebuke the storm, we can only stand around and shiver.

We are invited to meet God AS THE NORM OF OUR LIFE. In the calm of our life or in the storm of our days, we are invited to encounter the Lord as the norm of our lives! The episodes of life and miracles of Christ in the Gospels are not merely wonders and showpieces, for us to look and marvel at. They are lessons to be learnt, ways to be adopted - to live our life like him, with him and in him. In the second reading, St. Paul cries over the numerous signs that the Lord gave the Jews, which they utterly missed and totally squandered.

At times we may do the same too... miss it all. How many opportunities we get to learn on a daily basis! Let them alone, how many warnings we get in and through events that happen: ecological crisis, criminalities, war cries, terrorism, imbalanced depletion of resources, improper priorities and choices at the national and international levels, suffering humanity, abandoned sections of people... are all these not lessons for us to see and learn, for ourselves and for the entire humanity, for today and for ever! Let us not miss the lessons that come through on a daily basis... the Lord is our norm. We need to grow in God's image each and every day.

The Lord's invitation resounds as it does to Elijah, "Go out, stand and watch! the Lord shall be passing by! Don't let the Lord pass by." St. Augustine makes that inspiring statement in this regard: I fear the Lord, passing by. Let us behold the Lord always, because for all seasons, God is!!!

Mighty hand and Outstretched arms!

WORD 2day -  Friday, 18th week in Oridnary time

August 11, 2023: Deuteronomy 4: 32-40; Matthew 16: 24-28

‘By a mighty hand and an outstretched arm’ – that was the phrase the Israelites used to summarise the glorious care that God took of their ancestors. The readings speak to us of the ‘Glory’ of God that deserves all our obedience and allegiance! 

The covenant that Israelites had with Yahweh was not formulated on some imaginary terms, but was established on a concrete experience of a nation walking into freedom. Neither is the covenant we have with God based on an imagination – it is based on a concrete sacrifice of the Son of God, signed with the blood from the Cross and ratified with the death of the Lamb of God! At our baptism we have counter signed that covenant and it is upto us to honour it all our life. 

The terms are clear – to recognize the great deeds that God has accomplished on our behalf; to acknowledge the saving mysteries of the life, death and resurrection of the Son of God; and to behold the great gift of Resurrection that is promised us in the hope of this covenant. We can behold that resurrection in the Risen Lord, if we are ready to participate in the life of the Son of God – a life lived totally in obedience to the holy will of God. 

Carrying the daily cross – is the readiness to face the hurdles of each day and continue to feel the presence of God beside; to remain steadfast to what is true, right and just, despite the consequences that might prove to be tricky or troublesome; to be ready to lose the whole world, just in order to gain one’s soul!

The call to give - a life of fruitfulness

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

August 10, 2023: Remembering St. Lawrence, the Deacon-Martyr
2 Corinthians 9: 6-10; John 12: 24-26

The best of all giving, is giving of oneself! 

Giving of one’s abundance, giving of whatever little that one has and giving even if one does not have enough for oneself – these are praise worthy in their respective order. But the highest of all giving is Self-giving.

Celebrating the Deacon-martyr, St. Lawrence, we are reminded of the early Christian communities that were so much characterized by persons who were blessed with the special charism of giving of their own selves, apart from what they possessed. They were cheerful givers, and so we find their numbers kept growing unprecedentedly. The very spirit that they radiated held captive those who saw them and multitudes were drawn to emulate it. They were ready and willing to die to themselves that Christ may come alive in them! 

St.Paul’s words were true in so many of those early Christians – “I live, it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me” (Gal 2:20) and “for me to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Phil 1:21). These were not mere catchy sayings; they were true lived experiences and we witness it in great martyrs like St. Stephen, the apostles and St. Paul himself. 

St. Lawrence follows suit very closely later in the third century. After all, they had but one model who had invaded and conquered their minds, hearts and spirits - Jesus the ultimate personification of self-giving - the grain of seed that chose to fall to the ground, that it may abound in its fruits: we are the fruits and let us be worthy of the grain which has borne us.

As you sow, so you reap!

WORD 2day - Wednesday, 18th week in Ordinary time

August 9, 2023: Numbers 13:1-2,25 - 14:1,26-29,34-35; Matthew 15: 21-28

Faithlessness or Faith – As you sow, so you reap! 

Let us focus our attention on two phrases from the Word today: “As you have spoken I will do unto you!”-“As you wished it shall be unto you!” The two phrases, the former from the first reading and the latter from the Gospel seem similar, though they are not! Considering the contexts, they are infact contrary to each other – one a reproach from the Lord and the other an approval. However, the message is same – FAITH. 

The first reading seems to be a rationalization on the part of Israel, as to why they had to sojourn forty long years in the deserts of Paran – a simple reason: lack of faith! The Lord could not walk them to the land of milk and honey, as promised, because they were stubborn and hard headed, never yielding to the guiding hand of God. 

The Gospel pictures a woman whose request has apparently no place on the 'to-do' list of Jesus that day! But the list had to be changed by all means. Logically, as in another place we read, that due to lack of faith Jesus did not accomplish much signs and wonders, here Jesus could not but make that miracle happen because of the grandeur of the faith of that simple woman! 

How blessed it would be if Jesus were to look at you and me, and say, “My Son, My daughter, great is your faith!”

True Persons of God...

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

August 8, 2023: Celebrating St. Dominic
Numbers 12:1-13; Matthew 14: 22-36

The Word speaks of two men of God today - not merely by the popular title but by their very life style and by the way they responded to tough situations. Moses, against whom the very people whom he served grumbled, including his closest collaborators. What did he do? Held it against them? No, that was not becoming of a man of God. Even when Miriam stood affected by her own sin, he intercedes with the Lord, obtaining her health back. he proves to be a man of God.

Jesus the Son of God, the ideal man of God proves himself so, by being so unaffected even when he knew his own disciples knew him not. They did not understand him, they thought him to be an evil spirit. In spite of it, when Peter wishes to walk on the water, he gives him that privilege. He was so patient, kind and gentle with the disciples, because that is the mark of a person of God, a God who abounds in mercy and love.

A third man of God whom we are given with today, is St. Dominic, the 12th century Religious Founder - one who is attributed with the great miraculous event of receiving on our behalf the Marian Rosary. Dominic as the very name means, belonged to God and lived his life for the people of God and for the spread of the Reign of God.

The call is loud and clear - to live for God, for God's people and above all for the establishment of the Reign of God, here and now - just as these true persons of God. 

Fed Up - a frequent word today!

WORD 2day: Monday, 18th week in Ordinary time

August 7, 2023: Numbers 11:4-15; Matthew 14:13-21

The very first thought from today's Word, could remind us of so many experiences today. Boredom of the youngsters, hatred for the routine on the part of the middle agers, not feeling happy with what one has or does - these are prevalent experiences pointed out by many today. An oft-used term for this experience is feeling or being fed up. 

The first reading has an example of what we humanly do when we are "fed up" and the Gospel portrays the true Christ-ian response. Humanly speaking when we are fed up, we grumble. Moses was no different from the people - they grumbled among themselves but Moses grumbled to God. Finding fault with God and asking God for an explanation is nothing wrong. But it is justified only when a meaningful warm rapport precedes it. Moses had that disposition, the people did not - that is why the former was justified, the latter were not.

However, Jesus shows a qualitative difference in the way he would respond in a situation like this: Jesus was "fed up" too, when he knew what they did to John the Baptist. He knew, that was how his life would go too. When he wanted to really grieve for his cousin and great prophet, he could not. People were there too, they were every where. Was Jesus "fed up"...no, he wasn't. He went to the extent of making sure the people were fed, not fed up! 

What is important to ward off the feeling of being fed up, is to count your blessings, everyday, every little thing that comes to you! And with that mindset - we would reduce hearing: Fed Up - a frequent word today!

TO BURN TILL WE ARE CONSUMED

August 6, 2023: The Feast of  Transfiguration of the Lord
Daniel 7: 9-10, 13-14; 2 Peter 1: 16-19; Matthew 17: 1-9

There is terror all around, there is darkness thickening all around, there is treason and treachery plotted all around, there is deception from the evil and the majority of the world seem to be falling into it... when you find yourself in such a situation, what do you do? You burn brighter! That is what Jesus teaches us. Yes, to be extinguished by the threats around is not truly Christ-ian.

When problems arise, when threats increase, when troubles augment, when failures mount, when enemies surround, if you are truly a disciple of Christ what do you do - you burn brighter. But things affect - it doesn't matter - you burn till you are consumed, says the Word today!

"A lamp shining in a dark place until day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts" - a wonderful comparison that St. Peter presents to us. It would apply to our faith, our life of witness, our trust, our commitment to the Reign of God and every bit of our faith and its expression here and now, all leading us towards that eternal glory that awaits us as children of God(Jn 1:12), co-heirs with Christ(Rom 8:17), people meant for the future glory (Rom 8:18).

Our Christian life is rich and its richness will be lost if we lose the sense of mystery in understanding it. Mystery is not merely something that is unknown and incomprehensible, but it is something that is beyond all our rational calculations and empirical conditions; yet it is not totally alien from our experience; it is part of our lived experience, an experience we live on a daily basis, an experience that sustains our faith and offers meaning to our life.

The feast of Transfiguration is a symbol, a prefigurement and a surety of the glory that rests within us, as children of God. However, we are warned not to lose our grip on our daily living, on our concrete initiatives towards ushering in the Reign of God in the pretext of dreaming about a future that is glorious and splendid.

In practical terms, to be people transfigured is to live our lives with our eyes fixed on heaven and our feet planted firm on ground, to never lose the hope that the Lord offer in Himself and to never rest from our efforts to build the Reign of God here on earth. It is a call to burn until we are totally consumed, totally consumed for the sake of the mission that the Lord entrusts to us, consumed living our daily life to the full, empowering every person to live it to their full.

Churches, Jubilees and Hypocrisy

The WORD and the Feast 

August 5, 2023: Dedication of the Basilica of Mary Major

Leviticus 25: 1,8-17; Matthew 14:1-12

We celebrate today the feast of the dedication of the Basilica of Mary Major, one of the four major Papal Basilicas in Rome. It has a great historical background as it was one of the first basilicas built in honour of Mary, Mother of God. The miracle that is said to have happened to reveal the exact spot chosen by our Blessed Mother herself, the miracle of snow in the mid summer night, gave rise to the title Our Lady of Snows! Celebrating a Church and its history is a jubilation!

The first reading speaks of another Jubilee, that the Lord wanted the people of Israel to commemorate. We get the mind of God so clearly - jubilee according to the Lord is not merely eating and drinking, the glory of the Lord in a Church is not merely about the pomp and splendour, our true faith is not in the richness of the tradition or in the complexity of heritage - it is in the compassion we have for others and the personal integrity that we manifest in ourselves. 

This is what Jesus loathed in Herod. Jesus had hardly any respect for him because he lacked integrity. He lived a life that was so far from God, from good and from truth! Building spectacular churches, celebrating splendid jubilees and organising fantastic festivities - these will remain empty noise, or hardcore hypocrisy, if we do not commit ourselves to compassion and justice! 

As we celebrate the feast today, let us ask our Blessed Mother to save us from this hypocrisy and form us into true disciples of Christ, committed to justice, truth and compassion.

Where did this man get all this wisdom?

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

Remembering St. John Maria Vianney - 4th August, 2023

Leveticus 23: 1,4-11,15-16,27,34-37; Matthrw 13: 54-58

People wondered at Jesus - a simple carpenter's son - from where he got all the wisdom that he manifested! That was almost the same question that the world raised when it saw a gullible seminarian-turned-parish-priest, do wonders from the confessional and the pulpit! No one ever thought Vianney the simple priest would leave such a mark on this world. He, who went through limitless blocks in his journey towards priesthood, has come to be known as the patron of not only all parish priests but of all priests in pastoral mission. 

The Word today coincides so well with this saint - underlining for us the importance of priesthood. The first reading reminds us that our life is one of celebration, filled with festivals of  daily thanksgiving. The priest is not only a mediator in such thanksgiving sacrifice, but also a living reminder of that call and commission that we have - to praise and thank the Lord always.

Secondly, the Gospel speaks of the fact that these priests are not some other worldly beings but are ordinary people who are chosen by the Lord and ordained to be so. You can not only look for some miracles from them, but look at their very beings as miracles! That is what the Lord has made them to be. You wonder how this could be...that is the wonder that the people had - how could this be, do we not know him as carpenter's son, they said! 

John Maria Vianney's life is one great example of the wonders that God can play with simple persons and events. All that we need to do is, remain open to the Lord, never forget to thank and praise the Lord for everything in life!

Today, let us pray for our parish priests in a very special way! God bless these wonderful men of God!

As the Lord commands...

WORD 2day: Thursday, 17th week in Ordinary time

August 03, 2023: Exodus 40:16-21,34-38; Matthew 13:47-53

'As the Lord directed' - we find that phrase repeated atleast thrice in today's first reading, leave alone counting the number of times it appears in the whole life of Moses narrated in the book of Exodus. Doing what the Lord wants, was the key preoccupation for Moses and that is what he taught his people...hence he is presented as the greatest law-giver! He even made it clear to the Lord when he said, "If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here" (Exo 33:15).

Being with the Lord and never going away from the Lord's presence was everything for the people of Israel. Good fish and Bad fish...resembling the sheep and the goats (in Mat 25)... Jesus presents the reality of the choice that we have to make in life - a radical choice for or against God that would determine every single decision and even the minutest moves of our life. There can be no compromises in this - it is either being in the net or being cast out of it! 

Remaining in the presence of the Lord forever, is possible because the Lord accompanies us, 'as cloud by day and fire by night' the presence of the Lord goes before us. With that illumining and guiding presence, we can be sure of staying always within the net, because it will become our way of life to live and do, as the Lord commands!

Can you hide the glow?

WORD 2day - Wednesday, 17th week in Ordinary time

August 2, 2023: Exodus 34: 29-35; Matthew 13: 44-46

Let us imagine the person who has just found a treasure in his field - he is so excited he runs to sell the ground. Will no one sense something fishy in this man who has been so possessive about his land all this while? Imagine likewise, the man who has found the most precious pearl, that he is frenetically seeking to sell everything that he has. Will not those who see this man find something strange in him? 

That is the glow that the first reading is speaking of. Moses had a glow in his face whenever he came from the tent of meeting. There was something concrete that had taken place, There was an encounter that made a tremendous difference, a difference that could not be missed.

If your time with the Lord is true, authentic and sincere, can you hide the glow? If there is no glow, was that time with the Lord worth it? Worse still, if there is an attitude of pride or egoism after all the time you spend with the Lord, how authentic has that meeting been? Did you really meet the Lord?

The time that I spend with the Lord has to be directly proportionate to the kindness, generosity, forgiveness, sincerity, above all humility that I exhibit to my fellow beings when I encounter them. Because, if I have truly encountered the Lord, I cannot hide the glow!