THE CONTRAST COMMUNITY

True People of the Reign

26th Sunday in Ordinary Time - October 1, 2023
Ezekiel 18:25-28; Philippians 2: 1-11; Matthew 21: 28-32

The whole of last week, the Word has been challenging us towards rebulding the ruins, in terms of establishing the Reign of God, calling our attention to the fact of being deserving or not, towards being people of the Reign. Today we have another teaching, the need to choose between the constrasts, present in our day to day expereience that we ccould be true people of the Reign. 

Of what use is it to have been righteous, if we fall from that status in the walk of life. We are painfully reminded of persons in today's scenario who were once upon a time recognised by the whole world as persons of peace and persons dedicated to justice and truth... but the very same persons when they join hands with the evil, either actively supporting it or by remaining mysteriously mute, thus passively allowing it. Is it not much better to have been been sinners, who repent from their prior experiences and reorganise their lives in sincerity and grow more and more acceptable in the eyes of God? This is what Ezekiel presents to us today: it is better to be penitent sinners than to be fallen righteous.

Being leaders does not make us by default important people. Once again, the leaders we witness in today's scenario prove to be sheer counter witnesses of the values that they claim to uphold. Threatening the whole world with military powers, creating cross border tensions with non-stop insinuations causing indignance and misunderstanding, joining hands with the affluent and being part of an agenda that serves the powerful few instead of the entire humanity - these have become our daily experiences these days. What are these but self conceited treacherous elements, who care nothing about the common good and world peace? 

There is another group we can see in the society, those around us, who get down to the streets and protest this madness; they put their own life at stake for the good of the common persons;  they don't mind losing time, energy, livelihood, comfort and consolation, provided they can make their choice for good, clear, strong and uncompromised. They are like Christ who was ready to empty himself of everything for the sake of God's will. 

The choice is ours today: to be on the way of the self conceited leaders or to be self emptying servants - we know well, which of these choices takes us closer to the Reign, according to the mind of Christ.  

At times we run the risk of speaking too much, promising too much, propagating ourselves too much and justifying ourselves too much by our words and arguments. It would not be long before we realise how hypocritical we can get. 

Just because we are outspoken, we need not be right. At times in the name of being straight forward, we end up being rude - it is a choice, a choice between truth and self righteousness. One is saying the truth in such a way that it can be taken, while the other is saying the truth in such a way that I wish to establish it that only I know it. 

Preaching, judging, "filial correcting", all these are fine... but to what end? They are like the first son in the parable who shows off that he is so obedient and trustworthy by his empty words! Empty words and arguments won't take us far. What is important is to convert, to repent, to rethink our lives, look from Jesus' eyes, put on the mind of Christ, think as He would, act as He would, decide as He would and choose as He would... it is to be silent and to go on doing the will of the Father - a silent servant rather than an outspoken hypocrite!

We are caught between contrasts today. We need to make up our minds, each of us, to which community we would like to belong - to those persons who are on the side of power and domination or to the community of persons who are struggling to make themselves heard, who are suffocated due to their hunger and thirst for true justice, who are trying to voice their feeble cry towards true peace and well being of all. 

If I have to be truly close to the Reign I need to choose between these contrasts: to be a penitent sinner than to be a fallen self-righteous bigwig, to be a self emptying servant than to be a self conceited leader, and to be a silent convert than to be an outspoken hypocrite! 

The Glory and the Cross

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

September 30, 2023: Celebrating St. Jerome 

Zechariah 2: 5-9,14-15; Luke 9: 43-45

For a true Christian, glory and the cross have to coexist constantly. One cannot lose himself or herself in the glory of a moment, being misled into orientations that do not help his or her ultimate salvation. At times this is seen very much in people who are in a position to claim glory from things that happen around them. Think of the leaders, or even our own parish priests and other pastors who are so keen on putting up buildings and structures that would speak of their glory for generations... to a detrimental effect on their pastoral care of the people entrusted to them! 

Don't be carried away, Jesus warns the disciples. He says, beyond this glory and praise, there is suffering which is the only way to salvation. Striving for it, taking control of our passions and inclinations, making choices that are difficult and never losing sight of the ultimate goal towards which we are all traversing, are the essential marks of a true Christian. Even amidst the glories that come along, these orientations should never be lost. 

Looking at the Saint we celebrate today, St. Jerome, who was a contemporary of St. Augustine and had written as much as Augustine himself. The first translation of the entire Bible into Latin was by Jerome. A queer fact we could well be fascinated is, looking at some of the paintings of Jerome, where we see a skull all the time around him, either on his bed or on his working table. And what was the reason - that is what we are reflecting on, from the Word today: to never lose sight of the ultimate goal we are moving towards. As a hermit, Jerome often reminded himself of death and that is the symbolism of the skull. He would remind himself that death is always around and he cannot lose his orientation in life. He fixed his eyes on the will of God and fulfilled it to perfection, putting up with numerous difficulties for the sake of the Word and the Will of God. The reminder is clear: glory and the cross are two sides of the same coin of salvation!

Angels - Manifestations of God

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

September 29, 2023: Celebrating the Archangels - Michael, Gabriel and Raphael

Daniel 12:7-12; John 1: 47-51

Angels are extensions of God; they are concrete manifestations of the presence and interventions of God. This is what the Word tells us. If we really understand them so, let us look at the kind of manifestation that the Lord gives us.

Michael is the Strength of God, the power and the sovereignty that God has. Who looks upto power and strength? Those who are weak, those who are downtrodden. God manifests, through Angel Michael, that God stands by those who are weak and exploited.

Gabriel is the Good News of God, the message of joy and salvation. Who is in need of a good news? Those who find themselves in need, enslaved and suffering, heavy laden and hopeless, who look up to the Lord for a ray of Hope. Angel Gabriel is the assurance of God, the good news that the heavy laden need to hear. 

Raphael is the Healing of God, the compassionate touch of God. Obviously, those who need a healing are those who are sick, those who find it hard to live their life to the full. God chooses to reach out to the sick, the sinners, those who are struggling to remain true to their calling - Raphael is the concrete sign of this presence.

God reveals to the world, and today's world should take it seriously, that God stands by, stands for, stands with the downtrodden, with those who are in darkness and those who are spiritually and physically sick. 

We are called today, not only to see and to celebrate the Angels climbing up and down the ladder of God's mediation, but to be Angels ourselves... that is, to stand by the downtrodden, the desperate and the diseased. They need the Lord and we need be the Lord's manifestation. Are we convinced of it?

House in Ruins... Reflect!

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

September 28, 2023: Haggai 1:1-8; Luke 9: 7-9

It is important to know that the house is in ruins and it is more important to know the reason. The world today is experiencing that ruin in many realities. The wounded peace, the wrecked ecology, the neglected humanity, the despised helpless, the insensitive power centres... these are the experiences of ruins. If we carry on our lives paying no attention to these, but trying to live our religious lives as mere ritual requirements, we will be like Herod who was more curious to see Jesus than earnest to see himself in the light of Jesus. 

Reflect carefully, calls the first reading today! To reflect on our house of ruins is not merely to criticise ourselves or everyone else who is around, but to look at ourselves in the light of Jesus and his Mystical Body. The Mystical Body of Christ is the communion of believers, the communion of human persons, a true communion of hearts and spirits of the brothers and sisters called in the name of the One Lord. Are we building up such a presence amidst us? If not Jesus' body, the house is in ruins! 

It is important that we know that the house is in ruins and more important to know the reason; that we analyse to see where really lies the problem. A bit of sincerity and a lot of dedication will set this house back in order - our call today is, to Reflect! 

Restore the Ruins...

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

September 27, 2023: Celebrating St. Vincent de Paul 

Ezra 9: 5-9; Luke 9: 1-6

Look at the world today- we have enough to criticize, enough to lament and enough to detest. But that is not what a disciple of Christ would do at his or her best. The Lord invites and challenges us to 'Set out to restore the ruins'. 

God has called in history, people like Moses, Ezra and Nehemiah, the other prophets like John the Baptist, Jesus himself, Francis of Assisi and many others like the saint of today, Vincent de Paul. Just as much does God call you and me today, to restore in our own way the ruins and certainly, not to add to them.

Even in and through our facebook messages, whatsapp forwards, blogposts, tweets and circulated mails we are called to restore ruins and not create more havoc. There are enough hate-spreaders, we need not add to those numbers. Our justice need not be a justice of an uncharitable self righteousness; it has to be a charitable holiness. Even when they reject you, move on shaking the dust off your sandals, the Lord suggests. 

It is not so easy in a world so dominated by egoistic agenda, divisive mentality, exploitative mindset, vindictive perspectives and inhuman developmental processes! We tend to play it according to the tunes of the majority and rationalise ungodly leanings. AS a Church, can we truly found ourselves on evangelical charity and fend for the weak, stand by the oppressed and think from their grounds? Vincent de Paul stands out as a great model in that.

To build ourselves up as God's own!

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

September 26, 2023: Ezra 6: 7-8,12,14-20; Luke 8: 19-21

To be God's own, to be called God's people, to truly belong to God - this is a life time task that we are given with. And Jesus suggests a means: listen and live! 

Listen to the Lord, live it to the letter! God gives a command - build up the temple - not because God has nowhere to live, but because the people have nothing to unite them. God wants them to be united as one, under one God, under one sacrifice and under one banner, as God's own people. That be being built into one body, one dwelling place for God, one community where the Lord lives and reigns. 

Jesus pitches for the same too: it is not about a group which is privileged, claiming honours and priced positions and hierarchical arrogance. At times in religiosity, this happens much that people of an elite group claim all the privileges and honours. The rest of the people remain subjugated and left out, and slowly they find no meaning in their belonging. 

The reminder today is, that people of God are not a privileged few but the committed few, the obedient few, the dedicated few, the faithful few, the observant few, the uncompromising few - they are those who hear and practice, those who listen and live. They are those who build themselves up to be God's own. 

When we hear and practice, listen and obey that One Lord, our minds and our heart become one, we are built into one people of God. That is what we are called towards: to build ourselves up to be God's own today!

Roused in the Spirit

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

September 25, 2023: Ezra 1:1-6; Luke 8:16-18

Sentiments of hatred and violence is strewn all over the News these days. Every day we rise to newer and newer challenges against peaceful life on earth. Direct killings and terrorist fundamentalism on the one side; the hidden agenda and delirious deceptions on the other side, the tension between nations across borders and even across oceans... a normal peace loving human being is forced to feel out of place today, without any reason.

Do not be worried dear sons and daughters of God, says the Word today, "the Lord is in control." The Word seems to assure us indicating that the Lord made use of an alien king Cyrus, to raise God's dwelling and God's people - the same Lord is in control even today!

All that children of God need to do today is, be roused in the Spirit - yes, be roused in the Spirit, share the Word more and more, speak the mercies of the Lord to each other and to everyone, set the world ablaze with the love of the One True God. Only then shall we be called, People of God.

The call is, although challenging, very clear: be children of God, be roused in the Spirit, be lights of the world, burn bright and help people see the Truth.

TO LIVE CHRIST

The ultimate call of a Christ-ian

25th Sunday in Ordinary time - September 24, 2023

Isaiah 55: 6-9; Philippians 1:20-24,27; Matthew 20: 1-16

To live Christ... grammatically it may sound a bit strange, but that seems to be the message from the Word this Sunday. We are called to be Christians - a call that contains within it so many other intermediate calls, each of which has its own difficulties and challenges. To live Christ is not merely living with Christ, it is also living like Christ, and finally living Christ, that is, make Christ live in and through us!

To live with Christ - to live with Christ is a call that all of us have basically received. We may be called in different ways and at different stages in life. Just as the labourers were called to the vineyard in the parable that Jesus narrates to us, each of us has his or her own story and circumstances of having been called. Whatever be the story or the circumstance, the basic fact is we are called. We are called to live with Christ. It does not matter from when, how long, and in what role, but only thing that matters is being with Christ. In fact as the Gospel of Mark indicates to us, Jesus calls us "to be with him and to be sent out" - the fundamental call is living with Christ. 

That is more easily said than done, because living with Christ is not that easy! Living with Christ means, living with Christ in his call, his mission, his choices, his priorities, his values. Living with him does not mean just being around, but truly being with. One who is not with me is against me, said Jesus (Lk 11:23). The more we make choices, have priorities and hold on to values that are contrary to those of Christ, we are not with him. When we are not with him, we are against him - we do not gather, we scatter; we do not build but we destroy the Reign of God at its foundations. 

To live like Christ - to live like Christ cannot be automatically inferred from living with Christ. There were the disciples who lived with Christ, but it took time and effort for them to live like Christ. Holding on to the mission of Christ, his choices, priorities and values is one thing, but doing so, just as he did is another call altogether. It is in no way simple, because it is difficult to understand Christ. Just as we see in the parable of today, justice in terms of Christ is different from the normal parlance.  It does not follow the logic of uniformity, but that of compassion and sensitivity to every individual person. 

The life-long task of living like Christ is a challenge indeed. It means learning from Christ. It requires a very close understanding of Christ, knowing how Christ would respond to any particular situation or any particular exigency. It is eargerly listening to the voice of Christ, what he would intruct us and what he would expect of us. It is trying deliberately to imitate Christ in his obedience to the Father, in his choice for the least and lost, in his readiness to suffer for the other, in his total dedication to Truth - all of these done in love and with love. As one can see well, this task is so challenging and it takes us easily to the ultimate call of our life: living Christ.

To live Christ - to live Christ is to become Christ! It is not just listening to Christ, but thinking as Christ would think. Thoughts are personalities; we are what we think. We may do something, manifest something and express ourselves as something - but we are what we think! That is why the Lord tells us today through Isaiah, "my thoughts are not your thoughts; my ways are not your ways." The ultimate call that a Christian has is to become Christ, that is to have the very thoughts of Christ - to have the mind of Christ (1 Cor 2:16 and Phil 2:5). To grow in our similarity with Christ, not just in what we do and what we show ourselves to be externally, but in our innermost thoughts. That is to be internally and totally transformed into Christ. 

This is the meaning of what Pauls exclaims: Life to me is Christ! To live is to be Christ. It would mean avoiding anything in our everyday lives that would be unworthy of the Gospel of Christ. It is to have the mind of Christ, the logic of Christ, the mentality and the perspective of Christ in all that we think! It is to think Christ, it is to live Christ, manifest Christ in our very lives. It does not matter when we realise that call or when we decide to respond to it, we are called to become Christ, to be transformed  into Christ, to live Christ. 

Living with Christ we learn to live like Christ. The more we strive to live like Christ, the more we become Christ and we begin to live Christ, wherever we are. And that is our ultimate call as Christ-ians: to live Christ. 

To see and perceive; to listen and understand!

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

September 23, 2023: Remembering Padre Pio of Pietrelcina 
1 Timothy 6:13-16; Luke 8:4-15

Jesus draws an important difference between seeing and perceiving, between hearing and understanding; he offers us an explanation that is so practical and down to earth. We can refuse to see; or hardly manage to see; or see but do not really perceive; or see, perceive and behold! 

The times are such that there is so much talk about the end of times... though it is true that every now and then the theme of end of times emerges loud and strong, it cannot be a mere matter of light headed comments. It should set us thinking how important a theme it is, but how flimsily understood and handled. Today Paul speaks of it too, to Timothy.

For all that we may believe, Christ is not going to "come", as if he is not here! He said I am with you always. Christ, who is already here with us, will be revealed in fullness of glory, in God's own time. Till then it is our duty and our call to see and perceive Christ in every person suffering and every person in need; to hear and understand Christ speaking in every cry for justice and every groan in pain.

If we have to behold the Lord when the Lord is fully revealed... we cannot refuse to see; it would not help if we hardly manage to see; and it would not be sufficient if we see but fail to really perceive. We need to live in the presence of God, be conscious of that presence of God and draw inspiration from that presence so much that, we grow in our capacity to see and perceive, to listen and understand, when the Lord is finally revealed in all God's glory!

Padre Pio has been a prophet of our age. A man who who died just 55 years ago and was canonised just around 20 years ago (in 2002)! He is an exceptional witness to the powerful presence of God amidst today. Padre Pio was known for his extraordinary sense of belonging to the Lord, which he wanted to instill in everyone he met - a proactive approach to the so-called end times - ready to see and perceive, listen and understand.

The Good Fight of Faith

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

September 22, 2023 - 1 Timothy 6: 2-12; Luke 8: 1-3

Many of us today have a hit and run policy with regard to sufferings and struggles, but wish to call ourselves strong, mature and rational. What do I mean my hit and run policy... trying to face the stuggles with a tendency to get out of it as early as possible, in some way or the other; not really analysing or working the best way out of it with utmost learning. 

At the most, we agree that we are are rebellious, but we still fail to understand our weaknesses. We are prone to question God during our difficulties but do not stay on long enough to get the right answers. By the time some answers come, we are already off with other affairs in life, that we miss the real point that life communicates to us, in God's eternal will. 

When some persons raise the questions such as "why this person?", "why now?", etc., they are already going away from God in rebellion! The Lord would simply ask: 'you raised a question, but why you do not wait for an answer at all?'

There is nothing wrong in raising questions to God, until we are truly ready to wait for the response. Wait long and wait hard - that is what we mean by a fight, a good fight of faith. There will be a response, an answer from the Lord - but I should be there to behold that response. Then I would be in a position to say: I have fought the good fight of faith! 

Until then there is one thing we are called to do: to Follow the Lord wherever He leads.

The call to be One

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

September 21, 2023: Celebrating St. Matthew the Apostle

Ephesians 4: 1-7,11-13; Matthew 9: 9-13

One Lord, One faith, One baptism, One Spirit... Paul stacks up the meaning of the feast today, in describing his own wish for his children. Yes, every time we celebrate the feast of an apostle we are celebrating our call to be One! The division within the Church is because, the sense of Apostolic succession is lost somewhere, the link broken somewhere for those who deserted the lineage!

That was an ecumenical point of view and important, of course. But more important is a socio-existential point of view of the Church today. The Feast of Matthew and the reminder from the scene of his call, give us this message with an enviable clarity: We are called to be One - are we? 

How many categories we have created for ourselves to stand divided - denominations among churches, divisions within churches based on rites and languages and even caste - the worst of its kind! Churches sealed and communities shattered due to caste clashes and rites controversies - is that the Church that the Master wished for? Is that a Church at all? 

Matthew, when he was called, left everything on the table and followed Christ. A lot of things were at stake for him when he made that choice - he cannot turn back, he will have people on his back, he will have to answer so many people, he will be criticised by many, he will be branded by the world as 'out of his mind', he would be going behind a person about whom he can only pretend to know until the person himself reveals with clarity - how many things against that choice that he made! But still he made that choice - to leave everything and follow Christ. Leave everything, follow Christ and still hold on to the difference that some were fishermen and others household Jews over whom he had authority, the Roman authority given him, the authority to extort taxes... sounds so imbecile, doesn't it?

That is how it sounds when some one claims he or she is a follower of Christ and still holds on to divisions, stratifications and classifications, superiority over another, tolerating imposition of inferiority...how infantile and illogical of us!

The question is, can I today, leave everything, everything - my desires, my identities, my attachments, my clingings, my holdings, my support system... everything! Can I leave them all, and follow Him, to become one with him and one with my brothers and sisters in him?

Watering down Faith...

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

September 20, 2023  - 1 Timothy 3: 14-16; Luke 7: 31-35 

At times we dwell on petty arguments regarding faith - to do this or not to do, who is greater and who is lesser, which word to use in prayer and which not, which is the most fitting time to do something for the Lord, which language is the most sacred language apt for liturgical celebrations, which rite is more acceptable and prone to reach God faster... are not these like the lamentations of the children Jesus refers to in the gospel today: we played the flute and you did not dance; we played the dirges and you did not moan!

Paul reminds us in the first reading today, that the mystery of our religion, or the truth of our faith, the crux of our Christian life is much deeper indeed. Let us not water down our faith to some rituals to be performed, some requirements or conditions to be fulfilled or some obligations to be respected. Our Christian faith is an entire life to be lived, in all its details, in its very depth. What really matters is not so much what we do, as what makes us do what we do! It is not so much what we refrain from, but what is that which matters more which makes us forego something or refrain from something.

Basically it is our motivation behind what we decide or what we choose, because our faith is not merely about our apparent behaviour and reactions, but it is all about the deep seated convictions that give rise to such acts and habits. Yes, our faith is about our daily life; it is living our daily life with God. 

Men and Women in God!

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

September 19, 2023 - 1 Timothy 3:1-13; Luke 7:11-17

The Word today continues from yesterday to offer us a special instruction on being Christian Leaders or Leaders after the mind of Christ. It is not enough for us to be People of God, that is women and men of God, some we are called to grow and be more! 

Being women and men of God is one thing, which all of us baptised are called to be. Some are more intensely called to be women and men in God, that is people who are so soaked in God that they act like God, think like God and represent God to the others. It is a call within a call - you got to be attentive if you have that call. These are the true leaders. 

There are three important qualities pointed out and elaborated in detail, in the readings today. These can form a set of criteria, a touchstone for such true Christian leaders: Personal Integrity - reducing the gap between my private self and my public self;  Selfless Service - reducing the gap between me and the other; and Limitless Mercy - reducing the gap between my nature and the nature of God, that is, becoming more and more like God. This is the crux of becoming men and women in God. 

All about Christian Leaders!

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

September 18, 2023: 1 Timothy 2:1-8; Luke 7: 1-10

The Word today touches upon a crucial point for our times - who is a true leader and what we need to do towards having true leaders? 

Let us look at the leaders today - one who threatens all those who are around inviting them to prove their might, one who is busy proving himself the most powerful, one who is busy promoting one's hidden agenda come what may, the ones who are more worried about their purses and positions than about those whom they intend to lead, the ones who are busy making noise without really substantialising their inner potency, the ones who have no stand on their own but try to capitalise on others' weaknesses and necessities - are these the kind of leaders we need? Or the kind of leader that the centurion proved to be in the Gospel account of today?

If we need to have good leaders as such, we have three tasks to take care of: firstly, pray for our leaders, those who are governing and those in the making; secondly, promote such leaders, instead of losing them in time and space not leaving the good ones lurching; and thirdly, become ourselves the type of leaders that we wish to see. 

Making of true Christian leaders lies in these qualities: wishing the good of the other - that is love; interceding for the those in need - that is faith; and looking forward to the good and the best from the Lord - that is hope. We entrust the leadership today into the hands of the Lord. 

FORGIVENESS: SELF-IDENTITY OF A CHRISTIAN

Not to forgive is not to be Christian

September 17, 2023: 24th Sunday in Ordinary time

Sirach 27:33 - 28:9; Romans 14: 7-9; Matthew 18: 21-35

Think of some prominent leaders today who appear to be extremely good, pious and praticing with regard to their religious belief, but are underneath promoting violence, killing and distortion of peace! It is not at all difficult to picture at least a few of them in the world scenario today, isn't it? Can this be a true Christian value... if the leader is a pronounced Christian, what he or she does is certainly a counter witness to faith and to the values presented by Jesus! The Word today presents forgiveness as the self-identity of a person of God, the trait of a true Christian. It is not to forgive seven times, or several times, but forgiving without count that makes me a Christian to the full. 

Let us first look at how forgiveness is at the very origin of my being a Child of God - as a humanity, we have been saved by that sacrifice - the sacrifice of reconciliation, the blood shed for the forgiveness of sins, the lamb who takes our sins away! The objective salvation of the entire human kind involves forgiveness at its core. On my part, personally, I am chosen in my baptism - again, an experience of forgiveness of the original sin, the tendency that I possess to choose sin over God. Every time I go away from the Lord, there is an ongoing experience of forgiveness that brings me back to the fold and makes me once again a child of God, a son or a daughter of God, inspite of my unworthiness. At the foundation of our faith experience, at the core of our daily experience, there is the experience of being forgiven. However, there is no denying that one of the most difficult Christian tasks that we have is, to forgive! 

Forgiving becomes a tough call, a strenuous task, a burdensome challenge, for mainly these three reasons:

1. Ready Forgetfulness - readily forgetting how much we have been forgiven. Just as in the parable narrated by Jesus in the Gospel today, if only we remain mindful of how much we have been forgiven, we would certainly make all the efforts possible to be ever more forgiving.  Human pride makes us forget as soon as possible the fact that we have been forgiven...instead what has to be forgotten, we rarely manage to forget. The famous Thirukkural: நன்றி மறப்பது நன்றன்று நன்றல்ல தன்றே மறப்பது நன்று (no one should forget the goodness of the other, but it is better we forget the ills of life as soon as possible) - is one of the wisest of sayings for a serene life. But when it comes to Christian life, it is not just a pious recommendation but a command for life. Humility helps us remember the forgiveness we have received from the other, and that helps in becoming ourselves more forgiving. 

2. Refusal to Forget - as hinted already, forgetting something that went wrong is an art of happy living. But we refuse to forget the wrongs that others have done - it is not merely the incapacity to forget, but the unwillingness to forget that causes the utmost damage to our selves. We remind ourselves of the hurtful experiences, we wait for a moment to pay back, we wish to see the one who hurt us suffer, we imagine horrible things happen to those who cause sufferings to us, we advocate the destruction of the other as part of retributive justice - these are ways in which we are determined not to forget something that is much better forgotten at the earliest. In the name of validating our feelings, not suppressing our experiences, and making sense of what has happened, we at times get stuck to our negativities and become slaves to our own judgements. We keep alive the wrong memories due to resentment and anger. How can we forgive or how can we truly experience forgiveness with these sentiments at heart. 

3. Reducing our Self-worth - we equate ourselves to what we suffer, our struggles and our pains, our toils and our strains and that makes it extremely difficult to open ourselves to others in forgiveness - we are hurt, irritated and vindicative! Instead, if we are more and more recognizant of our true worth - that whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord, we would see the worthlessness of making too much of a momentary passing experience, but go deeper into the lasting lessons that are left behind. We reduce ourselves to our achievements, our ego, our positions, and our status symbols...anything that affects these, we find it difficult to accept or impossible to overlook. They seem to occupy our mind so much that we want to prove ourselves right or show ourselves as affected! They did not accept him, they did not understand him, they did not follow what he was trying to tell them...but that did not matter to the Lord: he died for them, he died for us! Because Jesus identified himself with his Father, as the Son, as the Lamb, as the Saviour. 

Let us remember forever, Forgiveness is the self-identity that Jesus has given us, the characteristic mark that Christ has given us to be his followers - to be Christ-ians!

Fruits of the Good trees!

THE WORD AND THE SAINTS

September 16, 2023: Celebrating Sts. Cornelius and Cyprian 

1 Timothy 1:15-17; Luke 6: 43-49

Paul calls himself the evidence of God's inexhaustible patience. Aren't we all such evidences... taking into consideration the endless opportunities we are offered to bear the right fruits at the right season.

At times people complain - why is it that people are so bad and they don't allow me to be as good as I wish to be! Today's Word answers that question... I am responsible for the fruits that are expected of me... there will surely be scores of others who will disturb, distract, discourage and disorient... but I cannot lose the direction that I am given with. I cannot blame it on others or the situation when I fail to bear the fruits that I should. However we have a God who is inexhaustible in patience. It is only the inexhaustible patience of God that can fill us with necessary endurance to make this journey possible.

We have two saints whom we celebrate today - one a Pope-Martyr, Cornelius and the other a Bishop-Martyr, Cyprian. We have three reasons to thank God today for these saints. First of all for the testimony of their martyrdom - that they lived for the Lord and died for the Lord. Second for their insistence on the Oneness of the Church - Cornelius was the first Pope to fight against a schism in the Church already in the year 251 and Cyprian wrote those beautiful lines, 'God is one and Christ is one, and his Church is one.' Thirdly, they were people who guarded the Church against the viles of the enemy - Cornelius fought against the first anti-pope in the history of the Church and Cyprian taught extensively the doctrine strengthening the faithful against straying from the truth. 

They lived, worked, suffered and died for Christ - they have left behind a great legacy as did the apostles. We are fruits of these good trees. Do we have the same goodness and faithfulness in us? We are challenged to stand for the Truth of the Lord, the Lord's people and the Lord's way of life, amidst the cries of confusion and compromise today - only then can we prove ourselves fruits of the good trees that have gone before us.

 

The First one to behold the Cross

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

September 15, 2023: Remembering the Sorrowful Mother of God
1 Timothy 1: 1-2,12-14; John 19: 25-27

If yesterday was the glorification of the Cross, today is the remembrance of the one who beheld that Cross, standing at its foot, for the first time! The Cross was not anything new, it was a common punishment for the offenders. But for the first time, its significance changes when the Son of God takes it into his loving embrace. Suffering for humanity is nothing new, but it all depends how we behold it, in our own lives. Mary stood by that Cross, and she did not realise what it really meant. What we celebrate today is not the theological interpretation that Mary gave to the Cross - No! She knew nothing of it.

We celebrate today three important attitudes that we see in our Blessed Mother:

The surrendering love due to which she was able to accept anything that came her way after that 'yes' she said - the struggle without a place to give birth to her son, the exile to Egypt and back, the society that did not accept her son and everything that followed.

The enduring hope with which she believed in every word that was spoken to her by the Angel. She was blessed because she believed that what the Lord promised would surely be fulfilled. Even at the foot of the Cross or after the body was laid in the silence of the tomb, she stood firm in her hope.

The unwavering faith which led her to remain silent until every sword had pierced her heart - she knew nothing can take her away from the Lord. She waited until her son won over death and made her the sign of our ultimate victory over death. Mary shines as the beacon that illumines our lives and makes us understand, the ultimate victory belongs to the Lord.

May the sword that pierced her heart, make us meek, humble and obedient unto the Lord.

Look up to the Lord and be Loved

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

September 14, 2023: The Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross
Numbers 21: 4b-9; John 3:13-17

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

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

Look Up: 

t times we are lost in the troubles that we have, in the daily struggles and everyday chores; so lost in those that we have time only to murmur, to lament and to complain. We do not have the patience and the capacity to look up! Look Up, look beyond, look upon high and you will see the horizon that will give you hope. Our troubles are big, our concerns are challenging, but the horizon is there, the silver lining is there... we have to look up to notice that. Hope is the key to Christian way of life.

Look to the Lord: 

Let us look to the Lord; it is from the Lord that our help comes! The Psalms further insist: Look upto Him and be radiant (34:5). 'Looking Up' alone is not enough, we can be deceived or distracted or misled. Looking to the Lord is the key to Christian Problem Solving. Unless through the Son of God who has come down from heaven, no one can go to the Father who is in heaven, says the Gospel today. The real solutions to our problems lie in the hands of God: it is in looking to the Lord that we will have life, life in all its fullness. The call is: to refrain from telling the Lord that our problems are big; and begin to tell our problems that our Lord is big and mighty!

Be Loved: 

The Lord is filled with love, a total self emptying love that does not count the cost! God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that we have eternal life. The Son so loved the world that he gave everything up, and showed his love in the total self-giving on the Cross. We are promised a measure of love that no human mind can comprehend, because it is eternal and limitless. Such is God's love for us, but nothing can be done if I keep myself away from it. When I claim that love for myself, in total obedience and surrender unto the Lord, I feel loved! When I rebel and keep myself away, I prevent myself from experiencing that love which is so present all around me. The key is allowing myself to be loved by God, seeing myself as being loved by God, and identifying myself as the beloved child of God.

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

The Christ Difference!

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

September 13, 2023: Celebrating John Chrysostom, the Golden Mouth 
Colossians 3: 1-11; Luke 6: 20-26

There is no more Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, slaves or free persons, there is only Christ, says Paul. Christ alone makes the difference. There is no more religious or lay, catholics or others, believers or non believers, practitioners or indifferent, regular-to-the-Church or non-church-goers... nothing is going to make a difference! There is Christ and only Christ who is going to make all the difference.

God has chosen each of us, and if God has chosen us in Christ, we have a duty to respond. It is our response that is going to make the difference. If I choose Christ, if I value Christ, if I value the call that I have received to be a child of God, I have to show it in my life, I have to live it on a daily basis, I have to prove it at times of real crisis in my practical living. When I choose Christ, the difference will be seen.

John Chrysostom, whom we celebrate today, was born just John. He was given the title Chyrsostom, which means "Golden Mouth" because of the way he spoke God's Word, the way he inspired others through his life so absolutely guided by the Word. He made a choice for Christ, in the midst of his early education with a climate so anti-christian and pagan, and his choice he lived for the rest of his life and was even killed for it. Let our choice for Christ make a concrete difference in our lives. Let the world around me see a difference in me, the Christ difference! 

Named after the Ultimate Name

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

September 12, 2023: Celebrating the Most Holy Name of Mary

Ephesians 1: 3-6, 11-12; Luke 1: 39-47

Name is identity. In the salvific plan of God, names refer to the core of one's being. The Mother of God was chosen, in Christ before the foundations of the world, to be holy and blameless - the name that refers to this identity is MARY. That name is a vocation, a call, a Divine choice, a crucial part of the Salvation Plan of God. And each of us is called, just like Mary was and we are given an identity that we draw from the One who has created us and called us.

What is my identity... what is my name? Do I realise that I am named after the Ultimate Name on earth and heaven... the name of God! That is what Paul asserts when he says we are chosen in Christ, in the name of Christ, the name above every name that was revealed to us, that name which was borne by Mary for the salvation of entire humanity.

The call is to live up to that name. Mary did. She was chosen and predestined and she lived upto that name by reaching out to the needy, even without being asked. This is what she does, even today. Reaching out to us in love! Let us confide in her, the mother of Christ and our Mother and she will lead us to our ultimate home.

Sufferings and Sisyphus...

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

September 11, 2023: Colossians 1:24 - 2:3; Luke 6: 6-11

Have you heard of the Greek Mythology of Sisyphus - that is what we can be easily reminded of when we read the passage from St. Paul in the first reading today. The Greek mythology is about the character called Sisyphus who receives a curse to push a boulder up the hill, only for the boulder to roll back to the foot of the hills. And he would begin it all over again. He would carryout that meaningless and endless routine all his existence! The existentialist, Albert Camus (in 1945) would compare that to human suffering and write an entire work. 

St. Paul's words in today's reading, to the Colossians sounds much like it, when he says, I have to suffer for you and for the Laodiceans without having even seen your faces. But Paul never ever felt it was meaningless or endless. He had a definitive purpose and he was so fulfilled about all the suffering that he underwent.

What does give meaning to our sufferings? All our laws and regulations, discipline and rules, what really makes them all purposeful? Let us clarify that question to ourselves... it is not what, but who! Yes, it is God who renders them all meaningful and purposeful. 

Without God and God's call and design, suffering is meaningless, pointless and a sheer misery. With God suffering becomes salvific, purposeful and destined towards an ultimate good. It is God who renders our sufferings, our mortifications, our rules, our legalities meaningful. None of these would mean anything, even if we kept them with utmost diligence, if we do not feel close to God. With God suffering is salvific! Without God, like for Sisyphus, our sufferings are mere miseries.

TRUE LOVE...

Connects, Corrects & Conducts

23rd Sunday in Ordinary time - September 10, 2023

Ezekiel 33: 7-9; Romans 13: 8-10; Matthew 18: 15-20

Am I my brother's keeper... is one of the earliest rebellions against God that is recoreded in the Bible. We are placed as sentries over our brothers and sisters, reminds prophet Ezekiel. Each of us is responsible for everyone who struggles or suffers. Every one who suffers, suffers because of someone else! And we are responsible for the one who causes the suffering too! In short... we are responsible for every "other", every situation and every thing that happens around us. We cannot feign ignorance, nor can we justify it. We cannot claim innocence, nor can we really explain it. This is in all Christian sense - TRUE LOVE. 

True Love, or Christ-ian sense of Love, is reciprocal responsibility - responsibility for the well being of each other! We are not saved alone - saints like Don Bosco would teach: we do not go to heaven alone! We are called to live in a community not merely here, even after here! We are created by Love, in love, for love. And this love is not merely a sentimental attachment to each other, but a genuine wishing the good of the other. That is why this True Love has some specific characteristics.

Love Connects beyond differences: Love connects, unites, binds, gathers, creates communion. Anything that does not sincerely promote union of persons and communities, is not love in anyway. Today we have forces in the society, in the world, even within the Church which spread hatred, division, calumny and power plays. They come nowhere close to what Christ taught his own - where two or three are gathered in my name... not divided in my name or fighting in my name or destroying each other in my name! Finally, it is love that constructs the community, builds the people of God and gives rise to the people of the Reign.

Love Corrects without hesitations: Love gathers, yes! But that does not mean it compromises! Love is justice, love is righteousness, love is Godliness -  hence love corrects. When my brother or my sister goes wrong, love reaches out, points out and corrects! Let us take the corollary seriously too: when I do a mistake, my brothers and sisters are obliged to point it out to me. Love requires on my part to accept that correction and set my life right. Love is merciful, forgiving and compassionate - but at the same time, it never compromises, nor rejoices in evil; it is patient and enduring, until everything falls in place. Love makes all efforts to correct the other, however with respect, regard and responsibility.

Love Conducts towards paradise: Love takes us towards the destiny that we are promised - eternal life, the paradise. And the stark fact is: love alone can take us there! That is why St. Paul reminds us today in the second reading, all the commandments are summarised and crystallised in one call that we have received: the call to love our brothers and sisters. Love alone can make me a Christian. Neither my great achievements nor my tremendous sacrifices, neither my competences nor my influential contacts, can really conduct me towards the promised paradise. It is love and love alone, it is true love that conducts me to the eternal reward. 

Love builds a community and the community thus built, is sustained by that same love. True love, connects. corrects and conducts the believers... towards the abode of love, the eternal life promised us, our blessed paradise. 

Allowing God to Work

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

September 9, 2023: Colossians 1: 21-23; Luke 6: 1-5

Transforming a person is not difficult for God - Paul today reminds the Colossians how they have been transformed by God, from foreigners and enemies to pure, holy and blameless people of God. Yes, transforming a person is not difficult at all for God, provided there is a will on the part of the person to be transformed. The flesh could be weak, but what is needed is the spirit that is willing as Jesus would instruct his disciples.

Jesus found it so hard to make the pharisees and the scribes understand the Good News that he had brought. Hard, not because they were unintelligent nor because they were not able to see what Jesus was trying to tell them, but because they were unwilling to see, they were refusing to change, they had decided not to transform themselves. They did not allow him to make sense to them; they did not allow the truths that Jesus was expounding ever touch them.

We have today the sacraments and various other helps to pull ourselves up, make ourselves over and transform ourselves constantly in spite of our weaknesses, but we fail. Not because we cannot, but only because we do not want to, we do not will to. When we allow God to work in our lives, continuously pulling ourselves up and resuming our journey with the Lord, the Lord will surely transform us. That is the beautiful word we have in the responsorial, let us say it with faith: I have God for my help, but let us say with a readiness in our hearts and our minds to allow God to work on us!

Called according to God's Purpose

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

September 8, 2023: Nativity of our Blessed Mother
Micah 5: 1-4a (or) Romans 8: 28-30; Matthew 1: 18-23

The readings prescribed for the feast do not speak to us directly of Mary... but they have a truth which our Blessed Mother teaches us very strongly. The truth is: the choice that God has made for us! As St.Paul would say writing to the Ephesians, God chose us in Christ before the foundations of the world! The Birth of Mary signals in utter silence the beginning of the climax of God's plan of salvation. 

Here we have the mystery involved in this feast. We enshrine within ourselves a marvellous design which we ourselves are not aware of. Mother Mary is a splendid example for us to learn from. From eternity God has chosen us for a particular purpose and each of us has to discern that purpose.

Birthday of our Blessed Mother is a beautiful occasion to reflect on our state of being called - each of us is called, called according to God's purposes. God has a purpose for which he has put me into this world at this time and at this place, in a context so specific with a purpose so specific. There can be problems, discouragements, disturbances and even disasters, but I would have fulfilled my purpose if I learn to, and manage to, live my life to the full, refusing to be curtailed by the negativities around me, finding always the best way of responding to the situation that I am faced with.

When will I be able to do that? Only when I am convinced that there is a purpose to my life, when I believe that I have been created with a purpose, that I have been loved into existence with a magnificent plan which I may now know at present, but will slowly get to understand. Mary is a standing example for this and that is what we celebrate today - that moment when the world beheld her, her who was called into existence with a great purpose, the salvation of the universe!

Light, Freedom and the Reign

WORD 2day - Thursday, 22nd week in Ordinary time

September 7, 2023: Colossians 1: 9-14; Luke 5: 1-11

The Lord has taken us out of the power of darkness and created a place for us in the Reign of the Son that God loves, in him we gain our freedom! Beautiful words that St. Paul shares with us today. He underlines the process in which we grow in our life of faith.

Growth begins with the Light of God shed on the events of life, things we do not understand, circumstances that confuse us, failures that confound us and experiences that go beyond our control. The people who were in search and in expectation and the boatmen who failed to net any fish all night see the light in the Words of Christ.

The light thus shed leads us to a holistic comprehension of life where we grow to make choices that are Godly, choices that are acceptable to God, choices that pertain to the Reign of God. The people find solace in the words and boatmen choose to do what Jesus said in spite of their experience. The choice leads them to become what they were called to be.

The choice for the Reign is expressed in the inner freedom that persons experience once they belong to the Reign... the freedom with which the disciples left everything and followed Christ, the freedom with which Paul became a slave to Christ, the freedom with which I am called to stand for Christ and speak up for the Reign today.

Let us pray today that we receive the light of Christ to experience the inner freedom to belong to the Reign, in our daily life.

Spreading Good News is Spreading Love

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

September 6, 2023: Colossians 1: 1-8; Luke 4: 38-44

Today's first reading sounds more like a loving letter of a member of a family to the family than a formal sharing of the Word of God. In the mind of Christ, this is true proclamation - he goes to Peter's family, shares his care and love there, cures Peter's mother in law, the rest of the sick in the neighbourhood and spreads love and joy! This is what true proclamation means, unlike what some accuse the Christians of, specially in countries like India - a stealthy way of increasing numbers, or what even some Christian groups themselves feel - an itching aggression to add to their number and increase the membership of their so called church.

Speaking to the people of Mongolia a couple of days ago, the Holy Father said, "the Church is not bent on conversion!" It does not mean that the Church does not care about proclamation or announcing the Good news but it means that the Church is not worried about winning people over to itself or increasing its numbers, instead seeks to share the experience of the goodness, the love and the care of God. 

Spread love, you spread the Word automatically and powerfully. You strive to force the Word on people, but fail to truly love, you block the Word from really spreading. When you spread love, and spread the word about love, you spread the Word, your spread the Good News. Because, Good News is Christ and Christ is love!

The Spirituality of Keeping Awake!

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

September 5, 2023 - Celebrating Mother Teresa of Kolkata

1 Thessalonians 5: 1-6, 9-11; Luke 4: 31-37

It is an interesting anecdote to recall - the story said about a man who asked a Zen master, 'what would you do if the world begins to end right now?' The Master who was just drinking a cup of tea, looked up at him and said without panic, 'I would continue to taste this tea.' That is the spirituality that Paul and Jesus speak of today. To remain awake, alert, active always is the key to face the worst of events in life.

Mother Teresa of Kolkata was a living example of it. The enormous work that she had accomplished in her lifetime, and against all the odds that she faced, is an everlasting testament of how alert and awake she was to do good to others. She was never taken up with the fact that she was doing a great job... she always felt she was doing what she could. But the Lord was using her mightily. Her part lay in the way she cooperated with God's will to bring about the best in any situation. The secret that helped her was, not waiting for the ideal situation to do good, but to do it in whatever way you can, whenever you can. That is why she said, 'you need not do great things for God; but do the ordinary things with great love!'

The Spirituality of keeping awake is nothing but being alert to any situation that presents itself to do good. Whether we think it is small or judge it big, we are called to do whatever is within our capacity to make a difference in the lives of the needy and the suffering. Mother Teresa shines as a brilliant icon of God's compassion. Let us develop within us a heart for the needy, the suffering, the lonely and the oppressed -'those in the periphery' as Pope Francis would remind us.

You get only what you decide

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

September 4, 2023: 1 Thessalonians 4: 13-18; Luke 4: 16-30

Pscychology speaks so much about positive thinking and about the power of thoughts. You get what you have always wished for! At times by our negative wishing we lose the good that can happen to us and by positive wishing we experience things that can seem almost miracles. Is it merely will power and coincidence? Not at all, establishes the Word today.

We are immortal, in as much as we are in Christ. This is Christian belief, but at times we do not behold or perceive ourselves to be eternal beings... we commit sins and await punishment; we give into the worldly living and await our end, a definitive end...but we can never leave. Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ - tribulations, distress, persecutions, hunger, nakedness, death - nothing, absolutely nothing. But when one repeatedly laments for things that have happened in life, it is likely that similar experiences repeat themselves too.

The simple fact that we are reminded of is, that the Lord has great things in store for us, from ordinary blessings to eternal life - what we need to do is remain firm in faith, that is, decide to magnify the Lord for all the good that you receive, because you get only what you decide.

THE MEANING OF CHRISTIAN SUFFERING

What justifies our sufferings?

22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time - September 3, 2023

Jeremiah 20: 7-9; Romans 12:1-2; Matthew 16: 21-27

Time and again the young people get carried away with some trending challenges. A little more than a half decade, there was a craze of a challenge... it caused more than 140 deaths around the world, more than a hundred of them in parts of Russia and India. It was called the Blue Whale Challenge, a game app that involved a 50-day challenge, ranging from simple embarrassments and self-injuries to the final day challenge of committing suicide. And young teenagers were succumbing to it, without counting the cost. A game, an app could demand so much from them and get it done! Could it be after all a cause to die for? Why are the young ready to take such sufferings upon themselves? Some say they feel the thrill... isn’t that sadistic! Some say once they get in, they are not able to get out of it, they are threatened... doesn’t that sound slavish! Some say it gives them that shot of adrenaline making them feel high...a type of an addiction!

We have others too who suffer...we had Nelson Mandela who served a term of 27 years in prison...we have Bishop Oscar Romero who was killed while celebrating Mass...we have Maxmillian Kolbe who died for the sake of an unknown fellow prisoner...what did these people suffer for? Thrill? Excitement? Slavery? Addiction?

Today Jesus tells us, if anyone wants to follow me, let him pick up his daily cross and follow me... each one of us has his or her own daily crosses, crosses that we have been carrying for years now, crosses that are weighing on our shoulders...but why should we carry them? Why should we suffer? What is the meaning of this suffering? That is the question we will answer today: what is the significance, the meaning of Christian Suffering?

Christian Suffering should be out of Unquenchable Passion: As Jeremiah shares his plight today - he feels he is deceived by the Lord but still he is not able to leave the Lord because he has an unquenchable thirst for the Word, an unquenchable passion for the Will of God. That is worth any amount of suffering. He knows it well. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for justice, to them belongs the Reign of God.

Christian Suffering is for the sake of the Ultimate Truth: The Ultimate Truth is God, God's will, the eternal design that God has in mind. Christian Suffering should be for the sake of discovering that ultimate truth, God's will - this is what Paul reminds us of in today's second reading. Even if the whole world stands against it, Truth will never cease to be. And when I decide to stand for the Truth, I belong to Christ. I have to suffer, but I stand for that Ultimate Truth.

Christian Suffering is towards Universal Good: At times people come to protest and complain only when they are affected and they have something to gain. That is a self centered suffering and falls short an important criterion to be called a Christian Suffering. To be Christian, the suffering should be towards an Universal Good. Jesus gave his body and blood, not because he had no other go, not because he felt a thrill out of it but because he fulfilled God's will for the salvation of the entire humanity, for the universal salvation of humankind. 

The sufferings we undergo in our daily life should not be merely for food and drink and for ease and comfort. It should be an expression of our unquenchable passion, for the sake of the ultimate truth that is God's will and towards universal good that every one may know God and be saved!