Love, and what you wish!

WORD 2day: Friday, 32nd week in Ordinary time

November 15, 2024 - 2 John 4-9; Luke 17: 26-37

Looking at many dicouraging developments in the world, the political situations across the globe, the turmoils that are created and sustained between nations, the controversies that are cooked up and blown out of proportions, enmity that is cultivated and hatred that is spread, one cannot but think of the proximity of the end of times! 

It is natural that these days, people are constantly looking out for and discussing about such things - the armageddon, the end of the world, the third world war, the second coming etc. At times they query as to what would be the best way to prepare themselves towards these phenomena. The answer is so simple... go on living your Christian life to the full. And the way you live the Christian life to the full: Love!

Love! That is no new teaching. It is the summary of all teachings of Christ. There is almost nothing you can do when the end comes, whenever it comes! There is nothing special that you are expected to do too, that is why the time is not announced earlier.

Live your daily life in love and peace, encounter people, share your joys, reduce misunderstandings, increase genuine relationships, rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep, forgive and accept, in short, just LOVE!

Take time to simplify things and do not insist on complicating them in the name of anything like traditions, protocol and customs. Be transparent in your dealings and do not unduly try to please someone for its own sake! Be good, be loving and be truthful; be caring, be selfless and be childlike, in short, just LOVE!

St. Augustine's words are a very pertinent lesson: love, and do what you wish! Because true love is to wish the good of the other! Once you wish the good of the other, all that you need to do is go on, and live... Live and keep loving!

The Reign of Brothers and Sisters

Thursday, 32nd week in Ordinary Time

November 14, 2024: Philemon 7-20; Luke 17: 20-25

The Reign of God is among you, reminds Jesus. This has been a revolutionary teaching of the Lord for ages; it has incited liberation movements and over thrown some inhuman systems. Today the reminder returns - to make present, to feel the presence and to accept the obligation presented to us by the Reign of God in our day to day life.

It is true. The Reign of God is not merely some sort of a regime to be imported into an already existing system; it is a mentality, a way of life, a culture to be nurtured and nourished into full growth from amidst us. Our daily life, our normal relationships, our outlook on others, our convictions towards true humanity - that is truly the Reign of God. More than an expectation, Reign of God is a responsibility.

One of the responsibilities of the Reign is to look at everyone as brothers and sisters and not in terms of subject or as objects. To look at a person, accept the inherent dignity of the person and to give the person the due without grudging, is to promote the Reign. To let go of divisive mentalities and competitive spirits and to look at everyone as a co-pilgrim on this journey called life, is the mentality of the Reign.

The Reign of God is here, I need to begin to feel it; I need to work to make it present; and I need to spread it across in the Spirit and through everything you are involved in.

Taking God for granted!

WORD 2day: Wednesday, 32nd week in the Ordinary time

November 13, 2024: Titus 3:1-7; Luke 17:11-19

Speaking on the eve of his 97th birthday, one of our elderly Salesian priests said, "you will not understand the difficulty of living this old... everything, every little thing is difficult. Even putting on a shirt or a pant is such an herculean task. With the missing balance, even using a toilet or washing the face is such a problematic affair!" (He lived on till he was 102). As we think of it, don't we really feel guilty about the numerous times that we take so many things for granted?

We have today a typical event in the Gospel where there are the majority who take things for granted, but that one spiritually sensitive person who returns to the Lord to tell him, that it really made a difference what the Lord had done to him. Thats not a simple quality, nor is it very common! It is a spiritually in itself - of not taking God for granted.

This quality of not taking God for granted has to come from, not taking people around me for granted. That is what the first reading tells me. If the latter does not happen, the former will only be an external show, an hypocrisy. Not even God will be pleased with it, of course!

The challenge is: that we recognise persons, accept persons, appreciate them and affirm their presence, thank God for them, and take care of them. We need to be, not only sheep of the Divine Shepherd, but also the Shepherd's hands and legs, reaching out to the needy and the marginalised. It is easy and pleasant to proclaim that the Lord is my shepherd, but to recognise it truly in concrete terms and submit to the shepherding of the Lord, it is not an easy task. It means, walking with the Shepherd, following the Shepherd and doing what the Shepherd wants! Let us begin by not taking God for granted.

The source of my real worth!

WORD 2day: Tuesday, 32nd week in Ordinary time

November 12, 2024: Titus 2:1-8, 11-14; Luke 17: 7-10

Today there is so much spoken about self mastery, self actualisation and self worth! Where does one's real worth come from? From merely one's age, or from the role one has in the society, or from the great successes that one parades to the world? From what one possesses as wealth and passes on as inheritance? From what others speak of me and what I project myself as to others? If I think about it with care, as a person, my true worth comes from within me; and that is what the Word instructs on today. 

Self worth comes from within, meaning, each of us understands what one is called to, what one's commission is and lives it in his or her daily life, without making a mess out of it. It is one thing not to understand what we are called to, which is already bad enough. But it is altogether another thing that we do not want to know or understand it, just to have our own way. That is a dangerous proposition, very harmful for oneself and for others!

At times we do a little that we do, and go about trumpeting it all around. Worse still sometimes, we do not do anything much but go around building it up as if we have moved mountains. And the worst of all is, doing everything that we do, merely to be noticed and praised and given the social recognition that I am an important person in the vicinity.

Christian life is all about living the essential goodness that we have within us, thanks to the very fact that we are children of God and never expecting to be lauded for what we do, because what we do is what we have to do! Jesus puts it so plainly in today's Gospel: we are merely humble servants; we do just what we ought to (cf. Lk 17:10).

Leading, Leading astray and Leading together

Monday, 32nd week in Ordinary Time

November 11, 2024: Titus 1:1-9; Luke 17:1-6

The Word speaks of three aspects of leadership in a community...

First is leading; leading after the heart of God, being inspired by the Holy Spirit and guided by teachings of the Lord. When a person involves in such a mission, leading one's brothers and sisters in the Spirit, there will be loads of opposition but the person will find oneself so fearless! 

Second is leading astray, where the evil one is active at play. That has been the quality of the evil one, right from the beginning of humanity. Temptor, as the evil one is identified, uses people under influence to draw others to evil and against good. But there might be no signs of evil around, everything might seem so practical, pragmatic and acceptable, but the evil could reside somewhere in the corner, leading us astray.

The third is leading the community together to unity, harmony and loving understanding. One of the most important tool in this regard would be forgiveness. No community or family can be built without daily and unfailing forgiveness. At times we get so caught up with doing right and standing for the right, that we forget that forgiving and marching ahead is much more important, without which we shall be sitting in judgement on each other, never progressing towards the Reign!

Everything seems complicated and so difficult. But when there is faith, that is when there is the assurance that we are walking with the Lord, we shall sail through. This is what a saint like Martin of Tours whom we remember today teaches us: all that we need to do is, pray as the Gospel teaches us today: Lord, increase our faith!

WHAT TYPE OF GIVING...

To gain, to get, or to just give?

32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time: November 10, 2024
1 Kings 17: 10-16; Hebrews 9: 24-28; Mark 12: 38-44

The widow at the gates of Sidon, the widow in the Temple of Jerusalem and God who gave God's only son as a sacrifice - these are given to us as models of giving, in today's Word. Giving is one act that can be done out of many a kind of motivation. Not all giving are of the same kind or type or degree! Analysing the models presented to us, we are called to reflect on our type of giving... let us reflect on it a little and single out at the depth of our hearts, what type is our giving!

Giving to Gain:

There is a lot of giving that is going on today. There are people or agencies or corporates who give even tons of money, but they are particular about what they stand to gain. They calculate the gain and then proceed to give: it could be a tax exemption, or wielding a power in the society, or a favour in return, or an end to achieve, or a popularity to earn! But apparently it is seen to be an act of generosity, an act of great magnanimity! But the hook is attached to the indirect returns - that's a gain.

However big and enormous this giving is, it would not be truly giving; it is in the final analysis, a getting, a begging, a receiving, a business, a gain! At times when we give, however small it is, from our time or energy or effort, if we are particular about our calculations of gain, our plots of selfishness, then our giving has no value in itself, its value is merely what we have gained.

Giving to Get:

This is the safest form of giving, where one is sure what one gives is not merely thrown in the air but it will return. I do a favour to someone expecting a favour in return; It'd be nice to someone expecting the person to be nice to me in return; I claim to love someone with the expectation that i will be loved in return! This is so direct - giving, inorder to get!

Though it is not about gain or profit or expecting a glorious image of oneself, this is a plain give and take, a barter mentality. There is no giving actually involved in here! It is an investment technique and when the plan fails people cry, shout, curse, claim, fight, sue, and make all noises possible! Forget giving, this is simply investing.

Giving... just to Give:

This is truly divine, truly Christ-ian! I give, because I find fulfillment in giving. I don't stand any chance of getting it back or I don't think anyone else will ever know, but I give, I give whole heartedly, of my time, my effort, my energy, my concern, my resources, because it is in giving that I find the true meaning of my life. During the last week Jesus instructed us, when you invite people to feasts, invite the poor, the maimed, those on the streets...reason, simple: they cannot invite you in return!

God gave God's only Son because God loved the world to that extent; it was an expression of God's love, not an expectation of the same in return! Jesus gave his life, his body and his blood, and what did he expect in return? This is true GIVING... giving after God's heart, giving after Christ's mind.

Some of the phrases often hear from ourselves and from others:

I am doing all this for him or for her or for them, what am I going to get in return?

Oh, I did all these to you, and is this how you respond?

Is it safe to give this, or do this, for this particular person, will it ever come back?

I did this, with so much of effort and money, and they do not care to even thank me in public!

These kinds of statements are candid indicatives of 'giving' that is not after the heart of our beloved Lord and Saviour. Because with the Lord, we are called to give without measure. Freely freely you have received, freely freely give! Here the giving is not to gain, not to get it back; it is just to give, and nothing more!

God, glory, stomach and shame!

WORD 2day: Friday, 31st week in Ordinary time

November 08, 2024 - Philippians 3:17 - 4:1; Luke 16: 1-8

Their stomach is their god and their glory is in their shame - what words St. Paul has against those who live a life that is thoughtless and flimsy, with nothing that offers a depth to their living or nothing that adds to meaning of their lives. This is really an alarming situation that he refers to - and not just of the past; even today it is so? 

Hoarding wealth, seeking comfort, craving for pleasures and living solely for material satisfaction - what can that offer to one's life. Lies lead to more lies, obscurities lead to more obscurities, crimes lead to more crimes and lawlessness leads to absolute inhumanity. Compromises kill. What a shame indeed, to call myself a child of God and thoughtlessly go after these ungodly tendencies!

Being imitators of Christ, means to live with no compromises, to speak nothing but the Words of the Almighty, to think nothing but good, to do only what builds the other and the family of God, to love like God and to relate like children of God. That would be heaven...or the Reign of God on earth. How prepared and eager am I, to do my part!

True loss and Real gain

WORD 2day: Thursday, 31st week in Ordinary time

November 7, 2024: Philippians 3: 3-8a; Luke 15: 1-10

The World today judges everything against categories like gain or loss or profit or returns! Which is the true loss and what would be real gain - the Apostle today clarifies it in no uncertain terms. I consider everything as a loss or as rubbish, when it comes to knowing Christ, or gaining favour with the Lord, growing in relationship with the Lord.

Past glories, handed down traditions, legalistic requirements, ritual uprightness... these will not take me that far, however good and right and just they are. All that is expected of me is to get nearer and nearer, closer and closer, more and more in personal relationship with God. God keeps looking out for us as presented in the parables in the Gospel- the shepherd and the woman! And so evidently the initial lines of the Gospel today communicates it: the tax collectors and sinners were drawing near to Jesus and the pharisees were complaining! What really matters is not circumcision or not... but the relationship one has with the person of Christ.

Entering into a personal rapport with the Lord means being moulded into the Lord's ways. The question fundamentally is about one's choices and priorities. The Gospel clarifies the choices and priorities of the Lord...for the Lord, God's children matter the most! Whether one has been into sin all one's life (like the sheep that stray), or one considers oneself worth nothing (just a single dime); for the Lord, that one person is worth the whole world, is worth giving up everything, even God's only son!

True loss is the loss of relationship with the Lord and Real gain is gaining a  life in the Lord. Whether we live or die, we do it for Christ.

What it takes to be a Christian!

WORD 2day: Wednesday, 31st week in Ordinary time

November 6, 2024: Philippians 2: 12-18; Luke: 14:25-33

If you call yourself a Christian you better be one, says the Word today. You want to construct a tower but you don't want to procure the material; you want to fight the battle but you don't care to gather the soldiers; you want to be called a Christian but you don't want to take in all those things that makes up that name! What a shame!

What does it take then, to be a Christian?

To be a light, when every one around is getting used to the darkness; to carry the cross with love, when every one around you is waiting to shake off even an extra speck of dust that seems to weigh on them; to be holy and blameless, while everyone around is losing the very sense of those terms. That is what it takes to be a Christian!

To be perfect children of God is to resemble God, to receive the shining light that the Lord is and share with the world, to stand up there in the midst of all those who are searching for the truth, worse still, among those who are sworn to destroy and obscure truth, and bear the light that the Lord is! Can we? Are we prepared? Do we dare?

Let our prayer today be: O Lord Jesus Christ, give us the strength, the courage and the light to walk in your footsteps, carrying our crosses and and making a difference in every life we encounter. You are our light and our salvation.

Can you really stay there?

WORD 2day: Tuesday, 31st week in Ordinary time

November 5, 2024: Philippians 2: 5-11; Luke14: 15-24

We can find any number of reasons or excuses to keep ourselves from doing the right thing to do, as long as we keep doing it as if we are doing it for the sake of some one else. It would already be too late when we realise that we have not really lived our life, in the way it could have been! Our minds will be filled with too many ifs and buts to make real sense of it.

Instead, when we know ourselves, accept this life as a gift from God and live our life understanding its sacrality, and true to the vocation given to each of us: we would be in paradise dining with the Lord already now. But it does involve, suffering and sacrifice endured in a joyful spirit of fulfilling one's vocation.

The parable Jesus narrates today, presents us with a man who had no big merit to be there at the wedding feast but he was there; but to remain there he had to have done a bit of preparation - did he? In our coming into being, we had nothing to do; but in living that life to that full, we have a great deal to choose! In our being chosen as God's people we had nothing much to do, because the Lord chose us from eternity; but in remaining truly God's people we have a lot to do, on a daily basis!

St. Paul gives the picture of Christ, who lived his mission, the personal vocation that he was given and through that he redeemed the whole world. When we live our personal lives true to our vocation and at the depth of its meaning, we too will turn out to be instruments of God's salvation, to ourselves and to others. We are given the gift of life and given the invitation to live it to the full. The choice is ours: we have entered the feast of the Lord... but can we really stay there!

From Competititon and Conceit to Comprehension!

WORD 2day: Monday, 31st week in Ordinary time

November 4, 2024: Philippians 2: 1-4; Luke 14: 12-14

It is so important that we do good to others, to the faith community and to humanity as a whole. But it is more important to be attentive to why we do what we do! Yes, the motivation behind the good we do, determines whether the act is truly good or just tolerable! This is the call the Word has today: to determinedly move from competition and conceit, and discerningly grow towards a comprehension that Christ alone can make possible.

Competition makes all the good that I do, a mere external show and a means to seek the approval of fellow human beings. It begins to use the others, the needy and the ones to whom I reach out to, and makes them feel like 'objects' of someone else's or some others' goodness and prowess.

Conceit makes one oblivious of the rest of the persons around and what really matters to them. All that matters to me is 'me'!  I am so full of myself that even the good that I do for the other is a manifestation of myself and not truly a reaching out to the other. How many politicians and so-called philanthropists we have seen who wish to highlight themselves making their service a pretext.

Comprehension...is the understanding, the oneness of mind that leads to looking at the One Lord who unites me and the others and everyone else. There is no distinction here; when the other suffers, I suffer. When I do something good for the other, there is nothing to be proud about it because I am doing what I ought to; after all if I suffer, won't I seek a remedy?

One heart, one mind, one spirit, without competition or conceit... when I do good for someone, I do not count the cost, I do not look for a return, nor do I lament the effort. After all, we are one in the Lord!

HEAR MY CHILD!

With your Ear, Heart and Spirit

31st Sunday in Ordinary time: November 03, 2024

Deuteronomy 6: 2-6; Hebrew 7: 23-28; Mark 12: 28-34

Hear O Israel... we read those words repeatedly today! Hearing... is one important faculty physically; we would talk about it in another occasion when Jesus restores in a deaf man his capacity to hear! Today we are more concerned with the spiritual faculty of hearing, a hearing that becomes fundamental to a truly spiritual person, to a son or a daughter of God, to a true child of God! God who is heard more than just a few times in the Word, crying out to God's people: Hear O Israel, Hear O my people, Hear my beloved, speaks to us today, those very same words: Hear, my son, my daughter, my child... hear me today!

How can we hear God? The spiritual faculty of hearing has three levels of perfection through which we are challenged to grow everyday.

Hear with your ears... that is the fundamental requirement, the physical hearing, the basic openness to what is around, what can be perceived, what is told, what is shared, what is right in front of one's eyes and one's ears. This is sympathetic listening... to what one says and what one communicates. There are so many who cannot really hear, what is said. They hear what they want to, what they have already made up their mind to hear. Even before a person opens his or her mouth to say something, we have heard what the person wants to say. That is, we have a bias that does not allow us to hear what is said!

We are so prejudiced that we cannot really hear what the other person is saying, or what the other person is sharing. About everyone around me, I have already made a judgement within me, that I am not able to hear what they are saying at all... all the time, I am busy hearing what I want to hear, what I have prerecorded in my mind. Have you heard the sad story of a mother who thought her kid was trying to bunk school crying that his shoes were hurting, and forced him to go to school, only to receive a call from school a little later that the kid died of a scorpion bite, a scorpion which was in the shoes!

God communicates everyday through so many persons and events. If we do not really hear what is being said, If we do not perceive what is being communicated, we are missing a great lot of God! Can we really be God's children if we do not hear with our ears? That is why the Lord call our attention: Hear O Israel, hear my children, hear what I have to tell you everyday! However, hearing does not end here... this is just the first level, the sympathetic listening. We have to grow towards the next level...

Hear with your heart... 'heart' has an 'ear' within it: look at how it is spelt... h-ear-t; interesting isn't it? We are called to hear beyond our ears, not with our prejudices but with our genuine openness; yes, we are called to hear what is not said, what is not shared, what is not verbalised. This is empathetic listening... to what is communicated without words, in silence, with tears, with reactions, with some choices! This is a higher level of hearing, which is so attentive that I am able to hear not just what is said, but even what is not said, even what is stifled within, even what is meant by the simple words or gestures! This can happen only if I feel myself in the position of the one who is sharing, not when I stand in judgement of the other.

A real educator will know that the naughtiest of the kids in the class is the most needy of attention; a true liberator of the oppressed will know that even the sheer silence of the oppressed is a big hue and cry for emancipation; a real prophet will know that every experience of suffering is a sign of hope from the Lord. Hearing things with the heart, would go beyond the events and understand its meaning, it will go beyond words and understand the experience.

God sends God's message through a myriad of experiences that come our way everyday. If we do not hear beyond what is said, beyond what is seen and beyond what is apparent, we are missing an important message that we are given from God. Jesus saw these, heard these and experienced these and that is why no one could dare question him or find fault with him. Today if we hear beyond the words that are spoken, if we see beyond the things that are noticed, the Lord will tell us too: 'you are not far from the Reign of God'. You are not far, but you haven't reached it yet...and therefore the need for the next level...

Hear with your spirit... hearing with your spirit is, hearing from within. This is Spiritual listening, that is listening to the Spirit who speaks from within! Jesus who has offered himself once and for all, as our redemptive sacrifice, has given us the Spirit who dwells within us: the Spirit who speaks to us, the Spirit who directs us, the Spirit who calls us from within. Are we in touch with this Spirit? If we get in touch with this Indwelling Spirit, and only if we do so, we can be considered people of the Reign, because we will make the Reign of God present wherever we are. This is why Jesus said in another place, Reign of God is within you (Lk 17:21).

Hearing with our spirit is being in touch with the Lord, being in communion with the Lord, remaining in constant relationship with the Lord. Do you think these are too big a matter to think of - then consider a simple term that explains all of this in one single word: PRAYER. Prayer is hearing, hearing what the Lord has to say to us, hearing with our ear, our heart and our spirit. 

Shema Israel... Hear, my child, invites the Lord - are we ready?

HOPE - that makes us Christ-ian!

All Souls Day - 2024

What is the difference between a Christian and an unchristian outlook on anything?

Hope! The difference is hope. It is hope that makes us see a possibility even in the worst of our daily problems. Hope gives one the serenity and tranquility to approach every day problems with grace. One big unsolved question for the whole humanity is how to understand the end of life and beyond.

For a Christian, life is changed, not ended; it is transformed not terminated, explains the preface of the Mass for the dead. Jesus' resurrection fills us with hope and that hope does not disappoint us. The hope is towards eternal life, it is the eternal destination that characterises the culmination of this journey on earth.

Death is just the horizon beyond which we are not able to see what really exists; for if we see, there is no more place for hope (Rom 8:24). All that we see is the Risen Lord, who lives with us and lights our path. And in the Risen Lord is our hope. We hope to see every one of our brothers and sisters gone before us, united in the Risen Lord, as do the saints we celebrated yesterday. And our prayer today is that these brothers and sisters of ours join their ranks and that we, at the end of our journey, join that wonderful family, the family that is founded on faith, united in love and kept alive in hope!

Yes, it is hope that makes us truly Christ-ian!

BEING SAINTS...

All Saints day... reflecting on being saints...

November 1, 2024

Saints come in different shapes, forms and sizes... there are those who had been so from the beginning and there are those that turned so at the fag end of their life; there are those that formed others into saints and thus became one themselves while there are those that became saints so much due to someone else who had been after them all the time; there are those that renounced everything in life to become so and there are those who lived a busy life of a householder but through it grew to be what they were; there are those that isolated themselves in a desert or on mountains (or even on pillars) and there are those that dwelt in the din of humanity; there are those that lived upto a ripe old stage in life and there are those that died mature already at a stage so young. 

The message is simple: you don't need a situation that can make you a saint - you become one by recognising who you are!

The complex task of being Christian!

WORD 2day: Thursday, 30th week in Ordinary time

October 31, 2024: Ephesians 6:10-20; Luke 13: 31-35

Our struggle is not with flesh and blood but with principalities, with the powers, with the world rulers of this present darkness, with the evil spirits in the heavens (Eph 6:12). Yes, our life is a struggle! That is why we are the Militant Church... the church that is fighting its way through, towards the eternal life, with eyes fixed on that sure crown that is promised to each of us. 

The Triumphant Church, referring to the saints who have gone before us, is our shining model and an inspiring example.The message that they give us, and the clear tone of the Word today, is that of Lk 12:4 - do not fear those who can kill your body, but can do nothing to your soul! And Jesus lives that teaching in the Gospel today, when he says: 'Go tell that fox'...meaning Herod...'that I will be here today, tomorrow and the third day!'

Jesus feared no one, because he was certain that God was with him. Being a Christian means exactly that - to live our life fear-free, not because we are all powerful, but because we have with us someone who is all powerful; to live our life with conviction and determination, not because we are always right, but we are guided by that Spirit who will instruct us and convict us as soon as we go wrong, if we are attentive; to live our life to the full, not because this is the only life we have (as some justify sometimes), but because we have the certainty of the eternal life given to us by our Lord on the Cross, that eternal life which has to be begun already here in our values and priorities. 

How can we live fear-free, convinced and to the full? In other words, how can we be truly Christians in our daily life: St. Paul today gives us a whole armour to put on, every kind of protection against every kind of danger. The Lord is our stronghold, the Lord is our refuge; whom should we fear? All that we need to do is stand firm in faith. Let us not deceive ourselves saying, being a Christian today is simple or natural; it is not! Neither shall we lose hope saying, we cannot!

Jesus teaches us by his example today the technique of a Christian fight: Keep alert, stand firm in your faith, be courageous, be strong (1 Cor 16:13), because it is a complex task to a true Christ-ian.

No shortcuts to be saved!

WORD 2day: Wednesday, 30th week in Ordinary time

October 30, 2024 - Ephesians 6: 1-9; Luke 13: 22-30

Will only few be saved? Who will be saved and who will not be? These questions, it looks like, have been around from ages immemorial! Today in the Gospel, the disciples raise these questions in various modalities. Jesus not even once when he was asked, answered these questions in direct. He always gave an explanation that made them think more and think of something else!

Once Jesus narrated the parable of the camel and the eye of the needle and another time he explained to them that it is possible with God, and impossible with merely human effort. However today, he says there are no categories of people who would enter by default, neither are there selected races who would enter! Anyone can enter and everyone is invited to enter the Reign of God, provided they had the right disposition and the right life style!

St. Paul in the first reading explains what this disposition or life style has to be. It is simply, living our life wherever we are and whoever we are, in a manner that is pleasing to God. It is easy to blame the others or the situation for a life lived below the standard that is expected of us and the Lord today challenges us to 'strive to go through the narrow door'... that is the door that leads to the Reign!

In Paul's words, we are called to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling (Phil 2:12); it is not about fretting and fidgeting but about being diligent and dedicated in whatever we are called to be, wherever we are! There are no shortcuts to salvation... there is only one way, living mindful of The Way!

Being in Christ is all that matters

WORD 2day: Tuesday, 30th week in Ordinary time

October 29, 2024: Ephesians 5:21-33; Luke 13: 18-21

Given the times that we live in, every time we read this passage from Paul, there can be heated debates on issues that are spoken of therein - who has to be subordinate to whom! But that need not be our focus, in reflecting on the Word today.

Whether I am subordinate or head, I am called to be IN Christ - that's the focus.

Whether I am a subordinate or a head, or an apostle or a servant, a renowned person or a so-called nobody, parent or child, spouses or singles... whoever I am, I am called to be in Christ. Being in Christ means, being rooted in Christ, being nourished by Christ's words, being guided by Christ's lifestyle. being influenced by Christ's way of thinking, being shaped after Christ's mind, being modelled after the example of Christ - being called Christ's own people.

Being in Christ, even if I am just a tiny mustard seed, I can grow into a mighty tree. Being in Christ, even if I am just pinch of yeast I can make a difference for entire dough. Being in Christ, even if I am a nobody wherever I am, I will make a huge difference and the world will turn and take note of me. Being in Christ, even if I am doing just the same things as everyone else does, the way I do it and the heart with which I do it, makes what I do, stand out amidst everything else.

In short, what matters is not whether I am a man or a woman, whether I am in authority or subordinate, whether I am part of the majority or the minority, whether I am in the frontline of events or behind the scenes... 'Being in Christ' is all that matters.

The Name Game...

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

October 28, 2024 - Remembering Apostles Simon and Jude
Ephesians 2: 19-22; Luke 6: 12 -16

We remember the apostles Simon the zealot and Jude son of James, also called Jude Thadeus. These apostles have become relatively less known, they say, because of the confusion with their names. Simon was confused with Simon Peter and so lost his prominence. Judas confused with Judas Iscariot and so became infamous. Reflecting on this fact in tradition, one could be struck by the opening prayer prescribed for the Eucharist today, which goes thus:

O God, who by the blessed Apostles

have brought us to acknowledge your name...

The apostles were all about acknowledging God's name, not their own! Whether Simon or Jude, or any other apostle, they were all out to spread the Good News and give glory to God, building up the Body of Christ on earth: the People of God. 

Building up is our work, yes, but we are very much part of the building itself. We are the building, and we are building ourselves up together to give glory to the name of the Lord. And in this process, we are called to beware of the name game that is going rampant these days: that is, being divided among ourselves under so many names and calling names at each other, maligning each others' names and playing the dirty worldly name game! That is not very becoming of that One Name we have on earth by which we could al be saved, the most sweet and glorious name of Jesus. The division in the Church is the greatest of all scandals against the Gospel. 

With that one Cornerstone, let us unite with the apostles Simon and Jude, and with each other, giving glory to God's mighty name!

TO SEE THE EMPATHISING LORD

The Lord... who is like us, who likes us and who likens us to himself!

30th Sunday in Ordinary Time - October 27, 2024
Jeremiah 31: 7-9; Hebrew 5: 1-6; Mark 10: 46-52

"God"... How do we understand that term: the Almighty, the Omnipotent, the Mighty One? With those conceptions, we are still short of looking at that God whom Jesus introduced to us! In and through Jesus we have been introduced to a God who is all these but more than all these; a God who is close to us, a Father who loves us, a mother who cares for us, a beloved who longs for us, a friend who stays close to us and a Saviour who came down to save us... in short, an Empathising God -  it is that grace we need to seek today: to see the Empathising Lord! 

How do we understand the Empathising Lord?

The Lord is like us: 

We have a Lord who is like us... like us in every way except our sins. A Lord who came among us, ate, drank, laughed, cried, enjoyed, celebrated, loved, worked, faced hardships and temptations... He was like any of us, just like us and therefore, when we suffer, when we are troubled, when we have problems and temptations, the Lord perfectly knows what we are through. As an empathising Lord, he is not out there to judge us from afar or look down on our weaknesses, but someone who would put His hands around our shoulders and comfort us, someone who would sit by our side and whisper into our ears: 'it's okay! I have been there too'! The second reading presents this Lord to us.

The Lord likes us: 

We have a Lord who likes us... who loves us, who feels for us, who wishes that we were happy, who wants to heal us, who wants to give us all that we need, who wants to walk us to prosperity and fullness, who wants to give sight to us, who wants to listen to us, who wants to reach out to us! God our Father and Mother who spared no effort, giving up even the only Son; the Son who keeps back nothing, not even his own life by way of his body and his blood; the Spirit who comes down to dwell within us, within our poor bodies, in our lowly conditions, in our daily toils. This is the Lord who loves us, likes us so much that he is ready to do any thing for our sakes. As the first reading and the Gospel present to us, we are invited to see this Lord who is merciful and kind, who is in love with us. The Gospel in a special way speaks of a Lord who listens to a lone cry amidst the large crowd, and has mercy on that person and heals the person in love!

The Lord likens us: 

The Lord who came down to be like us, the Lord who dies to show how much he likes us, does not stop with that... God wants to liken us to Godself. The first and the second readings present to us a God who wants to make us God's sons and daughters, God's children, God's beloved ones, God's favourites. God invites us constantly towards this fullness of becoming God's own. We become God's own by opening or eyes of faith. We become God's own by crying out with faith. We become God's own by trusting in faith that God can do and will do everything for us! Thus becoming God's children we will be with God, close to God and like God, for we will see God face to face, as says St. Paul.

Yes, we have an Empathising Lord who was like us, who likes us and who longs to liken us to Himself. How prepared are we to see this Lord present by our side everyday of our life? How ready are we to hold on to the hands of this empathising Lord and look ahead in life with hope? If we find ourselves wanting in this respect, all that we need to do is cry out to the Lord: "Lord, that I may see!"

The challenge to Grow Up!

WORD 2day: Saturday, 29th week in Ordinary time

October 26, 2024 - Ephesians 4: 7-16; Luke 13: 1-9

The first reading today would lend itself so well for an interdenominational war, a typical catholics-protestants feud - calling each other a human trickery and deceptive scheming. However, the challenge is that we grow up, from all these childisn bickerings! St. Paul throws that challenge at us, to grow into the full stature of Christ, which is nothing but, love! 

Let us grow in love, love for God, love for each other, a patient acceptance of each other and loving fellowship of brothers and sisters. In the encylical released on the 24th October (Dilexit nos), Pope Francis calls this "the threefold love": one, the love that God has for us revealed by the heart of Jesus, and then the two fold love - that we need to nurture towards God and towards our neighbours! (Cf. Dilexit nos, nn. 65,66)

Now as sects of Christians, how long could we go on calling each other names and breaking the Body of Christ into non negotiable bits and pieces? If we do go on this way, Jesus says that twice in the Gospel today: 'you will all perish!' It's high time we realise our call to grow up and bear fruit. God has given us enough and more chances. Let us equip ourselves, not with offences and defences, but with arms of love and feet of generosity. 

The invitation is to prune our ego and till our arid hearts, sowing seeds of love and reaping fruits of brotherhood and sisterhood. Love is our identity and nothing else can be: by this they will know that you are my disciples, by the love that you have for one another (Jn 13:35). There can be no worse scandal than a divided Church and of course, there can be no better proclamation of the Gospel than a loving and united community of faithful, who live together as brothers and sisters, one in the Lord and in the Spirit!

Integrity - oneness of vision!

WORD 2day: Friday, 29th week in Ordinary time 

October 25, 2024 - Ephesians 4: 1-6; Luke 12: 54-59

When dealing with problems between persons, ordinarily we find it difficult to trace a way out of it, not because there is no way, but because both the parties do not want to see the way! That is why they say,  'we can arouse the person who sleeps, but not the ones who pretend to sleep!' It is true: for most of the problems today, it is not that we do not have a solution, but we do not want to arrive at it.

Jesus gives a piece of his mind to the pharisees and scribes today in the Gospel, because he finds in them the hypocrisy of not choosing things that were so obviously towards the right. How many times, we know very well that we are at fault, but just to save our face we try so many ways of justifying ourselves. Or when we find someone known or close to us at fault, we close an eye and criticise the others! 

The problems in the world are due to the lack of oneness of vision that afflicts us... each of us with a selfish agenda, individual groups with unfounded prejudices, particular classes with insensitive urge for advancement, certain persons with inhuman tendencies of manipulation and exploitation... these are those who could not care less about the golden rule. 

At times we have a set of rules for ourselves and a completely different one for others. In those cases, we become people filled with discrepancies and disparities, and we render ourselves least likely to enter the Reign of God - says Jesus today. What we are called to is, a oneness of vision within us, and among us!

Reasons to be Good

WORD 2day: Thursday, 29th week in Ordinary time 

October 24, 2024 - Ephesians 3: 14-21; Luke 12: 49-53

It is a notable fact that people are afraid, or atleast suspicious, about being good these days! Fear of manipulation, exploitation and being taken for granted are so live and real that we hesitate to be good and hold on to what is good. The Word today gives us three reasons why we cannot afford to be afraid of being good:

1. Because we take on our heredity from none less than the Almighty Lord: The Lord is our banner; the Lord is our identity, it is from the Lord we take our name, as a family of God. How can we be other than good?

2. Because the Love of God is poured into our hearts: A love whose measure, we can never comprehend to the full - the length and breadth and depth and height of it so immense that we cannot but be concerned about being worthy of that love; which entails that we are good in our very being!

3. Because we have a Vocation to be a Community of Counter Culture: Jesus commissions us to be the People of the Reign, which is to be a people of counter culture, proposing a culture that is opposed to the culture of social sin, the culture of injustice and exploitation, the culture of imbalanced growth and inhuman development, a culture of total human insensitivity. When we intend to be such a community of counter culture, the rest of the world may turn against us. Jesus makes it clear today: if you choose me, choose be absolutely!

Recognising the wells of Salvation

WORD 2day: Wednesday, 29th Week in Ordinary time

October 23, 2024: Ephesians 3: 2-12; Luke 12: 39-48

Jesus continues his instruction as to how we need to be prepared for that hour of reckoning at any point of time in our life. In fact Jesus is ridiculing all the funny discussions and calculations about when that hour will come - some self proclaimed eschatological quacks make much ado of the end and its timings and miss the entire point that Jesus is driving home here. Picking the cue from them, there are those who speak as if they know everything under the sun, or even above it!

Let us not miss the central point, that Christ is here, right here amidst us and he does not need to come from elsewhere! Christ is a mystery and no one can understand it; one can only experience or live that mystery! So, let us not look at the Second Coming as a day or as a moment when everything will come to a stand still and there will be an UFO coming down from the sky... just give up on that crap! And all the exercise of calculating the time and the hour and predicting it with such precisions... let us grow up, please!

No matter when and where, we have been instructed what to do and why to do it. Let us take care how we do it - not seeking human attention but going by merely God's approval. The wells of Salvation are within each of us! The Lord has placed God's Word and God's law within each of us. We know it well, when something is right and we see it when it is wrong. There is no need for an external apparatus for this recognition. 

The internal system of convictions and criteria that makes me draw inspiration and direction from within me... doing nothing but good, speaking nothing but good, thinking nothing but good, no matter how unlikely the returns are, or what the consequences would be. These are the wells of salvation - we better begin to recognise them within us and live our life in grace!

The Exam Fear?!

WORD 2day: Tuesday, 29th week in Ordinary time 

October 22, 2024 - Ephesians 2:12-22; Luke 12: 35-38

Fear of examinations, is an inescapable human experience for most! Interestingly, the usual remedy proposed by teachers and other trainers is, learn your subjects on a daily basis, revise your classes everyday and when the exams come you will be better prepared. The point is, examinations are not something for which we need to prepare, they are just an end of a process of learning. At times when we do not have the right study attitudes, the examinations become an entity per se and worthy to be considered great hurdles to be crossed and not merely a formality to be undergone. Now, that was certainly not a session on study-skills... but therein we could find the crux of the Word today.

The Word reminds us how the Lord has chosen us and given us an identity that is entirely a grace: the identity of being the people of God, of being the offsprings of God, of being God's beloved children. When we are conscious of that identity, on a daily basis and conduct our affairs accordingly, we would not need to prepare, or be afraid of, or fret about what is called the moment of truth - the last judgment! Every choice that we make is a judgement we bring on ourselves... whether it is monitored or not; when I know that I am a child of God, that I am a son or a daughter of God and I live, believe and behave worthy of that identity, why should I fear? It is like the Master who was asked as he was having his cup of tea, 'what would you do, if the world ends this moment?' The Master said: "I would continue having my tea."

Living the tomorrows at the cost of todays

WORD 2day: Monday, 29th week in Ordinary time

October 21, 2024 - Ephesians 2:1-10; Luke 12: 13-21

The message from the Word today follows from that of yesterday. We belong to God, who has made us God's people in spite of our human tendencies and wordly inclinations. We are raised up to the status of sharing the new life that the Risen Lord offers, sheerly because of the boundless mercy of God. The life that we have is a gift, a gratuitous gift that the Lord gives us to cherish! Yes, life is to be lived, to be lived to the full knowing well that it has been given free, absolutely free.

The tendency prevalent today is to fend so much for the tomorrow, that the today is totally sacrificed. For instance, when we see persons who are mad after clicking snaps on their cellphones, and worse still, selfies, we know that they are busy photographing the present moment for their memory. They are so worried about having a memory stored, that they fail to live the present in its entirety. The subtle beauties of the present and the finest details of its essence are so easily lost. 

In general, in the human life situation, there is so much of worry about the future that we infact are all the time living our tomorrows at the cost of today. Life is given to us to live, and not to worry. If only we are convinced that we belong to God, our worries about tomorrow will be mellowed down, permitting us to live our present to the full. 

If today we are called to render an account of our life, would we be able to say, yes I have lived it to the full?

LIVING THE MISSION OF HOPE

Mission Sunday 2024 - 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time

October 20: Isaiah 53: 10-11; Hebrews 4: 14-16; Mark 10: 35-45

May your love be upon us O Lord, as we place all our hope on you, we say in response to the Word this Sunday. Hope is a typically Christian value that we are filled in abundance with, when we develop a true relationship with Christ the Risen Lord. The Jubilee year that we are preparing ourselves towards, is going to remind us with insistence that we are "Pilgrims of Hope" in this world which is threatened by the darkness of despair. Spreading Hope is our primary mission!

The basis of hope is faith, faith is nothing but this relationship we just referred to - a relationship that is born in recognising the Lord who communicates and responding in the way that the Lord wants me to. When this relationship goes strong, whatever comes my way, I shall not be moved or shaken or disturbed or distressed! Nothing will ever perturb me! Because, hope assures us that things may go wrong for a while, struggles, temptations, troubles and difficulties might come your way, but do not lose heart - for God alone is everlasting! The final word belongs always to God, to no one or nothing else! At times this becomes too difficult to understand or practice, because the world teaches us things that are diametrically opposed to these values. In fact the call to be pilgrims of hope is actually a call to unlearn these fallacies of the world today.

Celebrating the Mission Sunday today, we are called to take to heart that we are missionary pilgrims sent into this world to hold out hope to every person on earth. Holding out hope is not an easy task... it needs a tough unlearning of certain fallacies that the world teaches its beings ceaselessly! Unlearning these, first of all within oneself and then witnessing before the others, is the mission that we are called to live today. Let us not reduce the Mission Sunday to some monetary contribution we make, or things we collect or some help rendered somewhere! It is our life. We are called to live our mission of hope, the mission of unlearning and helping others to unlearn the following fallacies so widespread in the world of today.

Fallacy 1: Life is all about happiness and pleasure

Fun, thrill, chill, freaking out, just do it... these are considered watchwords for today's generation. At times we justify everything with a statement, 'is it not to be happy after all that we do all that we do here on earth?' No! Isaiah explains today how salvific suffering is, in connection to the suffering servant of God - that, however difficult it may be, is a deeply Christ-ian message!

Life is not merely about happiness and pleasure. There are difficulties, there are struggles, there are sufferings that come our way and they are not just part of our life, but crucial parts of learning in life. Hence hope-filled persons are those who are able to see beyond, without getting obsessed with happiness and pleasure, that there are various other values in life that we need to acknowledge and embrace, with the perspective of our model, our Lord Jesus Christ. 

Fallacy 2: I should be totally in control of my life

Planning ahead, programming things, forecasts and foretelling techniques: what are these but signs of the desire to be in control of things, of life and of everything that happens there in. But in spite of all these, there are times when we are caught so unaware and unprepared. But it does not matter, our weaknesses are known to God and our failures mean nothing to God. After all, we have a loving Lord, who has undergone all that we undergo and perceives  us with perfect compassion. 

Yes, life is not totally under our control but that does not mean we are at the mercy of chance! God is in control and the more we realise this, the more wise and mature we become. A hope filled person will never lose his or her cool before unexpected turns of life, because he or she knows for certain wherever life takes us, God is there with us and nothing happens without God's knowledge!

Fallacy 3: Progress is striving to dominate everyone around

In the name of success, development and progress, what the world today teaches us is that we have to look at everyone around as a competition, a threat, someone whom we have to trample upon in order to make our way! We cannot but look with pity on the apostles who were so close to Jesus, but found it so hard to understand his reasoning. They were so keen on ensuring their personal career, looking at the other as a competition and threat. However, we are today living in a world that is filled with more and more insensitivity, cruelty and inhumanity; are we certain we are not adding to those in our own way? 

Hope filled persons shall be counter witnesses to this situation, placing persons before things, relationships before comfort, love before success and peace before progress. These persons are around not to be served, but to serve; not to succeed but to live meaningfully; not to climb high but to live deep.

These reminders might seem difficult, at times even absurd! But this is what Christ lived. He has been in every situation that we find ourselves in and he has lived a life as a perfect example of how we should. Let us look up to Christ our Hope, and stand firm in the way of life that he has taught us! Let us be hope filled persons, conscious of our mission to fill the world with hope today, here and now!

Communion and Commitment: Father, Son and Spirit

WORD 2day: Saturday, 28th week in Ordinary time

October 19, 2024: Ephesians 1: 15-23; Luke 12: 8-12

The Word today presents to us the three dimensions of our faith: the three Persons of the Trinity, Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. What they together stand for, is a wonderful lesson for the situation today: loving communion and mutual commitment.

Looking at the Church, the people of God world over today, there is so much discord! Why? Is it purely the Reign of God that we are concerned with? This is where the Word invites us to communion - not a sticking together for survival nor a compromise for the sake of pseudo peace! Communion is the oneness of heart and mind, singleness of vision and unity of purpose. In a world so varied and statuses so diverse, only thing that can give us such a communion is the Reign-vision. A vision that goes beyond any claims of authority, power, domination or pride, towards establishing the wellness of all, the entire humanity and the whole universe. This is communion and when it is achieved, the Reign is here.

At times we feel there is so much of talk but they remain merely talks - there is no concrete commitment that is expressed. The Reign of God cannot be built by big talks! It has to be translated into concrete and mutual commitment of all those who are united in the one Lord. Owning up the call from God and standing up for the Reign is something that can never be replaced by the best of speeches or homilies, or grandest of celebrations and festivals, or greatest of structures put up! It comes from the change of heart, the change from where comes a 'Yes' that pertains to all that God wants from me. It is not merely criticism that changes a situation but a sacrificing commitment towards the others and towards the overall well-being of brothers and sisters.

The task from the Word today is that we  grow in our communion with each other and our commitment to God's Reign on earth.

But for St. Luke...

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

October 18, 2024 - Remembering St. Luke, the Evangelist
2 Timothy 4: 10-17b; Luke 10: 1-9

Today we celebrate St. Luke, the evangelist who has made an irreplaceable contribution made to the Canon of the Bible, that we have as our Scripture. 

If it were not for Luke, we would have no Magnificat -the song of praise sung by our Blessed Mother, no Benedictus -the song of praise by Zecharaiah, no song of Anna! Luke makes it an important point to narrate the stories of persons who sang praises of the Lord - in fact those type of narrations continue in the Acts too! The message he gives us is clear: learn and get into the habit of singing the praises of the Lord, every time you realise the goodness of the Lord. 

But for St. Luke, we would not read the account of John's birth or the narrative on the Ascension of our Lord! He was keen on capturing the supernatural, amidst the run of our daily drill. His invitation is so pertinent: grow ever more conscious of God and the Godly elements in your daily life, because God is with us, all the time. 

But for St. Luke we would not have met Zachaeus in Jericho, the ten leprosy patients on the road, the Women disciples who followed Jesus, the "good thief" on the Cross, or the discouraged disciples on the way to Emmaus. There is a powerful element that Luke wants us to notice - that there is so much darkness and dullness around us that could easily overshadow our capacity to see the goodness of the Lord extending a saving hand to us... it takes a special grace to see the light and turn to the way of the Light. 

But for St. Luke we would have missed the greatest of stories ever told -the Prodigal Son and other inspiring stories of the Good Samaritan, the Rich man and Lazarus and Jesus' walk to Emmaus after resurrection. Luke is very particular about the choices that we have to make at the right moments of our life. If we miss them, we miss the sense of our life and our vocation. The question to us is: are we aware of the ever present light of the Lord and how ready are we to choose its radiance?

There is yet another speciality of Luke, which is his way of making sense of the Reign of God. Though even the other Gospels, be it the synoptics or that of John, they do speak of the Reign of God, Luke in his turn speaks of the Reign of God being amidst us. "Reign of God is amidst you", says Lk 17:21. The same is recorded in Lk 10:9, which we hear today: "the Reign of God has come near to you". The prominent message of Luke here is a call to recognise in action our vocation to be the agents of the Reign of God. It is a call to live our life as the people of the Reign, thus ushering in the Reign of God here on earth and now in our own contexts. 

May St. Luke inspire us to get in touch with the Word of God evermore lovingly and enable us towards making the Reign of God felt, present and flourishing wherever we are and in whatever way we can.