To Freedom - through truth and integrity!

THE WORD IN LENT - Friday, Second week

March 01, 2024 - Genesis 37:3-4,12-13,17-28; Matthew 21: 33-43,45-46

Through the desert God leads us to freedom. We journey towards freedom with our trust in God, we reflected yesterday. The question today is, but why God? Why do we have to trust in God? The answer is: who else can we? On what else can we found our lives, other than God's love for us? In whom can we really place our trust and confidence if not God who knows us through and through? God alone is the Truth and God alone knows the truth... to acknowledge that absolutely is integrity. It is only through that truth and integrity can we really journey towards true freedom.

Joseph of the Old Testament was  threatened for being true to his dreams, revelations from God. He was condemned to be killed by his own brothers but God raised him to the throne, to save his entire household. Jesus was being threatened for being true to his identity, that God and he were one and that he was the revelation of God. He was condemned to be killed by his own people but God raised him to New life, to save us God's people, God's children! Joseph and Jesus are presented to us as beloveds of God, living in truth and integrity - they were free children of God. 

Certainly it was not difficult for Joseph or Jesus to understand where their life was leading them  to, atleast for the present - still they chose to remain faithful to the call that they had received, standing for truth and living in integrity. Faithfulness to God is faithfulness to Truth, and truth alone can set us free because it leads us to integrity and empowers us in the times of trouble and threat. Living the will of God is living the dreams that God has for us, which God alone knows; our faithfulness to those dreams, even that God alone knows. Inspite of the hiddenness, our faithfulness to it, is the integrity that leads us to freedom, the absolute freedom that God leads us to.

God loved the world so much that God gave God's only Son; the Son loved God so much that he gave himself entirely; how much do we love God and God's Son and what are we ready to give up, that we may live for and live by truth. In that integrity, we shall find our way to Freedom, the promised land of Salvation. 

To Freedom - with trust in the Lord!

THE WORD IN LENT - Thursday, Second Week

February 29, 2024 - Jeremiah 17: 15-10; Luke 16: 19-31

Through the desert God leads us to Freedom but the question is, are we ready to be led? In the days gone by in this week, we have reflected on the need for self-examination and verification, the importance of discernment and yesterday we reflected on the external hurdles and inner hardships. All these reflections, when we undertake them earnestly will lead to a very important self discovery: where lies the centre of our life? And that will make a huge difference, how we go about in everything, everyday. 

Just yesterday we encountered in the Gospel, James and John being schooled by Jesus, and not just them, but all the apostles - to set their priorities right. Not to seek power or dominance over the other but to serve the other. But why? Why should we serve the other? What is that which inspires us to serve the other?

It could be to gain something out of it or obtain some benefits. But we know very well, that is so unChristian a motive. It is so materialistic that it cannot be considered godly! 

It could be our wish to express ourselves as good and holy. It does appear godly, but let us beware that is still autocentric, or self-centered. It instrumentalises the other and makes our goodness a means to obtain some end. 

The only motive that can lead me to salvation, or true freedom, is that I serve the other because that is what the Lord wants of me! I do not know how being good to the other and doing good to the other, is going to help me or what it is going to cost me, but I decide to be so and do so. Because I trust in the Lord, who has called me and commissioned me to be God's image here and now. What God wants to do to the other, I am called to do! And I trust that God will lead me through that, to freedom. 

This trust has to be the centre, the crux, the foundation of my life of faith and only in that can I march towards freedom. The rich man in the parable today is in no way an evil man, but a man without self-examination or verification! He did not realise how materialistic and selfcentered he was; we cannot do that! We are given all the possibilities to reflect and discern - let us answer this question to ourselves today: where is the centre of my life? In whom do I trust?

To Freedom - overcoming hurdles and hardships

THE WORD IN LENT - Wednesday, Second Week

February 28, 2024 - Jeremiah 18: 18-20; Matthew 20: 17-28

Through the desert God leads us to freedom, and that way to freedom can never be without problems and difficulties. The way to freedom, the Word today instructs us, can have two varied kinds of difficulties: the first of its kind is external hurdles.

Just as a journey through the desert can face with hurdles on the way - boulders, sand dunes and so on - so too, our journey to freedom can have hurdles that are from around. Today we see Jeremiah complaining to God about it and Jesus mentioning it as a matter of fact. It is particularly intriguing how Jesus just mentions it and passes by, that he will be handed over to the elders and the leaders and they would kill him. He just passes by it saying, I will be killed and I will rise! It is a powerful message in its simplicity - you will have hurdles, but you can and you will overcome them - do not fear. 

What Jesus warns more against, than these external hurdles, is the second kind of problems: the internal hardships. He says these are much more dangerous, that can take away your freedom, and take you away from the Truth. This is something that is characteristic of Jesus, we know that. He always concentrates and draws our attention to "the within", the internal forum, what comes from within, more than what can affect one from the outside. Overcoming this type of hardships requires a lot of what we have been reflecting on in the past two days - the need for self-examination and the importance of discernment.

One who humbles shall be exalted and one who exalts oneself will be humbled; what makes one impure is that which comes from within and not what enters from outside; true Reign mindset is seeking to serve and not seeking to be served - these are clearly of the internal forum! Who can guarantee the sincerity and integrity about such dispositions, except the person himself or herself? That is why the indispensable place of self-examination or self-verification, without which even the person proper would not know really what one is going through. 

In self-examination leading to the realization of what cannot co-exist with a life in Christ, and in the discernment of ways and steps in which one can act on these areas which need change, the Lord walks with us and enlightens us with the singular light of love, a love that does not hesistate to lay down even one's life, because it is a love that seeks not to be served, but to serve the other in every way possible!

To Freedom - through sincere discernment

THE WORD IN LENT - Tuesday, Second Week

February 27, 2024 - Isaiah 1:10, 16-20; Matthew 23: 1-12

Through the desert God leads us to Freedom... and this true freedom does not come easy! It takes a serious and sincere discernment to arrive at it. Yesterday we reflected on how the desert helps us towards self realisation, in order that we may progress towards true freedom that God wishes to offer us.  The truth is, not that God merely wishes to offer us that freedom, but is ready to collaborate with us in our progress towards it. 

'Come let us talk it over', the Lord invites us - an offer to accompany us, to help us and to educate us in our discernment of the right choices in our life. Jesus clarifies the same, but with a note further. He says, it is not enough to know what is right and what is desirable, one has to make a sincere effort to convert that knowledge into conviction and that conviction into life. That takes a serious and sincere discernment, as we said earlier. 

There are those of us who know what is right and what is wrong, in fact, by God's grace all of us do! All of us are given innumerable means to know and understand what is right and what is desirable. The law that is taught, the right and wrong that we are cultured into, and above all, the conscience that dialogues with us from within: come let us talk it over, says the Lord and the Lord continues to do that from within us. Don't we hear that voice every time we are about to make a choice - that something is right or that something is wrong! How attentive are we?

There are those of us who know, but are not convinced; we hear the voice within but do not feel like, or do not want to commit ourselves to, obeying it. We find excuses, justifications, complaints, and reservations to avoid the hard choices we are expected to make at times in life! How we miss or how much we neglect the accompaniment and assistance that God wishes to offer us in those moments - for anyone who humbles oneself, shall be exalted. If we cry out to God for help, the Lord is there just beside us to hold our hands firm! 

There are those of us who know, who struggle, who fail and falter, but we are determined to continue our journey towards that ideal set before us! We are assured of God's nearness - if you are willing to obey, you shall experience the good things of  life - the Word promises us today. All that we need to do is decide to hear the Word, listen to the Lord and engage with the Lord in a sincere discernment, and we shall be on our way to true freedom!

To Freedom - in profound self-realisation

THE WORD IN LENT - Monday, Second Week

February 26, 2024 - Daniel 9: 4-10; Luke 6: 36-38

Through the desert God leads us to freedom... by now our focus has shifted from the first part "through the desert" to the latter part "to freedom". However, what the journey through the desert does to our effective progress towards freedom, is an important consideration, never to lose sight of. The journey through the desert, as we have time and again insisted, is an exceptional opportunity to realise who we are and where we are. 

One of the most radical way of progressing towards true freedom is, profound self-realisation. At times we live our life without a sense of reflection and that is why what Socrates said becomes so much a reality - an unreflected life is a wasted life. There are so many things in life that we need to unlearn and our sojourn in the desert would help us to become aware of them. One of those important elements to unlearn is the fact underlined in the Word today: there is much in our life that we experience which we do not deserve!

Let us begin with the compassion of God - do we deserve it at all? What a great realisation it is, that the psalmist today teaches us: do not treat us according to our sins O Lord! In fact, the Lord does not, and we cannot thank God enough for that. In another place the psalmist would say: Oh would that you treat us according to our sins, who would stand your judgements O Lord! (cf. Ps 103). Should we not be careful before we pass judgements such as, you suffer because of your sins. Just like those friends of Job, will we not be failing to understand the entire truth - that none of us ever can be deserving of God's love. It is God's unlimited mercy and compassion that drenches us in God's merciful love! How important it is to realise that!

In our daily concrete experiences, when we take the goodness of others towards us for granted, it is a clear sign that we are living an unreflected life, we think we deserve all the goodness we experience. In stead, the more we become aware of the gratuitousness of the goodness that is meted out to us, by God, through others, the more righteous we grow. We begin the feel the need to become compassionate ourselves, humble, forgiving and generous - that is the surest way to true freedom of the children of God. 

FROM THE WATERS TO THE MOUNTAIN

To grow up to glory!

THE WORD IN LENT - SECOND SUNDAY

Genesis 22:1-2,9-13,15-18; Romans 8:31-34; Mark 9:2-10

The journey that was given as a task for us last week was from the desert to the waters, from the waters of the flood to the waters of baptism, the waters of the covenant. In this second week of lent we are challenged to journey from the waters to the mountain. What does it mean? What does this journey comprise, the journey from the waters to the mountain? 

The waters of baptism is a gift; it is a grace given to us. But living faithful to it, remaining with the enthusiasm and spirit of the initial fervour is not an automatic outcome... it is an uphill task. That is what the Word literally presents today: Abraham uphill, Jesus up the hill, and both of them returning more strengthened than before, both of them coming down affirmed of their union in the Lord, to face the rest of the turmoil of life - that is our next piece of Lenten journey. From the waters to the mountains, from what we have received to what we are ready to make of it; from what has been given to what wish to grow out of it. 

Mountain - a call to climb

First of all the symbol of the mountain today stands for the call we have, to climb, to rise, to grow, to become stronger, to go to the next level. Faith is a given; we need to grow in it. Abraham was already called and he had accepted to walk in the light of the Lord. But that was not enough, he had to graduate, and move on to the next level. 

Francis de Sales speaking of our call to love God and our experience of the loving God, explains at a moment about how we need to progress in it - from the love of a weak and fragile child to the love of someone ready to give up anything for the love of God. St Paul offers us the image of a child who is fed liquid food and grown ups who need solid food. Our faith cannot remain the same as when we received it; it has to constantly grow. When it stops its progress, it begins to deteriorate. That is where the image of the mountain is so accurate, if you stop climbing, you begin to slide down. Our spiritual life is a up hill journey, and we need to readily take it up.

Mountain - a call to sacrifice

Going up the mountain, as a task in itself, is tough. Its implications make it tougher yet. Decision to go up the mountain reminds us of the sacrifice involved - let us think of Abraham today who was going up to sacrifice his son; let us think of Jesus who had his imminent suffering very clear in his mind. Be it Abraham or Jesus or any person of God for that matter, when there is a call that sets them on a specific journey, they were mindful of the sacrifice that was expected of them.

At times we think that God's blessings consist in the fact that there are no sufferings, no hardships, no troubles or no trials. That is never a fact, from a Christian point of view. God's blessing in fact consists in finding meaning in that suffering, finding purpose in the sacrifice, finding a profound element of growth in our temptations and trials. The call to come to the mountain, involves in scaling this height of looking at and accepting the trials of our lives from the perspective of God. It was not possible for the Apostles. and Jesus had to tell them to wait till they understood everything from the perspective of God, until Jesus would die and rise from the dead. Experiencing resurrecftion would mean readiness to go through death; becoming the father of the entire generations of faith would mean being ready to give up his only son. Mountain, therefore is not something we fear or resent, but something that I am willing and ready to confront, not because I am capable and strong, but because God is for me, and I dont mind who is against me!

Mountain - a call to glory

Mountains signify the glory of God. The heights, the splendour, the light, the nature, the life giving freshness... all these are symbolic of God's presence. When we go up the mountain, we feel closer to the Almighty. Mountain experience is always explained as the experience of an intimate closeness to God, in contrast to the desert experience. It is wonderful to be there! But what matters is not being there where we find wonderful, but believing that where God is, it is wonderful to be there. Glory is where God is. When we are with God, we are in glory. We cannot fix our glory elsewhere and ask God to be there! That is why it becomes important to listen to the Lord, to know what the Lord wants of us, to know where God wants us to be! There we shall find the glory. 

We are called to glory. It comes from an arduous journey up hill. It is born of a readiness to give up anything for God's sake. We are called to grow in that mind set, the mind set of true faith, mature faith that can confidently say, when God is for us, no one can be against us. Hence this lenten journey we have undertaken is a journey towards that glory, that comes from fixing our eyes on the Lord and going up to the Lord; let us heed to the call to grow up to glory!

Through the desert - towards true freedom!

THE WORD IN LENT - Saturday, First Week

February 24, 2024 - Deuteronomy 26: 16-19; Matthew 5: 43-48

Through the desert God leads us to freedom... we see that the focus is shifting gradually from the reflection on the desert and our journey through it, to freedom - the sweet and salvific destiny to which we are called. Towards freedom... towards true freedom. That requires that we begin with understanding first what freedom is all about. 

Frequently, persons are given into believing that freedom is the capacity to do what one wishes to, without any control or check.  It is important to realize as early as possible in life, that true freedom is the capacity to choose to do the right, to do what I have to, without fear, or pressures whether internal or external. There are two Christ-ian teachings that come to our aid to understand this reality: when Jesus says 'truth sets you free' and when John interprets Christ saying, 'where there is fear, love is not perfect'!  

If we are to really have freedom, grow towards true freedom, what matters is truth! Knowing the truth, knowing what is expected of me, knowing what I need to do, knowing what is right to be done... I need not endlessly wonder or frenetically search... For God has made it known to me. That is the privilege that we have as people of God, a great gift that God has made the precepts known to us. Thus we have the possibility to move determinedly towards freedom.

We have clearly set out for us one basic thing expected of us: to love. To love the other, not just those who will love us in return, but love all and specially those whom we know will not be able to love us back. That is one clear way to freedom indicated to us. No one should stop is from loving, only that would define us as truly children of God, free children children of the loving God. 

God is love, God is truth; hence love is truth, the truth that can lead us to true freedom.

Through the desert - with renewed spirits!

THE WORD IN LENT - Friday, First Week

February 23, 2024 - Ezekiel 18: 21-28; Matthew 5: 20-26

Through the desert, God leads us to freedom... the desert is never the end; God's people, God's children cannot lose hope. It is only hope that defines me as the child of God. I cannot lose heart, my spirit cannot grow faint. I cannot give up; the moment I give up, I cease to be a child of God. This explains why, for example, a decision like suicide is so unacceptable to the Christian faith. Even the milder forms of giving up, like depression, pessimism, nihilism, negativity, discouragement, rash judgements... are all unchristian equally, let us beware!

The Word today invites us to a great hope that, God never ever gives up on us! Never does God take pleasure in the death of a wicked person - God reminds us of this through Ezekiel. But what God wants is that persons realise their fault, their limitedness, their failures, their wrongdoings, their imperfections, and take the right decision promptly to return to the right ways, the ways of the Lord. What God wants of us this Lent is the same - that we renew our spirits and get back to the Lord. 

While getting back to the Lord, we have to be sincere and clear in conscience. Our way back to the Lord through the desert, we already said in the days just past, is always a way that we need to traverse together! It is in communion with my brothers and sisters that I can get back to the Lord. If I think I am journeying well towards the Lord, but I realise that I have my relationship strained with some of my brothers and sisters, either I am deceiving myself or I am being a hypocrite. Because with those strained relationships, I am not at all on my way to God. Jesus is crystal clear on this point. 

Whichever point we find ourselves in, if we realise there is something that is not right between me and my brother or sister, I cannot proceed! I cannot say, 'let me go ahead and ignore these issues; there are more important issues'! There is no issue more important than a right relationship; there is nothing more important than love in our Christian calling! First, let us set that right, for that is the fundamental point of renewal that God wants from us. Then we shall truly return to the Lord, with renewed spirits!

Celebrating the Petrine Ministry

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

February 22, 2024: The Chair of St.Peter

1 Peter 5: 1-4; Matthew 16: 13-19

We celebrate today the pastoral responsibility that the Lord places on the successors of St. Peter. You are Peter; on this rock I shall build my Church. And the gates of the underworld can never hold out against it. The Church has stood the test of time - 2 millennia and still counting, despite all the forces which wanted it to buckle under pressure!

The First reading has a few remarkable elements that seem to explain perfectly the role of Papacy: 'presbyter among presbyters', 'not lording over the people', 'being example to the flock'! This is exactly what Pope Francis is trying to insist in the identity of the Church and specially in its identity. He does this stressing the Collegiality of the Bishops, as Bishop of Rome, not lording over but challenging everyone with his very life. Far from making a hero-idol of him, it is important as a Church that we begin to hearken to his passionate call to live as light of the world and salt of the earth, spreading love and hope to those around us.

We have a duty today, to pray for the Holy Father, as there are so many forces in the World that wants by all means to destroy the Church and its moral authority on the planet! The Lord promised that the gates of hell will never prevail over the Church, but we need to remain worthy of the promise, by being communities of genuine faith and integral living.  

Thank you Lord for Pope Francis; guide him, protect him and fill him with the joy of the Spirit! God bless our Pope!

Through the desert - beyond Self-pity

THE WORD IN LENT - Wednesday, First Week

February 21, 2024: Jonah 3: 1-10; Luke 11: 29-32

We are not bound to live in the desert... we have a promise that awaits us; we are just passing through this desert. At times we get too comfortable with the desert - that is clearly a sin, an unacceptable choice in life. But there is another mindset that is more dangerous because of its ambiguity. It is self-pity and the Word today warns against it, challenging us to do away with it and to take our choices seriously.

At times, we may find refuge under a victim-syndrome; thinking of ourselves, picturing ourselves and presenting ourselves as a victim, to ourselves and to others. My situation, my problems, my health issues, my colleagues, my family, my upbringing, my past experiences... how many justifications we can think of, to remain in an unacceptable state of life - it could be sin, or slavery, or dependence, or exploitation or anything that does not allow us to live our life to the full. 

God's primary call to every human person is to live our life in all its fullness. When something prevents us from doing it, we are obliged to do away with it, and not try to find refuge in reasons and causes. That would be a sign of self-pity. Certainly, the contrite heart that the psalmist speaks of today is not the sense of self-pity! It is not saying, "Oh I am a poor sinner" as an excuse to remain in that state! Instead, I am challenged to rise beyond that self-pity and make radical and determined choices in life, as the people of Nineveh did!

When the people of Nineveh heard the Word proclaimed to them, they found the way to cross over their desert! They immediately got hold of it and got across their sinful situation, their desert life. Like someone being washed away by a flood would grab on to anything, to find a way to safety, so we are called to grab on to every help that the Lord sends our way to go towards liberty. Jesus indicates how the people of Nineveh and the Queen of Sheba recognised the opportunity they had and grabbed it with both hands - so should our choices be, says the Lord. 

We cannot lie down and take refuge under the sense of self-pity! We are called to rise beyond it and be led by the Lord to liberty!

 

Through the desert - with the Word

THE WORD IN LENT - Tuesday, First Week

February 20, 2024: Isaiah 55: 10-11: Matthew 6:7-15

We reflected upon the aspect of going or passing "through the desert" and that the way of doing it is, 'with the other'. Today the Word offers us another reflection on the same lines... what is the source of strength that can offer us the necessary endurace to withstand that journey 'through the desert'. Because the desert can be not only tiresome, but also treacherous and we need a real strong weapon to equip ourselves with. The weapon or the equipment is, the Word; the Word itself is the strongest of the scaffoldings that uphold our total well-being. 

Your Word is a lamp unto my feet, a light unto my path, we pray in the Psalms (119:105), and if that were true, Jesus demands us today, that it should be reflected in every aspect of our lives - specially in every word that we utilise, making them living and life giving. Do not blabber, he admonishes us. Whether it is with God, with others, or any other context... let's be conscious of our words. 

The Word in itself is dynamic and active, alive and transforming. But when it comes to human persons and their lives, there is a great factor that makes a difference: our personal disposition. A disposition of free submission to the Word and a readiness to allow the Word to work. 

Hence we are reminded of three important "Word attitudes" -

Firstly, to receive in all earnestness, the Word that comes to us in varied ways everyday. Secondly, to make the Word the guidepost for our lives and making it come alive in our experiences and relationships. Thirdly, to respect and be mindful of our own words. As Jesus teaches us, to make our words mean what they say. When we pray (say) the words, "your will be done and your kingdom come"... How different will the world be, how transformed our lives will be, if we meant them fully when we say those words! 

We are invited today to go through the deserts of our lives, with the Word.

Through the desert - with the Other

THE WORD IN LENT - Monday, First Week

February 19, 2024 - Leviticus 19: 1-2,11-18; Matthew 25: 31-46

Through the desert, God leads us to freedom. Reflecting on this message for this lent, we said already  that desert, although is a significant place for growth, it is not a place to remain. It is a place to cross over - "through the desert." This week the Word is going to illumine us, the right and the Christ-like ways of going through the desert. And the first lesson offered today is: we go through it, with the Other. 

The Other is a fundamental consideration in our Christian way of life. As Pope Francis reflects the first two questions asked by God to humanity in Genesis already explains this well: where are you? and where is your brother? It is a simple and clear declaration that as people of God, children of a loving God, our self identity has to be necessarily defined in relation to the Other - where is your brother! That reminds us of the responsibility that we have towards the Other! 

The Word today offers us a concrete ways of doing this as the book of Leviticus teaches the true ways of holiness: you must not bear hatred for your brother in your heart - not even in the heart! That is the concreteness of the teaching. It goes on to say, that we need to tell the other of their offence, speak to them clarify and even reprimand but not bear grudge or judge them in secret. This is such a wonderful way of life, in love for the other, isn't it?

Jesus follows the same teaching and makes it more concrete and compelling, saying it is the love for one's neighbour that will convert itself into true love for God. There is an eye opening paradigm that is presented by the Word today. We are called to cultivate within us an Other-centered thinking, for when we keep the other in the centre, even without our consciousness of it, we shall be doing so much good to ourselves. That is why it is presented as the way to holiness. On the contrary, if we possess a self-centered thinking, that is when we think of everything with ourselves and our own good at the centre, we will end up always distancing ourselves from God and from holiness. 

The message is very clear and concrete, the way out of the desert is, with the Other!  

FROM THE DESERT TO THE WATERS

Remember, we are a covenant people!

THE WORD IN LENT - FIRST SUNDAY 

February 18, 2024 - Genesis 9: 8-15; 1 Peter 3: 18-22; Mark 1: 12-15

Through the desert, God leads us to freedom - this lenten message of the Holy Father has been accompanying us in the first few days of the holy season of Lent that we have begun. The Word this Sunday, offers us a fitting culmination to those reflections, inviting us to listen attentively to what the desert wishes to tell us and where it points us to. 

The Desert Experience, has a very special place in spritual growth of persons and communities. Not to say about the literal desert experience of the people of Israel and that of Jesus himself, which has a direct reference to our lenten practices, spiritual masters attach great significance to desert-like experiences in one's life. It could be dryness, loss, failure, trials, temptations, meaninglessness, search, doubt, distance, boredom and routine, sickness, shock and many other such experiences either expected or unexpected, sudden or gradual. Naturally, they refer to a difficult experience at the moment , but an experience that would stand us a good stead, if their true meaning and all the lessons that they have in store are drawn out in time. The sad fact is that most of the time these expereinces are wasted with a negative approach and a resentive mindset. Instead, if they are approach with faith, they can become blessed moments - when the Angels could serve us, as it is reported in the Gospel today. 

A desert experience is a spiritual experience and it leads us to growth. First of all it is spiritual experience for all who allow themselves to be led by the Spirit - the Spirit led Jesus to the desert, the Gospel tells us. It is a spiritual experience because it has a very special place in the holistic spiritual growth that God desires within us. It leads us to a greater understanding of who we are and what we are upto. It gives us the opportunity to take time, in silence and recollection to, take a deep look at the present, understand the past a little better and learn lessons for the future. They are experiences that could at the moment be found heavy and precipitating, but what rewards us endurance. As James reminds us in his letter (1:12), blessed is the one who endures the trial, for when the person has stood the test, shall receive the crown of life which god has promised to those who love God. This is growth, to look at the difficult and trying experiences from the perspective of God.

A desert experience is a faith experience and it reminds us of the covenant. An important reminder that we are given during the moments of trial is, the accompaniment of God. Why does God accompany us? Because God is faithful to the covenant that God has made with us. We see in the first reading today the experience of Noah - the experience of the covenant. When God told Noah to build that arc, just imagine, how many would have derided him and called him names because he was apparently doing a foolish thing - building a ship, and that too on the land! Building a ship on the land - is a typical lifestyle of a covenant person! It is not that the covenant was made after the flood... it was sealed after the flood, but it was done much before the flood, because covenant is basically a relationship. There was a great bond of relationship between God and Noah - much before the flood. The covenant was the outcome of those times lived together, Noah and his God. Our difficult times are a reminder to look at the One who is with us, the One who accompanies us, the One who walks and shares every bit of our life. We are a people of the Covenant. That is the reminder that can see us through the moments of difficulties and make the desert experience truly a faith experience. 

A desert experience is a birth experience and it prepares us to be born again. The Liturgy today invites us to gradually shift our focus from the desert to the waters - the waters of baptism. From the waters of the flood to the waters of baptism, the fundamental lesson is that of our life in God. Jesus went through the moments of the desert - the temptations, the trials of his daily life and mission, the suffering and death - but it was all leading him to that point of resurrection, the passover, the eternal pasch that has redefined the whole history of all who believe and trust in God. That is the power of the water of baptism, giving us that passover experience, to pass from death to life, from darkness to light, from slavery to freedom. It is once again a reminded of our identity as people of the covenant - we are challenged to live our life in Christ. Just as the desert experience made Jesus reaffirm his life in God, just as the period of passion death and darkness that surrounded it made the disciples and apostles to reaffirm their life in Christ, our day to day experiences of temptations and failures challenge is to renew our life in the Spirit. 

The Word will continue in the coming week to remind us of the various facets of this life in the Spirit, this life begun with the waters of baptism, this life we are called live as children of God. Today let us thank God for the deserts of our life, let us thank God for the waters of baptism that have saved us, and let us thank God for having called us and continuing to lead us from our deserts to the waters of God's intimate accompaniment. Let us resolve to grow attentive to the accompaniment of God, to deepen our roots in the covenant that God has made with us, and to heed to the voice of Christ proclaiming to us that the Reign is at hand. May our daily life be a determined journey from the deserts of our lives to the waters of God's immense love.  

Desert: to be traversed together

THE WORD IN LENT - Saturday after Ash Wednesday

February 17, 2024 - Isaiah 58: 9-14; Luke 5: 27-32

Through the desert God leads us to freedom. Certainly the desert is not a place to make our home! The last two days we have been reflecting on the deep impacts that the experience of the desert can create within us, and how desert is not something from which we should run. That in no way makes desert a place to be comfortable with. Pope Francis reminds us in his message: God shapes his people, he enables us to leave our slavery behind and experience a Passover from death to life. Passover - that is the key to understand. 

The Word today invites us to develop three specific attitudes towards the deserts of our life, that we may experience this Passover:

The first is "through the desert" - that we have always our eyes fixec on the horizon. The Passover experience is there, when we have passed through the desert. We cannot run the danger of making ourselves comfortable in the desert. It is a place of discomfort and dissonance that makes us constantly yearn for that perfection, not with a negative suppression of the present experienced but growing through them.

The second is God leads "us" - we are led as children together. We cannot make it a singled handed show! Doing away with the yoke, giving bread to the hungry and relief to the oppressed, restoring the ruins - these are ways proposed to get through this desert. We are called to pass over this desert in compassion and communion. Without these I cannot get through to the other side, let us beware, we may be building our castles right in the desert itself!

The third is the journey to "freedom" - that freedom comes with our decision making! We have to decide to leave everything behind and follow the One who leads; we have to make that absolute and clear choice, for whom and with whom we are! Jesus made that decision and paid the price. If we are his, we would make that decision and find true freedom, the freedom of the Spirit, the freedom the children of God. 

God detests to see that we choose the desert and decide to die therein! The call is that we traverse it, we cross over, and move towards that passover experience, to that real freedom, to that experience of resurrection. The desert is to be traversed, traversed together! 

Desert - a place of growth and realisation

THE WORD IN LENT - Friday after Ash Wednesday

February 16, 2024 - Isaiah 58: 1-9; Matthew 9: 14-15

Through the desert, God leads us to freedom... therefore, the desert is not a place to be detested. However, it is difficult it could be, it is indeed a place of growth as it leads to a profound reflection and a resultant realisation. When we decide to go through the desert, it offers us a great opportunity to look at ourselves, reflect and arrive at realisations that would create changes within us for life, changes that would amount to a happy growth from within. Instead, if we look at the desert as something we enter with fear and reluctance, in our preoccupation with mere getting through it, we may miss all the opportunities for growth. 

The Word today presents to us the difference between these two attitudes in reference to the lenten penances we would have probably commenced with, in this holy season. Is it a painful starving or a pressurised abstinence that really matters for God? If these acts of penance, for instance, increase within us our irritability, or self-righteousness, or our sense of pride - of what use are these acts? Aren't they detrimental to our very personalities? That is why Jesus, along with those words of the first reading, redefines what a godly penance would be!

It is not about starving or going around with stern faces, but it is about relating to the other, having compassion for the other, speaking affectionately to the other, reaching out to those is need, keeping away our small joys in order that we can make someone else joyful, taking up a little cross in order that someone around me can really experience the love of God that was shared to them from the Cross by the Saviour. Our acts of penance should make us grow; they should make us more godly. Only then, they are Christic!

Pope Francis in the Lenten message reminds us of the two questions that are posed by God to us, two questions that God posed in the events of Genesis: where are you? and where is your brother? The former underlining the need to become aware of our interior dispositions and latter inviting us to open our eyes to the needs of the others and not get lost in our ego trips. This season we need to respond to those two questions - they would lead us to realisation and they would help us journey towards growth!

Desert - the reminder to Choose!

THE WORD IN LENT - Thursday after Ash Wednesday

February 15, 2024: Deuteronomy 30: 15-20; Luke 9: 22-25

Through the desert, God leads us to freedom! The desert here is that experience when we are faced with a choice to make, a decisive radical choice. Behold, I place before you death and life, disaster and prosperity, the people are told today in the first reading. What is life and prosperity all about - obeying the commands of the Lord; and death and disaster is wantonly choosing what does not lead you towards true progress, towards freedom. 

Pope Francis in the lenten message draws our attention to the tendency of the people to be lost in nostalgia of their past, knowing well how enslaving and demeaning it was. They were crying out when they were there, but now they wished to go back. The reason, because they found challenges and difficulties, hurdles and hardships here on their way to freedom. The analogy is clear: the way to freedom, to perfection, is filled with tough and trying moments. The Lord invites us to it, leads us through it but will never force us into it. The choice is ours!

The desert is obviously a hard plain, a difficult terrain, a lonesome place... but the Lord never abandons us provided we choose the Lord; that is, choose to journey through the desert to freedom. There could be other choices: one to get back to the old ways, which is giving up; the other is to compromise with the ways of the desert, make of it a comfort zone, make friends with the situation here, which Jesus calls us today to renounce! The choice to walk through the desert is, taking up the Cross, but let us not be faint: we called only to follow, which means we are not alone, we are not the only ones! The Lord has walked before us, and we shall follow him. 

What difference would it make to our lives if we were to go back - that is, choose the so-called ways of the world and get lost in the crowd, following the fad of the day? What would we have achieved if we run mad after the craze of power, popularity and possession that would in fact take us far, but only far from true life! The desert reminds us to make a choice, a choice for the Lord, a choice for the ways of the Lord, the choice for the Cross... and we shall walk secure in freedom towards freedom!

THE LENTEN JOURNEY 2024

THE WORD IN LENT - Ash Wednesday

February 14: Through the desert, to Freedom... God leads us.

Joel 2: 12-18; 2 Corinthians 5:20 - 6:2; Matthew 6:1-6,16-18

We begin the holiest of all seasons within the liturgical year: the season of Lent. This year the Holy Father invites us to reflect on loving reminder - that through the desert God leads us to freedom.  

Broken hearts, fasting stomachs, weeping eyes, mourning spirits, trembling hands and bending knees - these are not signs of fright nor attempts to appease; these are responses to a recognition of the mercy and compassion of God, the tender love and affection that the Lord extends to you and me despite the dull and drear that have set in, between God and us. It could be either because of our irreflective activism or spiritual lethargy! The reason be what it could, the fact is God has never failed to listen to us at the favourable time, on the day of our salvation! 

Indeed, this is the favourable time; this is the day of salvation. Let us begin this journey, the journey of reflecting on the journey of our life! Yes, Lent is not a journey that starts and ends in itself. It is a journey, a special phase of journey that is given to us every year, to reflect on the spiritual journey of our life, where through the desert, God leads us to freedom. 

The deserts are spiritual patches of the journey, special moments of grace however difficult  and trying they are. Lent comes to make us understand how important these deserts are, that we may really journey through them with the spirit that the Lord wishes us to have. That we may understand that deserts are not places where we feel deserted, but they are places where we desert everything that binds us, to lift our eyes to the Lord, to refocus our minds on the original call, to resume our ontological journey towards that communion with the Lord, the true and total freedom. And another important element not to be forgotten, it is God who leads us! God leads us by hand, even in the midst of the desert, specially in the moments of the desert. 

Let us wish each other a profound and peaceful journey, a journey through the desert, where God leads us to freedom, the freedom of the beloved children of God. 

Do we really understand?

WORD 2day: Tuesday, Sixth week in Ordinary time

February 13, 2024 - James 1:12-18; Mark 8: 14-21

How agitated Jesus gets today with his disciples! But why? Jesus expects them to rise above the ordinary or the normal. As Jesus warns us repeatedly: if our perfection does not surpass those that of the scribes and the pharisees, that is if we do not rise above the 'usual' way the world looks at reality, we will not be considered fit for the Reign of God! 

The so-called normal attitudes of the world, the value systems propagated as "normal" by the world, the life style of the so called successful that stands counter to what the Gospel teaches... these are the temptations that we have today! Of course, they do not come from God, reiterates St. James. Our desires, temptations, sin and resultant death: this is the cycle that Jesus wants us to understand, resist, surpass, and triumph over. 

None of us can ever say after an act of unrighteousness, that we were not aware at all, of its nature! Let us not deceive ourselves! We know what we are surrounded by, we know what we go through on a daily basis and we know what is appreciable and what is not worthy of our call to be children of God. Inspite of all the graces that we have received and the gratuitous gifts that we have received from the Lord, if we still insist on giving up on our call to commitment and righteous living, we will soon hear that question addressed to us by Jesus: do you still not understand?

The Lord our Rock!

WORD 2day: Monday, 6th week in Ordinary time

February 12, 2024: James 1: 1-11; Mark 8: 11-13

During his life and ministry, Jesus was convinced that he had nothing to prove! He was what he was - the Son of God, the Word Incarnate. He spoke what he believed and lived what he spoke. That gave him an authority that the Pharisees and the Scribes could never understand. It came from his holistic self-understanding, an understanding in terms of the One who had sent him: "For I and the Father are one", he declared (Jn 10:30).

Many a time we identify ourselves with the riches we have, the social status we enjoy, the titles and the offices we hold, the adulation from others and the image that others have of us. These are like the drooping flowers and the fading beauty, reminds St. James in his letter. What will all the titles and possessions, achievements and accomplishments become when at that one moment we are no more!

Our identity rests in one thing that never changes: the truth that we are sons and daughters of One God, that we are created in the image and the likeness of that loving God who has loved us into existence. When we get this fact imprinted in our hearts... no trial or no doubt, no suffering or no shock will ever affect our perseverance (James 1:4).

It takes a lot of inner strength to found ourselves on the unsurpassed foundation, the unshakable ground, the one unchanging source of meaning we have... let our life be founded on that insurmountable refuge, the Lord, our Rock!

Divided lives?!?

WORD 2day: Saturday, Fifth week in Ordinary time

February 10, 2024 - 1 Kings 12: 26-32, 13: 33-34; Mark 8: 1-10

For the people of Israel there was no difference between their political life and their religious life. For them everything was just one; an integral mode of living as people of God; forever the people of the Covenant: 'I shall be your God and you shall be my people'. But at a certain point, as we read in the first reading today, the misery befalls them - Politics and Religion part their ways. 

Further, something that happens makes things worse: using religion for political ends or politics for religious reasons. It becomes almost an unjust alliance and remains so even to this day - how many instances we can cite from the events of the day all around the world. 

That is about the society around us, but let us remember, it can happen in our personal lives too: the division between our religious life and our civil life, and worse still if we use one for the manipulation of the other. 

Jesus is totally against this division and considers it always an hypocrisy. One cannot call oneself a shepherd and still remain untouched by the miseries of the people. One cannot call oneself a 'Christ-ian' and live a life that is totally insensitive towards others. One cannot call oneself a child of God and look down on his brother or sister, or much worse ill-treat, exploit or oppress them. If one does that, he or she is giving into idolatry, claiming to belong to Christ but divided within oneself, externally professing Christ but totally against Christ at the level of the inner self. 

Do you think we can still be God's children, Christ's disciples, if we lived such divided lives?

Pride, Rebellion and Obedience!

WORD 2day: Friday, Fifth week in Ordinary time

February 9, 2024 - 1 Kings 11:4-13; Mark 7:24-30

The Word today speaks of two kingdoms... one that was ending and the other which was rising. Prophet Ahijah instructs Jeroboam about the role that he has to play in the fall of David's kingdom. And in the Gospel we see the people who rejoice at the coming of the Kingdom of God, the signs of the Reign being that "the deaf hear and the mute speak." That phrase was symbolic and indicative for the people of the Intertestamental times (the time of waiting between the Old Testament and the coming of Christ). For them it meant, the coming of the Reign of God amidst the people of Israel. 

The message is obvious - it is an invitation to turn away from a tendency of human pride and rebellion and place the absolute dominion always in the hands of God. Right from the beginning (explained by the stories of Adam and Eve, the tower of Babel and so on), the ruin of humankind has been due to human pride; the entry point of sin into humanity has been rebellion.

It is in that rebellion and pride that we make gods of ourselves and gods for ourselves - making gods of our own ego, of our successes, of our plans and projects, of our prospects and the social ladders, of our attachments and cravings. At times, only when drastic things happen we realise our folly! Then it shall be too late and there would be time only to cry over the lost opportunities.

The Lord reminds us today: I am the Lord you God, hear my voice... let us make it our habit to hear the Lord's voice and live by it everyday and in every way.

Saints who surprise God!

WORD 2day: Thursday, Fifth week in Ordinary time

February 8, 2024 - 1 Kings 11:4-13; Mark 7: 24-30

The most dangerous character of sin is, it takes over little by little that, all too soon we find it to be too late! 

Solomon who was a sign of God's glory in the early days of his kingship, soon finds himself in a point of no return, because he had given away his heart little by little to ways that took him away from God! 

In simple words sin can be understood as a rebellion against God... a lack of surrender into God's hands. The remedy is: a childlike surrender into the hands of God; following God unreservedly as did David (1Kgs 11:6); a faith that becomes a humble surrender to God's Will, like the Syrophoenician woman that we see in the Gospel. 

The Syrophoenician woman becomes the prototype of the saints who surprised God... who surprised God by their total surrender... like St.Paul, or the early martyrs, or the later saints like John Maria Vianney, or Maxmillian Kolbe, or great models like Blessed Oscar Romero, Blessed Sr. Rani Maria... the list goes on, and the challenge is that we add our names to that.  

Let our surrender to the Lord be so total, that in God's pleasant surprise miracles abound. Can we surprise God by our surrender?... that will be a wonderful sign of growing in holiness.

About out interior life!

WORD 2day: Wednesday, Fifth week in Ordinary time 

February 7, 2024 - 1 Kings 10: 1-10; Mark 7: 14-23

"That they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father" - that is the grammar of life that Jesus has always taught us.  

Today in the first reading we see Solomon exemplifying this claim to honour. We read that the Queen of Sheba, looking at the wisdom and splendour of Solomon, said "Blessed be the Lord your God!"(v.9). What actually matters is not what is seen merely on the outward appearance, for we cannot put up a show all our life. 

Let us just imagine, if we have to create an image of ourselves just for the sake of the others and live up to it all our life - how tiresome and fatiguing it can be! At some point or the other, to someone or the other, the truth will be manifest and that will be the ruin of everything. 

Instead, Jesus invites us to an authentic living that is built from within, from those which comes out from within - our thoughts, our attitudes, our priorities, our judgements and opinions about others and about issues, the feelings and impulses we give into, the kind of persons we identify ourselves with, the sort of people for whom our hearts are moved, the readiness with which we go out of ourselves in true love and selfless compassion. 

Let us pay attention to our interiority. The core of our self defines who we are, and at that level of our being, we cannot deceive ourselves! Let our hearts enshrine the presence of the Lord and let that presence illumine every bit of our life... specially our interior life. 

External expressions vs Internal dispositions

WORD 2day: Tuesday, Fifth week in Ordinary time

February 6, 2024 - 1 Kings 8: 22-23, 27-30; Mark 7: 1-13

The Word continues to speak to us still in keeping with the theme of yesterday. The first reading presents to us Solomon who brings to light the relationship that lies between the absolute importance of the temple and the folly of limiting God's presence to the temple. These are two crucial elements to understand about a devotion, which are indicative of a certain maturity, which renders one's faith worthy of being called an adult faith.

Jesus too talks of the same, but from a different context. He contrasts between an External Expression and an Internal Disposition: they are not exclusive choices to be made but they point to a mature balance to be achieved, because both are needed! But what makes the difference is the priority given to one over the other and the motive with which such a priority or choice is made.

What the Word today wants to impress on us is this: that external expressions without deep internal dispositions will turn into mere ritualism and legalism; that is what Jesus was opposed to and today that is what would militate against being a true disciple of Christ. 

On the other hand, a mere internal disposition without right external expression will lead to a cold individualism which is totally 'unchristian'! It makes me either narcissitic or too diffident to be what I am, in public. 

Let our internal disposition be challenged and transformed on a daily basis towards a continuous maturity that leads to a meaningful living of our faith.

Making God present!

WORD 2day: Monday, Fifth week in Ordinary time

February 5, 2024 - 1 Kings 8:1-7, 9-13; Mark 6: 53-56

The Ark comes to the Temple and Jesus comes to the people: there lies a beautiful link here in. Obviously, it lies in the fact that the people of God are the true temples of God! Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? , asks St. Paul (1 Cor 3:16). Specially the needy and the poor, the sick and the suffering, the lonely and the unloved... they are the temples where God resides and where the world can and should in all earnestness encounter God, face to face.

Jesus does not depise in any way the importance of the Temple when he said: a day will come when you will worship the Lord in Spirit and in Truth (Cf. Jn 4: 23,24). He invites us to look at a new perspective. Building churches and beautifying them are important, but it is much more important to build the Church, that is, the people of God. Celebrating the feasts and solemnities is important, but it is much more important to celebrate persons and ensure humanity, happiness and wholeness to every person.

What would we have gained if we spent tons of money on a well organised festivity, if we had not touched even one person who needed to be, or made happy even one grieving heart, or given joy to even one drooping spirit? Wherever Jesus went, people went and God's presence was felt; wherever the apostles went, people went and God's presence was felt (compare with Acts 5:12-15); wherever we Christ-ians go, God's presence should be felt... is it really felt?

Compassion - the quality of a person of God

WORD 2day: Saturday, Fourth week in Ordinary time

February 3, 2024 - 1 Kings 3: 4-13; Mark 6: 30-34

"An understanding heart to guide God's people", is what Solomon asks of the Lord... and that is what he was given! We see Jesus, who understood the tiredness of his apostles and counselled them to relax. We see Jesus looking at the people and understanding their need, their thirst, their yearning for life... he was filled with compassion!

Compassion, which comes from com-pati (latin), to have the same feeling as someone, is basically an understanding of the other! When someone next to me is undergoing a crisis, when someone in my vicinity is going through a suffering, when persons in front of my eyes are experiencing a situation that stifles their lives... can I really feel with them, can I really suffer with them? That would be compassion! That is the sensibility that Jesus exhibits, that is the sensibility that Christ requires of us, if we have to call ourselves Christians!

A compassionate person alone can be a person of God. When I feel depressed, when I feel oppressed, when I feel spent, when I feel exploited, when I feel angry, when I feel disappointed, only a person with compassion can feel exactly what I feel. The person becomes a person of God, when the person feels what I feel and take me to where God wants me to move on. Yes, compassion is crying with those who cry and laughing with those who laugh, but it is not drowning with those who drown and decaying with those who decay! Compassion has to be a Godly presence of suggesting the right thing at the right time!

Compassion is the quality closest to sanctity! To be Christ-ians, we cannot but be compassionate; like Solomon, let us ask the Lord, and the Lord will grant us a heart that is wise and understanding, loving and compassionate.

Tests, Results and Outcomes

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

February 2, 2024: The Presentation of the Lord
Malacchi 3:1-4; Hebrews 2: 14-18; Luke 2: 22-40

Do not bring us to the test, we pray everyday. But our life is full of tests. It is in and through these tests that the real quality of our life is brought to the fore. Mary at the temple today stands model to this brave spirit of a God-filled person: to face everything with a serenity that God alone gives!

More than the results of the tests, what matters is the manner in which we go through it. These tests are not mere situations to be overcome but are experiences to learn from. The true result is not whether you succeed or not; but that you come out of it better, refined, polished, purified, and made more whole. St. Joseph after every crisis that he faces, comes out more flexible at the hands of God. Another example of serenity!

The marks of having grown out of these tests should be seen in my capacity to offer myself into God's hands more every time. Truly speaking, however, the actual effect of these tests could either make me stronger or break my spirit... and obviously, the mark of a God-filled person is to come out of it ever more stronger in one's will to surrender to the Lord. That child presented today at the temple, will grow up to be the best ever example of someone who grew out of every test and remained faithful to his consecration!

Here is the special reason the Church wishes to commemorate this day as the world day of consecrated life... not just for the consecrated men and women of the world, but for each and every member of the people of God, let us pray that we shall grow evermore capable of living our lives with serenity that comes from an absolute surrender to God!