The Reign Perspective

WORD 2day - Saturday, 13th week in Ordinary time

July 6, 2024 - Amos 9: 11-15; Matthew 9: 14-17

The times are dull and dreary, the situation is grim and gloomy, the future seems bleak... these are not feelings totally strange to us. At a point or the other, all of us have felt them or would feel them for sure! But Christian hope insists that there is always a light at the end of the tunnel. The last word is always the Lord's. 

Amos, who has been pronouncing such vehement warning all this while, comes out with a hopeful projection of the future. In fact some scholars say, that this part of the text could be actually an interpellation into Amos' text. However, reflecting on the readings of today can turn our attention to the fact that things can, and will, change for the better. There will be plenty, there will be justice flowing like river and righteousness like an overflowing stream, in short, there will be the Reign of God established for sure!

But, we should be prepared for it. We should be prepared to have a new mindset, a totally new perspective, an absolutely different value system! Cosmetic changes will not work... patchworks will not be sufficient... little additions here and some deletions there, will not suffice... these adjustments will only make the situation worse, more confused and totally disoriented. What will help is only a radical transformation in Christ. 

That is what St. Paul would instruct, 'do not be conformed to this world, instead be transformed in Christ Jesus' (cf. Rom 12:2); and in another place: 'those who are in Christ are a new creation' (2 Cor 5:17). And for this we have put on the mind of the Christ (cf. Phil 2:5) and that is a radically new mindset, a totally new perspective, an absolutely different value system: that is what we call, the Reign perspective!

Be Merciful; Be Godly

WORD 2day: Friday, 13th week in Ordinary time

July 05, 2024 - Amos 8:4-6, 9-12; Matthew 9: 9-13

I desire mercy not sacrifice. There is a particular perspective that a Godly person alone can have: the perspective of God. 

For God, every one is same; every one is a child to be loved. Why doesn't God punish? Why are evil one's not destroyed yet? These are some questions that some always pose! At times we like to see the untoward things that happen as punishments from God... though infact it is we who cause ourselves hurts and injuries. Our God is a God who loves mercy. 

When we make choices that are inhuman, when we fix priorities that are ungodly, when we act on criteria that are unjust, we drain ourselves of the divine presence that is within us and that surrounds us, because we withdraw from God, hide from our maker as Adam and Eve did in the garden of eden. And the result: famine, famine of the divine presence, famine of the Word, famine of the light of God. 

The Lord calls us as he calls Matthew, to leave the table and follow Him; to leave our ungodly priorities, unjust criteria and inhuman choices and follow the Lord. When we follow the Lord, what would matter to us will be mercy, and mercy alone. Being Godly is being merciful. Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy; in God's own mercy, the Lord will deliver God's word to us. There will be no famine of the Word of God; we will be in perfect communion with the Lord! 

Let us be merciful as our Heavenly Father is merciful. Being merciful is being Godly!

St. Thomas the Apsotle to India

THE WORD AND THE SAINT 

July 3, 2024: Lessons from St. Thomas
Ephesians 2: 19-22; John 20: 24-29

Feast of St. Thomas leaves us with three lessons...

1. We are One Church built on the Apostles.

The feasts of every apostle is a reminder of the essential unity that has to exist within the Church. As Paul so vehemently opposes (cf. I Cor 1:10-13), right from the earliest times division has always been a dreaded scandal within the Church. This reality notwithstanding, the divided body of Christ today drains the Church of its witnessing power and evangelical authority.

2. The Church in India has a special responsibility.

The Church in India, boasting a direct handing over of faith by an apostle, has a special responsibility towards establishing the Reign of God on earth. It is unfair to claim privileges but refrain from the duties that come with it. Every person who has received the gift of faith in this country of ancient heritage and culture, has to stand firm in witness to the Gospel thus received challenging the society towards a holistic transformation, ushering in the Reign of God here and now.

3. Doubts don't matter as l ong as the Lord remains close to us.

Thomas was not only the one who wanted to touch the wounds that nails made and put his hand into the hole on Jesus' side, but he was also the one who said, "let us also go, that we may die with him" (Jn 11:16). His personal attachment to Jesus covered up for his obstinacy not to believe when the rest of the apostles reported Jesus' resurrection. In our lives too, when doubts assail, when clouds gather over our heads and we tend to be overwhelmed by them, the only thing that can sustain us is our personal relationship with Jesus!

May St. Thomas show us Christians in India, the most fitting way of living out the Gospel in our context, so that we may be ambassadors of the Reign of God, here and now.

To live by faith is to live just!

WORD 2day: Tuesday, 13th week in Ordinary time

July 02, 2024 - Amos 3: 1-8, 4: 11-12; Matthew 8: 23-27

There is an intimate connection between justice and faith. 

Amos points out to the people that they were living an unjust life because they do not really behold the presence of the Lord, who had done so many wonders on their behalf. Persons become evil, unjust, selfish, blood thirsty and inhuman when they do not realise who they are, from whom they come, what their roots are, where their real treasures lie and who is that who sustains them! Realising these, in short, is faith.

Beholding the presence of the Lord is the first sign of faith. At times of trials when there is a suffering because of our just way of life, and at times of temptations when our mind looks for short cuts and the world suggests that as the way of the smart, we need to behold the presence of the Lord beside us and stay calm! Not being perturbed is a solid sign of faith, we know.

The wind and the storm, the demons and the diseases, they recognised the Lord and bowed down at the sight. The human will and freedom refused to do it and it still continues to happen, when we do not behold the mighty presence of the Lord from the depth of our hearts. This presence unravels itself in such a simple manner around us and when we truly recognise it, our life changes, our perspectives widen and we grow ever more holy and just. Infact, to live by faith is really, to live just!