Is death better, or life?

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

October 1, 2024 - Remembering St. Theresa of Child Jesus

Job 3:1-3, 11-17, 20-23; Luke 9: 51-56

Job complains against the unfairness of life and prefers he were dead than living. How many times we contemplate such thoughts, most of the times unmindful of the bountiful blessings that have preceded such experiences and all the blessings that are yet in store. We always want to be kings of good times and queens of cosy times! There are moments that bring out the preciousness of life, by allowing such experiences which highlight the goodness that surrounds us always.

The saint whom we remember today, the saint of the Little Way, teaches us the secret. It is not about great accomplishments and life time achievements that sanctity is all about, instead, the little things, the simple demands of each day, the apparently insignificant choices we make, the daily routines we follow, the members of our family we live with and their characters and idiosyncrasies we have to put up with - these shall determine our way to holiness! 

At times we know there is a problem around, there is a person who does not like me, there is a situation that I am being criticised for any simple thing, or I am not understood at all , even in the smallest of things in consideration - that does not matter; we go on, with simple steps, with the child like steps.

When Jesus sets his eyes towards Jerusalem, the Samaritans detest it -they want him all for themselvesè  may be. They forget the goodness that Jesus had shown them thus far, respecting that woman at the well, narrating that parable that extols the samaritan and recognising that one grateful soul among the rest of the ingrates. Can we have everyone to keep pleasing us all the time? In this context -  isn't it right to ask that question today: is it better to be dead or to live with meaning? 

The Naked Truth - God alone is!

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

September 30, 2024 - Remembering St. Jerome
Job 1:6-22; Luke 9: 46-50

Naked I was born, naked will I die! God gave and God has taken it back. Blessed be the name of the Lord... Job is given by the Word today as the brilliant example of a child of God! His properties burned, he remained calm. His cattle were gone, he bore it all. His servants were killed he held on to the Lord. His children died altogether, he broke down but in the bosom of the Lord! That was Job, of whom the Lord was proud of.

Jesus teaches us the same lesson in the Gospel ...your ego, your social status, your position and power, your possession and your attachments... nothing can stand the test of time. God alone will. Whether we believe or not the Lord is. Whether we praise the Lord or not, the Lord is worthy of all the praise in the world. Whatever we do and whatever we are involved in, even without our own full knowledge of it, we are serving the purposes of the Lord. 

St. Jerome whom we celebrate today is an excellent example of this - all through his intellectual search, he was being prepared to be an exceptional instrument in spreading the Word of God to the world far and wide. When he understood it, he surrendered himself totally to the plan of God. Bcause he knew, ultimately that which is going to prevail is God's will. 

God alone is almighty and God's purposes alone give meaning to anything that exists. The truth finally is, whoever we are and whatever we have, everything will pass. The naked truth is, God alone is, God alone will forever be!

THE REIGN PEOPLE

Solidarity in the Lord

September 29, 2024 - 26th Sunday in Ordinary time
Numbers 11: 25-29; James 5: 1-6; Mark 9: 38-43,45,47-48

We are living, not just in the time of plurality, but in a time of post-truth plurality! Are you wondering what this term 'post truth plurality' is all about? We shall first reflect on it, clarify it first and then enter into the Word of God for this Sunday, because the Word has a challenging call to give us! We know what plurality is - specially if one is from a context like India - we experience plurality on a daily basis. Plurality of religions, languages, proveniences, socio-political ideologies and so on, are our normal life situation and it is a universal condition. But what is this post-truth plurality? 

Avoiding a whole lot of philosophical excursus on what 'post-truth' means, we can simply understand it in these terms: it can be a precarious stand that persons (or societies at large) take when it comes to truth, accepting what vibes with their convictions as truth and insisting that they should have the freedom to hold it so, but at the same time not allowing the other/s to have their opinion or their judgement on things. It is a kind of relativism that is self-centred or autoreferential. Now taking off from that description, post-truth plurality is - affirming and appreciating a plurality that is convenient to oneself and failing to see the goodness or the possible positivity in another similar experience of plurality! Don't we have realities today which boasts of 'unity in diversity', but looks at difference as a problem, diversity as a threat, plurality as a dangerous multiplicity and not a richness! 

Why all these discussions? Simply to hightlight the fact that we, the so-called people of God, that is 'Reign people,' cannot have such a mentality of pseudo-openness of convenience, or hypocritical and empty dicourses of being one people of God but in fact, feeling divided and egoistic. The Word this Sunday brings out this message with such power, in three exhortations! 

Intracommunitarian Solidarity: 

The first exhortation from the Word, to be Reign people is, to practice Intracommunitarian Solidarity, that is, solidarity with those who are with me, my fellow believers in the Lord. In the first reading, when the enthusiasts with Moses get upset with those two of their fellowmen - Eldad and Medad - because they were getting popular by themselves, Moses grabs the opportunity to give them the lesson: we need to live in solidarity in the Lord. It is not about who does what, but about for whom we do what we do! Within a believing community, it has to be for the Lord, only then we are truly Reign people. 

How many times within our parish communities, religious communities or even within the family, there arise problems because some one is doing good! Our ego and our sense of jealousy makes us uncharitable to our own brothers and sisters, making every one's life sad and miserable! How can we be called Reign people? 

Intercommunitarian Solidarity: 

The second exhortation towards being Reign people is to promote intercommunitarian solidarity. This has to be lived in varied levels - taking a family as the fundamental unit of a people of God, it takes the form of a sense of solidarity among families; solidarity among one believing community and others (as St. Paul used to insist with the early Christian communities); interdiocesan communities or among religious congregations... at whatever level, without love and unity, we fail terribly in our vocation. 

The worst scandal we can give the world is our disunity. Just imagine the interdenominational or interconfessional problems we create and nurture, without understanding all these differences will turn obsolete in the presence of the Lord, in the Reign of the Lord. Jesus teaches this in the Gospel - you should not stop them from performing miracles, anyway they did it in my name, isn't it, he asks the disciples who looked so apprehensive about someone else taking away their coveted place. Jesus' point is , to be Reign people, we need to transcend all these demarcations and convince ourselves, that we all belong to that One, Powerful, loving God!

Extracommunitarian Solidarity: 

The third exhortation towards being Reign people, is to be, as Pope Francis repeats so often, 'being a Church that reaches out!' We cannot be closed in within ourselves, if we need to be truly people of God, authentically persons of the Reign. Looking out and reaching out, in particular to the poor, the exploited, the oppressed, the down trodden and families in crises. James begins with a conceptual painting of partiality in a community, dual standards in treating people and so on... and ends with this teaching on woe to those who are insensitive to the other. This is in fact one of the essential criteria for a Reign person - to have the capacity to see the sufferings of the other. Jesus taught it in clear and lucid terms, and the apostles learnt from it. 

To reach out to the needy, to help and empower the poor, a kind word to the worried, a simple smile to one who is sad and lonely, these are some simple gestures endorsed by the Spirit of the Lord who works through anyone, absoluetely any one.We cannot let the black clouds of hierarchical thinking, chosen-people syndrome, and fear of the Truth, obscure the light we have within us as children of God.

To be Reign people, in short, is to grow in communion with the Lord, with the rest of our brothers and sisters, and with the entire universe. That communion is really the Reign of God that we are called to proclaim and make present. Learning to do that, we shall gradually grow to be Reign people! 

Live, love and experience of God

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

September 28, 2024 - Ecclesiastes 11:9 -12: 8; Luke 9: 43b-45

Life is short and life is limited, but it offers ample opportunity to do things that are remarkable. It never forces anyone, leaving far behind every one who complains of a life of boredom and monotony. For a Christian, life cannot be boring because he or she has a life task to accomplish and daily directions to carry out, from the Lord. That is why St. Paul would say, "do not grow weary of doing right" (2 Thess 3:13). Doing right, might invite criticism, jealousy, opposition, persecution and even crucifixion! But what matters is to do the will of God, and do it willingly. 

It happens many a time that we stand by and pass comments, judgments, critiques and suggestions while a group of people suffer... as long as we are not involved in the suffering, it becomes so easy for us to do that. It does not affect us till they are no more... even when they are no more, we begin reasoning in terms of mere numbers. Where many die, we feel more! One thing is helplessness but another unpardonable attitude is indifference, which makes life so inhuman.

While we are in the best of our times, it is important that we realise that life is short and life is limited; let's live it to the full, let us do all the good that we can to every one around. Let us not waste our life in envying, calumniating, gossiping, judging and spreading hate! 

Let us live to the full, love each other and experience God close to us!

In God's own time...

THE WORD AND THE SAINT 

September 27, 2024 - Remembering St. Vincent de Paul

Ecclesiastes 3: 1-11; Luke 9: 18-22

Two great enemies to spiritual health, as spiritual masters point out are: Anxiety and Curiosity! Anxiety is against faith because it points to a lack of trust in the Lord; and Curiosity is lack of patient acceptance of the present.To both these, and to many other spiritual ailments the corrective given is Surrender!

In short, surrender can be described as the assurance that in God's time everything will happen. Patience, trust and the unfailing confidence in God's goodness, are the ingredients of this mentality of surrender. Especially when things aren't going the way we would want them to, we need this quality to remain sane and secure.

In the Gospel today, we find Jesus as a personification of this quality. He was neither curious nor anxious about his mission on earth. That is why he was more interested about their personal conviction than the public opinion; and he was stern that they don't go about frenetically spreading their conviction and forcing it on people, but to let them arrive at that conviction through their own experience too!

The saint whom we celebrate today, Vincent de Paul possesd this mentality of surrender deep in his heart. That was indeed the starting point from where he could do all that he did, found congegrations and initiate associations which would generously serve the needy part of the universe, thus righting what could be going wrong everywhere in the world. 

That serenity on Jesus' part or even on the part of Vincent De Paul comes from the attitude of Surrender, an assurance that everything will be made beautiful IN GOD'S OWN TIME.

From Vanity to Sanity... towards Sanctity

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

September 26, 2024 - Ecclesiastes 1:2-11; Luke 9: 7-9

TINNUTS... I remember this acronym from our younger times, when we were used to repeat it often with a sigh: the expansion of it is, There Is Nothing New Under The Sun.The first reading speaks of vanities in life. Labour, dreams, experiences, senses...everything is a vanity if they are not taken in the right perspective. Is that not true? Add to this list, our self glory and egocentrism, and the list would become more perfect.

The Gospel today presents to us a personification of vanities, Herod! Herod had every opportunity to realise the vanity with which he was living. But he made no use of them, he even put an end to them. That would certainly affect him all his life. That is why the Gospel says, "he kept saying, I beheaded John." 

We are more than aware of the vanities which surround us today. Be it personally, or socially, or globally, there are any number of vanities. But there are also ample opportunities offered for each of us to realise these vanities of life and to do away with them. There is a strange tradition in our Christian Spirituality that many ancient saints are depicted with a skul in the vicinity... the reason was simply this - to remind us about an essential journey that we need to make, all of us. 

The call is a journey of realisation - from vanity to sanity... while that is the ordinary journey that each of us is expected to make, there is an extraordinary journey we are challenged to embark as disciples of Christ: not just from vanity to sanity, but further towards sanctity!

In plenty and in want...

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

September 25, 2024 - Proverbs 30:5-9; Luke 9: 1-6

Have you heard of anyone who decides to resign his (or her) job for the single reason that they are paying him unreasonably high? Yes, there are cases. Of course these are few and far between, and are drowned by the delirious majority which clamours for more without limits. However, the first reading speaks of a mindset of the former sort- a man who wants to live neither in want nor in plenty. Not in want, because he will not think of shortcuts to get rich; nor in plenty, that he does not forget the one who gives.

Jesus instructs his apostles on being a messenger of God. The crux of his instruction is not merely about whether to have or not to have, whether to possess or not to possess, but it is all about depending on God or not! Poverty within the worldview of the Reign of God, in terms of Jesus' thinking, is a fundamental dependence on God. Being grateful for what God gives, and being expectant like a child to be given things in love. 

It is more than what proverbs suggests, while the passage from the proverbs carries a tinge of cynical realism, the Gospel offers a proactive sense of dependence out of true human freedom, that defines a true disciple and a dedicated apostle. This is the same as St. Paul suggests: to learn to live in want and in plenty, because we can do anything through the one who strengthens us (cf. Phil 4:12,13).

The Right thing to do...

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

September 24, 2024 - Proverbs 21: 1-6, 10-13; Luke 8: 19-21

Doing the right thing, is better than doing great things says the first reading today! At times we are ready to do great and demanding things, but we fail to see the ordinary things that we are called to do, the right things to do! And the right thing is actually imprinted in our hearts. 

The Word of God, comes to us through various ways: direct proclamation is just one among them. There are situations and persons whom we come across who bring us a challenge to face and respond to. The Word of God comes along, instructing us what is right and what is to be avoided. There is the inner voice within us, that "sound of sheer silence" (1 Kgs 19:12), which tells us at the right moment the right thing to do.

All that we need to do is first of all, be attentive: attentive to the Word that comes across to us. Secondly, be sincere: sincere to admit that we have received the word and to recognise the demands that it places. At times because of the demands that the Word places on us, we pretend not to have heard, or not to have understood the real meaning of the Word. It would serve no purpose and we in fact deceive ourselves by doing it. Thirdly, our task is to be diligent, in carrying out amidst all struggles, what the Word tells us.

The Gospel today assures us that when we do all the three we would be considered not merely disciples, but mother, brother, sister, in short, coheirs with Christ to the Reign of God. But when we stop short of them, we would be deceiving ourselves warns the letter of James (1:22). It is a grace from the Spirit to do the right thing... let us beseech the Lord to grant us this wisdom and grace. 

Think good; Do good; Be good!

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

September 23, 2024 - Remembering St. Pio of Pietrelcina

Proverbs 3:27-34; Luke 8:16-18

Yesterday we reflected on our call to be good and the difficulties involved! The first reading today has a wonderful set of practical tips for a happy living. Those tips can altogether be summarised in the phrase: think well of all; speak well of all; do good to all. This is the runway to happiness, but rarely taken by people today!

We prefer to complicate our lives, make it distrustful, enigmatic and suspicious. Neither are we happy nor do we allow others to be happy. While it is so simple to be happy and make others happy, we prefer to complicate lives. We fear that people would take us for granted, and make a fool of us, and so we choose to be unhappy!

At times, that is the fact! We choose to be unhappy and we are experts at making ourselves unhappy over anything at all. Jesus today seems to tell us, "you want to be happy? choose it! manifest it! Let it be seen in your lives, in your choices!" Lighting the lamp and putting it on the stand, is the metaphor to living a life that is God-worthy and making it known to others that they may be challenged. The simple formula to begin with is what is said in the first reading; in other words: think good! do good! be good!

St. Pio of Pietrelcina, or simply said, Padre Pio... taught this in other terms. He said: to fail in charity is like wounding God in the pupil of his eye. What is more delicate than the pupil of the eye? To fail in charity is like failing against nature. What defines our nature is charity, in thoughts, deeds and our very being. 

You wish to be good? Really?

It isn't that easy!

September 22, 2024 - 25th Sunday in Ordinary time

Wisdom 2: 12,17-20; James 3:16 - 4:3; Mark 9: 30-37

Why should I be good? There are more than just a few who ask this question, specially today when the whole society seems to be discouraging me from that. And not just that, people take advantage of those who wish to be good and the person soon feels forced to give up on being good! Just give this a thought... is that not what we see around us today? Most of us want to be good, but on a second thought we begin to wonder whether we really want to be good, given all the consequences of it... the Word this Sunday invites us to reflect on this experience. We could make three easy statements on the basis of a reflection on today's Word. 

If I wish to be good, I will be mostly alone! 

Or atleast the majority will be against me, opposing me and trying to get me renounce my wish to be good. The first reading presents that so vividly. Even if not so directly as we see in the case of the first reading, we will certainly sense people talking behind our backs, pulling down our spirits, assassinating our character, calling names and fixing us into pigeon holes. How are we going to react to them? Are we going to go around convincing each of them that we are good and we want to be good? Are we going to be bogged down by all the pressure that they create around us? Examples we have in abundance, of persons who start out to be good but soon find themselves in swamp, struggling to keep alive.

If I wish to be good, I will have to suffer and who knows, even be killed! 

Think of the scores of whistle blowers in the world who have been erased from the face of the earth in the recent times. Being good is not all that easy. You need to resolve to be good, in spite of the eventual rejection and every such risk. Jesus was clear about what is going to happen to him; he instructed the apostles about it time and again, although they did not really understand what he meant. They were busy playing the game of the majority, seeking the prime places and the limelights. Jesus today takes his time off, makes sure no one interrupts, in order that he can drive home this lesson deep into the hearts of his beloved brothers. That is what the Word wants to do to us too: drive home the lesson deep into our hearts...we have no reward here below if we want to be good, but still we have to be good! Now comes the question...but why? Why have we to be good? The reason? 

If I wish to be good, I am godly! 

If I am a child of God, as Jesus tells me to be, I have to be good. God is good, all the time: we know it so well! If God is good, I who am God's child, I have to be good too! I have to be good even though there are no rewards for it. Apostle James says, if I am of God, then I will be good, pure, peaceable, gentle, full of mercy and good fruits (cf. Jas 3:17). People may not appreciate it, but I have to be good because I am a child of God. People may take advantage of me and take me for a ride, but I still have to be good because I belong to God. I don't need a reason; or rather, I don't have a reason to be good, other than the fact that it is my very nature to be good, for I am created in the image and likeness of God and it is godly to be good!

Let us ask this question to ourselves: do I really wish to be good? If so, are we prepared for all its consequences? Let us remember, Wisdom shows itself by doing good; we become children of God by being good.

The call to be ONE

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

September 21, 2024 - Celebrating St. Matthew, the Evangelist and Apostle
Ephesians 4: 1-7,11-13; Matthew 9: 9-13

One Lord, One faith, One baptism, One God... Paul stacks up the meaning of the feast today, in describing his own wish for his children. Yes, every time we celebrate the feast of an apostle we are celebrating our call to be One! The division within the Church is because, the sense of this Apostolic succession is lost somewhere. That is an ecumenical point of view and important. But more important is a socio-existential point of view of the Church today.

The Feast of Matthew and the reminder from the scene of his call, give us this message with an enviable clarity: are we ONE? How many categories we have created for ourselves to stand divided - denominations among churches, divisions within churches based on rites and languages and even on the basis of caste (so despicable!). 

Matthew, when he was called, left everything on the table and followed him. A lot of things were at stake for him when he made that choice - he cannot turn back, he will have people on his back, he will have to answer so many people, he will be criticised by many, he will be branded by the world as 'out of his mind', he would be going behind a person about whom he can only pretend to know until the person himself reveals with clarity - how many things against that odd choice that he made! But still he made that choice - to leave everything and follow Christ.

Can I today, leave everything? My desires, my identities, my attachments, my clingings, my holdings, my support system, my ego ...everything! Can I leave them all, and follow Him who calls me?

The Resurrection Community

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

September 20, 2024 - 1 Corinthians 15: 12-20; Luke 8:1-3

The Word today points to an identity that has to be the most fundamental to any follower of Christ.  It is totally centered upon and rooted in that pivotal event of our faith - the Resurrection. 

First and foremost of all the effects that Christ has on his followers is the Resurrection effect: that is a life filled with hope! The year of jubilee that we are preparing ourselves towards, gives us an opportunity too to realise the importance of this element of hope. If Christ were not raised from the dead, our faith would be in vain - declares St. Paul today. We are filled with a hope so great that nothing, not even death, can take away the meaning of our life. 

Secondly, we find today Jesus amidst the first community that he himself had initiated - the Twelve, and some women! That is another Resurrection effect - the fruit of rising above all the pettiness of the world, discarding the divisions, despising the differences of gender or geography, and becoming one community, one people! 'We are all baptised into the one Spirit - Jews or Greeks, free or slaves, we are all filled with the same Spirit', St. Paul would instruct ( cf. 1 Cor 12:13). 

Today, our faith communities are challenged to ask themselves, are we one body? are we made into one by the Risen Lord? are we "following" the Lord? do we have the "mind" of Christ in us? In short, the question is, Are we truly Resurrection Community?

Humility and Gratitude - signs of a Spiritual person

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

September 19, 2024 - 1 Corinthians 15: 1-11; Luke 7: 36-50

By the grace of God I am what I am, states St. Paul today in the first reading. That statement brings out two salient features of a truly Spiritual person. The first is Humility; the other quality flows from it - Gratitude.

As we know, humility is a sign that one knows oneself, understands oneself, places oneself in the right perspective and accepts what the Lord has called one towards. It is not abasing or belittling oneself; that would be a misunderstanding and a belittlement of the Creator. Therefore, humility is simple, looking at oneself from the perspective of God!

Flowing directly from humility, is gratitude! The more one is forgiven, the more one loves; because love flows from the goodness that God makes us feel welling up from within us. That is the source of gratitude, feeling the goodness flow from within, well up within, and flowing out of oneself. 

Humility and Gratitude are qualities that are indispensable markers, for a life that wants to define itself with the adjective, "spiritual". A humble person is a grateful person; and a grateful heart is a holy heart. The woman who was forgiven, was offered a totally new life and that made her so exuberantly grateful that she did not hesitate to expess it through all means she thought best. 

A spiritual person is humble and grateful; and a grateful and humble person is definitely a holy person.

Faith, Hope and Love

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

September 18, 2024 -  1 Corinthians 12:31 - 13:13; Luke 7: 31-35

These days the Word has been speaking to us about living our faith in action, beginning with the Sunday that has just gone by. And today, we have the discourse about the most concrete and fundamental expression of faith - an essential and exclusive element - Charity. It is essential because without it we cannot make sense of faith; it is exclusive because where there is no charity, there is in fact no faith, what we find is at the most, a fake faith or a misunderstood faith. 

At times Charity could be miunderstood and misinterpreted as approving of everything that the other does, invariable of what it is or what is the value at stake, merely because I have to prove that I love that person. The understanding of the world today is this... while Jesus reminds us, it is childish; it is infantile; Charity would hurt at times, it would cause mutual suffering at times... but always towards the good of the other! 

"Good of the other" - that is the key to understand the right sense of love or Charity! That does away with selfishness, pride and jealousy. That is the key that places the other at the centre and that is the key that can make our regard for God, as the ultimate Other, true and sincere. That is why, it is love that makes our faith authentic and valid. These three, faith, hope and love abide; the greatest of these is love! 

One body and the gift of Life

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

September 17, 2024 -  1 Corinthians 12: 12-14, 27-31a; Luke 7: 7-11

The first reading speaks to us of One body that we need to make up, one body with many parts, each part bringing its significance to the whole. The Gospel speaks to us of the life giving Lord, who is ready to give life to the one body, if only we live up to our call of building up that one body! The Lord has the ultimate power, the only One who can give life! If only we live together in union of heart and mind, as one body of Christ, the Lord will give us life and we shall spread life allover the world. That is an inspiration from the Word today.

Each of us is given special gifts from the Holy Spirit, special gifts according to the specific calling that we have received. If we become aware of the call that we have received, we would also become aware of the gift that is given to us, to live up to that calling. To be prophets, or to be apostles, or to be teachers, or to be leaders, or to be interpreters... these are all different calls which are lived out by means of various tasks that we are called to carry out. But the fundamental purpose of all these, the call underlying all these calls is just one: to be holy and blameless, before God in love (Eph 1:4).

As St. Paul instructs us elsewhere, to rejoice with those who rejoice and to weep with those who weep (Rom 12:15), is the way we can realise, that we are One People and grow to be One body of Christ! And that body will be enlivened, filled with the Spirit and made a vibrant message to the people of the world - that the Lord is the God of life; and every being shall come to the Lord to be enlivened, to be awakened in the Spirit. 

The Eucharistic Dimensions: Encounter and Communion

THE WORD AND THE SAINTS

September 16, 2024 - Remembering Sts. Cornellius and Cyprian
1 Corinthians 11: 17-26,33; Luke 7: 1-10

The Word presents to us today, two inseparable and consequential dimensions of the Eucharistic celebration: Encounter and Communion. These two dimensions are inseparable, complementary, consequential and dependent on one another; and that, at two levels! One at the immediate level, and the other at transcendental level! 

The Body of Christ is the key to understand these levels and and these dimensions. Christ comes alive and encounters us at the immediate level during the celebration and we are called to grow in that communion at the tranformational or transcendental level, that is in continuity of our daily life. The second is the Body of Christ which is he people of God - who encounter each other at the immediate level within the eucharistic celebration and are challenged to grow and transform themselves into that communion at the transcendental, or transformational level of their faith life. 

When these two dimensions are not experienced in and through a Eucharist, that celebration remains merely a ritual and the Lord shall certainly not approve of it. We do ourselves more harm through it, warns St. Paul. While these two dimensions blend in and bear fruit at the immediate and the transcendental levels, creating a community of love and peace, the Lord shall expressedly congratulate us, as he does to the centurion!

The saintly martyrs we celebrate today, one a Pope and the other a Bishop, were great models in this teaching and practice. They recognised the real challenge of making the Eucharistic gathering truly a moment of communion of hearts rather than merely a ritual of ceremonies. For us today, that needs a bit of homework prior to the celebration itself: communion has to be built on a daily basis and celebrated at the Eucharist. If it has not been built already, what do we celebrate at all?

Good Teachings and Right Teachings

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

Septermber 2, 2024: 1 Corinthians 2: 1-5; Luke 4: 16-30

The world today runs after so many preachers, sages, gurus, leaders, speakers, trainers, etc. There are many who practice it as a trade! Some have fans and followers across the globe. They are all good... talented... interesting... exciting... thought provoking. But the question is, how right are the teachings? It is important to differentiate good teachings from right teachings.

Teachings that are worded beautifully, formulated creatively and expressed attractively but do not lead to true harmony, self transcendence, compassionate love and mutual concern based on the fact that there is Some One who unites us all, invites all to form one beautiful community of brothers and sisters... how "right"are they?

The readings today give us a clarity: good teachings are based on human wisdom while the right teachings are founded on the power of God. The Gospel presents the sad fact that the world prefers the former to the latter.