The complex task of being Christian!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

No shortcuts to be saved!

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

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

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

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

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

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

Being in Christ is all that matters

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Name Game...

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

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

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

O God, who by the blessed Apostles

have brought us to acknowledge your name...

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

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

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

TO SEE THE EMPATHISING LORD

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

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

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

How do we understand the Empathising Lord?

The Lord is like us: 

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

The Lord likes us: 

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

The Lord likens us: 

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

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

The challenge to Grow Up!

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

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

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

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

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

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

Integrity - oneness of vision!

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

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

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

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

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

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

Reasons to be Good

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

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

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

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

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

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

Recognising the wells of Salvation

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Exam Fear?!

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

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

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

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

Living the tomorrows at the cost of todays

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

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

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

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

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

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

LIVING THE MISSION OF HOPE

Mission Sunday 2024 - 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time

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

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

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

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

Fallacy 1: Life is all about happiness and pleasure

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

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

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

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

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

Fallacy 3: Progress is striving to dominate everyone around

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

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

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

Communion and Commitment: Father, Son and Spirit

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

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

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

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

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

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

But for St. Luke...

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Before God and God alone...

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

October 17, 2024 - Ephesians 1:1-10; Luke 11:47-54

It is not an impossible task to make people think that I am good, virtuous and honourable. That actually is the predominant concern for many and that has proved the root cause for many wrong decisions made and later regretted. However, we would do good to realise that we are not called to create images around us and bask in the opinions we construct among others. 

The crux of the problem is that we have the responsibility to account for every special blessing that the Lord has showered on us. As St.Paul today points it out, it is between God and me, and public opinions and image creation will not suffice. "To be holy and blameless before God in love"... that is the task given to us and can there be make-believes when it comes to the fact that God Himself is the judge!

Apart from reminding us of our call to be holy and blameless, St. Paul clarifies that this call is to be lived before God, not paraded before people for appreciation or recognition. An equally compelling tendency that we need to fight against is, the craving, even if not for laurels, at the least to be considered acceptable and reasonable. But as much as recognitions do not matter, criticism should not matter too, provided we are convinced and relentless about being holy and blameless, before God, and God alone. 

Warning! No one shall be spared!

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

October 16, 2024: Galatians 5: 18-25; Luke 11: 42-46

At times the Word sounds very strong and frightening and one such instance is today: be it in the first reading or in the Gospel, we have a warning clear and loud - no one shall be spared, when it comes to entering the Reign of God! If we are directed by the Spirit, we shall enter the Reign of God, and the signs of it shall already be seen here and now. If we are constantly directed by our self-indulgence and self-pride, we shall not inherit the Reign of God, because we never belonged to it in our daily life! That is the warning!

I cannot belong to Christ Jesus unless I crucify all self-indulgent passions and desires, teaches Paul today. He even lists those self-indulgent behaviours. They are contrary to the Jesus way of life, because of three reasons: (i) because, they objectify our own selves - making our bodies, our persons, a mere object of instant and passing pleasure; (ii) because they objectify the other - making the persons around me objects of my pleasure, or merely some 'things' that I can use for my good; and (iii) because they objectify God - making God an object to whom I give something, I do something, I say something, not realising that God is a person who is looking at everything that I am involved in, even those that I do not dare to manifest to anyone other than me! These self-indulgent tendencies have to be curbed if we have to let ourselves be directed by the Spirit.

The Gospel presents another set of disqualifiers - one cannot belong to Christ, or the Reign of God - if her or she is worried solely about some external acts and not interior dispositions. When Jesus speaks in these terms and strikes against the Pharisees, one of the lawyers speaks up in self-justification, and Jesus lashes out against him too - telling us in clear terms, no one shall be spared! There are no status or titles, roles or functions, achievements or establishments that can give us an entry into the Reign of God... except our daily life, day to day choices and integrity lived here and now - from this rule, no one will be spared!

It's Jesus of Teresa!

Feast of St. Teresa of Avila, one who loved Jesus inspite of her frailties

15th October, 2024

Today we celebrate the feast of St. Teresa of Avila. It is the 510th year after her birth.  

Teresa had a lot of struggles in her life earlier to love God or whatever pertained to God. But, eventually she grew in her relationship with the person of Christ so much that nothing else mattered to her. In fact that famous statement that is iconic of her: God alone is sufficient, is a candid picture of her soul. She loved Jesus as her own spouse; she referred to him as 'beloved' - so romantic a faith.

Just reminded of a wonderful episode from St. Teresa's life... We know, Teresa was fond of introducing herself to everyone as Teresa of Jesus. Infact, that is another name by which she is known, apart from Teresa of Avila.  It is said that in one of her visions when Jesus appeared she asked, as she was directed by her Spiritual Guide: "who are you?" And Jesus replied, "I am Jesus of Teresa". Nothing can replace a personal love that we ought to have for Jesus. 

St. Teresa of Jesus, inspires us to an ardent love for our Saviour. Needless to say, we would be repaid with a love several times deeper and in fact, we love because the Lord loved us first (1Jn 4:19).

Integrity matters!

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

October 15, 2024 - Remembering St. Teresa of Avila

Galatians 5:1-6; Luke 11: 37-41

Integrity is one virtue that Jesus never compromised on. Dichotomìes and discrepancies between words and actions, between belief and life: they were immediate disqualifiers according to Jesus, in the pursuit of eternal life... such persons had no place in the Reign of God, in Jesus' purview. 

What matters is, goes on to explain Paul in the first reading, the faith that makes its power felt through love; that is a faith that is translated into life. An integrity of what I believe and what I live. The perfect harmony between my so-called religiosity and my daily criteria of choices - that is in short, integrity. 

Even a simple life-practice backed up by a strong conviction can become an entry pass to the Reign. Be it the 2 pennies dropped by the widow, or the vial of perfume broken by the 'sinner' woman, or the simple prayer made by the thief on the cross beside Jesus... they were reasons enough for them to inherit the Reign of God.

The saint we remember today - St. Teresa of Avila - was not the best of persons, according to what we learn about her early life. But we find she was totally recognizant of that - she considered herself so unworthy, that God chose to strengthen her and use her powerfully, towards a reformation of the Religious Order she would belong to and the entire religious life in the 16th centrury. She who was so reluctant about spiritual matters, transformed into a Spiritual Master, a doctor of the Church - simply because there was no hypocrisy in her. Her integrity was all that mattered to the Lord.

Let us believe in what we pray and practise what we preach or hear preached... lest we become "fools"in the eyes of the Lord. In the presence of the Lord, integrity matters!

Freedom is not free!

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

October 13, 2024 - Galatians 4: 22-24, 26-27, 31 -5:1; Luke 11: 29-32

Freedom, is not an all sweet gift. It was the philosopher Jean Paul Sartre who made that provocative but profound statement, "we are condemned to be free" - which is very true! Freedom comes with the duty attached, without the latter the former is simple egoism. 

We are free, free to choose and the responsibility of the choice is laid entirely upon us. It would be childish to clamour for freedom but shy away from the resulting responsibility. We are indeed, free children of God, as St. Paul declares in the reading today, but with that comes the condition that we are to be held responsible for all the choices we make. 

Let us reflect, who actually decides I should be happy or not? Is it not our choice, or rather our choices? Is it not an important fact to realise and accept, that the free choices I make amount to the consequences I face, or that my choices affect even those around me! The Lord grants us the greatest gift of freedom, and leaves us with the responsibility for our choices. That is why, when we choose not to see the presence of God, when we choose not to find the moments of grace, when we choose not to realise the opportunities to do good, when we choose not to identify our brother or sister in the person next to us, we are choosing to rush towards a state that is so sad and so inhuman. 

We are free children of the promise (cf. Gal 4:22-24); yes we are given the great gift of freedom. But Freedom is not free; we have to pay for it with our personal responsibility!

THE WORD BECOMES FLESH

Desire, the Power and the Call

October 13, 2024 - 28th Sunday in Ordinary time
Wisdom 7: 7-11; Hebrews 4: 12-13; Mark 10: 17-30

The Word this Sunday is on the Word.

The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us! The truth is not just that... the Word becomes flesh even today... and we cannot deny it, if only we could become as receptive we ought to be, in our daily living. Let us reflect why...

First of all, because the Word is the foundational principle of our Christian life. It is the Word that makes all the difference for the choices we make. The Word offers us all the wisdom we stand in need of to live a life that is meaningful. The requirement is that the Word has to be desired with all our heart, with all our mind and with all our strength. However, that is easily said than done! 

We have so many things that claim that place - comfort in life, pleasures of the day, the rat race of the times, the trends of the society, the attractions that are made easy, the escapades for all the unjustifiable choices... these make it so hard for any one today to desire the Word, much less choose the Word in place of life, health or wealth. Even the so-called strongest of beleivers in the Lord, when it comes to a choice between life and the Word, would choose life isn't it? That is why we have only a handful whom we venerate as saints and martyrs. 

Secondly because the Word is our Judge, not just the judge at the last juegement, but on a daily basis. This is so, practically because the Word gives us the criteria to live by. When those criteria are met, we are affirmed; when not, we place ourselves on a tribunal before the Word. And the Word is powerful, scans deep into our intentions and motivations, not merely our uttered words and external actions.

Don't we, even as we are making the choices that are not the right ones to make, know and realise that we are making choices that are wrong? Is it not the Wisdom of the Lord that cuts right into our hearts that makes us see that light? This power of the Word is not to make us bewildered about our defencelessness. We are given a taste of it, by the growing technology... it almost a fact by now, that nothing of our life is a secret anymore... where we go, what we say, what we see, what we prefer... eveything is monitored today. We speak of something to a friend of acquaintance, and things we see on our mobiles or email sites have a direct relation to what we have been talking just moments ago... how on earth and heaven does this happen? Right things to wonder, but an important thing to know... but the surveilance of the Word, the all-knowing power of the Word is not a threat but a consolation, to tell us we are not alone, that we are accompanied. 

Thirdly, the Word can become flesh in our lives when we realise that the Word is the treasure that gives meaning to our Christian life. The Word is the call that makes our whole Christian life come truly alive. It is worth giving our life in the service of the Word. At the service of the Word whatever we give up comes back manifold... the Word epitomises our entire existence!

When we hear that call, give everything and follow - it is a reminder how short our life is, as the responsorial psalm reminds us. The moment we realise it, we would be ready to give up: give up our pride, give up our ego, give up our petty fights and cravings to prove, give up our running after the fleeting joys and successes that can ruin the very crux of my life! Life is beautiful, however short it is. If only we heed the Word and give up on all these and embrace the true Life, the life giving Word, we shall have life everlasting, that is a live that would remain meaningful, frutiful and insightful, not here and now, but for eternity. 

The Word, when we repeat it so many times today, is not merely the written word that we are referring to, it is the Living Word, the Word that became flesh, the Word that becomes flesh even today, in our midst, in our lives and in our days! Are we receptive enough to welcome the Word and live by the Word. The Word says: come follow me! 

Being Children in faith

WORD 2day: Saturday, 27th week in Ordinary time

October 12, 2024 - Galatians 3: 22-29; Luke 11: 27-28

Being related to God is a faith experience. I do not call you servants but friends, declared Jesus. Remain in my love, he invites. I shall be your God and you shall be my people, was the mind of Jesus, the same as when God made the covenant with the people. Being related to God is a need, a longing, and a recognition that gives me my identity. 

Since it is a need, it has to be sensed by the person proper. Although it is given, a grace, the effort has to be from my part to receive it and make it my own. It has to become a longing, that is a need continuosly felt, not just some sporadic enthusiasm expressed. Above all, it is a recognition of what is already there. There is nothing new to be made of me. I am already a child of God, it is so that God has willed it. But I need to recogonise it so.

However, the fundamental truth to be underlined here is - that identity, does not come by default. Merely because I am baptised I don't belong to Christ or I don't become a child of God. Paul says, I need to clothe myself with Christ. My mentality has to change and be transformed. That is what Jesus means when he says it is more important to hear the words of the Lord and put them to practice than to go around saying I am a Christian.

We need to become children of God not merely by title but in faith.

Daily faithfulness and Constant commitment

WORD 2day: Friday, 27th week in Ordinary time

October 11, 2024 - Galatians 3:7-14; Luke 11:15-26

One who is righteous, by faith shall he or she live, says the first reading! Being God's or belonging to God means a life full of daily choices. It is not a change that happens once and remains for ever, but it is a daily faithfulness on our part to remain in that desired state of grace. It is not enough to desire it, one needs to dedicate oneself to it. 

Faith, therefore, is not a set of truths that are proposed or discussed; but it is a personal commitment lived, a relationship that is established, a rapport that is built between me and my God! The fact is that the process is begun by God - both objectively and subjectively. That is, it is God who begins the entire salvation plan and it is God who begins to relate to me as a singular person. 

Because God loved us so much, Christ stoops down to such an extent to initiate that relationship between humanity and God... Christ became a curse for our sakes, reminds St.Paul. God has set this in motion, that every human person is loved, brought to experience God and saved in that love and mercy of God. 

On the personal level, it is not enough that such a relationship is initiated by God, a gratuitous gift given to me - it is essential that I keep that relationship going, on a daily basis, filling my life with God and all that pertains to God. If not, there are myriads of other things that are waiting to take possession of my heart. 

As St. Peter warns, 'your enemy the devil, is prowling round like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour' (cf. 1 Pet 5:8), our lives are full of things, persons, attitudes and trends that can take us easily far away from God and God's love. Hence, the key is: daily faithfulness and constant commitment!

Supplying the Spirit!

WORD 2day: Thursday, 27th week in Ordinary time

October 10, 2024 - Galatians 3: 1-5; Luke 11: 5-13

One who supplies the Spirit to you: that is an identity that the Word reveals of God, in both the readings today (Gal 3:5; Lk 11:13). 'To supply the Spirit'...what would that mean? 

Supplying the Spirit, would mean that we are given the assurance of the continued presence of the Lord, all our life! 'The Spirit is the mark of God's ownership on us', St. Paul would declare elsewhere (cf. Eph 1:13). Supplying us with the Spirit, therefore, is God's way of defining our identity, our call and the meaning of our life. We are called to be sons and daughters in the Spirit and the Spirit does not leave us even a moment. We are accompanied all through.

Therefore, being Spirit-filled is not a special manifestation of anything... all of us are... we are given the Spirit and when God gives, God gives it abundantly. We are Spirit-filled. The question is, do we realise that? Do we believe in that? Do we manifest that? Do we draw all the strength that this fact can give us?

The porblem is when doubts assail us, when we fall into temptations, when we lax into lower standards of human living, give into the vile pressures of the evil one and the vices of the distraught world - moments when we shun the Spirit of the Lord! What are we to do then... ask, knock, seek... says the Lord. 

However, we need to understand that asking, knocking and seeking are acts of faith, they are not some acts of desperate effort to get something by all means. They are acts of faith by which we live our convictions that, even before asking the Lord knows my needs; to knock is to surrender oneself totally, come what may; and to seek is not a call to seek in vain or in all-emptiness but to seek the person who lives within us, who dwell within us, who makes us the dwelling places of God (cf 1 Cor 3:16; 6:19).

Once we possess the Spirit, we would need nothing: Seek ye first the Reign of God, and everything will be given unto you. 

The Reign Mentality

WORD 2day: Wednesday, 27th week in Ordinary time

October 9, 2024 - Galatians 2: 1-2, 7-14; Luke 11:1-4

We continue to hear from Paul the beginnings of his ministry in the Church. Both his account and Jesus' teaching in the Gospel speak to us of a set of qualities that can be called a Reign mentality. Let's highlight just a three of them:

Personal integrity that gives Paul an extraordinary power when he presents his case to the people or to the apostles. Unless I am an integral person, I cannot speak of the Reign, leave alone speak with authority.

Fearlessness that comes from the absolute dedication that a person has. Nothing matters more than the Reign and hence there is nothing that can stop me from holding on to it, not even a threat to my life.

Forgiving Confrontations which help one to avoid self righteousness and compromise at the same time. At times our very idea of standing for truth and siding with the right, though an absolute reign-requirement, can drive people far from us. I need mercy not sacrifice, says the Lord. 

In short, the Reign Mentality is a just and healthy realisation of the other - be it the Ultimate Other or the immediate others... coming out of myself and letting in the other. May we grow every day, in our identity that arises from a true reign mentality. 

Disposition to Listen

WORD 2day: Tuesday, 27th week in Ordinary time

October 8, 2024 - Galatians 1: 13-24; Luke 10: 38-42 

The Word today insists on our need to listen to God. The credit that has to be given to Saul, in his turning into Paul is fundamentally his readiness to listen to God. In fact, what strikes us in Paul's narration of his Christ experience is his readiness to perceive Christ, inspite of his totally opposed prior experience. That was possible because of his capacity to Listen. If he were as stubborn as he always was, he would not have heard the Lord's voice from his horse! Paul himself reiterates his capacity to listen to God, by narrating his initial journey in the Lord, preparing himself to be an apostle: that was to the major part, an attentive listening to the Lord and to all that the Lord wanted to reveal.

Mary at Bethany, is yet another icon of listening to God. She knew where the life giving source was: "to whom shall we go Lord, while you have the words of eternal life" were the words of Peter to the Word made flesh. Today we are called to discover the life giving Spirit in the Word that comes across to us on a daily basis. Mary was considered wiser than her sister Martha in her choice because she chose to listen to the Lord inspite of all the excitement involved.

How do I rate my capacity to listen to the Lord? Let us begin from listening to each other... I can listen to the other only when I begin to reduce my talking, my thinking about myself. And that will gradually help me to open myself to the Lord too...for the Lord is all the time calling us, speaking to us, communicating to us - it depends on me to listen! It is a quality to grow in: the attitude of listening; a disposition to listen.

True Gospel of Christ - Loving outreach

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

October 7, 2024: Remembering Mary, Queen of the Holy Rosary 

Galatians 1: 6-12; Luke 10: 25-37

The true Gospel of Christ is love: that God loves us and that we belong to God when we love each other. Anything other than this is a deviation... division, hatred, selfishness, exploitation, cheating, manipulation, party politics, false propaganda, character assassinations, judgments, prejudices, categorising persons, branding people... anything that is against love, is against the Gospel of Christ.

At times suffering, cross and sacrifice are presented as typical traits of Christ's gospel. They could be, provided they are taken within the framework of love. It is not suffering in itself: it would become sadistic! It is not cross in isolation: it would still remain a symbol of shame! It is not sacrifice for its own sake: it would lead to unnecessary ego trips! Suffering out of love one has for the other, Cross as an expression of God's love, Sacrifice as a language of genuine love - those are CHRISTian and those are gospels (good news!).

Our Blessed Mother is one who understood this more than anyone else in the faith history, because she more the highest manifestation of God's love in her womb, and continued to walk in the footsteps of the Son of God. Celebrating today the Queen of the Holy Rosary, we are celebrate the Gospel in beads... the simplest but deepest of prayers that we have learnt from our childhood... the Rosary. As we contemplate the mysteries on every decade of those beads, we are resounded with this message of love from the Gospel - to realise God's love, to experience it and to reach out to the other in expression of that love. 

Anyone who needs me, becomes my neighbour. Irrespective of whether I need him (or her) or not, I am expected to play the neighbour. Am I really ready to reach out to the other without considerations of whether or not I know him, or whether or not I like her, or whether or not the other has done anything good to me in the past? Let us behold this Gospel of Christ, that our Blessed Mother holds out to us this day.

FAMILY OF THE CHILDREN OF GOD

The challenge, call and the Mission today

October 06, 2024: 27th Sunday in Ordinary time

Genesis 2: 18-24; Hebrew 2: 9-11; Mark 10: 2-16

FAMILY is the basic unit of a holistic humanity, not the individual. Where this fact is gainsaid, we see the genesis of every problem the world is infested with today. The Word today invites us to dwell on this theme of Family. More and more today as a Church and as a world, we are becoming aware of the problems created by side-lining of families, both as an institution and as a communion of hearts.

Listening to Challenges: In a world that is filled with individualism, materialism and consumerism, the family has become an entity that is seen as a hindrance, a block, a burden that slows down one's personal progress towards self-fulfillment. In the Gospel, Jesus underlines the problems of infidelity and unchastity around the reality of marriage. With the increasing numbers of divorce, reducing numbers of marriages, growing justification of co-habitation, newer claims to the nature of marriage, we are called to listen to the times and understand the challenges involved in building a family today.

As a true disciple of Christ, what do you think of Marriage? How do you look at your Family? Listen to yourself... listen to yourself against the background of the Word of God, not just going with the trends of the world. It is important to listen to yourself, because from your thoughts are born your choices!

Discerning Vocations: The First reading highlights an indelible nature of marriage and family. Being a Family or being in a Marriage is a vocation. It is not a phenomenon that happens by default. It has to be a conscious choice, well discerned and taken up with absolute commitment. Discerning Vocations here would underscore the need for persons to make a choice, and the role of the community in helping a person make that choice with ease and seriousness. It would mean also the need of the pastors and those who play that role in some manner or degree, to accompany individuals within this context.

Right now the Synod is on – the synod on synodality. Is it not true that synodality is in simple terms the a spirit of familiarity, the spirit of being one family, with our roles and contributions, rights and privileges clearly understood!

Exploring the Mission of the Family Today: In the second reading we see that the Word reminds us of the most fundamental function of a family: it makes us brothers and sisters in the Lord. Though every person is an individual, each with his or her interests and motives, dreams and vision, desires and ambitions, we are never islands. We are called to live in a family, to begin with and that family is required to become the basic building block of a humanity that is loving, respectful and caring towards everyone else around us. Today a Christian family specially has an enormous responsibility, a mission to accomplish - Evangelisation. To evangelise is to share the love of God to the world today. A family is a lived experience of God's love on a daily basis - to share that love with everyone around and with the world at large is simply what Evangelisation means today.

Specially against the background of war and injustice, exploitation and domination, violence and crime, terrorism and fanaticism, the Christian families have to become beacons that bear out true love and compassion reminding the world of the Lord who is ever present in our midst and the Lord who is madly in love with you and me.

We are created as families, to live in families and to call this entire humanity to become one great, big, loving family of the children of God. We need to begin it at home and we need badly to begin it today!

Lord, that I may see...

WORD 2day: Saturday, 26th week in Ordinary time

October 5, 2024 - Job 42:1-3,5-6,12-17; Luke 10:17-24

Job lived on to see his children and the children of his children, upto the fourth generation, says the first reading. Happy the eyes that see what you see, exclaims Jesus in the Gospel to the disciples, indicating to them how blessed they were! The message of the Word today is: what we see is not merely what we see, but what we are given to see! 

As Job observes so clearly what he came to see (now that I have seen you with my own eyes), we are given to see certain things in life which we would never see otherwise. It is a gift we need to ask from the Lord to see - to see what we need to see, to see what would give us the true repentance of heart, to see that which will offer us the fullness of the sense of our life, to see that which will clarify to us the true vocation we have from God. 

Jesus explains it further in the Gospel. Not every one can see, but those who are destined to see, those to whom God reveals it - the children, the humble, the obedient, the gentle, the true children of God - only they would be able to see what they have to see. Not that it is not there, but the aggressive, the haughty and the self-centered will never get to see it. They would be too busy looking down on others, manipulating others for their good, take persons and their goodness for granted, all too taken up with themselves. 

The call for us is, that we be attentive to what God wants us to see, to see what God reveals to us and to be able to see what would give us the right sense of our life, here and now - so that we may live worthy of our eternal rewards. Let our prayer today be, 'Lord, that I may see!'