Bringing Good News - the feet and the fingers!

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

November 30, 2024: Remembering St. Andrew, the Apostle
Romans 10: 9-18; Matthew 4: 18-22

"How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!" St.Paul quotes these words from the Scriptures (cf. Is 52:7), to insist upon the blessedness of being an apostle of the Lord, being sent to bear forth the Word to others. A prerequisite is that the person has first received the Word, in order to share it with others.

St. Andrew has played a special role during the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. Andrew as a disciple of Christ always had the role of bringing good news to persons... he brought the good news of having found Christ to Peter (Jn 1:41); along with Philip, he brought the Greeks to meet Jesus (Jn 12:22); and he brought that boy who gave the five loaves to feed the five thousand (Jn 6:9). Amidst all the opposition and threat, the apostles bore witness to his name: they were the beautiful feet which brought the good news to the world.

Today, curiously, Apostle Andrew is proposed as the patron of social network... because he used every opportunity to make Christ known to people and to bring people to Christ. Pope Benedict XVI had described Social Network as the modern day pulpit and invited us to proclaim Christ not merely from the housetops but also from the laptops... and here we have a great role model for it in St. Andrew.

Let us today thank God for the numerous fingers that bring good news to the world today... keying in on the smart phones, feeding in from the laptops and desktops, posting messages and videos, instagrams and reels, and so many ways of sharing the Word with others. May every effort of these persons to proclaim the Reign of God through the Social Network, be a blessing to them, as much as it is to the world.

Let us dedicate the Social Network which offers us such a great promise, that it may forever be an instrument in the hands of God, to bring God's will to fulfillment, and not fall into the trap of becoming an instrument of perdition. Let us thank God for every opportunity that comes our way to bring the Word to all whom we meet!

Signs of the times

WORD 2day: Friday, 34th week in Ordinary time

November 28, 2024: Revelation 20: 1-4, 11- 21:2; Luke 21: 29-33

One of the key terms popularised by the Second Vatican Council is "signs of the times" and the Council itself tried its best to be true to the spirit of that term. The Council challenged the faithful and the church as a whole to learn to read the signs of the times and respond to it. It is obviously a never failing criterion: to be attentive to what is happening around and the message we can gather from it, in order to render the way we live our faith in Christ, relevant and meaningful.

There is however a feeling among many that the "signs" from the Lord in the present times, are few and far between. The truth instead is, the signs abound: in our daily lives, through things that happen around us, through persons who live with us, those who live worthy lives, those who suffer for no cause of theirs, those who are oppressed, those who have scores and scores of woes to meet on a daily basis, through the crisis we see in the nature around us, through the humanity that has pushed into a hue and cry that is so artificial and human made with this pandemic... there are signs aplenty.

Our responsibility is two fold: first, to learn to gather these signs, as coming from the Lord! At times we can become careless and callous to these, that we would never read the right message at the right time. A delayed action is no good! Secondly, we have the responsibility to act upon the sign we receive and respond to it, regardless of the risks and the sacrifices that are involved. We are so negligent in this task that we habituate ourselves to becoming blind to the signs that are around. There are those who repeatedly remind us of that - and they become a nuisance in our eyes, if not even villains!

Whether we gather them or not, respond to them or not, they are there! We would do well as true sons and daughters of the Reign, if we are present to them and through them strive to build the Reign here on earth. If not, we ourselves are the losers!

Judgement, our choice?

WORD 2day: Thursday, 34th week in Ordinary time

November 28, 2024: Revelation 18: 1-2, 21-23, 19:1-3, 9; Luke 21: 20-28

Happy are those who are called to the wedding feast of the Lamb... the final banquet, the moment of redemption... the end of days, the judgment seat... these are all the pictures that the Word paints before our eyes today. Let us not create for ourselves an idea of some horror fiction or some sort of shake-up narrations. They are, after all, logical ends towards which we are all journeying.

But a much deeper fact to remember is that these need not be always an end time phenomenon, instead it has to be an everyday experience... the judgment is a continuous happening and it is not entirely an act of the Lord; the choices that we make at any given point of time, at any moment of a given day, the choice of our words, thoughts, actions, decisions... those are already judgments that we bring upon ourselves (cf. Jn 3:18).

The reason is this: our choice! Every time we react in a way to something or someone, we make a choice! You may say, "No! but it was just a spontaneous word, or a spontaneous act; not premeditated at all!" But remember, though it is a so-called spontaneous word or act, it has a history; there is a whole lot of experience behind it; there is a whole lot of judgement that goes with it. Why you choose a word, not another; why choose a particular way of reacting and not some other... they depend, even if unconscious or subconscious, on the attitudes or the disposition you have towards that person or that event. That is where our judgments, the judgments that come on us, rest too! That is why Jesus said: judge not, you shall not be judged!

Getting back to the parable... we are all called to the wedding feast, that is to unite with the Lord and enjoy the eternal bliss. But the choices we make on a daily basis, at a particular point of time, is our response and that decides whether we enter the banquet or not. Hence, instead of yarning tales of suspense and horror, let us realise our responsibility in making right choices, conscious choices, charitable choices, holy choices, Christ-like choices, every moment of our daily life: that way ,our judgement would be our choice, indeed!

Perseverance - holding on or letting go?

WORD 2day: Wednesday, 34th week in Ordinary time

November 27, 2024: Revelation 15:1-4; Luke 21: 12-19

Perseverance, in terms of targets and achievements, as the world teaches, is holding on endlessly. The same, when it comes to our relationship with God... it is giving up limitlessly and unconditionally.

Difficulties, problems, temptations, struggles, misunderstandings, loneliness, desperation, distress... in all these, whatever level they reach, if I can give everything up to God and say, 'Lord you see to it,' - that is truly perseverance.

Perseverance, is therefore, to give up totally into the hands of God, regardless of successes or failures, gains or losses, happiness or sadness, prosperity or misery! It is not praising God and exalting God when everything goes fine. And come one trouble, finding every reason to doubt God, speak against God, question God, lament against God and feel discouraged about God. That is a sign of a lack, a lack of perseverance.

The profound experience of faith is all about letting go of everything and walking with our hands in the hands of God. If we can do that - in the midst of difficulties to remain calm and trust in the Lord; in moments of failures to sit by the Lord and recount what is going on within us; in moments of anxiety to tell myself that God is there all the time with me and all that I need to do is surrender - that is indeed what Faith is all about!

Faith is knowing that the Lord is; and deciding to be there with the Lord, come what may!

Curiosity or Courage to Change_

WORD 2day: Tuesday, 33rd week in Ordinary time

November 26, 2024: Revelation 14: 14-19 ; Luke 21: 5-11

When will these things happen?

We are more interested in knowing when certain things will happen and are curious about predictions and premonitions, foretellings and soothsayings, magics and myths - than understanding what is the right thing to be done and making the right moves in life, at the right time.

Curiosity is good, to an extent that it incites my interest to get to know things that I don't know. But it is not absolutely good or helpful, as it is always determined by its motivations. Some are curious about others; some about everything else other that what affects them. Some are curious, these days, to get to know things so that they can publish it first before the rest of the world - how many breaking news are merely results of curiosity with absolutely no respect to persons, their experiences and their feelings! It is not about the breaking news that comes live on the TV, but the breaking news that goes from our mouths to others' ears, those that go from our mobiles to others', those that are sent from our whatsapp pages and facebook pages to the rest of the world, without really feeling anything about what the person or persons involved are going through right then. Forget that dimension... what about what it does to me? Does that curiosity in anyway make me a person bit better than what I was before?

Curiosity is eagerness, craze to know! However, knowing alone is not sufficient. What do I do on the basis of what I know. Knowing God, hearing God's Word everyday, celebrating the sacred mysteries regularly... what do I see happening to me? What kind of growth does take place within me? Am I prepared to take decisions that are important, some times hard, and necessary?

Mistakenly, we postpone the necessary and crucial transformations in life for an 'opportune' time, which sometimes never comes at all or it gets too late by the time they come by. This week's Word insists on the urgency that is involved in personal conversion and community dedication to growth and maturity in faith. Marking the end of the liturgical year, this week leads us to the season of advent - inviting us to a better understanding of the end time spirituality that we are called to live in these times.

The sickles are already at the base of the tree... and the harvest is near! Mindful of the short time that we have, we have a calling to live: to live our lives to the full, here and now.

Being good people or being God's people?

WORD 2day: Monday, 34th week in Ordinary time

November 25, 2024: Revelation 14:1-5; Luke 21: 1-4

Are we called to be good people? Yes, but not just that. The Word today challenges us: it is not enough to be good people, but we are called to be God's people. 

Being good seems a bit of a relative opinion these days. We are good to some, and not so to some others! According to some, I am good and for some others, I am not good. I am good at times when I see an advantage in being so, but when it is not going to favour me in anyway, I give up on that guard. Being good seems so relative.

Enough to have a look at the posters with politicians doling out their "generous" gifts to the unfortunate lot, the numerous NGOs scripting out projects for the eradication of social evils for decades and decades together, the so-called social activists voicing the woes of the downtrodden... everything seems a show! People who do good and who claim to do good, do it with various intentions and it is that which makes all the difference.

It is something to be known as people who do good and it is entire a different thing to be true people of God. Doing good has no end to it and is evaluated in its quantity: in the volume of the good that we do. Being God's people is in one way simpler, and in another way, a lot more demanding.

It is simpler because what matters is not so much what you do and how much you do, as with how much of love you do whatever you do! You need not be giving away tonnes of things to others in charity or announcing everyday one scheme, which means nothing to none. What matters is you have true compassion for the other, in the depth of your heart - even if you would have nothing material to give!

It is more demanding because even a slight intention of selfishness or vain glory can negate the true effect of the good that is done. It is what is in your heart that makes your gift valid or not, in the sight of the Lord - whether it be sacks of gold or a mere two pennies! You can hide what you have in your heart to everyone, but to God?

To be marked as people of God is to belong to God and to put our whole self and all we have at the disposal of the One who gave it all to us. It is important to be people who do good, but it is more important to be people of God.

THE KING OF ALL KINGS

Power, Priesthood and the Reign

November 24, 2024 - The Solemnity of Christ, the King of the Universe

Daniel 7: 13- 14; Revelation 1: 5-8; John 18: 33b-37 

Beginning the last week of the liturgical year, the Word would dedicate this entire week to a contemplation on the end days or the day of reckoning. It is an important aspect of our Creed and an essential tenet that we declare, that we believe that the Risen Lord, seated at the right hand of the Father, who will come again, to judge the living the the dead. And how shall he come this time over? As a king! As an everlasting king, the King of all kings... teaching the world, although so stubborn not to learn, what it means to be a king in God's terms!

Any discourse on a king, especially from the semitic history and tradition, would comprise of three inevitable terms, that the Word today presents to our consideration too. And the Word clarifies the significance of those terms from the perspective of Christ, the King of all kings. 

Power - The first term that comes to our mind is "power"! Power, that defines a king. With that power the kings get things done for themselves; as Jesus would point out elsewhere they would lord it on the others and get things done. That was the case of, not only the enemy kingsof Israel, even the God-appointed kings of the people in the Old testament. As we see, they were served by the others, they even sent the others to fight for them, shed blood for their sakes, while they remained back, all on their rightful choices. 

Christ the King is totally an other type - he declared that he came not to be served, but to serve and give his life for all. He did not demand that the others die for him, but showed in his life , what it would mean doing that. The second reading today underlines this aspect as it reminds us that we have been redeemed by his blood, by the blood of the King who wishes to reconcile us to himself. The authority that stands out here is not merely power but an authoritative life model, that we are called to make our own. 

Priesthood -  The semitic kingship was intrinsically linked to the institution of priesthood that existed. We know kings were considered mediators between God and people... the pharoahs had this concept so strong that some of them went to the extent of equating themselves to God, just as some leaders wish to do today. The Priesthood there served as a point of making themselves special, more privileged and deserving honour. It protected that pride of status and looked with despise on anything that took away that special status in any way. They created themselves as someone above everyone else and protected in the citadels of religious and political power. 

Christ the King breaks that protocol - he wishes to make everyone a priest; in fact, as the second reading tells us today, by the sacrifice of himself, he wanted to make us all priests, granting us the grace of royal priesthood, by the very nature of our baptism. It was not only the Word who emptied Godself of everything, but even Jesus in his earthly sojourn and in his Christ-event, wished to empty himself of everything and make everyone special and privileged before the Lord. That is what we are - Royal Priesthood that shares in the priesthood of that King of all kings.

Reign - Not just the semitic kingship, but any king for that matter, has to have a kingdom, a Reign! Christ the King, in the Gospel, in clear and candid terms explains, that his Reign is a markedly different Reign... a Reign of truth, equality and solidarity. While the kingdoms of this earth are intent on protecting themselves, closing themselves us in security, and defending themselves from all so-called strangers and others, the Reign of Christ, opens itself, opens itself wide and large. We hear a term from Jesus today - "anyone"; in some versions, "all" - anyone who is on the side of truth! The Reign is open to all, open to anyone, provided they are testimonies to truth! That is the King we have, who is the King of the Reign of Truth and Integrity. 

As we celebrate the King of all kings today, lets us take a moment and examine ourselves whether our lives possess the same mind as our King... reaching out to everyone in service and solidarity, creating that Reign that our King came to inaugurate.

Sweet or Bitter, always for the Reign!

WORD 2day: Friday, 33rd week in Ordinary time

November 22, 2024: Revelation 10: 8-11; Luke 19: 45-48

Jesus was attractive; people rallied around him so willingly and readily. He was interesting to listen to; so many pharisees and scribes hung on to his lips. He was famous; the mere name drew not just crowds but even prominent persons like Zachaeus. He had charming ways; even Herod wanted to see him atleast once! All these were true only in as much as they all looked at Jesus from a distance. When Jesus got near... he turned demanding.

The people came to him and he challenged them to live a life of destitution, with no place to even lay their heads. The people listened to him and he called them whitewashed sepulchers, inviting them to true personal conversion. Individuals approached him and he challenged them to total reformation of their personal and public lives. The people led him with such celebration into the city of Jerusalem and he enters the Temple and drives out the vendors and money lenders.

The Lord's promises are sweet, but when we take it to heart they are demanding. If we truly listen to the Word of God, we cannot remain the same forever, we would be challenged to change, to transform, to become more and more like the Lord himself. Yes, the Word may be sweet in the mouth; but for sure it will be bitter in the stomach, but only to churn out the unwanted elements and paving way towards the Reign. 

The Word is a medicine that heals us, nurtures us and prepares us to be people of the Reign!

Courts of Majesty and Justice

WORD 2day: Wednesday, 33rd week in Ordinary time

November 20, 2024 - Revelation 4:1-11; Luke 19:11-28

The Word takes us to two courts today - the court in the vision and the court in the story; the court of majesty and that of justice. The courts refer to a King we are preparing to celebrate coming Sunday. 

The King is the king of majesty who deserves all our praise; we eternally belong to his court and our destiny is to reach that court by our holiness and surrender.

The King is the king of mercy who is generous in granting us favours; giving us all that we need and even more than we need to make our existence meaningful here and now that we may work our way to that court of reward.

The King is the king of Justice who looks at the effort of each of his subjects and rewards them accordingly; expecting from us not a fixed or an exaggerated result but a result proportionate to the gifts the Lord had endowed on us - the court of reckoning.

Choices, Compromises and the coming of Christ

WORD 2day: Tuesday, 33rd week in Ordinary time

November 19, 2024: Revelation 3: 1-6,14-20; Luke 19:1-10

Choices and compromises make a great difference in Christian living; what matters is not so much what we do as what we intend to. Our heart and our intentions matter much more than acts and results. This is both an advantage and a disadvantage for the human heart.

Advantage for those who are sincere with their efforts to remain true and dedicated to the Lord, inspite of their shortfalls. Disadvantage for those who create an aura around themselves as if they are spiritual giants while there rest skeletons inside the closet conveniently covered off, but the Lord knows all and sees all.

Our innermost disposition is what truly decides who we really are! It is from these innermost dispositions that we make our choices. You cannot remain both dead and alive at the same time; hot and cold at the same time; or belonging and not belonging to the Lord at the same time! You have to make a choice and choices are all!

Like Zacchaeus who not only changed from his old ways but was ready to make up for the past mistakes, for his wrong doings and every thing that made others' lives less happy, we are called everyday to make some drastic choices. The choice is ours - to keep to our hidden ways or to open up and let Jesus in! And once he comes, things cannot remain the same! Let our choices be translated into acts of commitment. Acts of grandeur lacking true internal choices cannot bear the true lasting fruits that we long for. 

Choices matter: am I cold or hot, my heart closed or open?

Good, but not good enough!

WORD 2day: Monday, 33rd week in Ordinary time

November 18, 2024: Revelations 1:1-4, 2:1-5; Luke 18: 35-43

The Lord loves us whether or not we deserve it. But the Lord is not merely mercy but justice too! Beginning today we listen to the Lord of justice as we begin the week running up to the feast of Christ the King.

Today the Word presents to us a Lord who is demanding and perfect... who feels all God's children are good but unfortunately some end up not good enough! The question to me is, to which category I belong? I should be able to see and to understand if I am good enough or not!

When we begin something new, we always do it with so much of good will and an abundance of spirit... just imagine the day of your first communion, for some confirmation, for some others the day of their religious consecration or for others the day of their wedding! But in a short while the energy drains, the spirit goes faint and a mere good will becomes drastically insufficient. The reason: we are not attentive enough to note the initial changes that happen. We remain so insensitive to what is happening within us that we are caught unawares at a much crucial time. That is why the prayer today: "Lord grant that we may see again!" (Cf. Lk 18:41).

Staying in touch with the Lord keeps us in touch with ourselves, to constantly check our pride, insensitivities, arrogance, unforgiving attitude, judgmental tendencies, loose talks and compromises against true love: these are the blindnesses that set in gradually but drastically! We become so blind that we do not even realise what sad levels we descend to. And it is the Lord, who alone can restore the original spirit within us by enabling us to see, to see again... empowering us to realise and restart... that is, to "see again!"

We are reaching the end of this liturgical year... and it is time now that each of us make it our prayer: Lord, that I may see again... that is a special seeing, a seeing from God's point of view, a seeing with the scale of the just God, seeing with all my brothers and sisters in perspective, seeing from the perspective of God, the fullness of all goodness!

BLESSED

The Prayer, the Answer and the Judgement!

8th World day of the Poor: November 17, 2024

33rd Sunday in Ordinary time - Daniel 12: 1-3; Hebrew 10: 11-14,18; Mark 13: 24-32

The prayer of the poor rises up to God (cf. Sir 21:5) - this is the verse the Holy Father gives us to reflect on, this 8th World day of the Poor. We know the history of this day - how eight years ago concluding the year of Mercy in 2016 Pope Francis instituted the 33rd Sunday, that is the Sunday prior to the Christ the King Sunday, as dedicated to the poor, as a compassionate solidarity and a prophetic challenge on the part of the universal people of God. Writing to orient us on this day, this year, the holy father has chosen the words of the Philosopher from the Ecclesiasticus - Sirach, and gives us these three terms to fix our attention on: the prayer, the answer and the judgement!

The Poor - is a dense term to understand. They are called the 'anawim' of Yahweh... the helpless who cry out to God. The hungry, the starving, the oppressed, the downtrodden, the voiceless, the deprived, the exploited, the unemployed, the despised, the suffering, the lonely, the homeless, the hopeless, the marginalised, the excluded, the detested... the list goes on. The poor are the apple of the eye of the Lord!

The Prayer of the poor:

Blessed are the poor, the Gospels proclaim. The reason is, because their cry finds the shortest route to the Lord's ears, they rise up to God rapidly, for God is there... right amidst them! The prayer of the afflicted is a judgement pronounced on the world and the world today is so oblivious of it. When the blood of Abel cried out to the Lord, when the cry of the oppressed people in Egypt reached the ears of the Lord, the Lord came down with force on those who were the oppressors! Today the cry of the poor is rising everywhere and the world is incurring a judgement upon itself! Woe to us, if we do not hear that cry. Hearing that cry means, seeing their plight, feeling their pain and suffering their lot. It is in silence that we can listen...they are crying but the world is justifying itself in such loud noise that it refuses to hear the cry. Do not judge! Do not criticise! Do not moralise! Just remain silent, then you shall hear the cry... the groan, the mourn, the sound of the dry tears! Like the Eternal high priest who identifies with us, we are called to identify with everyone who is in pain or suffering today.

The Answer of the Lord:

The Lord answers the cry of the poor, as the Psalmist affirms because, the Lord suffers with the poor and knows their pain. We cannot be like those who stood beneath the cross when Jesus cried out to his Father and said, 'wait lets see if someone will come to help him'! We are called to be the Answer of the Lord - the Lord intends to answer through anyone around the one who cries out! Very listening is an answer, telling the person you are not alone. Understanding is an answer, making the person feel accepted. Solidarity is an answer, strengthening the hope of the person that things are bound to change for the better. Our loving attentiveness to the cries of the poor, is the primary answer from where a new world begins, where humanity is restored, where the Reign of God blossoms. Can we be so insensitive as to throw millions of millions procuring arms and ammunition while millions die of starvation, dump thousands of crores on lifeless statues while thousands die of malnutrition... even spending disproportionate billions building a Church, lakhs on a flag mast or a grotto today, would come under the same insanity! Is this the answer that the Lord intends today? The hour is near, dear friends. Let us not be asleep; let us awaken and act in the name of the Lord.

The judgement on behalf of the Poor:

The verse that we are reflecting on (Sir 21:5) continues to say that the judgement of the Lord comes speedily! Yes, poverty is not just a case; poverty is caused! It is caused by selfishness, pride, greed, injustice, insensitivity, indifference and heartlessness. The poor continuously cry out and we are called to free them from the oppression - if we do not feel that call, we are part of the oppressors! Much before we think of freeing the oppressed, the poor and the suffering from their troubles and struggles, we need to first decide to free them from the judgments we pass on them in our hearts, the insensitive branding that the world imposes on them, the inhuman stance that today's development takes against them. The helpless are powerful, because they have the Lord on their side. Those who are against them have the Lord against them and let us beware! The war is already waging, the first reading tells us today, it is high time we choose, on whose side we are! The Lord's judgements are on behalf of the poor, always.

The Poor... Blessed are we if we are poor... Woe to me, if there are poor because of me! I am close to the Lord if I hear the cry of the poor; I belong to the Lord if I answer those cries; and I belong to the Reign when I resolve to think on behalf of them! 

For the prayer of the poor rises to the Lord; and the judgements comes speedily! 

Goodness to strangers... does it sound strange?

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

November 16, 2024 - 3 John 5-8; Luke 18: 1-8

The first reading today speaks of Godliness, as being good to strangers. Doesn't that sound strange in today's context? 

People find being good to known persons already a little too tedious. But among the people of God in the Old Testament, taking care of strangers, widows and the orphans was a special commission given to them by God. And that was an experiential learning on the part of the people who were themselves strangers, orphans and sojourners.

Unfortunately the population of the kind that Jesus speaks of in the Gospel - those who do neither fear God nor respect people - is on the rise and with no qualms of conscience. Religious or Irreligious, educated or uneducated, male or female... nothing serves an exception to this condition. The generation is becoming more and more insensitive.

Killing for a pittance, killing for honour, killing for payment, killing for religion, killing for profits, killing for property, killing for convenience, killing even in the name of God... what is humanity going towards? With all these, speaking of being good to strangers - how strange does it sound!

The term stranger or foreigner was indicative of every one in need, people in insecure circumstances. Today we have every category you can ever think of, referring to this definition of the people in need. The exploited, the immigrants, the refugees, the unemployed and the homeless: today we have a responsibility towards this part of humanity. Pope Francis leads us by example in this expression of true Christian love! But including him, all those who think in this manner are considered abnormal, unacceptable and strange... let us better be ready to be considered strange - that's being truly Christian!

Love, and do what you wish!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Reign of Brothers and Sisters

Thursday, 32nd week in Ordinary Time

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

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

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

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

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

Taking God for granted!

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

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

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

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

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

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

The source of my real worth!

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

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

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

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

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

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

Leading, Leading astray and Leading together

Monday, 32nd week in Ordinary Time

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

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

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

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

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

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

WHAT TYPE OF GIVING...

To gain, to get, or to just give?

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

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

Giving to Gain:

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

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

Giving to Get:

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

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

Giving... just to Give:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

God, glory, stomach and shame!

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

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

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

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

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

True loss and Real gain

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

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

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

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

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

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

What it takes to be a Christian!

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

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

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

What does it take then, to be a Christian?

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

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

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

Can you really stay there?

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

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

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

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

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

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

From Competititon and Conceit to Comprehension!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

HEAR MY CHILD!

With your Ear, Heart and Spirit

31st Sunday in Ordinary time: November 03, 2024

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

HOPE - that makes us Christ-ian!

All Souls Day - 2024

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

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

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

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

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

BEING SAINTS...

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

November 1, 2024

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

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