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!