To touch and to be healed...

WORD 2day: Monday, 5th week in Ordinary time

February 10, 2025: Genesis 1: 1-19; Mark 6: 53-56

It did not matter whether they touched the Lord or the Lord touched them, they were healed. Both ways it is an act of faith: to touch the Lord and to allow the Lord to touch us! 'Speak Lord, but a word and my soul shall be healed,' we pray! A word, a touch, a glimpse or a gaze, a whisper... that is all that it takes for us to receive the fullness, from the hands of the Lord who has made us and continues to guard and protect us.

We begin from today to listen to and reflect on the book of genesis. What marvellous accounts as the basis of our faith experience! God reigns... God holds everything in being... God manifests God's glory and might in everything. When God said a word it was done. And when Jesus came, it was enough people touched him, mighty things happened. There was a spiritual connect between the people and the Lord. That spiritual connect is what we call faith, the experience of faith.

All that we need to know is to understand that we are handiworks of the Master Creator, and live our lives according to the mind of the One who has loved us into existence, with a well defined purpose and an eternal plan. How prepared are we to allow the Lord to touch us? How eager are we to touch the Lord with all sincerity of heart? Because, when the Lord touches, nothing remains the same; they change, they transform, they are recreated! 

All those who touched him were cured; and all those whom he touched were healed! Let us seek his touch this day.

WE ARE CALLED

In spite of, in view of & in the place of...

February 9, 2025: Fifth Sunday in Ordinary time

Isaiah 6:1-2,3-8; 1 Corinthians 15:1-11; Luke 5: 1-11

We are called - this is one of the most fundamental self-understanding that every Christian should possess. We are Christians, we are followers of Christ because we are called. 

We know that in our present Indian context, a term seems prevalent - 'Ghar Wapsi', refering to bringing back to the 'hindu' fold, those who had gone to other religions in the name of conversion! Is it as simple as this - just changing camps, or changing names? Or there is also another movement, however minor, of people who claim that their ancestors were converted to Christianity and that they have no allegiance to it on their own! What has been their self-understanding all this while? Still more, there are those who go from one denomination of Christian faith to another, looking for excitement and variety! Looking at all these phenomena, the sad fact that emerges is that those who claim to have received the faith, still need to understand that faith is a call!

Faith is a call, in fact, a response to a call... a personal response to God who reveals Godself to us, in various ways. Fundamentally, every believer in God is called, is called to a self-understanding, a way of life, and a mission. The Liturgy of the Word this Sunday reminds us of this fact: that we are called. And in this respect there are three messages given to us to reflect upon:

We are called in spite of... in spite of our limitedness, in spite of our weakness, in spite of our unworthiness! This is the common thread that obviously runs through the three readings we listen to. Isaiah exclaims that he is impure and lives among impure people and therefore is not worthy to even hear or pronounce the Word of the Lord; Paul declares that he has been like a person who was unexpectedly born and an enemy of the people of God; Peter falls at the feet of the Lord and begs the Lord to leave him because he is unworthy and sinful. The unworthiness, weakness, and at times even wickedness, is a matter of fact within us - it is in spite of that the Lord has called us!

It is not because we are worthy that the Lord has called us, we are worthy to stand before the Lord because the Lord has called us. Every day of our life when we have an opportunity to do good to someone, when we have a recognition for the identity we bear as followers of Christ, when we are in a position to serve someone because we have the identity of a Christian, we need to remind ourselves that we are called. we are called in spite of our limitedness. Our call, our identity can never be a source of pride or arrogance - judging others, condemning others, looking down on others, and treating them as people who have to be somehow rescued to life! As Christians we need to grow more and more humble, towards an authentic self-understanding of a people who are called by God, in spite of our unworthiness.

We are called in view of... in view of a mission, in view of a purpose, in view of a task to be accomplished! The three characters we meet today in the Word - Isaiah, Paul and Peter - were called for a particular purpose - to be a messenger of God, to proclaim the Gospel to the peoples, to be fisher of persons! There were called in view of something, they did not know that. They were thinking only of their past, their present and their situation in life; they could not see what lay ahead of them. They were in fact being called for a way of life, for a new way of life, for a completely different way of life! As soon as they realised this, they were able to come over their fixation with the past and the present and they began to look that the new life they were called to life - as a messenger, as a preacher, as an apostle!

It is important to be attentive to what the Lord is calling me to. I cannot consider myself called and continue with the same old life style of the past or the present. As the saying goes, 'you cannot make a difference, if you do not do anything different!' My call, taken seriously, transforms me totally, to a new way of life, to a new perspective of life, to a new understanding of life, into a new person altogether. There is a sense of renewal in my choices, my priorities, my values, my outlook on life and my perception of persons. All these transformations, of course, are for the better, not for worse! Because as Jesus chides the pharisees and the scribes - woe to you who go across land and see to make one single convert, and make them twice as much a child of hell as yourselves! What a powerful accusation Jesus has against a conversion that does not bear its right fruit. We are called in view of a new way of life!

We are called in the place of... in place of God, to speak to the people who need to hear God's word, to announce the good news of God to the people that God loves them and comes to them with salvation, to become fishers of persons who need to come into the net of the Reign of God so that they can experience God more intimately and become truly fulfilled in life. Be it Isaiah, Paul, Peter, or any one called in the history of salvation, they have been called to carry out a mission in the name of God. Could there have been a person better than Isaiah, more commited than Paul, holier than Peter? Certainly, Yes! But all the same God chose these, and God had a specific mission for each of these.

When we are called, we are called to make the Lord present wherever we are. That is our mission. In our words, in the news we wish to announce to each other, in the choices we wish to propose to others, in the kind of outlook of the world we create, in the kind of mindset that we wish to spread, we need to be people who do it in the place of God...that is, those who create what God wishes to create, those who build what God wants to build, those who bring people to that net which gathers persons into the Reign of God. We are called with a mission to be presences of God, that people shall experience God in us, that persons shall be drawn to know God more in and through us, that persons can feel the need of having God close to them in their lives.

We are called. Inspite of our unworthiness, we are called; in view of presenting to the world a style of life that becomes a witness; a witness that speaks in the place of God, that speaks hope and joy to a world immersed in strife. Let us live our lives ever mindful that we are called!

The Sheep of the Divine Shepherd!

WORD 2day: Saturday, 4th week in Ordinary time

February 8, 2025 - Hebrews 13:15-17,20-21; Mark 6: 30-34

That the Lord is our shepherd, we need to have no doubt, it is the choice of the Lord. And we have nothing much to do about it. But there is something that we have to worry about entirely, that we need to become the sheep of the flock that belongs to the Lord - that does not happen automatically. 

The way to become the sheep of the Lord's flock, is to endlessly do good. Do good without any reason, without any hesitation, without any expectation, without any discouragement.

The Gospel presents a picture of frenetic activity today. The disciples are all intent on doing good, as their master himself who went around doing good. At times we can be at a loss deciding what is God's will at a point of time. The readings today seem to suggest one simple criterion: do good to others; do good to as many as possible; do good to all!

Three qualities are needed by all means to do this: first of all, faith with which we accept this challenge from the Lord; secondly, endurance with which we withstand all disheartening factors that surround; and thirdly, sensitivity with which we learn to know what the other needs without the other even expressing it.

God is the shepherd who knows our needs and cares for them, but God does it through God's sons and daughters who become shepherds in turn. We are called to be the sheep of God's flock but at the same time to grow to be shepherds to each other, doing as much good as we could to each other. Our Divine Shepherd is an epitome of the qualities we just mentioned... because he accepted the challenge of being good, endured all that worked against it and treated everyone around him with utmost sensitivity. 

Are we on our way to becoming the sheep of the Lord's flock?

Change and Permanence - an assurance of faith

WORD 2day: Friday, 4th week in Ordinary time

February 7, 2025 - Hebrews 13: 1-8; Mark 6: 14-29

Change is the only thing that never changes, it is said! Everything is changing all around us - what is right or wrong, what is admirable and what not, what is popular and what not...these are all changing by the day. Trends and trending choices all around are daily happenings today. People and societies are finding much easier, justifications and explanations for choices that were once difficult to standy for! Do these make 'anything' acceptable? No, not for us!

That is one reason, the Church and the Christian way of life is criticised, targetted and ridiculed - saying it is "outdated". In fact the Church knows well, everyone is calling its teachings outdated - oh, should it change then immediately? Otherwise, it would go obsolete and die its way out? Does not matter, in certain things the Church will stick on, remain put because some things cannot change. But why? Because we have a Lord who does not change!

Things change and humanity progresses - we shall embrace it with love and joy. But that cannot make change an absolute, change for the sake of change! Change is not the absolute... change is made significant, only by those which remain permanent. For us who believe in the Lord, it is the Lord who gives us that element of permanence. That is the assurance of faith we have: that the Lord never changes, that love is the absolute, that Truth is the absolute, that the way of the Lord is the absolute, that the life in the Lord is the absolute. The Lord himself has said this. The Lord who is love, has said, I am the way, the truth and the life... these are the absolutes. 

It is so, because Christ is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow!

From Sinai to Zion - a journey of faith

WORD 2day: Thursday, 4th week in Ordinary time

February 06, 2025 - Hebrews 12: 18-19, 21-24; Mark 6: 7-13

The Word today reminds us of a crucial journey of faith that we are called to make each of us and as a community of faith. The journey is not so much about from an old place to a new one, or one extreme to the other, as it is about a deepening; it is a journey within. First let us understand the journey and then define why it is a journey within. 

The journey is from Mount Sinai to Mount Zion - Sinai and Zion are two holy mounts that are referred to often in the history of our faith experience. What does Sinai stand for - for the awe that we have about God - of God's mighty presence, of God's fearsome feats, of God's omnipotence and omniscience. That is what we see in the Old Testament, on Mount Sinai - God met Moses, God spoke to God's people, God gave them the Ten Commandments and so on...but right enough, the people were frightened. They feared the awe-inspiring presence of God and contented themselves to listen to God's word from Moses! 

The letter to the Hebrews insists that this has to change, because we are not anymore in that stage of mere fear or awe. We have moved closer, and that is what Zion stands for - it is the place where we live with God, we share the abode with God, we delight in the presence of God and God delights in our presence. It is all about relationship here - a deep and profound relationship that we have built and continue to build with God. 

That is the reason, this journey is entering within... getting deeper within us, where we can find God waiting to encounter us and take our relationship to an all new plane. That is Zion - the union, the communion, the loving relationship with God. Faith journey has to lead us there, from Sinai to Zion! 

To the point of death

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

February 5, 2025 - Remembering St. Agatha 

Hebrews 12: 4-7, 11-15; Mark 6: 1-6 

One of the surest of attributes we have for God, is that God is omnipotent, there is nothing impossible for God. But the famous, or infamous, question that remains is, if God is "all" mighty, then how is there so much evil in the world, and how is there so much ungodliness there in? The answer is not totally strange to us too: it is the free will that we are given with, as part of our nature. 

But the challenge continues - how are we going to make this will of ours correspond to what God wants of us? It is a life-stuggle... and not just a struggle all life, but a struggle to the point of death. There are so many things that would take our focus away, our hearts astray and our determination down the drain. 

We should not really worry about it, because the Lord is training us! Apart from not losing our hearts and letting our knees droop, we could block that work of God in another way - by closing our hearts to the Lord. With an open heart, determined will and peace-loving spirit, we shall always remain sons and daughters of the Lord! 

Just as St. Agatha, the martyr we remember today or any other martyr for that matter, the life style we just spoke of, takes real effort, an effort right to the point of death.

  

Arise, Run and Endure

WORD 2day: Tuesday, 4th week in Ordinary time

February 4, 2025 - Hebrews 12: 1-4; Mark 5: 21-43

Arise, run and endure is the call today! Situations of death and darkness, moments of drowning spirits and desperate feelings, struggle between right knowledge and raging temptations. These abound in our daily life. But we are called to Arise from these landslips and Run the race that is alloted to us with an Endurance that is ready to put up with any difficulty, even upto shedding blood.

The endurance comes from the hope that Our God is an awesome God and can do anything for us. There is nothing that the Lord cannot do - all that it takes is a touch. Either we stretch in true faith and touch God or in total childlike submission surrender ourselves and allow God to touch us.

The strength to run the race comes from the faith that the Lord our God is running along and is ever present by our side. It is in the Lord that we run... we run and never are drained; we fly and never are consumed. As long as we are in the Lord, we run and we keep running without losing heart on breaks or blocks, we run not to overtake or overrun anyone, but we run to complete the race enrusted to us. 

The capacity to arise comes from the love that God showers on us, out of which God keeps holding our hands inspite of all situations and keeps whispering into our ears, my son, my daughter, my child, my friend... arise! Let us arise, run and endure, with the touch of the Lord.

Who is your hero?

WORD 2day: Monday, 4th week in Ordinary time

February 3, 2025: Hebrew 11:32-40; Mark 5:1-20

There is a book with an interesting title, 'even God has His champions!' It speaks of 120 saints and martyrs in history who have borne God's message to the world of their times.

The first reading from the letter to the Hebrews lists today a set of heroes, heroes of valour and vigour, heroes in history on whom the people pinned their hopes! But the letter adds an important but realistic twist... these heroes, they were all gone in the way of their fathers. That is an inevitable fact. However good or great they are, they are to be gone in time!

Today we too have our own heroes - persons or role models or absolute values or needs or priorities - heroes of various kind. It is important to ask ourselves who is our hero and what becomes the defining value of our lives!

With what Jesus did to the people of Gerasenes, they should have made him their hero. Jesus solved their years of problem in a moment. He just sent the legion of demons away from their living quarters... but was Jesus their hero? No! They asked Jesus to leave - may be because they felt their loss (of the swines) was too much to bear! No, they had some other things as their hero - not exactly what Jesus could offer them.

The crucial question is back: who is your hero?

TOTAL OFFERING TO THE LORD

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

Familiarity, Flexibility and Filiality

February 02, 2025 - The Feast of the Presentation of the Lord

Malachi 3: 1-4; Hebrews 2: 14-18; Luke 2: 22-40

On this fourth Sunday of the Ordinary time, we celebrate the feast of the Presentation of the Lord and the World day of Prayer for Consecrated Life for this year, 2025. Past three weeks we have been seeing the gradual manifestation of the Christ, the Son of God... who gradually gets himself introduced to the people around him. The feast of the presentation, marking the 40th day after Christmas, comes to sum it all up, giving us a clue to understand what lies beneath all these - the self offering of Christ to do the will of God - behold, I come to do your will. 

Bringing all of these in perspective, we have one lovely challenge posed: the Challenge of Total Offering to the Lord. Not just persons in Consecrated Life, but every one of us is called to offer ourselves totally to God and that alone can give us true meaning and real happiness in life.

From the Word today, we can pick up three signs of our total offering to the Lord:

Familiarity: As the Holy Family which enters the Temple with that ease and eagerness to perform their spiritual duty, so are we called to remain always familiar with the Lord. That sense familiarity can have varied levels of significance - a feeling of being the family of God, a sense of unity and love as human families, and a solidarity of families into one big family of the children of God. The feeling of the family of God, we see how Joseph and Mary come to the Temple as those who are participants in the divine plan of God, for they know they are not just "normal" parents! The sense of unity and love as human families is evinced in the togetherness of Joseph and Mary, bringing the child into the presence of God as every family of the Jews did. The fact that Simeon, Anna and many others rejoiced in the new child brought to the Temple, and found the hand of God with that child is the evocation of the solidarity that they felt with this family from Nazareth.  

Flexibility: For the Holy Family from Nazareth, the presentation was not merely performing their duty, or a mere a ritual. Of course they did fulfil the rite, as a sense of fulfilment of their joy and gratitude to the Lord, but they found more things to rejoice, more insights to dwell upon and more directions to get from the Lord through holy instruments who were there! For us too, the prayer moments and celebration of sacraments cannot be reduced to mere rituals to be performed or duties to be fulfilled. We are called to live those moments with open hearts and pliable minds, in order that we be malleable as silver and gold in the hands of the smith, so that we can become what the Lord wants us to - because the Lord is making of us a great, lovable and precious ornament for Godself, provided we are ready to offer ourselves into the hands of the Lord. 

Filiality: It is towards filiality, we are ultimately invited to, as the letter to the Hebrew reminds us of this. This filiality inspired and enthused, Joseph to accept his call to be the foster father taking care of the family, Mary to say her whole hearted yes to all that God had in mind, and Jesus to belong to God totally in every way following the example of his parents. What this feast has to teach us is this fact, that we are called to imitate the same self-giving of this family - Joseph who offers himself totally without lamenting anything about being kept in the dark all the time right up to the last minute when he has to execute decisions; Mary who offers herself totally although she did not fully understand what her yes would comprise of; and Jesus who offers himself totally to his Father without counting the cost up until his death on the cross! All these are prefigured and summarised in this event as the holy couple step into the Temple with their first born child... a lovely reminder to every Christian family to grow recognizant of their filiality with the Lord. 

May the celebration of the event of presentation, help us fix our gaze on the love and surrender that we see in the Holy Familym and help us grow evermore familiar, flexible and filial with the Lord, our God.

The Relationship - trust beyond everything

WORD 2day - Saturday, 3rd week in Ordinary time

February 1, 2025 - Hebrews 11:1-2,8-19; Mark 4: 35-41

Yesterday the Word instructed us about the relationship that is built by living by faith and today we are called to reflect on the extent to which our faith has to go! We have the great example of Abraham and his entire exprience with God, along with Sarah and Isaac. The household trusted in the Lord, the trusted to the extent that although they died even before they saw the fulfilment of what they were promised, they believed that it would be! That is the relationship, the relationship of trust!

Why are you so frightened? How is it that you have not faith? When Jesus asks this question to the apostles, what he means is exactly this trust, the fruit of faith... a fundamental and practical experience of the relationship that we share with God. When things go wrong, or when nothing goes the way we want, if we can still smile and say to ourselves: Quite, be calm, then we have built a trust in the Lord, for whom nothing is impossible!

Trust is the expression of the relationship; it is the experience of the fruit of the relationship that is developed over a period of time, after concrete and reflected experiences that come together to offer a new meaning to life and all that happens in it. Faith, which is a relationship, is expressed in trust. The Lord who is ever faithful, has trusted us - that is why the Lord has entrusted us with numerous gifts: our life, our vocation, our mission, our people and so on. And do we trust the Lord? How do we plan to express that trust?