A Return to hope... towards wholeness!

THE WORD IN LENT - Tuesday, Fourth week in LEnt

April 1, 2025 - Ezekiel 47: 1-9, 12; John 5: 1-3, 5-16

When we are in the Lord we have a thousand reasons to thank God for, a million reasons to glorify the Lord, because the continues to give us countless opportunities towards wholeness. The first question here is whether it is true. The next question would be, in what way? And a third question is, how ready and prompt are we to recognise it?

Healing, wholeness ... comes not merely as a corrective to a problem, as if completing a lack. Of course it is so, but not just that. The fact is that, all of us need healing - in varied forms and levels. The promises this healing, as the life giving waters that flow towards us, as the Son of God who comes in search of us, to offer us that healing, just as we see in the Word today. The Lord wishes to give us the experience of wholeness and that is true - the whole of salvation history tells us that, the experience of faith lived and passed on to us vouches for that and on a daily basis the Lord expresses this intention of his, through the Eucharist and other sacraments and sacramentals. 

The real issue lies in our disposition to recognise this presence, this offer of the Lord, this salvific experience that the Lord is willing and eager to offer us - as children of God, as brothers and sisters of the Son, as dwelling places of the Spirit of the Lord. Just as that man who was longing to go the waters, did not realise the fact that the Life giving Water had in fact come to him, we too search for, look for God experience everywhere around! All that we need to do is, as the Psalmist teaches us: be still and know, be still and realise, be still and recognise the life give water that surges within us, because we are God's own.

A Return to hope... Celebrating New Life

THE WORD IN LENT - Monday, Fourth week in Lent

March 31, 2025 - Isaiah 65: 17-21; John 4: 43-54

Behold, I create new heavens and a new earth...be glad and rejoice, says the first reading today. What more hopeful message can we get? Be it as individuals or as a community, we do have regrets in life and history, and what a wonderful experience it is to hear that they will all be forgotter, erased from memory and that we could start everything anew! That is exactly what the Lord promises us. 

But we will not believe it, we will not take it for that the Lord says; we will try to find figurative meanings and compatible interpretations to the already existing mindset of negativity and hopelessness. What else can the Lord do? We are so familiar with the promises of the Lord that many a time, they do not really mean anything to us - take for example the promises like, 'I will never leave you nor forsake you', 'where there are two are three gathered in my name, I am there,'... how much do we really believe them? However, the Lord will not be surprised about it - we see that in the Gospel. Nor will the Lord give up on us. 

The Lord goes on doing more and more good...and hopes that one day we would come to realise and behold the new things that God has created, the new things that God is continuously doing for us! When we learn to behold them, we shall see ample reasons to celebrate. The Lord calls us to that celebration, to celebrate the new life that the Lord has prepared, and is preparing, for us every day. That would be truely the dawn of hope when we form ourselves and grow enough to behold, realise and celebrate new life from the hands of God. 

A RETURN TO HOPE -TOWARDS CELEBRATION

Celebrating Reconciliation, Return & Renewal

March 30, 2025 - Laetare (Fourth) Sunday in Lent

Joshua 5: 9-12; 2 Corinthians 5: 17-21; Luke 15: 1-3, 11-32

The Return to hope, the pilgrimage of this Lent has reached the landmark Fourth Sunday - the Sunday of Celebration, Laetare Sunday. The call today, for this entire week, is to celebrate! Our Christian life is a life of Celebration - in spite of whatever difficulty or trouble, we can find a thousand reasons to thank the Lord, to celebrate the gifts that the Lord keeps filling us with. 

The Word today explains the call we have to celebrate, that we are called, 

to celebrate Reconciliation:

That the Lord calls us to Reconciliation, to get back to that relationship which alone can give us meaning! The Lord has made a covenant with us, a covenant that would never change, on the part of the Lord. The call is to us, to get back to that relationship, it does not matter how far we have gone away.

to celebrate Return:

It is a return that we celebrate today, a return that is made possible by the Lord. On our own it is not possible for us to return, but the Lord makes it possible to us. An important detail is, if it has to be a return, I need to realise where my original identity is. The parable of the prodigal son is a classic representation of "return" which forms one of the core themes of this whole pilgrimage that we have undertaken. One of the peak experiences of return that we can celebrate is the sacrament of Reconciliation!

to celebrate Renewal:

The celebration is truly due and impelling, because what we celebrate is a renewal. Lent, is a time when we celebrate what the Lord has done for us - through his life, death and resurrection. We celebrate New Life, Renewed Life, Eternal Life. What we see in the first reading is that lease of new life that the people of God experienced... from manna to a new crop of grains, it was a new beginning for them. That is what we are challenged to be: renewed beings in Christ. 

One who is in Christ is a new person...and we need to celebrate that renewal, through returning to that relationship!       

A Return to hope... ultimately to love!

THE WORD IN LENT - Saturday, Third week in Lent

March 29, 2025 - Hosea 6:1-6; Luca 18: 9-14

The discourse on Obeying the Lord, that we have been having in past few days, is brought to its climax today, as the Word declares - what God wants is love and not sacrifice! That is the secret: a return to hope actually is ultimately, a return to love! We are called to love and everything in life has to be an expression of that love - the two tier love that is presented to us: love of God and love of the neighbours. 

Love and not sacrifice is a dictum that can communicate three fundamental messages to those who are serious about Christian Spirituality: 

First of all, it is a shift from the doing paradigm to a being pardigm. We are challenged to concentrate on who we are  at the core of our beings and make our doing a simple and sincere expression of what we are. The other way cannot make me neither christian nor spiritual - that is trying to do a lot of things and from there intending to define my identity. That would lead to the peculiar problem of today - the secularisation of faith. 

The second message is to liberate ourselves from ourselves and focus more on the other! What I do, what I give up, what good things I accomplish - these are of course important elements of discussion, but a true Christian spirituality would redirect me to look at the other, what the other needs, what the other feels, and what the other experiences on a daily basis.

Thirdly, it is a reminder of the precedence and centrality of love in Chrisian Spirituality. When done out of sincere love, everything goes well with the Lord. That is why Augustine dared to say, "love and do what you wish!" What we do, might end up a failure, not bear the right effects, not result in anything lasting... but if it is really done in love, the Lord would approve of it - and we would go home justified!

A Return to hope... to love the One Lord

THE WORD IN LENT - Friday, Third week in Lent

March 28, 2025 - Hosea 14:2-10; Mark 12: 28-34

We are reflecting these days on doing the will of God, by way of our obedience to the commandments, the precepts or the teachings of the Lord. It is not simply following a rule, or abiding by a law, or keeping up a custom... it is all about a relationship with God - how absolute that relationship is, and how uncompromising our dedication is! 

First of all, the compromises might come in, when we find excuses to not follow the rule or reasons to break the law or justifications to define exceptions - whatever name we give them, dispensation or allowance or remission and so on. But what matters here is the motive, the real and the innermost motive, and not what is apparently presented. At the level of the conscience we need to come to grips with it. 

The other mode of compromise is what is more dangerous, and the prophet speaks to us about it: creating our own gods... making our own idols, not only in the literal sense, but in the most applicative or figurative sense. When we make riches, conveniences, comfort, progress, advancement, happiness, success, human respect, status, prestige, power, control etc. the priorities of our decision making, we are making of them little gods who will slowly grow and begin occupying larger and larger space in our lives, be it as indivuduals or as communities.

The remedy, as the Word presents to us today is - listening to the voice of the Lord! And the Jesus explains to us that, as the first and the most fundamental commandment: to love the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. The commandment that follows is a sequel to it, rather a verification of the former - to love our neighbours. It is the latter, true love for the other, that makes sure that I am not making a god for myself, or making a god of myself... but remain loyal to the call that I have received from my One God - to love him in everything. 

 

A Return to hope... to turn to that Voice!

THE WORD IN LENT - Thursday, Third week in Lent

March 27, 2025 - Jeremiah 7: 23-28; Luke 11: 14-23

Yesterday, w began the discourse on obedience to the Lord, obedience to the will of God, obedience to the eternal plan that God has for us. But how do we obey without knowing it... which means the Lord takes an extra effort to make it known to us, notwithstanding the fact that we habitually ignore all those efforts. This is what we see the Lord instructing Jeremiah in the first reading today - the Lord is almost preparing him for a rejection, because that is what the people have always done. 

In the Gospel we see Jesus facing the same rejection from the people, inspite of all the signs and wonders that were given to them. The call here is turn to the Voice of the Lord - that Voice that reaches us in so many varied ways: through those who speak to us directly the Word of God, through those who inspire us by their ordinary conversations or daily experiences, through extraordinary events that make us pause a moment and take a look, through ordinary and regular events that we most of the times take for granted, through signs of happenings be they glad or sad... in varied ways, the Voices keeps calling our attention; and our call is to turn to that Voice.

Not hearing the voice and not heeding to its call, it is true that we are not with God! More than that, we will be held responsible, for two reasons - one, that we failed to be that Voice for the others around us; two, that we distracted the others too from listening to that voice by our negligence and lack of witness! That is why Jesus warns us categorically: those who are not with me are against me; those who do not gather with me scatter what I came to gather. There is no neutrality here - either we are with God or we are against the Lord! 

A Return to Hope... towards a fruitful obedience

THE WORD IN LENT - Wednesday, Third week in Lent

March 26, 2025 - Deuteronomy 4: 1,5-9; Matthew 5: 17-19

I have not come to abolish the Law, but to complete them, to fulfill them, to take them towards the fullness and fruitfulness. Speaking of hope, we know it means that at the end of all that may go well or on the contrary, the Lord's will shall be done, and God's will is always for my welfare! This is hope and the space for God's will within it is non negligible. One of the ways in which this aspect of hope as God's design for us, comes to the fore in the reality of the commandments. 

The commandments which become the fundamentals of our ethical living and Christian mores, is a crucial part of the scaffolding that keeps our hope intact. It refers to a simple conviction that the Lord has already thought through what is good for us and lets us know by the commandments - as to what to do and what to avoid. Hence following the Law, is the source of hope, peace and serenity. However, not all that appears to be obeying the law is unequivocally wholesome! Being legalistic can at times take us towards self righteousness more than sanctity. Jesus is aware of it, and that is why he reorients our attentions towards the fulfillment of the laws - that come from the fruitfulness of our choices. 

Obedience, as we spoke about it just yesterday, cannot be just doing something because it has to be done. Where is the human choice and freedom involved in such an action or such a decision? Obedience of Faith is much more: knowing the will of God, embracing it with love and carrying it out in life with purpose. That is the way that obedience can become fruitful. Returning to hope is all about choosing this obedience to the commandments, which are but God's will made easy. Beginning today, we shall be led to a deeper understanding of what obedience to God's will is - first and foremost, it leads to me to a sense of fulfillment, a sense of meaning and a sense of hope. You Words O Lord, are spirit, they are life. 

Obedience - a sign of the pilgrims of hope!

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

March 25, 2025: The Solemnity of Annunciation

Isaiah 7: 10-14, 8:10; Hebrews 10: 4-10; Luke 1: 26-38

Obedience can take various degrees to it: the first is, doing what is said. Doing what is said is not entirely easy, unless a person is so dull headed that he or she has no idea or nothing to do on one's own. Obeying commands, keeping the rules, fulfilling the requirements - these fall under this category and they are virtues in themselves without doubt.

The second degree in obedience, is that of doing what is intended. This goes a bit beyond the first, in as much as the person who wishes to obey, is interested in knowing what is intended by what is asked of the person. It is not merely obeying rules but understanding the intention behind the rules; it is not merely fulfilling the requirements, but knowing what the purpose is behind the requirement; it is not merely carrying out what is said, but being interested in doing what is not said. This is more meritorious than the first and basic degree of obedience and here the free will, personal choice and integral participation are the highlights.

What Jesus teaches us, and what we celebrate today in our Blessed Mother is a much higher the degree of obedience. It is not merely doing what is said or what is intended, but living one's life according to what is wished, willed and planned by someone who wishes your good - this is where the aspect of hope plays a vital role. This is the most matured type of obedience, the obedience in the Spirit: a will and choice to submit to the will of the One who has created and called and commissioned me with this life, because my hope inspires me and hope never deludes. 

At times here, one may not even know what is expected of him or her, most of the times one may not know what would be the real outcome of it, but in spite of all these, the person makes an absolute choice and says: 'Here I am; I come to do your will; be it done unto me according to your Word'. That requires an assistance and strengthening from the Spirit of courage, hope and childlike trust.

The Solemnity today affirms that this obedience leads to salvation, salvation which means fullness of life, fullness of joy and fullness of meaning experienced in the ordinariness of the day, filled with hope. Responding to our call to be pilgrims of hope today, the challenge presented to us is, to dare to submit in totality to God's will, that is true obedience of the pilgrims of hope!

A Return to hope... towards humility and truth

THE WORD IN LENT - Monday, Third week in Lent

March 24, 2025 - 2 Kings 5: 1-15; Luke 4: 24-30

Hope is a gift and it is gratuitous; we would be at faluth to think it is our right or our prerogative. However, it is our prerogative, in as much as we are children of the Lord of hope. But the moment we become haughty about it, we may lose the essence of being so. Truth never ceases to exist, whether it is recognised or not. The more open we are to perceive it, the more we get closer to it; the more we are egoistic, the more likely it is that we miss it and that does not mean it did not exist. 

In Naman who is presented to us in the first reading today, we see someone who was about to miss out on a life time opportunity of healing, just because he was haughty and pride blinded his sight. However, there was the servant maid who was able to put sense into him - blessed is the Lord who hides things from the most erudite of people but reveals the truth to the little ones. And fortunately, although only after an ulterior beseeching, he chose to be humble and he discovered the truth, finding hope in life. 

Jesus cites the same Naman to the people of his times, and warns them of their pride and obstinacy. Not all were ready to take that in, they wanted instead to get rid of the one who brings it to their notice. In fact, they thought they did away with the problem when they crucified Jesus finally. Least did they realise that Truth cannot be buried, it never ceases to exist. We would do well, Jesus beseeches us, to take note of the promises of the Lord and our unworthiness of beholding it. The more we become aware of the unworthiness, the more the Lord deigns that we behold the Truth. Hence, the journey of return to hope, is the path towards humility and truth. 

A RETURN TO HOPE... TOWARDS THE FRUITS

Burning bush, Turning people & Warning Christ

March 23, 2025 - THIRD SUNDAY IN LENT

Exodus 3: 1-8, 13-15; 1 Corinthians 10: 1-6, 10-12; Luke 13: 1-9

Burning Bush

Refers to God, who wishes to act on our behalf; who intervenes in ways known only to God; who makes the ground we stand on, a holy ground!

Turning People

We are hard headed and stone hearted that whatever sign or wonder that God manifested, we are intent and obstinate on doing what we wish to and holding on what we desired!

Warning Christ

As the personification of the eternal and unlimited mercy of God, Christ offers us timely and repeated warning that the time is near and the Reign of God is close... We need to move swiftly towards the fruits we are called to bear!

A Return to hope... to the eternal mercy of God!

WORD IN LENT - Saturday, Second week in Lent

March 22, 2025 - Micah 7: 14-15, 18-20; Luke 15: 1-3, 11-32 

A return to hope, is a call that we have, not just this lent or not just at a particular time, but all our lives. We are called to get back to the Lord and the Lord never hesitates to lead us to himself or to embrace us when we reach out. The Lord "delights in showing mercy" the first reading tells us. God does not grudgingly extend his mercy, because obviously we are so unworthy of it. The Lord is forever merciful and endlessly merciful, eternal is his mercy - because it is not that the Lord has compassion; but the Lord is compassion and love; the Lord is mercy. 

But can that make us think that we can do whatever we like and the mercy of God will come reach us? There is a little hitch here... because we have to choose to receive that mercy. The mercy is in abundance and never refused with God, but we have to look for it, ask for it and behold it, in our concrete situation of life. The offer remains, but it is upto us to take it. 

When can we take advantage of that offer... not when we think, anyway the mercy is in abundance and it is for all, therefore I could do whatever I wish to and the mercy will be mine. I have a personal responsibility to avail myself of that mercy and I can do it, by coming to my senses and coming back to it, from the farlands that I have crossed over to! 

Like the younger son in the parable today, first I need to realise I have gone away and faraway; secondly, feel sorry that I have gone thus; and thirdly, decide to come back to the mercy. I need to decide and get up and walk back - RETURN... to that eternal mercy of God. The Lord never tires to forgive us, embrace us back into his love and make his once again his beloved sons and daughters. 

A Return to hope... hope in adversities

THE WORD IN LENT - Friday, Second week in Lent

March 21, 2025 - Genesis 37:3-4,12-13,17-28; Matthew 21:33-43,45-46

Living in hope does not mean everything will be in my favour; living for God does not guarantee that every thing in my life shall be pleasant and enjoyable. On the contrary, when I begin to choose God, when I begin to choose truth, when I begin to choose hope, precisely then my sufferings, troubles and temptations shall increase and intensify! How prepared am I? Yesterday the Word said, when I hope in the Lord, I am like that tree planted on the banks of the river... the question is, when tough times come can I stay there with hope, letting out my roots to the waters that run deep? 

They are specially the moments of difficulties and struggles which we could call the moments of adversities, that define the strength of my faith and the presence or absence of my hope. Hope in adversities, defines the life of a true Christian who does not hesistate to pick his or her cross and follow the Master... towards death, but ultimately towards resurrection.

We have in the first reading, Joseph of the Old Testament, who is faced with adversity in his life, and this was not the end of it. He would be facing many more such and even worse! But he goes about them all without a word of lament, because he had his trust pinned on the Lord, his hope stongly founded on the relationship with God (faith). While on our part it is a lesson to inculcate within us a sense of never dying hope and never failing trust in the Lord, on the Lord's part it is an assurance of his promise: for I know the plans I have for you, plans for your welfare not for your ruin (cf. Jeremiah 29:11). 

Jesus alludes to the experience of Joseph, combining it to what he was being put through, in the parable we find in the Gosple passage today! Hope in adversities - what great model can we have than the Crucifix that stands right in front of our eyes, whenever we enter the sanctuary of the presence of the Lord. That is limit to our hope, already lived as a witness by the Son of God... that we go to the farthest extent in trusting the Lord, holding the hand of God and going ahead on our life's journey! 

 

A Return to hope... to the right sense of trust

THE WORD IN LENT - Thursday, Sec0nd week in Lent

March 20, 2025 - Jeremiah 17:5-10; Luke 16: 19-31

Hope, what is it all about? It is about the future... that everything is going to be fullfilled. Now the question is, where does that feeling come from? From our wealth, from our power, from our strength, from our capacity to do things, from our ability to pull strings? 

Hope come from a trust is that is built up, out of a relationship. That relationship with God is faith. Hence hope is based on the trust that arises from our faith! The question remains: where does come hope rest? On human beings or human realities, or on God and God's promises? This contrast is brought in direct terms in the first reading where we are called reflect on how blessed the one who places his or her trust entirely in the Lord; and on the corollary, what a curse one brings upon oneself the more he or she trusts in the things that are passing!

There is a second contrast that offered to the one who goes towards the right sense of truth and the other who does otherwise - the former is like the trees by the river, even when apparently there seems no water in the stream, they find the unseen ground water that sustains them and keeps them alive. Whereas the latter are like the bushes in the middle of nowhere - when it rains they come up and look so dense and green, but soon find their end as the dryness takes over!

There is yet another contrast that Jesus offers in the parable that he narrates, providing a grounded illustration of the facts spoken of by the Word today - Lazarus who had no one else to rely on and was rewarded with the eternal bliss; and the rich man who had nothing else to bother but his own ease and wellbeing! We know where the right sense of trust remains and what takes us onwards in our journey of hope. 

St. Joseph, our Co-pilgrim towards Hope!

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

March 19, 2025 - Solemnity of St. Joseph, husband of Mary and Foster father of Jesus

2 Samuel 7: 4-5, 12-14, 16; Romans 4: 13, 16-18, 22; Matthew 1: 16-24

We celebrate the feast of Joseph, the foster father of the Saviour, the husband of Mary, an extraordinary model on our pilgrimage of hope! Joseph reminds of three important figures in the Old Testament and right enough they are presented to us by the Word today... and through that resemblance he brings to us three fundamental dimensions of hope.

Joseph - and Abraham the father of faith: hope in impossibility

One of the primary figures whom Joseph reminds us of, is Abraham. Some how Joseph takes on himself an image of the partriarchs... we do not know really why, but it is a natural resemblance. That is why, most of the times when Joseph is depicted in a painting, he is depicted old, aged and wise. Nothing in the Gospels tells us that Joseph was old... may be our tendency to see him in the ranks of those patriarchs inspires such art forms. Leaving that aside, let us come to the figure of Abraham that Joseph resembles - Abraham is a prophet of impossibility! St. Paul explains that to us. He says, Abraham hoped against hope, and that is why he is the father of faith for all of us. 

Joseph when he found his wife with the child before his marriage with her, found that nothing could be done about it. Just imagine, who would accept that. Is that not a an impossibility almost...and Joseph accepts that role become the prophet of impossibility, and giving us hope in moments which seem to be moments of impossibility.

Joseph - and David the chosen servant of God: hope in unworthiness

There could be no one among the servants that God chose for Godself, more beloved to God than David. God loved David and was proud of this son! For his sake and in his name, there were so many promises made... to his son Solomon, to the people, that his reign would not end, and so on. Was David such an exceptionally faithful person... absolutely no! He failed in almost all the fundamental commands of the Lord: do no kill, do not commit adultery, do not steal, keep sabbath holy... but one thing that David would never do... compromise on his God! He was totally aware of his unworthiness, but in all that unworthiness, he never left the hand of God. He held on to it and the Lord saw that feeble but loving child with favour. Joseph who came in the lineage of David, from the house of David, recalls this trait of a child of God. 

Joseph was weak too... he wanted to give up on Mary. But the Lord directed him and he surrrendered to abide by the direction of the Lord. We do not see Joseph speak anywhere, may be because he was not certain about anything that was happening, just as no one else was. But one thing he was certain... in all that unoworthiness, never to leave the hand of God and that the hand of God would lead him on. Accepting our unworthiness, at no point, will make us less disposed to experience the love of God. Instead, the more we realise that, the more hope shall we be filled with.

Joseph - and Joseph the dreamer: hope in adversities

The very name of Joseph, takes us back to the Old Testament Joseph, the patriarch...and not just that. The dreamer that Joseph of Old Testament was, is seen in Joseph the leader of the holy family too. Joseph, son of Jacob, suffered... suffered because of his dreams, but he lived on by those dreams. Joseph is presented by the scholars as a prefigurement of Christ himself, in various dimensions of his life, but especially in his absolute surrender to the holy will of God and his perfect readiness to suffer all adversities for the sake of God, and God's eternal plan. 

Joseph, had to hunt for a place to provide for his family, run away to protect the family, get back by the direction of the Lord. He faced all the tragedies without a word of complaint. Non of these adversities broke him...he knew to hope in adversities. If we are playing by the plan of God, we shall fear no adversities, because it is the Lord who fights our battle (2 Chronicles 20: 15). Hope in adversities makes us prepared to endure and persevere in our pilgrimage of hope. 

St. Joseph, thus becomes our co-pilgrim on our pilgrimage of hope. Joseph teaches us to hope in moments of impossibity, hope even amidst our realisation of unworthiness, and hope even at experiences of adversities! St. Joseph is model in being pilgrims of hope. 

Today is also the 12 anniversary of the day when Pope Francis assumed the Petrine Office. LEt us entrust him to the Lord, through the intercession of St. Joseph. May St. Joseph intercede for each of us that we may be strengthened in our call to be pilgrims of hope today.

A Return to hope... towards true Glory

THE WORD IN LENT - Tuesday, Second week in Lent

March 18, 2025 - Isaiah 1: 10, 16-20;  Matthew 23: 1-12

We began this week with a call to return to the homeland... the question we raised then, which is the homeland. At times we have the tendency to fix our own homelands and not the original one, and thus go about our choices so mistaken ruining our own lives and that of the entire humanity and the universe! That is why today the Word points to us the true homeland, the true glory that we need to tend to. 

It is not our own petty glory before those who are around me. That has become an overriding criterion that does not permit me to live my life the way it ought to be. I begin to be compromising, pretentious, megalomaniac and so on... because I wish to prove myself before the others and command glory and respect from them. 

The real glory is in our humility... those who humbe themselves shall be exalted. It is in that humility that we will acknowledge our limitations and the reality of our being... that is where the Lord encounters us and there shall be a dialogue... come let us discuss, the Lord invites us.

Let us seek that true glory and that will take us back to hope, back to our homeland!

A Return to hope... Recognition and Response

THE WORD IN LENT - Monday, Second Week of Lent

March 17, 2025 - Daniel 9: 4-10; Luke 6: 36-38

A RETURN TO HOPE... TO THE HOMELAND

The fact, the pact and the foretaste

Second Sunday in Lent - March 16, 2025

Genesis 15: 5-12, 17-18; Philippians 3:17 - 4:1; Luke 9: 28-36 

The Fact:

Our life is a pilgrimage, a pilgrimage towards our eternal homeland. It is a fact that we are passing by, but how prepared are we to accept that, recognise that and make it our perspective?

The Pact:

How are we so sure that the Lord has the homeland prepared for us? The Pact, the covenant... that is the eternal promise, there can be no doubt about it. Only issue could be that we make ourselves not worthy of that homeland by our choices and our priorities, but we have an open and persistent invitation to grow into heaven, our homeland.

The Foretaste:

The Lord gives us a foretaste of this glory, the splendour that the Lord has prepared for us, as our homeland. Just as Jesus gives his disciples the foretaste of the future glory, so does the Lord give us in many ways - our celebrations, the sacraments, every eucharist, our successes in life - all of these are foretastes of the splendour promised us. 

A Return to hope... towards Perfection

THE WORD IN LENT - Saturday, First week in Ordinary time

March 15, 2025 - Deuteronomy 26: 16-19; Matthew 5: 43-48

The pilgrimage, the journey, the return to the roots... these are the themes predominant in these days of lent and yesterday we affirmed this saying lent is a journey towards renewal. The Word today is raising a further question, a journey and a renewal upto what? What is that point of arrival? And the answer is: Perfection. The destination is perfection. Now the alarm - Oh, is it possible for us weak and limited human beings to arrive at that perfection? And what does this perfection really mean?

The Lord or the Word today responds with clarity both of these crucial questions: first of all, yes it is possible! Not in the way we imagine... that at a point of time, we are totally perfect! We can never say that, but we can and we ought to keep moving towards that perfection. The way is clear, the means is defined, the route is predetermined, if we really wish to journey towards that perfection - and it is Love! 

This perfection is not something that is alien to us, says Jesus. You have your model - your Father in heaven. Be ye perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect. You can grow to be that, because you have been already granted that image. What matters is that you need to shed all that does not go with that image within you; choose all that fits that image; and grow into that image. And that image is your Father, because God is love. 

Love. Love like your Father in heaven. Love one another as I have loved you... without expecting it in return, without calculating the cost it would demand and without counting the number and volume of difficulties it would land you in, love every one! That is the way to perfection and it is not alien to us, because we have received that love, we have enjoyed that love and we have been thriving because of that love, whether we recognise it or not. Hence, to love is not an option; it is the only way to Christian perfection! 

A Return to hope... towards Renewal

THE WORD IN LENT - Friday, First week in Ordinary time

March 14, 2025 - Ezekiel 18: 21-28; Matthew 5: 20-26

New heart, new spirit, renouncing evils ways, towards deeper sense of virtue... these themes that the Word presents to us today, remind us of the fact that the journey to hope, the lenten journey, has to be a process of renewal, a transformation of our heart and mind. Hearing this we might say, but I am not "wicked" or "evil" as the Word speaks of today, after all my sins are so petty and small! 

Let us beware: are there sins that are small and those that are big? Aren't we speaking about being faithful to our nature and not being so, being committed to our call and not being so... can that have grades? Aren't sins anyway ungodly, no matter of what measure they are? These are the cautionary reflections that the Word provokes within us today. 

Today the society is adept at finding justifications and excuses for all choices and actions. What's in a word, who does not do this today, it's become normal by far... these are some of the oft repeated phrases by the moral relativists of today who tend to justify anything in the sense of being normal or rational. When Jesus questions some of the laws and regulations, some legalities and conventions, he is not belittling moral judgements, he challenges us to 'a deeper understanding of virtues and a more diligent faithfulness to integrity'. 

Integrity, that is the key word to renewal, not subservience to law or norms. Integrity refers to my innermost yearnings, my deep seated identity and my vocation from the One who has willed me into existence. Once I realise that, my journey changes its direction, from going in search of what is truth and what is right, it takes me within me to discern them and listen to the voice from within - that calls me to renewal, a renewal of my entire being, everyday!

A Return to hope... to the right sense of Prayer

THE WORD IN LENT - Thursday, First week in Ordinary time

March 13, 2025 - Esther 4: 17; Matthew 7: 7-12

Ask, seek and knock... is a very popularly quoted teaching of Christ, not just by Christian literatures but even the others which wishes to explain what prayer is all about. Looking at this passage within our pilgrimage of return to hope, we have a particular dimension to be highlighted from the Word today. Let begin with a question - do I get all that I ask; do I find all that I seek; or does everything that I knock open for me? Of course, in all sincerity, the answer cannot be "yes". But why?

The Gospel Acclamation gives us a clue to respond to that question - a pure heart create for me O God... it is that pure heart that makes all the difference. That is why James instructs us: "when you ask, you do not receive, because you asl with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures" (James 4: 3). What is this pure heart that we are speaking about here - is it some kind of spiritual elitism that we are promoting? Certainly not. 

The First reading gives us an illustration of this pure heart and explains to us what the right sense of prayer should be, if we really wish to be identified as "people of God". The pure heart is manifested by Esther when she prays with her whole being and calls all her actions and sacrifices almost nothing, and surrenders the entire course of events to the Lord. How prepared are we to do this, is the crucial reflection left to us. 

The journey to hope essentiall comprises of this return to the right sense of prayer - from asking, seeking and knocking for the sake of our plans, projects and pleasure, to asking the Lord to reveal God's plans to us, seek to understand the way that God has prepared for us and knocking to open the right avenues so that we may journey on with love, towards hope and trust in the loving providence of the Lord. 

A Return to hope... the sign of the Saving Word

THE WORD IN LENT - Wednesday, First week of Lent

March 12, 2025 - Jonah 3: 1-10; Luke 11: 29-32

Yesterday we were presented with the theme of the living Word of God that does not fail to produce its fruits! That may leave us with a question still: but how is that in spite of this unfailing Word there is so much left undone - there is evil in the world, the evil persons seem to thrive, there are innocents suffering, there are things that are so far away from what God really wills for us! How do we really believe that there is something called God's will? The world goes even to the extent of asking, so is there a God? If so, what is the sign?

Jesus today tells us - no sign shall be give except the sign of Jonah! That is the point of discussion today: the sign of Jonah. What is it? It is the sign of the Saving Word. The Word saves, but when? When we are ready to receive it. Hence the sign of Jonah consists of three dispositions.

The first is to open our hearts and listen to the Word. What can the Word really do, if not received? Let us recall the parable of the sower... what can the seed do if it is not received?

The second is to discern the saving call of the Word. The Word, it is not enough merely to listen to it, it has to be acted upon. Discern, decide and act upon the Word. If we only listen, we are deceiving ourselves, isn't that what Jesus said?

The third is to trust and keep trusting in the Word. At times we may be tried with troubles and crises. What we need to do is not looking out for some one or something to hold on to... but remain with the Lord, trust in the Word and keep living it; we shall experience the saving grace of the Lord. 

We need to remain in the race, keep running and complete the course, come what may on our way, and the crown awaits us without doubt - that is the sign of the Saving Word. 

A Return to hope - to the roots of interiority

THE WORD IN LENT - Tuesday, First week of Lent

March 11, 2025 - Isaiah 55: 10-11; Matthew 6: 7-15

The pilgrim journey this lent, the return to hope, has to begin with the identification of the real roots. The Word has been instructing us this, the past two days and today outlines to us where one of our real roots lie - the Word, the life giving Word, the Word of the Lord. 

Our words have to be the expression of our innermost selves. There is a poignant call today to look at our words, not just words articulated but words that lie around in minds and in our hearts. They are indeed the manifestation of the core of our beings. The first reading draws attention to the fact how the Word of the Lord becomes the extension of God's self, going out there and "creating" what is intended! Thus should be each of our words - they need to become lifegiving, creative, generative! 

Words that are not meant, the words that are wrongly utilised and the words that are spurted from the most flimsiest of our emotions, are most often highly degenerative. They create wrong effects, to beging with, within ourselves and then in those who are around us. The Word of the Lord is presented to us as the model and challenge - how they are manifestations of integrity, because they come from the innermost Being of God, from the Most Integral Being that we can imagine - after all, integrity is holiness.

For us too, if the words that we utter or those which we do not finish uttering, come from that interiority, they shall be profound, they shall be life-giving, they shall reflect our root: the unfailing Word that God is. This is where the prayer that Jesus teaches us today finds itself situated - Jesus begins by discouraging us from using words unnecessarily! The Prayer of "Our Father" that is taught today by Jesus, thus contains a profound sense of integrity, as it requires be said from the core of our selves, just as the Words of the Lord about which we hear in the first reading - every phrase in it, has a profound element to add to our faith and identity. 

The call is simply to a greater interiority; to mean every word we say, to say only what we mean and this grow in the integrity of our interiority... that is essential holiness. 

A Return to hope - Identifying the real roots

THE WORD IN LENT - Monday, First week of Lent

March 10, 2025 - Leviticus 19: 1-2, 11-18; Matthew 25: 31-46

The Word has initiated us into a line of thought and reflection from yesterday, and this perspective will continue to present itself right through this week - returning to hope is returning to our roots. The journey of returning to our roots begins with identifying the right roots, because in the process there could be some illusions and delusions that we need to beware.

Let us begin with the easiest of ways pointed out to return to hope and to return to our roots... it is doing good. I call that easiest, not because it does not cost anything. It does cost. We shall have to apply ourselves and sacrifice ourselves to do good...but comparing to those which are coming further in a while, this is the easiest... in the realm of doing. We think, we decide, we set apart our resources and our energy and do something good to others!

Getting further, the step is, to declare why I am doing the good that I am doing. Of course, now you understand why I called the previous one, the easiest. It is not so easy to declare why I am doing the good I am doing - first of all, I need to realise it myself; that requires being highly reflexive. Secondly, I need to be sincere to myself, to recognise and affirm what I have realised. And thirdly, to declare it to the others. Most of the times, with all the refraint from being too judgemental, we do good to others, for our own sakes - may be for good name, for some returns, for a blessing from the Lord... the motives could range from those simply selfish to those highly spiritual. 

The third step is, to look at the call to be good rather than restricting ourselves to doing good! That is a totally different level: being good, being holy, being godly - because the One who has called us wants us to be so! Be holy, be good... the doing has to essentially flow from the being! That is our true roots - the Most Holy Being - that is God, who has called us to be holy, to be good, because God is good; God is Holy. 

A RETURN TO HOPE - TO THE ROOTS

Remembrance, Recognition & Resilience 

First Sunday in Lent - March 9, 2025

Deuteronomy 26: 4-10; Romans 10: 8-13; Luke 4: 1-13

The Lenten call is always to return and in this jubilee year of hope, it is a return to hope that we are called to. Yes, we have begun our jubilee lenten journey to Return to Hope and the Word on this first Sunday of the season, invites us to go to our roots! That is a radical return indeed, returning to the roots and finding our hope there! 

Returning to hope is returning to our roots because it is a matter of remembrance! Recalling and Reaffirming how good God has been to us, is the most fundamental way to return to our roots and that will certainly take us to a sense of hope. The Creed that we proclaim habitually, be it in the solemn eucharists or in our daily prayers, is a tool to this call, to remember, recall and reaffirm what God has been to us. Today in the first reading we have the creed of the people of God and in the second reading the creed of a Christian... if we carefully observe them, they are but a recalling of the goodness of the Lord. 

This is a challenge for most of us, because when we are through a crisis situation or in a dilemma of judgement, we tend to think of what has gone wrong, who is to be blamed or what justification I could find for something that did not go well or did not go as it should! The Word instructs us today - look back to the good things, magnificent things, unbelievable things that God has done - whether in person or as families or as communities. That is what the prophets did to the people whenever they had to get back to God - they reminded them of the glorious past. The Spiritual Masters too tell us that - go back to your beginnings, when you face the temptation of losing focus. The generations shall call me blessed, because the Lord has looked with favour on me... isnt that the lesson taught to us by our Blessed Mother!  

Returning to hope is sincere recognition of what we are, with all the graces we have received and all the shortcomings that we have fallen into. The recognition is of the goodness of the Lord, without doubt. But above all, it is the recognition that, that good God is with me all the time. It is the recognition of the presence of the Lord with me which is the highest of poles that can direct me to the sense of hope in life. We see Jesus today confronting the devil - what we see standing out in Jesus is certainly not a egotistic self-promotion nor an arrogance of an elitist mentality; it was a total recognition of who was with him, knowing well his own vulnerability but along with that the purposefullness of the One who had sent him. That was the root, which filled Jesus with resilience. 

Returning to hope is a manifesting the grace of resilience  in all its senses...those who believe in him will have no cause for shame, cites St. Paul. Asking the Lord today to be with us, in our distress (responsorial psalm today) is a subtle teaching that we do not desist or detest distress or hardships in life, they are bound to come. Resilience teaches us not to be caught up with the fears of failures or judgements of the rest of the people around me. It teaches us to place our trust in the right place - in the roots, that is, in the Lord who is just at a call's distance away. 

Rediscovering Hope in life, is physionomically a return, a return to the original glory and splendour; that indeed is essence of the lenten call. And this times, being the year of hope, we are called to remember the hope-giving moments that we have had with the Lord! We are called to recognise the continuing goodness of the Lord and grow in our resilience in our daily life.   

A Return to hope... following the Way

THE WORD IN LENT - Saturday after Ash Wednesday

March 08, 2025 - Isaiah 58: 9-14; Luke 5: 27-32

"Show me, Lord, your way," we pray in response to the Word today - because it is inevitable that we know the way in order that we could return to hope. Hence, the call today is to know the way, choose the way and walk the way. 

Knowing the way, is possible because the Lord reveals the way to us - and Jesus declared it in clear terms: I am the Way. The block that rests preventing us from knowing the way, or getting to know the way is, more than ignorance, arrogance  which makes me think that I have nothing more to know. The human tendency today is this, that with the little that we know, we think we know everything and we feel we are self-sufficient. We miss the truth in the bargain. 

Choosing the way, is the crucial transitionary phase - most of the times we know the way, and the way will certainly lead us to that experience of salvation and hope, provided I choose that way. Let us look at those phrases today in the first reading - "if you do away," "if you give your bread," "if you refrain," "if you consider Sabath delightful," "if you honour the priority of God"... these are direct indications of the importance of a choice, choice of the way we know very well. We know what is the way to peace, to serenity, to hope and to an experience of salvation - but what matters is that we choose it!

Walking the way, refers to the decision, the commitment we are ready for in response to the call that the Lord has for us. Two important things that we could pay attention to here are - one, daring to say the initial "yes" to the Lord which includes saying so many no's, just as it is explained be it in the first reading, be it in the Gospel; the second, the moments when we become aware of our shorcomings - when we falter, fall, tremble or doubt - to tell ourselves, that our Saviour knows it all! He came not to call the just and the righteous, but the sinners and those who are struggling. The call remains unchanged even in the midst of our failures, to regain our confidence, to recommit ourselves and keep following the Way.

A Return to hope... fasting unto holiness!

THE WORD IN LENT - Friday after Ash Wednesday

March 07, 2025 - Isaiah 58: 1-9; Matthew 9: 14-15

Fasting is an integral part of almost all religious traditions; even within our Christian tradition, it comes right from the ancient roots of the first testament... with people who fasted to show their allegiance to the Lord! While it is a renowned way of showing one's choice to stand for a cause in the socio-political sphere, as a spiritual practice it is an exercise of manifesting one's commitment to the Lord. It is here that the interpretations begin to differ - making the central question, "what does the Lord want of me?"

Jesus answers that question today, as John's disciples align themselves with the Pharisees and accuse Jesus' disciples of not fasting! Why should they fast, is the question that Jesus poses and that takes us to the question: why should we fast? We need to fast unto holiness; yes, if my fasting in someway does not lead me to holiness, that fast is meaningless, senseless and needless.

Fasting could be of varied types: 

- there could be an egoistic fast which helps me to show everyone and to myself that I am capable of extraordinary feats and take me to the arrogance of despising others who do not fast, become insensitive to others and consider myself more special than anyone else. This is an ungodly fast;

- there could be a legalistic fast which makes one a legalistically and ritually perform something out of fear of something untoward or out of pride of being a perfectionist. Everyone who does not practice it is judged drastically and the one who practices places himself above and over everyone else. This is an inhuman fast;

- there could be a symbolic fast which makes me feel vulnerable, weak and in want, but helps me participate in the suffering of the Lord, which I wish to remember. It is a way of realising my worldliness and from that thought trying to liberate myself from many a shackle that might bind me. It need not be too drastic in its measure, anything simple could make me feel this spiritual experience, if it is done with authenticity. This could be appreciable and helpful, but for Jesus it is not sufficient; this is a spiritual fast;

- there is what could be called a fast with integrity, which Jesus and Isaiah teach us today: the fast that place God at the centre and in God, the others who are suffering, who are in need, who look to me for some solace! Hence my fast has to be one with integrity, that looks to reach out to the other, promotes justice and compassion, stabilises relationships and enables me to journey towards holiness; that is the hope-bound fast! That is fasting unto holiness!

A Return to hope... is a deliberate Choice!

THE WORD IN LENT - Thursday after Ash Wednesday

March 06, 2025 - Deuteronomy 30:15-20; Luke 9: 22-25

We are on a journey, a pilgrimage, on a return to hope... but this return does not happen all on its own. It has to be a deliberate choice, or a set of deliberate choices! Hope is an assurance of the blessed and divine end that God has prepared for us, there is no doubt about it. Because the Lord has prepared the banquet of Salvation for each of us, but equally true it is that I have to make my choice for that! It is not automatic for certain. 

Choice, therefore is the fundamental expression of true faith. If I have an ongoing relationship with God, if I truly believe that I belong to God, if I think that I need to stand for what I believe in before the world today, I need to manifest that through my "choice", my "choices"! The first reading today presents us this experience of life - to choose between life and death, between blessing and curse, in summary, between good and evil. 

A further attention that is required of us is that we become conscious of our choices and the quality of those. Choosing good, especially today, could be tricky! The question raised immediateòy would be, "good, for whom?", "good in what sense?" There are numberous situations where persons claim that they are choosing what they think is good, but finally we are left at bay whether it is "truly" good!

Jesus has a clue, how we could ensure we are always choosing the really good, the right thing... the secret is to choose what is good in the eyes of the Lord, for me. That is why he says, choose your Cross! One who wishes to follow me, let the person pick up his or her daily cross and walk behind me. Our journey has to be a choice. Our pilgrimage, our return, has to be fundamentally a choice, a choice for good, a choice for life, a choice for God!

LENT 2025: A Return to Hope

THE WORD IN LENT

March 03, 2025 - Ash Wednesday

Joel 2: 12-18; 2 Corinthians 5:20 - 6:2; Matthew 6: 1-6, 16-18

We begin the most precious of the liturgical seasons today - the season of Lent. 

My way of interpreting LENT is - Living Enthusiastically the Need to Transformation. First and foremost this transformation is certainly not an one-time event, but a life long process. A season like that of Lent, is a loud reminder of the original journey and the need to get back to the right itinerary, cost what it may. Today, beginning this season for this year, we are left with three key words to dwell on: Return, Hope and Journey!

Return - that is the overwhelming call, not only of the Word today but of the entire season that we begin today. Return, is not just a new turn, but a re-turn... a coming back to the origins, a resuming of the original state. That is why, the return is actually a reinstatement - where we give God the rightful place, give the other the rightful place and give ourselves the rightful place, in our daily lives. 

Hope - that is the key for this year, the Jubilee of Hope. Hope is the crux of the experience of Resurrection. If that is what we are preparing ourselves towards, in and through all that we are involved in this season, then we need to dwell on it, everyday all through this season. We are called to find the source of this hope, for ourselves, for all those who are around and especially for those who have lost it or are on the verge of losing it. 

Journey - that is the leitmotif of the Jubilee... as pilgrims, we are all on a journey. Reflecting on the symbol of Hope, the anchor, comes to us as a powerful symbol. Thinking of it  we cannot but think of the vessel that it is meant to hold firm, nor can we miss thinking about a voyage, a journey and on this journey, we are not alone - there are so many "other"s and above all there is the One who calls us to this life! 

Let us begin this journey, a return to hope, a hope that the Risen Lord alone can give. Let us fix our gaze on him, as we embark upon a journey of return to the Lord, return to the core of our beings, return to the nature with which we were created, a return to Hope! .  

Rewards of the Just Judge

WORD 2day: Tuesday, 8th week in Ordinary time

March 04, 2025 - Sirach 35:2-15; Mark 10: 28-31

That the Lord is just, is not always a convenient fact for us. At times even the best of things that we do, may not really be deigned as good owing to the intention that is behind its doing. We may act kind to someone, expecting something in return. We may try to please someone because we wish to obtain a favour from the person. We may close an eye to a fault of someone merely because we like the person and make a mountain out of molehill just because we may not like the person. 

All these, are not factors that are known to an apparent eye; but the Lord knows them all. The Lord knows us through and through. Considering that the Lord is judge, the rewards may not be always what we like or enjoy, but the rewards will always be a means of enhancing the goodness in a child. 

In simple words, what we do is important; but why we do what we do and what we want to achieve through what we do... these matter a lot more. I am not what I do, but I am what I think, as and when I do whatever I do!