Death rather than sin

May 6, 2025: Celebrating the Teenage Saint - Dominic Savio

Dominic Savio is called the boy with a will - yes, he was just a boy, but a boy with a great will, a great consciousness and a great conviction.

There were three things that made a great impact on Dominic Savio and drove him towards his extraordinary Sanctity.

1. His Name: Dominic knew what his name meant. It meant that he belonged to the Lord. That is why when he met Don Bosco he said, it would be a shame if he did not live a life worthy of the Lord, having a name so profound. How many of us are serious about the name that we have? How many of us know of the Patron who is given to us due to our name?

2. His Guide: Dominic instantly clung on to Don Bosco when he met him. He found in Don Bosco a sure guide to sanctity, though he met him only when he was 12. Even before he could meet Don Bosco, he had taken his famous motto, 'Death rather than sin'. But he saw that Don Bosco had a special role to play in his attainment of sanctity. Dominic was very serious about it and Don Bosco acknowledged it and accompanied the teenager all the way. Do you feel the need of a Spiritual Director? Do you have an ardent desire to journey towards sanctity of life?

3. His Desire: Dominic wanted to be a priest. His devotion to Eucharist right from when he was a 5 year old boy, and later after his communion when he was just 7, and later when he met Don Bosco in 1854, he was determined to become a priest and serve the Lord. But the Lord willed it differently. Dominic's desire to become a priest, gave him a perspective for whole of his life. How many of us have clear understanding of what we wish to grow to be. Do we seek to know God and orient our lives accordingly?

When Dominic was just 7, as he received his first communion, he set himself this axiom: Death rather than sin. How much have we learnt God's will for us? This is God's will: your sanctification (1 Thes 4:3), reminds us St. Paul. Will we dare to say with this young boy: death rather than sin - that's the question to you and me!

A chip from the same block - the image of Christ

WORD 2day: Tuesday, 3rd week in Easter time

May 06, 2025: Acts 7:51 -8:1a; John 6: 30-35.

When we hear or reflect about the suffering that Jesus underwent, about his endurance of passion, his capacity to surrender into the hands of God, his capacity to forgive etc., we tend to retort within us saying: "but after all, he was son of God! he could bear that!" That is a heretic way of thinking, we need to be very careful about it! 

Yes, Jesus was the Son of God but he was a human person and fully so. He was not appearing to be a human being, he WAS a human being. As the letter to the Hebrews says, he was like us, a human being in everything! That is infact the most challenging part of our faith. That Jesus lived our life, he went through all that we experience ourselves: feelings and temptations, sufferings and anxieties, irritations and all of human realities. The challenge is that we live in his footsteps. The early Church was highly conscious of this call and we have today in the first reading the fruit of this. 

The first reading today presents to us, the first martyr Stephen - he was a chip from the same block as Christ. The apostles performed miracles and healings, just as Jesus did and of course the Word records them all. But as death, it records only that of Stephen, because he died like Christ! Just like the apostles lived like Christ, Stephen died like Christ! There is a special call in this - to imitate the life of Christ, life-project of Christ and the life style of Christ, right upto death. Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ, said St. Paul...who was standing there as young Saul and watching Stephen die! Oh what beginnings the Church had! 

Do we carry the same spirit within us today, as people of God - the spirit of Christ? When we do, we shall not only imitate Christ, we shall become alter christus, another Christ... that is what we are called to be: to be a chip from that same block.

To Shine in the Lord

WORD 2day: Monday, 3rd week in Easter time

May 05, 2025: Acts 6:8-15; John 6: 22-29

His face shone like an angel. But they decided to kill him all the same! They saw the great works and words that Jesus had but they ran after him only for the food they could get. At times we kill the things that pertain to God not only by being against them but by even not being attentive to the true spirit of it. Unwittingly we kill Jesus, in our words, deeds and attitudes without even being conscious of it- however, the effect is equally bad.

In fact. it is easier to ward off dangers from the quarters that are known to be contrary to us. But the more dangerous ones are those that seem to take a neutral stand within us and amidst us... they can be real spirit dampeners and blind leaders. Called sometimes as 'sleeper cells' these days, there are elements that do not fit into our way of thinking, that come into our lives and slowly change our very way of thinking, being and acting. This is the kind of leaven that Jesus warned us against. 

That kind of a phenomenon can be seen, not only in the society but also within each of us. That is what we need to be careful about - because it is the work of the evil one. It is said, that the tempter, the devil, does not use things that are abhorrent to tempt us, but things that are pleasing, things that seem acceptable, things that seem "natural" and "not harmful", to begin with. Looking for Jesus, to be fed by him, or to see the great magical things that happen around him, was not anything bad. But Jesus observed right through them, there was something that was happening... on indeed something that was not happening. The people were attracted to him, but were not really ready to change themselves, taking up their personal conversion seriously.

The Jews and Chiefpriests, saw all that the people saw; nothing changed them. In spite of seeing the face shining they were not ready to change their minds or not ready to go deeper and find out what makes it shine! However, we are called to shine, to shine in the Lord. Be illumined by the Lord, be transluscent, to allow the light of the Lord to pass through us and make us shine out - in our thoughts, words and deeds - witnessing through out personal transformation and fundamental surrender to the Lord and the Lord's ways. That is the call that we all have: to shine in the Lord!