The Spirit of Extraordinary Courage!

WORD 2day: Tuesday, 7th week in Easter time

May 18, 2021: Acts 20: 17-27; John 17: 1-11

We see both Paul and Jesus in a parting mood; Paul is sensing an imminent trouble and Jesus is sure of a fast approaching end. But both have a sense of having completed the task given to them. I have glorified you on earth and finished the work that you gave me to do, says Jesus praying to his Father (Jn 17:4); Paul is seen to be speaking of finishing the race and having done the task of proclamation entrusted to him. 

Besides this parting sentiment, both have a note of passing on the mission to those around them - Paul to the presbyters and elders, and Jesus to the apostles.They both are seen to be challenging the followers, to a life of commitment and endurance. And here it is that one thing can be found common to both cases of encounter that ensures the continuity: the One Spirit, a Spirit of extraordinary courage.

The same Spirit that was in Jesus, he gave to his apostles, to Paul and then Paul to the elders...the Spirit of courage and strength. As Paul would explain in 2 Tim 1:7, the Spirit of power, of love and of self discipline. Power, which makes us fearless; love which makes us feel for the others; and self discipline which enables us to do the will of the One who calls us, come what may!

Amidst difficulties and struggles, oppositions and spirit-dampening events, with persons around who wish our downfall and our discouragement, if we have to go on with courage and strength, we cannot do it by our efforts alone! It takes what the Spirit can offer us: courage and strength, power and authority, love and empathy, and composure and serenity! This is what we need to learn from Jesus, as did Paul. Let us continue our journey, preparing ourselves to celebrate that Spirit of Extraordinary Courage, promised us by Christ.  

The test of time - Endurance!

WORD 2day: Friday, 2nd week in Easter time 

April 16, 2021: Acts 5: 34-42; John 6: 1-15

One term that unites the two readings today is the term, "test." Jesus himself is tested with such a big number to feed. He tests his disciples with a task given them. And in the first reading we have Gamaliel setting up a test of time for the believers! All of these are tests that bring out the quality of Endurance. 

Jesus could have very well said, let the people go and find their own means of food, after all they came on their own; they were not obliged to come! Won't we do that, when we plan some activities for others or in ministry? But that would have been on Jesus' part, an escapism! When Jesus asked the disciples where they could buy bread for the crowds, they could have easily said it wasn't possible! Or later in the Acts of the Apostles, when they were threatened and jailed, the disciples could have, at the first instance said, why should we break our head over the salvation of these people! That would have been shirking the responsibility given to them. As a community the first Christians could have remained calm, quiet and comfortable within their small circle loving each other and fending for each other. But that was not to be the case!

If Jesus were to have taken an escapist mode of reaction to the situation, or the disciples the shirking mode, or the first believers a comfort seeking compromise mode... we would have nothing of what we believe and belong to today. The revelation of the limitless love of God in the person of Jesus, the Christian community that experienced that love and handed it down to the generations, the prophetic presence of the Church, as the sacrament of God's salvific love - these are grand signs of a simple decision that Jesus, the disciples and the community took - to endure the test!

Endurance is the time tested virtue that enables us to stand the test of time. The Martyrs of old, great saints in history, the holy ones of our times, all of them stand proofs to one fact: Endurance helps faith mature and endurance is a mark of a mature faith! Our faith is true, strong and alive, only in as much as it endures, especially the test of time!

Waiting... but how?!?

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

August 27, 2020: Remembering St. Monica, the Mother who waited!

1 Corinthians 1:1-9; Matthew 24: 42-51

The Word today brings out the all important spiritual practice of Waiting. Waiting is a daily-life experience for most of us, if not all of us. When we look at it from a larger perspective of Spirituality and life changing experiences, it can be of three modes depending on the disposition with which a person waits.

Utopian Waiting, is a kind of excited waiting. It is more or less like a child who is waiting with excitement for a Christmas gift from the Santa. There is so much of dreaming and planning about the gift. The gift is opened and admired and experienced, all in imagination or at the mental plane, even before it reaches the hands of the beholder. Here there is so much of noise made about it though no one is absolutely sure what it is all about. About waiting for the Lord too, there are people who do this, aren't they?

Slumberous Waiting, is a kind of inactive waiting, just waiting to kill the time till it all happens. There is nothing much done about it, or practically nothing, because the person waiting does not expect anything spectacular at the end of it all. There is a kind of indifference and cynicism, even a bit of pessimism! There is nothing new under the sun and what is going to be has always been, they believe. They feel they have nothing much to accomplish and there is so much of compromise and lethargy here, that when it really happens they are hardly prepared!

Spiritual Waiting, is a  kind of wholesome waiting, which lives the present moment with a holistic mindset that contains within this particular moment the gratitude for the past and the hope for the future! It is a kind of spiritual disposition that is sincere and genuine about the present life, with all its responsibilities and trials, joys and difficulties, without belittling what has gone before and what awaits. It is fundamentally living one's life to the full, serenely waiting for the plan of eternity to unfold in all its grandeur. 

St. Monica whom we remember today, was a mother who waited, waited with such spiritual fervour for her son to come back to the Lord. And when it happened, it was so glorious, that we shall be celebrating once again tomorrow! May be Monica offers us an inspiration, at this time of crisis characterised by an uncertain waiting, to make it a spiritual exercise, living every day to the full, in union with the Lord who stands by us unceasingly. 

CRISES WITH CHRIST - Part 1

Facing CRISES WITH CHRIST on our side 

Life is to be lived happily – do you agree? It seems so obviously agreeable, given the insistence of the world today on maximum comfort, optimum pleasure and absolute convenience. But looking at things from a Christian purview of life, this may not be an indubitably right perspective of life.

What then would be right? Can it be then, that life is to be suffered through? Sounds so inhuman, doesn’t it? Is the author of life, God, so heartless a Being to create and programme life as a course of bitter suffering and endless pain - and just these and nothing else? Again, a perspective that is holistically Christian cannot subscribe to such a negative vision of human life, which could lead to aberrations ranging from a naïve sadism to an ultra-rigorous asceticism.

The truth stands, not merely in the midway but, in an altogether higher plane: life is to be lived to the full. That is what the Saviour declared as the very purpose of his human advent: I have come that they may have life, life in all its fullness (cf. Jn 10:10). Life in its fullness would mean, life considered in all its dimensions and facets: sufferings and joys, victories and trials, happiness and doubts, celebrations and crises! It is the adroitness with which a person is able to face both the extremes of life’s sway, that the fullness of his or her living can be judged. Not losing one’s perspective amidst felicitous moments and not fumbling for meaning at life’s staggering instances are equally signs of living one’s life to the full.

The sanitary crisis that the world has plunged into in the past half of the year and the lockdown experience that has augmented the concomitants of the pandemic and made itself a multi-dimensional crisis of humanity, revealing its ugly tentacles clutching the economic, social, international wellbeing of humanity. It is here that a Christian reflection on such an experience becomes an important Gospel that needs to be announced these days. In simple terms, how could we live this lockdown with the Lord, is a pertinent question today. In a wider vision, it has to be a reflection on how to face crises in life with Christ on our side.

This reflection cannot but begin with the Cross – the centre and the summit of all Christian experience. Is Cross a sadistic or rigouristic symbol, that the world could dub as a block to human happiness and joyful existence? Is it all about pain and death, giving up and enduring injustice? Certainly, these would invariably be an outsider’s uninformed and unschooled views on the Cross, which is veritably not merely a symbol, but an event, a watershed, a succinct summary of the relationship between God and human persons, from Christ’s point of view. But for a Christian?

The Cross stands for faith in love. For God so loved the world, that God sent God’s only Son to die on the Cross, that everyone who believed in him could be saved (cf Jn 3:16). The Cross or the sufferings of Christ were born out of love that God the Father and Mother had for humanity, that is, for God’s children. Secondly, the Cross stands for love that is manifested in self-giving. The life, suffering and death of Christ were his manifestation of his love for his brothers and sisters, those whom he wanted to reconcile to the One who sent him. After all, did he not declare, ‘there can be no greater love than one laying down one’s life for one’s friends’ (cf Jn 15:13)? Thirdly, therefore for Christ-ians, the Cross stands out as a reminder of the call to a life that is lived in the Lord. St. Paul summarised that in his testimony: for me to live is Christ and to die is gain (Phil 1:21). These perspectives on the Cross throw an enormous light on the way we live our life these days with the crisis at our doorsteps, for some unfortunately right within the household!

Pope Francis’ words, recorded into a compilation recently published titled, Life after the Pandemic, recalls to us: “if we act as one people even in the face of the other pandemics that threaten us, we can make a real impact […]. May we find within us the necessary antibodies of justice, charity and solidarity. We must not be afraid to live the alternative civilisation of love […]. In this time of tribulation and mourning, I hope that, where you are, you will be able to experience Jesus, who comes to meet you, greets you and says, “Rejoice” (Mt. 28:2). And may this greeting mobilise us to invoke and amplify the Good news of the Kingdom of God.” Truly hope giving words from the Pontiff who made the whole world turn its eyes to the empty Square which was filled that rainy evening with the joys and hopes, the griefs and the anxieties of the entire humanity! The world has tried to move on from there, but has not succeeded to a great extent in it. The crisis seems to persist and its aftereffects seem more threatening than ever. The Pandemic still hanging around, how do we handle it, in a Christ-like mode?

The term pandemic seems to contain within it a related reaction: panic! It seems a natural and immediate reaction, but to say the least: the most un-Christ-ian at it! Where does panic come from? From fear; fear which is absence of security, absence of knowledge, absence of light, absence of clarity – in short, fear which is absence of love. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love, says John in his epistle (1 Jn 4:18). Let us not give into the temptation of judging the so-called preachers and evangelists, who dare so doltishly to interpret this pandemic as a punishment on humanity and its wiles. Steering clear of those credulous claims, we need to remain calm, but vigilant, during these moments of disease and danger, because we have the Lord with us, come what may! The storms may blow, the arrows may fly and thousands may fall all around us, and some even on us, but the presence of the Lord is always with us and if we truly love the Lord, we have the assurance: ‘all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to God’s purpose’ (Rom 8:28). To panic is to doubt, to abandon the ever-present love of God.

Another related outcome, again alliterative with pandemic, is pandemonium! This is by far what is created by some, who unfortunately find themselves in the driving seat of the societies today! Pandemonium is simply a lack of order, a confusion, a chaos, an anarchy that arises out of a lack of logic! Stigmatising socially those who are infected with COVID-19, refusing burial grounds, overreacting to news and numbers regarding the disease, believing in myths and illogical rationale, promoting false propaganda with no proper grounds, blame game of the governments and officials, callous oversimplification of serious issues involved – have we not seen all of these in the past months? Apart from demeaning the rational capabilities of the homo sapiens and questioning the very existence of common sense, these have been from a Christian point of view, lack of compassion and horrendous acts of denial of human dignity! While we are reminded to never tire ourselves of doing what is right (2 Thes 1:13), these are diametrically opposed to what is good, what is true and what is acceptable in the eyes of the Lord (Eph 5:9-10). Creating or giving into a pandemonium, can never be a Christian response to a crisis in life. Where Christ is, there is light! Where can one find a possibility for pandemonium here?

Link:
https://indiancatholicmatters.org/icm-anniversary-special-facing-crises-with-christ-on-our-side/

THE FULLNESS THAT SATISFIES

Are we ever satisfied?

August 2, 2020: 18th Sunday in Ordinary time
Isaiah 55:1-3; Romans 8: 35, 37-39; Matthew 14:13-21

You open your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing! The hand of the Lord feeds us; the Lord answers all our needs. Lovely words that we pray at the Responsorial time this Sunday. How good it would be if it were true in every sense!

Are we ever satisfied? Why all the bickering among the richest on the planet, everyday trying to outdo the other in business and trade - because they do not have what they need? Why all the political ploys and underground scheming among the rulers and the leaders - because they they lack the basic wants? Why all the craze among the richest medical facilities and pharma firms even amidst this pandemic to make the most of the people's plight - because they have to feed their empty stomachs? Why all the border disputes between already vast nations and sovereigns - because there is a matter of life and death? Even within each of us... why all the fret and frenzy in our daily life - because we have to ensure the next square meal? 

If only we pause, calm down and ask a few questions to ourselves, we shall come to know so many things about ourselves, so many things that we needlessly think about, so many decisions we unnecessarily take, so many activities that we go about without realising its futility, so many important values we dump for worthless substitutes and so many treasures that we have covered with the sludge of the so-called conventions of the society around and walk on them lamenting our miseries! 

The Word this Sunday presents us with three questions:

What is the Lack?

Recently we reflected from prophet Micah those words: you shall eat, but not be satisfied, and there shall be a gnawing hunger within you; you shall put away, but not save; you shall sow, but not reap; you shall tread olives, but not anoint yourselves with oil; you shall tread grapes, but not drink wine (Micah 6: 13-15) - does that not seem the experience of many today? We strive and strive, but are never satisfied. We struggle with all our lives, but we never feel fulfilled. But stop, think a while... what is the lack? what is the real lack? Lack of things? Lack of resources? As the Lord asks us today, why do you spend all that you have, on something that does not satisfy you? What is the real lack?

The real lack is the lack of knowledge: "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge", cries the Lord through prophet Hosea (4:6). The lack of knowledge is destroying us all; it is destroying humankind; it is destroying the entire universe! The lack of right knowledge, the lack of right thinking, the lack of right choices, the lack of right priorities - this is the lack that is killing us all. Just as the Lord felt it so badly, while he was speaking to that woman at the Samarian well, "if only you knew"... yes, if only we knew! If only we knew the real lack that is in our hearts... if only we realised the real lack that is there in our families... if only we accepted the real lack that affects the society and humanity as whole today...we would be in a better position! If only, we knew what really satisfies! That leads us to the next question we need to ask.

What really satisfies?  

Fullness alone! Nothing else can satisfy us. We think "more" of something will satisfy us. It cannot. More will never be enough! More can never satisfy us. We think of increasing something, hoarding up something, stacking up, stocking in....nothing will satisfy us truly. It is fullness alone, that can satisfy us. More pleasure... will it satisfy? No, it will lead to more of it. More wealth... will it satisfy? That is not what we see, those who have more, look for more. More power... will it satisfy? Not until there is someone who still is not subdued. "Give me more," the world cries... but after that? There will only be more cry for more, and more, and more! Only one thing can satisfy...fullness. Imagine a cup immersed in a tub of water... do you think, it is filled? No, it is in fullness, it does not need to be filled. 

Fullness alone can satisfy us. Jesus feeds that crowd of people, with such serenity and calmness and all their frenetic anxiety earlier wondering how to feed and where to get food for so many, just vanishes into thin air. They did nothing to remove that anxiety. They just allowed themselves to be in the presence of that Fullness. The Fullness filled them; the Fullness fulfilled them. Fullness alone can fulfill us too. How much we need today to learn to be still, to be still and know that there is Fullness around! 

Where is this Fullness?

Yes, the Fullness satisfies, fulfills, heals, calms... it is true. But where is this Fullness, some can ask. Where is this Fullness, when we are suffering; where is this Fullness when we are so battered by disease and death; where is this Fullness when we are so broken and helpless before forces that are totally out of control? It is again this lack of knowledge that makes us fret. It is a wrong question to ask, where is this Fullness - because we are in the Fullness! Just imagine that fingerling who asked her mother fish, 'mamma, but you said you will show the ocean... where is it?'  

It is such a redundant question to ask, where is this Fullness, because we are in the Fullness, we are surrounded by the Fullness - that is what the Lord said: for I am with you till the end of times. Nothing can separate us from Christ, declares the second reading, because we are part of Christ and Christ is part of us. Now, this Fullness that satisfies us, how does it do?  

Fullness invites us from within, to come, eat and drink from God's love, from God's generosity, from God's compassion. In moments of need and struggle, in moments of our crises, the Lord reminds us of Jehovah Jireh, the God who provides, the Fullness who satisfies.

Fullness has chosen us from before the foundation of the world, never to part from us. Just as the disciples tell the Lord that they could send the people away, there are so many things in life that wants to send us away from the Lord... our weaknesses, our sufferings, our temptations, our wrong choices. But the Lord insists, to stay on. Yes, the Fullness remains, because God has chosen to remain with us forever. That is the covenant: I shall be your God and you shall be my children.

Fullness remains with us whether we are conscious of it or not. Nothing separates us from the Lord except our decision to keep ourselves away from Him. In our need, in our troubles, in our struggles, in our concerns...the Lord promises to be with us and provide us with every bit of care we need. Not even death... nothing except our free choice to leave God, to go against God, can separate us from God. That places the entire burden on our part to remain with the Lord.

The Fullness remains, never to part from us. If we choose that Fullness, we shall be immersed in that Fullness...and nothing can separate us: neither death nor life, no angel, no prince, nothing that exists, nothing still to come, not any power, or height or depth, nor any created thing, can ever come between us and the love of God made visible in Christ Jesus our Lord, the Fullness of the Image of God, the Fullness that loves us and remains for ever with us! This Fullness alone can satisfy us! 

God with us - in thick and thin!

WORD 2day: Friday, 14th week in Ordinary time

July 10, 2020: Hosea 14: 2-10; Matthew 10: 16-23

this sign in Indian tradition is called the Abhaya Mudra ,
the Lord assuring God's unfailing and protective presence

"Straight are the paths of the Lord"(Hos 14:10), declares prophet Hosea today. Straight, and therefore tough. Straight and therefore no compromises. Straight and therefore no confusions! Everyone knows the ways of the Lord; everyone knows what is acceptable to the Lord and what is not; it is made known by the Lord to every human person in their innermost self. No one can say, I was not aware that this is the right thing to do! Of course, every one knows it or at least has the possibility of getting to know it.

Further reflecting, the words of Jesus in the Gospel are quite frightening as we find Jesus trying to warn us against being good, against choosing the ways of the Lord and being God's disciples or apostles of the Word. He does not promise any prospects, instead persecution. He does not announce any offers, instead oppression. He says it very clearly that we will have to suffer for his sake, for the sake of the Word and for the sake of the Reign of God.

Each one knows what is good and what is right...and while choosing it, there is going to be problems and trials - unfortunately we know that too! Come to think of it: one knows saying the truth is the right thing, but doing it, he or she knows the consequences of being isolated; one knows being honest and sincere is the godly thing to choose, but he or she knows too, that it will only bring loss and lag, while the rest of the dishonest world seems to march ahead in victory and glory! So choosing God's ways seems to bring nothing desirable! 

Now listen to Jesus who assures the consolation of the Lord, the consoling and affirming presence of the Lord with us, always and everywhere. Because what we have chosen is the way of the Lord, we are certain to find the Lord present with us all the way. The way might be filled with pitfalls and climbs and hurdles and thorns and thistles... but we are sure amidst all these, the Lord walks with us, the Lord speaks on our behalf and the Lord acts in and through us. What a mighty consolation we have: in thick and thin, God with us!

Spirit of power, love and self control

WORD 2day: Wednesday, 9th week in Ordinary time

June 3, 2020: 2 Timothy 1:1-3,6-12; Mark 12:18-27

We are given the Spirit of power and love and self control, not a spirit of timidity! We have just celebrated the coming of the Spirit...but the Word always warns us - we need to discern the Spirit. It is an obvious fact, seeing in the world today (or any day) the so-called 'spirit'ual people who act in a way that is so ungodly, so inhuman, so unbecoming of the title they pride in. 

In fact, a spirit of negativity reigns in the world today, a spirit of death and darkness, a spirit of discouragement and hopelessness, a spirit of nothingness and pessimism, a spirit of vendetta and a spirit of exploitation is seen prevalent everywhere. 

The question is: what is the Spirit that we have within us? The spirit that we see around and imbibe? Or the Spirit of the Lord that liberates and sets us apart? The Word invites us today to take a look at the Spirit with which we are filled as true sons and daughters of God. Are we going to be lost in the spirit of  negativity and squander our lives finding fault with others all the time? Are we going to be pessimistic about everything that is happening around and start lamenting our times? 

If we are truly sons and daughters of the Almighty, truly disciples and followers of Christ the Master, truly filled with the Spirit of the Lord, we would dare to stick our heads out, gird our shoulders and get ourselves ready to live our life to the full without wasting our time in criticism and judgments of others. I cannot be bogged down by the negativity of the other; I cannot be influenced and affected by the callousness of the other; I cannot become that which I criticise in the other; because I am filled with the Spirit of power, love and self control, not that of timidity and fear!

The Storm and the Calm

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

February 1, 2020: 2 Samuel 12: 1-7, 10-17; Mark 4: 35-41

"It is you!" - the famous finger of God against David, is the picture we are left with today by the Word. The Lord loved David, but David slipped into godlessness; however, when God pointed it out to him, like an inamorata clinging back to the beloved after a split, David comes back with remorse and love so tenderly balanced. 

It takes a special grace to recognise and accept it when one is convicted by the Lord. The Lord knows our innermost thoughts and even our motivations, and hence even a choice or action that seems 'good' in the eyes of those around, need not always qualify for the 'acceptable' tag in the eyes of the Lord. But it takes that illumining grace to see, understand and accept the truth.

It is another experience of grace to respond in an appropriate manner to a fault pointed out. Even when David realised he had sinned, he never panicked or never gave into guilt... he felt sorry and bounced back to the love of God, because he knew and he was convinced that the Lord was with him and the Lord loved him above anything else.

The storms may rage all around us, but we can still remain calm if only we realise the Lord is with us and the Lord loves us above all else. When Jesus woke and rebuked the sea and the storm, he did not rebuke only them. He also looked at the disciples and made them realise how foolish and faithless they were. Aren't we sometime like that, if not most of the times?

When the Lord is for us who can be against us? The Storm and the calm go side by side for an authentic Christian! Let us be calm... let us be still and know the Lord.

Demons don't dare compare!

WORD 2day: Thursday, 2nd week in Ordinary time

January 23, 2020: 1 Samuel 18:6-9,19:1-7; Mark 3: 7-12

As Jesus chases the demons away from the persons possessed with them, the demons acknowledge the Son of God and give him the rightful place. Not even the demons dared compare themselves with the Son of God. They knew, any comparison would only make them more frustrated than they were. 

It is one thing that they did not want to compare with the Christ, the Chosen one of God. But today we find persons so blatantly calling themselves the saviours of human kind, the direct incarnations of Godhead and so on! Let us beware of these caricatures! But there is another point more fundamental here - the demons did not dare compare themselves because they knew there were no point in it. 

Saul failed to learn this lesson and that spelt his doom. He compared himself with David and forgot the good that he himself was able to do with the help of God. In the mind to compare, all that he could think of was that David was overtaking him...he failed to understand he was still the king, though he did not deserve it. We miss out so many gifts we possess, so many of them so undeserved, when we give into the temptation of comparison.

In our daily relationships there is a huge damage done by our tendency to compare. Comparison is a poison and it will surely kill you someday. And remember, even demons do not dare compare!

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

22nd July,  2015: Remembering St. Mary Magdalene 

Exo 16: 1-5, 9-15; John 20:1-2,11-18

Weeping blinds you...Listen and Look!

They had seen the waters standing high,  they had seen those plagues and the way the Egyptians were buried alive in the waters... but here they are once again weeping and complaining.

Mary of Magdala loved Jesus intensely. She had encountered and experienced Jesus in such close quarters but now standing right beside him she is unable to identify him;  because she is too occupied with her weeping and complaining.

At times in our lives when troubles come by and trials abound,  we fumble and falter as if we are all alone. We fail to recognise the Lord who sticks so close to us,  because we are too busy weeping and complaining.

If only we opened our eyes and saw;  if only we opened our hearts and listened;  if only we believed in the words of the Lord,  "I have conquered the world"... we would leap for joy and love to cling to the Lord. Mary Magdalene gives us a clear message: stop weeping;  weeping blinds you;  look, listen and you will leap for joy, for the Lord is with you now and always!

WORD 2day: 28th May, 2015

The splendid gift of truly seeing!

Thursday, 8th week in Ordinary Time

Sir 42: 15-25; Mk 10: 46-52

To truly see the nature and observe all that it points to, to truly see the creation and the creatures and all the marvels they possess, to truly see the process of change and rejuvenation inbuilt in the nature and drink in their splendour, to truly see all that happens around one and sense the lessons that they offer... it is a splendid gift! Not all do possess it.

Today, we can without exaggeration join Bartimaeus and ask the Lord that we may see, see truly, observe clearly, listen intently, understand deeply and find the splendour of God's presence with us and within us. Without God's grace we cannot see God's presence and receive God's directions for our daily life. To see a teary eye and read the helplessness in it; to see the troubled spirit and hear the cry for understanding; to see the disturbed minds and understand the yearning for true love, it is an essential and lovely gift that we can ask God for: the splendid gift of truly seeing!

WORD 2day: 11th November, 2014

My real worth: where do I get it from?

Ti:2:1-8, 11-14; Lk 17: 7-10

Where does one's real worth come from? From merely your age or the social status that is offered to you or from the great successes that you parade to the world? As a person your true worth comes from within you, say the readings. 

It comes from within, meaning, each of us understands what one is called to, what our commission is and live it on a daily life, without making a fuss out of it. At times we do a little that we do, and go about trumpeting it all around. Worse still some times 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 from 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 (Lk 17:10). 

WORD 2day: 9th September, 2014

Conforming to whom?

1 Cor 6: 1-11; Lk 6: 12-19

Do not be conformed to the standard of this world, but be renewed in spirit and create a counter culture, reminds St. Paul in his letter to the Romans (cf. 12:2). In today's first reading he chides the Corinthians for their behaviour which was no different from that of the others. He does not denounce them for the disputes they have, but loses his patience with them because they are not able to handle that dispute among themselves. It was a clear sign of the absence of something that was essential to their identity, according to St. Paul: mutual esteem inspired by love. Instead what dominates here is mutual competition provoked by ego. It is a reality, obviously, even today in our faith communities where there is an un-Christian understanding of authority and inhuman practice of domination! 

Aren't there churches which are closed down because of factions? Haven't there been clashes between different groups within the same community of faith? Aren't there leaders disrespected or rejected or maltreated just because of some differences, however flimsy and fiery those differences may be. The call is clear... as a son or daughter of God in Christ's footsteps, to whom do you want to conform? 

WORD 2day: 16th June, 2014

That extra mile!

1 Kgs 21: 1-16, Mt 5: 38-42

Jesus presents to us the most impractical of all his teachings... showing the other cheek, giving more of what you are deprived of, and walking that extra mile with the one who tries to take advantage of me. This was in fact the teaching that inspired the "satyagraha" movement of Mahatma Gandhi.

The first reading presents us with the exploitative element that is always present giving us the opportunity to practice our virtues and attain our salvation. At times the evil around us threatens to take the better of us, but the Word today reminds us of a fundamental attitude we are called to: "do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good" (Rom 12:21).

That we can identify ourselves as disciples of Christ, we are expected to be spiritually prepared to allow ourselves be taken for granted without letting the goodness within us go down the drain; we are called to be who we are regardless of what others are! It is ofcourse difficult and demanding...but that alone can make a difference in the world - that extra mile.

WORD 2day: 16th May, 2014

To be God's begotten

Acts 13: 26-33; Jn 14: 1-6

Let not your hearts be disturbed! That, according to Jesus, was the sign of Faith, faith in God and faith in God's only Son. Though we know that Jesus is the Incarnate Son of God, the real glory of his existence is seen in the fact of Jesus' obedience to the Father. As St.Paul would point out in his letter to the Philippians (chapter 2), it was because of his total obedience that Jesus was given the name above every name, that every knee shall bow and every tongue confess his Lordship. Even God almighty declares, "You are my beloved Son, today I have begotten you!"

Faith, Obedience of Faith... could be considered high sounding words, but for us on a daily basis, it is but doing the will of God. Taking our duties to heart despite the discouragements, putting our heart and soul in the well being of those around us in spite of the possible ingratitude, putting the Lord first and at the center of all that we are involved in ... these are some concrete ways of doing the will of the Father. When we are upto it, surely we will hear it said of us, "You are my beloved child, today I have begotten you!"

BEING SAINTS

1st November, 2013: All Saints Day

O when the saints, 

go marching in, 

I want to be in that number! - 

... a simple but profound thought in those familiar lines of the song. To be saints: that is God's call to each of us. At times we think, becoming saints is reserved for a select few. May be the long and tedious process of canonisation of a person in the Church, makes us feel that way. But the fact is, each of us, all of us is called to be saints. St. Paul states that in clear and unequivocal terms in his letter to the Ephesians (1:4), Thessalonians (1 thes 4:3), and other places. 

The question sometimes is, whether it is, being a saint or becoming a saint! We are created in the image and likeness of God (says Genesis 1:27) and this image and likeness of God is a "given", a nature that we have within us, as a gift. We are reminded of this image and likeness at our baptism. All the we need to do is to remain with that image in our lives. The beautiful symbol used in the rite of baptism, where the priest hands over a white cloth to the child and entrusts the task of bringing it, as it were, unsullied, intact in its purity to the end of days.That, dear friends, is the call - "to be saints"...and not merely to 'become' saints.

The readings today, develop the same thought in three wonderful dimensions:

Being Saints means... being aware of who we are! O Christian, realise your dignity! We are children of God, reminds St. John in his letter, in the second reading. God has chosen us from eternity, before the foundation of the world! This is an initiative from God our Father and Mother, who creates us and wishes that we share in God's love and ever remain in God's image and likeness, as children of the loving God.

Being Saints means... being washed by the blood of the Lamb! The Image of God within us, sometimes is disturbed, smudged, smeared or sullied by the choices we make misusing the human freedom that is granted to us. The evil one will be more than happy when we lose heart at such moments and give up. The Son of God, our Saviour Jesus Christ shed his blood that we may have victory over sin and death. In that blood we are saved, and in that blood we are made clean, each and every time we turn to the Lord in genuine repentance and willingness to regain our original image. Saints are those who have their garments washed in the blood of the Lamb, says the second reading.

Being Saints means... being 'blessed' in the eyes of the Lord! And the only way to be 'blessed', is to live by the promptings of the Spirit who dwells within us. Paying attention to the indwelling Spirit, we will know what it means to be blessed - to be poor in spirit, to be meek, to hunger and thirst for righteousness, to be merciful, to be peace-loving - these are ways of being persons of the spirit. In the ordinariness of our daily life, we have to be persons of the Spirit, looking at the reality different from the way the self seeking world teaches us to. 

God's initiative in the call that I have received; Christ's redeeming act of Salvation; the Spirit's indwelling presence that guides me on a daily basis - these are compelling reasons why I need to think seriously about, not merely becoming a saint one day, but being a saint everyday, in my own way!

WORD 2day

31st October, 2013

Nothing can separate me from the love of Christ; no one can separate me from the love of God in Christ Jesus - the most energising words of St. Paul. St. Paul, the apostles and the first Christians learnt this from Jesus himself. If God is for me, who can be against me - that was the confidence of faith that defined the courageous choices that Jesus made. Neither Herod, nor Pilate, nor the high priests or the chief priests, nor the impending death, nor the rejection of the crowd - nothing mattered to him, because he knew that the One who sent him, loved him! However, there is warning for me today: there is only one who can separate me from God's love - Myself; there is only one thing that can separate me from the love of Christ - My ego! If I choose not to belong to God, if I choose to reject God's love, I separate myself from God. How much God wishes to gather me into God's arms, but I rebel!!!

WORD 2day

5^th August, 2013

Discouragement in the life of a disciple – a moment to take stock and bounce back! Moses feels overburdened today, with the weight not just of carrying the people along, but of their obstinacy not to perceive all that is so good and blessed around! The signs and wonders notwithstanding, the people decide to be unhappy and never to be convinced of the goodness that surrounds them. As a disciple in ministry sometimes, all the good that is done and all the troubles that are taken seem to be ignored and much worse, interpreted wrongly! We see this discouragement in every person of God – apart from Moses presented today, Jeremiah (20:14-16), Paul, ... the great prophets and disciples experienced it – Jesus was no exception. Today we find Jesus, withdrawing to a secluded place after hearing the execution of John the Baptist. As if to have been reminded of his own fate to come, Jesus resorts to a time of solitude with the One who has sent him! Discouragements in our life too can be made moments of blessings if we opt to spend those moments with the right persons – first of all with God, who is always with us; then with persons of God who are given to us as reminders of God’s presence! When they are utilized well, as moments to take stock, we can bounce back into action with a renewed spirit, as it happens with Moses, who grows so strong in his rapport with Yahweh who stood by his side all the while; like Jesus who comes up with the feat of feeding the multitude, as Yahweh did in the desert! Discouragements are part of the package of our experiences – they have something to tell us, something to offer us. If we are ready to wait on the Lord, we will surely gather every bit of the blessings in store!