Growing in Christian Faith: An Unfailing commitment to Unity

THE WORD IN LENT - Saturday, 5th week in Lent

March 27, 2021: Ezekiel 37: 21-28; John 11: 45-56

 

The readings today seem to give us a clue to understand the mission of the Son of God. As he himself announces, it is to gather into one all the dispersed children of God, dispersed geographically, spiritually, economically, politically and in every other way. Jesus is identified to be the son of David, promised in all eternity to gather not merely the two nations (Judah and Israel), but all dispersed children of God into one. 

That is the call that Jesus our Master has passed on to every disciple of his. We are called to be agents of unity and harmony, uniting people in love and building a humanity that is joyful. If we are against such unity, even though merely in thought or merely in a few single instances, we can be certain that we are not in line with the mission of the Saviour. He would say, 'if you don't gather with me, you scatter!' (cf. Lk 11:23; Mt 12:30). 

 

It is saddening to see some, even within the Church and within the category of being the shepherds of the flock, spreading division and hatred, sometimes. How hypocritical of those persons to call themselves people of God, much worse, shepherds of the people of God! The Spirit of Christ unites and if I have the Spirit within me, I have to unite! 

 

The only division that can be is the division between the good and the evil…nothing else is a division that comes from the Spirit of the Lord. And if I think of justifying, that is why I wish to divide from those people who are evil, who gave me the right to ‘judge’ a person as evil. Sin is to be shunned, not sinner. Division cannot be justified in the sight of the Lord.

The real question is, how committed am I to true peace, harmony, love, and thus to unity?

From Sickness to Wholeness

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

February 11, 2021: Celebrating our Blessed Mother of Lourdes

Commemorating the 29th World day of the Sick

Genesis 2: 18-25; Mark 7: 24-30

Man-woman, we-they, rich-poor, high-low... these categories of daily consideration of people, things and events is something to be consciously transcended. Jesus himself receives a bit of a lesson from that Syro-phoenician woman. 

At times people are apprehensive about interreligious dialogue or multi religious initiatives of unity and harmony. They prefer to look at the other as different, separate or even contrary. If we truly mean what we say and what we pray: I believe in One God - then I need to become more and more proactive and look at the reality as One Humanity! 

Divisions and discrimination are sins; they are a sickness, a sickness that has affected human persons right from the beginning and tries to control them all along. It makes humans sick... sick in their vision of the other, sick in their relations with the other, sick in their conception of the world and sick in their attitude towards others and everything else.

Celebrating Our Lady of Lourdes today, we are inspired to thank God for the great gift of her person and the fullness of grace that she possessed. And not just we in the Church, but even the world at large remembers as the world day of sick persons. Receiving the apparition at Lourdes, Bernadette said, 'The Mother said, I am the Immaculate Conception.' Immaculate Conception was a manifestation of God's fullness in the person of Mary, the wholeness which the Blessed Mother intercedes for. Especially these days when the whole world is tired of battling against the pandemic that is more than a year old, we need the sustenance of our Blessed Mother. 

From sickness to wholeness, or healing - that is the journey we are called to make today. Not just sicknesses of body, but also sicknesses of the mind - such as divisions and discriminations, sicknesses of the spirit - such as sinfulness and spiritual laziness, and sicknesses of all sorts. May our Blessed Mother strengthen and sustain us in this journey, from sickness to wholeness.

Love - the light of life

WORD 2day: 5th day in Christmas Octave

December 29, 2020: 1 John 2: 3-11; Luke 2: 22-35

Hatred, violence, vengeance, aggression and terrorism abound today in forms varied and vicious. The talks of conversion and reconversion rob faith of its fundamental essence. The underground efforts, the camouflaged agenda and the strategic polarisation that happen make religion and spirituality quesstionable. 

The readings today give us a clear cut criterion to judge who is right and who is not. The one who loves one's brothers and sisters is in light. And whoever says he or she is in light, yet hates one's brother or sister, is still in darkness (Cf. 1 Jn 2: 8&9).

Jesus the light can never cause hatred or division. The light literally makes things lucid and nothing can escape - there can be no pretentions, prejudices or presumptions. Everything has to be candidly seen, discussed and decided upon. Especially, the internal motives of actions and decisions, render the person and the process involved, integral or not! 

There can be people who claim to be interpreting the Light but causing divisions and hatred and rivalry. Let them be certain, says the Word, that they are still in darkness. Let love, the light of life, guide us on as we come to the close of this year!

Becoming One people of God

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

January 27, 2020: 2 Samuel 5: 1-7, 10; Mark 3: 22-30

The call of the people of God is still the theme of the Liturgy... it continues from last week and the reflection on Sunday. The first reading presents to us the scene of the people of Israel being consolidated into One under David, the chosen one of God! The Gospel presents to us Jesus' longing to gather everyone together into one fold as children of God. Elsewhere, in the Gospel according to Matthew we would see this longing of Jesus when he says, "how often I have longed to gather you together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing." (Mtt 23:37) 

Oh, how much our insensitive and self centered attitude renders our Christian life meaningless, pointless and a farce! We judge people, demonise their good will, begrudge their well being, and as a consequence ruin the others' happiness and our own inner peace. It's high time we learn to see God in others, instead of demonising them; that we begin to love people instead of judging them; that we see the glory of God in the well being of the others. 

We see the attempts to demonise Jesus by the hypocritical religious leaders to keep the people from following him. Jesus dialogues with them, tries to put sense into their pride filled, egoistic minds... how would he succeed when they  are not really ready to open their hearts! Our hearts need to listen to each other, only then we can become ONE PEOPLE OF GOD. 

Even if we do not approve of another person's thoughts and actions, we need to at least give them a patient hearing, open listening and a genuine chance to present themselves. That would be truly Christian - and when we do these, surely the faithfulness and the mercy of the Lord will ever be with us!

MERCILENT 2016 - 13th February

BE SHINING: Conform not to the world but to the Lord

Saturday after Ash Wednesday

Is 58: 9-14; Lk 5: 27-32

Let your light Shine, bids Jesus. This 'shining' is not to project our own selves but to show the way to the rest of the world. It is not about hogging the limelight, but leading the world by example. While the world would look at a person as a tax collector, a sinner, a trespasser, a male or a female, some one important or less important, the Lord would see every one as a son or a daughter, someone so lovable and someone belonging to the Lord!

When I begin to see everyone as God's beloved, I begin to see the point in reaching out to each and every one of them, in the way each one needs. The world's categories such as, useful or not, worthy or not, feasible or not, do not mean anything in the categories of the Lord. The more we conform to the Lord the more we get to realise the folly of the order that the world has created for itself, not addressing each one by their utility. When we refrain from this utilitarian logic...the Lord, the Lord's perspective and the Lord's will are the essential prerequisites to Shine! 

The Mercilent Attitude for today: Shine; let the Lord shine through you.

WORD 2day : 16th November, 2015

Becoming one. ..but which one?

Monday,  33rd week in Ordinary Time
1 Maccabees 1:10-15,41-43,54-57,62-64; Lk 18: 35-43

Personally I stand much for interreligious dialogue and inculturation of faith. Some persons have found fault with me at times saying, 'you stand for interreligious dialogue and inculturation, but you do not allow such and such a thing. Is it not a discrepancy? '

It is important to realise what is an integral process of dialogue and inculturation. If only 'all becoming one' is the objective, then today we should be comfortable with what is happening around... all, in every field, everyone is becoming one in their selfishness and self seeking tendencies! It is our call to become one, but which one? Becoming one as a humanity, bound by true and wholesome values, standing for real freedom, dignity and solidarity, that is our task. That is what the Reign is all about.

Today, I am attending a funeral of a salesian priest who was born a Hindu but due to a wholesome dialogue found his meaning in the Catholic tradition, inculturated it and lived a life that was beautiful and integral. He never judged anyone but found his personal meaning and went all the way in living that meaning. That requires an eye of faith; let us cry out for it and the Lord will grant us! 

WORD 2day : 12th February, 2015

One God;  One Humanity
Gen 2: 18-25; Mk 7: 24-30

Man - woman, we-they,  rich-poor, high-low... these categories of daily consideration of people,  things and  events is something to be transcended. Jesus himself receives a lesson from that syro phoenecian woman.

At times people are apprehensive about inter religious dialogue or multi religious initiatives. They prefer to look at the other as different,  separate or even contrary. If we truly mean what we say and what we pray: I believe in One God - then I need to become more and more proactive and look at the reality as One Humanity!

YEAR OF CONSECRATED LIFE #6

It's Love allover again!!!

30th Sunday in Ordinary Time: 26th October, 2014

Exo 22:20-26; 1 Thes 1: 5c-10; 22: 34-40

"What is the central theme of the readings this Sunday?" asked a friend of mine. And when I replied, "it is about loving God and loving your neighbour", instinctively he sighed: 'oh the same love allover again!' Some times we might sound totally redundant speaking of love. In fact the fact is, in Jesus' message, Love is the sole dominant theme, and everything else is only a footnote to it.

Love spoken of in today's Word, as ever, is not a mere sentiment or a feeling! It is a choice, a concrete choice for good. It is a serious matter of the HEAD. It is a decision made, a rationale adopted, a perspective that affects all other decisions and choices in life. The ultimate good is God, hence love is basically a choice for God! Loving God with all my heart, with all my soul, with all my strength, is the basis of this choice for good. I choose good, because I choose God. How foolishly contradicting it would be to say I choose to love God and therefore I kill or harm my brothers and sisters! Is the choice really coherent? Is the choice really rational? Is the choice really good or Godly? Choosing God, is choosing the absolute good; it is choosing life not death; it is choosing the other not the self, that leads us to the second dimension.

Love is a choice for the other, a matter of the HEART. It is only through the heart can we place the other before us, because it is only through the heart can we hear the unsaid sorrows of the other; it is only through the heart we can see the unseen pains of the souls; it is only through the heart we can touch the unexplored depths of a person! Love has to be a concrete choice for the other, specially the afflicted, suffering 'Other', who cries out from the agony of the everyday life. Can we open the eyes of our heart; can we sharpen the ears of our heart; can we extend the hands of our heart... yes...

Love is a matter of the HANDS... it is a choice to act, to act on behalf of the needy. Love cannot remain a mere sentiment, it has to be translated into concrete decisions and transforming acts, on behalf of the needy. The first reading lists the widows, the orphan, the children, the poor, the needy... that is a broad indication of a whole lot of persons who are close to the heart of God: the exploited, the enslaved, the maltreated, the manipulated, the oppressed... It has to be active, affecting the life of the person who claims to love and transforming the life of the one who is  loved!

Love is the crux and the essence of Christ's message and it will never be redundant. Specially seeing the world that is growing increasingly selfish and menacingly might-oriented, love will ever be wanting and if you and I do not offer it abundantly wherever we are, it would be a serious deficiency of God in the world today!

WORD 2day: 25th October, 2014

Let us Grow Up!

Eph 4: 7-16; Lk 13: 1-9

The first reading today will lend itself so well for an interdenominational war and a catholics-protestants feud, one calling the other a human trickery and deceptive scheming. Let us grow up dear friends! St. Paul challenges us to grow into the full stature of Christ and that is nothing but love. Let us grow in love, love for God, love for each other, a patient acceptance of each other and loving fellowship of brothers and sisters. 

How long would we go on calling each other names and breaking the Body of Christ into non negotiable bits and pieces? If we go on like this, Jesus says that twice in the Gospel today: 'you will all perish!' It's high time we realise our call to grow up and bear fruit. God has given us enough and more chances. Let us equip ourselves, not with offences and defences, but with arms of love and feet of generosity. Let us prune our ego and till our arid hearts. Let us sow seeds of love and reap the fruit of brotherhood and sisterhood. Love is our identity and nothing else is: by this they will know that you are my disciples, by the love that you have for one another (Jn 13:35). There can be no worse scandal than a divided Church and of course, there can be no better proclamation of the Gospel than a loving and united community of faithful, who live together as brothers and sisters, one in the Lord and in the Spirit!

WORD 2day: 13th September, 2014

Differences, disputations and dialogue!
1 Cor 10:4-23; Lk 6: 43-49

We live in a world of pluralism today. Not just we in India, but almost every one all over the world lives in a context and culture of pluralism. Everyone finds one's neighbour different, different in his or her creed or convictions or value systems. In such a situation, what should be a true Christian disposition? Can it be one of disputation, debate or delirious defence? The result would range from a kind of disrespectful cynicism to a hateful dissent. Are those fruits proper to a tree that is Christian? How can anything be its fruit other than love:  for by this they will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for each other.

If so, what would be the right disposition? Compromise? Relativism? An anything-is-ok mentality? No, Never, says St.Paul in today's first reading. Between Controversies and Compromise, there is something called Comprehension. That, that alone, is the need of the hour today. An attitude of mature Dialogue.

What is the use of talking so much of God as love and of Christ's teachings of a forgiving and forbearing love, if we dont begin to live it? Will we not be foolish builders, building our beach side castles? Let us form ourselves into solid bulidings of enduring love and never failing faith, that we may teach the whole world the lifestyle of true love.

CELEBRATING BLESSED MOTHER TERESA

The love of Christ urges me, is a fitting one liner for the life of Mother Teresa of Kolkata. Born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu, she chose the name Mary Teresa in admiration of St. Teresa of Lisieux, in 1928 when she entered the convent of the Loreto Sisters in Ireland. In 1929 she travelled to India, since when it became her second home. Making her first profession in 1931 and her final profession in 1937, Calcutta (today's Kolkata) became her epicenter from where she would shake the world to consciousness. She began teaching in the famous Loreto school which stands till date proud to have given the world a giant of pastoral zeal and Christian charity. She was appointed the Head Mistress in 1944 but within hardly 2 years, she would have the life transforming "call within her call", which would change her forever from Sister Teresa to Mother Teresa! It was, as she notes, 10th September 1946 when she heard that piercing cry from the suffering Lord: "I Thirst"... and she began to thirst. Soon she found herself out of those walls of Loreto, from the safety of those building into an open air school, from the well formed daily schedules to endless wanderings on the street, from being a Loreto nun to being the foundress of a humble and simple order called 'Missionaries of Charity' in 1948. The rest is history! 

Let us draw lessons from this great person. She struggled to make sense of what God wanted of her, to understand what her faith is all about, to translate the love that she had for the person of Jesus Christ into action and to love everyone with the same love as that of Christ. Let the love of Christ urge us on too.

Will my India remain?

Taylors Road, Chennai, 3rd September, 2014:

Just last evening I had a wonderful experience and I would wish to share it loud and wide. Across our institution, we have a locality where there is a settlement typical of the Chennai city. And amidst the scores of houses that stretch in four different directions, right at the middle stands a simple little chapel to Our Lady of Good Health. For the past 39 years they have been celebrating the feast of our Blessed Mother, with a novena during the days between 29th August and 8th September. September 2, has always been the appointed day for a Eucharistic Celebration to be held at that chapel. Its a mere wayside chapel and has no place even to place an altar inside. Hence usually a stage is set up beside it on the road and an altar placed on it with all due decorum. This year, they had invited me to preside over the Eucharist and I gladly obliged. At the entry of that lane, at the middle of which is the chapel, there is a temple dedicated to Lord Vinayaka (the elephant-faced deity of the Hindus). Incidentally, these days are also the days of festivities around Lord Vinayaka, and as I entered that lane I noticed that temple too decorated splendidly and music blasting away, in the usual Indian style. When I reached the chapel and when it was time for Mass, one of the organising crew went straight to the temple people and informed them that it was time for mass. Instantly, the music ceased! And the Eucharist commenced. It was our turn to blast on the speakers... and then the rest of the festivities continued! Incidentally, it is remarkable to note here that quite a few of the members on the organising committee were hindu brothers! 

It left me thinking last evening and I am endlessly proud of my Indian heritage, a culture of peaceful coexistence and respectful collaboration, a seedbed of authentic interreligious dialogue! Will my India remain the same... how I wish and pray!