LIVE LIFE CHRIST-LIKE - 2

For others, for the marginalised and for God!

February 14, 2021: 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Leviticus 13: 1-2, 44-46; 1 Corinthians 10:31- 11:1; Mark 1: 40-45

Certainly you have heard of this anecdote shared about a lay missionary, a doctor by profession who passed through a village once. He stayed with the people, treated them for their sicknesses, dealt with them with compassion and after a while he moved on to the next village. The wonderful memories of that doctor never left the minds of that village. After a couple of decades a missionary preacher came to the same village. He began talking to the people in the village squares and market places. All that he asked them was: "Do you know Jesus?" Many said, 'No' and moved away. One old man stopped and asked him: "alright, tell me what kind of a man is that Jesus you are enquiring about!" The missionary was indeed waiting for that question. He began: Oh, he is kind, he is loving, he is compassionate, he is caring, he deals with the sick with such love...he was intending to go on, but that old man stopped him. "Now, if that is the man you are talking about, we know him! He passed by our village some 20 years back!"

We are called to reflect on living our life Christ like, for a second consecutive week! The message is same as last week: to live like Christ. And the readings today highlight three attributes to a life that could be Christ-like, taking the cues from Christ's life.

Christ lived for Others: Today the atmosphere would be filled with red vibes, as many frenetically celebrate the valentines day! How many messages about love - defining what it is, describing how great it is, demonstrating how much one is immersed in it. Love does not need so many commentaries. It can just be understood in that simple classical definition: love is wishing the good of the other. Placing the other before myself, genuinely interested in the other's well being...that is love. 

Christ was love personified. He lived his life for others, entirely. He had no comforts, no protection, nothing that was his own. He was candid in telling those who wished to follow him, that it meant to own nothing, not even a place to rest one's head, if they were to follow him. Living totally for others, for the people of God, is the essence of a life that is Christ-like! Are we prepared? Or are we, even in the so-called service to the others, seeking our own name and fame, and glory and gain?

Christ lived for the Marginalised: Pope Francis has a concrete, unavoidable point to make, when he repeats : Go to the periphery! He invites us to live life Christ-like. Today's first reading tells us where the persons with leprosy lived: ostracised, in the peripheries, in the obscurity of humanity. If they were able to come to Jesus, it actually means Jesus went to those peripheries, those margins of the society. Jesus was often found in zone which were not meant to be traversed by a Jew like him, a teacher like him and a man with such following like him. 

Jesus reached out to those in need, those in agony, those in the periphery. It is easy to love people who deserve our love; it is easy to love people who will love us in return; but it is Christian to love everyone, even those from whom we will receive nothing, not even the recognition of our love in return. Are we prepared? Or are we in the name of love, looking for our own pleasure and satisfaction, warm feeling and sense of being accepted and affirmed? Is our love truly reaching out, to those who really need it?

Christ lived for God: When a reporter commented to Mother Teresa, looking at the dirtiest tasks that she was involved in, like washing the wounds and wiping the puss: 'Mother, even if they gave me a million dollars I would not be able to do this!', the Saint of Kolkata seemed to have responded: 'Even for a couple of those million dollars, I would not do this. I do this for the Christ whom I see in these faces'. Whether you eat or drink, do everything for the glory of God, invites St. Paul. 

Christ did all that he did, said all that he said, was all that he was, because it was God's will for him. "My food is to do the will of the One who has sent me!' he declared. He lived it till the end - not my will but yours be done, O Father. That is the lesson for us too - to live our lives for God, in keeping with God's will, constantly striving to know what is God's will for us and dedicating ourselves to it, despite the inconveniences and discomforts - because we are convinced that we are called to live for God. Are we prepared? Or are we looking to make our life as comfortable as possible, giving into compromises of all sorts?

Living life Christ-like, is challenging indeed. But if we strive with all our heart, sincerely and humbly, we too will be able to tell the world as did St. Paul: Be imitators of me as I am of Christ! (1 Cor 11:1). Will I ever grow to that level?

The Spirit of Courage and Hope

WORD 2day: Friday, 28th week in Ordinary time

October 16, 2020: Ephesians 1: 11-14; Luke 12: 1-7.

The Word today brings out a crucial theme for these days - the Spirit of power and love and self-discipline (cf. 2 Tim 1:7), with which we are sealed, which brings freedom to those who belong to God. Where does this Spirit of courage and hope come from? From a life that is lived founded well on Christ like convictions and absolute commitment. Jesus brings that out in radical terms in the Gospel. 

Do not fear, do not be afraid... Jesus repeatedly assures us not to be guided by fear. When we are guided by solid convictions and not convenient compromises, when we are taken up with absolute commitment to the life's tasks entrusted to us, we will be truthful to God who has created us, chosen us in Christ and commissioned us to be the people of God. That truth will indeed set us free (cf. Jn 8:32). When we live by truth, we will not fear anyone or anything. 

Looking at the crisis of the pandemic around, the rise of fundamentalist forces all over, the irrational hegemony of the moneyed forces in the world, the voiceless struggles of the poor and oppressed, the merciless rampage of the corporates on the economically weaker sections - all these are disheartening issues and predicaments. But a true disciple of Christ, a genuine Christ-ian, a true son or daughter filled with the Spirit, will stand firm in courage and hope! 

We have great and shining witnesses in thousands of martyrs that we have in history, and those that are suffering heroically even today, for the cause of truth and justice! Even if we do not have an opportunity to give our witness in that manner, let us at least stand by these who are doing it - then we shall have a share in that testimony! 

For that we need to be enabled by the Spirit of Courage, that is poured into our hearts, that which we hold on to as the mark of our belonging to God. We will do well to pray for it. 

Want miracles? Here is a project of life...

WORD 2day: Monday, 16th week in Ordinary  time

July 20, 2020: Micah 6: 1-4, 6-8; Matthew 12: 38-42

"To act justly, love tenderly and walk humbly with your God" - Micah presents a project of life in these precise words (Mic 6:8). It is a project that he gives to the people to walk in the Lord's ways and not to weary the Lord with their unfaithfulness and stubbornness. How different are we from the people whom Micah addresses today in the first reading? Aren't we just like the pharisees and the others who were incessantly asking for signs from the Lord? 

Crying statues, bleeding icons, moving crosses... aren't they all time hits of the so-called religious minded people? And today, in the context of the present crisis... aren't we asking continuously the Lord to do something, while it has been the mean human intentions and excessive exploitation of the reality around that has led the whole humanity to varied crises thus far! Should we? 

Of course, for us miracles are a daily feature, because our God is an awesome God. But looking for some strange phenomenon, exciting events and glamorous happenings, is not the "Christ"ian outlook of a miracle. For Christ, the miracle is in the hope that we can give each other; miracle is in the love that we share for every one around us; miracle is the everyday faith in the Lord and the resultant serenity amidst all the din that we find ourselves in. 

Let's resolve to do the right, love goodness and walk humbly with the Lord and we will see miracles all around us, on a daily basis!

The Reign Perspective!

WORD 2day: Saturday, 13th week in Ordinary time

July 4, 2020: Amos 9: 11-15; Matthew 9: 14-17

The times are dull and dreary, the situation is grim and gloomy, the future seems uncertain and bleak, people start talking of a so-called new normal and not returning to the normal at all, there are popular predictions and scholarly forecasts all of them disturbing... these are the kind of feelings that fill our days today... the same are presented in the readings too! But a truly Christian hope is that, there is always a light at the end of the tunnel. The last word is always the Lord's. 

Amos, who has been pronouncing such vehement warnings all this while, at a point comes out with a hopeful projection of the future. In fact, some scholars say, that this part of the text could be actually an interpellation into Amos' text. However, the readings today point to the fact that things can and will change for the better. There will be plenty, there will be justice flowing like river and righteousness like an overflowing stream, in short, there will be the Reign of God established for sure!

The call on our part is that, we should be prepared for it. We should be prepared to have a new mindset, a totally new perspective, an absolutely different value system! Cosmetic changes will not work...patchworks will not be sufficient...little additions here and there, simple deletions at places will not suffice... these adjustments will only make the situation worse, more confused and totally disoriented. What will help is only a radical transformation in Christ. It is what St. Paul would say, 'do not be conformed to this world, instead be transformed in Christ Jesus' (cf.;Rom 12:2); 'those who are in Christ are a new creation' (2 Cor 5:17). And for this we have put on the mind of the Christ (cf. Phil 2:5) and that is a radically new mindset, a totally new perspective, new thinking for the new times, new wine in new wine skins, an absolutely different value system: namely, the Reign perspective!

Doubts or difficulties... till death, with the Lord!

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

July 3, 2020: Celebrating St. Thomas the Apostle to India
Ephesians 2: 19-22; John 20: 24-29


The Feast of St. Thomas could leave us with three lessons to ponder...

1. We are One Church built on the Apostles.
The feasts of every apostle is a reminder of the essential unity that has to exist within the Church. As Paul so vehemently opposes (cf. I Cor 1:10-13), right from the earliest times division has always been a dreaded scandal within the Church. This reality notwithstanding, the divided body of Christ today drains the Church of its witnessing power and evangelical authority. A divided Church is the worst scandal that we can give the world, the Magisterium has repeatedly declared. Instead, a Church with persons of single heart and mind, brothers and sisters who live in harmony, is the highest form of testimony we can offer for the Reign of God. 

2. The Church in India has a special responsibility.
The Church in India, boasting a direct handing over of faith by an apostle, has a special responsibility towards establishing the Reign of God on earth. It is unfair to claim privileges but refrain from the duties that come with it. Every person who has received the gift of faith in this country of ancient heritage and culture, has to stand firm in witness to the Gospel thus received challenging the society towards a holistic transformation, ushering in the Reign of God here and now - through justice, peace, equality and sincere compassion for every other.

3. Doubts don't matter as long as the Lord remains close to us.
Thomas is easily identified with the doubt that he raised about the Risen Lord. He was not only the one who wanted to touch the wounds that nails made and put his hand into the hole on Jesus' side, but he was also the one who said, "let us also go, that we may die with him" (Read Jn 11:16). His personal attachment to Jesus covered up for his obstinacy in not believing readily when the rest of the apostles reported Jesus' resurrection. In our lives too, when doubts assail, when clouds gather over our heads and we tend to be overwhelmed by them, the only thing that can sustain us is our personal relationship with Jesus! Doubts or difficulties, we decide to stay all our life, right till our death, with the Lord.

May St. Thomas show us, and especially the Christians in India, the most fitting way of living out the Gospel in the given context, so that we may be authentic ambassadors of the Reign of God, here and now.

To live by faith is to be just!

WORD 2day: Tuesday, 13th week in Ordinary time

June 30, 2020: Amos 3: 1-8, 4: 11-12; Matthew 8: 23-27

There is a close link between justice and faith, far more closer and incredibly more intimate than the world of popular religiosity can ever imagine! In fact, a faith without justice or justice without the dimension of faith,  would be equally inhuman and oppressive. 

Amos points out to the people that they were living an unjust life because they do not really behold the presence of the Lord who had done so many wonders on their behalf. We become evil, unjust, selfish, blood thirsty and inhuman when we do not realise who we are, from whom we come, what our roots are, where our real treasures are and who is that who sustains us! Realising these, in short, is faith and a real one at that, will certainly challenge us to live just.

Beholding the presence of the Lord is the first sign of faith. At times of trials, when there is a suffering because of our just way of life and at times of temptations, when our mind sights short cuts and the world suggests that as the way of the smart, we need to behold the presence of the Lord beside us and stay calm! Even if we have to face an ordeal because of it, real faith would encourage and empower us to stand for justice and stand with those who are denied justice.

The wind and the storm, the demons and the diseases, they recognised the Lord and bowed down at the sight. The human will and freedom refused to do it and it still happens, when we do not from the depth of our hearts behold the mighty presence of the Lord, in such a simple manner around us. When we recognise it, our life changes, our perspectives widen and we grow more and more holy and just. Indeed, to live by faith is to live just!

MERCY - THE MARK OF A CHRISTIAN

The Identity, the Source and the Embodiment

2nd Sunday of Easter: April 19, 2020
Acts 2:42-47; 1 Peter 1:3-9; John 20: 19-31

This Sunday is liturgically called the Low Sunday which marks the end of the Easter Octave. "A week later" or "eight days later", indicates the Gospel today; it was a week later that Jesus appears to all the eleven, including Thomas and patiently, mercifully and lovingly leads them to true faith. The feast of Divine Mercy was instituted and fixed for this day by the  Pope Saint John Paul II, who was very much attached to this devotion, inspired by the Polish saint Sr. Faustina and her visions.  The central message of this Sunday is - MERCY!

The first reading speaks of how the early community of Christians becomes a mighty witness to the Lord. They were the epitome of the command that Jesus gave, 'be merciful as your heavenly father is merciful'. Mercy becomes their way of life, or rather their renewed way of life. As a mark of being a Christian, mercifulness to each other specially to those in need, becomes the point of attraction for many...and as the reading goes - the Lord added to their number everyday! Mercy is the high point of Christian identity. We do not gainsay that in anyway, but what matters most is how it is lived on a daily basis. It begins with our life at home: with our dear ones, elderly parents, sickly loved ones, troublesome children, rebellious youngsters... how is our relationship? What level of patience and acceptance do we manifest? These days with the lockdown and the quarantine, our patience must have been tested to its limit... what have we discovered about ourselves, about our levels of mercy, towards ourselves and towards others?

The Second reading speaks to us of the Source of mercy, God the father of Jesus Christ who in mercy sent the only Son for our salvation! The Mercy of God is given to us as an example and a scale to measure our "genuineness of faith"! Preaching and believing in high ideals of love and compassion, if we but hate people and divide families, envy others and detest their wellbeing... we are far far away from God, the God of Mercy and compassion. This is one of the loudest messages that Pope Francis wants the entire world to hear - you cannot call yourself a Christian nation, or Christian society, or Christian community and speak of war, division, discrimination, exploitation, retaliation and so on. What a shame to call ourselves 'Christian' and still stick to these terms of thinking and acting. Do you think blaming it on others who provoke such act or attitude, would justify this tendency in anyway?

Jesus' encounter with the disciples after his resurrection manifests a special quality of mercy... it is an encounter that is full of unlimited forgiveness and unconditional love! There is no demand that the disciples have to render an account for having abandoned Jesus at the crucial moment of suffering, for having betrayed him or having denied him!  There is no accusation that they refused to believe in Christ and his resurrection in spite of the numerous times and ways in which they had been taught about it. There is no taking to task Thomas and others who were stubborn in their unbelief even after multiple testimonies! All that Jesus does is, tell the disciples that he was always with them and invite them to be his witnesses throughout the world. That is the Embodiment of the mercy of God in the incarnate Son, the mercy which dwelt among us in flesh and blood and dwells among us today in the Spirit. Mercy, hence, has to be lived today in forgiveness and love; there can be no place for grudge and grievance, envy and slander, cheating and stealing, killing and enmity. 

In a world that is weighed down by exploitation of the weak, domination of the powers, threats of the arrogant, indifference of the affluent, selfishness of the elite - Mercy has to be exercised and manifested in our proclamation of the true Gospel: the liberation of the captives, the consolation of the suffering, the restoration of the exploited and the dignity of every human person. The Joy of the Gospel has to be announced to the whole world, calling the exploiting lot to justice and the exploited hearts to God's goodness.

At a time when persons are used and things are loved, relationships are strategised and families are sacrificed, marriages despised and commitments belittled - Mercy has to take the form of daily forgiveness and authentic love for persons, mutual acceptance of weaknesses and humble admittance of mistakes, loving care of the affected and reaching out to the weak: that is what a family is all about. It is in families that the Mercy of God has to be first infused today. The Joy of Loving each other has to fill this world with the presence of God and the real mercy that upholds personal and interpersonal dignity.

Amidst crisis that we are going through at this moment, let us not forget the various other crises we were fighting already before this COVID-19 episode began - the depleting water resource, the escalating pollution, the fossil fuel issue, the extinction of beings, the imbalanced accumulation of wealth, the deprivation of the powerless and so many others - Mercy has to take the form of loving the creation, every aspect of it, from the perspective of the Creator, the attitude of giving praise to the Lord by caring for our common home... that is true and practical Mercy.

As we celebrate the Divine Mercy of Jesus... let us understand and accept Mercy as our mark of identity as God's own children, the distinctive character of persons who call themselves Christians! Let us be merciful as our heavenly father is merciful, every day of our lives.

Partiality and Privileges - order of the day!

WORD 2day: Thursday, 6th week in Ordinary time 

February 20, 2020: James 2: 1-9; Mark 8: 27-33

It is natural to like those who like me and hate those who hate me! At times when asked, is that alright, we tend to respond with a, "what's wrong in it?" When we like some one or when we recognise someone because they like me or because they appreciate me, I recognise and accept them for the gain that I have, instead of the person that they are. 

It is a materialistic attitude to look at a person in terms of what I will gain out of that person. When this logic is in place, our relationships become calculative, insincere, exploitative and guided by hidden agenda. 

Just because Peter praised Jesus, Jesus did not spare him when he was wrong. Just because the people did not understand him, Jesus did not denounce the people outright. Just because someone is favourable to me, I cannot justify him or her for everything. Just because someone is "useless" to me, I cannot treat the person like a trash. 

Speaking of a 'use and throw' culture today in the world, both present Holy Father Pope Francis and the emeritus Benedict the XVI, denounce as a 'culture of death' and a robbing of humanity of its true dignity. Living as Christians today, when partiality and privileges seem to be the order of the day, these principles have a great role to play. 

Not just today, but every day of our daily life, let St.James' words reecho in our hearts: Brothers and Sisters, show no partiality!

WORD 2day : 19th September, 2015

To see and perceive; to hear and understand

Saturday, 24th week in Ordinary Time
1 Tim 6:13-16; Lk 8:4-15

Jesus draws an important difference between seeing and perceiving, and between hearing and understanding. And he offers us an explanation that is so practical and down to earth. We can refuse to see;  or hardly manage to see; or see but do not really perceive;  or see, perceive and behold!

Just a couple of days back a person remarked to me, 'these days I get to hear so many pentecostal preachers and invariably everyone one of them is speaking of the second coming of Christ. Don't they gave anything else to speak of?' It set me wondering how important a theme it is but how flimsily understood. Today Paul speaks of it to Timothy too. For all that we may believe, Christ is not going to "come", as if he is not here! He said I am with you always. Christ, who is already here with us,  will be revealed in God's own time. Till then it is our duty and our call to see and perceive Christ in every person suffering and every person in need; to hear and understand Christ speaking in every cry for justice and every groan in pain. Then we will behold the Lord when the Lord is fully revealed!

WORD 2day : 1st June, 2015

The Unjust world order

Monday,  9th week in Ordinary Time

Tob 1:3, 2:1a-8; Mk 12: 1-12

An unjust world order is something we see prevalent everywhere. The moneyed seem to be the first class citizens and the rest mere spectators or worse still, victims! There are two characters presented today who neither identified themselves with the rich nor did they get lost in the crowd of insignificance.

One does the maximum on his part to alleviate the misery that is meted out by this unjust order and the other challenges this very order and faces the extreme conditions.

The options remain open to us if we are sincere enough to accept the fact of the injustice that is involved,  dare to face it and stand up to challenge it,  in our own way. Would we be ready to defy the present world order and usher in the Reign as part of our Christian Existential responsibility?

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THE WORD IN LENT -29

To each proper to their need

Fourth week in Lent: Wednesday, 18th Mar, 2015

Isa 49: 8-15; Jn 5: 17-30

Does God love all in the same manner? Ofcourse, God is never partial but what would love mean if it is the same with everyone, everywhere! God's love is specific says the Word today. God's love comes to respond to the need of each one proper to the void he or she experiences in life. A mother's expression of love to a hungry child is feeding it; her reaching out to a frightened child is to caress it reassuringly!  God's love is such, declares the Word today: even if that mother were to forsake, God would never forsake us! it takes special effort to respond to each one proper to their need, at times the needs of each persons vary, at times even clash one against the other! God alone knows the trick of reconciling them and making the right thing happen at the right time. After all, is it not true that, all things work together for good to them that love God, to those who are called according to God's purpose (cf Rom 8:28)? 

WORD 2day: 18th December, 2014

Third Thursday of Advent
Jer 23: 5-8; Mt 1: 18-25

Emmanuel,  our justice

The most challenging of all attributes of God is what Jeremiah notes today: the Lord our justice. It was the experience of God that proved salvific for the people of Israel and it was the same experience that proved their detriment when it was to deal  with their way of treating the strangers, the orphans,  the widows and the helpless.

The Lord showed them his preferential love because they were exploited  and those who exploited he reduced them to nothing. Today the Lord lives,  the Lord lives with us and we are invited to acknowledge that presence of the Lord amidst us. In acknowledging it, we acknowledge the call that each of us has received in the Lord- to be instruments of this special presence of the Lord.

Joseph received the instruction as to how to be that special presence. He carried it  out diligently and secured his irreplaceable niche in the marvellous plan of God.

WORD 2day: 24th October, 2014

Oneness of Vision: Integrity

Eph 4: 1-6; Lk 12: 54-59

Recently discussing their problem with a couple, we could see no way out of the problem no matter how much we tried making sense of what was happening. Finally I had to tell them, 'we can arouse a person who is sleeping, but not the one who pretends to sleep!' It is true: for most of the problems today, it is not that we do not have a solution, but we do not want to arrive at it. 

Jesus give his piece of mind to the pharisees and scribes, because he finds in them the hypocrisy of not choosing things that were so obviously towards the right. Its like a group of people, here in our context, in spite of knowing that their leader was at fault, were making a hue and cry about the leader's conviction. The problems in the world are due to the lack of oneness of vision that afflicts us...each one with a selfish agenda, or groups with unfounded prejudices, classes with insensitive urge for advancement, persons with inhuman tendencies of manipulation and exploitation...these are persons who could not care less about the golden rule. They have a set of rules for themselves and a completely different one for others. These are people filled with discrepancies and disparities, and will be the least likely to enter the Reign of God. Are we in any chance among those in that list?

WORD 2day: 20th August, 2014

A warning and a lesson... BE COMPASSIONATE  

Ezek 34: 1-11; Mt 20: 1-16

The careless shepherds and the sensitive land owner: the readings today present to us a dynamic contrast. It is a warning and a lesson offered together, to every person who has in some way or the other, care over others. It could be pastors who have care over the whole flock of the faithful, or the parents who have the care of children, or the teachers who have the responsibility towards their wards, or friends who have a natural ascendancy over their peers, or employers who have a say over their employees and so on.

The warning is: You are not indispensable and you are answerable! The ascendancy you have is a service required of you. Jesus would instruct those given charge not to lord it over the people (Mt 20:25) and St. Peter would perfectly learn it from his master (1 Pet 5:3). It is a service of love and a task entrusted by the Lord, to be compassionate towards those under our care.

The lesson is: Treat persons for what they are and not for what they have to give you! Whether it was the one who came into the field at the dawn of the day or the ones who came close to the dusk, they were persons in need and persons who had stomachs to feed. The land owner saw what they were and not what they gave him in the form of labour. He gave them all, what they needed at the end of the day to live life at peace.

In both, the warning and the lesson, the Lord underscores a heart that is compassionate. Indeed, that is the identity of the Lord himself.

WORD 2day: 19th July, 2014

Choice! the choice of God!

Mic 2: 1-5; Mt 12: 14-21

Jesus was living dangerously. But he chose to, for the sake of the Reign of God. He stuck his neck out for the poor, for the oppressed, the marginalised, the ostracised, the exploited, the forgotten in the society. He believed that the Reign of God belonged to them. His life was a hope to the least, the last and the lost. 

In this choice Jesus was making present the God of the Old Testament who sided the oppressed, who stood by the just in their struggles and who kept watch over the persons who strove to live according to God's will. The first reading points out the choice of God, the choice for the poor and the suffering. This predilection on God's part distinguished Jesus and the choices he made. His choice was, the choice of God. There apparent and real dangers, and Jesus knew it well.

Nothing could stop him from proclaiming the Reign of God for he knew he had come precisely for that, to establish the Reign of the God of Truth, the God of the suffering, the Lord of the least, the protector of the lost, the hope of the last. Our identity has to be our Choices, may they be forever in keeping with the choices of God!

WORD 2day: 4th July, 2014

Being Godly is being merciful...

Am 8:4-6, 9-12; Mt 9: 9-13

I desire mercy not sacrifice. There is a particular perspective that a Godly person alone can have: the perspective of God. For God, every one is same; every one is a child to be loved. Why doesn't God punish? Why are evil one's not destroyed yet? These are some questions that some always pose! At times we like to see the untoward things that happen as punishments from God... though infact it is we who cause ourselves hurts and injuries. Our God is a God who loves mercy. When we make choices that are inhuman, when we fix priorities that are ungodly, when we act on criteria that are unjust, we drain ourselves of the divine presence that is within us and that surrounds us, because we withdraw from God, hide from our maker as Adam and Eve did in the garden of eden. And the result: famine, famine of the divine presence, famine of the Word, famine of the light of God.

The Lord calls us as he calls Matthew, to leave the table and follow Him; to leave our ungodly priorities, unjust criteria and inhuman choices and follow the Lord. When we follow the Lord, what would matter to us will be mercy, and mercy alone. Being Godly is being merciful. Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy; in God's own mercy, the Lord will deliver God's word to us. There will be no famine of the Word of God; we will be in perfect communion with the Lord! Let us be merciful as our Heavenly Father is merciful.

WORD 2day

27th November, 2013

"The writing on the wall" - the familiar phrase in English, has its origin in the first reading today. The meaning is very clear and that is precisely the message of the Word today. It is clear to all of us even as we choose things on a daily basis, to what consequences they will lead us. None of us can claim a total ignorance while most of us do not want to really accept the fact that we do know the consequences of our choices; unfortunately we feign ignorance and desperately look for someone or something to blame it on. In all sincerity we know, what we sow, we reap. Our choices of negative tendencies like manipulation, disrespect, abuse, violence and exploitation cannot but lead to situations of hopelessness, darkness and death - King Belshazzar is sadly made aware of it today by Daniel. But there is yet another writing on the wall that is presented: Jesus says, if you choose to belong to me, if you choose to be called my disciples, if you choose to respond to my call, you will be derided, persecuted and even killed, but do not fear; in your endurance you would have won life, life in all its fullness, life in the very author of life, life everlasting!

JESUS CHRIST IS KING...

24th November, 2013: Solemnity of Christ the King

Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday, today and forever! Jesus Christ is the king - yesterday, today and forever! We celebrate the Kingship of Christ this Sunday - what a wisdom for the Church to invite the faithful to end the year with their King. And next Sunday we begin a new liturgical year. Today, the readings invite us to reflect on the kingship that Christ holds and the way he exercises it! St. Paul summarises the entire feast in just three verses in the second reading - Col 1: 17,18,20.

He is before all things, and in him all things hold together(Col 1:17). The first reading establishes the kingship of Jesus in the line of David - God makes David the king of Israel and promises that his line will never end. Infact, in God's mighty plan, the kingship seems eternal, without beginning or end, for God places David a king, to rule in God's name and for Israel it was always Yahweh, who was the King! Every leadership in Christian community therefore derives from God; it is an invitation, a commitment to act on behalf of God, at the service of God's people! Jesus Christ is King, Jesus Christ has been king from eternity, as the first-born of all creation, to him all glory and majesty!

Through him God is pleased to reconcile all things on earth or heaven (Col 1:20). The verse speaks to us of a future, of the universal harmony in One Lord, One God, the new earth and new heaven where only Love will reign, that is, only God will reign, for God is love (1 Jn 4:8). Jesus Christ is King, Jesus will be forever the king. Everything, everyone is moving towards that union with God, in Christ our Lord. It fills us with a hope, despite all the tribulations we go through here and now. But it is not automatic, it all depends on the choices we make today. If we choose the Lord, we endear the Lord. On the contrary, if we choose the passing glories and fleeting pleasures of the moment, that is what we will have. As St.Paul instructs us elsewhere, if you sow to your own flesh, you will reap corruption from the flesh; but if you sow to the Spirit, you will reap eternal life from the Spirit (Gal 6:8).

He is the head of the body, the church (Col 1:18). The Gospel presents us a strange sort of a King. Jesus is the one who rules...who rules from the Cross as his throne, who rules with the thorns as his crown, who rules  not with the sceptre in his hands but with the marks of nail on his hands, who rules not with laws but with love, a love that abounds without any measure whatsoever. Today the ruler has appointed you and me as his ambassadors - the ruler is not understood, so will we be not understood; the ruler is not welcome into the schools and public places and the moral arena in the world today, so will we be not welcome to voice our opinions for truth and for justice. But as his ambassador, what am I doing? What am I ready to do? Yes, Jesus is King, but  I am his ambassador, wherever I am... in my service of love, in my witness of faith, in my joy of hope, in my testimony of humility, in my commitment to truth and in my yearning for justice, I have to prove myself that I am the ambassador of that Eternal King. 

Today we celebrate the Kingship of Christ - yes, Yesterday, Today and Forever, Jesus is King, but I am his ambassador. How worthy am I to the king whom I represent! How faithful and loyal am I to the King who has died for me, and who calls me to do the same! You are the people of God, Royal Priesthood says the Word, yes, that is what we are...we share the kingship with Christ - a kingship that consists in loving service to humanity and loving surrender to the Lord!

Long live my King! And let me live everyday worthy of my King!

WORD 2day

10th October, 2013

'Why do the just suffer and why do the evildoers prosper?' - this has always been an unresolved question in history. There is yet another fundamental question that is subtler and more crucial and that is - what is good and what is evil; what it means to be righteous and what it means to be wicked. Both these grand queries are reflected upon in today's readings which give us the criteria to be acceptable in the eyes of God: To give the first place to God and things that pertain to God and to trust in God with no doubts whatsoever! When these criteria are lived in our daily life, there will be no necessity for the questions we mentioned a while ago! The first will take care of the greed and manipulation that governs the world today; and the second will make us humble to receive everything from the hands of God, so that we look at ourselves and at each other as brothers and sisters of the One Father and Mother!

INDIFFERENCE - the most unchristian attitude of all

29th September, 2013 - 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Indifference, the worst of all vices and the most dangerous of all attitudes, is one thing that the Lord cannot bear! Woe to those who are indifferent, warns prophet Amos. And that is precisely what Jesus presents in his parable too. It is something that God just cannot stand - the Lord will 'spit you' out of his presence, if you are lukewarm! (Rev 3:16) If you have a living faith, then fight the good fight of the faith, challenges St. Paul in his letter today. 'Blessed' are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness(Mt 5:6), not those who remain in their safe havens caring nothing for anyone around. St. Paul recalls to our minds today, how Jesus bore witness to his faith and to the truth right upto his cross! "For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth," declared Jesus with a courage that disturbed Pilate.(Jn 18:37). When it came to bearing witness to truth and righteousness, or feeling compassionate for those who were helpless, or reaching out to the sinners and the outcast, or speaking out for the rights of those who were oppressed - of their right to be healed as sons and daughters of God, of their right to dignity and of their closeness to the Reign of God - Jesus never hesitated; and his true disciples would never hesitate too!

Today we are living in a world that has innumerable justifications for being indifferent towards others - one's duty and family, corrupt system and government, anti-people policies and laws,  legitimate development and technology, rapid growth and advancement - the list can go on endlessly. And it is effortlessly easy to cast the blame on some else and hide behind the mask of myself being part of the 'affected' and the 'left behind'. In simple terms, the Word challenges me today to place myself in the shoes of the rich man and look at the world around me! Have I done whatever I could in my context, for justice, righteousness, dignity of all and true freedom of the children of God. If I say, 'what can I really do?' - beware, that could be the visible trace of Indifference within!

Indifference is the most unchristian quality one can have. The readings today outline the three levels in which INDIFFERENCE grows.

FIrst Level: Indifference as a fruit of Blindness - the inability to see the suffering around, the incapacity to sense the heavy burdens that persons around me carry, the failure to feel the unseen tears of those crying out for help... these are unchristian to the core. LOOK says the Lord, perceive the suffering in the eyes of your brother and sister... even if you cannot do much, atleast be there for them!

Second Level: Indifference as a sign of Selfishness - even after seeing the suffering and the pain, if I fail to be moved, if I refuse stand by someone because I could get into problem, or because I could lose my opportunity to go ahead in life, or because I could earn enemies in the bargain, I am unworthy of being called the disciple of the Lord who died for me! THINK of the others, and not solely of yourself, says the Lord. Can I think of anything other than Me, Myself and Mine? I am my brother's keeper!

Third Level: Indifference as a form of Malice - it is a sin! "Silence encourages the tormentor; never the tormented!" says Elie Wiesel an Holocaust survivor, who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986. He continues,"the opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it's indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it's indifference." How perfectly Jesus would agree to these words! For, this is what Jesus meant by that parable! You just cant be silent spectators, you just can't stand by the sidewalks and see things happen, not even sit in the stands and cheer! No... FIGHT the good fight of the faith!