WORD 2day: 7th August, 2015

Feel overburdened? ..just open your eyes!

Friday, 18th week in Ordinary Time

Dt 4: 32-40; Mt16:24-28

Today I am reminded of an event from Don Bosco's life. It was his mother Mamma Margaret who had loads of complaints about  Don Bosco's boys. ..they were spoiling all her hard work. ..her kitchen garden,  her work of mending their shoes or clothes, her work of tidying the simple house they had...none of these counted for anything as the boys went around rampaging everything immersed in their play! She came with a turmoil and said she is leaving the oratory for good. And Don Bosco with a serene countenance looked at her and told her, 'Mama leave if you want to! But before that have a look at that!' and he pointed to the crucifix that was hanging on the wall. She turned around and went back to her chores. I am reminded of this incident for two reasons. 

The first reason is the readings of today which call us to look at the good that God has done to us, the amount of love that the Lord has showered on us, the countless blessing the Lord has bestowed on us. If we are mindful of it, Moses seems to say, we would never go away from the Lord or complain when we face some inconvenience. Jesus says that in other words, if you feel you are a disciple, that is one who is mindful of the Lord with you and you being with the Lord, count your blessings and carry your cross with the same joy in your heart! What a challenging call.

The second reason is the journey I am beginning today: a journey to Turin to be at Don Bosco's place for the celebration of his birth bicentenary! A journey to the roots, a visit to the beginnings of Don Bosco and the Salesian Congregation. My heart wells up with gratitude as I begin this journey and I take all of you my dear readers with me... to Don Bosco's sacred places. May this wonderful saint of our times, grant you all the joy that filled his heart always, the joy of giving and the joy of being in the presence of the Lord!

NOTE: From today till August 23rd...my posts on the daily readings would not appear! Please do keep me in your prayers and you are all spiritually in union with me as I journey on! God bless you all!

WORD 2day : 5th Aug, 2015

To be known as people of God

Wednesday,  18th week in Ordinary Time
Num 13:1-2,25-14:1,26-29,34-35; Mt15: 21-28

There are a variety of criteria people use to define who are the people of God. The Old Testament people had the criterion of belonging to one of the Tribes of Israel to be known as the people of God. Jesus was a product of his times. The greatness of Jesus lies in his openness to be taught by that Cananite woman that itis not merely belonging to a progeny that makes one a child of God. It is the fundamental interior  disposition to wait on the Lord,  believe in the sovereignty of God and receive with immense gratitude everything that God deigns to grant us in life.

Complaining,inability to see God's hands in things that happen and the failure to feel God's constant presence will disqualify us from being known as people of God.

Today in union with Jesus can we review or capacity to gratefully recognise God's presence with us?

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

31st July 2015: Remembering St. Ignatius of Loyola

Lev 23:1,4-11,15-16,27,34-37; Mt 13:54-58

Moses, Ignatius and Jesus

We are reading these days at the Eucharist about Moses and the interventions that God made through Moses, the great prophet of God. Today we celebrate another prophet, Ignatius who has some characteristics that he shares with Moses.

Moses was a timely intervention that God had prepared for the sake of God's people. Ignatius was a timely intervention too; he comes in at the disturbed times of Reformation and initiates a Counter Reformation that revolutionises the whole Church and calls her to renewal.

Moses had a history of killing a person; but that was an outcome of the fundamental feeling for the oppressed people that was hidden in his heart and God makes use of that to raise him up as a prophet who would stand by God's people. Ignatius was a soldier, who had ambitions of rising in power and position; but God makes use of that warrior's spirit to raise a soldier of God, who would combat the wiles of the evil one and defend the Church, the people of God.

Moses gives rise to a new community of people, the hebrews who were bound by the Ten Commandments, the sign of their covenant with the Lord. Ignatius gave rise to a new company called the Company of Jesus, later called the Society of Jesus, who bound themselves to total obedience to the Holy Father and resolved to stand by the Church and defend the Church at all cost. 

Today Jesus extends to us the same call, the call to be prophets. He warns us, it is not an easy call. It involves struggles which one cannot imagine. It involves rejection, insults and sometimes even persecution as we see it all the time around us. Jesus does not want to deceive us into some dreamland, he calls us today to live a life of commitment and conviction and warns us of all the consequences of such a choice. Are we ready?

WORD 2day : 30th July 2015

Set Apart

17th week in Ordinary Time
Exodus 40:16-21,34-38; Mt 13: 47-53

Moses did exactly as the Lord had directed him. The first reading begins thus.  And that is what set Moses apart! Joshua would soon be following suit.  We are constantly being judged. ..not by God nor by the world but by our very actions and our choices. We are set apart as people of God but that is no guarantee that we will remain so forever. Just as we were set apart we could be set aside too, again depending on our choices and our readiness  to do as God directs! The Lord is present among us,  as pointed out by the tabernacle that Moses made. It is a clear message sent to the people and to us: God dwells amidst us;  God is with us. God shares our lives. We are set apart to do exactly as God directs. If we fail we would be consequentially set aside! Wish to be in the net? Or to be cast away?

WORD 2day: 27th July, 2015

Steadfastness in times of trials

Monday,  17th week in Ordinary Time
Exodus 32:15-24,30-34; Mt 13: 31-35

For the sake of Moses the Lord spares Israel inspite of their offence. Aaron was not able to withstand the pressure from the people to make for them a god. Moses and Joshua rescue the situation with the steadfastness they possessed.

Now the question is, where do I find myself: one of those who lack the patience to wait on the Lord and decide to create their own gods - gods  of our egos,  of our money,  of our affections and so on?  Or do I find myself in the place of Aaron giving into pressure from the majority. ..and not holding on to what is right and just. Or do I form that steadfast minority,  the small mustard seed,  the tiny portion of the yeast, the minority who remain faithful to the Lord come what may!

Moses and Joshua were capable of a faithfulness that the entire people were unable of. The reason is,  they had seen and experienced and witnessed to how good the Lord was. If we need to stand strong in times of trial we need to build up a strong relationship with the Lord in our regular days and convince ourselves of how good God is. If only we realise the crown that awaits our steadfastness (cf. Jam 2:12)

WORD 2day : 24th July, 2015

Tendencies against Fruitfulness

Friday,  16th week in Ordinary Time
Exo 20: 1-17; Mt 13: 18-23

We are well aware of the expectations placed on us as people of God. As the first reading indicates we have clear cut do's and dont's ... but does that make us fruitful in our daily life? Jesus enlists four tendencies that will affect our fruitfulness:

Indifference that would make us live our lives in our own terms;

Initial Fervour that is good but not good enough;

Inhibitions that place various other expectations in contrast to God's;

Integral living of daily life that will grant meaning to everything that we are involved in.

Which of the four dominates my life as of today?

WORD 2day : 23rd July, 2015

The Lord came down;  Moses went up!

Thursday,  16th week in Ordinary Time
Exodus 19:1-2,9-11,16-20; Mt 13:10-17

Is not faith all about this. .. the Lord coming down and we going up. .. the Lord reaching out to us and we responding! In many ways the Lord attempts to reach out to us each day. And here we are busy with our petty little worlds, calling ourselves names and holding on to titles. Won't the world do mighty well if it were to listen with all its heart and look with all its attention!

Through the retreat these days; the preacher yesterday made a remark about this God who intends to reach out to us by all means. Referring to Rev 3:20, he said the Lord does not merely knock,  but he pounds on our doors! What a lovely imagery to impress on our minds the God who never gets discouraged with us,  the Lord who is unbelievably merciful and the Lord who is madly in love with us. If only we would heed!

WORD 2day: 21st July, 2015

The Lord fights... provided we allow!

Tuesday,  16th week in the Ordinary Time
Exo 14: 5-18; Mt 12: 46-50

Between the devil and the deep sea... that was literally where Moses found himself. What could he do caught between an army that was like a sea and the sea that was swarming like a devouring army! Moses knew just what he had to do. .. Do what the Lord tells him! Because it was the Lord's battle. The Lord was fighting for them;  they had to allow it and Moses did just that. The Lord said walk and he walked,  the Lord said stretch and he stretched, the Lord said be still and he stood still drinking in the majesty and the power of God.

Listen to the words of Father and carry it out exactly as said,  and you will see the glory of the Lord unfold right in front of yours eyes, declares Jesus. Are we alright with the Lord fighting our battle?  Or do we want to fight it ourselves? When the Lord fights the victory is certain but it may involve some challenging moments when we do not make sense of anything that would be happening. But it is the Lord who fights and we will surely triumph.

The Lord is ready and willing;  yes the Lord will fight our battle, provided we allow it.

HOLINESS - the identity of the people of God

23rd February, 2014: 7th Sunday in Ordinary Time

What makes one a Christian? Take a pause and answer this question within your hearts!

Is it Baptism? Yes, ofcourse, but only if it were received with a personal choice and every promise given at the proper moment is lived to the full everyday of one's life. 

Is it being enrolled in a parish? Yes, but only if the belonging to the parish makes one feel one with the Universal Body of Christ, the Church. 

That which makes of Baptism efficacious, our belonging to a parish meaningful, and makes us truly Christians is our realisation of our identity as people of God - a realisation that has to be manifested in our personal holiness and in our holiness as a community of believers.

Holiness is not a super-human quality. It is definitely not alien to being human. Because it can be seen at our very origin. God made us in God's own image and likeness says Genesis (1:27). So, holiness is our original nature, not sinfulness; Holiness is the core of our being, not sinfulness. Sin and Sinfulness have come to mar and obstruct our original nature. This is why to the chosen people, God says through Moses, "Be holy, because I the Lord your God am Holy." Because I am holy you can be holy too. Yes, dear brothers and sisters, we ought to be holy because we are FROM GOD.

Holiness is our choice, a choice made not once for all, but at every moment, at every circumstance, at every crisis. It is a choice made for God, because we realise and gratefully acknowlege choice that God has made for us. You did not choose me, I chose you, says the Lord (Jn 15:16). It is the Lord who had chosen us. It is not that we loved God but it is God who loved us first, reminds us St. John (1 Jn 4:9,19). God has chosen us and God has loved us abundantly! And our response is Holiness, because we belong to God, we are OF GOD.

Holiness is not an act, it is an attitude; it is not a set of actions but a habit; it is not merely an appearance but an internal becoming! holiness is a daily effort to become more and more like God. it is returning to the image and likeness of with which we were formed in the love of God. In our words, thoughts, acts and choices of daily life we are called to become LIKE GOD.

Our Blessed Mother and the Saints are our models and Jesus is our Way. St. John traces that course for us when he says, 'we will be like him because we will see him as he is" (1Jn 3:2). We are called not to be merely good people but God's people. Every word and act of our's has to reflect God's presence to those around us. 

We are People of God and our very identity is Holiness. If we miss out on holiness we lose everything. We are from God, We are of God and We are called to become like God because we are the people of God. Because we are the temple where God chooses to dwell, we are the presence of God that the world so badly needs today! 

OUR CHOICE: to Love and Abide by the Word

16th February,2014: 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Choice is the central theme running through the readings today! And there is another dominant theme that qualifies this choice - that is LAW. Law for the people of Israel was the way ordained by the Lord. Law was for them the guarantee of remaining  people of God; it was their part of executing the covenant that the Lord made with them: I shall be your God and you shall be my people! To speak or act against the law was for them a serious and punishable offence. There is a discussion on two other themes- "maturity" and "wisdom" in the second reading from St.Paul. Combining all these, Jesus in the Gospel presents to us a mature and wise attitude towards LAW. He invites us to Choose LAW... that is to choose to Live and Abide by the Word. 

Faith is a Choice...

Faith is not a blind leap, it is a conscious Choice! As Lumen Fidei n.3 affirms, faith cannot be associated with darkness, instead faith is a light that enlightens one to choose, to choose believe in God, to choose to see God alive in one's life. The first reading presents to us the same perspective today, we have the choice between water and fire, between good and evil, between true joy and fleeting pleasures, between the right and the convenient, between conviction and compromise, between life and death! The choice is ours! We cannot ride on the shoulders of tradition and custom, and justify our acts and habits. We have to grow up! Our maturity has to be seen in the wisdom we possess. It is God who gives us this wisdom, as St.Paul reminds us. Jesus embodies that wisdom and presents the same to us in his words: I have come not to abolish the law, but bring it to its fulfillment. 

A Choice beyond the Law...

Jesus declares that his disciples should make a choice not against the law but beyond the law! He gives a new meaning to law, and presents the way to go beyond, to transcend a mere slavish legalism and reach the heights of saintly perfection, through love and compassion. The words of Jesus, "You have heard that it was said,...but I say to you", heard repeatedly in the Gospel today presents Jesus as the New Moses, and describes the community of disciples as the New People of God! "See I am making all things new," declares Jesus by this (Rev. 21:5). The new law...today how do we understand that new law, the law beyond the law... L - to Love, A - to Abide, and W - the Word. To love the Word and Abide by it...is the new law that Jesus gives. The Word presents to us a guarantee to sanctity. To know the Word, to reflect on it and understand it, to love it and strive to abide by it, is the sure way to be real children of God, worthy people of God. Our life does not comprise merely of avoiding evil, it is much more profound and meaningful. It is to live, to love, to relate, to do good, to mature, to be happy, to make others happy and thus together as a community of God's children, to renew the world and fill it with joy.

To Obey the Law...

Jesus teaches the people today not to go against the law but to understand what it really means to obey the law. For Him, to obey the law was not to obey the word of the law but to obey the Lord of the law! It was so for the people of Israel; they obeyed the law as an act of obedience to YHWH. But when the Lord of the law was with them, and they did not realise it. The Word lived and moved among them, but they did not comprehend it. The danger for us too is the same: that we may be by definition the best of Christians - missing no Sunday Mass, regular with reading the Bible and reciting the prayers, strict with our fasting and abstinence, visiting as many pilgrim shrines as possible - but let us beware, we may be missing the point. These are good but not good enough - the Word instructs us: Love and Abide by the Word... to love the Word, and to live by it; not being merely hearers of the Word  but doers(Jam 1:22); to say YES to the Word and mean it, to face all the consequences of that Yes and live through it. Our YES to the Word has to be our choice, our choice to go beyond the Law and obey the Lord of the law, to live and fill the earth with love and compassion; to challenge the present standards of the world towards a new world, new heaven and new earth!

WORD 2day

13th August, 2013

God goes before you, says the first reading! God comes after you, says the Gospel! A great piece of assurance today, as the readings together affirm the tremendous presence of God that accompanies us every moment of our life. God goes before us in our difficulties and comes after us in our failures! In short, the Lord is someone who lives with us everyday of our life and every moment of our days. Living in the presence of God, was the principal concern for Moses. It was the prime example that Jesus wanted to leave us too. Faith, Prayer, Communion, Service to others, Celebration of the faith, everything will be totally redefined if only we undauntedly believed in the concrete presence of God with us every moment of our daily life.

WORD 2day

8th August, 2013

Moses and Peter – their impatience and impudence come under scrutiny! Moses, whom God spoke to as a friend, and Peter, whom Jesus called the Rock on which he would build his Church – even they, as leaders give themselves off in a moment of fatigue and overconfidence! Discipleship is not a victory gained once for all! It is a daily commitment and a perpetual challenge. Anything can bring down to the ground whatever we have built with days and days of hard work and persistence. We cannot afford to grow careless. That is why Jesus teaches us to watch and pray and be vigilant always, that the moment of the enemy may not overtake us (Lk 21:34-36). The murmurings and the hardheadedness of the people catches on to Moses and in a moment of impatience and restlessness, Moses instead of waiting on the Lord, decides to act on his own account. While the Lord asked him to speak to the rock(20:8) in order that the water may flow, he strikes the rock with his baton(20:11). The commendation from Jesus gets to the head of Peter and he turns presumptuous to question the will of God! Both of them are promptly indicated their mistake. The lesson is clear for us today – to remain vigilant in our discipleship that we may always remain calm but cautious, confident but humble, persistent but patient, passionate but attentive to the Will of the Master! May the great men, Moses and Peter, teach us by example.

WORD 2day

7th August, 2013

Faithlessness or Faith – As you sow, so you reap! “As you have spoken I will do unto you!”-“As you wished it shall be unto you!” The two phrases, former from the first reading and the latter from the Gospel seem similar, though they are not! Considering the contexts, they are infact contrary to each other – one a reproach from the Lord and the other an approval. However, the message is same – FAITH. The first reading seems to be a rationalization on the part of Israel, as to why they had to sojourn forty long years in the deserts of Paran – a simple reason: lack of faith! The Lord could not walk them to the land of milk and honey, as promised, because they were stubborn and hard headed, never yielding to the guiding hand of God. The Gospel pictures a woman whose request has apparently no place on the 'to-do' list of Jesus that day! But the list had to be changed by all means. Logically as in another place we read, that due to lack of faith Jesus did not accomplish much signs and wonders, here Jesus could not but make that miracle happen because of the grandeur of the faith of that simple woman! How blessed it would be if Jesus were to look at you and me and say, “My Son, My daughter, great is your faith!”

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!

WORD 2day

1st August, 2013 - Remembering St. Alphonse of Liguori

'As the Lord commanded' - we find that phrase repeated atleast thrice in today's first reading, leave alone counting the number of times it appears in the whole life of Moses narrated in the book of Exodus. Doing what the Lord wants, was the key preoccupation for Moses and that is what he taught his people...hence he is presented as the greatest law-giver!  He even made it clear to the Lord when he said, "If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here" (Exo 33:15). Being with the Lord and never going away from the Lord's presence was everything for the people of Israel. Good fish and Bad fish...resembling the sheep and the goats (in Mat 25)... Jesus presents the reality of the choice that we have to make in life - a radical choice for or against God that would determine every single decision and even the minutest moves of our life. There can be no compromises in this - it is either being in the net or being cast out of it! 'A scribe instructed in the Kingdom of heaven' is a person who is strong as a scribe in the laws and the commandments, but with a clear perspective of the Kingdom that reinterprets, reinvigorates and rejuvenates all understanding one has of God and of spirituality. To be instructed someone has to instruct! Alphonsus Liguori, whom we remember today, was a saint of the 18th century, who felt a special call to instruct people in faith, to preach the Word to the people...that they may always remain in the presence of the Lord. Remaining in the presence of the Lord forever, is possible because the Lord accompanies us, 'as cloud by day and fire by night' the presence of the Lord goes before us. With that illumining and guiding presence, we can be sure of staying always within the net, because it will become our way of life to live and do, as the Lord commands! 

WORD 2day

31st July, 2013 - Remembering St. Ignatius of Loyola

The need to cover your face! We have an interesting account of Moses who would cover his face with a veil because, it shone after the meeting with the Lord. We see in the television newscast and other dailies where people cover their face, when taken into police custody or arrested for some malpractices! Two extreme reasons which can lead us to cover our face - in shame or in a holy embarrassment - it all depends on one fact - Where lies your treasure or Which is the pearl you are in search of? Many of the saints who found their treasure in the Lord, were found to act crazy! They gave up everything - their wealth, their prospects, their career, their comfort, their health, even their life - because they found the Lord and the Lord's will for them! Some of them were even considered lunatic and taken to asylums. As St. Paul says, they have behaved like "fools for Christ"(1 Cor 4:10). Ignatius of Loyola whom we remember today, was a man of those ranks. In the thirtieth year of his life, he came to know the Lord at a closer communion and fell so madly in love with the Lord that he was ready to do anything "FOR THE GREATER GLORY OF GOD". A holy madness that led to the great movement of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) and so many other movements related to that; a craze for the divine that has produced scores and scores of holy men and women in the last 5 centuries, and the present Holy Father our beloved Pope Francis! We will have no wrong reasons to cover of face, if our treasure and our pearl remains forever, the Reign of God!

WORD 2day

30th July, 2013

Let your light Shine - is a constant invitation from the Saviour to all those who profess their faith in him. What do we do for the light to shine - ofcourse we have to do things right, just and loving! But more fundamental than that - before we do anything, we need to BE. Like Moses, we need to be in the presence of the Lord, in the Tent of Meeting - then our light will shine, as the face of Moses shone so much that the people of Israel were afraid of gazing at it (2 Cor 3:7). The Gospel today, gives us the same invitation, in and through the explanation of the parable of the weeds explained to us by Jesus. "The righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father" says the Gospel, underlining the circumstances in which we will shine to the world! Infact, many of us are in search of this Tent of Meeting(Exo 33:7)... in places of pilgrimage, in events of miraculous nature, in our practices of strenuous personal piety and so on! All these are appreciable efforts and readings today give us two possibilities of spotting this tent - One the Inner Sanctuary of personal integrity, that Jesus speaks of in the parable of the weeds. The Lord has blessed us with goodness within us, it depends on our use of personal freedom to retain that goodness or contaminate it with baser tendencies. The second is the Mobile Tents of the Others, where God encounters us at every moment of our day. Living as Moses did for the others and in total dedication to their well being, is an unfailing means to encounter the Lord. Let our hearts be tuned to the Tent of Meeting that we may encounter the Lord today!

WORD 2day

24th July, 2013

Those who have ears, let them hear; those who have eyes, let them see; those who have a heart, let them feel... how pained Jesus would have been to say this! The people saw him cure the sick, give sight to the blind, make the deaf hear and the mute speak, drive the demons out and raise people from the dead! Inspite of all these the people were not ready to believe him! He was wondering what kind of a heart they had... rocks, or thorny bushes or sandy sidewalks... how he wished they were good fertile soil. However Jesus knew what kind of people he was dealing with - the children of the people who saw the plagues one after another in Egypt, but still readily murmured when they saw the Egyptians pursue them; the people who saw the Egyptians perish right in front of their eyes, but still readily murmured when they had nothing to eat; the people who saw the manna fall from nowhere and the quails that fell right into their mouths, but still readily murmured that they would die for want of water; the people who saw water gush forth from a rock in the middle of the desert, but still readily murmured that manna was tasteless and the quails were stale! Hard and stubborn as they were, nothing pierced their hearts to make it bear fruit as God wanted from them... the warning to us is clear! How prone we are to murmur against God in times of trouble, forgetting the abundance of graces we have received! The capacity to see God's presence in our daily life will decide, whether we are sandy sidewalks or rocky ruins or thorny bushes or as God wants, fertile soil!

WORD 2day

9th July, 2013

It's puzzling! Among a few puzzling details of the Old Testament is the likes of today's account from Jacob's life. The Lord (!?!) wrestled with Jacob, says the reading today - and elsewhere we see a similar account of God trying to kill Moses (Exo 4:24). Whatever may be the exegesis, the first disclaimer here is not to take these lines literally. There is a symbolic or a interpretative meaning to these happenings! One thing we can guess here is that these men had something really to struggle with, a struggle of life and death! But they stood firm on the side of the Lord who had called them and after that struggle of life and death, there is something remarkable, a change that is radical, a happening that defines history forever. For, Jacob after that struggle comes to be called Israel, a name that would define the People of God forever. Incidentally, Moses after that struggle comes to establish a new covenant with the Lord in the sign of circumcision - again something that would define the People of the Covenant, ever since. Jesus had the same struggle, constantly there were people who followed him as there were the others who tried their best to demonise him (Mt 9:34). The struggle went on right till the cross - the struggle of life and death, but he stood by the Father who had sent him. And after that struggle, he was not anymore merely Jesus, but Jesus the Christ; there came the event that changed the World for ever, it changed the history not only of the world but of you and me! Today we are saved, in his struggle, in his death, in his wounds, in  his blood and in his Resurrection! The question to me is - how ready and willing am I for a struggle?

The SPIRIT of a Missionary – from being to becoming!

Fr. Klement Vaclav’s visit has once again cleared the dust over the discussion on missionary spirit in our province. Being a missionary, needless to repeat, is a Vocation by itself. I recall the visit of Fr. Vaclav a couple of years back – when a few of us asked if we can opt to work in a foreign land for a few years on agreement, he drew a clear cut distinction between being a missionary and working in a foreign province! Yes, the crux is the movement from being a missionary to becoming a missionary! Unless I am a missionary, I cannot become a missionary. It was in this regard that Teresa of Child Jesus was made the patroness of the missions. Though she might not have become a missionary, she was a missionary at heart, a missionary in Spirit. What spirit of a person is indicative of his or her missionary vocation, is the question I begin this reflection with.

1. The Spirit of Abraham – To leave behind!

When God asked him to leave behind his people and walk into the wilderness he did it! He was a missionary, going towards that land and life that God promised him. (Gen 12)

2. The Spirit of Moses – To own God’s people!

When God called the suffering lot “my people” and sent Moses to liberate them, he had to consider them all not just “His people” but his own people. (Exo 5) Though they were all from various tribes and clans, they were all ‘his people.’

3. The Spirit of Joshua – To dare in the steps of the Leader!

When Moses died, Joshua the youngster felt a big burden on his shoulder. But the promise that the Lord gave, “I will be with you as I was with Moses” enlivened him (Jos 1) and in that strength he dared in the footsteps of his Master!

4. The Spirit of Esther – To risk for the sake of one’s people!

The meteoric rise of Esther was destined. She knew little what it meant. But when it was made clear to her by her uncle Mordecai(Est 4:14), she risked her life and stood by her people. She liberated them from a treacherous plot, risking her own life.

5. The Spirit of Jeremiah – To feel the fire of God’s Word burn within!

Jeremiah suffered the worst among the prophets. No wonder he is taken to be the matchless OT parallel of the suffering Messiah. Even when he realized his sufferings were unwarranted (Jer 20:7ff), he took them upon himself, because otherwise he felt he could not… His word was in his heart like a fire, and he was weary holding it in.

6. The Spirit of Paul – To live to proclaim!

“Woe to me if I do not proclaim the Gospel!” proclaimed St. Paul. (1Cor 9:16) When it came to knowing Christ and proclaiming him, for Paul nothing really mattered – his life, his dignity, his intelligence, his wisdom everything amounted to nothing.

7. The Spirit of Mary – To realize one’s blessedness!

The Blessed Virgin Mary, when she was called to be part of God’s salvific mission, understood little of what it entailed. But she was certain of two things – one, of her lowliness and second, of her blessedness. When she exclaimed ‘from now on all ages will call me blessed!’ (Lk 1:48) she in no unclear terms realized her identity and that empowered her never to lose that identity as ‘the blessed one of God.’

It is high time I realize, I need not go somewhere to be a missionary. But if I am a missionary at heart, in spirit, I will find an urge to go somewhere to proclaim, to witness to live my life, for the sake of the Kingdom!