Jesus, the Word and Wisdom

WORD 2day: Saturday, 8th week in Ordinary time

May 29, 2021: Sirach 51:12-20; Mark 11: 27-33

The Second person of the Trinity is the Word; the Wisdom which is personified as God's guiding presence for the people of the Old Testament. The readings taken together give us a twin perspective of Jesus and Jesus' relation to the figure of Wisdom! 

1. Jesus has Wisdom: the Gospel presents to us the way Jesus tackled the trap that was laid for him by the shrewd pharisees and scribes. Jesus proves that he had the Wisdom, a great gift from the Lord. Wisdom is fundamentally knowing what to say and what not to say at a particular point of time and saying what is to be said in the best way possible with the choice of the right verbal or non verbal language! Now that was Jesus' forte. Be it in the event we come across in the Gospel today, or the incident of the woman caught in adultery, or the case of the Samaritan Woman, or the discussion with the disciples asking for power and position... everywhere, we see that Jesus knew the right thing to be said at the right time. Above all, even when Jesus had to point out some one's fault or be critical about someone, he chose the right sense of doing it. He had wisdom in its fullness, even as a human person in daily experience.

2. Jesus as Wisdom: the way the first reading presents Wisdom, we come to clearly understand what the Old Testament speaks of as Wisdom is not merely a quality or a faculty, but a person, a personal presence of the Almighty! When Jesus lived and moved around, people readily and without much difficulty saw the Wisdom that he was. Jesus was, and is, the Wisdom that fills us with light and shows us the way. 

If only we accept the Wisdom of Christ in contrast to the folly of truth claims of the world, we would find that joy that is complete, that joy that Christ alone can give.

W A I T

Prepare the way!

December 06, 2020: 2nd Sunday in Advent
Isaiah 40: 1-5, 9-11; 2 Peter 3: 8-14; Mark 1: 1-8

One fourth of the Advent is gone; and soon it will be Christmas! The Lord will be here anytime, warn the readings today. Last week liturgy invited us to watch, and this week it invites us to WAIT.

Waiting can be of two fundamental kinds. The first type is a passive indifference - you wait helplessly; you wait doing nothing, because you think you can do nothing about it! You are passive and you are inactive...whatever you are waiting for, has to happen by itself and you feel you have no part of it, until it really begins to happen. The other type of waiting is, an active preparation - you are totally involved in the expectant events. Though you know you cannot do much about what you are waiting for, but you can do all the preparations for it, and you do it with such enthusiasm, that when it really happens you begin to live the moment to the full. 

A Christian waiting can never be an indifference or a passive helplessness regarding things that happen. That is what the world calls fate. The difference between the concepts of fate and will of God, is the love that is involved in the latter. A love with which a person lives to the full the moments of preparation, in order that the event itself could be meaningfully experienced. Yes, a Christian Waiting at advent is an active participation in the historical events that announce and usher in the Reign of God.

What does this WAIT concretely consist of? The liturgy today offers a clarity on this.

To wait is to Wish the coming of the Lord. True Waiting begins with a real wish, a want, a true desire that the Lord comes. It cannot be based on a dubious or a half hearted acceptance of an inevitable situation. A truly Christian waiting for the Lord should begin from an ardent desire that the Lord should visit us. Sometimes this wish or desire can be half hearted because of the fear of the changes that the Lord can effect with the coming.

There were those who did not wish the coming of the Lord - just imagine Herod becoming troubled at the news of a child being born. Recall those people of the Gerasenes (Mk 5), who did not want the Lord to come into their village. Let us not take this condition for granted - the condition to wish the coming of the Lord. At times, even we may tell that Lord, 'please do not enter my life...I cannot afford to change anything there right now!' 

To wait is to Allow the hand of the Lord. Isaiah today speaks of the changes that we need to look forward to; that the valleys be filled and the hills be leveled! It cannot be a true Christian attitude to want the Lord to come but not being ready to do anything or give into any change personally or as a community. It is a readiness to allow the Lord to challenge us to perfection.

Yes, if we truly wish the coming of the Lord into our lives, we need to allow the Lord to have his way! Today I want to dine with you the Lord said to Zacchaeus; and the very moment he began climbing down that sycamore, Zacchaeus started planning his itinerary already...I will change; I will become better; I will repent; I will restitute what I have unlawfully taken from others; I will relinquish my comforts for the right way of living. That is allowing the hand of the Lord to work on me, on my life, on my daily decisions.

To wait is to Inhabit the dwellings of the Lord. The second reading speaks to us of the need to conduct ourselves in holiness and devotion. The Gospel presents to us a people who went in search of the man of God that they may get closer to God, purify their ways and dwell in holiness and devotion. How eager are we to dwell in the courts of the Lord? How prepared are we to inhabit the new heavens and the new earth that the Lord promises us?

The coming of the Lord is a figurative phrase! It is not that the Lord has to come from somewhere, as if the Lord is not already with us. But it is a fact that we need to come home to the Lord. We are busy elsewhere, while the Lord waits at home, with arms wide open. We have neither the time nor the patience to recognise the Lord present and the arms that wish to console us, calm us, enthuse us and energise us. We need to inhabit the dwellings of the Lord - the Lord's favourite dwelling is our being...our inner being where the Lord resides...let us come home to this dwelling and get in touch with the Lord there.

To wait is to Tremble at the presence of the Lord. Let each one work out one's own salvation with fear and trembling, St. Paul would instruct elsewhere (Phil 2:12). John the Baptist personifies the need to prepare oneself in earnestness for the day of the Lord. He gives the ways and means of being prepared for the Reign of God. When the people looked for a saviour in the Baptist, he admits it with trembling before the Lord that the One who comes after him is mightier than him. And not just that, but that we need to prepare with haste for the day of the Lord.

There are no fixed formulae nor some short cut pathways to reach the salvation that God has in store for us..it is something that we need to work out on a daily basis: it is working out to be fit for the Reign. As John the Baptist indicates, each of us, depending on the state of life that we are in and the daily commitments that we have and the context in which we live our lives - we need to plan our itineraries. The journey we began last week is fast running its course out. We cannot take it at ease, or wait inactively for an opportune moment. We need to make decisions here and now...to change, to grow, to prepare more in concrete for the coming of the Lord.

Lets WAIT... wish heartily the coming of the Lord, allow the hand of the Lord to change our lives, inhabit the dwellings of the Lord and tremble at the presence of Lord. Let us take stock of the journey so far and continue in earnestness.

Curiosity or Care to Change?

WORD 2day: Tuesday, 33rd week in Ordinary time

November 24, 2020: Revelation 14: 14-19 ; Luke 21: 5-11

When will these things happen? We are more interested in knowing when certain things will happen and curious about predictions and premonitions, foretellings and soothsayings, magics and myths - than understanding what is the right thing to be done and making the right moves in life at the right time.

Curiosity is good, to an extent that it incites my interest to get to know things that I don't know. But it is not absolutely good or helpful, as it is always determined by its motivations. Some are curious about others; some about everything else other that what affects them. Some are curious, these days, to get to know things so that they can publish it first before the rest of the world - how many breaking news are merely results of curiosity with absolutely no respect to persons, their experiences and their feelings! It is not about the breaking news that comes live on the TV, but the breaking news that goes from our mouths to others' ears, those that go from our mobiles to others', those that are sent from our whatsapp pages and facebook pages to the rest of the world, without really feeling anything about what the person or persons involved are going through right then. Forget that dimension...what about what it does to me? Does that curiosity in anyway make me a person bit better that what I was before?

Curiosity is eagerness, craze to know! Knowing alone is not sufficient. What do I do on the basis of what I know. Knowing God, hearing God's Word everyday, celebrating the sacred mysteries regularly... what is happening to me? What kind of growth is taking place within me? Am I prepared to take decisions that are important, some times hard, and necessary? 

Mistakenly we postpone the necessary and crucial transformations in life for an 'opportune' time which sometimes does not come at all or it gets too late by the time they come by. The month of November insists on the urgency that is involved in personal conversion and community dedication to growth and maturity in faith. And specially this week marking the end of the liturgical year, and leading us to the season of advent - invites us to a better understanding of the end time spirituality that we are called to live in these times.

The sickles are already kept at the base...the harvest time is near! Mindful of the short time that we have, we have a calling to live: live our lives to the full, here and now.

SEEK! AND YOU SHALL BE FOUND!

Awake, Await and Alert

November 8, 2020: 32nd Sunday in Ordinary time

Wisdom 6: 12-16; 1 Thessalonians 4: 13-18; Matthew 25: 1-13

Seek and you shall be found! No there is no mistake here...neither grammatical nor biblical. Seek and you shall find, said Jesus once. Here the Word this Sunday tells us... seek, and you shall be found! Just dwell a while on those words, and you shall understand, how true they are! The first reading has a lovely explanation to it.

Wisdom comes; it is not earned. Knowledge can be gathered, not wisdom. Information can be collected, not wisdom. Wisdom, is what you do with the knowledge you have and the information you collect. Wisdom, is the next step, the step that follows knowing. I know the earth is being destroyed by greed - that is knowledge; but what do I do about it? I know the humanity is being demolished at its core - that is knowledge; but what do I do about it? I know I am giving less and less space for God in my life - that is knowledge; but what do I do about it? Wisdom, is what is born out of knowledge, after knowledge, beyond knowledge. Wisdom is an insight, wisdom is a gift... wisdom comes! But do you think it would come, without you wishing for it, longing for it, looking for it and seeking it? 

Wisdom is God's gift - it is the presence of the Spirit of the Lord, it is the revelation of God, it is the Word of the Lord...that comes, illumines and lets us understand what we know and what we do not know! Wisdom is that capacity to live our daily life, with the knowledge we have, however limited it be, living every moment with meaning and purpose! Oh, what a gift that is... to live with meaning and purpose! That is what the Lord offers us today as a gift... to seek that Wisdom which will help us live our life with meaning and purpose. St. Paul in the second reading and Jesus' parable in the Gospel give us clue, as to what it means to live with meaning and purpose... whether we are alive, or dead, we stay with the Lord forever, says St. Paul.

Wisdom of life is to know, what really matters in life. The wealth? The positions we hold? The power we have over others? The secrets we keep from others? The so-called status and name that we earn among others? If only we think a bit harder, we know these finally do not matter. But that is knowledge; what do I do about it? Yes, we are back with that question. That is what we need to ask ourselves...what do I do about it? I need to seek to be with the Lord, to stay with the Lord, never leave the side of the Lord, even as I engage in my daily duties and chores. That is wisdom - that ability to combine the necessities of daily life and the things that finally matter. Jesus had it so clearly in his mind and he imparted the same to us - to live your daily life, but never to lose sight of the the ultimate things that matter - the Lord and our life with the Lord. Therefore we need to seek... seek that wisdom!

Wisdom has to be sought, if it has to come! Wisdom comes, to those who seek! That is why we said... seek, and you shall be found. Seek wisdom, wisdom will find you. Seek the Lord, the Lord will find you! We cannot find the Lord. We cannot arrive at the Lord! The Lord will find us ...but we need to seek. Just like the Bridegroom would arrive, but the maids had to be ready! They cannot go find the bridegroom, the bridegroom will find them...but they have to seek, to be found.

What does it mean to seek wisdom... to seek the Lord! It means, as Jesus instructs us today, with three key words: awake, await, alert. 

AWAKE. That is the first disposition asked of us. Be awake... if those so called foolish maids were awake, they could have at least thought of their oil shortage a little earlier, not at the nick of time. That is what we need to be - awake, awake to our life, awake to our surroundings, awake to our attitudes, awake to our priorities, awake to our life style, awake to our value systems, awake to our daily choices...if we sleep over them, we will catch ourselves unawares when the crisis comes. Remember when this pandemic began far away from our place, how we took it so much for fun and laughed at it. And even when it came, how we were lighting lamps to it and clapping hands to shoo it - the heights of slumber, and we are paying for it. 

Being awake is not being agitated! At times we think, being awake is to get agitated, tensed and worked up with every simple thing around. No...being awake is not being agitated...instead it is being aware, being aware of what is happening, what is developing, what is brewing...so that when time comes I am prepared to face it.

AWAIT. That is the second disposition required of us. To await... to wait on the Lord. We do not have explanations for everything the very moment they happen. We do not understand them. We are at a loss... how many people lost their dear ones these days, just from nowhere! How many families have gone through the economic struggles and psychological break downs! Why? Why, is the question that comes upper most in our minds. But a better question, a more faith-filled question, a more hope-filled question would be - What? What does the Lord want to communicate? What does the Lord want to do? What is this event communicating to me? That 'what', will come... it will come from the only place that can provide me an adequate response on that - from the Lord. I need to await.

Awaiting is not being asleep! I wait... in the meanwhile...I go to sleep! That was the mistake the maids made...being asleep. Being asleep is losing time, not acting on something that I can, postponing something that I could do it now, letting go of a golden moment and rushing at the peak hour! Awaiting is not inaction, awaiting is being prepared for the right moment of encounter...but for that I have to be awake too!

ALERT. That is the third disposition demanded of us. Being alert...is to observer everything. The so-called foolish maids, could have been alert to see that the wise maid had an extra vial with them, then they would have been alerted. Or the so-called wise maids, could have alerted the other five, to better get something to back themselves up! They cared nothing... just for that they should have been left out of the palace (alright! that is a different discourse for another time). But being alert is to know the signs of the times, to understand what is happening, to connect the dots and be prudent - it is not only about things out there. It is about me too! Yes, looking into myself, knowing what is happening deep within me, understanding the signs of my mind, my spirit, my heart...that I may be alert to the changes and to the situation I am driving myself into...so when it comes, I know, I am prepared, I am awake and I am waiting!

Being alert is not being anxious! In the name of being alert, if I get anxious, I ruin every day of my life. There have been some these days who have closed themselves up in their personal rooms, not getting out even to meet those who are there, even their family members - out of fear of infection. They might have saved themselves from the virus, but have given themselves up to depression and stress! Anxiety, can kill us alive. Being alert is being actively and wisely involved in every thing around me, with a keep observation and prudent precaution, that I may live the moment, without ruining the future.

Awake, Await, and Alert...are the key words we are given today by the Word for our spiritual lives... to seek the Lord, to seek the light of the Lord, to seek with thirst and longing... and we shall be found! The Lord shall come and dwell with us!

Learning to Unlearn

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

October 2, 2020: Feast of Guardian Angels

Job 38: 1, 12-21, 40: 3-5; Matthew 18: 1-5, 10

'From Knowledge to Ignorance' is a famous title of one of the Spiritual thinkers of India. It may sound a bit odd but there is deep truth in the perspective and that is the message of the Word and the feast today - learning to unlearn. We run the risk of getting too used to the great things that God keeps doing for us. At times, due to some setbacks that we could possibly experience in our life, or due to some troublesome moments or irreplaceable losses, we might tend to forget all that has gone by so well and so many things that are still in store, within the grandeur of the plan of God. After all, what are we but simple and foolish mortal beings!

The Feast of the Guardian Angels is an invitation to learn, to learn to unlearn, to learn to constantly learn every moment of our lives, and experience the accompaniment of the Lord in a concrete manner. Every moment of our lives, we are being watched over and protected in love. We believe in an accompanying God, a God who has promised, never to leave our side and to be with us till the end of this world. 

We hear in the first reading, how God challenges the attitude of questioning the eternal designs of God. We lack the Wisdom to understand the plans of God in all its details but with the little that we are capable of, we pretend to be masters of everything! It is important that we realise our limitedness inspite of our great acomplishments, that we acknowledge the wisdom in God's plan in spite of our nothingness. If our eyes are truly open to what is happening around, if our ears are genuinely open the Words that come from above, if our hearts are absolutely open to the promptings of the Lord, then we would open our lives to the Lord and we grasp the eternal sense according to the mind of God.

We would learn to see God present with us unceasingly, only if have the open mind of a Child, without prejudices and reservations, without judgements and pretensions. The Gospel instructs us against taking anyone for granted - because no one is alone! Every one is accompanied, by none less than our God. We celebrate today the accompanying God; In order that we grow to be more and more perceptive to the presence of God with us and feel the accompanying God concretely on our life journey, we need to constantly learn to unlearn our mental blocks and prejudiced ideas. The Word teaches us everyday, let us resolve to learn from the Word and unlearn all futile thoughts.

Realisation leads to transformation

WORD 2day: Thursday, 22nd week in Ordinary time

September 3, 2020: 1 Corinthians 3: 18-23; Luke 5: 1-11

A person who has been going for spiritual direction for quite some time, once complainingly remarked to the Spiritual director: "but, you keep saying for everything, become conscious!" The Spiritual director calmly said, "yes! that's the key! become conscious, or you can make no change. Realise and you can change, you can grow, you can transform!" 

Realisation alone leads to proper self understanding: realisation of one's limitedness leads to humility and realisation of one's givenness, to gratitude! It is this realisation that made Peter fall at the Lord's feet; it is the same realisation that made Paul remind us, life or death, everything belongs to God, we belong to God! There is nothing else to boast about, than the fact that we belong to God.

Realisation, Awareness, Consciousness, Self-knowledge, Self-realisation, and today another term used frequently, Mindfulness... various terms referring to the same reality: "Be still and know that I am God". It is not merely knowing, for we all know and we know a lot. It is more than knowing; it is, knowing that I know; it is knowing what I know and what I do not. That is what realisation is all about. 

And it is only realisation that leads to transformation; that act of casting the nets into the deep, for a true catch! All that we need to do is move ourselves into that depth, the depth of realisation and the Lord will lead us to transformation. 

Wisdom and Foolishness - The Christian Paradigm

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

August 28, 2020: Remembering St. Augustine
1 Corinthians 1: 17-25; Matthew 25: 1-13

"Stay awake", warned the Gospel yesterday and that seems to be a constant reminder these days... with the rising political friction, ecological crisis and social turbulence. Staying awake and not missing the point that the Lord wishes to communicate, is also spoken of so much by the Saint we remember today: St Augustine - "I fear the Lord passing by!" 

Augustine's anxiety not to miss the Lord comes from the absolute dependence on the Lord, that was so typical of Augustine, just as we see also in St. Paul. They both believed and taught that we are made for the sake of the Lord and that we would find our true fulfillment in the Lord alone. This was the wisdom that they stood for, spoke of, and wanted to instill in every believer in Christ. 

One of the ways of missing what the Lord wants to impress upon us, or one way in which we could totally miss the Lord is confounding ourselves between what is true wisdom and the foolishness that presents itself as prudence and wisdom, in the world today. The world has its own definition of wisdom and foolishness, success and failure... everything, to put it simply, calculated in terms of benefits and gains in comparison to the effort and investment. Convenience and comfort seem unfailing criteria of choice. But can these be Christian parameters?

The Christian paradigm, as Paul says is the Cross and the hope that it projects. However hard we may try, no other paradigm can make sense of this.  The sacrifices we make and the selfless goodwill we have towards others are true Christian parameters of righteousness. Being good and doing good without expecting anything in return or without looking for its credits,  is the cross we are called to embrace if we wish to belong to the Bridegroom!

KEY PERSONS UNTO THE REIGN

The Role, Wisdom and Personal Knowledge of God

August 23, 2020: 21st Sunday in Ordinary time
Isaiah 22: 19-23; Romans 11: 33-36; Matthew 16: 13-20

Look around the world today - what do we see? Crises, confusion, uncertainty, conspiracies, controversies, cries of agony, protest and grief, unrest and dissatisfaction. Even amidst all these, there are nations threatening each other to prove who is superior to whom; there are Corporates clashing with each other to claim the topmost slot in the economic world, not hesitating to exploit even the health crisis that is around; there are factions and groups in the name of religion, language, ethnicity and race playing havoc, making of humanity a worthless value to uphold; there are those in the garb of god-men fending their own nests and exploiting every one else for it; there are politicians who pose to be liberators of the masses while they are hand in glove with every agency that goes diametrically opposed to the common good... What is all these manipulation about? What are they trying to prove to themselves and to the world? They want to identify themselves as the key persons, or key groups, wherever they are! Aware of this background let us listen to what the Word has to tell us today.

One image that dominates today's liturgy of the word is the image of the Key...every person, every entity, every nation, every society, every corporate wants to be a key entity in its field. That is what we see in the entire list of examples we just enumerated. But, in truth, becoming conscious of one's mission and situating it within God's plan is the real secret behind being key persons in the eyes of the Lord. Every prophet, we see in the Old Testament, is enamoured by the love of the Lord and surrenders totally to the Spirit shining as a key person within the believing community. We do observe in persons within some of our Christian communities that we are part of, or youth groups that we belong to, or an association or sodality we take part in... a similar urge to be key persons! For example, the tasks of being part of the Parish Pastoral Council, the cooperators to the animating nucleus of the Parish at the zonal or the division levels, are some key roles that people aspire for today (of course the lockdown has locked down even all these possibilities!). We are indeed called to be key persons, yes! But not unto our own glory as we see all around but unto the Reign that the Lord wants us to build here on earth. 

To be a key person is to realise your GOD GIVEN ROLE: 

Being key persons unto the kingdom would mean, we understand our key role from the perspective of God. At times politics enters the religious ambit and faith communities, and shatters every bit of truth that can exist. Lack of focus and confusion of meanings are the outcomes of such an influx and personal integrity is left at stake. The Lord reminds us in the first reading that it is the Lord who robes one with, or strips one of authority. 

We have heard the phrase, God writes straight through crooked lines, all that we need to be is those straight strokes, for God to straighten those crooked scribblings of human selfishness and greed. If I am not available there will always be someone within God's eternal plan, but I, on my part, will totally miss the purpose of my life! And I need to be very attentive to the inbuilt purpose that my Creator has for me!

To be a key person is to be GUIDED BY WISDOM:

Wisdom is not merely knowing; it is knowing that one knows and knowing what is to be known at a particular point of time. It is, more than a capacity, a grace! A key person unto the Kingdom should be equipped with wisdom much more than anything. To make the right decisions at the right time and to make the right changes at the right time towards an authentic growth towards being true people of the Reign! The key persons would be those who are guided by Wisdom.

At times right discernment is hindered by the overshadowing selfish thinking, overpowering greed for dominance and overflooding desire for momentary pleasure. Key persons cannot be led by these...they need to pause every now and then, take stock of their internal motivations and innermost purposes and remain always on the side of Wisdom, which comes from the Spirit of the Lord.

To be a key person is to have PERSONAL KNOWLEDGE OF GOD:

The Gospel today gives us the ultimate criterion to be key persons unto the kingdom: it is to know God, on a personal basis. To have encountered God, experienced God, tasted God, felt the concrete presence of God is one of the fundamental criteria to play any key role in a community of faith, a community of people of God. Mere borrowed experiences and brainwashed theories cannot make one an authentic key player within the community of the Reign. 

Knowing Christ is knowing God. The person of Jesus Christ, his life and teachings, his values and priorities, his choices and decisions, are the parameters for any person of God, anyone who wants to belong to the Reign, anyone who wishes to really be a child of God, making God present wherever he or she is. That is what Jesus did - made present God and God's Reign as he moved around among the people. Key persons are those who know Christ, understand Christ and put on the mind of Christ.

Each of us can turn to be a key person unto the Reign, if and only if we realise the God given role that we have, be guided by Wisdom and yearn for a personal knowledge of God in our lives. The more key persons there are, the more efficacious the Reign can be on earth, here and now. 

What is your choice: the exile or the Reign?

WORD 2day: Thursday, 12th week in Ordinary time

June 25, 2020: 2 Kings 24: 8-17; Matthew 7: 21-29

The Word today has the classical challenge: what do you choose? Our life of faith and our daily life meet each other on that hot seat called, Choice! Rise or ruin, happiness or doom, fullness or nothingness - the choice is mine! I cannot escape from it. We have seen in the book of Deuteronomy this basic philosophy of life that the people of God were taught: behold I place before you today, life and death! (see Deuteronomy 30:15) Today we have an illustration of the same lifestyle in the reading taken together.

The first reading says, Jehoiachin did what was not desirable in the eyes of God and his house crumbled - his mother, his servants and all, his people were destroyed, the entire salvation plan that God was taking forward in and through the so called chosen people of God, went to ruin! Chosenness is not guaranteed by anything other than reponding to that choseness by our daily personal choices.

The Gospel affirms that the one who hears the Word of the Lord, and does the will of God the Father and Mother, has already found favour in the eyes of the Lord, and his house is built on a rock; no rain, no thunder, no floods, no disease, no fear of death, no suffering or sickness can ruin it! In all these the chosen one will live strong, clear, hopeful and blessed. 

Taking the readings together we can understand what the Word tells us today: the choice is yours - the exile or the Reign. If you choose your own will, your own ego, your own ways and your own logic of profit, exploitation and manipulation... you are already walking towards your exile. You may think you are rising up, your are rushing towards prosperity or proving yourself to the world; you will all of a sudden realise, you have entered into an exile which is a million times worse than all the quarantines that we keep speaking of these days.

Instead, if your receive the Word of God, respect the will of God and follow the promptings of the Spirit, it would seem you are walking through fire, drowning in suffering, slipping into misery and trapped in troubles - but you are actually and already treading into the Reign, growing into the Reign, entering into the Reign of God, the fulfillment of the entire life and of the world. 

Let us pay attention today: what is our choice - the exile or the Reign?

x

Prayer of the Persons of God

WORD 2day: Thursday, 11th week in Ordinary time

June 18, 2020: Sirach 48: 1-14; Matthew 6: 7-15

Elijah and Elisha - they have been churning our minds these days! Wondrous deeds, challenging words, and above all, demanding prayers! There is a characteristic difference in the prayers that persons of God make and that is what Jesus tries to teach us today. Prayer is not about begging God for things that we badly need, it is discussing with God my Father and Mother, the concerns that fill my mind at a point of time.

The Our Father is one such prayer, a prayer of a person of God; a prayer that puts God at the centre and not my needs; a prayer that is bothered not so much about receiving the blessings as about being blessings to others; a prayer that does not seek a secure life but a sincere life; a prayer that is not all about bringing pleasure and happiness to myself, but that which educates and forms me to find my real happiness and pleasure in accepting whatever it is, from God's hands. The prayer of a person of God, is born out of one's life and renews one's life, at one and the same time.

Prophets are persons of God, par excellence. They stand for God, they speak for God and they challenge us on behalf of God. Jesus was a challenging prophet too, and that is why he calls us all to be prophets like him. And in being prophets, the first call is to be persons of God, to be persons who come from God, persons who think in terms of God, persons who strive to grow in the mind of God. And the prayer that they make will manifest this reality without any doubt. 

Let our daily life be in imitation of these prophets, these persons of God; let our daily prayer be a prayer of a person of God.

Scriptures, Spirit and Salvation

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

June 5, 2020: 2 Timothy 3: 10-17; Mark 12: 35-37

Scriptures - from these you can learn the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus (2 Tim 3:15). The Scriptures are for inspiration, the scriptures are for wisdom, the scriptures are for life - they are not merely for memorising, nor are they merely for making a living! 

That is where the Spirit comes - to give us the true wisdom that will make us understand the Scriptures in the light of our concrete life. If this is not done, one will not be led to salvation, because salvation does not come from some frozen truth, hidden away in secret somewhere. It comes from a living person, the living Word, the life giving Word, the person of Jesus, the Christ. 

Ignorance of Scriptures is ignorance of Christ, said St. Jerome. Hence, knowing the Scriptures has to be knowing Christ; knowing the Scriptures does not mean knowing them by memory, or reciting them by-wrote. Knowing the scriptures should put us in touch with the person of Christ. That is true wisdom: knowing the right knowledge, and knowing the effects of knowing it. The Spirit alone can lead us to this knowing: as St. Paul affirms, 'no one, unless in the Spirit, can confess that Jesus is Lord!' 

It is the Spirit who brings us in relationship with the person of Christ and it is in this relationship that one experiences salvation! Salvation is not a destination, it is a journey; salvation is not a triumph, it is a travel; salvation is not an achievement, it is an experience, an experience of a person, the person of Jesus the Christ.

The real ascendancy!

WORD 2day: Monday, 7th week in Ordinary time

February 24, 2020: James 3: 13-18; Mark 9: 14-29

Trying to prove one's ascendancy comes very natural and instinctive to everyone. It is ingrained in our very beings - of course we have heard the theories such as the survival of the fittest and the natural selection, where one proves better than the other to exist, or becomes extinct. As human persons can we go on with this as our mentality - unfortunately, that is what is happening in the world at all levels, be it  interpersonal, familial, social, national, international or global level. Every one is trying to prove their ascendancy over the other! It is in this context, we can read the Word today and it makes an absolute sense.

Where does our true ascendancy lie? In proving physically powerful, intellectually superior, economically influential, politically potential and socially dominant? The Word says - it lies in being humble and wise! A humble and wise person will be a person of faith and a person of true and profound Christian faith will be humble and wise! 

Humility makes one know, recognise, realise and accept the real truth about oneself. That one is not all-powerful but related, interrelated and interdependent - on God, on fellow beings and on the entire reality. When this humility takes over there is a natural ascendancy that is seen in a person. That is faith!

Wisdom is knowing the truth and being able to put it into practice in the concrete situations of life. It is not knowing something, believing something else and living something totally different - so dissipated a life-style. Wisdom is that lovely coming together of knowledge, daily life practice and mode of responding to situations. That is Christian faith!

Without these our life is so full of tendency to prove, to justify oneself, to establish oneself superior than the others - a demon that is devouring humanity and the universe right now. These demons can be driven away only by prayer!

WORD 2day: 26th August, 2016

Wisdom and Foolishness

Friday,  21st week in Ordinary Time 

1 Cor 1: 17-25; Mt 25: 1-13

The world today has its own definition of wisdom and foolishness, success and failure... everything, to put it simply, calculated in terms of benefits and gains in comparison to the effort and investment. Convenience and comfort seem unfailing criteria of choice. But can these be Christian parameters?

The Christian paradigm, as Paul says is the Cross and the hope that it projects. However hard we may try, no other paradigm can make sense of this.  The sacrifices we make and the selfless goodwill we have towards others are true Christian parameters of righteousness. Being good and doing good without expecting anything in return or without looking for its credits,  is the cross we are called to embrace if we wish to belong to the Bridegroom!

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

Remembering St. Catherine of Siena

29th April, 2016

1 Jn 1:5 - 2:2; Mt 11:25-30

For the popularity that she enjoyed and the wisdom she possessed, if Catherine of Siena were to have been a male religious, she would have certainly been a Bishop and a Cardinal, or could have even gone on to become the Pope! That is why the Gospel of the day fits in so well with this saint: you hid the truths from learned and clever and revealed them to mere children. 

Catherine was just 33 when she died and she learnt to write only towards the end of her life, while in her life time she had accomplished feats as great as convincing the Pope Gregory XI to get back to Rome from Avignon, negotiating peace between Rome and Florence, serving at the Papal Court of Pope Urban VI as a counsel!

Dedicating herself to Christ at an early age of 7, she did experience a hurdle at the age of 16 when her family wanted her to enter into a marriage. But she rededicated herself to the Lord and became a Third Order Dominican. That gave her the possibility of moving with people and directly working for their welfare in the world. She considered strongly that she was mystically married to Christ and did everything in her life at His bidding. In an atmosphere of rising promiscuity, Catherine of Siena seems a great model of what young disciples of Christ could achieve in life.

MERCILENT 2016 - 25th February

BE WISE: Know, understand and act.

Thursday, 2nd week of Lent

Jer 17: 5-10; Lk 16: 19-31

Every thing in this world is passing. Wealth or power or relationships or popularity - everything is just for a while. Knowing this is one thing, but living by it and making convictions based on it is completely another thing. We know it well that what we gain by our effort here, lasts but sometime still we hold on to them: our titles, our accomplishments, our status, our social image and so on. The Word today reminds us, to face facts. It challenges us to begin to understand what we know and act on what we truly understand. If I know nothing in this world lasts forever, I would understand it is not worth giving my life for it. If I understand it is not worth giving my life for something, I would not make that my priority over others. Where does the problem lie? Why am I lost in things that do not really matter? Why is it that I know something but still I live contrary to it?

God alone lasts forever; and what comes from God alone matters truly. Wisdom is when I come to realise that I know this fact and I begin to restructure my life based on that conviction. The greater challenge is to resist the temptation of giving up in between and ape the standards of a lesser order. God alone matters and it is wisdom that helps me understand that.

The Mercilent Attitude for today: In God alone put your trust.

WORD 2day : 20th January, 2016

Not spear or javelin, mere pebble will do.

2nd Wednesday in Ordinary Time
1 Sam 17:32-33,37,40-51;  Mk 3:1-6

A mere pebble was enough for the young David to bring down the mighty Goliath. The whole sanhedrin and the entire ruling class plotted against Jesus but no one could do anything till the appointed time, though Jesus had no spear or javelin to defend himself. No one can stop us from the good we do if that good is ordained according to the holy will of God. If it were for my own gain or glory I cannot blame God if it brings strife and suffering alone. A small reason is enough to topple the entire edifice so carefully raised. When I have my selfish mileage to make and manipulate persons and situations placing my trust in my might then I should realise I am far far away from the Lord.

WORD 2day : 3rd September, 2015

The Capacity for God-vision

Thursday,  22nd week in Ordinary Time
Col 1:9-14; Lk 5: 1-11

Jesus demonstrates to the first disciples an extraordinary capacity of perceiving reality. We can call this God vision. ..the capacity to see beyond the apparent,  the ability to perceive even what is not yet. This is seen in two levels in the Gospel today. Jesus seeing the catch of fish where it wasn't apparently and Jesus seeing the possibly of Peter and others with him becoming fishers of men. Jesus promises them that he will develop in them the same capacity: the capacity for God-vision.

When we cooperate with this God vision, God brings out of us the best that we never even imagined. And eventually as persons of God,  God will give us the capacity to look at the best in a person even at a point where it is not apparently visible. St Paul had become expert fisher of humans and we see him manifest that quality of God vision- he perceives in the people of Colossia a people who are called for great things and not merely new converts.

To be true disciples and apostles of the Lord,  we need to surrender to the God-vision and grow in our capacity for God-vision. 

WORD 2day: 14th July, 2015

The Drama of Divine Design

Tuesday, 15th week in Ordinary Time

Exo 2: 1-15a; Mt 11: 20-24

'All the world's a stage...' said that genius of a poet Shakespeare. Though at times this thinking might lead to a tinge of pessimism and determinism, the fact is we find ourselves in the midst of a series of connected events. However, it is not that we are thrown there to fend for ourselves or find our own way out, we are sent with a purpose and disposition well imprinted in the core of our beings. True spirituality would be to find out at a given time and space, what God expects of me and without any selfish calculations carrying out that commission given to me! It is knowing, understanding and playing my part to the full within the drama of the Divine Design! 

The first reading presents to us how God raised a prophet for himself amidst all odds and how Moses had it in him to protect his people because the Divine design was active in and around him. But God teaches Moses that it is not by his own might that Moses is to accomplish great things, but it is by playing an instrument in the mighty hands of God that he would make the spectacle happen. And Moses gradually knows, understands and plays his part to the full.

At times we can miss out on ever realising the plan that God has for each of us. That is a sad probability; worse still is resisting any such plan merely to have my own! That is a woe that we would bring on ourselves. Our life, its meaning and its purpose will all be at risk in that case. That is what Jesus warns us of, in the Gospel today. If only you knew, understood and played your part wholeheartedly within God's design!

WORD 2day: 30th May, 2015

Jesus: The Word and Wisdom!

Saturday, 8th week in Ordinary Time

Sir 51:12-20; Mk 11: 27-33

The Second person of the Trinity is the Word; it is the Wisdom which personified God's guiding presence for the people of the Old Testament. The readings taken together give us a twin perspective of Jesus and Jesus' relation to the figure of Wisdom! 

1. Jesus has Wisdom: the Gospel presents to us the way Jesus tackled the trap that was laid for him by the shrewd pharisees and scribes. Jesus proves that he had the Wisdom, a great gift from the Lord. It is fundamentally knowing what to say and what not to say at a particular point of time and saying what is to be said in the best way possible with the choice of the right verbal or non verbal language! Now that was Jesus' forte. Be it in the event we read in the Gospel today,or the incident of the woman caught in adultery, or the case of the samaritan woman, or the discussion with the disciples asking for power and position... everywhere Jesus knew the right thing to be said and he chose the right sense of doing it.

2. Jesus as Wisdom: the way the first reading presents Wisdom, we come to clearly understand what the Old Testament speaks of as Wisdom is not merely a quality or a faculty, but a person, a personal presence of the Almighty! When Jesus lived and moved around, people readily and without much difficulty saw the Wisdom that he was. Jesus was, and is, the Wisdom that fills us with light and shows us the way. If only we accept the Wisdom of Christ in contrast to rest of the truth claims of the world, we would find that joy that is complete, that Christ alone can give. 

THE SCRIPTURES SPEAK AND THE LORD ACTS

Thursday within the Easter octave: 9th April, 2015

Acts 3: 11-26; Lk 24:35-48

Understanding the Scriptures was an essential part of realising their identity for the disciples. From yesterday we see the Risen Lord take upon himself the task of opening their minds to the scriptures,  because it was from that understating that they were able to make sense of all that they were going through. Once clarified, their identity was extraordinarily strong and they accomplished feats that nobody would imagine. That is the power of clear and specific identity.

The questions today to us: what is our identity?  What does the Scripture say? Do we spend time listening to the Lord speak in and through the Scripture? Do we seek the the understanding of the Lord to make sense of what It has to offer us? Do we believe that the Scripture speaks to us and the Lord acts through us?