The Key: From Above

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

April 13, 2021: Acts 4: 32-37; John 3: 7b-15

The first Christian Community gives us a challenging example today, a prophetic witness! Just imagine that to be the state of our parish communities, or our basic christian communities...or even the Religious Communities of Consecrated life... can this model be emulated today? It is easy to brush it aside, calling it an outdated model, or an impractical ideal, or an utopian imagination, or a time proven failure! Call whatever you may, the challenge remains.

Along with the challenge there is also a doubt that lingers on: could they have really lived that way! Really! Sometimes youngsters dare ask that question aloud too, when we have sessions or seminars! Isn't it an exaggeration, a kind of figure of speech that hightens the reality for the sake of creating the appeal that is intended? The answer is, a categorical NO. They lived that way! The records are true and the records are not only in the Bible...they were also historical communities which caused the many a eyebrow raise! 

Jesus provides us with the key to the challenge, that is the secret which helped them live that way: it is, to live your life as if from above. We have received our life and everything in life as a gift from above. And when it is time for us to report back from where we come, we will go without anything in our hands. When we see things from above then, we would laugh at our folly as does the Lord now from heaven (see Ps 2:4). 

This was the fact...the early Christian community saw Jesus live and come back to life and go back to his Father...they expected him to come back shortly...even while they were still living. That is why they were prepared at anytime to report to the Lord...this gives us the clue how they managed to live such a detached life. Though it seems a reduction of their high noble ideals, the fact is clear: they were living a life from above!

Just look at your life, as you live it today, just from a little above! You will understand how foolish we can be... with our attachments and avarice, jealousy and treachery, ego and selfishness, and every other inhumanity for the sake of things that do not matter at all! Have we not totally lost the real sense of our lives? 

Let us remember the key given to us by Christ: live your life as from above. Learn to look at life from above and you will have a clear picture of what is important and what not!

ST. JOSEPH, THE SAINT OF THE YEAR

A Saint, Silent, Simple and Sleeping!

THE WORD AND THE FEAST - March 19, 2021

March 19, 2021: Solemnity of St. Joseph

2 Samuel 7: 4-5a, 12-14a, 16; Romans 4:13, 16-18, 22; Matthew 1:16, 18-21, 24a.

 

Pope Francis has dedicated this year to St. Joseph, the protector of the Church, as it is 150 years since Pope Pius IX proclaimed the saint at the protector of the Church - he was the protector of Jesus the Son of God, the head of the Church...and logically he is infact the protector of the Church, the mystical body of Christ! 

St. Joseph occupied a huge space in the climax of God's salvific plan which was accomplished in Jesus - still he remained a quiet, noiseless and unassuming person! In a noisy world of today which claims recognition for every little thing and clamours for attention, his mode of living his life, carrying out his mission and responding to his call is a lovely lesson. Apart from this, there are three dimensions of this saint that we can notice emerging from the Word today.

Silent Protagonist: He had a very important role to play within the historical events that were unfolding in time, and he played it to perfection. The extraordinary quality that we see in this personality is the silence - how he remained recollected in his depths, to receive the directions from the Lord and execute them to the letter. The pre-figurement of this image is seen in Abraham, presented to us in the second reading - how he spoke very little too! He listened and obeyed! St. Joseph too listened and for that he chose to remain silent!

Simple Person: He was simple as a person... this does not mean he had just an old-fashioned dress and no sandals on feet - that is how 'being simple' is understood these days! Simple is opposed to complicated! He was not complicated in anyway - a yes meant yes and a no meant no. He had decided to reject Mary, he was told to accept and he accepted. He thought of returning to Judea, but was told not to and he went to the district of Galilee. He was a simple man who had no air of ego around him nor any self-interests to hang on! The figure of David is presented to us in the first reading drawing our attention to a way of life that was simple. Though the man had limitations within him, he had no ego absolutely. When he was pointed out, he repented immediately. He was called to be a servant of the Lord and even as a King he remained so! St. Joseph never complicated his role or his person, he remained as simple as he was called.

Sleeping Prophet: Sleeping St. Joseph is a popular devotion by now...a renewed perspective reminded by our Holy Father a few years ago. It is not a mere novelty of thinking but a perspective of faith: the Lord provided for God's beloved even as they sleep (Ps 127:2). It is one lifestyle to spend sleepless nights thinking about something. It is completely a different life style to leave it to the Lord and sleep over it, for the Lord takes care of me even when I am asleep! It is a prophetic sleep when it is out of total surrender to the Lord - Joseph of the Old Testament, the namesake of the saint we celebrate, is a beautiful example of this lifestyle. He surrendered himself totally to the Lord and lived his life like a dream. St. Joseph too was so surrendered to the Lord that even as he slept, he felt protected and directed. 

My real worth - where do I get it from?

WORD 2day: Tuesday, 32nd week in Ordinary time

November, 10, 2020: Titus 2:1-8, 11-14; Luke 17: 7-10

Where does one's real worth come from? From merely your age or the social status that is offered to you or from the great successes that you parade to the world? From the possessions you have or the positions you hold? From the following you pride in or the flags and banners you cheer for? As a person, your true worth comes from WITHIN you, says the Word today.

It comes from within, meaning each of us understands what one is called to, what our commission is and we strive to live it on a daily basis, without making a fuss out of it. At times we do the little that we do, and go about trumpeting it all around. Worse still some times we do not do anything much but go around building it up as if we have moved mountains. Both of these are pretensions, one worse than the other!

And the worst of all is doing everything that we do, merely to be noticed and praised and to be given the social recognition that I am an important person in the vicinity. I want so badly, everyone around me to notice me, recognise be, accept me, appreciate me and hail me... or at least, everyone to have a good word about me! But is that the real source of my worth! Am I not selling myself to their whims and fancies? Am I not surrendering myself at the feet of those, that they dictate to me when I have to be happy and when not! What a way to squander the precious gift of life that I have received!

What is missing here is the fact that, first of all we forget the fact that our life is precious, and a gift; secondly, we fail to remind ourselves, it is the Lord who has given this life to me...not those around me! Thirdly, and above all, there is the image of God so deeply ingrained in me - that is the goodness WITHIN me. 

Christian life is all about living that essential goodness which we have within from the very fact that we are children of God, and never expecting to be lauded for what we do, because what we do is what we have to do! Jesus puts it so plainly in today's Gospel: we have done only what we ought to have done (Lk 17:10).

Busy about our Father's business?

WORD 2day: Friday, 30th week in Ordinary time

October 30, 2020: Philippians 1: 1-11; Luke 14: 1-6

Jesus went about doing good! Doing good was his way of being the Son of God. This work that he started nobody could stop, because his Father was leading it towards its completion! Neither the so-called religious heads, nor the oppressive political heads, or the discouraging responses of the people - nothing deterred him; because he was not doing his work. "My food is to do the will of the One who sent me!"

St. Paul grew into the same groove... the work he was doing was the Lord's work - the good work that the Lord began in him, the Lord was bringing to its fulfillment no matter if Paul found himself in house arrest, in chains, under the law! And nothing deterred Paul, because he knew he was not just doing good work, but he was doing God's work! 

Work, good work, God's work... is it not important for us to differentiate among these in our own life? At times we may be busy doing what we want, what we think can establish our name, what we consider will make people remember us. But beware even the worst of politicians and bureaucrats have this motivation! So just some work, is not good enough. Does our work create good, good for the other, good for all, the common good? Then it becomes more acceptable! 

But is anything that is good, good enough? St. Paul speaking elsewhere about doing everything for God's glory would say, "all things are lawful, but not all things are beneficial; all things are lawful but not all things build up" (1 Cor 10:23). There are so many things that we can call good... but is that enough reason for us to engage in it? Is that sufficient for us to embark upon a whole life journey based on that opinion? Is something more needed... the Word answers today: Yes... not enough to be doing good work, but we need to be doing God's work!

We need to be busy with God's work, the work that God wants to accomplish in us. Each of us needs to explore, understand and get in touch with what the Lord wants to accomplish in us. Once we are clear of that, nothing, no one, can stop us! Some times the very things that people wrongly understand as holy and sacred could stand in opposition to what the Lord wants from us: Jesus understood that perfectly. That is why he had the guts to stand even against the sabbath. St. Paul inherited that clarity from his master, and that is why he could throw away all traditions like the circumcision.  

A very timely lesson for those of us who are passionate about doing something for God, and find that we are not able to... because of whatever reasons it may be... if it is God who has initiated that desire in us, God will bring it to its completion. Let us not fret! Let us be genuinely busy about Our Father's business, and everything will happen in God's own time.

Listening - to others and to the Other

WORD 2day: Tuesday, 27th week in Ordinary time

October 6, 2020: Galatians 1: 13-24; Luke 10: 38-42

The Word today insists on the need to listen, to begin with the need to listen to God. The credit that has to be given to Saul, in his turning into Paul is fundamentally his readiness to listen to God. If he were as stubborn as he always were, he would not have heard the Lord's voice from his horse! He himself reiterates his capacity to listen to God, by narrating his initial journey in the Lord, preparing himself to be an apostle: that was to a major part, an attentive listening to the Lord and to all that the Lord wanted to reveal in and through others. 

Mary at Bethany, is yet another icon of listening to God. She knew where the life giving source was: "to whom shall we go Lord, while you have the words of eternal life" were the words of Peter to the Word made flesh. Mary knew this in the core of her heart...and she chose the better part. 

Today we are called to discover the life giving Spirit in the Word that comes across to us on a daily basis. What strikes us in Paul's narration of his Christ experience is his readiness to perceive Christ in spite of his totally opposed prior experience. That was possible because of his capacity to Listen. Mary was considered wiser than her sister Martha in her choice because she chose to listen to the Lord in spite of all the excitement involved, in having the Lord around at home. 

The Lord, directly as it happened on the horse to Saul and at home to Mary of Bethany, and indirectly as Paul was directed to submit himself to Ananias and later to the Apostles, speaks to us today. To those who are attentive and prepared, God communicates directly in their hearts and from the Scriptures and to those who are ready and willing to listen to their brothers and sisters, through varied sources of God's communication. The task that is given to us is to grow in our capacity to listen - listening to the others and to the Other who constantly communicates unto us.  

PUTTING ON CHRIST

Doing, being and remaining good!

September 27, 2020: 26th Sunday in Ordinary time
Ezekiel 18: 25-28; Philippians 2: 1-5; Matthew 21: 28-32

Have in you the same attitude that is also in Christ Jesus! That is the invitation, the Word today offers us! In short, it can be understood, in Paul's own terms: to put on the mind of Christ. The readings also offer an itinerary, a graded way of putting on Christ, putting on the New Man, to have the mind of Christ! It is a three level progress that is presented to us, as a vocation, a project, a programme of life and a plan of growth.

The first level of putting on Christ is DOING good: to do good, however easy it could be, has to he a choice. One has to choose to do it. Of course, nothing is automatic. The choice a person makes at a particular situation, before a set of options, is what would determine the kind of action that would follow. Even what we call a spontaneous reaction, is not absolutely spontaneous...how is it possible that one person reacts to a situation completely in a completely different way form another, even at a spur of a moment! It is because even the so-called spontaneous reactions are nothing but choices made again and again over a number of times, that it looks automatic that one chooses to react in such and such a manner. 

The point here in doing good is, what one does gets noticed, appreciated or criticised, analysed and evaluated. Especially in receiving those appreciations and recognitions, Jesus would conclude that you have already received your reward. Hence, doing good, or choosing good because you wish to be accepted by others, appreciated by all and recognised for your goodness would already strip you of its merits. According to the mind of Christ, doing something externally is good, but not good enough. Absolutising external signs was considered by Jesus plainly as hypocrisy! 

The second level of putting on Christ is BEING good: doing good alone is not enough according to the mind of Christ. An excessive insistence on doing things, can easily lead to hypocrisy, legalism and ritualism. And so, we are called to be good, that our actions flow out of the person that we are; that from our internal goodness people experience a goodness that brings them to experience the goodness of God. Ezekiel points out in the first reading today that God does not see one's actions but the inner disposition from which those actions proceed. 

Is it not true that we may be doing the best of things at a given time, but a wrong intention or a imperfect motivation behind that action, can make the whole affair totally unchristian. That is why, though doing good is so important, being good becomes something very crucial. At times we may not be in a position to do good at all - for example, when someone comes to share with you their burdens, you may not me in a position to help them all: may be a economic crisis that you cannot help them out of it, or a spiritual crisis which you yourself are facing, or a family crisis where you have nothing much to do, or a professional crisis where you have no means to be of assistance... it really does not matter, as long are you are good, you are compassionate, you are listening with real empathy, you are feeling one with the sufferings of the person, you are whole heartedly atleast wishing that the person soon gets out of the problem or crisis that he or she is caught up in. That is being good in your person, in your heart, though you really may not 'do' anything good!

The third level of putting on Christ requires not only that we are good, but we REMAIN good. It is a reminder that our goodness has to be something that is sustained and not sporadic, constant and not conditioned! To remain good, is a challenge. At times we can be good and do good; but to remain good always is a demanding task; but putting on Christ means precisely that. Here we are dealing with the grace of perseverance. One may attempt to be good occasionally, but is hard to persevere in being good. 

Looking at the parable from the Gospel today - saying 'yes' to his father, the son fails to do what he accepted to do: it is like the seeds that fell among the thorny bushes or those which fell on the shallow rock. The initial fervour dies and soon every thing becomes so monotonous and meaningless. Instead, with the grace of perseverance, every new day is a renewed challenge to remain with the Lord, to remain good, to really put on Christ. My enemies may surround, every action of mine may be misunderstood and misinterpreted, every thing that I am involved in may be proving a great mountain to be crossed over...it does not matter, I shall not be moved; I shall not leave my itinerary of goodnes; I shall remain good! How prepared are we to say that?

Putting on Christ is a matter of doing good, but more than that it is being good, being good all our life and every moment. Are we ready to take up the task? We would do the right thing to pay heed to the life task that God gives us through St. Paul today: Have in you the same attitude that is also in Christ Jesus!

From vanity to sanctity through sanity

 WORD 2day: Thursday, 25th week in Ordinary time

September 24, 2020: Ecclesiasticus 1:2-11; Luke 9: 7-9

TINNUTS... have you heard that sigh from anyone? And what does it actually mean? Too simple to be intrigued, the expansion of it goes this way: There Is Nothing New Under The Sun - TINNUTS. The first reading today speaks of vanities in life. Labour, dreams, experiences, senses...everything is a vanity if they are not in the right perspective... because there is nothing new under the sun and you are going to do nothing new after all your striving and struggling! 

Continuing in the same line, the Gospel presents to us a personification of vanities, Herod! Herod had every opportunity to realise the vanity with which he was living, but he made no use of those. He even put an end to them. That would surely affect him all his life. That is why the Gospel says, "he kept saying, I beheaded John." How many such personifications we find in today's context - you turn your television sets on...there is a parade of these personifications of vanity, from all around the globe! The present COVID crisis has done its best in putting in a pin through our bloated balloons of vanity...but no lessons seem to have been learnt by humanity at large.

Now, stop! Before judging them all in such terms, let us have a good look at ourselves and our immediate surrounding! In our families where relationship should govern but selfishness takes over... between spouses, between parents and children, between siblings! In work places where formalities reign supreme and vanities and self glories are idolised! How genuine are we...and how sane and simple we strive to be?

Are there vanities which surround us today? Aren't there opportunities offered to realise them and to do away with them? From Vanity to Sanity...that is the primary journey we are challenged to make, so that we shall feel ready and prepared to embark upon the extraordinary journey towards sanctity! That is our itinerary: from vanity to sanctity, through sanity!

Humility and Gratitude - signs of a spiritual person

WORD 2day: Thursday, 24th week in Ordinary time

September 17, 2020: I Corinthians 15:1-11; Luke 7: 36-50

By the grace of God I am what I am, declares St. Paul in today's first reading. That statement brings out two salient features of a truly Spiritual person. The first is Humility; the other quality which flows from it, Gratitude.

Humility is a sign that one knows oneself, understands oneself, places oneself in the right perspective and accepts what the Lord has called one towards. It is not abasing or belittling oneself - that would be a misunderstanding of the virtue. Humility is knowing who one really is, accepting it wholeheartedly and striving to grow into what one is called to be! Where does this clarity come from: from the very source of our being. Yes. humility is looking at oneself from the perspective of God, from the eyes of the One who made, who loved us into existence!

Gratitude is an inevitable quality if one really wishes to identify oneself as "spiritual". Because a grateful heart is a holy heart, and only a grateful heart can really be holy! At times we come across persons who call themselves 'spiritual' by their self-proclaimed status or by the role that they play in the common life of the society or by the others proclaiming them so - but as soon as they begin to speak, or as soon as they begin to act, there is so much of paradox! They boast of themselves, they come across arrogant and they despise everyone who is not in keeping with their views and opinions! Can these be really the 'spiritual' people that they claim to be? This arrogance and boasting actually comes from lack of gratitude, not acknowledging the fact that they have been raised to that position despite their unworthiness by God who is the Lord of history.

Looking at the woman who was forgiven in the Gospel today, we see that she was offered a totally new life and that made her so exuberantly grateful that she did not hesitate to express it through all means she thought would help. She was really a spiritual person, not those who sat around judging her! 

The episode of this woman, the example of St. Paul and the Word altogether today remind us of a crucial truth: a humble person is spiritual and a grateful person is holy.

Waiting... but how?!?

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Handmaiden-Queen: Prototype of Servant Leadership

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

August 22, 2020: Celebrating Mary, the Mother and Queen

Isaiah 9:1-7; Luke 1: 26-38

The Entrance Antiphon of this day's Liturgy reads:
Christ the King crowned his Mother as Queen of Heaven; Come Let us adore him

"Queen of Heaven, Rejoice", we pray in the days following the glorious resurrection of Christ our Saviour and Lord, because the triumph that Jesus won, was shared first and foremost, and most deservingly by his beloved Mother and our blessed Mother, Mary most holy. Exactly a week after we celebrate that mystery of Christ sharing his Easter glory with his Mother, we celebrate today another singular privilege that Mary was granted - being presented to us as Queen of Heaven. Until 1968 this feast was celebrated on May 31, from which year the commemoration was moved to this day, to follow the celebrations of the Assumption of our Blessed Mother, with body and soul into the presence of God, a fitting recompense given by God to God's most beloved daughter.

The Word on this commemoration invites us to reflect on the itinerary that Mary followed towards this glorious title - how did she become a Queen? Through great conquests or incredible feats of valour and victory? No! Not through feats but through her fiat; yes, through her 'yes' to the Lord of the Universe: Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done unto me according to your word. And it is in that fiat, that she is chosen to be the Mother of God and the Mother of God's people, the beloved Handmaiden of God and the splendid Queen of God's people. Her Queenship is all about her identity as handmaiden, as a servant - yes, a handmaiden-queen!

From her life, we gather where the young Jesus growing up learnt his mode of leadership - let the one who wants to be first among you, be the last; let the one who wants to lead, serve the rest - the Servant Leadership Model. She was, all her life, at the service of the Will of God to which she submitted herself, at the service of the Word who was made flesh in her and had to be nurtured into the world, at the service of fellow beings coming to their aid in their lack, at the service of the Salvific plan of God on the road to calvary and under the Cross, at the service of the early Church strengthening the apostles and others to stay firm in hope and courage during dark moments - all her life, at service! She remains the prototype of the Servant Leadership that Jesus proposes to us and presents to us in his own life and teachings. 

Apart from thanking God for this lovely handmaiden-queen we have, let us take to heart the servant leadership model that Jesus proposed, that we think seldom of power and position, but always of love and service!

Growing conscious of God's faithfulness and love

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

August 4, 2020: Remembering St. John Marie Vianney, Cure of Ars
Jeremiah 30: 1-2, 12-15, 18-22; Matthew 15: 1-2, 10-14

"You shall be my people and I will be your God" - every time that we hear this statement... we need to be filled with an awe about the unfailing love of God. What does really matter what I do and what my merits are, in front of this boundless love of God? What do my so called great sacrifices and pious practices measure up to, in comparison to the immeasurable love of God? Hence a constant question that should be present in my mind always is this: how worthy is my faithfulness to God vis-a-vis the faithfulness of God towards me? 

The only concern that should fill my mind is how to translate that awe into attitudes, attitudes of absolute gratefulness, total obedience and boundless humility towards God. If these attitudes develop in us, how peaceful we can grow to be! They would reduce to the minimum our tendency to judge others or consider others unbearable. How irritable we get and how fast we lose our patience with people. Between husbands and wives, between friends, between colleagues, between collaborators in the same team...how forbearing are we? How patient and non judgmental can we prove to be! That would be a reflection of how conscious we are of the unending love and unfailing acceptance of God.

John Maria Vianney whom we remember today, stands out in this character. He was not a great intellectual or an aristocratic legend who commanded respect instantly! He was a simple man, humble person but profound in his consciousness of God's faithfulness and love. It is with that quality that he brought the entire faith community around him, back to a filial relationship with God. How much we become people and persons of God depends much on how conscious we grow of God's faithfulness and love!

Note: For a few pictures taken at Ars where the Saint laboured...go to link:
https://www.facebook.com/antonychristy/media_set?set=a.2126828617388398&type=3 

The God of Small things!

WORD 2day: Monday, 17th week in Ordinary time

July 27, 2020: Jeremiah 13: 1-11; Matthew 13: 31-35

God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong. God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are, so that no one might boast in the presence of God (1 Cor 1:27-29). 

Jesus is fond of presenting his Father as the God of small things! He thanks God for keeping the secrets from the elites but revealing them to children (cf. Lk 10:21) and compares the Reign of God to a mustard seed and to a pinch of yeast. He invites us to learn of his meekness and humility (cf. Mt 11:30) and mediates the salvific love of God through his sheer obedience (cf. 2 Phil). Mindful of this, St. Paul sighs, "what do we have that we have not received?" (cf. 1 Cor 4:7).

Let us remind ourselves of our smallness before God! It is nothing more than a realistic understanding of what we are in front of the majesty that God is adorned with. It is better to be a small little thing in the presence of God than a mighty big being without God. Just being mighty and powerful... do you think It would make any sense; certainly, not forever! 

The foolish man says in his heart, 'there is no god' - derides the Psalm (14:1). The secret lies in keeping it simple and being grateful for every small thing that we have; for our God is a God of small things!

All things belong to God... even you and me!

WORD 2day: Wednesday, 15th week in Ordinary time

July 15, 2020: Isaiah 10: 5-7, 13b-16; Matthew 11: 25-27

All things have been handed over to me by my Father, says Jesus today in the Gospel. 'God as the author of history', has been a concept so strongly evinced by the narratives of the Old Testament. Even the super powers like Assyria and Babylonia were considered to be commissioned by the Lord to make certain twists and turns happen in history. This is the background against which Isaiah chides Assyria saying, they think they are the masters of their own destiny and the authors of their success. They fail to understand that there is someone far beyond and above them, who "sits in the heavens and laughs"(Ps 2:4) at the folly of the proud. 

This is an ongoing reality even today. Humanity as a whole, the scientific community at times, the political and economic super powers many a time, fall prey to this folly and create and cause atrocities that we have seen all through history. But the saddest part of it is the fact that the worst affected section of the society would be the poor, the innocent and the weak. How many inhuman justfications we have ready to rationalise such follies.

The Word recalls to us - the Lord scatters the proud hearted and raises the lowly (cf Lk 1:51); God reveals things to mere children and sends the haughty empty! All things are God's and from God everything draws its life and its sense. If I approach life with this sense, my worries find a way out, my concerns cringe to my feet and bearing my burdens become a child's play! 

What a saving wisdom it would be to recognise that all things belong to God, yes... even you and me, and all that we dream... everything belongs to God, and in God we live, move and have our being!

THE POWER OF MEEKNESS

Towards a sensitive, egoless, counter culture

July 5, 2020: 14th Sunday in Ordinary time

Zechariah 9: 9-10; Romans 8: 9, 11-13; Matthew 11: 25-30

To be powerful, to be the leader, to be dominant, to be in command, to be the super power, to be economic world leaders... these are the dreams people always grow with and crave for. The world advocates it as "normal" ambition of "normal" persons. How would you look at a priest, for example, who when he comes to any Religious community, invariably would go to the kitchen and eat his meal with the cooking staff who prepare the meals for the community? Or if you come across a person, a multi-millionaire in fact, who runs an orphanage and every time sits with his orphans to have his meals everyday. Not imaginary, these are choices, choices for the weak, the meek, the humble, the powerless and it is here that there is real power! 

The choice of Yahweh in the Old Testament was for such people. God was, God of the poor, the God of the oppressed, the God of the suffering. The concept of 'Anawim Yahweh', that the prophets speak of: the vulnerable, the suffering, the poor, the bowed-down, the people in submission - the Lord stands by them; they are the privileged people of God. The definitive choice of God is seen absolutely in the choice that God makes, to become a human person, go through all that a human person goes through and accept death, even death on the cross (cf. Phil 2). The First reading says the Lord comes not on great splendid chariot or with the power of the horses or powerful weapons. The Lord comes on a colt! "Learn of me for I am meek and humble of heart!" 


The Word today present us with three challenges, in order to be considered worthy people of God: 

The first is, the challenge to create a counter culture: the people of the Reign are called to be prophets who challenge the present order. The Lord repeatedly instructed during the past week through prophet Amos: Do not be conformed to the world! Challenge the culture that justifies domination and subjugation. Challenge the world that idolises wealth and power and prominence. Do not succumb to the culture of craving for power.

A Counter culture is the most indicative reality of the Reign of God. It is the critical stand point that evaluates all that is considered normal and customary, appreciates what promotes the good of everyone and questions those which discriminate, divide, and deprive someone of their due! It could be in terms of economic, social, personal, emotional or whatever well being, in everything and in each of these, a person and every person in a society has the right to his or her due. That is what the Reign of God is all about: harmony, brotherhood and sisterhood and peaceful living together. In a culture that opposes all these, Reign of God has to be identified, without doubt, as the counter culture.

The second is, to challenge one's own ego: the more you do away with your ego, the more you give space to the spirit of the Lord within you, says the first reading today. It is very logical, the less space I give to my ego, the more space I can give to the other; the more space I give the other, the more space I am able to set apart for God.

An Egoless personality is that kind of a person who knows who he or she is, rejoices in one's own gifts and talents, acknowledges one's own limits and shortcomings, and does all that is possible to live one's life to the full, without absolutising oneself in relation to the other, without making oneself the centre of everything, and without manipulating everything and everyone around towards one's own good and well being. A person with an egocentric attitude, cannot see the other or the other's needs, nor the way out of a self-centred perspective of the world and the entire reality. How much we have given into the craze for power, popularity and pleasure! Are they not filling myself with myself? How will there be place for God there?

The third challenge is to create a society that is meek, humble and peaceful. The Lord promises, all those who are tired and heavy laden, 'come to me and I shall give you rest'. But in the very next verse, he says: take my yoke upon you and learn of me - and you will find rest! The conditions placed for the real rest, is taking the yoke from the Lord and learning from the Lord to be humble and meek. 

Meekness is not weakness. It is in meekness that a person is truly strong; it is the mighty weapon that Jesus has taught us to use to the best of results. Creating a peaceful world, creating a warless society, creating a just and egalitarian society, the change has to begin from within: having a heart that is founded on the balanced ground of the Lord; developing within, a spirit that is unscathed by jealousy and rancour; nurturing a soul that is sweet and filled with love! This sweetness, love, forgiveness, mercy and serenity is the real power of meekness!     
 
Only this power of meekness can create a culture that is egoless, sensitive and peace-loving. As long as we look at meekness as an inability and vengeance as real power, as long as we look at our ambitions and goals as the absolute and persons and processes as secondary, as long as we keep our eyes fixed on the so-called victories and trophies and forget to see the hearts that we are trampling on, we cannot create a counter culture, that is we cannot make the Reign present, here and now! If we truly wish to be people of God, the people of the Reign, let us strive hard to rediscover in our daily living, the power of meekness!

Return to the Lord in love - the invitation continues!

THE WORD IN LENT - 3rd week, Saturday

March 21, 2020: Hosea 5:15 - 6:6; Luke 18: 9-14

Point for Dialogue #20: Loving Sacrifice and Meaningless Ceremonies

'It is love that I desire, not sacrifice,' declares the Lord in the first reading today. In fact, love is the best form of sacrifice one can offer the Lord, says Jesus in the Gospel. 

It is only in love we can become acceptable to the Lord - even the best of liturgical ceremonies, with the biggest of crowds, with the richest of things and the loftiest of creativity involved, will matter nothing when it is done without love - true love for God and concrete love for neighbours! Hence we are led today to a dialogue between truly loving sacrifices that we could offer and meaningless ceremonies and rituals we could end up with!

Speaking of love, we do not refer to a mere sentimental feeling for the other, but a concrete commitment for the good of the other. The concrete commitment is translated in terms of compassion, understanding, not judging, empathising, extending a hand, standing for the other and being ready to lay down one's life for the other! Do we not see exactly the opposite qualities at work today in the world - competition, arrogance, judgements, insensitivity, let downs, conspiracies and ruining others' lives for one's own well being! 

The choice is ours: lie low in the eyes of the spoiled society and be "blessed" in the eyes of the Lord, or parade oneself before the society but be despicable in the eyes of the Lord! What is our choice? Will we go home justified today?

Return to the Lord - in love!

THE WORD IN LENT - 3rd week, Friday

March 20, 2020: Hosea 14: 2-10; Mark 12: 28-34

Point for Discussion #19: My necessary behaviour and my credible reasoning

"Return" is the message that the readings today give us, as the first reading explicitly begins with. And Jesus in the gospel, states the way to return to the Lord... it is only through love; because "God is love"! 

There can be various reasons to return to something or someone... it could be because you gain something, it could be because you fear something, it could be because you are trying to give someone else a message! But none of these could be right reasons to return to the Lord - the only reason could be because we love the Lord and above all, the Lord loves us!

Loving God and loving one's neighbours, is no more two different things in Jesus' mind. It is one and the same: to love God is to love others, to love others is the easiest way to loving God. More than anything else, loving God is a necessity and loving others is its credibility. The dialogue that we are called to is a dialogue between our necessary behaviour and our credible reasoning - that is our good works for others and our innermost motivation behind those works! 

The most interesting part of today's message, when both the readings taken together, is a short cut to the heart of God. The readings seem almost to suggest that, even if you have a lot of imperfections within you, if you genuinely love, you are closer to the heart of Jesus than the so-called perfect person who lacks compassion and mercy! 

"Love and do what you will", said St. Augustine, who understood the real heart of Jesus, who declares today, that the person who spoke to him was not far from the Reign, simply because he understood the importance of love: love for God and love for one's neighbours!

Return to the child in you!

THE WORD IN LENT - 3rd week, Monday

March 16, 2020: 2 Kings 5:1-15; Luke 4: 24-30

Point for Dialogue #16: the Present and the Path we have trodden

All that Naaman had between him and his cure, was his ego! All that the people had between them and accepting Jesus as the Christ was the same ego and its senseless stubbornness. All that we have today between us and our inner joy, is our ego and its hardheadedness. 

When Naaman cleared himself of his ego and plunged into the humble waters of Jordan, the first reading says, "his flesh became again like the flesh of a little child and he was clean." What we need to do to counter our ego, is to take a closer and more realistic look at the child within us - our origins, our stages of growth, how dependent we were on people and how we would be nothing if not for so many wonderful hearts and souls who have made us what we are!

Jesus invites us precisely to this: to RETURN TO THE CHILD IN US; 'unless you become like little children, you cannot enter the Reign of God', is Jesus' stand (cf. Mt 18:3). It is a realistic dialogue between who we are and who we were; between what we are and how we have made up to here; between our present and the path we have trodden so far, because on those pathways are strewn the wisdom that we need to go on with. 

How many times we forget the path we have trodden and allow our ego to take us on an unrealistic trip! How we forget the goodness of God that has sustained us thus far! How we throw away all the great riches we have experienced and go after some new found ego-boost that has come our way! How we can become so numb to all those who have helped us grow, and think we have grown all by ourselves! We will remember them all, only when we take a good look at the child within us.

Truly, when we are capable of undoing the ego and training our hearts to thirst for God, as the responsorial psalm reminds us, we will inherit the Reign of God.   

The signs and the sack-cloth

THE WORD IN LENT - 1st week, Wednesday

March 04, 2020: Jonah 3: 1-10; Luke 11: 29-32

Point for Dialogue #6: Signs of the times and Readiness to change

Act now! The house is on fire! - heard that slogan somewhere? The famous slogan of the Swedish teen, Greta Thunberg which has drawn drastically mixed responses. Besides the millions of those who believe the climate-change crisis is something urgent to be addressed, there are those who slam these protests and the movement as senseless, as leftist, as baseless and ask for proofs after proofs. There are some who call it a myth, a fiction, a hoax. May be in these young voices we have a prophetic message, who knows? Are we ready to listen to it. Let us turn to the Word today...

The prophetic protests of the youth today resembles the message of Jonah. And 'the sign of Jonah' - what really does Jesus mean by that? Is it merely a reference to the fact that Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days? According to Luke, No. The Gospel and the first reading taken together makes the message clear. And of all times, at the present times, the message seems so perfectly applicable! 

The world is going in a direction so bizarre and in a pace so reckless; everything seems acceptable and basics seem crammed up. Respect for persons, dignity of life, value of truth, sensitivity to the other, sense of self-donation, respect for nature and its resources, respect for the rights of all - these seem to be totally alien to the world today. It is against this background that the Word calls for a dialogue between the signs of the times and our readiness to change; that is truly conversion.  

But the final word, however, is not hopelessness: that is the message! Listening to the call of Jesus, if we stop, think, and return to right living as the people of Nineveh did at Jonah's words - it will surely become a better world to live in. But are we ready? 

There is no alternative. If we really do not want to ruin the world and our existence further, we have to stop clamouring for further signs but return to our sack-cloths, in all humility, begin to change ourselves and our ways. 

To lift yourself or be lifted up!

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

February 25, 2020: James 4: 1-10; Mark 9: 30-37

Humble yourself before the Lord and the Lord will lift you up! Humility - the message continues today from yesterday. Humility is knowing the truth, realising its real sense and accepting it without regrets. The Lord has created you and knows you through and through; there is nothing that can escape the Lord and there is absolutely no need to hide it from the Lord! The Lord loves us anyway.

If only we know and understand this truth, and be convinced of it, that in spite of our weaknesses the Lord loves us - it would do so much good to ourselves and to the entire humanity. Because it would lead to two crucial dispositions in life that is so blatantly missing in the world today. 

The first disposition is that, what we are is willed by God and hence we need not compare ourselves with anybody else. All that we have is given by God and hence all that we need to do is be grateful and live our life to the full. When we are not at home with what we are and not satisfied with what we have, the world is pushed into the malice of greed, exploitation and criminality. 

The second disposition is that, we are loved and all that we need to do is remain in that love, grow in that love and share that love with everyone around. Like a child who feels secure in the arms of its father or mother, and is able to smile at everyone around without any fear or ill will, so should we be in the hands of the Lord who loves us without measure. 

When these dispositions find their place within our hearts, we would never be anxious about lifting ourselves up, but we shall be lifted up; the Lord shall lift us up.

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!