The Spirit that convicts!

WORD 2day: Tuesday, 6th week in Easter time 

May11, 2021: Acts 16: 22-34; John 16: 5-11

Jesus wishes that his disciples moved on to the next level. He is pushing them to it, goading them to make them not merely servants but friends, not merely working hands but leaders, not merely followers but inspirers. He is trying his best to introduce them to the Advocate, the Divine Counselor! This week, the Word presents to us, the varied aspects of a Spirit-filled Christian life... today's readings bring out one important aspect of this advocate, promised by Jesus: the aspect of the Spirit which convicts individuals, communities and all those who truly believe.

The Spirit when around makes things clear - about sin, righteousness and judgement, says the Word. No one can escape from the omniscient Spirit of the Lord, for even the innermost of the sinful tendencies are known to the Spirit. One who is righteous is sustained by the Spirit, that amidst even the worst of oppositions and criticism, the one who is conscientiosuly righteous, knows nothing can affect him or her. One who is in the Spirit knows that the judgement is at hand and lives not by fear, but by righteousness and in abhorrence of sin! In fact, receiving the Spirit, thus becomes a mode of equipping oneself to live a truly Christian life.

Receiving the Spirit is not an ordinary task. It is a divine mission that the Lord promised to those who sincerely ask for it. For when the spirit comes... the Spirit would convict the person. The person automatically goes into a self-examination mode, evaluating and appraising oneself on, how worthy one is, of the life to which he or she is called.

"What should we do to be saved" ... that is the question that would fill our hearts, when the Spirit overshadows us. What should I do to be acceptable in the eyes of God? What should I do to reject sin? What should I do to be righteous in the eyes of God? What should I become to face judgement with hope? We have a great help to answer these questions: the Spirit that convicts!

LENT 2021

LENT: Living Enthusiastically the Need for Transformation

Each of us has the need for transformation...and we are reminded of it time and again, if we are spiritually awake! It is not our weakness that makes us truly weak, but our mindlessness of our weakness! That is why the Pope Emeritus often said, 'what is more dangerous than sin, is the loss of the sense of sin.' While Pope Francis incessantly recalls the absolute mercifulness of God in forgiving and extending God's hands of embrace, he repeats with equal insistence the need for conversion - conversion from godlessness to Godliness in our daily lives. 

Once again this year for the season of Lent, the Holy Father insists on the need for renewal, the need for transformation, the need to remain conscious of the journey we are called to make to the holy mount of Jerusalem, the eternal Jerusalem - the Reign of God. 

Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem (Mt 20: 18)

Lent: a Time for Renewing Faith, Hope and Love

The Season of Lent this year invites us to journey towards beholding Truth in faith, towards refreshing our lives at the living waters of hope and towards nurturing love as the highest expression of faith and hope. 

The need that we have for transformation is not a guilt-ridden feeling but an enthusiastic reminder. True to its literal meaning, 'filled with God', the enthusiasm that is created is Spirit-given. Repent and believe in the Gospel! Our Transformation is a Need and it has to be Enthusiastically Lived...Living Enthusiastically the Need for Transformation, is the crux of every season of LENT. 

Happy Lent to you!

Be compassionate because...

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

October 26, 2020: Ephesians 4: 32- 5: 8; Luke 13: 10-17.

'Children of Light', that is how St.Paul addresses us in the first reading today. The reading also paints a clear picture of what it means to be children of God...it means to be kind, compassionate, forgiving, filled with love... in short being like God, simply because we are children of God. In similar terms Jesus addresses the suffering woman as, 'daughter of Abraham'...how loving and compassionate models we have in Christ, our Lord and in the Lord's esteemed apostle.

Love and compassion have to be the defining characteristics of our personality. Nothing can stop us from being compassionate... no difficulty should hinder us from being compassionate... no rule or regulation, no tradition or custom, no practice or policy can stop us from being compassionate; because it should become our very nature as we are children of the Compassionate Father and Mother, God who has loved each of us into existence.

There is yet another phrase from St. Paul that has to be taken seriously in today's context: let no empty argument deceive you, warns Paul. It is crucial we pay attention to this today: these days we hear people criticising Pope Francis and calling him names and branding him as someone who is destroying the teachings of the Church. We need to be very careful with the anti-Catholic forces which are taking advantage of the situation and spreading the false propaganda, in the disguise of their concern for the Church. The sad fact is that some, even within the Church, are so quick to fall for this false propaganda, and worse still, some of them are in authority of teaching! All that Pope Francis said was just the compassion that Jesus had for the sinners and the publicans. The Holy Father only reiterated that the sin has to be abhorred not the sinner, the wrong principles have to be condemned not the persons... every person however sinful he or she is, bears at the core of his or her being, the dignity of God's child. Our compassion should help that person to rediscover that original dignity, not throw the person out as worthless!

Compassion alone can define me as a true follower of Christ. Compassion alone can make me a real Christ-ian. I have to be compassionate because, it is Compassion that formed me and has shaped me!

The Unleavened Lifestyle of a Christian

WORD 2day: Monday 23rd week in Ordinary time

September 7, 2020: 1 Corinthians 5: 1-8; Luke 6: 6-11

The Word today speaks to us of the ills in Christian living...which St. Paul calls the yeast of evil and wickedness. We consider, almost universally, that acts like adultery and fornication are serious faults, and rightly so. But we consider habits like gossiping, judging others and criticising as less grave and so, go on with it as if they do not matter. A bit of compromise here and a bit of adjustment there, seems alright for the daily normal living, in the common parlance. 

That can never be an authentic Christian way of thinking...Christ would say looking with lust is equally evil as adultery; speaking ill of the other is equally brutal as assaulting the other physically; character assassination is as criminal as killing a person! It is not exactly in what we do that the seriousness of the matter consists, but in what we are aiming to do through our actions or words or disposition.

St. Paul deals with a more concrete situation of impurity and sin in the first reading today...but does not stop with a do or a don't. He transcends them all and instructs the community to be careful about the yeast of evil and wickedness which enters as a stray thought, continues as a practical convention and gets ratified as something acceptable! How many things have followed this path of ratification in history of humanity! 

Jesus gives a valid and eternal alternative to this yeast of evil - the unleavened life style of a Christian - Love. Love alone can make a Christian. Love is the typical disposition of a true Christian. Love is patient and kind, but rejoices in nothing but good! Hence we are called to love and not judge, to love and not use others, to love and not to bloat in our egocentric achievements! Let us be filled with compassion for the suffering and the weak, for the oppressed and the exploited, for the marginalised and the forgotten in the society - that will make us truly Christian, with an unleavened lifestyle! 

God with us - in thick and thin!

WORD 2day: Friday, 14th week in Ordinary time

July 10, 2020: Hosea 14: 2-10; Matthew 10: 16-23

this sign in Indian tradition is called the Abhaya Mudra ,
the Lord assuring God's unfailing and protective presence

"Straight are the paths of the Lord"(Hos 14:10), declares prophet Hosea today. Straight, and therefore tough. Straight and therefore no compromises. Straight and therefore no confusions! Everyone knows the ways of the Lord; everyone knows what is acceptable to the Lord and what is not; it is made known by the Lord to every human person in their innermost self. No one can say, I was not aware that this is the right thing to do! Of course, every one knows it or at least has the possibility of getting to know it.

Further reflecting, the words of Jesus in the Gospel are quite frightening as we find Jesus trying to warn us against being good, against choosing the ways of the Lord and being God's disciples or apostles of the Word. He does not promise any prospects, instead persecution. He does not announce any offers, instead oppression. He says it very clearly that we will have to suffer for his sake, for the sake of the Word and for the sake of the Reign of God.

Each one knows what is good and what is right...and while choosing it, there is going to be problems and trials - unfortunately we know that too! Come to think of it: one knows saying the truth is the right thing, but doing it, he or she knows the consequences of being isolated; one knows being honest and sincere is the godly thing to choose, but he or she knows too, that it will only bring loss and lag, while the rest of the dishonest world seems to march ahead in victory and glory! So choosing God's ways seems to bring nothing desirable! 

Now listen to Jesus who assures the consolation of the Lord, the consoling and affirming presence of the Lord with us, always and everywhere. Because what we have chosen is the way of the Lord, we are certain to find the Lord present with us all the way. The way might be filled with pitfalls and climbs and hurdles and thorns and thistles... but we are sure amidst all these, the Lord walks with us, the Lord speaks on our behalf and the Lord acts in and through us. What a mighty consolation we have: in thick and thin, God with us!

Welcoming the Advocate!

WORD 2day: Tuesday, 6th week in Easter time

May 19, 2020: Acts 16:22-34; John 16: 5-11

Beaten, bruised and bound, they sang the praises of the Lord... will not the glory of the Lord be revealed there? The act of Paul and Silas in the prison was such a powerful witness that the prison guards expected anything anytime. They were capable of it, because of the Spirit that filled them, fueled them and fired them.

It is the Advocate that Jesus promised to his disciples who makes the entire difference and the difference is enormous. We see this in the very first moment when the apostles come out to speak in public. The frightened band of messengers had been turned into fiercely blazing firebrands. 

Added to this, Jesus says, when the Spirit comes the Spirit will convict the world. Every heart is given the possibility to know what is true, good and just; every human heart has a longing for someone beyond oneself; every person called by the waters of baptism realises at the core of one's being, the need to be a righteous witness. In spite of these, if the person chooses to fall, decides to choose the evil, sides the evil and despises good, ignores the truth and passively permits the untruth...who is to be blamed? Is not a conviction needed there!

Sin, righteousness and judgement - they decide the quality of one's witnessing life. Receiving the Spirit is not merely receiving some magical power but it is facing the truth, encountering the all-knowing Divine, opening yourself completely before the finger of judgement. Are we really prepared to welcome the Advocate who is to come?