WORD 2day

13th May 2013

We are invited to a new phase this week... to prepare ourselves for the great feast of the Pentecost, the birthday of the Church! Yes, the Church was born with the recognition of the presence of the Spirit. They had seen the marvels of the hand of God...and then they witnessed with their eyes the wonders that Jesus performed and the signs that he gave. But they had no idea, who this Spirit was! They knew God had a Spirit and God was Spirit! But Jesus and the encounter with Christ, introduces them to the person of the Holy Spirit, and there the Church was born. The apostles spoke of the Reign of the God, and there were two important features of the Reign: First, the Trinitarian Communion, the new perspective of the One God we believe in; Secondly, the fact that the Reign of God as the reign of peace, a peace that 'has overcome the world'.

The 7Up from the Lord...

12^th May 2013: Ascension of the Lord

As the Lord goes up, let us reflect on the 7-UP

1^st Reading: THE EVENT: Christ ascends to the right hand of the Father!

                Christ, GAVE UP the divinity and became like one of us (Phil 2)

                He GOES UP today, by his obedience and fulfillment of the Divine Will (Heb 10:7) 

                He will SHOW UP leading everything to its fulfillment (Heb 10:36)

2^nd Reading: THE EFFECT: You and I are made worthy to accede to the presence of God!

                We are RAISED UP by the fact Christ became like us…

                We are DRESSED UP by the virtue of our baptism, and

                We are BUILT UP into the family of God.

Gospel: THE EDICT: You shall be my Witnesses to the ends of the Earth!

                We are challenged to STAND UP for the Lord in the World today!!!

WORD 2day

11th May 2013

"I came from the Father and have come into the world; again, I am leaving the world and going to the Father." Jesus was clear right from the beginning about where he belonged and where he was bound to! Much of our problems arise from our lack of self understanding. When I forget where I come from - not merely the geographical data, but my ontological origins (the origin of my very being...In Him we live, move and have our being-Acts 17:28) I get lost in the immediate things of life, the trivial concerns, the momentary joys, the misleading priorities and so on. How many of us feel so torn by these disturbing tendencies, that we lose the very meaning of our life! Today, its opportune to pray to the Lord, saying, "God my Father and Mother, may I never forget that I come from you and to you have I to return; and in the mean while never should I forget, I belong to You and You alone!"

WORD 2day

10th May 2013

I will see you again and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you! The joy that the Risen Lord gives, is primarily the Lord's presence with us! That is what he promises St.Paul (I Reading), "Do not be afraid...for I am with you!" In the presence of the Lord is the fullness of joy, says Psalm 16. And this joy, nothing or no one can take it away from us, for the Lord shall never leave our side. Should I face a mighty mountain, or a valley dark and deep..the Shepherd of my soul will be my guide. All that I need to do is remind myself, in all that I find myself through, that the Lord who loves me is by my side, and all I need to do, is trust, believe and live, live to the full, with the joy that the Lord alone fills me with!

WORD 2day

9th May 2013

Your sorrow will turn into joy. My heart today turns to so many known to me, who are experiencing this inevitable reality - SORROW. Economic concerns and debts, elderly or sickly parents, unprecedented sickness of a loved one,helpless situations of terminal illnesses, the struggle of a non acceptance and rejection, a lack of meaning  inspite of things done with much effort, continuous challenge to personal worth and failures that persistently pull down the self esteem, the list is on… ‘Sorrow’ turning to joy – that Jesus promises today can mean so many concrete experiences to persons such as these whom we have reminded ourselves of. Primarily from the point of view of faith, after the example of St. Paul (I Reading) and Christ himself, this 'turning to joy' is a process from within. An internal process of maturation - a joy from within - an experience of the faith, an assurance of an intimate presence of the Lord in the midst of this 'sorrow' - an experience of growth, a Maturity in Faith.

WORD 2day

8th May 2013

"When they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked..." Some experiences are beyond our grasp at an initial instant, some experiences may be totally confusing while others may leave us with nothing to say. It is easier to dismiss them or find someone to blame them on, than to remain with those experiences in patience and faith, to come to grips with what they really mean and what they have to offer us. The beautiful expression of Anselm, 'faith seeking understanding', is a grace! "When the Spirit of truth comes, the Spirit will guide you into all the truth"... the truth of what i am upto, the truth of who i really am and what i am called towards. Once again today, as always, Lord my prayer is, "Let your Spirit guide me O Lord"!

WORD 2day

7th May, 2013

"What must I do to be saved?"... that must have been a very familiar question those days! We hear that addressed to Jesus by the rich young man and in a little different words by the disciples. Later, to the disciples it is addressed quite a few times as recorded in the Acts. After Christ has been raised, the question infact is redundant! For Jesus says, I shall send you the Holy Spirit and the Spirit shall enlighten you on everything. Today, we live as people of the light, for whom everything should be clear as things in a daylight. Lack of sense of sin, compromised vision of righteousness and a careless attitude of judgement, is what we witness today in the world, sometimes sadly within each of us! Might be, that our values, priorities and choices blur the light that the Spirit wishes to shed. Let us submit ourselves to the Spirit and pray, 'Let your Spirit guide me O Lord'!

Feast of Dominic Savio, a young giant of sanctity! god give me the conviction that i am called to be a saint!!!

God with us and God within!!!

6th Sunday in the Eastertide: 5th May, 2013

The readings today sum up the readings we have been listening to in the past week. There is a kind of a premonition of some feeling nostalgia, which is already there and yet to come. Its a kind of feeling that the students of the Higher Secondary have before they close for their study leave... a feeling of 'lot-to-do' and a feeling of 'are-we'missing-each-other'... Jesus keeps telling his disciples that they need to learn to live on their own, not that he is about to abandon them, but that they have to graduate to the next level. Jesus prepares them too for the same. These are the days when the first communities of Christians were getting together. They felt something uniting them, but still felt all the differences among them. That is the crux of the Word today... we are called to live as a community... a community of persons who feel so united because of something that unites us, something that is with us and within us...inspite of all the differences that is among us.

The fundamentalist group that creates the commotion, the reaction of the rest, the emergency council convened and the heated discussion therein, the misunderstanding between two top leaders, the break-up : we are not talking of some thing that happened in the neighbouring parish these days, but what happened in the Early Church, right in the Acts of the Apostles. We are a community of human persons each with our own ego, our own interests and personality traits. There are differences of opinions and perspectives, without that there is no richness and variety.

I am reminded of a analogy given by Paulo Friere, highlighting the difference between a pavement and a mosaic - both made of smaller units which make up the whole; the former made of units that are of same size and shape to create the uniform pavement that we see on the sidewalks of a road, the latter a grand art formed by tiny parts each in different shape and size and shade adding its uniqueness to bring out ONE GRAND MASTERPIECE. 

To be God's people we are not called to sacrifice our uniqueness, rather we are called to live it to the full - 'I have come that you may have life, and have it in abundance!'(Jn 10:10) We are not called to sweep under the carpet the differences and the disagreements we might have - Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.(2 Cor 3:17) To be God's people all that we need to do is be mindful that we are God's people - that is to be conscious that inspite of our differences we have something that unites us. 

It is the fact that we are called by One Lord - Jesus Christ. It is the Risen Christ who forms the community! The Risen Lord lives with us and within us!

It is the Spirit of the Lord that keeps us together. 'Let your hearts not be troubled!' says the Lord today... When I see in my community human elements of ego and pride, misunderstandings and slandering, discouragements and dirty politics - let your hearts not be troubled... face it with courage, wisdom and grace that the counselor brings you! 

The secret is this:

Feel God living with you and within you: note the way the disciples handled the discussion...'For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us' ... the expression is fantastic... speaking of the Holy Spirit as someone who lived with them and decided along with them... that is the faith that sustained that holy community! That is feeling God with you and within you!

Fall back on the Community for a discernment: whether you are the leader of the community or one of the members of the community, fall back on the community for a process of discernment. Deciding on one's whims and fancies is not going to help, you have a community convened by God, find God's will as a community for the good of the community.

Find the Light of God illumining your life: the light of the Lord shines on you and you walk in the light! There is no need to confound yourself for in the light there is nothing that is hidden. What is needed is the eyes of faith and a patient heart. The Spirit of the Lord teaches you all that you need to know, provided you feel the Spirit's presence and yearn for the Spirit's direction!

What a People we are - God the Father and Mother, has called us; the Risen Son of God unites us and the the Spirit of the Living God enlightens and leads us! What a People we are! 

Let all the Peoples praise you O Lord! Let all the Peoples praise you!

WORD 2day

4th May, 2013

Being accepted by the world, being loved by those around becomes a concern par excellence today! Rejection by someone close, indifference of someone considered a loved one, becomes so unacceptable and unbearable. When things happen in life, that are not in keeping with what we expect, however good the expectations may be, it makes us question the very basics of our life, sometimes even our faith. The ability of the apostles to see things that go wrong in the light of faith... as 'forbidden by the Holy Spirit' and 'not allowed by the Holy Spirit'... is a challenge for us today! From the perspective of faith, nothing can disturb us. But how much i need to grow in faith to have this childlike surety! Sure we will reach that state, when we "know" the One who loves us and sent His only son for our sake! Thank you Father, for your love.