WORD 2day

12th June 2013

Commandments - Condemnation - Righteousness - Splendour : the glossary from the WORD today! The earliest Christian communities were seen as contrast communities. They believed in commandments as did the Jews of their times, but their commandments were spelt differently. They knew there is condemnation, but their conditions of condemnation were formulated differently. They strove towards Righteousness but their righteousness was constituted differently. They had a splendour towards which they were drawn, but that  was arrived at completely differently. The key was LIFE... the LIFE that was given by the Spirit... the Life that Christ brought... the Life to the full! I have come that you may have life...sounds well in continuity with today's phrase in Mt 5:17. Every little thing that is done, believed, taught or learnt, has to be LIFE-GIVING...LIFE-ENHANCING...taking us towards Life in all its fullness, the promise that Jesus the Good Shepherd brought into this world. Anything that enslaves, dehumanises, cripples life or tramples fullness, cannot be from the Spirit, for "the Spirit gives life"!

WORD 2day

11 June 2013: St. Barnabas, the Apostle

We are invited to remember St.Barnabas today. St. Barnabas, the Apostle - though not among the 12, he is referred to as 'the apostle'. The reason, the book of Acts says it all. He was a discrete and generous man! Being among the earliest of the followers of the Way, he sold a field that he had and laid the proceeds at the feet of the apostles. It was Barnabas who brought Paul, the newly converted Jew to the apostles! It was Barnabas, and Barnabas alone who could give a leaning shoulder to Paul, true to his name which meant, 'Son of Consolation'. Not just that, when he had to disagree with the same Paul, he dared do so and parted ways! Strong personalities, with personal freedom and mutual respect - but with one single FIRE within - the fire to proclaim the Good News about Christ - to heal the sick, to raise the dead, cast the demons out, to give and give without any expectation. To go about with nothing in their hand or in their purse for the sake of the Reign of God! With nothing to gain for themselves, they were ready to give everything to others! Barnabas presents once again before us the model of the Apostles and the First Christians - that breed of Christians who were 'CHRISTIANS' proper to the name! They were making Christ present, and they were called 'Christians'...May St. Barnabas inspire us to really deserve that name 'Christians'.

WORD 2day

10th June, 2013

Comfort in affliction, blessedness in poverty, peace in persecution... there is a strange logic propounded by Jesus and seconded by Paul. But there is another simple, clear, direct and demanding logic too, that is spoken of in the liturgy of the Word today. It is the logic of 'Give-because-you-received.' This logic is a bit intricate, and leaves a lot of room for subjectivity! Subjective because it demands first of all that I realise that I have received, so that I am inspired to give. If I am really open to every little happening in my life and fundamentally grateful in my heart, I cannot but notice the amount of good that I keep receiving from the Lord! That is the intricate detail that I have to be aware of and acknowledge, to understand and practice the logic that Jesus presents to us. It is so simple - I have been loved by God first, hence I have to love my brothers and sisters! I have been forgiven immeasurably, hence I have to forgive! I have received comfort and been shown mercy, hence I am called to comfort others and to be merciful in all my ways!

GOD OF LIFE

9.6.2013: 10th SUNDAY OF THE YEAR

LIFE...

Life is a GIFT...
..... God loved me into existence, into life!
..... my basic disposition has to be Gratitude...

Life is a CALL...
..... God calls me to New Life, a constant Renewal!
..... my task is to live my life to the full...

Life is my DESTINY...
..... God offers me Eternal Life, for all who believe shall have eternal life!
..... the challenge is to Remain in Him...

WORD 2day

8th June, 2013: Feast of Immaculate Heart of Mary

To Remember is a Spirituality in itself! 

Mary's heart is exalted today...

because she remembered...

she kept everything in her HEART...

Tobit, Tobias, Sarah...all of them are blessed because they remembered, they remembered the good that the Lord had done to them... And God remembered them and blessed them more!

Just after the Sacred Heart of Jesus, 

the Church proposes that we remember the Immaculate Heart of Mary... 

because a heart that resembled 

the heart of Jesus. 

Learn from me, 

for I am meek and humble of heart... 

Mary observed that heart from close, 

infact she had her part in forming that heart...

and she herself treasured a heart that resembled that meek and humble heart of the Lord! 

She kept everything in her heart! To remember the goodness of the Lord, to remember the great things done to us by the Lord, to remember the mighty presence of the Lord ever in my heart - that is the spirituality that Our Blessed Mother teaches me today!

When I remember all the good that the Lord has done to me, the hurdles and heart aches that come to me sometimes will look much smaller. 

All I need to do, as Angel Raphael instructs today, 

is to remember the goodness of the Lord, because, 

to remember is a Spirituality in itself!

GOD LOVES YOU AND ME

Thank you Lord for drenching me in your Love!

Thank you for seeking me, when I am lost and rescuing me from the worst!
Thank you for feeding me with yourself and refreshing with your Spirit!
Thank you for lavishing me with your love, though I deserve it not even a bit!
Thank you dear Lord for drenching me with your, protecting, providing and prodigal Love!

6.6.2013

37th Anniversary of my Baptism!

BAPTISM: 
The First Gift God gave me after God willed me into existence! Everything after that has only been an affirmation of that gift and the love with which that first gift was given me! God, my Father and Mother, thank you for the gift of life, a life in YOU.

WORD 2day

6th June 2013

The Oriental mind is synthetic, while the Western mind is analytic. That is why the Oriental Scriptures have their condensed forms called the 'Sutras'. No doubt Jesus of Nazereth was an Oriental. He looks to synthesize every thing that he wants his listeners to understand. Today he synthesizes the whole of the Hebrews' Scripture to just two admonitions - Love God; Love your Neighbour! In the Mathean parallel of today's Gospel, Jesus would clearly conclude saying, "On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets" (Mt 22:40) (law refering to the Torah and prophets refering the rest of the books, Neviim and Ketuvim - in short the entire Scripture as believed by the Jews). And a while later, Paul would understand Christ's mind so well to go further to declare, "for the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, 'you shall love your neighbour as yourself'."(Gal 5:14). Our entire Christian life is summed up in one word - LOVE. If I live a life of love, love in its truest sense, love in its divine nature, love in its Christ-ian essence, everything else falls in line. What a beautiful exemplification of this 'love' in Tobias and Sara! Again today, I am inspired to quote Augustine who said, "Love, and do what you will!" Such is the surety we have in Christ-ian Love.

WORD 2day

5th June 2013

A few days ago, our loving Holy Father said in his homily, 'a sad Christian cannot proclaim the Good news!' Every one has one's own share of the baggage to be carried! For some it seems more, for some others less. But more or less actually does not make much difference. What makes the difference is how one looks at it. Today, Jesus is almost laughing at the Sadducees for their ignorance - you know neither the scriptures nor the power of God, he says. They behave like the mendicant who was asked, what if you won a ticket to France tomorrow, and he said instantly, I will go to France and beg! Jesus challenges us to think big! He warns us not to limit God to someone like us, out of our ignorance! Our God is God of the living, not of the dead...God is much greater than whatever I can think of, or imagine! All that I need to do is believe in that God, trust in the presence of that God and when I am aware of that overwhelming presence with me, all the troubles that I face today, becomes so negligible. Be it Tobit or Sara...their share of trouble was so heavy...little did they realise the mighty presence with them, which was there to deliver them and launch them into Salvation History never to be forgotten!  When St.Augustine says " when I am completely united to you, there will be no more sorrow or trials; entirely full of you, my life will be complete", this is what he means... the Mighty Presence of my Living God, can make the worst of my troubles look so silly! 

WORD 2day

4th June 2013

No one asked Jesus, what is the opposite of love. If they had asked he would not have said, 'hatred' but 'insensitivity'. Being insensitive to the other is the end of love! Judgments arise when I don't have the patience to listen to the other. Calumnies are born when I don't know to place myself in the other's shoes. Manipulations are a result of objectifying the other person, robbing him or her of the very personhood. Even apparently harmless traits like craving to win an argument, or desperately trying to prove someone wrong are subtle, some times terribly gross, insensitivities of our daily experience. Love, explained in gentlest of terms would be, sensitivity to the other... whoever it be! The more we consider the person important the more sensitive we would be. And what a world it would be if we remain sensitive - a person to the other and nations to nations! Lord, that I may forget more of me and reach out more to those around me!