WORD 2day

19th June 2013

Interiority - that is the key word today, while the world keeps shouting out to us, "Get Noticed!" Much of the Spiritual journey is made in the portals of interiority. The capacity to live on the basis of one's personal convictions formed out of concrete experiences and wise judgements, guided and illumined by the inner light of the Spirit of God, is what we understand to be Interiority. Cheerful  giving, silent piety, hidden alms, secret sacrifices, tranquil spirituality... these are a few signs of interiority that readings point out today. Few more we could think of are hopeful spirit, realistic optimism, humble gratitude, genuine fellowship, unconditional forgiveness, simple behaviour, reflective thinking, compassionate listening, and so on. A person of interiority is like a still spring and a silent stream, they appear still and silent, but there is life within them. They look quite and ordinary, but within them resides the powerful Spirit of the all powerful God. I know, i have become a bit too philosophical in today's sharing, but interiority takes you by force, it drags you in and tethers your mind around something that you cannot speak enough about. That is why great sages of our tradition have spoken very little and mostly in aphorisms; that is why Jesus spoke always in parables and metaphors. Let this call guide our day today - the call to a sacred interiority!

WORD 2day

18th June, 2013

St. Paul presents an example of the community of Macedonia to his beloved community of Corinth. He calls them to excel in their faith, to reach the heights of authenticity in their faith. And the way he proposes is, as the people of Macedonia, to be compassionate towards the others, those in want, those in need! Paul is but reiterating the invitation of Christ to all his followers - be you perfect, as your heavenly father is perfect! And the way to perfection that Jesus proposes is in Love - a love that does not expect any appreciation in return, a love that does not expect anything in return, a love that does not expect even love in return. A tough call even for the saintliest among us - to love and expect nothing in return! Infact, when something is expected in return it is no love! That is why God's love is unconditional and every love that is genuine, is with absolutely no tags attached. Love is merely a giving, an offering, a self-offering. And obviously, it involves a great risk of rejection or depreciation, but that risk cannot stop me from loving. That is the point. How well said by Mother Teresa, 'Love until it hurts'. Truly Christ-ian!!!  

WORD 2day

17th June, 2013

The Beatitudes continue to inspire the Liturgy! As we reflected last week, the crux of the beatitudes, that is found in Mathew's fifth chapter, is the invitation to the followers of Christ to be a Contrast Community! We see that sense of 'contrast' flooding the readings today. Be it the first or the Gospel, the readings point to us the two choices we have in life always - inspiring the monumental words of Robert Frost - "two roads diverged in a yellow wood - and I took the less travelled by, and that has made all the difference". Mahatma Gandhi speaking of the Sermon on the Mount to Lord Irwin said, "when your country and mine shall get together on the teachings laid down by Christ in this Sermon on the Mount, we shall have solved the problems not only of our countries but those of the whole world." Let our life show if we are Christ-ians or not. Let my choices define who I am and what relationship I have with Christ. If I believe Christ is my personal saviour, the way I look at the world and all that happens around, will totally be in contrast to the way the mainstream of today thinks and calculates. St. Paul speaks of this in such powerful terms, a conviction that cost him everything - his career, his freedom and even his life! It takes courage for me today to accept, that even I have received the same saving faith, as St. Paul's, in the same Spirit!   

My God loves me!!!

The joyful cry today is, "I am forgiven". Forgiveness is a beautiful experience! An experience that can give a person a boundless joy, a total renewal and a new lease of life. That is what the readings insist on today! The Lord is merciful, the Lord forgives, and the Lord forgives without any conditions! When a person experiences that forgiveness in all its fullness, with sincerity of heart and earnestness of spirit, the person changes, the person changes radically, the person changes into a new person altogether, to the extent of saying, 'it is not I who live, but Christ lives in me!' 

Yes, I am Forgiven...
Not because, I deserve to be...

David deserved to die, and he knew it very well. When Prophet Nathan pointed it to him, he knew the Lord was well aware of the criminality of his heart, the lustful desire that killed Uriah, the selfishness that nullified every gift of the Spirit within his being. But when he came to his sense and surrendered himself to the Lord in all his weakness, emptiness and nothingness - instantaneously he was forgiven! 'your sin is forgiven, you shall not die!" David knew he did not deserve it, all the same the Lord forgave him. The Lord forgives me, without measure, instantly when I express my genuine remorse... the Lord forgives me, not because I deserve to be forgiven.

I am forgiven...

Not because of the good I do...

St. Paul explains with such force today, nothing of my obligations fulfilled really merit all that the Lord gives me! It needs to be said in the commercialized world today, which makes religious practice too a divine commerce with God. I give, and I expect; I do, and I want a return; I do good and wish always to be treated well. Sometimes my spirituality and practices of piety become subtle credentials to indulge in an unconscious or subconscious bartering or bargaining, with God. It's surely not the good I do that merits me the forgiveness of God for the proportion will never be realistic. The Psalmist so well expresses it, 'Blessed is the one to whom the Lord imputes no guilt and in whose spirit there is no deceit. If I were to be forgiven, to the measure of the good I do, least can I imagine that I will stand anywhere before the Lord; I am forgiven, so immeasurably, not because of the good I do. 

I am forgiven...

because I love my God... 

Grace that justifies me as St. Paul says, the Faith that saves me as Jesus says... they are in concrete terms the love I have for my God who has given me life and called be God's. It is the relationship I treasure with my God, the love that I nurture every day and every moment within my heart that assumes various names at various instances, such as 'grace',  'faith' and so on. The foundation is the love that I have for my God... 'her sins, which are many are forgiven, for she loved much!' Yes the Lord forgives me, because I love my God...and more because, 

My God loves me!!!

This is the crux! God loves me and there is no other reason needed for me to be forgiven! The love of God is a prodigal love, a boundless love. The mercy of God is limitless grace, a gratuitous gift. My God loves me...and My God forgives me! I have nothing to fear and nothing to hide! My God knows me and My God has accepted me totally! My God loves me and all I have to do is what the Psalmist tells me - "Be glad in the Lord and Rejoice, O righteous and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!"

I will rejoice in the Lord, for I am forgiven! not because I deserve to be, not because of the good that I do, but because I love my God...and most of all because, My God loves me!!!

WORD 2day

15 June, 2013

Yes and No... it is easy to differentiate them! White and Black it is simple to contrast them! But what about the shades that lie between them; that is where the whole play takes place. And that is exactly against which Jesus speaks today. For sure, no one would say an 'yes' and a 'no' together. But it is quite convenient to say an 'yes' and add a few shades to it; its easier to say a 'no' and add a few other shades to it. Compromise... that is what we are warned against today. Any compromise is a fall already. A fall, known by the name 'fall', is more acceptable than a fall that is justified, or explained away or rationalised... at this stage it becomes a hypocrisy. The quality of not compromising, the decision to stay clear of all hypocrisy is known as INTEGRITY. I am an integral person, when my yes means an yes, and my no means a no! The easiest way to remain integral, is to be moved by the love of Christ - the love of Christ urges us, declares St. Paul! It is that love, out of which the Lord who was innocent and pure, died for me a creature so sullied and small. May that love, the sacrificing love, the unconditional love, urge me to be sincere, truthful, righteous, virtuous, in short, an Integral person!

WORD 2day

14th June, 2013

The discourse of the beatitudes continues! Our identity gets more and more established as 'Contrast Communities'! We are invited to choose the hard way, the unbeaten path, the lonesome road and not to follow the easy-going crowd. It is easy to make an exception now and then and stay comfortable for the moment. It is easy to give up on a person or a value or a conviction, because there are troubles and unnecessary struggles involved. But it takes courage to stick to a conviction, stand by a value and stay clear of a scandal. It calls for struggle, affliction and perplexity to remain faithful to the grace we have received in our baptismal mandate. I may argue that I am too weak...but it is in that 'earthen vessel' the treasure is placed. My strength and my value lies in the treasure that is within. When my gaze is fixed on the treasure, I should be able to handle the earthen vessel better. The secret lies in respecting this earthen vessel, atleast for the sake of the treasures that lie within. When we are filled with Christ, we are able to see the proposals of the easy-going world less luring. Yes, we live with constant temptations and afflictions, but we fight all this "so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh." That tough choice, that unswerving priority is the challenge - the call to be People of God, people of the Beatitudes, that is, Contrast Communities. 

St. Antony of Padua

St. Anthony of Padua: 

Some interesting facts

• Born: 15, August, 1195
• Died: 13, June, 1231. He was just 36 when he died. And was not even 37 when he was canonised - on 30, May, 1232 by Pope Gregory IX.
• His Baptismal name was Ferdinand Martins de Bulhŏes.
• He was elected Provincial of his region of Franciscan friars, but he resigned very shortly  just to be able to carryout his preaching mission.
• Patron of missing things and missing persons!
• In Padua, where the Basilica stands today, he is also prayed to, by those who are looking for the right spouse to marry, or by those married couples who have problems in their marriage. The Basilica treasures the incorrupt tongue of the saint, as a relic venerated even today, as a testimony to his gift of breaking the Word.
• He was a contemporary to St. Francis of Assisi and one of the best ones at that.
• A survey reports that after the Blessed Mother and St.Joseph, St. Anthony may be the most loved saint in the Catholic World today.
• St. Anthony ...Pray for Us.

WORD 2day

13th June 2013

Righteousness that surpasses that of the scribes and the pharisees... today, we better look out for what Pope Francis would say in his homily... the readings of today would be very handy for the orientation that the Holy Father is repeatedly offering the Church these days... it is a call to holiness, in concrete terms of personal integrity and community witness! It is not the external showmanship, nor the imposed grandeur of a mysterious element that makes something or someone valuable; it is the simplicity of the truth that is seen plainly in one's life and ways. Keeping our faith "unveiled" is the key to understand the challenge of the readings today and the call of the Holy Father these days. Let us live our faith... should we to fall in the process now or later, it does not really matter! Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom! The sons and daughters of a liberating God cannot live in fear, not even the fear of making mistakes! Let us go out and live, and live our life to the full. Unveiled and Shining, Unfettered and Liberated, let us live a life of righteousness which does not consist of mere abiding by laws but consists in warm and mature relationships. A Christianity that is not translated in terms of loving, liberating and respectful interpersonal relationships, is nothing more than the righteousness of the scribes and pharisees. 

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'.