Saints - Being Saints...

All Saints day... reflecting on being saints...

Saints come in different shapes, forms and sizes... there are those who had been so from the beginning and there are those that turned so at the fag end of their life; there are those that formed others into saints and thus became one themselves while there are those that became saints so much due to someone else who had been after them all the time; there are those that renounced everything in life to become so and there are those who lived a busy life of a householder but through it grew to be what they were; there are those that isolated themselves in a desert or on mountains (or even on pillars) and there are those that dwelt in the din of humanity; there are those that lived upto a ripe old stage in life and there are those that died mature already at a stage so young. The message is simple: you don't need a situation that can make you a saint - you become one by recognising who you are!

BEING SAINTS

1st November, 2013: All Saints Day

O when the saints, 

go marching in, 

I want to be in that number! - 

... a simple but profound thought in those familiar lines of the song. To be saints: that is God's call to each of us. At times we think, becoming saints is reserved for a select few. May be the long and tedious process of canonisation of a person in the Church, makes us feel that way. But the fact is, each of us, all of us is called to be saints. St. Paul states that in clear and unequivocal terms in his letter to the Ephesians (1:4), Thessalonians (1 thes 4:3), and other places. 

The question sometimes is, whether it is, being a saint or becoming a saint! We are created in the image and likeness of God (says Genesis 1:27) and this image and likeness of God is a "given", a nature that we have within us, as a gift. We are reminded of this image and likeness at our baptism. All the we need to do is to remain with that image in our lives. The beautiful symbol used in the rite of baptism, where the priest hands over a white cloth to the child and entrusts the task of bringing it, as it were, unsullied, intact in its purity to the end of days.That, dear friends, is the call - "to be saints"...and not merely to 'become' saints.

The readings today, develop the same thought in three wonderful dimensions:

Being Saints means... being aware of who we are! O Christian, realise your dignity! We are children of God, reminds St. John in his letter, in the second reading. God has chosen us from eternity, before the foundation of the world! This is an initiative from God our Father and Mother, who creates us and wishes that we share in God's love and ever remain in God's image and likeness, as children of the loving God.

Being Saints means... being washed by the blood of the Lamb! The Image of God within us, sometimes is disturbed, smudged, smeared or sullied by the choices we make misusing the human freedom that is granted to us. The evil one will be more than happy when we lose heart at such moments and give up. The Son of God, our Saviour Jesus Christ shed his blood that we may have victory over sin and death. In that blood we are saved, and in that blood we are made clean, each and every time we turn to the Lord in genuine repentance and willingness to regain our original image. Saints are those who have their garments washed in the blood of the Lamb, says the second reading.

Being Saints means... being 'blessed' in the eyes of the Lord! And the only way to be 'blessed', is to live by the promptings of the Spirit who dwells within us. Paying attention to the indwelling Spirit, we will know what it means to be blessed - to be poor in spirit, to be meek, to hunger and thirst for righteousness, to be merciful, to be peace-loving - these are ways of being persons of the spirit. In the ordinariness of our daily life, we have to be persons of the Spirit, looking at the reality different from the way the self seeking world teaches us to. 

God's initiative in the call that I have received; Christ's redeeming act of Salvation; the Spirit's indwelling presence that guides me on a daily basis - these are compelling reasons why I need to think seriously about, not merely becoming a saint one day, but being a saint everyday, in my own way!

WORD 2day

31st October, 2013

Nothing can separate me from the love of Christ; no one can separate me from the love of God in Christ Jesus - the most energising words of St. Paul. St. Paul, the apostles and the first Christians learnt this from Jesus himself. If God is for me, who can be against me - that was the confidence of faith that defined the courageous choices that Jesus made. Neither Herod, nor Pilate, nor the high priests or the chief priests, nor the impending death, nor the rejection of the crowd - nothing mattered to him, because he knew that the One who sent him, loved him! However, there is warning for me today: there is only one who can separate me from God's love - Myself; there is only one thing that can separate me from the love of Christ - My ego! If I choose not to belong to God, if I choose to reject God's love, I separate myself from God. How much God wishes to gather me into God's arms, but I rebel!!!

WORD 2day

30th October, 2013

To be saved, is a grand spiritual preoccupation. All religions and faiths, is in answer to this preoccupation. The readings today address the question with two simple propositions: the first, "God's love guarantees that you will be saved" and the second, "Take care that you do not create for yourself a situation of impossibility of being saved". In simple words: the readings tell us- being saved should not be our preoccupation! Our preoccupation should be to live our life according to the promptings of the Spirit within us, living everyday in the presence of the Lord, going about our duty with utmost interior joy and total dedication to Truth. The rest happens by itself and we will find ourselves in front of that narrow door...and we will enter and our hearts will rejoice in the salvation of the Lord!

BL.MICHAEL RUA

A boy who grew with Don Bosco...

in all its sense...he grew 'with' him,

spiritually and charismatically...

he grew to be literally 'another Don Bosco'...

the boy who grew up with Don Bosco at Valdocco, 

became his double at Mirabello...

he was called 'the living rule'...

but there was nothing missing in him, 

that made him the warm father that Don Bosco was!

During the preparations towards 

the bicentenary of Don Bosco's birth...

Rua offers us a great inspiration 

towards understanding Don Bosco! 

Above all, it is all about,

BEING ANOTHER DON BOSCO TODAY! 

AND IN OUR OWN WAY! 

WORD 2day

29th October, 2013

Longing for a brighter future is a human reality. Within the framework of faith this ordinary human reality takes the form of Hope. If faith is a total childlike surrender to God, hope is the blind joy that fills the heart. Even in a moment dark and grim, this joy lights up life. Haven't we seen persons who have faced years and years of struggle, who have experienced tragedies after tragedies, but still strong and serene? Those are real saints for they live in a spirit of hope, in holy patience that St. Paul speaks of. We need a very special spiritual capacity to behold the Reign of God - it is patience in problems, endurance in trials, optimism in setbacks ... a certainty, that in everything, simple little things or great grand events, it is God who is in charge. That in one word is, hope!

WORD 2day

28th October, 2013 : Remembering the Apostles Sts. Simon and Jude

The memory of the Apostles takes us back to the original experience that gave rise to a new movement, a new family around the person of Jesus of Nazareth and the wondrous experiences with him. Being Christians does not only mean to have a set of beliefs and practices related to them. It means, that we belong to that movement, that family, that household... we are all members, fellow citizens, brothers and sisters with the apostles and saints. Jesus called the Apostles by name, that they may pass on that experience of belonging to the household of God, to others right to the end of the world! And we have been the beneficiaries... we have been built together as the dwelling place of God, the Temple of the Spirit. United in our hearts, with genuine love that goes out to each other, as brothers and sisters we are invited to become Temples, where persons can come in to feel the presence of God.

EMPTINESS - where God Encounters!

27th October, 2013 - 30th Sunday in the Ordinary Time

You cannot fill a cup that is full ...

God is not partial, God knows no favourites says the first reading but all the while speaking of a God who takes his stand by the poor, the widow and the orphans, the oppressed and the lowly. There is no paradox here, neither is there a partiality. It is natural that water flows where it is low. Isn't it true that we can fill only that which is empty! 

Today we are reminded of the Spirituality of Emptiness! Emptiness, is not merely an absence of things. Emptiness is not merely a state of something not being there. If it were so, it is so easy to reach that state - all that you need to do is remove what is there! Instead, emptiness is a positive reality. Emptiness is where God encounters us!

Emptiness can be due to a lack! The first reading speaks to us of the oppressed, the widows and the orphans...persons who lacked, who lacked their rights, who lacked some on to lean on, who lacked people who cared. God encounters us in that state...that is a condition! A condition in which one knows that one lacks, when one knows that he or she is not complete. In our inabilities, in our lacks when we turn to God, and accept God as the one who can fill me... God fills me! 

Emptiness can be a lifestyle! One can have, one can possess, but still can decide to live in a state of emptiness, not giving into attachments and bonds that can cripple one's existence. God encounters him or her there, in that emptiness. That is not a condition, but a choice! St. Paul, speaks in the second reading of how he had emptied himself for the sake of the Word, for the sake of the Lord, for the sake of the Lord's people. It is a lifestyle ... a mindset...the mindset of Christ... For he did not consider equality with God as something to be held on to,...but emptied himself (Phil 2: 5-7) - the lifestyle of Christ, the Son of God! Emptying yourself is a choice to allow God to fill you!

Emptiness is liminality! Liminality is a word that is used to mean, 'to stand at the threshold', a state of passage, a state where one is changed from what one was, but has not yet become what one is yet to become! One is not complete yet, but he or she is well on the way to being complete. We can be reminded of the words that St. John writes, 'We are children of God, what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, because we will see him as he is' (1 Jn 3:2). When we empty ourselves, we are moving towards being complete. When we are too conscious of being so complete and perfect, we actually are closing ourselves in and we become dead. The more we empty ourselves, the more God fills us!

O God, who alone is complete...
behold my emptiness, and make me ever conscious of it,
that I may be filled, filled by you,
to become complete, just as you are...
... so ready to empty myself for the others, 
that I may be once again be filled by you, who alone is complete!

WORD 2day

26th October, 2013

There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ, declares St. Paul. But the real question is, what does it mean to 'be in Christ'? To be in Christ, does not simply mean, I am born a Christian, or I am baptised into the Church...it means to be in the Spirit, to live according to the Spirit, to walk according to the Spirit, to set our minds on the Spirit, and above all, to bear fruit in the Spirit. Because it is by the fruits you will know the tree!(Mt 7:20) It is not upto me to judge someone good or bad; to condone or condemn someone. Every sad or sorry end of someone is a clear warning to me, to check the path that I am on; to check the fruits that I bring forth. Everyday is another opportunity that the Lord gives, to turn around and bear fruit! The readings seem to scream at us: "Bear fruits worthy of repentance. ... for the axe lies at the root of the tree!" (Lk 3:8,9)

WORD 2day

25th October, 2013

For I do not do the good I want; but I do the evil I do not want - we all know well when we falter, as the psalmist words it, "for I know my transgressions and my sin is ever before me" (Ps 51:3). Sin, that St. Paul speaks of today, is something that I do, or I give into consciously. None of us can feign ignorance and Jesus explains precisely that today in the Gospel: knowing exactly what is coming up the horizon! If only I am more sensitively aware of what happens within me at a moment, to what I am committing myself to, of what I am giving into, of what I am permitting into my mind, my thinking and my life... I can preserve myself from so much of pain and patch up. The statutes are present within me in my heart, the Saviour abides ever at my side...all that I need to, is turn to the Lord and to the Word of the Lord to be assisted, strengthened and saved! Let us be ever alert, not to fall prey to the evil; the fall may be slow and gradual but 'we will not be released until we pay the last penny!'