WORD 2day: 3rd January, 2014

The most powerful name of ALL: JESUS!!!

'There is no other name under heaven...by which we must be saved,' says Acts 4:12. The names in the Biblical tradition are not merely nominative, they are descriptive and definitive! Abraham, Moses, were names that defined the history of the person; Gabriel, Raphael, Michael, were names that defined the very role of those who bore them; John was given the name even before he was conceived, just like JESUS, the Saviour; Emmanuel, God-with-us! The true purpose of Incarnation was not to demonstrate the grandeur and the omnipotence of God, but the closeness of God with those whom God loved. Emmanuel is the title that explains best the love that God has for us...For God so loved the world, that God gave up everything even God's own Son; and the Son of God gave up even his Godhead and came to be one among us! The Word was made flesh and dwells among us..here and now!

WORD 2day: 2nd January, 2014

God, Faith and our Choice!

God loved us, and as if that was not enough, God had to prove it at great costs. God works marvelous things, and as if that is not enough, God has to every time prove, that the things are marvelous and that God did them! Faith is of course a gift from God, but receiving it or not, depends on our disposition and our readiness; it is our choice! The Word became flesh and came to dwell among us; God revealed Godself to us, and God continues to reveal... do we have the eyes to see it and the heart to accept it? How many miracles happen all around us every single day...and do we really notice each of them? Today, let us remain open with our eyes alive and our hearts warm, to receive and appreciate the splendid signs of God's presence with us. Do we really believe in the Emmanuel, God-with-us?

Felice Anno 2014

Happy 2014

BEGINNING IN GOD'S NAME...

2014... a treasure... wrapped and pressed into our hands...

We have today a wonderful gift that the Lord offers, wrapped and pressed into our hands...the gift of 365 beautiful days! And what better way to start the day than with the Blessings from the Lord:

The Lord bless you and keep you!

The Lord let his face shine upon you, and be gracious to you!

The Lord look upon you kindly and give you peace! (Num 6: 24-26)

It's all about the fullness of time...

At the appointed time the blessings come our way...

When the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman...

so that we might receive adoption as chilren... (Gal 4:4,5)

And as we begin this New Year...

let us do as the Shepherds did...

Glorifying and Praising God

for all that we have heard and seen...(Lk 2:20)

for all the good that we have experienced during the year and 

for all the good that is in store for us this NEW YEAR...

and may be an apt prayer for today could be:

God grant me 

the Serenity to accept the things I cannot change,

the Courage to change the things I can, and

the Wisdom to know the difference!

THANKS to everything that has been...

AMEN to everything that is in store!

WELCOME 2014

Welcome...2014...here for your download!!!

WORD 2day: 31st December, 2013

O sing to the Lord a new song!

Oh what a day to sing a new song! When everyone thinks of something that is ending, the Word calls us today to sing a new song! Not that the liturgy does not take note of the last day...it does! The first reading indeed, speaks of the last days and the things that pertain to the last day! But the responsorial invites us to sing a new song! That is truly a Christ-ian spirit! To sing a new song when every one thinks everything is coming to its end, for our hope has no end. It is a beginning for us... a new beginning, in the Lord, in whom we have "received grace upon grace" (John 1:16). Today...is a day to thank the Lord for everything, for everything that we have walked through this year. Some, we may label 'good', and others we may label 'bad'... but invariably everything has happened with the knowledge of God...there is nothing more blessed than to offer everything up into the hands of God this day, as we await an all new grace from God's hands... a new year that begins at the end of this day. Let us prepare ourselves in thanksgiving to receive an all new grace from God's hands!

WORD 2day: 30th December, 2013

One who does the will of God, lives for ever!

The feast of the Holy Family is just over, but the theme lingers on in today's liturgy - the first reading addressed to various categories of persons in the family, the psalm inviting the families to offer themselves to the Lord and the Gospel referring to the holy family at the temple, to offer the first born to the Lord! The cue to the message is prophetess Anna and the last verse of the first reading which says, "one who does the will of God, lives for ever" (1 Jn 2:17). We are all called to 'grow and become strong', and to be filled with wisdom...wisdom which tells us what is God's will for us; what is acceptable and what is not, in the eyes of the Lord! Faith is not acquired once for all; every day we must grow, grow to the full into persons that God wants us to be. We have no excuse, because God's favour is upon us all as chosen children of God; if I don't grow and become strong in faith, it is me who is to be blamed, is it not?

LESSONS FROM THE HOLY FAMILY

29th December, 2013: Solemnity of the Holy Family

Increasing number of Homes for the Aged, Orphanages, Day care centres and Night shelters for the kids on the streets, alarming rate of divorces and split families, the ridiculous family feuds and meaningless stand offs among the relatives within a family... these are no strange scenes today in a Christian Community! And much more, these are vivid testaments of a collapsing Christian faith. The Christian faith is a faith of a Community, from the earliest times known it is experienced, lived and shared in a community; and the basic unit of the community is the family. That is the reason for using the beautiful term, 'domestic church' referring to the family. It is there, that the Church grows from a seed to a seedling and then to an orchard of God's love. The Solemnity today, intends to rekindle in us our respect for families, our commitment to living our faith in our families and as families to become the nuclei of God's love that can give birth to a whole new world, a world of love, peace, joy and fellowship.

The Holy Family of Nazareth presents to us a wonderful project towards this dream:

To the Families: BE GOD CENTERED! 

The first reading invites us to reflect on the fact that a Christian Family is constituted by God. It is not merely the man and the woman who come together to make the family, but it is the Lord who brings them together. The second reading affirms the same in the words of St. Paul, who elsewhere points out that marriage should lead to mutual sanctification of the partners (1 Cor 7:14). As long as God is the centre of a family, the family will remain united, bonded in the love of God.

God was at the centre, in the Holy Family... God commanded, the family carried out. They listened to God, obeyed God and took directions from God. Do we as a family, listen to God and take directions from God?

To the Individuals: BE FAMILY CENTERED!

The individualistic and materialistic tendencies of the society at large, have begun to affect the individual families drastically. Individuals within a family, far from thinking of the well being of the other, have begun to calculate the gain they have from the rest of the family and stoop to dirty levels of hurting the other for one's own good! 

The Good of the Family was the uppermost criterion in the Holy Family... Mary did not mind the running around, be it when she was still carrying or after the delivery; Joseph did not mind taking up the burdens of transferring them every time; all that was in their mind was the Good of the Family and Jesus was no exception as Luke says in his Gospel, "he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them' (Lk 2:51). Do we as individuals, place the good of the others in the family before my own interests?

To the Churches: BE COMMUNION CENTERED!

The Local Churches, that is the parishes, are essentially God's Family of families. In the wise and eternal plan of our loving Lord, the Universal Church in the world is the communion of Churches in various nations, namely the dioceses; the Diocesan church is the communion of the local parish churches; the Parish church has to be the communion of the domestic churches, that is the Family! All of us united in the name of the Father, Son and the Spirit, who invite us to form one, big, universal family of loving hearts - that family which is called the REIGN OF GOD. 

The Holy Family did everything with just one objective in mind: that God's will be done. Mary said that to Angel Gabriel: Let it be done unto me according to your will, and ever since she did nothing but obey the Lord with thanks, praise and reflection in her heart. Joseph carried out every command that was given to him without speaking a word of doubt or objection - all for the will of God to be done. Do we as part of the parish church, do our part to grow in our communion with each other, towards forming one, big, God's family - the Reign of God?

Let us take to heart the lessons from the Holy Family today...and as families be God centered, as individuals be Family centered and as a Parish be Communion centered.

WORD 2day: 28th December, 2013

The Feast of the Holy Innocents

The innocents die, even today!
Due to the malice of minds and the avarice of various kinds, innocents die even today.
At the hands of the oppressive forces with heartless greed for power and dominance, innocents die even today.
By the selfish acts of the conniving perverts and the corrupt bigwigs, innocents die even today.
The authentic culture of a society can be understood by the way it treats its children, its elders, its weak and its helpless members, they say. That is why the Holy Father Pope Francis keeps insisting on our care for the children, the elders, the sick and the weak. Let not just our prayers be raised today but our commitment too towards protecting the rights and the well being of the helpless innocents!