Celebrating the God of Communion!

The Solemnity of the Holy Trinity : 15th June, 2014

Exo 34: 4b -6, 8-9; 2 Cor 13: 11-13; Jn 3: 16-18

The feast of the Holy Trinity is an invitation to a life of communion, communion between persons, communion within the family, within the local church, in the universal Church and above all, an invitation to the ultimate and perfect communion with God! Communion defines what it means to be a Christian: and that is because we believe in a God of Communion!

Entering into the theology of the Holy Trinity will take us too far; but the verse from St. Paul in the second reading today (1 Cor 13:13), summarises it all. The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Love of God and the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit. Already in the early Church the understanding of the God they believed in, the idea of the God whom Jesus introduced them to, the concept of the God who has been with them all this while, was clear and concrete. 

What we believe in, affects what we live. If not, we either do not really believe or do not live our own life. If we really believe in the Holy Trinity as we should, we should be promoters of communion in our interpersonal relationships, in our family, in our faith communities and in the locality wherever we live, ultimately challenging the whole world to this communion of humanity. The divisive forces cannot really take the upper hand if each and every individual loves, longs for and promotes passionately this communion that the God we believe in stands for. 

The God of Communion is an Accompanying God. God accompanies not because we deserve that accompaniment, but because God takes responsibility over us, as God's people. That is the covenant that God has made: you shall be my people and I shall be your God. In the first reading today, when Moses asks God to be with the people, it is exactly this covenant that is invoked. An accompanying God is the basis of the communion between God and humanity, and it is our belief that God has kept this possibility open right from the beginning.

The God of Communion is a Relating God. Communion is unreal, unless through relationship. And God relates to us continuously, God communicates constantly and wishes to remain in constant touch with us. If we realise, respect and recognise the role of this relationship, it will be reflected in our day to day relatioships: encourage each other; agree with each other; live in peace, exhorts St.Paul. Anyone who says he loves God and does not love his brother or sister, is a liar, warns St. James (1 Jn 4:20). 

The God of Communion is a Self-giving God. God is not merely almighty, God is all-loving and all-giving too! God gives and forgives, it is said; we get and forget! For God so loved the world that God gave the only Son, Jesus Christ, that we may have life! For Christ so loved his brothers and sisters that he gave his own life, his body and blood, that we may have life! For the Spirit so loves us that the Spirit dwells in our hearts, in our bodies, in our selves! The God of communion seeks communion with us, and seeks communion among us. 

The Trinity is the right corrective the world so divided and so threatened by hatred today. Killings, exploitations, corruption and manipulation are brass tacks manifestation of the lack of communion. Personal Intergrity, Christian Fellowship and Universal Brotherhood are the three fundamental forms of communion that we need to work towards these days. Let us begin with our personal selves and reach wherever we reach, so that we can rightfully say that we believe in the God of Communion and that we stand for the Accompanying, Relating and  Self-giving God, the God of Communion, the Loving Father and Mother, the Life-giving Son and the Indwelling Spirit. 

This is the 500th post on this blog;
thanks to the readers and their encouragement!

WORD 2day: 14th June, 2014

Speaking in Action!

I Kgs 19: 19-21; Mt 5: 33-37

Do not swear at all; just act! Do not just promise; be righteous and noble! Do not just speak; but live! If at all you speak, let your actions speak before your words, your promises and your propaganda.

Elisha speaks in action, just like Elijah did while he figuratively communicated that he passes on the mandate given to him, to Elisha. Elisha responds in concrete by burning the plow and slaughtering the bulls... that was a response in action, commitment made visible, readiness made absolute. The episode reminds us of the famous phrase, "burning the boats".

Each of us is invited specifically at a moment in history to live a call that is specific to each of us. Realising this call and responding to it with a sense of absolute commitment is the message that the readings present to us: not to reflect and come up with some sound and sweet interpretation; but to look for a way of living our faith concretely on a daily basis.

WORD 2day: 13th June, 2014

The Lord in the Gentle Breeze: Celebrating St. Antony

I Kgs 19: 9a, 11-16; Mt 5: 27- 32

The storm went thundering, the fire went blazing, but the Lord wasn't there! The Lord of surprises manifests himself in the gentle breeze and gives us the most powerful of all messages: "Be still and know that I am God" (Ps 46:10). Knowing God, experiencing God and manifesting God is not a matter of accomplishment, but a sense of simple acknowledgement. St. Antony is an ideal image of this! Known to be the most popular saint after Francis of Assisi, Antony shines in his simplicity. 

Our daily life has to be a life of simple commitment to the Lord in all its sense. The tasks we undertake, the relationships we enter into, the commitments we accept on ourselves, the daily duties we perform, the normal cares on our shoulders and our minds: these are all ways to our sanctity, provided they are done with a purity of intention that befits the Lord who has called us to all these. 

The Lord in the gentle breeze invites us to personal integrity, simplicity of commitment and purity of intention! May St. Antony inspire us!

God's blessings...Deepagam.

Deepagam, is the Don Bosco Catechetical Centre - a centre for Religious Education and Value Education. It is the animating centre for the dimension of Evangelisation and Catechesis in the Salesian Province of Chennai. Having had its humble and challenging beginning in the mid-eighties, the centre today has spanned more than a quarter of a century, or infact nearly three decades! Great stalwarts like Rev. Fr. John Peter Sathiaraj, Rev. Fr. Jerome Vallabaraj have been associated with its origins, and Fr. Jayapalan Raphael, the present Provincial of Chennai, Fr. Arulanandam Devasagayam, Fr. Antony Clement, Fr. Kirubagaran have served as the Director of the Centre at various periods of time!

God has given me the great privilege to serve at the Centre right now for a second stint (the first being from 2007 to 2009), and today - 13th June, 2014 we inaugurate a simple renovated block which would serve as the premises for the centre from now on. Its a sheer blessing from God and I am happy to share with you all this moment. May the Spirit of the Lord remain with us and move the Centre to more and more commitment towards Sharing the Light!

WORD 2day: 12th June, 2014

Never say quits, when it comes to righteousness

I Kgs 18: 41-46; Mt 5: 20-26

Let your righteousness surpass the righteousness of the scribes and the pharisees, warns Jesus today. It is not at all typical of Jesus to compare someone with another; but today he does it, to make a point very clear. Some times we could be exactly the kind of persons, with whom we find fault. That is infact what he means, when Jesus asks us, 'why do see the speck in your neighbour's eye while you do not notice the log in your own eye?' (Mt 7:3). 

Instead of finding fault with the others and judging them to be right, wrong or despicable, we are challenged to keep growing in our righteousness. At times we console ourselves in our mediocrity, comparing ourselves with the tolerable characters and compromising personalities. Whereas Jesus continues to propose to us a lofty ideal: Be you perfect as your heavenly father is perfect (Mt 5:48).

When our righteousness reaches such heights, that we are determined to be like our heavenly Father, we will surpass all righteousness of the world; that is what we are called to: never stop growing in our perfection! Never say quits, when it comes to righteousness and you will see how many marvels you will witness, as did Elijah in his times.

WORD 2day: 11th June, 2014

St. Barnabas: The Apostle of Encouragement

Acts 11: 2b-126, 13: 1-3; Mt 5: 17-19

The spirit of the Reign is a spirit of encouragement and empowerment, it is not merely cynicism and critique. Barnabas stood for this spirit of the Reign, and that was the reason the apostles named him so (the term meaning 'son of encouragement') (cf. Acts 4:36). Some characteristics that stand out in Barnabas are his relentless passion for proclamation, his courage to brave all odds, his capacity for being sincere even to the extent of having confrontations with his close friend, Paul (Acts 15). 

The lesson this great apostle gives us today can be three:

1. Build up persons, that is the way to build up the Reign of God.

2. Be faithful to the Lord, with a firm heart, that is the way to belong to the Reign.

3. Rejoice in the matters of the Lord, that is the way to invite people to the Reign.

Be encouraged, and be an encouragement to the others today, for we celebrate the apostle of encouragement, St. Barnabas. 

Called to be Eucharistic Families

Cover article from Salesian Bulletin, June 2014

WORD 2day: 10th June, 2014

That your jars may never run dry!

I Kgs 17: 7-16; Mt 5: 13-16

Be salt; be light; says the Lord, that your jar may never run dry! As salt is never for itself, but adds taste to where it is present; as light is never for itself but burns, so that all those who are around may see where they are; so is a disciple of Christ, called to live for others without counting the cost. 

Being salt, you are required to lose yourself and dissolve your identity in the whole lot. Being light, you are required to burn yourself for the others to see. It is nothing but an imitation of the Son of God who gave up his divinity (Phil 2) and shone to be the light of the world (Jn 8:12). A life that is lived for others, will never run itself out.

The widow of Zarephath is challenged to think of the other before herself. Because she did not hesistate to do it, she witnessed an astounding miracle; and she herself becomes a miraculous witness referred to even by Christ himself (cf. Lk 4:26). If we accept the same challenge in our day to day life, to place others before us, others' need before our's, others' concerns before our's, then we will witness the same miracle. Let us accept the challenge to be salt and light, that is to be Christlike, that our jars may never run dry!

WORD 2day: 9th June, 2014

God is incharge!

I Kings 17:1-6; Mt 5: 1-12

Back to the Ordinary Season from today! Ordinary days do not mean that we take whatever pertains to the Lord for granted. We have today the all famous 'Beatitudes' from the Gospel according to Mathew. Jesus explains to us a set of blessedness, a definition that goes contrary to the definitions of the so called 'ordinary world'. It seems as if St. Paul took the cue from here to write those beautiful wisdom: "Do not be conformed to the world, but... discern what is the will of God - what is good and acceptable and perfect" (Rom 12:2).

The Blessedness that Jesus presents is not something that demands that I do a lot of things and that I prove myself to be a great success in unbelievable feats! It just consists in surrendering to the Lord and realising that in everything, 'God is incharge!' Situations that try our patience, persons who get on to our nerves, moments that challenge our will to belong to God and temptations that vow to take us far from God...they are bound to be there this day: what is going to be my attitude? 

Let us have a look at the attitude of Elijah in the first reading: he surrenders, and surrenders totally! That is the model, that is the example, that is the attitude of the beatitude, that is the mentality that realises, accepts and believes that in everything, 'God is incharge!'

WORD 2day: 7th June, 2014

Peter and Paul...You and Me!!!

Acts 28: 16-20, 30-31; Jn 21: 10-25

These days we continuously hear of Paul and Peter, the two great leaders who led the band of apostles in their proclamation of the Gospel and the initial formation of the Church. They announced the Gospel in season and out of season, in the prison or out of it, in political custody or in the public squares, in health and in sickness, among the faithful or among skeptics, among simple peasants or to learned philosophers. Nothing held them back from preaching the Word.

Looking for ideal situations to evangelise, bemoaning the political atmosphere or the social apprehensions,  finding excuses for remaining unnoticed Christians and justifying our lack of initiatives towards evangelisation: these are very common these days. Tomorrow we will be celebrating the feast of the descent of the Holy Spirit causing the birth of the Church. 

Let us pray for the Spirit, the Spirit of power, love and self-discipline, the Spirit of courage and wisdom, the Spirit who strengthens apostles and empowers martyrs, that we may be persons filled with the Spirit and witnessing to the Gospel without ceasing.