WORD 2day: 21st June, 2014

To whom is my allegiance?

2 Chr 24: 7-15; Mt 6: 24-34

Infidelity, compromises, transgressions, forsaking and tryst with the unholy...these were characteristic traits of the so-called 'chosen people', the people with whom the Lord made the covenant: I will be your God and you shall be my people. However unfaithful and treacherous they got, the Lord ever remained faithful and true to the covenant that was made. Coming across passages such as we find in today's first reading, we are prone to judge the people of Israel, but let us wait!

Looking at our own life, the Lord has chosen us before the foundations of the world (Eph 1:4) and has made a covenant with us right at our baptism: you shall be my child and I shall be your God. And ever since, how many compromises and transgressions, how many moments of failures and negligences... the Lord however has always been faithful (cf.2 Tim 2:13). 

In the light of today's readings let us raise a fundamental question to ourselves: To whom is my allegiance in my daily concrete living? And how absolute is that allegiance? Integrity demands that only each of us can be our own judge. Analysing each and every little choice that we make and the priorities we act on will give us a fair picture of our level of fidelity to the One who has called us. 

WORD 2day: 20th June, 2014

Dead before the actual death!

2 Kgs 11: 1-4, 9-18, 20; Mt 6: 19-23

'Where your treasure is, there also your heart will be!' 'For all those who draw the sword will die by the sword!' These are foregone conclusions and bygone experiences. Still, when it comes to our choices, we dare to be foolish. Everyone knows that possession and position are by no means permanent. No one claims that he or she will carry along what one holds here on earth, when this earthly sojourn is done with. But still the craze  of hoarding wealth or the avarice for power over people does not cease in any case. The treacherous events of the first reading reminds us of these strange human choices.

As the book of Deuteronomy (30:15,16)) tells us: there is open before us the choice for life or for death. None of us can sincerely say that we are absolutely unaware of it when we choose something bad! The choice is always ours. The Lord has given us the Spirit and the wisdom of the Spirit, the eye to see, the light within us to be illumine, which instruct us the right way at every one of our steps as Isaiah tells us (Is 30:21). It is our responsibility to be attune to the voice, the whispering that guides us. It is our task to resist the temptation of making the wrong choice. And it requires maturity of faith to accept this responsibility. When we fail to accept it, or when we yield to the attractions of the temptation, we make a choice - a choice for death and not life, a choice for destruction and not prosperity. In those choices, however successful we seem to be, we are dead before our actual death!

WORD 2day: 19th June, 2014

Prayer of the Persons of God

Sir 48: 1-14; Mt 6: 7-15

Elijah and Elisha - they have been churning our minds these days! Wondrous deeds, challenging words, and above all, demanding prayers! There is a characteristic difference in the prayers that persons of God make and that is what Jesus tries to teach us today. Prayer is not about begging God for things that we badly need, it is discussing with God my Father and Mother, the concerns that fill my mind at a point of time.

The Our Father is one such prayer, a prayer of a person of God; a prayer that puts God at the centre and not my needs; a prayer that is bothered not so much about receiving the blessings as about being blessings to others; a prayer that does not seek a secure life but a sincere life. The prayer of a person of God, is born out of one's life and renews one's life at one and the same time.

Prophets are persons of God, par excellence. They stand for God, they speak for God and they challenge us on behalf of God. Jesus was a challenging prophet too, and that is why he calls us all to be prophets like him. Let our daily life be in imitation of these prophets; let our daily prayer be a prayer of a person of God.

WORD 2day: 18th June, 2014

To stay clear of trivialities

2 Kgs 2:1, 6-14; Mt 6: 1-6, 16-18

The only condition placed before Elisha, that he may receive a double share of the Spirit possessed by Elijah, was that Elisha should see Elijah being taken away by God. The challenge here is not to miss what is central  to whatever we are involved in, being distracted with the trivialities.

The Gospel places the same condition before us. The actions that we do will have their true value depending on the fact whether the centrality of the right element was ensured. Praying, fasting and almsgiving are the three actions mentioned in the Gospel today and they together epitomise the entire religious practice of a Jew. The point is: not to miss what is central to it in getting distracted with the trivialities of human recognition and immediate rewards.

In our relationship with ourselves, with others and with God, we are invited to pay attention to the most central of all concerns: to do what is most pleasing to God at a given instant. Any other concern is only a triviality, however good and  practical it could be. The spiritual prudence that Jesus teaches us today is to stay clear of the trivialities and place God at the centre and at the core.

WORD 2day: 17th June, 2014

The Father's Perfection

1 Kgs 21: 17-29; Mt 5: 43-48

Coming to the end of the Beatitudes, Jesus today summarises the beatitudes into just one evocation: be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect. And what does that perfection consist of? The essence of it is Love, an unconditional love, a limitless love, a non-judgmental love that respects the inner self of a person and the person's true intentions!

The first reading is an extreme type of an example for God's love and mercy. As the psalms and other books in the Old Testament describe, God always manifested Godself to be slow to anger, abounding in love, ready to forgive and longing to remain in relationship with humanity. Though Ahab's acts were so gruesome, the mere fact that he repented for those and felt sorry for his foolishness, turned the entire issue upside down. Ahab finds favour in the eyes of God, Ahab becomes lovable all over again.

The message is pretty clear. For us too, the merciful Lord awaits and awaits with an ever burning love, to get us all back into Lord's own embrace for eternity. But this getting back will not happen automatically. It needs more attention to basics through developing traits such as personal integrity, spiritual identity and sense of belonging to the Reign. Above all these we are challenged today to possess the epitome of Christian living: Love, the Father's Perfection!

WORD 2day: 16th June, 2014

That extra mile!

1 Kgs 21: 1-16, Mt 5: 38-42

Jesus presents to us the most impractical of all his teachings... showing the other cheek, giving more of what you are deprived of, and walking that extra mile with the one who tries to take advantage of me. This was in fact the teaching that inspired the "satyagraha" movement of Mahatma Gandhi.

The first reading presents us with the exploitative element that is always present giving us the opportunity to practice our virtues and attain our salvation. At times the evil around us threatens to take the better of us, but the Word today reminds us of a fundamental attitude we are called to: "do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good" (Rom 12:21).

That we can identify ourselves as disciples of Christ, we are expected to be spiritually prepared to allow ourselves be taken for granted without letting the goodness within us go down the drain; we are called to be who we are regardless of what others are! It is ofcourse difficult and demanding...but that alone can make a difference in the world - that extra mile.

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!