THE LORD REMAINS... DO I?

18th Sunday in Ordinary Time: 3rd August, 2014

Is 55:1-3; Rom 8: 35, 37-39; Mt 14:13-21

Nothing can separate us from Christ, declares the second reading, because we are part of Christ and Christ is part of us. Christ chose to be so!

Christ INVITES us to come, eat and drink from his love, from his generosity, from his compassion. He provides in times of our need, in moments of our struggle, in moments of our crises. Christ reminds us here of Jehovah Jireh, the God who provides.

Christ CHOOSES not to part with us. In the Gospel account we find the disciples telling the Lord that they could send the people away. But the Lord insists that they give the people something to eat. It is that compassion that ends in a miracle. Christ chooses to remain with us  forever.

Christ REMAINS with us whether we are conscious of it or not. Nothing separates us from the Lord except our decision to keep ourselves away from Him. In our need, in our troubles, in our struggles, in our concerns...the Lord promises to be with us and provide us with every bit of care we need. Not even death, but our free choice against God can separate us from God. That places the entire burden on our part to remain with the Lord.

WORD 2day: 2nd August, 2014

The plight of a prophet

Jer 26: 1-11,16 ; Mt 14: 1-12

Constant threat to life, drastic insecurities of life, total unacceptance from the rest of the so called normal people, pressures of helplessness...these form part of the usual plight of a prophet, not just in the days of Jeremiah and John the Baptist but even today. That explains why real prophets are a rare phenomenon. However, it has often occured to me that, the difference between a true prophet and a self-righteous egoist is very thin and dangerously subtle.

The first element that can demarcate the two is the FOCUS. When Jeremiah spoke to the people and the princes, he never looked for support or people who can come to his defence. His focus was determinantly on what God wanted him to say and nothing else.

The second element is DETACHMENT from the result. Though the message is definitely pointed towards a change, a result,  the prophet is not excessively anxious about it. At times a self righteous person can be on a ego trip claiming credits and proving his point. A true prophet desists this tendency naturally.

The third element is absolute FEARLESSNESS. A fearlessness that makes them hard people to handle for the authorities and the hierarchy. But that fearlessness comes from their unwavering trust, confidence and hope in the never failing presence of the Lord!

WORD 2day: 1st August, 2014

Hearing what I want to hear 

Jer 26: 1-9; Mt 13: 54-58

Recently, I had been to a hearing test centre and the technician there was explaining to us: there are different kinds of deafness... mild hearing loss, moderate hearing loss, moderately severe hearing loss, severe hearing loss and profound hearing loss! At times spiritually too these hearing losses can be calculated in a similar fashion, but we need to add one more crucial type of hearing challenge. That is, Selective Hearing Loss! Hearing only what I want to hear, or refusing to hear what I do not want to hear merely because it causes me inconvenience. This is the syndrome that we see the people are in, in both the first reading and the Gospel.

When Jeremiah spoke to them about the impeding danger and their need to return to the Lord, they deemed him liable to death. When Jesus spoke to them on issues that really challenged their daily life, they looked at him with suspicion and despised him for the "ordinariness" from which he hailed.

The Word of God keeps rushing into our hearts. It would cleanse it, refresh it and fill it with life, if only we allow it to. If we are guarded, biased and suspicious, we would break no ground towards perfection. On this first friday of the month, let us allow the words from the Sacred Heart to fill us and challenge us, so that we may not fall prey to the syndrome of 'hearing merely what we want to hear'!

WORD 2day: 31st July, 2014

Remembering St. Ignatius of Loyola: Doing it God's Way

Jer 18: 1-6; Mt 13: 47-53

Have thine own way Lord, have thine own way

Thou art the potter, I am the clay

Mould me and make me, after thy will

while I am waiting yielded and still.

What a beautiful prayer it could be for us to make this day, inspired by the reading from Jeremiah and by the life of the saint we celebrate today - St. Ignatius of Loyola! 'Every thing for the greater glory of God' - that was the watch word that defined the life and works of Ignatius. Docility to the will of God was a sure way to sanctity proposed by Ignatius. 

In the parable that Jesus tells us today about the Reign of God, he brings out a fundamental element of either belonging to the Reign or not belonging to it. The angels will separate the good from the bad; the wicked from the righteous; the docile from the obstinate; the obedient from the rebellious; the discerning from the naive. It is said the hymn in heaven is, "I did it God's way"; while in hell it is, "I did it my way." The secret is here: doing it God's way! Living our life in God's way!

WORD 2day: 30th July, 2014

A Clarity amidst all confusions

Jer 15:10, 20-21; Mt 13: 44-46

The first reading pictures to us Jeremiah as a person totally lost, confused, demoralised a bit and to an extent even at his wit's end. He speaks of how miserable he is and how he is surrounded by the evil doers and god haters. However, amidst all these confusions, there is a constant clarity that is visible: the clarity that God is for him. He was convinced, whoever be against him, God was for him. As St. Paul puts it, "if God is for us, who can be against us?" (Rom 8:31). That clarity is the lesson today!

Once again falling back  to the first reading we see that, Jeremiah endures all pain and suffering, all persecution and injustice for the sake of the mission entrusted to him, because he was confident that it was God who has entrusted it to him. Like the treasure hidden in the field and that exceptional pearl sighted among the rest, he had the promises of God well fixed in his mind. That was enough a reason for him to risk even his life.

We have had great saints in history who have lived this life of prophecy, who have lived their lives in the midst of utter confusions and endless tribulations. All of them were ready to give up anything in life, or even give up their life, because they had unearthed an unbelievable treasure in the midst of that barren land, because they had sighted the most precious stone in the midst of all the deceiving glitters. If we find the Lord, if we become aware of what the Lord has to offer us, we shall have that enviable clarity amidst confusion; and that alone is enough for a meaningful living.

WORD 2day: 29th July, 2014

Remembering St. Martha: The Lord alone is our Hope!

Jer 14: 17-22; Jn 11: 19-27

Is it not you alone Lord our God to whom we look? - these words express well the mindset with which Martha told Jesus, "if you were here, my brother would not have died!" Martha's hope in the Lord is plainly expressed in these words. The Lord challenges her to journey further in her hope. It is like what St. Paul says about Abraham (Rom 4:18), Jesus invites Martha to hope against hope!

Martha's confession about Christ has nothing less than the confession of St. Peter! The faith that Martha had in Jesus was so profound that she believed when Jesus was around nothing could go wrong. Jesus acknowledges the trust that Martha had in him, but invites her to go a step ahead and trust that even if things went wrong, she had nothing to fear for the Lord was with her always!

It is simple in times that are pleasant, to trust in the Lord; it is not that very simple to trust in the Lord "always". Even when things go wrong, or especially in such situations, we are called to be calm but vigilant; seeking solutions but not begging remedies. Not looking for any solutions anxiously, but daring to remain patient with the issues of life is a clear sign of total trust in the Lord that the Lord alone is our hope!

WORD 2day: 28th July, 2014

The God of small things!

Jer 13: 1-11; Mt 13: 31-35

God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong. God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are, so that no one might boast in the presence of God (1 Cor 1:27-29). Jesus is fond of presenting his Father as the God of small things! He thanks God for keeping the secrets from the elites but revealing them to children (cf. Lk 10:21) and compares the Reign of God to a mustard seed and to a pinch of yeast. He invites us to learn of his meekness and humility (cf. Mt 11:30) and mediates the salvific love of God through his sheer obedience (cf. 2 Phil). Mindful of this, St. Paul sighs, "what do we have that we have not received?" (cf. 1 Cor 4:7).

Let us remind ourselves of our smallness before God! It is nothing more than a realistic understanding of what we are in front of the majesty that God is adorned with. It is better to be a small little thing in the presence of God than a mighty big being without God. It just would not make any sense; not forever! The foolish man says in his heart, 'there is no god' - derides the Psalm (14:1). The secret lies in keeping it simple and being grateful for every small thing that we have; for our God is a God of small things!

Those who love God...

27th July, 2014 - 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time

1 Kgs 3: 5, 7-12; Rom 8: 28-30; Mt 13: 44-52

What would be your prayer, if God gives you an offer as God did to Solomon?

What would be your choice from a variety of spread: success, prosperity, happiness, and a life close to God....?

When things seem to go wrong... what do you do: get nervous, get frustrated, get anxious or you remain calm because God knows what is best and will work everything out for your good!

How much does God matter to you in your life? Or in other words what are all the things that you would keep aside in order to be with God?

St. Paul in the second reading today declares that God works for the good of "those who love God"... do you really belong to that category? the category of "THOSE WHO LOVE GOD"?

For today's reflection, this clip can help:

WORD 2day: 26th July, 2014

Celebrating Sts. Joachim and Anne: Grandparents' Day!!!

Jer 7: 1-11; Mt 13: 24-30

The first reading from Jeremiah reminds us of Jesus' stern words to the people, "Not everyone who says to me, "Lord Lord" will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father in heaven" (Mt 7:21). Show your faith in action, says he and James later challenged, 'Show me your faith apart from works and I by my works will show you my faith' (Jas 2:18). Your daily life and practice would say whether you are a plant or a weed, concludes the Gospel today. 

Caught in a dilemma whether to reflect on the readings from the proper of saints or to reflect on the readings of the Saturday in the 16th week, I finally chose to stick to the week day's readings, as it brings out a message that can lead us to think of the role of grand parents in our faith formation. Grand parents stand for the all important phenomenon of transmission of faith, from one generation to the next. 

The transmission that the grandparents effect is a practical and concrete transmission of lived faith. It deals with right practice and right living. Faith in its very essence has an all-embracing quality of transforming the entire life of a person and the community to which the person belongs. Let us treasure our traditions, transform our todays and thus pave way for meaningful tomorrows. Let us pray for our Grandparents specially today and honour them in some little way.

WORD 2day: 25th July, 2014

Jesus' School of Servant Leadership

Remembering St. James: 2 Cor 4: 7-15; Mt 20: 20-28

Feast of any Apostle reminds us of the wonderful words that St. Paul utters today: "we hold this treasure in earthen vessels". Every apostle has his own weakness, nevertheless the gift that they are and that they possess, surpasses everything as God's power and might is revealed in it.

Feast of St. James (with the Gospel that we are given to reflect today) reminds us of this more strongly and adds another specific teaching, a teaching from Jesus' School of Servant Leadership. In Matthew's and Mark's versions of the Gospel, we find every time that Jesus foretells about his passion, he follows it up with the discourse on servant leadership (as we see in Mt 16:24ff; 18:1ff; 20:20ff). James and John took time to realise that the only thing we can inherit from Jesus is his identity as Suffering Servant!

Eventually they wanted to bear the crown that Jesus mentioned and that is what they did. James led the community of Jerusalem... humble and service minded as the Master himself; and his blood shed like the Master's (Acts 12:2). Let us praise the Lord for the apostle St. James and be prepared to witness to the Lord till our last breath!