WORD 2day: 19th August, 2014

Absolute centrality of God: the Jesus style!

Ezek 28:1-10; Mt 19: 23-30

The Rich and the Poor: how do we differentiate them? It might seem a naive question. In fact, it is. Rich are those who hold wealth and the poor are those who do not. It is fair and clear. But today, the Lord invites us to go a little deeper and understand what it means to be "poor in spirit". 

Often, being rich and a sense of arrogance is considered to be naturally linked to each other. Though its authenticity could be questioned, an arrogance arising from the wealth one possesses makes one totally ungodly - that is an undeniable fact. The second category are those who are rich but act discretely, but are all the time conscious that they are so discrete and decent. They consider that a great favour they do to the rest of the society, punctuating all the time the fact that they have chosen to be so considerate towards everyone! Yet another category are those who are rich but are humble and grateful, acknowledging everything as a blessing from above.

The Jesus style of life is an attitude of absolute centrality of God, where it does not matter whether one possesses wealth or not, whether one has abundance of riches or not; a centrality that leads to a childlike dependence on God, with total trust and absolute confidence in the provident love of God. This is being poor in spirit; and that is how I can inherit the Reign of God.

WORD 2day: 18th August, 2014

Knowing is one thing; but living with God?

Ezek 24: 15-23;  Mt 19: 16-22.

I remember a scene from the movie, "I am Gabriel", where the messenger from God tells a person to make prayer mats for everyone in the town. And a day later, the person happily shows all the prayer mats made and the messenger replies calmly but sternly, "making them is one thing but what is more important is using them!" The readings today seem to give us a message similar to that.

Knowing what is right is one thing, but the more important thing is to live by it. Ezekiel is presented a sign, to make the people realise how thoughtless they were growing about God. They were fulfilling their daily duties and keeping the so called "law" or the religious duties. But whether they were really in touch with the Lord, is the true concern. The rich young man, knew the laws and lived the laws, but missed the point as to why he was doing all that: to make God the centre of his life. 

With all the various things that we do we may know what is to be done at a given point of time: the rites and the rituals, the rules and the regulations, the laws and the demands therewith. It is completely another thing to realise why do all that we do! To make God the centre of our lives, the foundation and the meaning of our lives. That would mean 'selling everything', 'giving up' and 'loving everyone genuinely'; for in love is God revealed,

THE SAVING LOVE OF GOD

The call to grow into my Salvation: 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Is 56: 1-6,7 ; Rom 11: 13-15, 29-32; Mt 15: 21-28

Will the Hindus be saved? Will the non-believers be saved? Will those who belong to this particular church be saved? - These are questions frequently asked by those who have not truly understood the omnipotence and the mercy of God, and the relationship between the two. God wills that all be saved, declares St. Paul (1 Tim 2:4). The Universal Salvation of God has been effected once and for all, from the Cross. What is left for us is to claim it for ourselves from the Lord, in Lord's Mercy. 

Is it on our merit that we can claim it? Or are we left so desperately at the mercy of the Lord that we live till the last moment of our life with intense insecurity and total obscurity? Both these options are out of place when we remember the SAVING LOVE OF GOD. I can never merit it for I do not deserve the love that the Lord showers on me. I am not desperately left to in obscurity for I have the hope in the fact that Jesus has given me the power to become a child of God (cf. Jn 1:12). The readings today highlight this salvific act of God's love on my behalf. 

God's saving love knows no history. As the second reading points to us, the salvific love of God does not depend on what history I share and with whom? It does not keep in mind the account of the undeserving acts, in which case I would be damned to eternity. The appeal that God's love makes to us, is made afresh every day and every moment. It is in every single moment of choice that I make, that I have to receive this love, so freely and so generously given.

God's saving love respects no geography. As the second reading and the Gospel point to us, God does not love us on the basis of the background that we come from, the family that brought me up, the institutions I got educated in and the ministries that I have carried out. No, there is no geography in God's salvation because the whole earth, what is within it and what is around it belongs to God. Lord God is the Lord of the universe! And that is precisely why God's salvation is universal.

God's saving love holds no memories. I need not despair at the bitter past that I have had, nor need I to make such great acts of reparation to appease my God! They are in no way related to the love that my God has for me. The love that the Lord has for me is so absolute and boundless that nothing on earth or beyond the earth can separate me from that love in and through Christ Jesus. That love of God does not keep count of my faults or my failures; all that counts is the choice I make at a given moment, a choice so lovingly absolute for God, and for everything that belongs to God. My salvation is assured on the part of God; but on my part I need to grow into my salvation: through my daily choices and everyday commitment. 

DB turns 199

WORD 2day: 16th August, 2014

The key to the Reign in the hands of a child

Ezek 18: 1-10, 13b, 30-32; Mt 19: 13-15

The Reign of God belongs to such as these, says the Lord pointing to the children. The condition seems to be plain: to become children to inherit the Reign. Ezekiel gives us the key to become children: a new heart and a new spirit! Children indicate two qualities essentially: Freshness of Vision and Purity of Intention. 

Freshness of vision gives one the capacity to learn new things; Purity of intention gives the capacity to love truly. Learning new things, or looking at things every time with a fresh disposition makes life interesting and keeps one young. Starting anew every time with a fresh vigour and renewed dedication makes life fully lived. Purity of intention removes duplicity and hypocrisy. It makes life simple, uncomplicated and meaningful. It allows one to live life with love in his or her heart, without a preoccupation to survive or succeed. 

The point is very clear in the readings today: A clean heart, or a child's heart, is the entry pass to the Reign of God and the access codes are freshness of vision and purity of intention. The former helps us to live without prejudices and the latter fills us with the sense of the Divine.    

Assumption: the fulfilment of the Hope

Solemnity of the Assumption of our Blessed Mother

Ap 11:19, 12:16-10; 1 Cor 15: 20-26; Lk 1: 39-56

The crossing of the red sea and the Exile were the watershed for the God experience of the people of Israel. It was their walk from slavery to freedom that gave an identity to the people of the Old Testament. In the New Testament too it was a similar experience that proved to be the watershed...the passing from death to life; the event of life giving Hope! The hope that Jesus' resurrection brought to humakind reaches its fulfilment, when Mary shares the fruits of it as the first one to do so, in union with her Son and Lord Jesus Christ.

Mary was instrumental in bringing in the light of the world. She remained faithful to the One who had called her and thus wins favour in God's eyes. Hence it is that many a saint spoke of her as the lady of the Apocalypse, bringing forth the Son and fighting the dragon. She is given these honours due to the humility with which she went about doing the will of the One who had called her.

It was this humility and docility that make her so grateful and recognizant of God's mighty presence with her on a constant basis. This recognition makes her a strong person: so free and so responsible. When she sings that hymn of glory to the Lord it was not merely a wishful prayer but also an expression of commitment towards the Reign of God, the reign of equality and justice to all.

May the feast of Assumption bring us to a humble recognition of the ways in which God wants to use us here and now, that we too may one day experience the fulfilment of our Hope in the Lord.

WORD 2day: 14th August, 2014

Obstinacy of Human Selfishness - Remembering St. Maxmilian Kolbe

Ezek 12: 1-12; Mt 18:21 - 19:1

The Rebellious people have eyes to see but do not see; they have ears to hear but do not hear. How good, loving, forgiving, merciful and bountiful God is to me - I am so aware of it right until the time that I myself have to be good, loving, forgiving and generous with those around me! I begin to count, calculate, justify, judge, grudge and grumble when I have to give or forgive or show mercy or be loving. I have the eyes to see God's goodness but I lack the vision to see that I need to be good too. I have the ears to hear the merciful whisperings of the Divine but I don't have the ears to hear the pleading for mercy in the eyes of my brother and sister! What is this but an awful obstinacy of human selfishness?

The Obstinacy of Human Selfishness does not allow me to share with the others whatever God has given me; it blocks even the natural consciousness and awareness of the extent to which I have received. In comparison to the amount of love that God has showered on us, where does the level of love that I show to others stand? In comparison to the sins and the wickedness that God has forgiven in me, where do the simple faults committed by my brother or my sister stand? Maxmilian Kolbe, stands tall in this regard as he offers to give of himself to a brother of his, whom he know not, from whom he received not, for whom he did not make any calculations whatsoever - a simple but profound way of loving as God does!

WORD 2day: 13th August, 2014

The Sign that saves!

Ezek 9: 1-7, 10, 18-22; Mt 18: 15-20

There would be hardly any of us who has not seen this symbol in the recent days...

it has come to symbolise the Christians suffering in Iraq. It is drawn or spray painted on the doors of the houses of Christians, to tell the plunderers and soldiers that those houses are accessible at will. The Christians are made to live in a constant fear and anxiety.

In the first reading today we see in the vision of Ezekiel, the angels were given a symbol on the forehead of people, by which they are spared! Jesus too gives a mark by which we will be known as people of God...the mark of loving forgiveness. "By this they will know that you are my disciples: if you have love for one another" (Jn 13:35). In the Gospel today, Jesus explains what this 'having love for one another' is. It is to forgive, to care for each other and above all to pray together, with one heart and mind. This is the mark that Jesus expects of us, as our identity, as a sign that saves us! It is not those who call him 'Lord Lord' who would be saved but those who do the will of the Father (Mt 7:21), Jesus would say. The sign that can save us is our life of daily forgiveness and undying love.

Today in a very special way let us pray for those brothers and sisters who are persecuted in Iraq and elsewhere for the mark that they bear, as disciples of Christ!

WORD 2day: 12th August, 2014

Obey and be not rebellious...

Ezek 2:8-3:4; Mt 18:1-5, 10,12-14.

When a child places its trust in someone, be it father or mother, or a loved one, or a teacher or a friend, the child obeys without questions. That is what makes a child so vulnerable in front of those. That vulnerability makes the child so special and so valuable in the eyes of the Lord. Obedience, docility, humility, surrender - these are the dispositions that are expected of a child of God, in the presence of God. 

The first reading so figuratively presents through the experience of Ezekiel, the message that Lord gives to each of the Lord's sons and daughters: to be children, to obey and not to be rebellious, but to receive the Word of the Lord, take it in, savour it, understand it, live by it, and announce it to the world. 

"Obey and you will not have sinned" says the famous monastic rule. And that is the strength of obedience. The first sin recorded in the Word is of rebellion, and the atonement for it was offered in Obedience, on the Cross! The Word instructs us today, if you are to be called children of God: Obey and be not rebellious!

WORD 2day: 11th August, 2014

Real Magnificence of Humanity: Remembering St. Clare

Ezek 1:2-5,24-28; Mt 17: 22-27

We belong to a God who is mighty, grandiose and magnificent. And because we belong to this God we too are mighty and magnificent. And this magnificence   loses its true colour if it is detached from its origin, that is God. It dissipates into arrogance or pride and degrades humanity. As long as it is strongly linked to the Lord, it is ready to put up with sacrifices, sufferings, unjust treatments, and so on. As St. Paul would put it, "the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us" (Rom 8:18). We remember today St. Clare, the feminine version of St. Francis of Assisi. She, just like Francis, is a lived example of the magnificence of humanity lived in constant union with its source, that is God. We have seen the impact that such persons can have on history. Are we ready to tread the path traced by such as these?