WORD 2day: 3rd November, 2014

The logic of the Reign!

Phil 2: 1-4; Lk 14: 12-14

There is a principle that I am fond of repeating often: it is important what we do, but it is more important why we do what we do! A person who was coming to me for a little spiritual help was once dejected saying, "no matter how much efforts I make, so and so is not happy, the other one has only criticism...no one is satisfied with me! I know my behaviour is not right; but I am not able to change!" All that I said was, "why do you want to change; why do you want to alter your behaviour? To please so and so? To receive an affirmation from someone? To impress some one? If it is so, you are bound to fail" Do nothing to prove yourself! We have nothing to prove to anyone! Anything we do, without a personal conviction and a purposeful decision, loses its value however well it is done.

Listened to from this point of view, the readings today offer us a clear picture of why we are unhappy at times or why it makes so little sense after having moved a mountain. If our ego, our selfish motivations and our childish calculations dominate, however big an action, it would matter nothing. Instead, even if what I do is something absolutely ordinary, when it is done out of genuine love, selfless concern and mercy, it becomes so remarkable in the eyes of the Lord. Jesus makes his point doubtlessly clear today: the logic of the Reign is completely different and it takes a different mindset to understand it.

IT'S ALL ABOUT RELATIONSHIP

All Souls Day: 2nd November, 2014

Wis 3: 1-9; Rom 6: 3-9; Jn 6: 37-40

Yesterday we celebrated the memory of the saints...those among us who have gone before us all the way! They shine as they have reached the destiny prepared for them. They are the Triumphant Church, radiating the HOPE that Christ brought to humanity.

Today we keep the memory of those among us who have gone before us, but not yet all the way! They await the mercy of God, to join the band of those who share the glory of the Eternal Light. They are the Penitent Church, united with us in FAITH, the one faith in which we were all baptised, the one faith in which we have a duty to offer our prayers and suffrages. 

Tomorrow onwards we are back to our daily living, as we make our way, amidst the struggles and temptations of the daily life. We are the Militant Church, fighting our way ahead on a daily basis, with LOVE - love for God who constantly accompanies us and love for brothers and sisters with which we accompany those who are around us.

It's all about relationship... we are One Church with the One Lord, with one baptism, one call and one destiny... all of us related to each other. Even the thought of death or of the dead, does not fill us with fear or anxiety, for we are all on the same journey at different stages of the course. The three tier Church is such a holistic view of our life on earth, that it renders every bit of our life and all its struggles so meaningful. It is within this framework of relationship that we think of those brothers and sisters of ours who have gone before us, signed with the same Holy Spirit, that they may receive the eternal reward they have always longed for. But that would be an incomplete exercise, if it does not challenge us to live our life with more hope and more love, here and now that our faith may throw its light on our concrete everyday. 

We are all related! Let that be the message that the day offers us. Let us march on with love, with hope and with faith towards the eternal joy prepared for us.

SAINTS...they SHINE...

Thinking of Saints...

Rev 7: 2-4, 9-14; 1Jn 3: 1-3; Mt 5: 1-12a

Thinking of Saints...we know they Shine!

But we often stop with that. 

It is important to note and recognise that 

they Shine, because 

they are Attached to the Lord (it is from the Lord they reflect the light),

they are Immersed in the Lord (they know of nothing that is more important than the Lord),

they are Named after the Lord (they take their name from the Lord),

they Take God to everyone they meet (that is precisely why they shine); and

they are Sent by the Lord, for a specific time and for a specific purpose!

If you carefully notice...

WE ARE ALL CALLED TO

SHINE, ATTACHED to the Lord, IMMERSED in the Lord, NAMED after the Lord, TAKING God to everyone, because we are SENT by God for a specific purpose, with a specific mission that we alone are called to accomplish in God's name!

WORD 2day: 31st October, 2014

Busy about our Father's business?

Phil 1: 1-11; Lk 14: 1-6

Jesus went about doing good! Doing good was his way of being the Son of God. This work that he started nobody could stop, because his Father was leading it towards its completion! The so-called religious heads or the oppressive political heads nor the discouraging responses of the people - nothing deterred him; because he was not doing his work. "My food is to do the will of the One who sent me!" Infact, the very things that the people wrongly understood as holy and sacred were posed in opposition to the goodness that Jesus wanted to spread. A very timely lesson for those of us who are passionate about doing something for God, and find that we are not able to... because of whatever reasons it may be... if it is God who has initiated it in us, God will bring it to its completion. Let us not fret! Let us be busy about Our Father's business.

WORD 2day: 30th October, 2014

Being a Christian today: is it simple?

Eph 6:10-20; Lk 13: 31-35

Our struggle is not with flesh and blood but with principalities, with the powers, with the world rulers of this present darkness, with the evil spirits in the heavens (Eph 6:12). Yes, our life is a struggle! Yes, we are the Militant Church...the church that is fighting its way through, towards the eternal life, the sure crown that is promised. The Triumphant Church, who are the saints who have gone before us, is our shining model and an inspiring example.The message that the latter gives us, and the clear tone of the Word today, is that of Lk 12:4 - Do not fear those who can kill your body, but can do nothing to your soul! And Jesus lives that teaching in the Gospel today: 'Go tell that fox'...meaning Herod...'that I will be here today, tomorrow and the third day!'.

Jesus feared no one, because he was certain that God was with him. St. Paul today gives us a whole armour to put on; every kind of protection against every kind of danger. The Lord is our stronghold, the Lord is our refuge; whom should we fear? All that we need to do is stand firm in faith. Let us not deceive ourselves saying, being a Christian today is simple or natural; it is not! Neither shall we lose hope saying, we cannot! Jesus teaches us by his example today the technique of a Christian fight: Keep alert, stand firm in your faith, be courageous, be strong! (1 Cor 16:13). 

Remembering Blessed Michael Rua

The first successor of Don Bosco...29th October, 2014

Just to list a few things 
that are significant about Don Rua...

1. He was a strict man but was a fitting successor of Don Bosco with his true love for persons!

2. He was the one who sent first Salesians to India, in 1906.

3. He was Don Bosco's boy, grew and took the reins from Don Bosco!

WORD 2day: 29th October, 2014

To be saved...any shortcuts?

Eph 6: 1-9; Lk 13: 22-30

Will only  few be saved? Who will be saved and who will not be? Will so and so be saved? These are questions we hear more often than not. Jesus not even once when he was asked, answered these questions direct. He always gave an explanation that made them think more and think of something else! Once he said the parable of the camel and the eye of the needle and another time he explained to them that it is possible with God, and impossible with merely human effort. However today, he says there are no categories of people who would enter, neither are there selected races who would enter! Anyone can enter and everyone is invited to enter the Reign of God, provided they had the right disposition and the right life style!

St. Paul in the first reading explains what this disposition or life style has to be. It is nothing but living our life wherever we are, in a manner that is pleasing to God. It is easy to blame the others or the situation for a life lived below the standard that is expected of us and the Lord today challenges us to 'strive to go through the narrow door'...that is the door that leads to the Reign! In Paul's words, we are called to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling (Phil 2:!2); it is not about fretting and fidgeting but about being diligent and dedicated in whatever we are called to be, wherever we are! 

Remembering Sts. Simon and Jude

28th October, 2014

Today we celebrate the feast of St.Simon and Jude... 

Simon was called the Zealot; it is the lesson that he has to give us all: we as the militant   church should always fight the battle for the will of God to be done and the Reign of God be established here and now.                                                       

Jude, called Thaddeaus in two of the four Gospels, is the considered the hope of those who are on the verge of giving up in life. The message is clear: there is nothing that is beyond God.

May our call to be apostles, sent by God, be filled with the same zeal and the unswerving faithfulness of these saints!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

WORD 2day: 27th October, 2014

Be compassionate because...

Eph 4: 32- 5: 8; Lk 13:  10-17.

'Children of Light', that is how St.Paul addresses us in the first reading today. Tbe reading also paints a clear picture of what it means to be children of God...it means to be kind, compassionate, forgiving, filled with love... in short being like God, simply because we are children of God. Love and compassion have to be the defining characteristics of our personality. Nothing can stop us from being compassionate... no difficulty should hinder us from being compassionate... no rule or regulation, no tradition or custom, no practice or policy can stop us from being compassionate; because it should become our very nature  as we are children of the Compassionate Father and Mother, God who has loved each of us into existence. 

It's Love allover again!!!

30th Sunday in Ordinary Time: 26th October, 2014

Exo 22:20-26; 1 Thes 1: 5c-10; 22: 34-40

"What is the central theme of the readings this Sunday?" asked a friend of mine. And when I replied, "it is about loving God and loving your neighbour", instinctively he sighed: 'oh the same love allover again!' Some times we might sound totally redundant speaking of love. In fact the fact is, in Jesus' message, Love is the sole dominant theme, and everything else is only a footnote to it.

Love spoken of in today's Word, as ever, is not a mere sentiment or a feeling! It is a choice, a concrete choice for good. It is a serious matter of the HEAD. It is a decision made, a rationale adopted, a perspective that affects all other decisions and choices in life. The ultimate good is God, hence love is basically a choice for God! Loving God with all my heart, with all my soul, with all my strength, is the basis of this choice for good. I choose good, because I choose God. How foolishly contradicting it would be to say I choose to love God and therefore I kill or harm my brothers and sisters! Is the choice really coherent? Is the choice really rational? Is the choice really good or Godly? Choosing God, is choosing the absolute good; it is choosing life not death; it is choosing the other not the self, that leads us to the second dimension.

Love is a choice for the other, a matter of the HEART. It is only through the heart can we place the other before us, because it is only through the heart can we hear the unsaid sorrows of the other; it is only through the heart we can see the unseen pains of the souls; it is only through the heart we can touch the unexplored depths of a person! Love has to be a concrete choice for the other, specially the afflicted, suffering 'Other', who cries out from the agony of the everyday life. Can we open the eyes of our heart; can we sharpen the ears of our heart; can we extend the hands of our heart... yes...

Love is a matter of the HANDS... it is a choice to act, to act on behalf of the needy. Love cannot remain a mere sentiment, it has to be translated into concrete decisions and transforming acts, on behalf of the needy. The first reading lists the widows, the orphan, the children, the poor, the needy... that is a broad indication of a whole lot of persons who are close to the heart of God: the exploited, the enslaved, the maltreated, the manipulated, the oppressed... It has to be active, affecting the life of the person who claims to love and transforming the life of the one who is  loved!

Love is the crux and the essence of Christ's message and it will never be redundant. Specially seeing the world that is growing increasingly selfish and menacingly might-oriented, love will ever be wanting and if you and I do not offer it abundantly wherever we are, it would be a serious deficiency of God in the world today!