WORD 2day: 5th January, 2015

To belong and to proclaim

1 Jn 3:22 - 4:6; Mt 4: 12-17, 23-25

The texts begin to orient us towards the Baptism of Jesus, which is the next major event we would be soon commemorating. Today the Word speaks to us of two key elements: Belonging to God and  Proclaiming God! These are the two fundamental marks of identity that we should have as Christians: to belong to God and be God's children and to proclaim God and invite everyone to a life worthy of God who has gifted that life to each of us.

Belonging without proclaiming would make us dead weights burdening the faith community; proclaiming without belonging would make us false prophets and hypocrites. The order is important too: that we first belong and then we speak up. That is why we see Jesus himself first withdraw into loneliness and ascertain his belonging to the One who had sent him before he began to go around proclaiming the Good News!

Needless to say, the resonance between the personal life of belonging to the Lord and the life of commitment to ministry (ministry at various levels: family, parish, congregation, community of faith etc...)is the fundamental quality of integrity that Jesus demands of us, his disciples.

TO BE PEOPLE OF LIGHT

Solemnity of Epiphany : 4th January,  2015

Is 60: 1-6; Eph 2: 2-7 a,  5-6; Mt 2: 1-12

The Light came to the earth; the Lord came unto His own but His own received him not! We are people of the Light and that is the feast we celebrate today! The feast which reminds us that we are the people of the Revelation. God has revealed Godself to us and awaits our response.

I remember an experience that I had a few years back. Two of us were sent to pick up a priest from the railway station. This is no strange experience! How many times we would have received people in the airports and railway stations! But the twitch here was. ..we did not know the person we are going to pick up. All that we know was that we are going to pick up a middle aged priest from Mumbai who was coming to Chennai. We positioned ourselves in a prominent spot and awaited the guest as the crowd started spilling into the platform from the train. Crowds and crowds of people were passing by but we did not spot our guest. Many who were standing alongside with us waiting for their guests were gone. There was one standing beside me for quite sometime. A man with a dhoti and a white shirt with a long grey beard! He didn't even seem to be looking out for someone. The best surprise was when he asked us. ..'so are you waiting for someone from Mumbai?' We said in unison,  'yes'! And when he said. .."I am the one", we didn't know really how to react!

At times, the Lord reveals Godself but we have certain preconceived ideas that don't allow us to see the Lord. Today we are invited to be people of the light.,  that is people who live in light always,  people who are ready and prepared to receive the revelations that God wishes to give us.

The lord reveals himself to us constantly. ..first of all through extraordinary means: let's pray that God gives that gift to many of us!  But there is another way God reveals,  the ordinary means: through prayer experiences,  spiritual direction,  liturgical celebrations, etc. Let's take care when we celebrate these moments in life so that we don't miss the revelations involved.

There is the third way which is more subtle and more challenging: the Daily means.  The fact is that the Lord constantly reveals himself through every day experiences...through people we encounter, through challenging situations we face,  through successful experiments we have, through people who come to us in need,  through persons who demand our responsibility and so on. Let's open our eyes, our ears,  our hearts. ..that we may receive the Light that encounters us daily in our life.

WORD 2day: 3rd January, 2015

Resembling God
1 Jn 2:29 - 3:6; Jn 1: 29-3

The Holy Spirit,  in the form of the dove testified on behalf of Jesus that he was the Son of God. We are made the children of God and the same Spirit has to testify for us. We would be identified as children of God if and only if we resemble God our  Father and Mother.

Resembling God would mean being loving,  beyond all petty differences and being generous, beyond all calculations.

Resembling God would mean remaining with the lord- in every thought,  word and deed.

Resembling God ...let's embark on that journey as firmly as possible.

WORD 2day: 2nd January, 2015

Encountering Christ
1 Jn 2:22-28; Jn 1: 19-28

The identity of Jesus as both God and Human was a major issue of controversies in the early Church. The first reading we have today is an indication to such feuds that existed. What matters, as John so rightly points out there, is not the philosophical and theological justification of who Jesus is;  but the personal experience of the person of Christ.

John the Baptist foretold the coming of Christ and pointed out when Christ really came. His prophetic gift have him the privilege of understanding Jesus and identifying Jesus when he came. Today we would do well to pray for this grace... To identify Jesus when he comes so that the encounter may enrich our life and being meaning to it. In varied ways,  in our neighbours,  in our brothers and sisters,  specially in those who are in dire need and helplessness,  we are challenged to encounter Christ who is God but who had deigned to assume or nature and live in the poor and the oppressed!

GOD'S PRESENCE, PEACE AND EVERY BLESSING!!!

The Solemnity of the Mother of  God

Num 6:22-27; Gal 4:4-7; Lk 2: 16-21

It is a fresh start, a new year, a treasure of 365 days! It is a gift, a gift in all ways: precious, beautiful, wrapped and presented. First of all, it would be too rude not to receive it as a gift. Secondly, it is wrapped...and it is important that we receive it with a sense of wonder, surprise and gratitude. Trying to know everything, in the name of predictions and presumptions, would strip it of its wonder! To approach it with a wry and dry mentality will make it devoid of its surprise. Let us approach it with gratitude and a sense of childlike curiosity, prepared to receive the gift on daily basis, one day at a time!

The greatest gift we can have, that with which we begin every new year, is the loving presence of God! The babe in the manger is a the highest gift that we can have. The Emmanuel, God with us, is the most precious gift that we can behold. That the Lord is with us fills us with hope: that whatever it be as the year unfolds day by day, we would never be alone facing it. We have the Lord with us. 

We celebrate the gift of our Lord: given through the Mother of God! The Mother of God is a gift, a reminder and a challenge to us. The Mother of God, is a gift: God gives her to us as a protector, a guide, a refuge as we begin this new year, with all its surprises. The Mother of God, is the reminder of the Word made flesh, the Lord who has cast away all distance and difference and become one like us, just to show us how much God loves us. The Mother of God is a challenge, a challenge to give, to give endlessly. She gave herself, when the Angel approached her! She gave the world the Son of God, born of a woman, when the fullness of time came. She gave that child to the Lord, offered him in the temple and offered him to the Father's work! She gave her young son, for the sake of the salvation of the world. She gave up everything and gave everything! She stands as a challenge for us today, to give, to give and never to count!

This year, which is given into our hands today, as a gift pack, will be filled with peace if we live it in the way that the Lord wants us to; after the example of our Blessed Mother. She said that yes, and she said that for her whole life, not knowing what it meant and where it will lead her. All that she was assured was, the Lord was with her. We are assured too that the Lord's presence will go with us, that the Lord's countenance with shine on us. Let us begin with hope and that will give us peace.

May the Lord bless you and keep you!

May the Lord let his face shine upon you, and be gracious to you!

May the Lord look upon you kindly and give you peace!

May your New year 2015 be filled with God's presence, peace and every blessing!

WORD 2day: 31st December, 2014

Thank you Lord for 2014

1 Jn 2: 18-21; Jn 1: 1-18

There is a discussion of the last hour today in the readings and indeed it is the last hour of this year! As we begin this day, let our hearts be filled with thanksgiving! The light, the true light, the Word, the Eternal word is here amidst us! Let this day be dedicated to thank the Lord for all the good that the Lord has done for us in the year that is just passing by. 

We would do well today to list the goodness that we have enjoyed from the Lord. It would do good also to list the not-so-happy experiences and find out what they have to tell us for our life. It would be wonderful if we review our lives once again today, affirm to ourselves the marks of the people of God; and resolve to do away with those that do not fit in.

There is one message that the Word wants to leave strongly in our minds, as we end this year and get ready to start a new one, and that is: "The Word has become flesh; and dwells among us!" The Lord is with us and that is the note of hope with which we await the new year! Good bye 2014!

WORD 2day: 30th December, 2014

Surrender or Manipulation? What is our disposition?

1 Jn 2: 12-17; Lk 2: 36-40

World or things of the world as opposed to the love of the Father: by now it is considered an outdated way of thinking. Indeed the dichotomy that is involved and implied is a bit old fashioned but the difference between the two choices, is real and concrete. Even our prayer for example could have within itself hidden a sense of giving more importance to the world and the things of the world instead of our love for God our Father and Mother. 

Just yesterday, there was the last minute preparation going on for a mega event, while unfortunately the forecast was for a likely cyclone showers! Immediately a group got down to pray and say, 'please stop the rain'! Praying here is something wonderful, but a subtle point to be noted here is: how prepared are we to accept the will of God in things that we have planned; instead of asking the Lord to adjust to our designs?

Whoever does the will of God remains for ever, reminds St. John in his epistle today (v.17). Prophetess Anna, or even Prophet Simeon for that matter, waited for years together, in relentless patience towards the will of God. Can we really abandon ourselves to the will of God: a surrender so beautifully symbolised by the Divine Kid in the manger these days!

DB VOICES

DB VOICES... a Youth Choir in the city!

A new initiative with don bosco youth of the city of Chennai, to form a youth choir, took off with a bang on 28th December, 2014. A band of 25 singers and 6 musicians, from three salesian parishes (namely, Basinbridge, Ayanavaram and Vyasarpadi) sang for the Priestly Ordination of the two deacons of the Province of Chennai. This was their first programme as a choir, formed merely a couple of weeks before. The singing was awesome and the music was divine! They are aware that they have greater milestones to achieve! All that they need is our assurance, affirmation and accompaniment! 

Thanks to Frs. Deva Joe and Edward Michael who trained them for this programme and thanks to many more who are with these youngsters and their magnificent dreams! We look forward to seeing and hearing you more dear young friends. Congrats to you all. You have a lot more to achieve. March on!

WORD 2day : 29th, December, 2014

Love: the light of Life
1 Jn 2: 3-11; Lk 2: 22-35

Hatred, violence,  vengeance,  aggression and terrorism abound today in forms varied and vicious. The talks of conversion and reconversion rob faith of its fundamental essence.  The readings today give us a clear cut criterion to judge who is right and who is not. The one who loves one's brothers and sisters is in light. And whoever says he or she is in light,  yet hates one's brother or sister,  is still in darkness (Cf. 1 Jn 2: 8&9).

Jesus the light can never cause hatred or division. There can be people who claim to be interpreting the Light but causing divisions and hatred and rivalry. Let them be certain,  says the Word, that they are still in darkness.

Let love, the light of life, guide us on as we come to the close of this year!

FAMILY: WHERE GOD ABIDES

The Feast of the Holy Family

28th December, 2014

Celebrating the feast of Holy Family... we are given a challenging model, a role we have to play as families in today's context.

The Holy family offered the Lord to the world: Do we do as families? Do we offer the Lord to where we live? Do our way of life offer the values of the Lord to our surroundings? Do the families and individuals around have the Lord to take away from us, when they visit us?

The Holy family brought the Lord to Jerusalem. The Lord said he lives where two or three are gathered in the Lord's name! What about our families...aren't we gathered in the name of the Lord and by the holy will of God? If so, aren't our families responsible of bringing the Lord to the community, the gathering of the families? Are our Church gatherings, our communities real union of families or some mass of people congregated?

The Holy family created a space for the Lord to live with them. Have we created a concrete space for the Lord in our homes? It is not about the altars we have at home, neat and decorated. It is not about the pictures we hang or the calendars we stare at. It is about the living space, it is about a membership in the family!

The Holy family does more than just standing around and blessing us today! They challenge us to be bearers of the Lord to the world. Can we accept that challenge?