The stir in the sea: COMPLAINTS

Saturday in the II Week of Easter: 18th April, 2015

Acts 6: 1-6; Jn 6: 16-21

When we get together, we will surely have misgivings and clash of opinions, unless we fail to think freely and forget our individuality. We see in the first reading today the earliest of misunderstandings and complaints that arose in the new born church! The way the apostles dealt with it, was so Christ-like.

When the sea was stirred with the storm that arose, and the hearts of those in the boat were disturbed too, Jesus walked up to them and said: It is I; do not be afraid. He assured them, the stirring will cause no damage, if you understand the Lord is with you. The storm will not upset the boat, until you know that it is the Lord who is in charge! 

The Apostles were not alarmed, they were not reacting to the complaint. They knew that it was a sign the Lord was giving them for their own growth. Confusions, complaints and contradictory opinions were instrumental moments through which the Lord effected solid evolution in the Christian faith experience post resurrection. 

Today in the parish communities, or in the basic christian communities or in the families or in the Religious communities, how do we look at differences of opinions? Is there a true freedom of expression? Are we matured enough to look at these as experiences of growth? That requires a true mindset of faith.  

The test of time: ENDURANCE

Friday in the II Week of Easter : 17th April, 2015

Acts 5: 34-42; Jn 6: 1-15

One term that unites the two readings today is the term "test". Jesus himself is tested with such a big number to feed. He tests his disciples with a task given them. And in the first reading we have Gamaliel setting up a test of time for the believers! All of these are tests that bring out the quality of Endurance.

If Jesus were to have taken an escapist mode of reaction to the situation,  or the disciples the shirking mode,  or the first believers a comfort seeking compromise mode... we would have nothing of what we believe and belong to today.

Endurance is the time tested virtue that enables us to stand the test of time. The Martyrs of old,  great saints in history,  the holy ones of our times,  all of them stand proofs to one fact: Endurance helps faith mature and endurance is a mark of a mature faith!

The promptings of the Spirit: OBEDIENCE

Thursday in the II Week of Easter

Acts 5:27-33;Jn 3: 31-36

We must obey God rather than men; we must obey God's directions rather than men's directives; we must obey the promptings of the Spirit rather than the rulings of men! What a clarity on the part of the disciples. If only we had today that same clarity! 

Do not conform to the standards of the world; rather renewed in Spirit conform to the mind of Christ, instructed St. Paul well in this line (cf. Rom 12:2). At times we justify conformity and compromise on the grounds of peace in the house; other times we create division and sport rebellion under the pretext of being unique and convinced, while it could just be a way of promoting one's own convenience! Our own innermost self is our judge, and ofcourse the one who resides there: the Spirit of the Lord! 

Obedience is not merely conformity to the rule; nor its opposite mere negligence of the rule. It is all about being sincere to the innermost promptings of the Spirit. Being understood when one follows that promptings, is not always guaranteed. Being misunderstood cannot prevent me from being sincere to those promptings. One who obeys will see life (cf. Jn 3:36).

The Spirit frees : TOWARDS LIGHT

Wednesday in the II Week of Easter

Acts 5: 17-26; Jn 3:16-21

From the prison to freedom,  from the chains to an unfettered spirit,  from fear to total commitment. .. the Spirit strengthens one to walk towards the light! At times truth hurts and at times it costs much,  but if in the Spirit, we would count nothing too demanding.

People like Bro. Mario of Chalakudi fame who have risked their lives for the sake of Christ in their lives are living illustrations of the episode from Acts that we read today. Another youngster in my life who has inspired me is one known to me who chose to be a Christian and chose to become a priest and threw his engineering post in a firm and disappeared from his family to join a religious congregation, because they were mad at him in the family.

If I have the courage to see the Truth,  accept it and live for it,  nothing can stop me, not even death;  because I have within me eternal life.

The Key: FROM ABOVE

Tuesday in the II Week of Easter

Acts 4: 32-37; Jn 3: 7B-15

The first Chrsitian Community gives us a challenging example today, a prophetic witness! Just imagine that to be the state of our parish communities, or our basic christian communities...or even the Religious Communities of Consecrated life... can this model be emulated today? It is easy to brush it aside, calling it an outdated model, or an impractical ideal, or a time proven failure! But the challenge remains.

Jesus provides the key to the challenge: live your life as if from above. We have received our life and everything in life as a gift from above. And when it is time for us to report back from where we come, we will go without anything in our hands. When we see things from above then, we would laugh at our folly as does the Lord now from heaven (see Ps 2:4). Just look at your life, even as you live it today, a little from above! You will understand how foolish we can be... with our attachments and avarice, jealousy and treachery, and every other inhumanity for the sake of things that do not matter at all!

The key is: live life as from above. Learn to look at life from above!

To be shaken and to shake up!

Monday of the II week of Easter

Acts 4: 23-31; Jn 3: 1-8

A fundamental requirement to be born again is to be shaken up!  When the Spirit of the Lord stirs hearts and souls a new being is born and that new being is what Jesus proposes today as the being born again;  being born of the Spirit.

As individuals,  as families, as faith communities we need to shake ourselves up,  allow ourselves to shaken up and to shake up each other! Let's be renewed in the Spirit and live our faith to the full.

MERCY: the mark of a Christian

12th April, 2015: Second Sunday of Easter

Acts 4:32-35; 1Jn 5:1-6; Jn 20:19-31

This Sunday is liturgically called the Low Sunday which marks the end of the Easter Octave. "A week later", indicates the Gospel today; it was a week later that Jesus appears to all the eleven, including Thomas and patiently, mercifully and lovingly leads them to true faith. The feast of Divine Mercy was instituted and fixed for this day by the late Pope John Paul II, who was canonised (declared a saint officially) on this ocassion last year! 

The first reading speaks of how the early community of Christians becomes a mighty witness to the Lord. They were the epitome of the command that Jesus gave, 'be merciful as your heavenly father is merciful'. Mercy becomes their way of life, or rather their renewed way of life. As a mark of being a Christian, mercifulness to each other specially to those in need, becomes the point of attraction for many...and as the reading goes - the Lord added to their number everyday! Mercy, we know, is the high point of Christian identity. But what matters most is how it is lived on a daily basis. It begins with our life at home: with our dear ones, elderly parents, sickly loved ones, troublesome children, rebellious youngsters... how is our relationship? What level of patience and acceptance do we manifest?

The Second reading speaks to us of the source of mercy, God the father of Jesus Christ who in mercy sent the only Son for our salvation! The Mercy of God is given to us as the example and the measure of our "genuineness of faith"! Preaching and believing in high ideals of love and compassion, if we but hate people and divide families, envy others and detest their well being... we are far far away from God, the God of Mercy and compassion.

Jesus' encounter with the disciples after his resurrections manifests a special quality of mercy... it is an encounter that is full of unlimited forgiveness and unconditional love! There is no demand that the disciples have to render an account for having abandoned Jesus at the crucial moment of suffering, for having betrayed him or having denied him! All that Jesus does is, tell them he is with them and invite them to be his witnesses throughout the world. That is the mercy of God embodied, incarnate, which dwelt among us in flesh and blood and dwells among us today in the Spirit. Mercy, hence, has to be lived today in forgiveness and love; there can be no place for grudge and grievance, envy and slander, cheating and stealing, killing and enmity. 

As we celebrate the Divine Mercy of Jesus...let us understand and accept Mercy as our mark of identity as God's own children, the distinctive character of persons who call themselves Christians! Let us be merciful as our heavenly father is merciful.

THE RETURN, REBUKE AND THE RESOLVE

Saturday within the Easter Octave: 11th April, 2015

Acts 4: 13-21; Mk 16: 9-15

Jesus returned, but they recognised him not! He was a bit annoyed as during his time with them. He takes the liberty to rebuke them, because he knew they loved him. It was for the same reason he did not reject them, but only rebuked them and their slowness to believe, in spite of the repeated signs and wonders. That rightful rebuke reassured the disciples much and they came to a resolve, no one or nothing could affect from then. No threats, no powers, no imprisonments, no lashes, no authority could stop them from proclaiming Christ because they were so powerfully taken up by that encounter with the Risen Christ. They knew he was with them every moment, as he had promised them!

Every day, the Risen Lord returns to us with a fresh proposal to live with us unceasingly; Our obstinacy to hold on to various concerns in life, our blindness to the extraordinary love with which the Risen Lord approaches us, our failure to see through and observe in the events of life, the Lord who walks with us - these deserve a rebuke from the Lord. It would not matter, until we reach the resolve as did the apostles, to proclaim in our words and deeds, the Lord who has won us over. We are called to be witnesses, beginning from wherever we are to the ends of the world. Are we ready? What are we upto today, in this regard?

WITH SIGNS AND WONDERS

Friday within the Easter Octave: 10th April, 2015

Acts 4: 1-12; Jn 21: 1-14

Today begins the next round of efforts to contain the good news. When Jesus spoke of it, they killed him and heaved a big sigh thinking it was over. Little did they imagine the problem was far from settled. The Reign of God is like the seed that a sower planted in his field, the Master had said... after a brief silence, it will certainly shoot up. Here the Saducees and the Pharisees begin to feel the startles as they see the first signs of sprouting. That was already too strong! From a fear filled bunch of rugged Jews, the apostles turned out to be fire filled upstarts, gradually shaping up to be formidable people of God, standing for and proclaiming the good news, namely the person of Jesus Christ, the Son of God and Saviour of the World.

The proclamation was strong because it was accompanied by signs and wonders, as the Master himself had set the model. Walking on the Sea, hauling an impossibly large catch of fish...these were no new signs for the disciples. They were merely confirmations of the continued presence of the Lord who had lived and moved with them.The disciples would not allow themselves to be stopped by anyone or anything. Soon we will begin to hear the violence that was unleashed against the new movement of the Risen Lord. Nothing, absolutely nothing will stop them from their commitment to proclaim the Lord.

Today, if we wish to be Easter people, let our life be a proclamation and a proclamation that is accompanied by signs and wonders: signs that stand counter to the self centered  standards of the world today; and wonders that make people see the love and mercy of God in and through us!

THE SCRIPTURES SPEAK AND THE LORD ACTS

Thursday within the Easter octave: 9th April, 2015

Acts 3: 11-26; Lk 24:35-48

Understanding the Scriptures was an essential part of realising their identity for the disciples. From yesterday we see the Risen Lord take upon himself the task of opening their minds to the scriptures,  because it was from that understating that they were able to make sense of all that they were going through. Once clarified, their identity was extraordinarily strong and they accomplished feats that nobody would imagine. That is the power of clear and specific identity.

The questions today to us: what is our identity?  What does the Scripture say? Do we spend time listening to the Lord speak in and through the Scripture? Do we seek the the understanding of the Lord to make sense of what It has to offer us? Do we believe that the Scripture speaks to us and the Lord acts through us?