WORD 2day: God's venture

Saturday, VI week of Easter: 16th May, 2015

Acts 18: 23-28; Jn 16: 23-28

Apollos, Priscilla, Acquilla, Paul... there is a band of apostles, all working in the name of the Lord. Among themselves and when in company of others, they did not consider their ego as something inviolable. They were ready to give in, to be corrected and to be taught. We see this lived out beautifully in the first reading today.

Jesus in the Gospel too, offers himself and the Father as an example of living in union of spirit. They think alike, they plan alike and they form a worthy part of the salvific band of God. Have we, you and I, the readiness and will to be concerned about God's ventures!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

                                                                                                                                                                                                   

WORD 2day: A joy that no one can take!

Friday,  VI week of Easter, 2015: 15th May, 2015

Acts 18: 9-18; Jn16: 20-23

The joy that things give are gone with the things gone. A mere feeling,  or a moment of happiness that comes from an external reason and fulfilled desires will last just as long as the situation does!

Today the Lord promises us a joy that no one take away from us,  that no situation can diminish. The dimensions of this joy is completely different from the joy that the world and its attachments can give.

The joy that the Lord gives comes from the Lord and just as the Lord is,  so is the joy that the Lord gives: unchanging and ever present! It comes from the fact that God is with us, as the Lord promises in the first reading! With us always,  strengthening and empowering us in the daily struggles of life.

WORD 2day: I chose you!

Celebrating St Mathias, the Apostle: 14th May, 2015

Acts 1: 15-17, 20-26; Jn 15: 16

Every relationship is a response! Relationships can never be forced upon persons. I wish to relate to a person, I choose to relate to the person and then I leave the response of the person, to the freedom of that person! Only then there is a healthy relationship that blooms. It is the same with God's choice too!

You have not chosen me, I chose you!, reminds Jesus today. With the beautiful example of Mathias and Barsabbas, Jesus brings out another element of the election theology! When God chooses, God chooses individuals (not masses), for a unique purpose and specific plan. As God reminds us through Jeremiah, God has a plan for each of us (Jer 29:11) and God alone knows what the plan is and how it would come through. All that we need to do is submit, surrender to that plan and walk by it.

And when God chooses, God chooses not for merely privilege, position and power; but for commitment, suffering and giving one's life! At times today, as the readings of the past Sunday reminded us, we cannot stop with thinking we are chosen therefore we are special! We are chosen, we are special but it does not stop with that; we are specially chosen to strive, fight, struggle, suffer and thus, usher in the Reign of God. Mathias is counted in the band of apostles. Of course a privilege, but with that came the burden of the Messenger of the Word, the burden of the Elder of the Community and the burden of a Shepherd.

The Word speaks today: You are chosen! Are you ready for all that it entails? 

MARIA DOMENICA MAZZARELLO

May 13th: Celebrating Mother Mazzarello!

Despite our differences...
let us grow in our mutual esteem,
convinced always that we are,
all of us, instruments, 
humble instruments,
in the hands of God.

Mazzarello found in Don Bosco
the hand of God, which could
take her forward in the yearning
to belong to the Lord
and to the children of the Lord.

Don Bosco found in her
a God-sent apostle who could
translate his charism for the girls...

The saints recognised each other as such, as soon as they saw!
It is upto us today to unite as brothers and sisters towards the glory of God and salvation of the young!

WORD 2day: The Spirit of Truth

Wednesday,  VI week of Easter: 13th May,  2015

Acts 17:15,22 -18:1; Jn 16: 12-15

The Spirit of the Lord convicts because the Spirit leads us to the truth. We have all the truth right in front of us. We fail to see them and understand them,  we are tempted not to see them or understand them, we choose not to see them and understand them!

When we fail to see,  the Spirit gives us the wisdom and leads us to see it,  leading us to light, as St Paul tries to lead the Athenians.

When we are tempted not to see, the Spirit fills us with the courage to see it,  making us free and bold as children of God,  as Jesus promises his disciples.

When we choose not to see,  the Spirit convicts us,  as we heard yesterday and makes us understand how mistaken we are. Peter,  Paul,  the other apostles and everyone who owes his or her rapport with God to a dramatic conversion,  would vouch for this role of the Spirit.

But for all of these. ..I need to open my mind to the Word. ..If not I will laugh at the Word or postpone listening to it,  to another convenient moment, as the people do in the first reading today.

WORD 2day : The Spirit that convicts

Tuesday, VI week of Easter: 12th May,  2015

Acts 16: 22-34; Jn 16: 5-11

Jesus wishes that his disciples moved on to the next level. He is trying his best to introduce them to the Advocate,  the Divine Counselor!  Today's readings bring out one important aspect of this advocate: the aspect of the Spirit which convicts the individuals,  communities and all those who truly believe.

Receiving the Spirit is not an ordinary task. It is a divine mission that the Lord promised to those who sincerely ask for it. For when the spirit comes... the Spirit would convict the person. What should we do to be saved. ..that is the question that would fill or hearts. What should I do to be acceptable in the eyes of God? 

WORD 2day: Love that prevails

Monday, VI week of Easter: 11th May, 2015

Acts 16: 11-15; Jn 15:26 - 16:4a

Speaking of the new believer in the Lord, a lady of considerable renown, Paul says she prevailed over us! It is true love that prevails, a selfless love inspired by the newly accepted good news! The Lord opened her mind to listen to the Word and her heart to be the consolation for the messengers of the Word. The Lord provides through her.

Today, providing for the messengers of the Word, in ways truly numerous, is one way that we can make love prevail. We may have troubles from every corner, opposition from all sides and forces waiting to devour us - as we say Jesus telling us in the Gospel today. But nothing of this will block us from going ahead in our task and the challenge entrusted to us. The Lord will open minds, inspire hearts and remove blocks, that we may have all the back up needed to take the message far and wide. This has been, or this is at present, my experience too, personally! How many times I would have felt the providence of God, at the exact right moment! Persons coming to my aid, friends pitching in their bit, and so many other unbelievable ways in which the Lord has provided, or numerous ways in which Love has prevailed!

WE ARE CHOSEN

6th Sunday of Easter: 10th May, 2015

Acts 10: 25-26,34-35,44-48; 1 Jn 4:7-10; Jn 15: 9-17

We are Chosen, we are chosen people of God, we are a chosen race: this is a truth that is repeatedly stressed in the Word today. We are given a sign that we are chosen and there is a reason for having been chosen and there is a fruit that is expected of us because we are chosen. Let us understand them one by one.

We are chosen: that needs two clarities. One, we did not choose, but we are chosen! So it is none of our merit that we are within the count of the chosen! If we are here, it is because we are chosen! It not only fills us with a feeling of being special, but it should also fill us with an awe of the inner nature offered unto us. The second clarity is the same as what we said finally here: being chosen is not merely a privilege, but a burden too!

The Sign of being Chosen: Spirit. The sign of being chosen is given in the third person of the Trinity - the Holy Spirit who comes to dwell in us! We become dwelling places of the Spirit, chosen dwelling places of the Spirit (1Cor 3:16 & 6:19). That means our being chosen necessitates two self understandings within us: One, that we are the people of the Spirit and secondly, we belong to God! (1st Reading)

The Reason for being Chosen: Joy. A joy that is complete, is what the Lord wants to offer us. That is the reason for which the Lord has chosen us. A joy that does not fade with time, a joy that does not depend on external conditions and fulfillment of one's desires, a joy that is eternal because the source of it is eternal, timeless: it comes from the Lord! It resides in our hearts and comes from the Spirit who is within; no external conditions can take it away! The Lord fills us with a joy that is not like what the world gives, not like the joy that our possessions give, unlike the joy that our pleasures give... this is the joy that the Lord alone can give! (Gospel Reading)

The Fruit of being Chosen: Love. That you may bear fruit, and bear it abundantly! The fruit is love, the outcome of being chosen is the love that we hold out to every person around us. To love as God loved; without counting the cost, without thinking whether the other deserves it or not; without losing any chance of forgiving and enduring. That is true love and that is the love that we are called to live. (2nd Reading)

We are Chosen... chosen by the Spirit, chosen to be joyful, chosen to love! If we do not love, we do not see the fruits of having been chosen; if we do not have the fruits, it means we do not have the joy of having been chosen; if we do not have the joy of having been chosen, it means we have not allowed the Spirit of the Lord to dwell within us! 

Let us remember! we are the people of the Spirit, we are the Chosen people of God.

WORD 2day: GPS Enabled?

Saturday, V week of Easter: 9th May, 2015
Acts 16: 1-10; Jn 15: 18-21

Almost gone are those days when people bound for a place that they have never been to,  find their destinations with the help of people on the road,  bystanders, fellow passengers etc. Now a days with the smart phones everyone is GPS Enabled: Global Positioning System!

Today in the first reading we find the apostles also GPS enabled. They are instructed where to go and where not to go. The GPS here is... God's Powerful Spirit. Jesus warns them wherever they go there will be people against them,  because they are his disciples. But nothing to worry because they have GPS enabled: God's Protecting Spirit. Come what may,  with all the troubles and persecutions the disciples will go on and on because they are GPS Enabled: God's Propelling Spirit.

The invitation to us is to be disciples of Christ in our daily life with all its struggles and temptations-disciples who have GPS Enabled!

WORD 2day: We, the Holy Spirit and Love!

Friday, V week of Easter: 8th May, 2015

Acts 15: 22-31; Jn 15: 12-17

I have always been fascinated by that formulation we see in the first reading today; the apostles when they communicate their decision after a crisis, they say, "it has seemed good to us and to the holy spirit"...

When the Holy Spirit takes hold of us, all that we do, all that we choose, all that we decide will be guided by love and love alone! They were ready to give up their tradition, their heritage, their laws, all because they loved their new brothers and sisters in Christ. They did not want to over burden them. And Christ goes a step further and says: not just traditions and laws, but even your life, you should be ready to lay down! That is true love. If the Son of God has given up everything for the love that he has for us, why do we hesitate to give up anything...especially our ego, our selfishness, our vain glory!!!

We and the Holy Spirit, if we are in constant rapport, we will be filled with true love! If we are filled with true love, then we would make true disciples to Christ, the Son of God who is Love! We, the Holy Spirit and Love, we will make a wonderful "Christ"ian Community. Shall we?