WORD 2day : 9th September, 2015

Christ : All and in all
Wednesday,  23rd week in Ordinary Time
Col 3: 1-11; Lk 6: 20-26

Confusing criteria,  disarrayed priorities,  Godless morality,  inhuman ethics and heartless secularisation of the world... this is the context in which we are called to live and profess our faith in Christ. The Word today establishes, that in this context,  we cannot put up with compromises and half baked convictions. We need to make a clear and impeccable difference in and through our lives. The world stands in need of Spirit filled Evangelisers, calls out Pope Francis. And the way is to live as if Christ is all for me and Christ is in all who stand with me towards making this world more and more liveable. Am I ready?

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

Destined, Chosen and Shared glory with

8th September, 2015

Rom 8: 28-30;Mt 1:18-23

The Birthday of our Blessed Mother brings home to us the message of being chosen from all eternity - as St. Paul affirms in Eph 1:4 - God has chosen you before the foundation of the world. God chose Mary from eternity and prepared her to be the worthy dwelling place for God's Son. That is why the Angel greeted her with those significant words: 'Hail! Full of Grace!' She, who was so full of Grace and who bore the fullness of Grace within her, becomes for us the bearer of grace. She was destined and chosen and God deigned to share with her God's glory.  

Her role as the destined and chosen one, reminds each of us our status as chosen children destined to share in the glory of the Lord. When she was born, the climax of God's salvation plan was born. Her greatness lies in the fact that she cooperated with God and it was that trait which led her to the glory that she shares with the Lord today. Everyone of us is called to that same glory and we are faced with the same demand: that we cooperate with the Lord in the eternal plan, where we have a specific and irreplaceable role to play.

The scourge of the world today remains the fact that it has lost the sense of the eternal. All that matters is the here and the now, the immediate and the instant differences that people look for. This is the tendency that leads to evaluating a  person in terms of usefulness, looking at everything from the point of view of gain or loss and judging everything with the criterion of utility.  Gender bias and gender issues that are prevalent today are because of such immature approaches to life. Celebrating the Girl Child day today, is another fitting moment to appraise the type of attitudes we sport towards humanity, whether they are holistic or not, helpful or not, balanced or not, in short - truly Christ-like or not.

Let this feast of our Blessed Mother bring health to our mind and body, to our spirit and soul, that we may be fully alive, sharing and spreading the glory of God - that is what we are chosen for and that is what we are destined for! Praised be the Lord. Ave Maria!

WORD 2day : 7th September, 2015

Good: all the time!
Monday,  2 3rd week in Ordinary Time
Col 1: 24 - 2:3;  Lk 6: 6-11

Jesus' life holds out to us a challenge that consists of a simple,  uncomplicated criterion but highly demanding. The criterion is: be good.

You may have to suffer,  take on yourself burdens and brickbats,  be misunderstood and be rash judged. ..but never lose your nerves;  be good. At any given point if you are left with a question. ..what to do,  or what next,  or what is my reaction... it is simple: be good. Never lose your goodness for anything or anyone's sake. It is not enough to believe that God is good all the time. ..It is important that I be good all the time and never grow weary of doing good (cf 2 Thes 3: 13).

THE REIGN HERE AND NOW

6th September, 2015: 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time 

Is 35: 4-7; Jas 2: 1-5; Mk 7: 31-37

The deaf hear and the dumb speak... that was not merely a statement of compliment to Jesus,  but it was an expression of a hopeful longing! A longing of generations that the Reign of God would be established wiping every tear off the eyes of humanity. When Jesus did these wonders among people,  they found in those wonders and signs the very symptoms of the imminent Reign of God,  as foretold by the prophets of old. They hoped it would come around atleast then. ...and Jesus did promise them that. I have come that I may proclaim the year of the Lord,  initiating the Reign on earth (cf. Lk 4: 18), declared Jesus. Anyway,  Jesus was not deceiving them or letting them down; he told them clearly,  the Reign of God is among you (Lk 17:21). If they wanted to make it present or make it a reality, they could have done it. They were not ready for it.  The challenge is the very same today... if we want it we can make it a reality today, here and now! But we are not ready;  we do not want to! 'Oh no... how we wish it became a reality today', we might say. But the Word challenges us today: Do you really want the Reign present here and now? Then...

1. Behold the Reign

If I truly wish that Reign is established here and now, I have to firstly believe that the Reign is amidst us. Through persons of good will, through initiatives of selfless promotion of well being of the downtrodden, through the numerous who are ready to lay their lives down for a cause that might not concern their good at all,  through the ascendancy that God has over the earth,  the humanity and history,  the Reign is in reality present right in our midst and all that I need to do is realise it. There are so many signs of it;  there are ample evidences of it. God is at work in reality, let us acknowledge it. In partnering with persons and agencies of good will, in recognising the presence of the Lord in the world through various simple signs,  in attributing to God every single inspiration to common good,  we behold the presence of the Region here amidst us. The first reading from Isaiah presents us these symptoms of the  reign.

2. Block not the Reign

There are certain attitudes and habits through which I become a block or an hindrance to the Reign. The mere fact that I too belong to the so called church and I too have received the Baptism doesn't guarantee that I will allow the Reign come alive here and now. Discriminations on the basis of any criterion - caste or colour or community or availability of resources - is an apparent block to the Reign, says James today.

3. Be Agents of the Reign

The ultimate call is to be positive agents of the Reign in the manner that each one is called to be. My words and attitudes, my thoughts and convictions, my deeds and dispositions have to be Reign friendly. They have to be life giving. They should offer the light to the blind, the voice to the dumb, the hearing to the deaf, the liberation to the suffering... I need to become the agent of the Reign of God here and now. How long am I going to blame the other, moan the times and wait without doing anything? The call is clear: to actively do my part in making present the Reign here and now. How ready am I for the sacrifices involved? How prepared am I to take upon myself the hardships that would come my way and the inconveniences i would have to put up with?

Happy are those who hunger and thirst for the Reign of God, for they shall be satisfied!

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

5th September, 2015: Remembering Blessed Mother Teresa

Continuing in faith: stable and steadfast
Col 1: 21-23; Lk 6: 1-5

Stand firm in Faith without drifting away,  instructs St Paul in the first reading today. Nothing but faith has to be the foundation of Christian life. Faith is the personal response that one gives to a self-revealing God. Experiences may vary,  outcomes may differ and success and failure may find equal probability in what we take up. ..but none of these should make me waver or drift away from the journey I have begun in the Lord.

We have a great example for that today in the person of Blessed Mother Teresa of Kolkata. A person who had every reason to be shaken and to drift away,  but she stood her ground stable and steadfast in faith! Nothing but what God wanted from her,  mattered to her. In her life choices,  major decisions and day to day living,  she based herself on the solid foundation of faith. Many accused her of many things, as we see in the Gospel today, but she remained firm,  continuing in faith, stable and steadfast!

WORD 2day : 4th September, 2015

To reconcile everything

Friday, 22nd week in Ordinary Time
Col 1:15-20; Lk 5: 33-38

Paul states the ultimate destiny of all creation- to be reconciled in Christ. Humans, animals and all creatures alike ultimately have to be reconciled into one in Christ. That is the essential movement of all reality and any thing that militates against this is from the evil one.

Anything that divides,  separates or stratifies cannot be trusted to be from God. Even if it is a spiritual practice or a theological concept that takes one away from the movement of reconciling everything in Christ,  it has to be suspected. Be it traditionalism or novelties,  be it supernaturalism or practicalities,  be it customs or innovations,  the movement should always be towards one destiny: ultimate reconciliation in Christ. If that is left out of focus,  even the best of our efforts will either be selfish or ungodly!

How reconciling are my thoughts,  words and deeds?  Is Christ the Omega Point always my focus, in all that I say or do?

WORD 2day : 3rd September, 2015

The Capacity for God-vision

Thursday,  22nd week in Ordinary Time
Col 1:9-14; Lk 5: 1-11

Jesus demonstrates to the first disciples an extraordinary capacity of perceiving reality. We can call this God vision. ..the capacity to see beyond the apparent,  the ability to perceive even what is not yet. This is seen in two levels in the Gospel today. Jesus seeing the catch of fish where it wasn't apparently and Jesus seeing the possibly of Peter and others with him becoming fishers of men. Jesus promises them that he will develop in them the same capacity: the capacity for God-vision.

When we cooperate with this God vision, God brings out of us the best that we never even imagined. And eventually as persons of God,  God will give us the capacity to look at the best in a person even at a point where it is not apparently visible. St Paul had become expert fisher of humans and we see him manifest that quality of God vision- he perceives in the people of Colossia a people who are called for great things and not merely new converts.

To be true disciples and apostles of the Lord,  we need to surrender to the God-vision and grow in our capacity for God-vision. 

WORD 2day : 2nd September, 2015

All out for the Word

Wednesday,  22nd week in Ordinary Time
Col 1:1-8; Lk 4: 38-44

Paul,  Epaphras,  Jesus...all seem to be on the move. With a sense urgency and a feeling of detachment they seem to move on from one place to another with the task of proclamation filling their minds. The question today is about our sense of apostleship. Are we filled with this urgency and are we convinced about this task given to us?

Proclamation is not the work of a few, it belongs to each and every one who is baptised. It is not an added feather to our hats but an essential mark of a Christian. Ofcourse there is no one way of proclamation. Preaching is just one way;  example,  witness,  convictions,  values,  compassion and limitless love are all ways of sharing that Word with the world.

Let me ask myself 2 questions today: am I convinced of my call to proclaim?  And what is my specific way of proclamation?

WORD 2day : 1st September, 2015

The Source of Authority

Tuesday,  22nd week in Ordinary Time
1 Thes 5: 1-6, 9-11; Lk 4: 31-37

Jesus spoke with authority,  felt the people. Infact the Scribes and pharisees too spoke to them from pedestals and pulpits. They found a qualitative difference in what was said by Jesus and the way he said it. They saw persons cast out demons but never the way Jesus did it. There was something peculiar about Jesus and the people noted it. Jesus' authority came from within,  from his self realisation of who he was in the core of his being. The source of his authority was not some where out in the wilderness or in some far away reality. It was from God whom Jesus felt right within him, present so faithfully and powerfully.

In the first reading St.  Paul reminds us of the fact that we too, possess the same authority because the source of all authorities resides within us. 'Alive or dead,  we should always be united in Christ' says Paul. And our authority would come from this union at the core of our beings.

WORD 2day : 31st August, 2015

A warning against practical atheism

Monday,  22nd week in Ordinary Time
1 Thes 4: 13-18; Lk 4: 16-30

One of our philosophy professors would often refer to what is called practical atheism. We know what atheism means: it is saying there is no God. It is much safer and clearer than practical atheism which actually is a stand of subtle self deception.

Practical Atheism is the way of life where a person lives his or her life as if God did not exist,  though theoretically the person claims to believe in a god. For all practical purposes there seems to be no difference between the life of an atheist and this person who claims to believe in God. At times we can live our life with values and priorities that are so ungodly,  with mere external practices that seem religious.

The readings today invite us to examine our deep seated convictions and judge for ourselves how much our beliefs transform our lives.