WORD 2day : 17th November, 2015

The Witness of Choice

Tuesday,  33rd week in Ordinary Time
2 Mac 6:18-31; Lk 19: 1-10

We are called to witness to the Lord,  the Lord's Gospel and the Lord's Reign. The most powerful of witnesses is the witness of choice, the witness of making a choice for God over many others that claim a reckoning!

Eleazar makes a choice for God by not scandalising the little ones of God against a life for God. Zachaeus makes a choice to hold on to Christ and let everything else go,  a witness of inspiration that he gives as an elder!

Even if don't give a great witness per se,  I need to atleast refrain from causing scandals for the little ones. Both are equally demanding and not exclusive of each other. The crux is making a choice for God,  for a life worthy of God and a life that is uplifting for the people of God!

WORD 2day : 16th November, 2015

Becoming one. ..but which one?

Monday,  33rd week in Ordinary Time
1 Maccabees 1:10-15,41-43,54-57,62-64; Lk 18: 35-43

Personally I stand much for interreligious dialogue and inculturation of faith. Some persons have found fault with me at times saying, 'you stand for interreligious dialogue and inculturation, but you do not allow such and such a thing. Is it not a discrepancy? '

It is important to realise what is an integral process of dialogue and inculturation. If only 'all becoming one' is the objective, then today we should be comfortable with what is happening around... all, in every field, everyone is becoming one in their selfishness and self seeking tendencies! It is our call to become one, but which one? Becoming one as a humanity, bound by true and wholesome values, standing for real freedom, dignity and solidarity, that is our task. That is what the Reign is all about.

Today, I am attending a funeral of a salesian priest who was born a Hindu but due to a wholesome dialogue found his meaning in the Catholic tradition, inculturated it and lived a life that was beautiful and integral. He never judged anyone but found his personal meaning and went all the way in living that meaning. That requires an eye of faith; let us cry out for it and the Lord will grant us! 

WORD 2day : 14th November, 2015

Will there be faith?

Saturday, 32nd week in Ordinary Time
Wis 18: 14-16, 19:6-9; Lk 18: 1-8

There is a real anxiety in Jesus' question... will there be faith on earth,  when the Son of man comes again! He asks that question looking at the type of people he saw and the mind set they had towards things of spiritual nature. Just as then, even today the question remains pertinent as people are more calculative than committed, more religious minded than faith oriented,  more interested in extrenal legalities than integral spirituality!

Will there be faith and will faith be real... the way things seem to be developing,  this anxiety has to fill our minds. The Holy Father makes this issue come alive calling us to be today, a Church more and more authentic, true and faithful to the Gospel and its values. Resisting all temptation towards division and sectarianism, fighting all forces that dehumanise the society and establishing a Reign counter to that of injustice and exploitation, we are called to keep the true faith alive. Are we game for that challenge?

WORD 2day : 13th November, 2015

Gather the signs!

Friday, 32nd week in Ordinary Time
Wis 13:1-9; Lk 17: 26-37

There is a story going around in our city in the past week that coming Sunday the end of the world is bound to begin... with three  days of darkness and other demonic signs. Though there is a curiosity that these horror stories evoke, they are merely manifestations of a spirituality that seeks some excitement all the time. Jesus is calling us to gather the signs from the experiences of ordinary day to day life...the lessons arising  from the clashes caused by evil tendencies, cravings incited by selfishness, inhumanities provoked by senseless egoism, insensitivities and indifferences that make this world a worthless place to live in! 

The call is to gather signs and understand the invitation from God. It would be unwise to remain deaf or blind to the messages that the Lord sends... let's remain awake and read those signs and channel our courses towards one united goal: the Reign of God here on earth.

WORD 2day : 12th November, 2015

The Spirit and the Reign

Thursday,  32nd week in Ordinary Time
Rom 7:22 - 8:1: Mk 17: 20-25

The Reign of God is among you says Jesus in the Gospel,  while the first reading finds the cue where to initiate it: the Spirit who dwells within us.

It is the Spirit's doing that initiates the Reign in this world. Hence the call that we have received to establish the Reign of God,  begins with realising the Spirit within us. The second need is to keep the Spirit alive and nourish it with our choice for God on a day to day manner. Thirdly we are challenged to live that Spirit out with courage and commitment, inspite of the threats and troubles around us. Once we choose to live our life in the Spirit to the full, the Reign of God begins to dawn on this world.

WORD 2day : 11th November, 2015

A humble heart is a grateful heart

Wednesday,  32nd week in Ordinary Time
Wis 6: 1-11; Lk 17: 11-19

Recently I listened to an insightful sharing of one of my friend-priests on this Gospel episode,  explaining 'nine reasons why a person turns ungrateful'... if I may, I would sum them all up to just one basic reason: lack of humility,  humility understood here as accepting the truth as it is. It is humility with a hook to exaggeratedly lower myself than what I actually am. It is ofcourse madness to imagine myself to be a super being, mindless of the numerous limitations I do possess. The Word invites me today to look squarely at myself and acknowledge the good that God has done to me. It is at one and the same time,  both humility and gratitude because,  a humble heart is a grateful heart!

While the first reading draws attention to the haughty at heart who think they are creators unto themselves, the Gospel pictures the ingratitude of the many and the lowliness of the truly righteous. When I know and accept the limitations within me, I would be surprised at every good and admirable thing that I accomplish. I would instantly realise the wonders that God works in and through me, without much ado. That is a humble heart,  a grateful heart,  a truly holy heart.

WORD 2day: 10th November, 2015

The Credit Issue

Tuesday, 32nd week in Ordinary Time
Wis 2:23 - 3:9; Lk 17: 7-10

Though it has been there always, today in particular the consciousness of giving credits to the person who claims ownership has come to be more and more important. Recently in a discussion with a youngster he shared with me the contributions that he had made to the making of some recent movies. When I asked him why his name has not appeared on the official credits, he said "Oh that will take time. Until I establish myself firmly in the field they won't give me those credits. We are still nobody in the field! " That set me thinking!

In our work for the Reign of God,  how crazy we go to take the credit for every simple thing that we do... from the donors slabs in the Churches to the monuments we wish to leave behind in our memories, from the insistence on the names to be read at mass intentions to the rustle that takes place when someone forgets to mention a name in the vote of thanks... everywhere it is a craze for credits, in varied proportions  ofcourse. Blessed Mother Teresa understood well  what Jesus says today,  when she declared, "I am merely a pencil in the hands of God. He is the artist."

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

Be,  Build and Beware

9th November, 2015: Dedication of the Lateran Basilica
Ezek 47:1-2,8-9,12; 1 Cor 3:9-11,16-17; Jn 2:13-22

The feast of today gives us great insights into living an authentic Christian life!

The first insight is to be the Temple of the Lord, in our personal dedication to the Lord,  in our unselfish and pure relationships and in our capacity to hold God out to people who come in touch with us.

The second insight is to build the Temple of the Lord,  that is the people of God. Today we see a tendency to invest crores on constructing and renovating churches,  while the whole world is helplessly looking at misery that swallows scores of have-nots so easily pushed to peripheries because the majority are bothered only upto themselves.

The third insight is to beware of breaking or dividing or scattering this Church,  the living body of Christ. The sealed churches, the schismatics, the churches that divide people with lies for ulterior motives - these are anti Gospel elements which not only delay the coming of the Reign of God but actively block it.

May we be, may we build and may we take optimum care of the House of God here on earth.

GIVING

What type is your Giving?

32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time: 8th November, 2015

1 Kgs 17: 10-16; Heb 9: 24-28; Mk 12: 38-44

The widow at the gates of Sidon, the widow in the Temple of Jerusalem and God who gave God's only son as a sacrifice are given to us as models of giving, in today's Word. Giving is one act that can be done out of many a kind of motivation. Not all giving are of the same kind or type or degree! Analysing the models present to us, we are called to reflect on our type of giving... reflect along and say, what type is your giving!

Giving to Gain: there is a lot of giving that is going on today. There are people or agencies or corporates who give even tons of money, but they are particular about what they stand to gain. They calculate the gain and then proceed to give: it could be a tax exemption, or a favour in return, or a end to achieve, or a popularity stunt! However big and enormous this giving is, it would not be truly giving, it is in the final analysis, a getting, a begging, a receiving, a business, a gain! At times when we give, however small it is,  from our time or energy or effort,  if we are particular about our calculations of gain, then our giving has no value in itself, it value is merely what we have gained.

Giving to Get: this is the safest form of giving, where one is sure what one gives is not merely thrown in the air but it will return. I do a favour to someone expecting a favour in return; I be nice to someone expecting the person to be nice to me in return; I claim to love someone with the expectation that i will be loved in return! These are giving to get. Though it is not about gain or profit or expecting a glorious image of oneself, this is a plain give and take, a barter mentality.

Giving to Give: this is truly divine, truly Christ-ian! I give, because I find fulfillment in giving. I stand any chance of getting it back or I dont think anyone else will ever know, but I give, I give whole heartedly, of my time, my effort, my energy, my concern, my resources, because it is in giving that I find the true meaning of my life. God gave God's only Son because God loved the world to that extent; it was an expression of God's love, not an expectation of the same in return! Jesus gave his life, his body and his blood, and what did he expect in return? 

I am doing all this for him or for her or for them, what am I going to get in return? 

Oh, I did all these to you, and is this how you respond?

Is it safe to give this, or do this, for this particular person, will it come back?

I gave this, I did this, with so much of effort and money, and they dont even thank me in public!

These kinds of statements are candid indicatives of a giving that is not after the heart of our beloved Lord and Saviour. Because with the Lord we are called to give without measure. Freely freely you have received, freely freely give! Here the giving is to give, and nothing more!

WORD 2day : 7th November, 2015

The Strength to live by the Gospel

Saturday,  31st week in Ordinary Time
Rom 16:3-9,16,22-27; Lk 16: 9-15

To live a life that is pleasing to God, a life that holds the place of God over and above anything else,  a life that considers nothing other than God an absolute...it is not a simple task. It requires a concentration on only things that belong to God,  a commitment to causes that reflect the mind of God and choice for God against every thing else. St Paul says today in the first reading that such a choice or such a life cannot be lived all on my own strength. It is the Lord who gives me the strength to live by the Gospel. It is only with that strength can we say those words of Paul, for me to live is Christ and to die is a gain (Phil 1:21).