HAPPY NEW YEAR: 3 Messages for 2016

Here are 3 messages we can start the year with...

1. Obey the Mother; Follow the Son:

We start the year with Mary the Mother of God. She is intent always on leading us to her son...Do whatever he tells you (Jn 2:5) : that is her refrain all the while. When the Church Fathers at Ephesus, in 432, thought of resolving the confusion whether Jesus was God or Man, they thought of defining a dogma on Mary...what a way to understand the nature of Jesus through the vocation of Mary! She was called to be Mother of God and that is what she is...Mother of God, Mother of us all, Mother of the Church. Obey the Mother, and you will automatically be following the Son.

2. Open your hearts; Begin with God:

Happy New Year we wish each other: just look around and tell me, what is new? Same old house, same old people, same old things and same old problems...aren't they? I met this kid last week after Christmas and found him very sad about Christmas...and I asked him why? Did you parent not give you gifts? No they gave, he said. Did they not buy you new clothes? Hmm..that is the problem, he said. They bought ...but the same colour as last year! I could not help smiling at it and say to myself: how often we think as that kid did. We are so adamant not to see things in a brighter light. Every time we have something that would stop us from being happy. We are so judgmental with everything, specially with people, that we cannot see anything new. As Mother Teresa would say, we are busy judging and so we do not have the time to love. Look at every person every time with a new open heart and you will see life will be much more blessed.

3. Overcome Indifference; Win Peace:

Today is also 49th World Peace Day celebrated by the Church. Pope Francis gives this as his Peace Day Message: Overcome Indifference and Win Peace. If the peace that we have has to be true and real and god-given, it has to arise from mercy, solidarity and compassion. There can be no indifference there. The call is to overcome indifference, indifference about God, indifference about Others and Indifference about those who are suffering! It is in keeping with the Jubilee Year of Mercy...we are called to be merciful as the heavenly Father. God is never indifferent, says the Holy Father. Let us overcome our Indifference and we will grow more and more peaceful!

Happy New Year 2016! May God be with you and grant you peace!

WORD 2day : 31st December, 2015

The end and the Beginning

7th day within Christmas Octave 

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

The first reading today speaks of the last days and the Gospel speaks of the beginning with the Word! What a beautiful message to behold on the last day of the year! Things may appear as if everything is lost, but with the Lord nothing is lost. Any number of Anti Christs and evil forces may come, we will never lose: for we have with us a Lord whose love for us is more powerful than any power of this world! A Christian is one who is convinced of this to that extent that even in the middle of a life threatening crisis, he or she is ready to face it with serenity for the Lord is with him or her. The Word has become flesh and dwells amidst us, what do we have to fear! Let us welcome the new year with that unwavering hope in the Lord.

WORD 2day : 30th December, 2015

Maturity,  Wisdom and God's Favour
6th day in the Christmas Octave
1 Jn 2: 12-17; Lk 2: 36-40

Luke alone pictures the life of the Holy Family at Nazareth and the boyhood phases of Jesus. Today he notes that the Word become flesh and grew up to be a holistic human person.

Speaking of holistic growth,  I am reminded of the categories with which we were helped and evaluated for our growth when we were in initial formation towards priesthood. Maturity,  Wisdom and God's Favour, that Luke speaks of today actually refers to the of those criteria of growth: Physical, Intellectual and Spiritual.

I wonder why parents today should not take up these as their criteria to help their children or their wards in their growth. An all round growth is what the society stands in need of.

WORD 2day : 29th December, 2015

Secrets laid bare

5th day in the Christmas Octave
1 Jn 2: 3-11; Lk 2: 22-35

One of the key elements of an authentic spirituality should be to lay bare all secrets.  Jesus was meant to be doing that and that is one reason the pharisees and the Scribes could not put up with him. 

The way Jesus did it, was by making the criteria cut and dry. He stood far from multiplying requirements and rituals. He simplified the commandments and kept to the basics. He brought everything down to one commandment and this laid everything bare. No amount of beating around the bush would matter anymore... do you love or not? That was the only question which had to be answered and St John so plainly brings it out in today's first reading.

Let your love be genuine(Rom 12): St. Paul too understood this key to being Christlike.

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

The Feast of the Holy Innocents

28th December, 2015

1 Jn 1:5 - 2:2; Mt 2: 13-18

Today as I reflect on this event, I feel I have to gainsay my post the day before! Is Stephen truly the first martyr? What about the innocents who gave their life up for the sake of Christ!

The Innocence of the children and the innocence demanded of us: the difference is what is underlined in the first reading today. The innocence of the children was forced on them, they were helpless and vulnerable, but they were all for the Lord and the Lord's Reign. 

The innocence expected of us has to be of choice, a choice that is well informed of one's own goodness and limitations. I am expected to make a choice for the Lord in spite of the weaknesses, overcoming them with a sense of total surrender to the Lord and the Lord's Reign.

The TIN Team

Growing after the HOLY FAMILY

Feast of Holy Family: 27th December, 2015

1 Sam 1: 20-22,24-28; Col 3: 12-21; Lk 2: 41-52

The Feast today presents to us the model of the Holy Family... especially in the year when we have reflected so much upon the theme of family, we have a clarion call today: to grow after the Holy Family. 

The Question is, what makes your family HOLY?

It's Humble, Obedient and Loving You that makes your family H.O.L.Y.

It is You who have to make your family holy! Rarely do we take that onus on our own selves. We look for someone who is failing in his or her duties, someone with some weakness to shove all the responsibility. 

Humility versus Blame Game

Humility is the first ingredient of holiness. Humility is all about truthfulness and there can be no holiness without truthfulness. Humility is to understand the reality that is me and accept it as it is. It is neither overrating myself nor trampling myself. Joseph and Mary, stand out in this  humility, as they knows exactly what their role is in the holy family and play just that. They never overdo, nor do they shirk their responsibility.

Obedience versus Ego Trips

Most of the times the fights in a family are not about what is right and what is wrong, it is about who is right and who is wrong. Authority is what is contended here... who has the final word? Should the wife always obey the husband? Or is it fine to have an henpecked husband? The solution is not wife obeying husband or husband obeying the wife; it is not about children obeying the parents or parent complying in everything with children; it is about husband, wife and children all obeying God! Knowing exactly what God wants of me, and doing that in peace and unity. It is important to be on our Father's Business!

Love versus Self Seeking

Whether Mary or Joseph or Jesus, there is something that dominates the picture - true and genuine love. Love never seeks its own good! Love is always concerned about the other: Joseph about Mary, Mary about Jesus, Jesus about the people... it is always about the other, not about oneself! The less I concern myself with my self, the more loving I become. Jesus who is Word made flesh, Joseph who takes charge of the holy family merely because God wanted him to, Mary who said that yes without even calculating the risks involved...all the three are epitomies of the love of God. 

The Year of Mercy has a special invitation today - to grow into holy families...each of us holy unto the Lord, each of us into a humble, obedient and loving you!

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

Feast of St. Stephen,  the first Martyr

26th December, 2015

Acts 6: 8-10,7:54-59; Mt 10:17-22

I was amused when I looked at this picture of St. Stephen when I was looking for something to post... amused because the picture spoke what came to me as a reflection of the readings today.

If anyone read the Gospel of today and complained that they did not understand what exactly it meant, they could be directed to the first reading and that would make an elaborate and concrete explanation with example, of what Jesus says in the Gospel. 

Holding the Book (the Word) and the Stones together, with such serenity in the face and an olive branch in the other hand... portrays Stephen to the detail. Accepting to be a disciple, to belong to the apostolic community and to proclaim Jesus through service (Stephen was a deacon), was a bold acceptance of the consequences that Jesus spoke of already. Stephen seems to have accepted that demand, along with a firm faith in the promise of the Lord : do not search for what to say or what to do...the Spirit will enlighten you as to that! Stephen, enlightened by the Spirit, does exactly what Jesus did on the Cross: prays for those who persecuted him! 

To celebrate the feast of St Stephen immediately after the Christmas day also brings out a sharp message: yesterday was the birth of Christ, today is the birth of Christians...first time some one died to belong to Christ forever.

HOPE, LOVE, JOY & PEACE

Christmas 2015

Christmas means Hope: the Hope of a second chance, an endless second chance that God gives me. God has never expected me to deserve God's mercy! How blessed am I! To all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God (Jn 1:12). That is Hope! I receive hope as I receive the Lord today!

Christmas means Love: God so loved the world that he sent his only son (Jn 3:16). There is no end to the Love that God has for me. The Mercy of God abounds all around me! When I receive this love, when I truly receive this love, I will be transformed into love. If I am not transformed into love, I have not received that love. Today the task for me is to receive that love truly... become merciful, as merciful as the loving Father.

Christmas means Joy: The joy of the Saviour...the joy that cannot be taken away from me, the joy that I have in coming to understand that I am never alone. That your joy may be complete (Jn 15:11). A joy that comes from the right perspective to life, right priorities in life and the Lord's principles for life : a life of true mercy and forgiveness.

Christmas means Peace: The Lord be with you is synonymous to Peace be with you! Where the Lord is there is peace. Let our hearts not be troubled (Jn 14:27), for the Lord is always with us. That is the message of Christmas, that the Lord came to be with us, to stay with us, to live amidst us, to dwell among us. Peace comes where Mercy resides.

THE WORD IN ADVENT - 4th THURSDAY

The Advent Task: To Behold the fulfillment of the promises

24th December, 2015

2 Sam 7: 1-5,8-12,14,16; Lk 1: 67-79

You need special eyes to behold the fulfillment of the promises of the Lord. At times we implore the Lord for something and we see it doesn't come immediately. But let us be very clear, the Lord answers every query: the Lord either says yes and gives, or says no and forbids, or says wait and responds at the right time. But when it delays, we tend to lose our focus and be at our own business. We lose our sight so much that we are not prepared to behold them when the promises of the Lord are fulfilled... we are still busy complaining about something else.

We are on the last day before Christmas, Christmas a moment when humanity beheld the eternal promises of the Lord, the promise to be amidst us. Today let us take some moments off our busy preparations and sit in reflection for a while, going over our lives thus far and thanking the Lord for all the promises that have been fulfilled in our lives. That would be a beautiful preparation in itself to behold the Child of Eternal Promises tomorrow!