WORD 2day : 20th January, 2016

Not spear or javelin, mere pebble will do.

2nd Wednesday in Ordinary Time
1 Sam 17:32-33,37,40-51;  Mk 3:1-6

A mere pebble was enough for the young David to bring down the mighty Goliath. The whole sanhedrin and the entire ruling class plotted against Jesus but no one could do anything till the appointed time, though Jesus had no spear or javelin to defend himself. No one can stop us from the good we do if that good is ordained according to the holy will of God. If it were for my own gain or glory I cannot blame God if it brings strife and suffering alone. A small reason is enough to topple the entire edifice so carefully raised. When I have my selfish mileage to make and manipulate persons and situations placing my trust in my might then I should realise I am far far away from the Lord.

WORD 2day : 19th January, 2016

The Blue-eyed of God
1 Samuel 16:1-13; Mk 2: 23-28

David is chosen over and above the rest of his brothers... all of them stronger and fitter. David proved so worthy of the choice. He loved God so much that God saw in him someone lovable. David could do anything because he knew he had won the special favour of God. Jesus seems to refer to that fact,  the fact that David was a blue-eyed boy of God and that we too can grow to be blue-eyed of God,  if we love God with all our heart, trust God with all our soul and surrender to God all our life.

WORD 2day : 18th January, 2016

Compromise Kills

2nd Monday in Ordinary Time
1 Sam 15:16-23; Mk 2: 18-22

Saul defends himself, 'did I not do what the Lord wanted me to? ' Yes, he did. But not the way the Lord wanted. He tried compromising with what the people wanted along with what God wanted. Jesus warns compromising kills... don't compromise with the old ways and the new, with what God wants and what the world wants! What one builds through small tough steps towards perfection can be pulled down in one simple compromise. Compromise Kills!

WHEN OUR LIVES RUN DRY

2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time: 17th January, 2016

Is 62:1-5;1 Cor 12:4-11; Jn 2:1-11

Today the Word establishes the beginning of the public ministry of Jesus. After the Baptism where Jesus is seen in public this is the incident that can be interpreted as the beginning of his life and work among people. The Word also defines what the purpose of the ministry is. It is to replenish the rapport between  God and God's people.

The imagery that holds the common thread between the readings today is that of marriage. Often the relationship between God and God's people is spoken of in terms of the faithfulness between the bride and the groom, as in the first reading from Isaiah. God wishes an intimate relationship with God's children but at times our lives run dry. It's also a pastoral concern that after all the weeks of Advent and Christmastide the ordinary season might seem too ordinary and eventless. As the wine ran short our lives too will run dry at moments.

We may have the jar and we may have them filled but it is Jesus who makes it wine! We may have all it takes to make this life meaningful and fruitful but be wondering why it isn't really working out... Jesus renders it fruitful; the Spirit makes our abilities true gifts.

When our lives run dry... let's take our jars filled to Jesus and he will turn them into wine;  let's surrender to the Spirit and the Spirit will make us God's children again.

WORD 2day: 16th January, 2016

The choice and the call
1 Sam 9 : 1-4, 17-19, 10 : 1; Mk 2 : 13-17

Saul and Matthew... two shining exemplifications of God's choice and call. God chooses God's messengers in ways known only to God,  Saul went in search of the assess and he returned as King of Israel. God has a unique set of criteria to select the messengers, a tax collector was not exempt from Jesus' choice of disciples. The qualifications to be God's messengers is rather strange- Saul was handsome and strong,  his successor David was a small and simple boy! The message is simply one: don't be carried away with what you have nor be buried because of your inabilities. God's ways are wonderful; the right way to experience it is surrender!

WORD 2day: 12 January 2016

Authority - who has it?
1 Samuel 2:1,4-8; Mark 1:21-28

Eli is too fast to judge Hannah... what permits him to do that? Hannah points out to him that he need not be true merely because he is in authority...nor is it taken for granted that he is better because of that same fact. Eli was wrong and Hannah was there standing tall in her total fidelity to God who had mercy on her. In the Gospel the pharisees wonder from where Jesus got his authority: ofcourse from the total fidelity to the One who sent him. With that absolute fidelity and uncompromising surrender to the Lord,  Jesus could say anything and it would happen!

In Water, the Spirit and the Word - BORN AGAIN

The Feast of Baptism of the Lord: 10th January, 2016

Is 40: 1-5,9-11; Tit 2: 11-14, 3:4-7; Lk 3: 15-16,21-22

Baptism - a moment when one is reborn, reborn through the waters, in the Spirit and by the Word.

The Water: Living in Chennai, water has a special meaning! There have been moments that I have stood still in front of that immensity of water, on the Marina beach looking on the Bay of Bengal, wondering what a power that lies there. It showed its true power with Tsunami that hit in 2004...and again a month back with the devastating floods. Water is not merely refreshing and renewing, but it is resetting. If that vocabulary from the e-world can be used, it would mean starting from the beginning once again. The waters of baptism claims exactly that effect on us. Being born again is not merely to undergo a ceremony and start judging the rest as damned; it is to reset my life, restart it with virtues and convictions that give me a new existence altogether.

The Spirit: The Mark of Ownership, the seal of the covenant between the Father and me, the One who makes me the dwelling place of God and the One who makes me call God, Abba Father! Being born again is to possess this personal sanctity and interpersonal sensitivity: personal sanctity of purity and sinlessness; the interpersonal sensitivity of accepting each other as brothers and sisters, born of that One Father! 

The Word: The Word, made flesh, who speaks to us and invites us to a life that is modeled after him. To be born again is to be transformed into the image of Christ, to put on the mind of Christ and to bear his likeness. I was amused by the sharing of my elder sister who teaches in a Government School in a village on the outskirts of Chennai. She said about her children in class, who do not know terms like Christian or Catholic, telling her - 'teacher neenga Jesus thaane, appadina leavu mudinji varum pothu sweet eduthuttu vaanga!' (Teacher you are Jesus isn't it? then bring sweets when you come after holidays). That set me thinking- Aren't you Jesus? Am I not Christ? Have I become another Christ - alter christus? The Word challenges us towards that... to be born again, is to be reborn in the image of Christ. 

Let us remember today the great gift we have been given in our Baptism and resolve to live that call to be Born Again - in water, the Spirit and the Word.

WORD 2day : 9th January, 2016

Who should increase?
1 John 5:14-21 ; Jn 3: 22-30

I came across a poster highlighting the first reading of today which read: whatever we may ask, the Lord hears us! It is an assuring statement and a very strong affirmation but I am afraid it is not true to the Word. Yes... there is a small but a crucial phrase that is left out in between. That is,  "if it is in accordance with His will" - that is where we falter.

We think, all that we ask has to be given. True faith would say, 'not necessarily'. Even when I don't seem to be receiving what I am praying for (prayer anyway is not merely asking), I am calm and serene for I trust in the will of God. This will happen only when I decrease and God increases in me. At times even in our prayer and God deeds we concentrate so much on what we do and what we achieve that there is no much place for God and God's will. John the Baptist seems to offer us a wonderful lesson,  inviting us to allow the Lord to increase, and making our own self, or ego, decrease.

Even in our so called spiritual exercises let us beware who really is increasing. ..the Lord or me?

WORD 2day : 8th January, 2016

Our Life in the Son
1 Jn 5: 513; Lk 5: 12-16

Anyone who believes in the Son has life... our life is in the Son. Elsewhere we read too, "And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent" (Jn 17:3). The basis of a blessed life is not our achievements or our accomplishments, our hoardings and our savings, but our relationship with God, the Source of that life! How truly and sincerely are we connected to the Lord? Jesus is seen today drawing himself alone to pray... and it is reported every now and then by the Gospel writers.

Connecting to the Father and staying in touch with the Son is the work of the Spirit within. We are chosen in not merely water and blood but in the Spirit above all. Our life in the Son is our life in the Spirit and according to the will of the Father.

WORD 2day : 7th January, 2016

Compassion: the command and the commission.

1 Jn 4:19-5:4; Lk 4: 11-18

The Word speaks of two important aspects of a disciple: the command and the commission. The command is given in general and the commission is given to a specific individual or a small group. For a disciple the command is to love and the commission is to reachout,  to heal, to serve. Putting all of these and both the command and the commission together,  the call is towards Compassion. Compassion is the call of a disciple, the call for which the Lord has anointed you and me,  the call to genuinely love!