THE WORD AND THE FEAST

2nd February, 2016

Mal 3: 1-4; Heb 2: 14-18; Lk 2: 22-40

The Feast of the Presentation of the Lord
The Closure of the Year of Consecrated Life

The readings of today were offered for our reflection only recently, on the 8th day after Christmas. They are given once more today, but they open a whole new perspective today with all that surrounds it liturgically today!

We celebrate the feast of the presentation of the Lord and the close of the year of Consecrated Life that Holy Father Pope Francis announced from Dec, 2014.

Keeping all of them in perspective, we have one lovely challenge posed: the Challenge of Total Offering to the Lord. Not just persons in Consecrated Life, but every one of us is called to offer ourselves totally to God and that alone can give us true meaning and happiness in life.

From the readings of today, we can pick up three signs of our total offering to the  Lord:

Familiarity: As the Holy Family which enters the Temple with that ease and eagerness to perform their spiritual duty, so are we called to remain always familiar with the Lord.

Flexibility: Performing the duty was not merely a ritual, even for us it shouldn't be so! We are called to be pliable in the hands of God, as malleable as the silver and gold in the hands of the smith, so that we can become what the Lord wants us to.

Filiality: It is towards filiality, we are ultimately invited to, as the letter to the Hebrew reminds us. This filiality inspired and enthused Jesus to belong to God totally and we are called to imitate the same self-giving!

Let us grow more and more, familiar, flexible and filial. 

WORD 2day : 1st February, 2016

The Curse of Compromise

4th Monday in Ordinary Time
2 Samuel 15:13-14,30,16:5-13; Mk 5:1-20

The society today has many issues to sort but if there is something that seems to be having apparently no solution, it is the curse of compromises. It has no solution because one does not see it as a problem,  and  at times we find unlimited justification for such compromises.

Just because Saul was a Benjaminite,  today we see a man cursing David on Saul's account forgetting and justifying all that Saul did against David. How many compromises are made just because someone is on my side,  known to me or related to me!

The people in the Gospel were ready to live with the demoniacs and their troubles... they didn't want too much of disturbance in their cosy lives. They even ask Jesus to leave their neighbourhood because Jesus was making everything new. They were more for compromises.

The world has begun to put up with anything. They compromise on everything for certain gains and calculations. Would Jesus like that?  Or would we give up on Jesus due to this curse of compromise!

WORD 2day: 30th January, 2016

The Storm and the Calm

3rd Saturday in Ordinary Time
2 Sam 12: 1-7, 10-17; Mk 4: 35-41

"It is you!" - the famous finger of God against David, is the picture we are left with today by the Word. The Lord loved David, but David slipped into godlessness but when God pointed it out to him, like an inamorata clinging back to the beloved after a split, David comes back with remorse and love so tenderly balanced. Even when David realised he had sinned, he never panicked or never gave into guilt... he felt sorry and bounced back to the love of God, because he knew and he was convinced that the Lord was with him and the Lord loved him above anything else.

The storms may rage all around us, but we can still remain calm if only we realise the Lord is with us and the Lord loves us above all else. When the Lord is for us who can be against us? The Storm and the calm go side by side for an authentic Christian!

WORD 2day : 29th January, 2016

Beware of the slide more than the fall

3rd Friday in Ordinary Time
2 Samuel 11:1-4,5-10,13-17; Mk 4: 26-34

Jesus today gives us a parable to understand the subtle way in which the Reign of God grows in the earth - so gradual and slow but steady and strong!

It seems to be true even with regard to situations that take us away from God's ways. It is not so much a fall that is dangerous but the slide.

Some times we fall into sin but most of the time we slide into sin! David little by little slipped into sin but very soon he was in deep trouble. He lost all that he had built up by way of his faithfulness and dedication to the Lord.

The call is that we be warned of sliding into sin... to be careful of the subtle ways that lead us to deep troubles.

WORD 2day : 28th January, 2016

To be given more

3rd Thursday in Ordinary Time
2 Samuel 7:18-19,24-29; Mk 4: 21-25

David acknowledges the amount of good that the Lord has done on his behalf, the way the Lord raised him up from nowhere! He realises too that to be given so much means that much more is expected of him. Though he failed in some ways,  his love and dedication to the Lord never ceased.

The Lord chose David to raise him up and David proved worthy of that choice inspite of his weaknesses: doesn't it look like the story of anyone among us- the Lord has chosen us and we need to live worthy of that choice inspite of our weaknesses and limitations.

The more we live humble and aware of the fact that we are chosen the more we would be blessed. The more we would be blessed the more we have to grow worthy of it. What a lovely way to sanctity!

WORD 2day : 27th January, 2016

The Word made sense

3rd Wednesday in Ordinary Time
2 Sam 7: 4-17 Mk 4: 1-20

The Word comes to us everytime with a specific call and life changing challenges. We would make it dead if we do not make the real sense out of it. The Lord provides us the possibility of making sense too,  only that we have to be ready and open.

We see David so open and eager, as Samuel makes sense of the Word to him. The disciples ask Jesus to make sense of the Word to them and Jesus does it so impressively.

Receiving the word and making sense of it should lead us to concrete changes in life. If not the Word would be dead as the seeds picked by the birds or scorched by sun or suppressed by the thorns. Let us be spiritually fertile giving fruit in abundance.

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

A JOURNEY OF CONVERSION

The Conversion of St. Paul: 25th January, 2016

Acts 22: 3-16; Mk 16: 15-18

Some thoughts from the Word on this feast:

1. Conversion is a life Journey: We need this grace of conversion, which the Lord inspires within us.

2. Conversion begins with a Bolt: We seem to be going in great pace with our life, when suddenly strikes a bolt. We call that a misfortune, a shock or a setback. But we need to be conscious of the fact that these experiences are messages, invitations for a transformation we need to effect within us.

3. Conversion definitely involves falling to the ground: Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground, it will not bear fruit. When Saul fell from his horse to the ground, he rose as Paul, enquiring 'who are you Lord'! And from then his life changed...for no longer did he live, Christ lived in him.

4. Conversion is fundamentally a new vision: Nothing of Saul changed...he was the same determined, stubborn, hardliner. But his vision had changed and that changed everything else. When he got back his sight, he did not only see anew, but his vision was totally new! He now saw everything from the point of view of Christ. That is the conversion expected of us: to see everything as Christ does.

BEING GOD'S PEOPLE

3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time: 24th January, 2016

Neh 8:2-6,8-10; 1Cor 12: 12-30; Lk 1:1-4, 4:14-21

Jesus came and lived here on earth amidst us to remind us about our call to be God's people and to show us how to do it! 

There are three tasks outlined in the readings today:

1. Beginning with the Word

Building up the people of God has to be done on the foundation of the Word of God. We see Nehemiah doing it in the first reading and Jesus himself teaching in the synagogue for the first time. In our families or in our communities, we need to found ourselves on the Word. 

2. Building up the Word

The Word was made flesh, the flesh was given to us and we were made One Body in Christ. The Word invites us to build up our communities of faith, in communion and sharing, thus building up the Word into a formidable challenge to the ways of the world. This task is to build up our believing community, the Body of Christ, the Body of the Word.

3. Becoming the Word

The word you have heard is fulfilled today in your hearing, declared Jesus. He was the Word personified...and we are today called to model our lives after him, to become the Word, to grow into the Word, living Word, images of Christ for the world today. Can our daily lives be fulfillments of the Word, here and now?

WORD 2day : 23rd January, 2016

Sanctity and Insanity

2nd Saturday in Ordinary Time
2 Sam 1:1-4,11-12,17,19,23-27; Mk 3: 20-21

There is quite a list of saints who were considered out of their minds... Paul, Francis of assisi, Bro. Juniper, Symeon of Emessa, Don Bosco... they were considered so because they were fools, fools for Christ as Paul calls himself (cf.1Cor 4:10).

Why were they considered so? What made them'out of their mind'? Infact they were not out of their mind but they went out of their way for others sake and the world calls it madness. Isn't it a folly or madness on the part of God to have done all that God did for humanity inspite of their infidelity and weaknesses? Jesus was a chip of that block and we are called to follow his footsteps... growing to be more and more mad: getting out of ourselves and loving people genuinely.

Sanctity and Insanity seem to have more than little that relate them... give it a thought.

WORD 2day : 22nd January, 2016

Beware of the people with you

2nd Friday in Ordinary Time
1 Sam 24: 3-21; Mk 3: 13-19

Saul had his men with him,  David had his own men with him and Jesus gets his own men ready today! Each of us has a group of people who surround us. A backup group that suggests,  supports and sustains us in the life journey. But it is important that we beware of the group! It can make or mar us... depending on the level of importance given to them. The group with Saul assisted him in his pursuit of irrational vengeance. The group with David instigated murder of the reigning king. Though Jesus picked and chose the group with him, there was a traitor right amidst them.

Fill your atmosphere with God fearing persons and your life will be doubly blessed. Allow God above all to guide you, not those who wish their own gains and glory. Beware of those around you who create an opinion within you. Seeking guidance and support is great, but beware from whom!