MERCILENT 2016 - 9th March

BE DILIGENT: the Word judges

Wednesday, 4th week in Lent

Is 49: 8-15; Jn 5: 17-30

Mercy is not devoid of justice, it is a perfection of justice! Hence Mercy cannot become an escapism on my part. Can I deceive the Lord who knows me through and through? Can I escape from the Word which cuts through right till it divides the soul from the spirit and the joints from the marrow.

God's mercy is there for the taking! Yes, it is freely given without any conditions, but I should be in a position to make it my own, and that responsibility is upon me. The Word today points to us how the Lord is so enthusiastic about saving us and intervening into our life for our wholeness at the right and appointed time. It also adds, that we will be judged on the degree of our diligence in this regard.

How readily do we turn to God in times of tests? How early do we spot ourselves straying away from the path? How mindful are we about what we are called to do, in order to prevent unnecessary developments in life? As a way to keep ourselves from going astray Don Bosco used to say, do what you are supposed to be doing with a sense of diligence and that will take you a long way towards sanctity. 

Knowing what I am expected to do, understanding the purpose behind the calling and being diligent in carrying out God's will for me at every single moment...that is the way we live as people of the Word.

The Mercilent Attitude for today: Whatever you do, find God's will in it and be diligent in carrying it out

MERCILENT 2016 - 7th March

BE YIELDING: Don't be stubborn with Grace

Monday, 4th week in Lent

Is 65: 17-21; Jn 4: 43-54

At times we speak of Grace as some'thing' to be received from God: terms like more graces, special graces, immediate graces, etc betray such an understanding. The most Christian understanding of Grace would be the continual proximity of God. The Lord promises us to be with us and the Lord is always faithful to this promise. The challenge is that we realise this presence and feel it concretely. When we do that, everything turns new - the earth, the heaven, the life, the experience, the persons around, the problems that persist...everything is renewed! But the need is that we YIELD!

The Gospel today brings out this message very subtly. The Court Official's petition for a favour was a bit irritating for Jesus - Jesus expresses that but the official finds favour when he yields to the terms of Jesus: 'You Go and your son will live'...the man turns and walks! He wanted grace, the proximity of Jesus, but he willingly yields to experience it in the Lord's own terms. If I remain stubborn as to what I want to experience and that I must experience it in my own terms, then I restrict the great wonders that can happen around me. 

Yielding requires three major qualities of Faith: Confidence, Surrender and Humility. It is to say wholeheartedly : 'God is in-charge!"

The Mercilent Attitude for today: Take your life to the Lord, every situation that needs the Lord's presence and surrender it to the Lord- that's the best type of Prayer.

RENEWAL TIMES

MERCILENT 2016 - 4th Sunday in Lent - 6th March

Josh 5: 9-12; 2 Cor 5: 17-21; Lk 15: 1-3, 11-32

I remember it was during our Novitiate year, we were suggested to follow a spirituality of identifying ourselves with one of the plants or trees that stood in our campus and observe its growth and reflect on our own growth in relation to it. Looking out of the window from our study hall, there was a  tree which was almost dead, its bark dry and dark. But I had chosen that tree, because I was drawn by the small little shoot that jetted out right on top, tender and green! I was so happy to see how life can come out of such tough situations! The very next day I saw someone had cut the tree and the tree lay down flat on the ground! I was so grieved and feared what sign the Lord is giving! When I spoke to my Spiritual Director, he said not to lose hope and to look out for another plant or tree. But I had made up my mind never again to try this exercise on myself anymore. After a fortnight or more one fine morning as I sat in the study hall and just casually looked out, my eyes widened as I saw the dry bark of the tree on the ground, but a new leaf that had just sprung up from that so-called dead bark! Oh what a message of Hope that was: the Renewal Times!

Behold I make everything new, the Lord promises! The Lord is continually making things new. Our task is to Trust in the Lord! To trust in the Lord even amidst great tragic news as that of the killings that we heard of in Yemen yesterday!

The First reading speaks of the trust that the wandering people of Israel had and how that Trust did not fail. They eat the produce of the land they were promised! The Manna stopped that was not sad...because there was something better given to them.

The Manna stopped yes, but they were to Taste a different bread, the bread of the Mercy of the Lord. They tasted and they gave praises to the Lord: Taste and See that the Lord is good.That was something new and far more greater than what they had tasted till then.

The Tasting of the Lord is a tough call, because it requires that we Tread the path of the Lord, that we think like God does - the call to be Merciful like the Father! Only when we show mercy, can we taste mercy!

The elder son in the parable narrated in the Word today,is no different from the younger son. The younger son was physically away, but the elder son was spiritually so far away from the Father: he had been calculating, expecting, comparing, grumbling and grudging all work! How sad, that he was so near the Father yet so far. If only we wish to taste the goodness of the Lord, we need to Trust in the Lord and Tread in the Lord's path.

Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy #10

Some Special Proposals for the Year

 # HOLY DOOR OF MERCY

I am the door and only through me can one go to the Father, promised the Lord. I will enter his gates with thanksgiving in my heart,  I will enter his courts with praise! 

The Holy Father invites us to enter the holy door of mercy, through which we can experience the love of God who consoles,  pardons, and instils hope. 

It is not a magical act that we enter the door and the mercies of the Lord get sprayed all over us! The Holy Father bases himself on a solid theological background as he announces this traditional invitation in these post modern times. There is a threefold condition that enables one to receive the mercy of the Lord efficaciously. 

First condition is Faith, that is a filial trust in the Father and a fraternal relationship with the Son, united in the Spirit. 

The second condition is Preparation, preparing oneself through the sacrament of Reconciliation and a well received communion. 

The third condition is the union with the intention of the Universal faith community,  the Church.

With these three conditions when a faithful makes a conscious spiritual exercise of entering the specially consecrated door, the person receives an indulgence, that is the grace of salvific forgiveness for oneself and for the souls in the purgatory.

It is indeed an uplifting experience to engage in such a pilgrimage to enter this door and find the solace that God has in store for us. 

MERCILENT 2016 - 5th March

BE SPIRITUAL: it is to grow more and more loving

Saturday, 3rd week in Lent

Hos 5:15 - 6:6; Lk 18: 9-14

Being Spiritual at times is confused with being self-righteous! Being self-righteous involves a large dose of judgement of the other. When you judge, you do not love. So being self righteous you begin to love the other lesser and lesser, and yourself more and more! It is a kind of narcissism (a pitiable condition of excessive self love). Whereas today the Word invites us to love more than to sacrifice, to get to know who the Lord is and who we are in relation to the Lord, than making our spiritual efforts mere rituals. 

Being Spiritual truly should mean growing more and more loving. More loving towards God and more loving towards those around us. Growing more loving means, that we grow more and more open, to appreciate the other sincerely, to sensitively confront the other in their shortcomings, to readily accept my own limitations with gratitude when pointed out, to reach out to the other in whatever way I can even if it costs me a bit.

Being Spiritual means to understand within me what the Spirit wants of me and to lead my life in the Spirit's path. The Spirit of the Lord wants us to grow more and more loving and less and less judgmental. The Holy Father seems to be repeating this time and again and infact this quality is the crux of true mercy in dealing with each other.  

The Mercilent Attitude for today: Relate lovingly, become conscious of your tendency to judge and grow more and more loving!

Extraordinary Year of Mercy #9

Some Special Proposals for the Year

# 24 HOURS FOR THE LORD

The Holy Father has a set of special proposals to make this year of mercy, a true celebration of God's immense mercy and love. One of those concrete proposals is to dedicate an entire 24 hours for the Lord...which is done from March 4th (incidentally today) to March 5th. In Rome, the Holy Father himself will initiate the hour at their local time 17 hours to end in his presence tomorrow at the same 17 hours.

Dubbed as 'the vigil to dry tears', this 24 hours are presented to us by the Holy Father in these words:

          The initiative of “24 Hours for the Lord,” to be celebrated on the Friday and Saturday preceding the Fourth Week of Lent, should be implemented in every diocese. So many people, including young people, are returning to the Sacrament of Reconciliation; through this experience they are rediscovering a path back to the Lord, living a moment of intense prayer and finding meaning in their lives. Let us place the Sacrament of Reconciliation at the centre once more in such a way that it will enable people to touch the grandeur of God’s mercy with their own hands. For every penitent, it will be a source of true interior peace. (in Misericordiae Vultus)

So, we can underline the following three as salient features of this proposal

1. Spending Time with the Lord: Just being there with the Lord and to tell the Lord I am here just to be with you - that is in itself a beautiful moment to feel the consoling presence of the Lord with us.

2. Sacrament of Reconciliation: The whole event is centered around the sacrament of Reconciliaion, a privileged moment to experience the tender loving mercy of God. 

3. Solidarity with the Universal Church: This is not left to individual churches to see the feasibility of arranging it but it is mandatory that every diocese in the world celebrates these 24 hours for the Lord on these very two days. It is a sign and experience of praying as One people of God invoking the mercy of the Lord on the entire humanity!

In front of the Eucharistic Lord let us drink in the Mercy of the Father and experience it concretely at the Confessional today!

MERCILENT 2016 - 4th March

BE LOVING : the typical Christian life style

Friday, 3rd week in Lent

Hos 14: 2-10; Mk 12: 28-34

The twofold love that Jesus speaks of today is a message that we are used to hearing so much - Love of God and love of the neighbour. But what makes the difference here is the first reading which provides a slightly different context in which we read the commandments from the Lord. What is the context: Hosea speaks of returning to the Lord. 

The whole of Lent is a time we reflect on returning to the Lord, repentance and reforming our lives. Jesus seems to suggest, be truly loving and you would have returned to the Lord much faster than you imagined! Loving God and loving neighbours is the Christian lifestyle and it provides the fundamental way to reach the Lord. Here we can make two statements and that will explicate the teaching clearer:

You make all your sacrifices, gives all the alms that you can, spend all the time that you find in prayer and adoration, speak about God and be passionate about your religious duties, but if you do not love your brother and sister, beginning with those in your family- You are far from a truly Christian life.

Instead, you find it so hard to fast or so difficult to mortify yourself, you find it difficult to find even half an hour together to sit in front of the Lord and you find it so difficult to go to Church... but you love your brother or your sister genuinely, with a sincere heart and godly sense...you are so close to the Lord and the Lord's way of life!

The Mercilent Attitude for today: Be loving - in your thought, word and deed, love everyone whom you meet, offering it up to the Lord consciously.

Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy #8

# THE GOOD SHEPHERD 

One of the most apparent imageries that one can connect to, looking at the logo is that of the Good Shepherd. We are so used to seeing the shepherd's image with a sheep on his shoulders. Here we have a human person, allegedly Adam representing each of us. Adam,  yes,  but the Adam who had fallen out of favour with the Lord on account of his choice and the resultant shame.

Jesus the Good Shepherd comes in search of such sheep. ...the sheep who are lost, lost in their sin and shame, lost in their self pity and guilt. The Lord comes with his arms outstretched, open wide to take us back into his embrace, just like the Father did to the prodigal son in the parable that Jesus narrated.

The Lord's mercy is so bountiful and there is absolutely no doubt about it. Nothing is greater than the love that God has for us,  not even all the treacherous sins put together! The Lord in his mercy is willing and waiting to carry us to salvation and to new life,  but are we willing to be carried? Or are we  stubborn and totally lost in our sinfulness and self pity?

The call I have through this element is that I allow myself to be carried by my Shepherd who will lead me to divine pastures.

MERCILENT 2016 - 3rd March

BE JUDICIOUS: do not take goodness for granted

Thursday, 3rd week in Lent

Jer 7: 23-28; Lk 11: 14-23

One of the dangers that we run into in our day to day life is, taking the goodness of the Lord for granted. The Mercy of the Lord is endless and immeasurable. Yet there is every chance that I may deprive myself of this boundless mercy - yes, it is I who deprives myself of it!

What do you think? A pot kept on an open terrace, after a full day of heavy rain, will it be filled with water? There has been a heavy shower and for such a long time, but still it depends so much on the pot - whether it was kept open or closed, whether it was kept upside down or in its proper position! This is how it is with the mercy of the Lord. It is there for our taking, but if we miss it, we are depriving ourselves of it.

At times in our priorities and choices, we relegate the aspect of staying worthy of the Lord's mercies to such a despicable position that we go far far away from God and have our own existence, independent of God. The fact is that we cannot go too far, for wherever we go, the Lord is with us. Yet, we take that presence, that love and that mercy for granted. Such a painful experience of rejection, that we give the Lord. Is this not what the Lord shared already through Hosea (in chapter 11), 'the more I called them, the more they went from me'; 'my people are bent on turning away from me'...what an expression of pain from the Lord!

The Mercilent Attitude for today: Let me evaluate my priorities in life and pray for those who are bent on turning away from the Lord! 

Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy #7

# THE WOUNDS

Yet another element that stands out in the logo is the wounds of crucifixion that we see on the limbs of Christ. Why are the wounds there...are they used merely to identify that it is Christ? The halo and the cross on the head of that image would have done if it were so. The wounds have a slightly deeper significance, than merely to say it is Christ; they signify that it is the Risen Christ that we see there!

The Risen Lord used the wounds in his hands and feet and the side, to assure the disciples that it was he! Come touch my wounds and put your hand into my side, he invited Thomas. The message is the presence of the Risen Lord. We are not here looking at the historical Jesus who lived and moved those three years doing miracles, manifesting signs and doing enormous good to so many. No, we are thinking of the Lord who has promised us to be with us all the time, till the end of times. We are looking at the Lord who is there with us in every experience of ours, in doubts and difficulties, in trials and temptations, in sins and sufferings, he is there beside us, compassionately involved in our lives, infact equally living it himself. That is why we are on his shoulders, he is seeing us through all our situations. 

The call that we have is to feel, experience and trust in the continual presence of the Risen Lord, the promise of the never failing mercies of the Father.