HOLY WEEK 2016 - The Spy Wednesday

THE TASK: TRUST

23rd March

Judas, can easily be presented as the epitome of the ills that the present society is infected with. There are three tendencies in Judas that we are called to beware of:

- What will you give me? Looking for a gain, a personal gain, a sordid gain, a material gain, from whatever the situation be! The society today is growing in this tendency, that not only persons see each other as potential gain or loss, but they manipulate each other towards one's own gain!

- Is it I Lord? Not really getting the grips of oneself. The society today is quick to blame the others for all evils, unable to point to oneself and get in touch with the personal limitations that add to the social scourge! Issues that affect our society like corruption, caste and other discrimination... aren't they arising from individual insensitivities?

- It was dark outside... because he did not have God in his heart, he had only the money bag in his mind. As he left, it was not only dark outside, more dark within him! He was going through a tough time: whether to trust God or to take things into his own hands and push it forward - a likely temptation that many of us undergo: to trust God or push our way forward! 

Let us learn to Trust God and wait on the Lord's will.

HOLY WEEK 2016 - The Preaching Tuesday

THE TASK: LISTEN

22nd March

After Jesus cleansed the Temple and drove the money changers and vendors out of it, he did not hide himself somewhere safe, but he intensified his preaching among the people. He was seen talking to people, instructing his disciples and challenging the folks. 

But as the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah spoke of the people, they never understood what they heard, though they were hanging on to the lips of the Lord. He spoke to the disciples about the imminent things to come, but they were equally unprepared when things began to happen. Jesus did not want them to be caught by surprises, but they were not keen enough to grasp all what Jesus said.

The invitation is also to us today: to Listen. To listen and not merely hear. We hear the Word so much but nothing in us changes. We hear and speak and discuss but fail to grasp the essential meaning of the Word or fail to see the transformation that it can create within us.

To listen and to be truly transformed, to listen and to understand the Word in its essence, to listen and to put it into practice in our daily life - that is the task entrusted to us today!

HOLY WEEK 2016 - The Cleansing Monday

THE TASK: CLEANSE

21st March

This is the day that the conflict between the Jews and Jesus erupted to its peak. Jesus enters the Temple and begins to cleanse it! The zeal for his Father's House set him afire, and his disciples were obviously enthused about it. Against the background of the triumphal entry into Jerusalem the previous day, the disciples thought it was the beginning of some kind of a revival of Israel. They never imagined that would be the beginning of the end of Jesus' life! Jesus himself would soon become a victim of the evil social order, that Jesus picks the whip against today. 

The task entrusted to us today is to Cleanse... as Jesus cleanses the temple!

We are called to cleanse our lives, cleanse our social lives of the unjust order, cleanse our family life of unholy priorities, cleanse our personal lives of sordid impurities.

The Merciful Shepherd wishes to carry us through from darkness to light, from sin to salvation, from death to new life...provided we allow ourselves to be carried. Cleansing is saying 'yes' to the Lord, allowing the Lord to carry us, choosing to be transformed and built once more into the Holy Dwelling Place of God!

The readings point to us the thickening plot, where the Jews intensely turn against Jesus and everything that is connected to Jesus. They find Jesus as challenging their very existence and they cannot wait to get rid of him. But the Beloved Son of God is upto his duty, come what may! 

Mercilent Digest

As we enter into the Holy Week from today...we come to the end of the Mercilent Reflections. Here is the digest for the entire season:

Mercilent Thoughts
1. Be Merciful
2. Be Pro life
3. Be Integral
4. Be Shining
5. Be Godly
6. Be God's
7. Be Open
8. Be Prayer
9. Be Good
10. Be Christ
11. Be Rock
12. Be Exalted
13. Be Different
14. Be Wise
15. Be Careful
16. Be Joyful
17. Be Pliable
18. Be Grateful
19. Be Blessed
20. Be Judicious
21. Be Loving
22. Be Spiritual
23. Be Yielding
24. Be Life-giving
25. Be Diligent
26. Be Testimonies
27. Be Prepared
28. Be Illumined
29. Be Drawn
30. Be Free
31. Be Eternal
32. Be Dependent
33. Be Fulfillment

HOLY WEEK 2016 - The Palm Sunday

THE TASK: ENTER

20th March 2016

The task given to us by the Lord is to ENTER... as he enters the city of Jerusalem! 

Jesus entered the city knowing well that it is going to lead him to trouble. When we decide to take it upon ourselves to be like the Lord, there will be problems from all side. There will be those who wait to kill us; there will those who long to see our downfall; there will be those who criticise us; there will be those who stand by and watch us suffer; there will be those who take pleasure in remaining unconcerned about the cause we stand for! But I am called to enter into that life that the Lord calls me to live, for God and for God's mission.

Jesus entered the city, with joy and enthusiasm of the people. A sad Christian is a sorry Christian. The task that we take upon ourselves to build the Reign of God may be demanding but that cannot take away the joy and enthusiasm from within us. I have to be the cause of joy and enthusiasm for the people, I cannot be an hindrance to their joy and happiness; much more I cannot be the cause of the grief of the people! I am called to take up the tough task of standing up for the Lord, but with a joyful heart and a glad spirit.

Jesus entered the city, to complete that task that was entrusted to him. He had his task clear cut, and he was aware of it. He had told that to his disciples time and again: that he would go to Jerusalem and suffer and be handed over to those who will kill him. Though he prayed that the bitter chalice should pass away, finally he submits himself to God and that is how he becomes our way to the Father. In his obedience Jesus paves a way to our salvation. How far am I prepared to go all the way in obedience to the One who has called me!

The challenge is to enter the life that the Lord wants us to. It may cost our comfort zone, our close acquaintances and even our life. But that is not going to be for too long. I have to go a long way...but the Lord God is with me, and his Word shall protect me. Hosanna in the Highest!

MERCILENT 2016 - 19th March

BE FULFILLMENT: stand on the promises of God!

Celebrating St. Joseph, Spouse of Mary

2 Sam 7: 4-5,12-14,16; Rom 4: 13,16-18,22; Mt 1:16,18-21,24

Though today is a Solemnity, an exception granted by the Church to deviate from the Lenten sobreity, we could go on with our mercilent thoughts as today's saint brings to a fitting conclusion the mercilent attitudes. 

St. Joseph embodied a great number of fulfilments of the Lord's promises...that is the key to understand today's Word. Beginning from the promise given to David through Prophet Nathan and ending with the interpretation given by St. Paul about those who stand by the promises of the Lord, Joseph is figured as a sign of the fulfilment of the Lord's promises. 

How does St. Joseph stand out as a sign of Fulfilment...that would be the attitude we take to heart today. He was Simple, Silent and Single-minded!

Joseph was simple, he never wished to complicate issues. Even when he wanted to reject Mary due to the information he had, he wanted to do it in a very unnoticed manner. He remains all through the Gospel too, an unnoticed simple saint and that is why God deigns to fulfill God's promises through him.

Joseph was silent, he does not speak even at places where he could have made some solemn pronouncements after great events like, the visions to accept Mary, the warning to run away to Egypt, the event of finding lost Jesus in the temple. Joseph remains in holy silence just cooperating with the Will of God.

Joseph was single-minded in his commitment to carrying out what God wanted. He had no second opinions when it came to obeying orders from the Lord. It was this single-mindedness that made him receive those visions: because he was so filled with the anxiety to do the will of the Father who sent him that he had clear directions in and through those dreams!

The Mercilent Attitude for today: Be simple, be silent, be single-minded: be fulfillment!

MERCILENT 2016 - 18th March

BE DEPENDENT: it's no loss of your self image!

Friday,  5th week in Lent

Jer 20: 10-13; Jn 6: 63-68

The days are such that people clamour for recognition and go a long way to hold on to their self image and their due credits. It is not anymore rare to hear of conflicts for credits - that someone usurped it from someone else and so on. It goes even to an extent where one even claims credit for what has been gifted so gratuitously by God!

The good that we accomplish is not totally our own for us to claim absolute credit for it. First of all it is the Lord who gives us the opportunity to do that good. Secondly it is the Lord who empowers us to do that good. Thirdly it is the Lord who clears the hoards of hurdles that could possibly arise in accomplishing the said good.

That is why Jesus gives the people the work that he accomplishes as testifying to his origin from the Father. And Jeremiah is not stifled by the enormous attack on him... because he is totally convinced that what he does is God's work and not his own.

The key is to acknowledge dependence on God and to be convinced that it is no loss of one's self image or autonomy or self esteem. As St. Paul would challenge,  'what do we have that we have not received? ' (1 Cor 4:7)

The Mercilent Attitude for today : Let us express our dependence on God repeatedly and with real conviction.

MERCILENT 2016 - 8th March

BE LIFE-GIVING: flow from the Sanctuary!

Tuesday, 4th week in Lent

Ezek 47: 9-12; Jn 5: 1-3,5-16

The River was life-giving and wholesome.  The reason: it flowed from the Sanctuary. Jesus was life-giving because he flowed from the Eternal Sanctuary,  his Father and our Father! We are called to be rivers that flow from the Sanctuary... to be life giving. 

I am fond of repeating a story that I read a long while ago, about the man who bought a new hunting dog which could surprisingly walk over the water. He wanted to flaunt the special capacity of his dog before his neighbour and took him along once when he went hunting. He shot a game which fell across the river and the dog ran over the river and picked the hunt and returned. Looking at his neighbour he asked,  did you notice anything? Yeah, I see that your dog does not know to swim, said the neighbour. We are sometimes experts in picking up whatever is negative. They could not even see that the man who was a vegetable for the past three decades could walk now;  they only saw that he was carrying a mat which he should not. 

The more we get in touch with our inner Sanctuary where the Lord abides,  the more we respect the living Sanctuaries that is our brothers and sisters in the Lord, and the more we long for the chosen sanctuaries where the Lord deigns to wait for us,  the more life giving we should turn. Our very presence should enhance joy, hope and life wherever we are. It will happen only if we flow from the Sanctuary,  living our life from the deep. 

The Mercilent Attitude for today : Live to the full,  give life to all. 

MERCILENT 2016 - 17th March

BE ETERNAL: belong to the covenant.

Thursday, 5th week in Lent

Gen 17: 3-9; Jn 8: 51-59

Today we have the account of the Abrahamic Covenant - I will be your God and you shall be my people. And Jesus completes that account in the Gospel saying, 'whoever keeps my word will never see death'. The one who believes in the Son and does the will of the One who sent the Son, will have eternal life - this is what Jesus meant and said in various terms at various instances. 

Eternal can have three meanings: 

Endless (anantha), that is what we are called to: though we have a beginning we are destined to an existence that is endless as we will become one with the Lord, and not just perish. 

Beginningless (anaadhi) that is what God is: One who is without a beginning or an end.

Beyond these two meanings there is a third meaning which is very difficult for the human mind to understand. That is, Timelessness. Eternal means timelessness, beyond time, beyond all categories of before and after, earlier and later, and all other chronological considerations. This is what confuses the Jews. How can Jesus speak of Abraham as if he were someone who still lived? 

We can become eternal when we become one with God. We become timeless. We have nothing much to do but just obey, just carry out orders, just live on in the way that the Lord says, make choices for the Lord and the Lord's will, reject anything that detracts our life's paths. Our eternal life can begin right here, when we belong to the covenant.

The Mercilent Attitude for today: What does God want of me at this moment? - let that be a constant question on your mind.

MERCILENT 2016 - 16th March

BE FREE: Hold on to One, True God

Wednesday, 5th week in Lent

Dan 3: 52-56; Jn 8: 31-42

Freedom of the Children of God - is a phrase that we are used to hearing. What a tremendous sense it makes when we seriously think about that fact, that we are children of God. It makes us free, secure and sincere!

Free because we need not think of pleasing anybody else, we need not compromise to favour someone else other than my God who is beyond anybody or anything. All the furnace around me cannot consume me. All the predators around me cannot prey on me. Because I am a child of God and even amidst the fire, the Lord walks beside me!

Secure because the one who is with me is the most trustworthy one you can ever think of - One who keeps promises, One who keeps back nothing from me for the sake of my happiness, One who treasures me having written my name on His palm.

Sincere because I have no necessity to hold on to anything that is not true. I need not put up an appearance, I need not prove myself beyond what  I really am, I need not be anxious about whether I will be rejected or sidelined, I need not bother how dire the consequences will be. I have come to bear witness to the Truth, said my Master. That is the same vocation I share.

My Lord is my Master and I am liberated, I am free and I don't have to fear anything!

The Mercilent Attitude for today: Do not fear; Just feel Free and act Sincere!