WORD 2day: 8th April, 2016

The levels of Spiritual Accomplishments

Friday, 2nd week in Easter
Acts 5: 34-42; Jn 6: 1-15

In undertaking spiritual acts we can notice ourselves at three different levels: the first is the level of Human Approval. Doing things in order that others see and look up to me. Jesus was upset with the Pharisees and the Saducees because they were at this level and refused to grow up. That is a clear message to us, not to go by the approval or disapproval of the crowd, or recognition or criticism of the circle around.

The second is the level of Self Edification: This may look good apparently, but it is not good enough says the Lord. The disciples and apostles were mostly at this level originally. They did nothing for public approval, but they wanted to gain every personal mileage out of the things that were upto. They wanted seats of authority, they wanted to bring down fire and brimstone on people, they resisted anyone else using Jesus' name to cast out demons...the tendency of self edification is found in us too. Going to Church everyday for Eucharist, praying everyday regularly, keeping all the holy routine strictly...these can be ways of my self edification; that I feel happy that I am doing all that I can do! That is not bad, but for Jesus it is not good enough.

Jesus challenges us to a third level - the sense of Divine Purpose. I do something because God wills that I do it and I am certain there is a Divine purpose to it. When I have this sense of Divine Purpose, I will not clamour for my glory,  I will not be upset when people don't give me my due credit, I will not be looking to prove myself to anyone! God knows me through and through and has a plan for me. I carry it out for God's glory and for my salvation. Gamaliel refers to that sort of a spirituality and Jesus lives it in action. After that great sign of the multiplication Jesus could just move on because all that he wanted was that God be praised. 

Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam  - all for the greater glory of God! That could be our password to growth in our spiritual accomplishments. 

WORD 2day: 7th April, 2016

We and the Holy Spirit

Thursday, 2nd week of  Easter
Acts 5: 27-33; Jn 3: 31-36

The Spirit and the witnessing to the Lord are very closely knit and that is what the Word brings out today. If we have to witness to the salvation that we have experienced in the Lord - firstly, it is possible only with the Spirit: for no one can proclaim that Jesus is Lord except through the Spirit. Secondly, it is the Spirit that makes the witness efficacious. 

When we submit to the Lord, the Father fills us with the Spirit says Jesus today in the Gospel...and that is what is needed utmost in our lives. It is happily surprising to see the way the Apostles looked at, understood and related with the Spirit: We and the Holy Spirit are witnesses to these things! For them the Spirit was someone who lived with them, within them!

Today, our Christian witness would go a long way in bringing the Lord to the people and bringing the people to the Lord, if the Spirit becomes our constant life companion!

WORD 2day : 6th April, 2016

God so loves!

Wednesday, 2nd week in Easter 

Acts 5: 17-26; Jn 3: 16-21

Acts of the Apostles contains as many wondrous events that took place as in any of the Gospels, beginning with the ascension of the Lord. We see a totally different kind of persons in the apostles. They were confident, truly courageous and absolutely committed - this was never the case when they had Jesus around. What made the difference? The difference was that they realised, 'God so loved the world...'!

They realised what Jesus did to them only after the Lord had left them! They also realised the immense plan that God had for humanity and for themselves. They were so filled with the Holy Spirit that they felt the effect of it all over their selves. The fundamental of all these: to realise how much God loves!

Even today, true conversion can happen only where there is a personal realisation of how much God loves me! Meditate everyday on the love of God for you personally and you will see the change of perspective it can offer!

WORD 2day: 5th April, 2016

From oneself to ONE SELF

Tuesday, 2nd Week in Easter

Acts 4: 32-37; Jn 3: 7-15

We have today a picture perfect explanation of the First Christian Community. What an inspiring life they had lived, that in no time thousands joined them. The Apostles led by example! But one thing that we need to keep in mind: they were not always the same. Peter did not like Mathew joining the band; James and John wanted the posts of authority and cut a bad figure among the rest; Judas always aimed at the coffer; Thomas cared two hoots for the opinions of others...they were all fundamentally and unsurprisingly a selfish lot. The beauty and the challenge from them is, how they were transformed from their self centered lives to a selfless communion. That was a transformation from oneself to ONE SELF. They could not have done it all by themselves.

This transformation to One Self, is what Jesus means in the Gospel: being born of the Spirit. Being born of the One Spirit, they were all transformed into One Self, One body in Christ, One community of believers, One in heart and mind.

Today we are called to examine our lives - both personal and that in common - whether we are ruled and guided by selfish interests or by the overarching Spirit that makes us One. People filled with the Spirit can give up anything for the Communion that makes the presence of the Lord felt here amidst us.

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

THE SOLEMNITY OF ANNUNCIATION - 4th April, 2016

Is 7: 10-14, 8:10; Heb 10: 4-10; Lk 1: 26-38

What is postponed is not cancelled, declares the Mother Church today. We missed the opportunity of celebrating this feast as it fell on the Good Friday this time. But the Church as a Mother, so concerned about the holistic upbringing of her children, proposes that we celebrate it today, so that we may not miss the great lessons that the day offers us - a list of three of them:

God has a plan: The sweetest fact that we can believe about ourselves is the plan that God has for us. How important I am, that the Almighty Creator of heaven and earth has a specific plan for me! I have a purpose and I am special - how blessed to know that!

Mary had a space for God: Mary had a space for God to enter into her life and encounter her. She did not shut the divine message off with her preoccupations and personal dreams. She let God into her life. I need to give God a space in my life!

The God-Human encounter: God proposes and Mary cooperates - that has to be the salvation story of every person on earth. In her 'yes' Mary told that Lord: Here I come to do your will...everything fell in place with that self-offering.

Learning to read the messages of the Lord and preparing to respond to them whole heartedly with a sense of absolute self-giving: The Salvation Plan unfolds - even today, and for everyone around!

MERCY, FAITH & SEEING

2ND SUNDAY IN EASTER: 3rd April, 2016

Acts 5:22-16; Rev 1:9-13,17-19; Jn 20: 19-31

The Risen Christ is the face of the Mercy of God;  the Risen Lord appears to strengthen the Faith of his disciples. They see and they believe. Thus we have the three key terms of the day: Mercy, Faith and Seeing!

Mercy of God: Thanks to Pope St. John Paul II, we have a great feast to celebrate today! The Mercy of God is essentially that aspect of God accepting us as God's children without any conditions. 'If you should see our guilt O Lord , who can stand before you', exclaims the Psalmist. God chooses not to see our limitations and our failures. The blood and water that flowed from the heart of Jesus is the proof that Jesus is the face of the mercy of God.

Faith in Christ: You believe because you have seen, blessed are those who haven't seen yet believe. Faith is not having to see, not having to look for proofs, not having to rely on evidences but accepting in the depths of our beings the merciful presence of the Risen Lord with us, all our life. The fundamental message of resurrection consists in the hope of the presence of the Lord with us.

Seeing the hand of the Lord: Relying on the Mercy of God and basing ourselves on the faith we have in Christ, we are called to live a life of trust and mercy. We are called to grow more and more merciful, like the Father Himself. Today we have the call and the way to live it, both outlined in the readings. It is a special gift to grow in that sensitivity with which we readily notice the hand of God in the developments that surround us. 

Experience the immensity of God's mercy, grow in your faith in Christ and See the way God raises you as witnesses of God's merciful love!

EASTER OCTAVE - SATURDAY

The Command and the Obedience

Acts 4: 13-21; Mk 16: 9-15

The Apostles in front of the elders and the high priests were not saying anything untrue, nor were they speaking figuratively. They were stating a fact: that they have received a command from their Master and their obedience to that command is absolute. The Gospel presents to us that scene where the command was given. There is something very important to note here. That command was not for the apostles alone!

I remember an experience from our Scout Master's Training days (it is still fresh though 20 years have passed). The Leader-Trainer would demonstrate the drill standing in front of the troop and he would announce: "the Command is only for me" and then proceed with the demo. When Jesus lived with his disciples he was in the command-is-only-for-me mode. But once he demonstrated what it means to take the good news of the Reign of God to the people, he opened the command to the rest of his followers. The command was not for the apostles alone, but for every person who wanted to follow Christ. He has shown us by example what it means to live that command on a daily basis.

Today, we have received the command too. The threatening circumstances, like that of Fr. Tom's case now and the rest who were killed in Yemen, or the scores that are undergoing the same treatment all over, can warn us as the elders and the high priests did: do not speak of the good news from Christ. But whom are we going to obey?

EASTER OCTAVE - FRIDAY

The Cornerstone

Acts 4: 1-12; Jn 21: 1-14

Annas, Caiaphas...we are still familiar with these names because we have just a few days ago heard those characters speak. They are back again... not with a similar case as Jesus whom they crucified recently but with the same case. They should have ended up with a fear as to how far it is going to take them. Rightly so, because it has been over 2000 years and that one single case is not yet written off. This is what Jesus wants to impress upon with his disciples.

They thought they had discarded him; they had infact buried him as the corner stone on which the whole edifice would rest for ever. The Cornerstone joins two walls: the jews and the non jews, the living and the dead, the sinners and the righteous...all these binaries are dissolved in Christ. In Christ, we become one people, one Church, one Body, one heart and one mind.

Today, Jesus makes it a point to prove to his apostles that he is not yet over! The haul of fish, the breakfast set up and the words of proof that Jesus gave them - it was all meant to tell the apostles who thought everything was over, that it is not yet over! Jesus wants his presence to continue. The responsibility is on our shoulders. The more we become one people, one in heart and mind, we would make the presence of Christ more and more felt in our midst. 

EASTER OCTAVE- THURSDAY

The Witnesses

Acts  3: 11-26; Lk 24: 35-48

"You are witnesses", declares the Lord in the Gospel and "We are witnesses", proclaims Peter before the people! 

We are Witnesses! We would become witnesses only when we have seen, we have experienced, we have been touched and we are so affected that we want to shout it out! 

Can I claim that I have seen the Lord? Do you think it is difficult to see the Lord?

Can I say that I have experienced the Lord? Have you really capitalised on the continuous presence and protection of the Lord? 

Do I feel touched by the Lord? What does the Lord mean to my daily life?

How much am I affected by the Lord? How are my priorities and principles shaped and transformed by the Lord?

These are some self ruminations that can make us true witnesses. Are we ready to take up the challenge of being witnesses to the Lord?

EASTER OCTAVE - WEDNESDAY

The Graduation Post-Resurrection

Acts 3:1-10; Lk 24: 13-35

The Apostles and Disciples discovered their real selves post-resurrection: it was not just a continuation but a graduation. From doing what Jesus said, they began to do what Jesus did and what Jesus would do! When they were with Jesus around Galilee and Judea, whatever Jesus wished they carried out - Jesus sent them on errands, on missionary journeys, he directed them at every step as to what to do, and they carried out orders. Now, when Jesus is with them after Resurrection, they seem to know exactly what is to be done! This did not happen all of a sudden... they were schooled... they were prepared... they were transformed and they Graduated!

They learnt things from Jesus, they learnt things about Jesus and they learnt to be Jesus! The Gospel presents to us the methodology that Jesus followed to educate his followers: the methodology of walking with them ("pedagogy" sounds so close to this meaning). Jesus walked with them and they learnt to grow into Jesus. They were able to understand what Jesus had spoken till then, they were able to do what Jesus did in their presence and they did it all, in the name of Jesus!

We are disciples and apostles of the Post-Resurrection era and we cannot behave still like those before. Let us graduate, from merely obeying rules to becoming like Jesus, from merely carrying out orders to understanding the mind of Jesus, from merely doing what Jesus wants to acting in the name of Jesus! We should make Jesus present today wherever we are.