WORD 2day: 30th June, 2016

In or Out - it's your choice

Thursday, 14th week in Ordinary Time

Amos 7: 10-17; Mt 9: 1-8

The Word today presents to us varied pictures of people going in and out : in to captivity, out of slavery to sin, in to their own doom, out of disease and handicaps... but the choice was always theirs.  It is the same with us today: we can choose to remain in our weakness and godlessness, satisfied with little we have. The Lord has so much in store which we miss entirely because of our stubbornness. 

I am reminded of that picture that is quite popular... a little girl with her tiny doll refusing to give it to Jesus kneeling before her. She is totally unaware of the jumbo size teddy doll that Jesus is holding behind his back, all for her! What is my choice: holding on to the little I know or allowing the Lord to lead me by hand, teach me everyday and enrich me with his wholeness?

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

Peter, Paul and Francis

Solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul: 29th June, 2016

Acts 12: 1-11; 2 Tim 4: 6-8, 17-18; Mt 16: 13-19

Why is this twinning...Peter and Paul? Because they were two solid pillars of reference in the early Christian Community. The Tradition of Papacy is a combination of both these apostles: Peter referring to the governance and the Paul referring to the doctrines! Both of these are equally important as roles of the Holy Father. This is the reason, this day is celebrated in many places as the "Pope's Day"

It is a day to celebrate the great God-given gift of Pope Francis! We are aware of the numerous forces that are up in arms against the present Holy Father many from the other denominations and some even from within the Catholic Church. But at a closer study and understanding it is easy for one to realise the amount of good that the present Holy Father is doing to the Church and to the world in the name of the Church.

Pope Francis seems a beautiful combination of Peter and Paul - making his mark in the governance of the Universal Church and bringing the deep doctrines to makes sense of the ordinary day to day experiences. Today, let us keep the Holy Father in our special prayers!

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

Meeting God - the Moment of Truth

Remembering St. Irenaeus - 28th June, 2016

Amos 3: 1-8, 4:11-12; Mt 8: 23-27

Amos poses a series of questions all amounting to make us aware of the real meaning of trying situations in life. When everything goes well and we are in perfect control of our lives, we can experience a joy that can make us grateful to God. In moments of crisis or moments of trouble and want, how do we respond: that is the moment of truth, the moment of reckoning, the moment that reveals my true inner worth. In these moments the joy that the Lord can give comes in the form of that serenity which is true and deep -a serenity that characterises the saints like Irenaeus whom we celebrate today.

Peace or problems, joys or sorrow, confusions or turmoils, the serenity remains when we learn to meet God, at those moments of truth! We need to grow over the habit of doubting and questioning the presence and the power of God amidst the varied types of struggles we find ourselves through. I am always reminded of that story of the little girl who brought lunch for her dad who was digging a well and was almost a 40 feet below in  the pit. When she told him that she wants to come where her dad was, the dad said 'just jump and I will catch.' She retorted, 'but i cannot see you its all dark in there!' The dad from within shouted back, 'but I can see you clearly from here, just jump'... and she jumped into her dad's arms!

WORD 2day: 27th June, 2016

Is God on your  priority list?

Monday, 14th week in Ordinary Time

Amos 2: 6-10, 13-16; Mt 8: 18-22

Is God on my priority list? This is the question that came to my mind when I dwelt a little on the readings today. The question does not mean, do I go for the eucharist everyday nor does it mean do I read the Bible every day nor whether I spend a fixed time in prayer everyday! It means, whether God really matters to me, whether what God wants absolutely matters to me, whether God is the first on the list of criteria that would affect my choice or decision making. If it is so, the way I live by myself, the way I relate to persons irrespective of who they are and to what strata of society they belong to, the way I look at the world and the reality around me, would be totally different. God may be one of the important considerations in my life, but that will never suffice. God has to be by priority - the first criterion and an absolute criterion!

The Follower

Free... Firm... Focused.

13th Sunday in Ordinary Time

1 Kgs 19: 16b, 19-21; Gal 5: 1,13-18, Lk 9: 51-62

WORD 2day: 25th June, 2016

The Devastation Notwithstanding

Saturday, 12th week in Ordinary Time

Lam 2: 2, 10-14, 18-19; Mat 8: 5-17

Destruction, devastation, desecration, disease and death bed...these are the situations elaborated in the Word but alongside there is an insistence on mercy, healing, forgiveness, faith and trust! This is what we need to keep in our mind- all the possible devastation notwithstanding, the Lord is with us, for us and the Lord loves us. What can separate us from the love of God, St Paul would question in his letter to the Romans (8:38,39). Absolutely nothing can separate us from the Love of God that is poured on us through Jesus Christ, nothing except our own obstinacy! Let's beware!

WORD 2day: 20th June, 2016

The Splinter and the Log

Monday, 12th week in Ordinary Time

2 Kgs 17: 5-8, 13-15,18; Mt 7: 1-5

Judging someone is totally unChristian says the Word today. Seeing a splinter or a log depends on also how close we are when we look at it. We can make a log of a splinter, or we can make a splinter of a log...what matters is not what we judge some one to be, but the very act of judging. It is against love and I cannot but recall Mother Teresa's perfect summary of God's loving mercy: when we judge we have stopped loving!

IDENTITY

12th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Zech 12: 10-11, 13:1; Gal 3:26-29; Lk 9: 18-24

Who do you think you are? Who do people think you are? Who do you appear to be, for those who look at you? These are different versions of that pertinent question that JEsus wants us to ask! 

The Word today invites us to seek and find this identity through, in and with Christ; that is how we would be wholly Christians! 

Through Christ: Zechariah reminds us how the people were transformed into a people of the covenant, into people of God through David to whom the promise was given. Jesus comes in the same line to seal that covenant for eternity with his own blood. Through Christ we are made people of God - our fundamental identity.

In Christ: Going deeper, we are not just any people, we are not just a crowd of people who belong to God...but we are Children of God. We are given this power (Jn 1:12), this grace of being new creations (2 Cor 5:17) in Christ who makes us Children of God, sharing his heir-ship with us.

With Christ: The call thus is to stay on with Christ, live with Christ and strive with Christ, towards building the Reign of God here on earth. That we can do only by our total self giving as Christ himself showed us in his life and invites us to imitate. With Christ we are made Messengers of that Good News, the good news of the Reign of God initiated by the Son of God for the sake of the People of God. We are prophets, messengers, apostles of that Reign, with Christ.

WORD 2day: 17th June, 2016

Treasures and Pressures

Friday, 11th week in Ordinary Time

2 Kgs 11: 1-4,9-18,20; Mt 6: 19-23

We hear of people all stressed and pressurised today - but for what? Wealth, earning, spending, adding to comforts, having things that they wish to have, hoarding bank balances and shares...all for what? To die early and leave behind everything? I heard recently someone sharing this wit, or rather wisdom: at the funeral of a wealthy woman, there were two of her close friends whispering to each other. "How much really has she left behind?" The other replied, "everything!" That is life.

Athalia worked her way up only to be put to the sword in an unceremonious manner! We offer our life, our relationships, our simple joys and peaceful mind as a sacrifice at that the altar of wealth and position, only to realise we have lost everything in the craze of hoarding wealth.The world today has to take note of this, for it is already too, too late!

WORD 2day:16th June, 2016

True Greatness in Utter Simplicity

Thursday, 11th week in Ordinary Time

Sir 48: 1-14; Mt 6: 7-15

Elijah is singled out in the book of Sirach, among the 27 great persons of God praised for their life and accomplishments. Elijah wins that place in his simplicity, in the simplicity with which he trusted in the Lord, the simplicity with which he carried out every single command or wish  of the Lord, that simplicity with which he endured his hardships, knowing certainly that the Lord is in control of everything. That was his true greatness.

This is the very same simplicity that Jesus lived and taught us...the Our Father is an epitome of simplicity prescribed to us not only as a prayer, but as a way of life, as a Spirituality that comes very close to the mind of Christ. How simple are our prayers? How simple is our faithful trust in the Lord? How simple is our relationship with God on a daily basis...that would be our way to true greatness!