THE WORD AND THE SAINT

A man incapable of deceit - Celebrating St. Bartholomew

24th August, 2016

Rev 21: 9-14; Jn 1: 45-51

The twelve - Jesus' choice of the twelve was very conscious and reasonable. Be it any of the twelve, even regarding Judas Iscariot, Jesus had a special reason for their choice. He gives the reason for the choice of Bartholomew (said to be Nathaniel whom Philip introduced to Jesus): a man without guile or a man incapable of deceit. That is one splendid attribute of a disciple. 

We are called to be disciples of Christ too...can we merit such an appreciation from Jesus as he had for his apostles? The Red that we use to indicate the specific role the apostles play within our faith, is also a reminder to die with Christ so that we may rise with Him.

Let Bartholomew inspire us to live a life that makes us worthy be called persons without guile, people incapable of deceit. 

WORD 2day: 23rd August, 2016

Keep Calm and Live on!

Tuesday, 21st week in Ordinary Time

2 Thes 2: 1-3,14-17; 23: 23-26

It looks like the crazy ones were there right from the beginning! At times we want our spiritual life to be exciting, on the move, ticking away in fret, like a suspense thriller. There is an imminent sign and there is a mighty revolution in the making...such claims are galore these days on the street corner banners and well funded TV channels! St. Paul warns us against such tendencies. He says, KEEP CALM and go about your daily duties!

Jesus sounds more vehement with the same message in today's Gospel: don't be hypocrites, don't make a show of your piety, don't make a living out of the fears of people and don't try your imaginations in God's name. Just keep calm and live on. 

Live your daily life to the full, love each other sincerely, reach out to one another with genuine care and relate with truth in your heart. Allow God to take control of the entire reality and don't claim franchise for decisions and activities that belong to God alone! Keep Calm and Live on... shall we?

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

Celebrating the Queenship of Mary

22nd August, 2016

2 Thes 1: 1-15, 11-12; Mt 23: 13-22

I was strangely reminded of this recent experience of mine on a journey! One knows quite well that a photo identity card is essential on journeys these days and for the past three years I had carried a colour photocopy of my driving license as a identity proof. On a journey last month it suddenly became an issue, when a Ticket Inspector took exception to the fact that it was a photocopy! By rule, it has to be an original document... not that I did not know that rule! I understood I was at fault but the Inspector was kind enough to merely warn me and let me go without the stipulated fine. What I am trying to share here is not what happened till here, but what has happened after that event. Nowadays I carry the original document with me, and every time I travel and the Ticket inspector comes my direction,  I hold my head high and feel so confident about the fact that I have every thing right on my part - that's feeling like a king!

Jesus is referring to a life confused with varying standards, footless principles and self-centered schemes! When a person lives that way, he or she has to be all the time on the guard against people who would find fault, accuse or atleast murmur against them. But when some one has everything right in his or her life, there is an inner freedom that is akin to living life like a king or a queen! 

Queenship of Mary from this angle seems a natural outcome of her way of life - the absolute freedom she enjoyed, the total personal commitment she manifested and the bother-about-nothing-else attitude she had when it came to obeying God's will... that is what made her the Queen of Heaven and Earth, inspiring us to live our Christian Life like her - Kingsize or Queensize!

ENTER THE NARROW DOOR

21st August 2016 - 21st Sunday in the Ordinary Time

Isa 66: 18-21; Heb 12: 5-7, 11-13; Lk 13: 22-30

The experience of standing in a queue, the tedium of entering the metal detector at places with extra vigilance or waiting for the token number at the bank… these are no rarities in our ordinary life. Jesus draws a simple example, one similar to these, our experiences.

The door to the Reign of God is narrow, not many take that door, though everyone is invited to enter the Reign. There are many other doors, which seem more comfortable, more spacious and more adorned and people prefer them, knowing least that they do not lead to the Reign of God, the greatest treasure in store for us!

Entering the narrow door is a task quite demanding – the readings today point to three traits that are needed to be able to enter the Reign through the narrow door. As Jesus tells us in the Gospel, many try to enter but they cannot.

To able to enter the door, one should be strong! Strive – says the Lord – Strive to enter – To strive means to struggle, to make all the efforts possible, to try real hard. One needs to be strong in mind, heart and soul to strive to enter the narrow door into the Reign. It is Spiritual strength we are dealing with here. Be Strong, but avoid Spiritual Obesity, warns the Lord. If you are obese, you cannot enter the narrow door – it’s obvious! Spiritual Obesity – Pride and Elitist mentality – which gives into self righteousness and judgmental attitude can never get us into the Reign of God. I am baptized, I am a born-again, I am a consecrated religious, I am a Sacred minister – nothing can get you in! From the east and the west, the north and the south everyone will enter and sit at the table in the Reign says the Lord. Mind you, there are no reservations here in. A bit of disciplining, as the second reading suggests, can get us in shape.

To be able to enter the door, one should be in communion! The way is long, we reflected on that last week. Communion with each other and Communion with those who have managed to enter the door before us, can really make the task easy and enjoyable. Our forerunners are our example, our model and can even be our helpers – but finally, the one who has to enter is me! It is you! That is why we are warned today – Be in Communion but avoid Spiritual Infantilism. At times we make our faith so infantile that we think everything depends on the candles we light, the formulae we repeat, the food we give up and the coins we drop. These are means to strengthen our relationship with God – but they are not everything. What matters most is our personal life of commitment and integrity. You cannot enter the narrow door in groups… one by one you have to do it. That means you cannot ride on the goodness of the other, either the living or those gone before you!

To be able to enter the door, one should be patient! The wait is long, for the door is narrow! Waiting on the Lord is a spiritual talent. To wait patiently, amidst failures and pressures, amidst temptations and struggles, amidst dark nights and heavy burdens, it is the only way one can be prepared and prompt when one’s time comes! There is a warning here too: Be Patient but avoid Spiritual Lethargy. In the name of patience I cannot procrastinate my commitment and postpone my conversion to a later moment. ‘Repent and Believe, for the Reign of God is near’ says the Lord. Being patient is not being busy with something else till my turn comes… but persevering, enduring and constantly working on myself that when my turn comes, I am in shape, prepared enough and fit to enter the narrow door that leads me to the behold the eternal glory of the Lord Almighty!

I am the door, if anyone enters through me, he or she will be saved (Jn 10:9) declared the Lord elsewhere! Jesus is the door, the narrow door, the demanding door – He is compassionate, yes; but at the same time uncompromising. The choice is ours to choose the narrow door, make ourselves strong, united and patient, to endure our everyday life and make straight the path for our feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed (heb 12:13). The door is narrow but there is enough space to enter, if we are in ready and willing.

All, but not all…

One by one is the call…

Let us enter the Narrow Door, one and all.

WORD 2day: 20th August, 2016

The Glory, the Chair and the Good

Saturday, 20th week in Ordinary Time

Ezek 43: 1-7; Mt 23: 1-12

The Glory of the Lord rests on the Temple and the authority of Moses rests with his Chair... Jesus seems to relativise both of these as he instructs his disciples to earn their honour and respect through their actions rather than titles and posts! Names on the plaques, photographs on the flexes, titles on the invitation cards and posts to be attached after names... these are the driving forces that make people do good in today's world. Jesus seems to belittle doing good vis-a-vis the quality of being good! 

The difference between doing good and being good is one of quality...the former centers around the result and the latter revolves around the inspiration; the former is conditioned and the latter is unconditional and natural; the former is opportunistic and latter is timeless and priceless!

What is your choice: just to do good and look to reap its fruits; or to be good come what may!

WORD 2day: 19th August, 2016

The Dry bone Syndrome and the Hope Therapy

Friday, 20th week in Ordinary Time

Ezek 37: 1-14; Mt 22: 34-40

The World today is affected by what we can call the dry bone syndrome - everything seems mechanical, lifeless, insensitive, dry, boring, meaningless, devoid of joy, in fret but without direction... coping with life seems a herculean task! There is a nostalgia among the veterans that the so-called splendour of the past would never return. There is an urge among the up coming generation that the so-called development is not sufficiently paced. There is this generation in transit who try to adapt to both missing out on the goodness of both. The result is frustration, despair...the dry bone syndrome! 

The only possible therapy to this is Hope Therapy... the few who still hold on to the right values and appreciate the goodness in both tradition and modernity, who refuse to compromise on the fundamental values and remain open and flexible towards changing scenarios! They do this because they are filled with genuine love - not with ego and the urge to prove oneself - but with genuine care for the other and sincere wish for the good of the other and of the humanity. That which we call love, is the hope for the times! Hope will never deceive us, says St. Paul. Beyond holding on to the hope given by these good-hearted, love-filled few, we are called to join that band - as hope givers!

WORD 2day: 18th August, 2016

God's Holiness in us!'

Thursday, 20th week in Ordinary Time

Ezek 36: 23-28; Mt 22:1-14

God wishes to display God's holiness in us... what a realisation if only we understand what God wants to communicate by this. At times we reduce our human nature to sinfulness and wickedness, jealousy and egocentrism, lawlessness and insensitivity. The truth is not that: the truth is that we possess within us the holiness of God, the splendour of God, the glorious and majestic image of God. If only we realise it!

When we understand our true nature and the spirit that dwells within us, the spirit from the Lord, our world view will be entirely different and our perspective holistic. That wholeness is Holiness, and that holiness is God's splendour within us. 

We are called to be holy...holiness here is knowing the right perspectives of life and living with right priorities on a daily basis. We claim to have accepted the invitation of God, but if we do not have this balanced perspective and wholesome priorities, we are doomed to be cast out from that presence of the Lord, for it is no holiness that does not result in concrete wholeness!

WORD 2day: 16th August, 2016

Pride Kills

Tuesday,  20th week in Ordinary Time

Ezek 28: 1-10; Mt 19: 23-30

When our eyes are so stuck on what we have received that it ignores or despises the giver, our downfall has sure begun.  This is history and even a story of the present.  Humility as often understood is  not an abasement of oneself but an acceptance oneself in relation to everyone around.

What we possess does not define us.  In fact it should not.  If it does we reduce ourselves to what we have.  What we once have,  another moment we may not.  But what we are would remain for the most same despite changing situations and varied developments.

To know truly who we are and to accept it with serenity is what humility is. Let's beware,  Pride Kills!

WORD 2day: 17th August, 2016

What deserves the Lord's reward?

Wednesday,  20th week in Ordinary Time 

Ezek 34: 1-11; Mt 20: 16-30

Whatever be the commission given by the Lord,  big or  small, simple or complicated,  what counts is not the outcome but our faithfulness to it.  What we do and how much we accomplish may be our concern and that of others surrounding us. But for the Lord how we did it and why we did it matters more.

Shepherds or labourers or hired workers... the purity of our motivation and singleminded commitment to the Lord's purposes, that is what deserves the Lord's reward!

LIVING THE KINGDOM FIRE

20th Sunday in Ordinary Time: 14th August, 2016

Jer 38: 4-6, 8-10; Heb 12:1-4; Lk 12:49-53

I came to set fire... and how I wish it is ablaze already! 

That yearning of Christ has always been satisfied through the century with a spirit of proclamation, sense of perseverance and the passion of prophecy manifested by persons of God.

Jeremiah was called to proclaim what the Lord wanted, and he was taken to task by the truth-haters! Could he modify, manipulate and meddle with the Word of God? Absolutely no! He had to proclaim and he did it, to the extent of going upto the brink of death. the Word was like fire burning in his bones (Jer 21:9). He just could not shut up.

The world will try ceaselessly to tame you, threaten you and domesticate you. Are you going to give up? How early or how far? The letter to the Hebrew says, upto death! There were people who did that. The saint whom we remember on this day...Maxmillian Maria Kolbe is a typical example of that. Why should he die for someone whom he did not even know? He decided to give up his life because that flame was afire in him. He just could not contain it.

Peace and Prophecy...do they go together? That is the question Jesus sets to answer. If we are talking about true peace, prophecy is for peace! If we are speaking of a peace that is filled with compromises, siding with exploitation, promoting insensitivities of any kind, then peace and prophecy are diametrically opposed! What peace are we thinking of? Prophecy here would mean - protest, challenge, change -in short, standing up for the Truth! Speaking up, Rising up, Teaming up against injustice and corruption today, is Christian Prophecy. Are we ready for it? Jesus was doing it, because for him Kingdom meant everything. He was filled with a passion for the Kingdom and he just could not silence it.

Living the Kingdom Fire today, is to have the fire, keep it burning and be consumed by that passion for the Kingdom, wherever we are. Are we afire?