THE GREAT ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE

9th October, 2016: 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time

2 Kgs 5: 14-17; 2 Tim2: 8-13; Lk 17: 11-19

Spiritual life is made of a set of attitudes that make up who we are! The touchstone of an authentically spiritual person lies in the virtue that the Word of God speaks to us of today: the great attitude of Gratitude... gratitude for every goodness that one experiences, gratitude to the Source of all that one has and one is - God! "What do you have that you did not receive?" asks St. Paul in his letter to the Corinthians (1 Cor 4:7).

Gratitude is born of a Humble Recognition of God! Namaan was asked to dip in river Jordan and he felt offended because his pride ruled his will. But when he listens to that word from the Man of God, humbling himself for that moment, he recognised the presence of the Mighty God. It is only when I am humble, I recognise God and that recognition of God makes me more humble! 

Gratitude is expressed in Grateful Submission to God! An authentic outcome of immense gratitude is total submission to God for the marvels that God has done to us. We see the man in the Gospel, just one out of the ten of them - "he fell on his face at Jesus' feet, giving him thanks" (v.16). What happened to the rest? Either they did not realise they were healed or they did not realise that the healing was a gift! This Samaritan heart realised the gratuitous miracle and recognised the hand of God - and the result was, a grateful submission at the feet of Jesus.

Gratitude leads to a Faithful Perseverance in God's ways! "Rise and go your way, your faith has made you well" (v.19) says Jesus, commissioning him to be an apostle to the World. That is the commission we receive every time we experience the grace of God in our personal lives - to go into the world and share the word of God, 'that the word of God may not be fettered' (cf. 2 Tim 2:9). It is the gratitude for the goodness that we have experienced in the Lord that makes us persevere, amidst all troubles and trials we might face. Our perseverance is not so much because we are faithful to the Lord, as because the Lord is faithful to us, reminds St. Paul in the second reading (2 Tim 2:13). 

A grateful heart is a humble heart and a humble person will ever be a faithful person and faithfulness gives one the courage and strength to persevere. Learning to look at our daily life and recognise the miracles that happen in abundance; putting up with daily crosses with the image of the Crucified Saviour in our hearts; placing ourselves each day at the feet of Jesus to be sent into the world as messengers of his loving Word - that is growing into Spiritual Persons. Let us heed the call of the Word today, to increase our sense of gratitude and grow into authentic spiritual persons! 

WORD 2day: 8th October, 2016

Being Children in faith

Saturday,  27th week in ordinary time
Gal 3: 22-29; Lk 11: 27-28

Being related to God is a faith experience.  I do not call you servants but friends,  declared Jesus.  Remain in my love,  he said. I shall be your God and you shall be my people,  was the mind of God when God made the covenant with people.  Being related to God is a need, a longing,  and a recognition that gives me my identity.

But this does not come by default.  Merely because I am baptised I don't belong to Christ or I don't become a child of God.  Paul says, I need to clothe myself with Christ.  My mentality has  to change and be transformed.  That is what Jesus means when he says it is more important to hear the words of the Lord and put them to practice than to go around saying I am a Christian.

We need to become Children of God not merely by title but in faith.

WORD 2day: 12th October, 2016

Directed by the Spirit

Wednesday,  28th week in ordinary time
Gal 5: 18-25; Lk 11: 42-46

Our doings need to flow from our being.  Our being should be guided by the right spirit,  for our doings to be dignified and desirable.  When our being and our doings do not synchronise with each other,  the person turns out to be either evil or evitable.

Integrity is the most respectable of all virtues.  This is what we meant when we spoke of our being and our doings synchronizing with each other. A person who is directed by the Spirit comes out to be an integral person.

Integrity costs,  it costs a considerable bit.  Some times it costs one's comfort zone,  at times one's opportunities vis-a-vis the others who manipulate situations, and at other times it costs one's image as being successful. It is the Spirit who alone can prepare one to pay such costs.

OUR LADY OF ROSARY

7th October, 2016

Celebrating a Childlike Prayer

Celebrating the feast of the Holy Rosary,  we can dwell on three reflections highlighted by the occasion. 

1. The Simplicity of the Prayer:

One of the prominent reasons this prayer has swept the heart of so many down the centuries is the simplicity. Not merely the repetition that is involved, but even the concentration that repetition enables, is a help for those who are not experts in praying to make a reasonable effort to pray. At times, personally I feel the presence of our blessed Mother so mysteriously close as I pray those beads...am certain this is an experience of many.

2. The Profundity of the Prayer:

The simplicity not withstanding the profundity of the prayer draws our attention. Pius V would summarise Rosary as the Synthesis of the Gospels. Infact, in meditating the four mysteries - the joyful, the luminous, the sorrowful and the glorious - we contemplate the entire salvation plan of the Father. The love of the Father comes so overwhelmingly filling our hearts as we contemplate each of those decades.

3. The Prayer of Victories:

The history of the Holy Rosary has a clue for us to understand the prayer better. This feast that celebrates the victory gained over enemies through prayer, was initially celebrated as Our Lady of Victories. Within a short while it was renamed the feast of Our Lady of Holy Rosary. The Holy Rosary is a weapon of victory over the enemies, especially the original enemy the devil, who wishes to win us over from the Eternal Love. 

Blessed Mother of the Holy Rosary, pray for us.

WORD 2day: 6th October, 2016

The folly of forgetfulness

Thursday,  27th week in ordinary time
Gal 3: 1-5; Lk 11: 5-13

Forgetfulness can lead to embarrassing situations, sometimes to unfortunate predicaments too. No, we are not talking about the Gospel where the man in question forgets that his friend is going to visit him or the friend who forgets to inform him about his visit,  maybe. We are talking about the Galatians who forgot so prematurely their true identity and Paul gets so angry with them.

At times when we forget our true identity,  the identity that we inherit in the Lord,  we end up so foolish, lost in our egoism, legalism and materialism. All these three will disorient us from who we really are and make us unable to approach the Lord with a childlike trust to ask,  seek and to knock.

WORD 2day: 5th October, 2016

The Reign Mentality

Wednesday, 27th week in Ordinary Time
Gal 2: 1-2, 7-14; Lk 11:1-4

We continue to hear from Paul the beginnings of  his ministry in the Church.  Both his account and Jesus' teaching in the Gospel speak to us of a set of qualities that can be called a Reign mentality. Let's highlight just three of them:

Personal integrity that gives Paul an extraordinary power when he presents his case to the people or to the apostles.  Unless I am an integral person,  I cannot speak of the Reign with authority.

Fearlessness that comes from the absolute dedication that a person has.  Nothing matters more than the Reign and hence there is nothing that can stop me from holding on to it,  not even a threat to my life.

Forgiving Confrontations which help one to avoid self righteousness and compromise at the same time.  At times our very idea of standing for truth and siding with the right,  though an absolute reign-requirement,  can drive people far from us. I need mercy not sacrifice,  says the Lord.

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

Listening to the Lord

4th October 2016-  celebrating St Francis
Gal 1: 13-24; Lk 10: 38-42

What strikes us in Paul's narration of his Christ experience is his readiness to perceive Christ inspite of his totally opposed prior experience.  That was possible because of his capacity to Listen.

Mary was considered wiser than her sister Martha in her choice because she chose to listen to the Lord inspite of all the excitement involved.

Today we have another great example of someone who listened,  who listened with his entire heart... and transformed his life so radically that he became the inspiration for multitudes to transform themselves.  St. Francis of Assisi underwent an experience of Christ that was no less than that which Paul had. Francis opened his ears,  his heart and his mind so willingly,  readily and sincerely that he became a light burning so bright already in his life time.  Today he continues to be a challenge to the consumeristic and materialistic world... standing for a life of love and simplicity.

May St.  Francis inspire us  to listen with all our heart to the Lord and to each other!

WORD 2day: 3rd October, 2016

Get the gospel right

Monday,  27th week in Ordinary Time
Gal 1:6-12; Lk 10: 25-37

Recently I got an opportunity to speak to a group which had equal number of Catholics and Non Catholics making up its total.  At the beginning I was a bit conscious of that fact but within a few minutes I resolved the issue within me and stuck to my spontaneity and finally there were so many of those Non Catholic friends who came up to express their gratitude for the insights shared. It was an experience that taught me recently that getting our Gospel right is what matters most.

Jesus speaks of it today.  The right elements of  any Gospel are love of God and love of one's neighbour. When both of these are not compromised for any thing else, however good or desirable they seem to be,  then  we are well on our way to the Reign of God.

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

To stand and to wait on

Celebrating the Archangels : 29th September, 2016

Dan 7: 9-10,13-14; Jn 1: 47-51

The Archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael are familiar and popular among us due to their presence in the Scripture. Today as we celebrate their part in God's design, we are called to recollect the invitation they give us: to stand before the Lord, to wait on the Lord and to be instrumental in the fulfillment of God's will. These are the three functions of the Archangels and we are called to live those very dispositions.

To Stand before the Lord is to be in God's presence all our life. It is refraining from pushing the disposition of prayer to merely a few minutes of the day. It is instead, knowing that we are constantly in the presence of the Lord and we can speak to, share with and take directions from the Lord anytime and anywhere!

To wait on the Lord is to be at God's beck and call. That is what we all are created to be but the freedom that God has given us makes us do it as our personal choice. Angels are the extensions of God's power...they carryout the orders from the Lord. The invitation here is to be ready and willing to carryout orders from the Lord, without mixing it up with my wishes and reservations.

To be instrumental in the fulfillment of God's will. To be God's representatives, to be God's consolation, to be God's aiding hand, to be God's voice for justice...these are what we are called to be - Angels of the Lord making the Lord present amidst us by our own Godly dispositions.

May Michael, Gabriel, Raphael and the hosts of God's Angels inspire us, protect us and help us to be God's people always!

WORD 2day: 28th September, 2016

Following, looking back and looking firm.

Wednesday, 26th week in Ordinary Time

Job 9: 1-13,14-16; Lk 9: 57-62

Jesus gives us a hard lesson on discipleship today. If you have made a choice for God, you have made a choice for struggles and situations that will estrange you from the rest around you. What are you going to do? Look back and moan? Or look firm and go on?

Job's determination to please God is gradually being shaken by the conventional thinking friends who attribute the human qualities of anger, dissatisfaction, expectations and disregard to God. Job declares from his heart that God is omnipotent and omniscient but struggles to live his daily suffering on par with that interior conviction.

Jesus declares that precisely the determination to surrender oneself and one's total being into the hands of God is the hallmark of a follower of his. Jesus had a mighty share of suffering, struggle and strife. But that in no way deviated him from holding on to God and looking firm in his choices.

If you and I have decided to follow Christ - what do we do? Look back and moan or look firm and go on?