THE WORD AND THE SAINT

The Call, the Mission and the Surrender

Celebrating St. Francis Xavier

Jer 1: 4-8; 2 Cor 4: 7-15; Lk 10: 1-16

Today we celebrate a call that was lived to the full, a mission that was accomplished with all the hardships involved, a surrender that was total, absolutely total! Francis Xavier, felt his call quite late in his life, he accepted the mission that was entrusted to him and surrendered to the purposes of the Lord. His surrender was such that he was ready to give up his entire life for the call and the commission. He was just 46 when he died, a short life but an extensive mission accomplished. He chose to surrender to the Lord so late in life but the surrender was so intense that the intensity made up for all the time that was lost. 

He could have excused himself as a young fellow, for when he received the call when he was merely a young ambitious college student. He could have called himself unworthy with all the priorities he had then, as a young fellow at the university. The Lord does not relent, but goes after him because we know today he deserved all the  attention that he was given. He fits in perfectly to the instructions given by Jesus in the Gospel today. 

May Francis Xavier assist us to be faithful to the call we have received, inspire us in our commitment to the mission entrusted to us and challenge us to surrender our entire selves to the Lord's purposes. 

THE WORD IN ADVENT - DAY 6

Kingdom  Task:  Bring Light,  Give Sight

Is 29:17-24; Mt 9: 27-31

The year of Mercy just concluded invited us to a series of activities that are essential for a Christian to involve in ás spiritual and corporal acts of Mercy.  Some of the spiritual acts are to bring the light of knowledge to the ignorant,  give the sight of counsel to the confused.  Yes these are kingdom tasks... the task of making the blind see.  The prophets prophesied,  the Lord did it and invites us to do it. 

 Can we take it upon ourselves to stand by the ignorant and sustain the confused?  The world today might wish to create a section that is ignorant and keep the majority confused-  that is the style of domination and arrogance. The Kingdom instead,  creates a solidarity of mutual respect and complete transparency.  Are we truly agents of the Reign of God? 

THE WORD IN ADVENT - DAY 5

Kingdom Task: Feel the Rock

Is 26:1-6; Mt 7: 21, 24-27

We speak of God as we speak of so many other things in life; we refer to God as we do to so many other persons around; we give God a special place in our lives and leave things at that - do you think we are doing well in all these? The Word today reminds us that the Lord has to be the Rock of our life - the foundation, the stronghold, the ground, the very source and the strength of a meaningful life. 

At times we need to feel the Rock of our life to set ourselves right. We may lose sight of the Rock and take it for granted because it rests there unmoved, underlying our lives and sustaining us as the Acts would say, "we live, move and have our being in Him" (Acts 17:28). If we have to become the people of the Rock, we need to become more and more aware of the Rock holding us even while we tend to go wrong. Only then can we would be mindful that we belong to the Rock and we need to remain with the Rock. So the primary call is, listen to the Lord, experience the Lord's presence, feel the Rock!

THE WORD IN ADVENT - DAY 4

Kingdom Task:  See the Lord

Celebrating Apostle St. Andrew

Rom 10: 9-18 ;Mt 4: 18-22

Come follow me,  he said and they did.  Andrew and Peter,  James and John,  they saw the Lord in that person who called them.  The Lord calls us today - to follow him closely... can we see the Lord coming in search of us.

We are lost in our daily duties,  family concerns,  debt issues,  social crisis and personal plans.  But the Lord comes:  can you leave these and come with me,  to live a life after my purposes.  Can you see the Lord calling you today?

THE WORD IN ADVENT - DAY 3

Kingdom Task: See beyond what you see

Is 11:1-10; Lk 10:21-24

If the Lion has to eat hay with the ox, it has to see beyond the ox as its prey; if the cow has to be neighbours with the bear, it has to see beyond the bear as a threatening beast; If we have to see the Lord amidst us today, we have to see beyond what we apparently see: Look at our brothers and sisters and see people who seek our love; look at the poor around us and see the hearts that yearn for warmth; look at those who may be in disagreement with us and see people who may be right or who may need to be affirmed.

The task is to see beyond and that is a challenge! Waiting for the Lord does not mean we wait doing nothing, we wait with our eyes wide open to see things which we have not seen thus far, to see those aspects of our brothers and sisters that will allow us to perceive the Lord.

THE WORD IN ADVENT - DAY 2

Kingdom Task: See God's Glory

Is 4: 2-6; Mt 8:5-11

Waiting for the Lord is not merely a passive waiting; it is seeing God's glory manifest in everything that surrounds us, seeing God's glory in the persons and events around manifested with such radiance. 

Seeing God's glory is a spiritual task, a task that is preceded by a disposition that is favourable. The Coming of the Lord is not merely a job of the Lord; we need to be awake to experience, express and share this wonderful fact of the Lord's nearness.

RETURN to the REIGN of God

First Sunday of Advent 2016

Is 2: 1-5; Rom 13:11-14a; Mt 24:37-44

Let us begin with wishing each other a blessed New liturgical year! And right at the outset the Lord invites us today, to RETURN to the REIGN of God. The Church is the sign and the sacrament of the Reign of God. We are the Church, the people of God! Therefore we are expected to be the signs, the bearers, the heralds of the Reign of God today to the world. And how can this happen if we are not people of the Reign, if we are not mindful of ushering in the Reign of God here on earth, or making the Reign felt concretely, if we do not really believe in what Christ said: 'The Reign of God is amidst you!' (Lk 17:21) Hence, the invitation today, to return to the Reign is basically a wake up call, to wake up to the reality, to wake up to our real identity, to wake up to our dignity as the People of the Reign and to live up to that identity on a daily basis.

It is an invitation to CLIMB the mountain of the Lord... yes, to walk in the way of the Lord, to walk in the light of the Lord...as the first reading repeats in different words. It is fundamentally an invitiation to climb, to go up, infact to grow up. We are invited to go up, grow up, above our tendencies of conflict and our feelings of rivalry and jealousy, above our petty considerations of ourselves and self centered striving for pleasure. It is a call to transcend what is popularly considered to be 'desirable' and reach the thinking worthy of the Reign - where swords can turn into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks; where all manipulation and exploitation will give into genuine love and sincere goodwill for the other.

It is an invitation to CONDUCT ourselves worthy of the Reign. Put on the Lord Jesus Christ, invites us St. Paul. And in doing it, let's not wait for an opportune moment... for "now is the acceptable time, now is the time of salvation!" (2 Cor 6:2). Waiting for another moment will be a mistake, a blunder, a foolishness on our part. Let us make the choice, a choice for God, a choice for the light, a choice for the good, a choice to be awake, a choice to be the people of the Reign. Let us not blame the world, the society, the times... the choice is ours, and let us make it now - To accept the invitation of the Lord and "walk in the light of the Lord"(Is 2:5). We will find the joy that the Lord can give, the joy that the Light can shed, the joy that cannot be taken away from us, and in that joy we will find the Reign of God amidst us!

It is an invitation to CELEBRATE the Reign of God amidst us, not waiting to reach the end but celebrating it all the way. Advent is not a preparation towards a celebration, it is a celebration in itself, a celebration of the peace, the prosperity, the security and the salvation that the Lord brings us. The Reign of God becomes a reality when we celebrate our love and joy together as brothers and sisters in the Lord. This is the meaning of the phrase, All the way to heaven is heaven! As we pray in the responsorial psalm, we are walking, walking towards the Reign, but all through the way we are called to celebrate the Reign of God..celebrate the love we share, celebrate the equality we have, celebrate the justice we stand for, celebrate the brotherhood and sisterhood that we work to establish forever - that celebration is returning to the Reign!

As we begin the year, and the wonderful season of Advent, let us pay heed to the invitation from the Lord - to Climb the mountain of the Lord, to Conduct ourselves worthy of the Reign and in that joy, to Celebrate the Reign of God, every day in our relationships in our family, in our communities, in our parish, in our localities and wherever we are. May the joy of the Gospel, the joy of the Reign, fill our hearts all through this new year. 

WORD 2day: 26th November, 2016

Alarming but Life-giving!

Saturday, 34th week in Ordinary Time

Rev 22: 1-7;  Lk 21: 34-36

We are on the last day of the liturgical year, from tomorrow we begin a whole new cycle. Last day, last days, last chance and last moments...these are words with a bit of alarm inbuilt. Jesus does shake us up a little, warning of things that will happen in the last days. Alarming yes, but at the same time life giving says the Word today. 

If we are prepared, holding on to the Lord and living in perfect communion with the Lord, then we need not be alarmed, we can remain firm with our heads high, we can rest assured whatever time it be, our experience will only be life giving. When there are, or there have been, compromises in our way of life and our choices, then the alarm is natural and eventual. With a filial love in the Lord, let us continue to live our daily life worthy of our Lord and we shall encounter Him with love not fear. 

Remembering Ven. Mamma Margaret

25th November, 2016 -
160th Anniversary of the death of Mamma Margaret, the Mother of Don Bosco.

This day is traditionally set apart to pray for the deceased parents of salesians. 

This year this practice makes an all new difference to me...

For all the deceased parents of Salesians and those in the Salesian Family...

Eternal Rest grant unto them O Lord; 

May the Perpetual Light shine upon them. 

May they rest in peace - Amen

WORD 2day: 25th November, 2016

Heaven, Earth and the Word

Friday,34th week in Ordinary Time

Rev. 20: 1-4,11- 21:2

We have heard the usage in english, 'he moved earth and heaven to achieve something'. Moving heaven and earth is symbolically used as doing even what is impossible. Heaven and earth become a kind of immovable reference points naturally. Physics, Kinetics, Geography, History ...all of these subjects and others take heaven and earth as reference points to make possible an explanation for their theories and principles. Today the Lord says, these are not truly the unchanging reference points, they cannot be. 

The true reference point for our life, for our actions, for our choices has to be the Word. For those who hear the Word, keep it in their heart and live by it will find a place in that New Heaven and New Earth... the heaven and the earth may keep becoming new and newer, it does not matter, as long as what matters to us is the Word and being faithful to it. That is our constant, unchanging and never ending  reference point!