WORD 2day - 29th December, 2016

Light and darkness, Love and hatred!

5th day in Christmas Octave

1 Jn 2: 3-11; Lk 2: 22-35

Christmas is not over yet, we are still in the Octave! There is a gradual revelation of the Son who has come into the world - Simeon today identifies the Light that has come into the world: a light of revelation for the gentiles and glory for Israel (Lk 2:32). The light, which makes us see the right facts, the light which helps us understand the real meaning of our life, the light that Christ is, the light that Christ brought into the world - that is LOVE: whoever claims to be in light but hates his brother or sister, is still in darkness (1 Jn 2:9)...they have still not seen the light, the true light, the Christ, the Son!

Light and darkness, Love and hatred...everything is around us today in every situation. What is our choice - to accept the light and to behold the Christ? or to abide by the world and remain in darkness? Light is love, hatred is darkness. Amidst the vast crowd that does not mind being in darkness for reasons known only to them, let our light shine - because we have beheld the Lord, because we have seen Love!

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

Innocents - Massacred even today!

Feast of the Holy Innocents

1 Jn 1:5 -2:2; Mt 2: 13-18

Innocents - those who are unaware of anything wrong, those who are unaware of the evil that surrounds them, those who are untouched by the sinfulness that threatens to swallow them. The feast today is a remembrance of millions of innocents who are sacrificed even today on the altars of selfishness, licentiousness, irresponsibility and insensitivity! The Church remains so strong with regard to abortions, because of the inviolable dignity that life possesses, right from its very beginning. The world is running swift into a dungeon of selfishness and cruelty, which does not even think of the others, leave alone wishing the good of the others. There are persons and systems which work together to exploit the innocent and the ignorant. As a people of God, we need to stand against such systems and uphold the inalienable rights of every child of God. Can we open our eyes to the innocents who are massacred even today!

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

Why Proclaim?

Celebrating St. John the Evangelist - 27th December, 2016

1 Jn 1:1-4; Jn 20: 1a,2-8

Evangelisation has been a commission given to us by the Lord himself - through the disciples and apostles that Jesus had and handed over to us in time. The world today is beset with a terrible problem of religious violence - killing, persecutions, attacks and wars in the name of God! Is evangelisation needed today? Is it so important to proclaim one's God at the cost of life, peace and harmony? Don't you get that question very often in your heart? If you do so, you are one step closer to understanding what evangelisation means.

John today so simply puts it: I write this, that your joy may be complete! He would put the same words into Jesus' mouth(eg. Jn 15:11): I say these things, that your joy may be complete. We are called to share our experience with the world, so that the joy of the world, the joy of each person around us, the joy of the entire humanity be complete. Why proclaim: that the joy that God truly wills be complete! But that requires that those who proclaim, possess that joy and then share it! Called to proclaim, do I possess that joy? Having experienced that joy, do I feel the urge to share it? My joy becomes complete when I share it.

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

Feast of St. Stephen,  the first Martyr

26th December, 2016Acts 6: 8-10,7:54-59; Mt 10:17-22
As I sat to reflect on this day's Word and the Saint...the last year's post captured my eyes after I read it, I decided I shall repost the same!

I was amused when I looked at this picture of St. Stephen when I was looking for something to post... amused because the picture spoke what came to me as a reflection of the readings today.

If anyone read the Gospel of today and complained that they did not understand what exactly it meant, they could be directed to the first reading and that would make an elaborate and concrete explanation with example, of what Jesus says in the Gospel. 

Holding the Book (the Word) and the Stones together, with such serenity in the face and an olive branch in the other hand... portrays Stephen to the detail. Accepting to be a disciple, to belong to the apostolic community and to proclaim Jesus through service (Stephen was a deacon), was a bold acceptance of the consequences that Jesus spoke of already. Stephen seems to have accepted that demand, along with a firm faith in the promise of the Lord : do not search for what to say or what to do...the Spirit will enlighten you as to that! Stephen, enlightened by the Spirit, does exactly what Jesus did on the Cross: prays for those who persecuted him! 

To celebrate the feast of St Stephen immediately after the Christmas day also brings out a sharp message: yesterday was the birth of Christ, today is the birth of Christians...first time some one died to belong to Christ forever.

HE IS BORN !!!

He is Born! Come let us Understand Him!

Christmas Vigil 2016

Is 62: 1-5; Acts 13: 16-17,21-25; Mt 1: 1-25

We are gathered here to celebrate a birthday, a birthday that initiated a new birth to the entire humanity, a birthday of a very special person! We are not here to celebrate the birth of a helpless infant or a chubby child who would be playing with a globe in its hands...It is not just a child who is born today!

We are here to celebrate the birthday of the One of whom Isaiah spoke: for unto us a child is born, a son has been given to us...he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace (Is 9:6) 

If it were a mere child, why should the King be so alarmed? Why should the world fear? Why should the world wonder what is in store? The Kings are in fright because the one who is born is a Prince, the Prince of Peace! It was 1914, this very same day, the Christmas eve, it was a friday, the morning was noisy with bombshells and bullet rounds but the evening came and there was a total silence. The darkness thickened as the silence deepened, with Germans on one side and the British and French on the other. But something strange was happening...something was breaking through that darkness - a small lit candle appeared on the German horizon...what a foolish thing to do in the war front - betraying your location making oneself vulnerable to the guns of the enemy! As the British rose to an alert yet another strange thing happened breaking the silence of the night - a solemn orchestra began a lovely hymn : Stille Nacht, Heil'ge Nacht... It took just a few seconds for that beautiful sound to reach the opposite camp! The British were wonder struck and the guns went down while the voices rose singing the same hymn - the beautiful carol Silent Night, Holy Night. Very soon the French began in their language Douce Nuite, Sainte Nuit...One carol followed the other and more candles appeared. The Germans walked over the fence and the British and the French did the same and soon they were in the No Man's Land shaking their hands, embracing each other, exchanging gifts - strange gifts like their buttons and cigars, pipes and lighters - there was an unofficial, unauthorised and unarranged ceasefire! Not a shot was fired all night...In one of the zones the ceasefire continued for the next one week! The whole battalion had to be reassigned another region inorder that the war be continued in that place. This is called the Great Christmas Truce in history. The next year in many zones on the border they tried to observe this truce and it was not as successful as in 1914. In 1916 there was a strict and deliberate prohibition for the truce! It's 100 years since then...the world is afraid of this prince of peace! If he can bring peace to the warring factions - can he not bring peace to your hearts, to your families, to your relationships...make peace, allow the prince of peace to be born!

If it were a mere child, why were the shepherds notified and why is it that they were given such a prominence in the story? Because the One who is born is a shepherd, true shepherd who is born to die, born to lay down his life for his sheep, the Divine Shepherd! Why should God  be born to die! Why? God could have made one of his prophets die for us - why should he die himself? A friend asked another this question and the argument went long...the friend was not convinced. They went their way. The other friend one day invited the former to an outing and asked him to bring his beloved little son along. The outing consisted of a boating on a lake and in the middle of the water, the friend pushed his comrade's son into the water. Shocked and angry the friend jumped into the water got his son brought him to safety and was about to charge on his friend...he stopped him and asked him, why did you jump? You could have asked me to save your son, or the boatman to save or called for a security personnel...while the man shouted back - because he is my son and I love him more than anything in this world! He concluded - that's the same with God. For God so loved the world that God gave God's only son. For God so loved the world that God decided to come into the world in and through God's son. That is the Shepherd we have -who is not worried about making laws that are merciless and insensitive, who is not worried about establishing his own ego and prove to the world that he is capable of things that no one can imagine, who is not power mongering or money minded... he is a shepherd who is love and compassion, who decides to be born to die. Every one is born to live, there was only one who was born to die and that was God's only son! In his death he brought us life!

If it were a mere child who is born today, why should the world fear this child? Why should everyone look at this Child and the philosophy that this child brings into this world, as a threat? Because the One who is born is a wonderful counselor. If only we heed to His counsel! The world has a counsel, an advice - make sure you get your share and a little more if can be, never less than that. Make sure you get and get, and keep getting without anyone cheating you! Doesn't matter what you do, make sure you succeed, you gain, you stand to win! The Child born today has a different counsel. Have you heard of these two brothers - one was married and had two kids, the other remained single. They had a common farm, their inheritance. And they worked together on the farm producing every year grains in abundance. They shared equally the produce. One night the married brother thought on his bed, 'it is not fair that we share halves. He is single and he needs a future that is secure. After all, I have my family to stand by me if anything happens in case!' So, from that day he would get up in the middle of the night take a sack of grain from his barn and quietly slip it into his brother's barn. The single brother thought to himself one day, 'it is not fair that my brother and I share the produce equally. After all I am single while he has three more people to fend for." And he began to transfer quietly a sack every night into his brother's barn from his own. Both of them on their own, were wondering why after all these nights of transferring sacks of grains there has been no difference...until one mid night they bumped into each other, each one with a sack on his shoulder walking towards the other's barn. They dropped those sacks, embraced each other and cried in love. That is Christmas giving! Can we bump into each other with sacks of what we want to give the other? What a place this world would be if we were to take this counsel seriously: Give! Christmas is giving...that is the Christmas advice - give and give and give. That is the most fundamental form of love.

The One who is born is the Prince of Peace, the Divine Shepherd, the Wonderful Counselor - are you ready to accept that birth? Then, Merry Christmas to you!

THE WORD IN ADVENT - DAY 17

Kingdom Task: Renounce the deceitful tongue

Tuesday, Third week of Advent, 2016

Zep 3:1-2,9-13; Mt 21:28-32

What is so serious about a deceitful tongue? And is it deceitful to say a lie? Why is it regarded so unkingdomly? 

Just go deeper and reflect, why do we say lies? Is it not to win the favour of those around? Winning the favour of human beings works against winning the favour of God and God's kingdom. Let your 'yes' be 'yes' and your 'no' be 'no', anything more than that comes from the evil one, said the Lord (Mt 5:37). Seeking human favour leads to compromises, loss of dignity and loss of identity as children of God. How then can we belong to the Kingdom of God?

THE WORD IN ADVENT- DAY 18

Kingdom Task:  Acknowledge the Doings of the Lord

Wednesday,  Third week in Advent, 2016

Is 45: 6-8,18,21-25; Lk 7:18-23

The question that John asks today... is that you Lord?... has always been there in history.  When there is an untoward happening, we readily attribute it to God  and complain. When some thing good happens we tend to take the credit totally to ourselves and bloat in our ego. The Kingdom will  come only when we are ready to let it come,  only when we as one human community wish to have it amidst us.  As long as we do not acknowledge the goodness of the Lord and the awesome doings of the Lord,  the Kingdom hardly has any chance.

THE WORD IN ADVENT - DAY 16

Kingdom Task: Rely on the Real King

Monday, 3rd week in Advent, 2016

Num 24:2-7,15-17; Mt 21: 23-27

Balaam asserts, affirms and reaffirms on whose authority he speaks; the Jewish leaders and priests ask Jesus on whose authority Jesus does all that he does. Both Balaam and Jesus, we see in the Word today, were fearless. Balaam was faced with a furious whole race and Jesus was faced with a powerful top brass of the society. They make it clear to themselves and to those around, that they rely not on their power, or eloquence, or skill, or talent but they rely on the Lord! An authority that will never be questioned...is the Lord who reigns over all and submitting myself to that Reign and inspiring others to submit to the Reign is the way to establish the Reign of God. It is not Reign that expands by conquest and battles, but by submission and surrender, by a personal choice to absolutely rely on the real King!

THE JOY OF WAITING FOR THE REIGN

11th December, 2016: Third Sunday of Advent

Is 35: 1-6b,10; Jam 5: 7-10; Mt 11: 2-11

An expectant couple, a lover on the park bench, a child on the birthday eve, a starved person on a set table... these are vivid snapshots of the joy of waiting! There is a pain involved, but a pain that is part of the joy. There are myriads of reasons to be disturbed and be restless about, but they are all overwhelmed by the joy that resides beneath. That is the picture that the Church wants us to contemplate this Sunday: the Joy of Waiting, for the Reign. 

This Sunday is called the Gaudete Sunday (Gaudete in latin simply means 'Rejoice')... taking off from the entrance antiphon which invites us to REJOICE, because the salvation of the Lord is near. Note the colour of the vestments today...they are not merely the violet, but purple...to add the necessary element of joy to the waiting! A Christian waiting should be joyful, the liturgy reminds us today.

The whole creation groans as with pangs of childbirth...for a peaceful, prosperous, perfect world. Every religion and every spirituality is a yearning towards that state of existence, called in various names. We believe it to be the Reign of God; "We are seeking God's Kingdom" reminds the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium(180) of Pope Francis. This waiting, this Christian waiting for the Reign of God is a joyful waiting, not a miserable waiting, not a servile waiting. The readings today bring to our attention the marks of this waiting: 

The first mark is the Assurance of Faith. The first reading is full of words like, gladness, joy, exultation, rejoicing, shouting, leaping, singing... all these words are used by Isaiah, when the people of Israel are still in Exile...but they know their liberation is imminent. What fills their hearts and their lives is faith - a joyful and total abandonment into the hands of God, one who creates and directs history. A total assurance that the Lord is for them; the Lord stands in favour of them and the Lord will lead them to the prosperity that they are waiting for. Our life, to be truly Christian, to be truly worthy of the Reign, has to be based firmly on this assurance of faith, that the Lord is with us and the Lord is for us. When God is for us, who can be against us!

The second mark of a joyful waiting is the Aspirations of Hope. The first reading, the responsorial psalm and the Gospel are filled with imageries of the lame walking, the blind seeing, the deaf hearing, the dumb speaking... the aspirations of a heart, the desire for a better world, the yearning for a bright tomorrow, the thirst for justice and truth, these are infallible signs of the Reign. That is what we are invited to hope for, and only that hope will thrust us into action, into doing our little bit, our essential part in making those dreams come true! We need to be filled with that vision, to reach the promised land, each and every one of us hand in hand.

The third mark is Associations of Love. The second reading touches upon a crucial point: yes we wait, but in the meanwhile what do we do? how do we comport ourselves? There are various modes of waiting... angry and restless... anxious and nasty... irritated and tensed... But the joy of waiting for the Reign has to be a wait that is filled with a "prophetic patience", says St. James. An abundance of patience that cherishes every moment that is spent in waiting. A patience that is expressed in our loving rapport with every brother and sister. Our relationships have to express to the world that we are people with a difference, we look for something that not everyone is looking for, that we are people who have our gaze fixed on the Lord and the Lord's Reign that everyone around seems beautiful and precious in our eyes!

We are waiting... we are waiting for the Reign... but the Reign is already here, the wait is to make it more and more visible! Hence, each of us has the responsibility, to make the Reign of God felt, here and now, through living with an abundance of assurance of faith, with limitless aspirations of hope and divine associations of love with each other. The joy of waiting for the Reign, has to radiate that joy to every one, everyday in every way.

THE WORD IN ADVENT - DAY 14

Kingdom Task: Renounce Arrogance

Saturday, 2nd week in Advent, 2016

Sir 48: 1-4,9-11 ;Mt 17: 9a, 10-13

One of our formators at our early stages used to repeat this so often that it can never leave my mind: you can wake up someone who is asleep, not the one who pretends to be so. The question of Elijah comes up and Jesus responds more than a bit like the aforesaid formator. Jesus lays bare the arrogance that the Jews had, which was instrumental in doing away with such numerous prophets. Jesus knew all the while  what awaits him with such stiff necked people. Before we go ahead to blame those people, let us direct the question to ourselves: how prepared are we to receive the revelation from God, even from and especially from the poorest sections of the population. In our arrogance, we would miss the Lord passing by, we would miss the words that can give us new life, we would remain stunted and dwarfed in our spiritual life. Renounce arrogance to receive the Lord!