THE WORD AND THE FEAST

THE CROSS AND A CHRISTIAN

The Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross - 14th September, 2017

Phil 2: 6-11; Jn 3: 13-17

Reflecting on the Exaltation of the Cross, I could not take my eyes and my mind off these two persons - one a simple salesian missionary and the other a simple jesuit pope! They have lived up to their call - to be Christians, above all. 

How many of us can look at hardships in life and start counting them as opportunities to live our life to the full? How many of us can live with difficulties and still feel, every day is a blessing, a step closer to one's salvation? How many of us can look at the unnecessary burdens that are shoved on his or her shoulders and still say, these are nothing compared to the blessing that the Lord has in store for me? That would be the count of true Christ-ians among us!

The two people we see in the picture, taken just yesterday at Vatican, Fr. Tom and the Holy Father, they stand tall today as people who have exalted the Cross in their own lives. 

Look at the Holy Father's face - the bruise from the bash that he had during his visit to Columbia. There was a beautiful report after that incident saying that the incident, though painful caused no change in his plan. All the delay that it caused was for a small first aid, with ice cubes and a band-aid. The 80 year old man was back on his feet, running through the schedule with the same smile and more warmth. That is an exaltation of the Cross.

Fr. Tom Uzhunallil, a living testimony by now for the exaltation of the Cross - reached Vatican on his release after 18 months in exile and those who were with him those initial moments reported these words: all that he said was thanks, to the Lord and the Madonna! What a way to exalt the Cross!

When we come across a painful event or experience in our personal or familial or communitarian lives, after perceiving that initial pain, how long do we take to look deep and find the hand of the Lord affirming us, the presence of the Lord accompanying us and the Words of the Lord filling our lives in its emptiness? That is the mark of being Christians - the ability and the readiness to accept the cross. The Cross and a Christian cannot be away from each other!

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

THE CHRIST DIFFERENCE

Celebrating John of Golden Mouth - 13th September, 2017

Col 3: 1-11; Lk 6: 20-26

There is no more Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, slaves or free persons, there is only Christ, says Paul. Christ alone makes the difference. There is no more religious or lay, catholics or others, believers or non believers, practitioners or indifferent, regular-to-the-Church or non-church-goers...nothing is going to be different because of these. There is only Christ and Christ is going to make all the difference. 

God has chosen each of us, and if God has chosen us in Christ, we have a duty to respond. It is our response that is going to make the difference. If I choose Christ, if I value Christ, if I value the call that I have received to be a child of God, I have to  show it in my life, I have to live it on a daily basis, I have to prove it at times of real crisis in my practical living. When I choose Christ the difference will be seen. 

John Chrysostom, whom we celebrate today, was born just John. He was given the title Chyrsostom, which means "Golden Mouth" because of the way he spoke God's Word, the way he inspired others through his life so absolutely guided by the Word. He made a choice for Christ, in the midst of his early education with a climate so anti-christian and pagan, and his choice he lived for the rest of his life and was even killed for it. Let our choice for Christ make a concrete difference in our lives. Let the world around me see a difference, the Christ difference in me!

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

NAMED AFTER THE ULTIMATE NAME

Celebrating the Most Holy Name of Mary - 12th September, 2017

Eph 1: 3-6, 11-12; Lk 1: 39-47

Name is identity. In the salvific plan of God, name refers to the core of one's being. the Mother of God was chosen, in Christ before the foundations of the world, to be holy and blameless - the name that refers to this identity is MARY. That name is a vocation, a call, a Divine choice, a crucial part of the Salvation Plan of God. And each of us is called, just like Mary was and we are given an identity that we draw from the One who has created us and called us. 

What is my identity, what is my name? Do I realise that I am named after the Ultimate Name on earth and heaven... the name of God! That is what Paul asserts when he says we are chosen in Christ, in the name of Christ, the name above every name that was revealed to us, that name that was borne by Mary for the entire humanity. 

The call is to live up to that name. Mary did. She was chosen and predestined and she lived upto that name by reaching out to the needy, even without being asked. This is what she is, even today. Reaching out to us in love! Let us confide in her, the mother of Christ and our Mother and she will lead us to our ultimate home. 

SUFFERING AND SISYPHUS

WORD 2day: 11th September, 2017

Monday, 23rd week in Ordinary Time

Col 1:24 - 2:3; Lk 6: 6-11

Have you heard of the Greek Mythology of Sisyphus - that is what I was reminded of when I read the passage from St. Paul in the first reading today. The Greek mythology is about the character called Sisyphus who receives a curse to push a boulder up the hill, only for the boulder to roll back to the foot of the hills. And he would begin it all over again. He would carryout that meaningless and endless routine all his existence! The existentialist, Albert Camus (in 1945) would compare that to human suffering. St. Paul's words to the Colossians sounds like it, when he says, I have to suffer for you and for the Laodiceans without having even seen your faces. But Paul never ever felt it was meaningless or endless!

What does give meaning to our sufferings? All our laws and regulations, discipline and rules, what really makes them all purposeful? It is not what, but who! It is God who renders them all meaningful and purposeful. Without God, suffering is meaningless, pointless and misery. With God suffering is salvific, purposeful and destined towards an ultimate good. It is God who renders our sufferings, our mortifications, our rules, our legalities meaningful. None of these would mean anything, even if we kept them with utmost diligence, if we do not feel close to God. With God suffering is salvific! Without God, like for Sisyphus, our sufferings are mere miseries.

SAVE YOURSELF BY SAVING OTHERS

Truth, Love and Solidarity

23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time - 10th September, 2017

Ezek 33:7-9; Rom 13: 8-10; Mt 18: 15-20

“I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.” -These words of Elie Wiesel are very powerful, especially these days when everything that happens is unjust and everything just is silent. Being a Christian cannot support a choice of being silent or neutral. We have to take side and the side that we take will determine whether we are truly Christ-ian or not.

Christ came to save us, he has saved us all. But we need to claim that salvation that Christ brought for ourselves - how do we do that? By surrendering ourselves to the way of life that Christ taught us, by surrendering ourselves to the mercy God our Father and Mother and by allowing the action of the Holy Spirit to take over our lives. But we do that here and now, by our daily choices. One thing as Christians we need to keep in mind is, we cannot be saved or we cannot work on our salvation all alone. We are called to be a community of persons and we are going to be saved thus too. That is why today the Word today reminds us, the way to save ourselves is by saving others.

Truth lives. When moments of choice come, we need to abide by Truth. It is sign that we serve that One Lord and God. Because Truth is one and we need to stand by it. At times when we have to choose between values, between issues, among a few things which seem all good, we need to look for that truth that will most reflect the Lord. That is where we become the servants of God. The truth of the dignity of a person, justice, should stand aloft in our choices and we need to speak that out. The first reading from Ezekiel reminds us through the voice of the Lord - you speak or you will not be saved! Express that you stand by the Truth; the Word itself says it does not matter if the others heed to you, what matters is that you have declared your stand.

Love is a mutual debt, Paul declares. I cannot ask a question, why should I love, if I am truly a Christian. It has to be ingrained in me to love. Loving is not just saying it by words. Loving is standing by, feeling for, reaching out and doing everything possible for the well being of the other. At times when we stand by love, we may feel that we are fighting a losing batter, but I need to stick on. Because, it is only by that love that I become a true child of God. For those who love are born of God and those who do not love, do not know God, says John in his epistle.

Solidarity is the first principle of Christian living. That is in fact what makes you and me a people of God. The moment we are not in solidarity with each other, the moment we lack care and concern for each other, the moment we are unaffected by the sufferings of the other, the moment we are blind to the injustice that is perpetrated in the society, the moment we join the oppressors or those moments when our silence strengthens the oppressors we are failing to be truly people of God. When your brother goes wrong, speak to him, take a few with him and speak to him, call the entire community and speak to him and only then we are allowed to go in peace. Not until then! That is, we should have exhausted all possibilities, only then we can remain silent.

Today, there is so much going on in the local societies, national scenarios and international stand offs. Be it the escalating tensions between the US and the North Korea, the Rohingya Crisis, the Fundamentalism that is being unleashed, or the cases of politically powerless being exploited to the core - what is my response? Do I want to save my skin or do I look for a true salvation. If I am looking for a true salvation, I can save myself only by doing something to save the others, the oppressed, the entire world!

ALLOWING GOD TO WORK

WORD 2day: 9th September, 2017

Saturday, 22nd week in Ordinary Time

Col 1: 21-23; Lk 6: 1-5

Transforming a person is not difficult for God - Paul today reminds the Colossians how they have been transformed by God, from foreigners and enemies to pure, holy and blameless people of God. Yes, transforming a person is not difficult at all for God, provided there is a will on the part of the person to be transformed. The flesh could be weak, but what is needed is the spirit that is willing as Jesus would instruct his disciples. 

Jesus found it so hard to make the pharisees and the scribes understand the Good News that he brought with him. Not because they were unintelligent nor because they were not able to see what Jesus was trying to tell them, they were unwilling to see, they were refusing to change, they had decided not to transform themselves. 

We have today the sacraments and various other helps to pull ourselves up, make ourselves over and transform ourselves constantly in spite of our weaknesses, but we fail. Not because we cannot, but only because we do not want to, we do not will to. When we allow God to work in our lives, continuously pulling ourselves up and resuming our journey with the Lord, the Lord will surely transform us. That is the beautiful word we have in the responsorial, let us say it with faith: I have God for my help.

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

CALLED ACCORDING TO GOD'S PURPOSE

Nativity of our Blessed Mother - 8th September, 2017

Rom 8: 28-30; Mt 1: 18-23

Birthday of our Blessed Mother is a beautiful occasion to reflect our state of being called - each of us is called, called according to God's purposes. God has a purpose for which he has put me into this world at this time and at this place, in a context so specific with a purpose so specific. There can be problems, discouragements, disturbances and even disasters, but I would have fulfilled my purpose if I learn to and manage to live my life to the full, refusing to be curtailed by the negativities around me, finding always the best way of responding to the situation that I am faced with. 

When will I be able to do that: when I am convinced that there is a purpose to my life, when I believe that I have been created with a purpose, that I have been loved into existence with a magnificent plan which I may now know at present, but will slowly get to understand. Mary is a standing example for this and that is what we celebrate today - that moment when the world beheld her, her who was called into existence with a great purpose, the salvation of the universe!

LIGHT, FREEDOM AND THE REIGN

WORD 2day: 7th September, 2017

Thursday, 22nd week in Ordinary Time

Col 1: 9-14; Lk 5: 1-11

The Lord has taken us out of the power of darkness and created a place for us in the Reign of the Son that God loves, in him we gain our freedom! Beautiful words that St. Paul shares with us today. He underlines the process in which we grow in our life of faith. 

Growth begins with the Light of God shed on the events of life, things we do not understand, circumstances that confuse us, failures that confound us and experiences that go beyond our control. The people who were in search and in expectation and the boatmen who failed to net any fish all night see the light in the Words of Christ.

The light thus shed leads us to a holistic comprehension of life where we grow to make choices that are Godly, choices that are acceptable to God, choices that pertain to the Reign of God. The people find solace in the words and boatmen choose to do what Jesus said in spite of their experience. The choice leads them to become what  they were called to be.

The choice for the Reign is expressed in the inner freedom that persons experience once they belong to the Reign... the freedom with which the disciples left everything and followed Christ, the freedom with which Paul became a slave to Christ, the freedom with which I am called to stand for Christ and speak up for the Reign today. 

Let us pray today that we receive the light of Christ to experience the inner freedom to belong to the Reign, in our daily life. 

SPREADING GOOD NEWS IS SPREADING LOVE

WORD 2day: 6th September, 2017

Wednesday, 22nd week in Ordinary Time

Col 1: 1-8; Lk 4: 38-44

Today's first reading sounds more like a loving letter of a member of a family to the family than a formal sharing of the Word of God. In the mind of Christ this is true proclamation - he goes to Peter's family, shares his care and love there, cures Peter's mother in law, the rest of the sick in the neighbourhood and spreads love and joy! This is what true proclamation means, unlike what some accuse the Christians of, specially in countries like India - a stealthy way of increasing numbers, or what even some Christian groups themselves feel - an itching aggression to add to their number and increase the membership of their so called church. 

Spread love, you spread the Word automatically and powerfully. You strive to spread the Word, but fail to truly love, you block the Word from really spreading. When you spread love, and spread the word about love, you spread the Word, your spread the Good News. Because, Good News is Christ and Christ is love!

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

The Spirituality of keeping awake!

Celebrating Mother Teresa of Kolkata - 5th September, 2017

1 Thes 5: 1-6,9-11; Lk 4: 31-37

I am always fond of that story said about a man who asked a Zen master, 'what would you do if the world begins to end right now?' The Master who was busy drinking a cup of tea, looked up at him and said without panic, 'I would continue to taste this tea.' That is the spirituality that Paul and Jesus speak of today. To remain awake, alert, active, always is the key to face the worst of events in life. 

Mother Teresa of Kolkata was a living example of it. The enormous work that she had accomplished in her lifetime, and against all the odds that she faced, is an everlasting testament of how alert and awake she was to do good to others. She was never taken up with the fact that she was doing a great job...she always felt she was doing what she could. But the Lord was using her mightily. Her part lay in the way she cooperated with God's will to bring about the best in any situation. The secret that helped her was, not waiting for the ideal situation to do good, but to do it in whatever way you can, whenever you can. That is why she said, 'you need not do great things for God; but do the ordinary things with great love!' 

The Spirituality of keeping awake is nothing but being alert to any situation that presents itself to do good. Whether we think it is small or judge it big, we are called to do whatever is within our capacity to make a difference in the lives of the needy and the suffering. Mother Teresa shines as a brilliant icon of God's compassion. Let us develop within us a heart for the needy, the suffering, the lonely and the oppressed -'those in the periphery' as Pope Francis would remind us.